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Ditch the glasses, these 5 Yoga asanas could sharpen your vision!
Incorporating certain Yoga poses and practices into your daily routine can help support healthy eyesight and alleviate symptoms of eye strain and fatigue. However, it is essential to consult with an eye care professional if you experience persistent vision problems or discomfort.
Want sharper vision? These 5 Yoga exercises may surprise you!(Image by Pixabay)
Additionally, remember to take regular breaks from screens, maintain proper lighting conditions and stay hydrated to support overall eye health. In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Himalayan Siddhaa Akshar, Founder of Akshar Yoga Kendraa, suggested 5 Yoga asanas for eye health –
1. Balasana (Child’s Pose):
Sit on your heels with your knees spread wide apart and your big toes touching. Fold forward, resting your forehead on the mat and extending your arms in front of you or alongside your body. This pose promotes relaxation and can help reduce tension in the eyes and forehead.
2. Shavasana (Corpse Pose):
Lie flat on your back with your arms by your sides and your legs extended. Close your eyes and focus on deep, rhythmic breathing. Shavasana helps relax the entire body, including the eyes, and promotes overall rejuvenation.
Shavasana or corpse pose(Instagram/yogui.mi.comigo)
3. Viparita Karani (Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose):
Sit sideways next to a wall with your legs extended along the wall. Lie back and swing your legs up against the wall, keeping your hips close to the wall. Relax your arms by your sides and close your eyes. This pose improves blood circulation to the eyes and reduces swelling and fatigue.
4. Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation):
This sequence of yoga poses involves a series of forward and backward bends, stretches, and inversions that help improve blood flow to the eyes and stimulate the optic nerves.
Try to start your morning with Yoga practice as it will keep your body and mind relaxed. Yoga will also keep you energetic throughout the day and provide you relief from the usual problems of joint pains or stiffness in muscles that are often faced. Practicing Surya Namaskar and basic warm-up Yoga asanas can always be a good way to beat the morning fatigue. (RODNAE Productions)
5. Pranayama:
Breathing exercises can help calm the mind, reduce stress, and improve oxygenation to the eyes. Practice deep breathing techniques such as Nadi Shodhana (Alternate Nostril Breathing) or Bhramari (Bee Breath) to promote relaxation and clarity of vision.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.
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News / Lifestyle / Health / Yoga for eyes: Add these 5 exercises to your fitness routine to boost your vision
For the last quarter century, one of the world’s most capable drug developers toiled to make a new, non-addictive kind of painkiller. The journey was fittingly excruciating.
Pain, as Vertex Pharmaceuticals found out, is wildly complex. It starts simple enough, with a sliced hand or burned finger or broken bone. But it convolutes fast. Special nerve cells, activated by potentially dozens of chemicals and proteins, sense the pain and launch a signal up the spine like a firework, lighting up a patchwork of brain regions that interprets this message and decides how the body will feel.
Much about how this process unfolds in any given person remains hazy. Scientists suspect genetics, past experiences and the environment each play some role, perhaps explaining why two people who suffer the same injuries can have such dissimilar pain. This intricate web tripped up many of the world’s most adept pharmaceutical firms, a key reason why no truly innovative medicines have come forward in more than two decades.
Vertex was one of the few to trudge ahead. Its pain labs in San Diego discovered, fine-tuned and tested promising compound after promising compound. Invariably, though, studies would show them not safe or potent enough to meet Vertex’s exacting standards. Not until about 20 years into its hunt did the company find a molecule worth championing.
On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration approved that molecule, now called Journavx, as a treatment for the sharp, short-lived “acute” pain usually felt after an accident or a surgery. Expectations around Journavx are high. With the U.S. still mired in an overdose crisis that’s killed hundreds of thousands of people, Vertex is positioning its medicine as a valuable alternative to opioid-based therapies.
Doctors say they’re eager to have another tool at their disposal. Wall Street views Journavx as a billion-dollar product.
Journavx has a real chance to “bend the curve on the opioid epidemic,” said Stuart Arbuckle, who, as Vertex’s chief operating officer, is overseeing the drug’s launch. “This is the first real alternative. The other is to leave these people in pain, and that’s not an acceptable choice.”
Yet the true impact of Journavx will hinge on whether Vertex can contend with a healthcare system that favors the cheapest possible option — a system which, at the hands of drugmakers, insurance companies and pharmacy middlemen, was gamed for opioid use. Doctors across the country, from Oregon to West Virginia to Massachusetts, envision the biggest barrier to prescribing Journavx being insurers, as they tend to resist covering new, higher-cost pain drugs. Vertex set the medicine’s price at $31 a day, many times more expensive than generic opioids like hydrocodone.
Pain is unlike any other drug market, presenting both an opportunity and a challenge for Vertex. The least expensive therapies have ruined countless lives, and wreckage from the opioid epidemic has, for some time, prompted a shift to a layered treatment approach that tries to use these powerful drugs only as a last resort. Vertex’s mission is to convince doctors and insurers that Journavx belongs somewhere in the mix.
Arbuckle claims, as industry executives often do, that his team has had fruitful conversations with these stakeholders, that they appreciate Journavx may fill a major gap in pain management. They’ll need to for most patients to have a shot at accessing the drug.
“In some ways, talk is cheap,” Arbuckle said. “It really will depend on what we see from people in terms of action in the days and weeks following approval.”
Journavx targets in peripheral nerve cells an ion channel called Nav1.8, colored magenta in this immunofluorescence image.
Permission granted by Nwasinachi Adriana Ezeji/Center for Advanced Pain Studies, University of Texas at Dallas
Debating value
Supporting Vertex’s case are a pair of large clinical trials that assessed Journavx in people who underwent either a “tummy tuck” or a bunion removal, two notoriously painful surgeries. Both experiments showed the drug was significantly better than a placebo at easing pain. It also worked decently fast. Participants reported some relief within a few hours.
Unlike all other approved pain drugs, Vertex’s blocks tube-shaped proteins found almost exclusively in nerve cells located outside the brain and spinal cord. These “NaV1.8” proteins act like cell towers, transmitting pain waves to the central nervous system. In addition to being effective, studies have found Journavx to be remarkably safe. It doesn’t appear to have the addictive qualities of opioids, which bribe the brain’s pleasure centers, and compared to a placebo it actually was associated with lower rates of common ailments like nausea, constipation and headache.
Vertex took these results and asked the FDA for a broad approval in moderate-to-severe acute pain. With that now in hand, Vertex can enter the segment of the pain market where opioids are more readily prescribed. The company has also been sponsoring research to expand into different types of chronic pain.
There, Journavx has delivered mixed results. Vertex lost $15 billion in market value in December when data from a lower back pain trial disappointed investors. A year earlier, however, a study focused on the chronic nerve pain caused by diabetes showed Journavx to be about as effective as the main ingredient in Lyrica. Analysts described that performance as “solid” and “strong.”
Journavx has other limitations. The two acute pain studies explored whether it is superior to a combination of Tylenol and a commonly prescribed opioid. On that measure the drug fell short, a “glaring” outcome for Richard Vaglienti, medical director of the Center for Integrative Pain Management at West Virginia University, which treats roughly 1,600 patients a month.
Vertex rejects that this finding will be a hangup. “Go and ask physicians and patients,” Arbuckle said, “they’ll tell you that’s not what they’re looking for.”
Vertex did just that last year, commissioning a survey of around 550 healthcare providers and 1,000 adults recently treated for acute pain. Their bigger concerns, according to the company, were the addictive potential of opioids and the exigencies of having few non-opioid options.
Taken together, Vertex’s data have left many experts with a positive view of Journavx, yet no firm agreement on precisely which scenarios it is best suited for. Vaglienti thinks it’s “possible” the drug could have a “decent role to play” managing non-severe chronic pain, and might be particularly useful for patients who can’t tolerate more potent drugs.
Kimberly Mauer, vice chair of the pain center at Oregon Health & Science University, sees it as more widely applicable. “This sounds like an exciting option, because it’s going to be opioid-like, and maybe not have the side effects or the risk,” she said. “And if it doesn’t work as well as opiates, I’m OK with that. Because I can maybe pair it with something else.”
While drug research and opioid mitigation strategies often focus on chronic pain, having a pill like Vertex’s in the acute setting is “extraordinarily important,” said Theodore Price, director of the Center for Advanced Pain Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas. That’s because many people are susceptible to opioid addiction but don’t realize it until they’ve been prescribed the drugs following a trauma or operation.
Tens of millions of surgeries happen annually in the U.S. And while estimatesvary depending on the period studied, recent research indicates a large portion of surgery patients are still prescribed an opioid.
“There’s nothing you could say that could convince me this doesn’t have an impact on what happens to them later on in their life, at least some portion of them,” Price said.
Accidental overdoses involving an opioid remain high. Nearly 82,000 people in the U.S. died that way in 2022. Almost 15,000 of those deaths involved a prescription opioid. Price himself lost one of his best friends to an overdose about 15 years ago, after the friend was first exposed to opioids for pain management.
“It’s a tragedy,” he said. “If we could have a drug that would help us to avoid this, it would be an absolutely massive benefit to humankind.”
Addiction treatment can help people with opioid use disorder, but researchers have found that insurance rules can limit access to medicines like buprenorphine.
Permission granted by OHSU/Kristyna Wentz-Graff
The price point
Jose Zeballos understands this need well. As an anesthesiologist and leader of the acute postoperative pain management service at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Zeballos cares for hundreds of patients every year. A few advances in treatment have emerged during his tenure, like new, longer-lasting local anesthetics, but overall “nothing else has come out that really has helped.”
Vertex’s medicine could therefore be an “amazing” addition, he said, as it may offer some relief not only after surgery, but in everyday pain management as well. Journavx might dull persistent back aches or take the edge off a sports injury. And, since opioids can confuse and disorient, it could be an especially valuable alternative for elderly patients.
Despite the many use cases, Zeballos predicts doctors to reach for Journavx only if it’s “easily accessible,” and that depends on insurance companies stomaching the drug’s price tag. “It probably all comes down to financials more than anything else.”
Arbuckle says price and access are by far the biggest issues brought up when Vertex’s commercial team discusses Journavx. Millions of prescriptions for acute pain are written every year in the U.S., so, from the payer perspective, “if you’re seen millions of anything, you’re worried about the budget impact.”
Generic opioids like hydrocodone cost less than $2 a day. Advil and Tylenol are cheaper still, making Journavx’s price of $31 a day high enough to draw close examination from insurers.
Arbuckle argues that’s the wrong comparison, since it doesn’t account for the devastation opioids bring to both the healthcare system and society at large. A report from the Congressional Joint Economic Committee tried to calculate this cost and, looking just at 2020, assessed the total at nearly $1.5 trillion, one-third higher than three years prior.
“This is not an academic, side-by-side, two things have equivalent efficacy and one’s cheap and the other one isn’t [exercise],” Arbuckle said. “Every time a physician and patient chooses [our drug] when they would previously have chosen an opioid, that is one less opportunity that person is exposed to the potential liabilities of opioids, gets opioid use disorder and becomes a horrible statistic.”
Vertex is beholden to investors as well as patients. The price set by the company may have societal value baked in, but it’s also meant to drive revenue. One analyst expects Vertex’s pain portfolio, which includes Journavx and a series of follow-on drugs already in development, could eventually generate north of $10 billion a year.
Analysts at the investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald recently spoke to a senior director of product development at one of the nation’s largest insurers, UnitedHealth Group. The director predicted Journavx will get broad coverage, as payers are under serious pressure to cover non-opioid medications.
He also doesn’t anticipate the drug will be subject to “step therapy,” a controversial insurer practice that requires patients to “fail” on cheaper drugs before trying newer, pricier medicines.
Optum, a pharmacy benefit manager owned by UnitedHealth Group, declined to answer BioPharma Dive questions on its coverage plans for Journavx. Insurers Humana, Cigna and CVS Health did not respond to requests for comment. Vertex has talked to payers as well as parties that “paid billions of dollars for their role in the opioid epidemic,” according to Arbuckle, and the conversations have been “really positive.”
“Virtually everybody we speak to totally gets it,” he said. “Does that mean we’re going to have tough negotiations on price? Of course. Do we think we’ll have to negotiate access? Of course. Do we have to go through formulary procedures? Of course. But it’s not like we’re getting a stiff arm from people.”
If Vertex does get payer buy-in, Journavx could be an exception to a longstanding, unwritten rule in pain management: fresh therapies take a while to reach patients. One of the company’s immediate goals is to cut down this timeline and to make sure, if patients are prescribed Journavx, they can pick it up over the counter at their local pharmacy.
At OHSU’s pain clinic, Mauer said her team rarely uses new medications within months of them coming to market, because insurers haven’t yet decided coverage plans and the out-of-pocket costs are too high for most patients. Nine times out of 10 the wait is “pretty long.”
“The problem with any new drug is the reluctance of insurance companies to pay for it because of the heavy upfront cost,” Vaglienti said. “So even though there are risks with opioids, from the insurance company side, 30 Percocet really only costs a few dollars.”
Vertex Pharmaceuticals researchers work in the company’s San Diego laboratories.
Courtesy of Vertex Pharmaceuticals
A turning tide
Journavx, then, may serve as a proving point for Vertex. The Boston-based biotechnology company has grown to an almost $115 billion valuation by selling big-ticket medicines for uncommon diseases with few to no other remedies. Pain has a trove of generic treatments and, just in the acute setting, Vertex approximates 80 million adults in the U.S. are prescribed a medicine each year.
Pricing barriers like the ones facing Journavx can be overcome, though success often takes time. Between 2018 and 2020, a novel class of injectable migraine drugs came onto a market flush with generics. While one is now approaching blockbuster status — $1 billion or more in annual sales — the others remain only modestly successful. A similar dynamic awaits a new schizophrenia treatment from Bristol Myers Squibb, which, while pegged for success, faces numerous, lower-cost competitors.
Journavx’s launch comes at what might be considered an opportune time. The reckoning over the opioids still lingers in the public eye. Just last week, members of the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma agreed to pay as much as $7.4 billion in a revised legal settlement over the OxyContin maker’s role in the epidemic.
Federal and state lawmakers are also taking action. Two Congressional bills — one enacted this month, the other introduced in the Senate last year — aim to amend Medicare so older Americans can more easily access and afford a list of certain non-opioid pain medications. Journavx is eligible to join this list, though it likely won’t be added until at least 2026.
Policies like these could help “level the playing field” in the pain market, Arbuckle said, and their arrival represents a “turn in the tide.”
The executive is adamant that Vertex can make the most of this momentum. It’s been preparing for Thursday’s approval for “a number of years now,” he said, and has amassed 150 staff to sell Journavx.
Still, there are doubts the launch will go as smoothly as Vertex — or its investors — might hope.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Abrahams is braced for “limited initial adoption” and thinks the $90 million figure that other analysts have forecast for 2025 sales is “optimistic.” Paul Matteis of Stifel shares those reservations. In acute care, he said, “it’s almost impossible to find a good drug launch” for anything non-lifesaving, in large part because the field “moves really slow” to adopt new treatments.
Both analysts note that, for Journavx to hit that $90 million mark, hundreds of thousands of patients would need to take the drug. “No one has a clue how to model it,” Matteis said.
The medical and research communities may be holding their breath, too. Price, of the University of Texas, fears that if Vertex doesn’t make a strong enough case, it could dampen enthusiasm around Journavx or even broader pain research.
“Any medication that is effective for treating pain of any type, that doesn’t have all the negative things associated with opioid therapy, would be extremely valuable,” said Vaglienti. “And I know the company is probably banking on this being one of those medications. That will remain to be seen.”
Inflation is likely to return to the RBA’s target range, paving the way for potential interest rate cuts in 2025. Borrowing costs will decrease but remain higher than pre-pandemic levels due to sustained demand-driven pressures. Investors should prepare for “relatively expensive money” and focus on investment fundamentals instead of timing the market.
Key industries (mining, agriculture, tourism, international education) remain strong despite global challenges. Tourism and education exports are rebounding, with international borders fully open and demand surging. Population growth from immigration continues to support economic stability and housing market fundamentals.
Millennials are reshaping spending habits, favouring convenience, community, and lifestyle-focused products. Baby boomers remain active spenders, rewriting retirement norms.
Shopping centres are evolving into community hubs, while “third spaces” like play centres and co-working facilities gain popularity. Retailers focusing on eco-friendly, family-oriented, and subscription-based products are poised for growth.
The pay gap is closing among non-parents under 50, driven by women’s educational gains and more inclusive workplace policies. Companies that champion gender diversity and flexibility will attract top talent.
Rising mental health challenges, especially among young women, underscore the need for supportive corporate cultures and public initiatives. Businesses that prioritise wellness programs and flexible work arrangements will benefit from improved engagement and retention.
Vaping’s health risks and environmental impacts are under scrutiny, with stricter regulations expected. Public campaigns and consumer education will likely mirror the success of anti-smoking initiatives.
The trends shaping 2025 present both challenges and opportunities. From navigating economic shifts to capitalising on demographic and societal changes, staying informed is key. Strategic planning and adaptability will allow businesses and investors to thrive in this dynamic environment.
2025 is already shaping up to be an “interesting” year.
It’s clear that the demographic and economic landscape is shifting in ways that will redefine how we live, work, and invest.
Understanding these trends isn’t just academic—it’s a roadmap for thriving in a rapidly evolving environment, especially for property investors in business people.
Over the last 2 weeks, Simon Kuestenmacher and I have a series of episodes where we highlight the demographic trends we expect will shape the year ahead.
If you haven’t watched these episodes or read our commentary, you can catch up with Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
In this final instalment, we will outline even more demographic and economic trends to watch out for in 2025 and what they mean for you.
If you found this discussion helpful, don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast and share it with others who might benefit.
Subscribe now on your favourite Podcast player:
Inflation and interest rates: what lies ahead
After several years of elevated inflation, 2025 is set to bring some relief.
In fact, inflation is likely to settle back within the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) target range, setting the stage for potential interest rate cuts in the first half of this year.
What does this mean for you?
Interest rate dynamics: Rate cuts will lower borrowing costs, but don’t expect a return to the near-zero rates we enjoyed over COVID-19 or the relatively low interest rates we experienced in the decade before that. With millennials being the largest generation hitting their peak spending years, and baby boomers continuing to spend actively, demand-driven pressures are likely to keep rates moderately high in the long term as the RBA attempts to keep inflation under control.
Investment strategy: For property investors and business owners, this means planning for an environment of “relatively expensive money.” If you’re holding out for bargain-basement interest rates to make your next big move, think again. The best strategy is to focus on the fundamentals of good investment opportunities rather than trying to time the market.
Australia’s economic resilience: built on solid foundations
Despite all the geopolitical problems around the world and global disruptions, Australia’s economy is likely to remain robust in the year ahead, supported by its well-established pillars: mining, agriculture, tourism, and international education.
These industries are not just surviving but thriving, underpinning long-term economic stability.
Tourism rebound: With international borders fully reopened and pent-up demand driving a surge in inbound travel, Australia’s tourism industry is experiencing a golden period. This benefits not only traditional tourist hotspots but also regional areas.
Education exports: International education continues to be a strong contributor to the economy, with Australian universities and vocational institutions attracting record numbers of students from Asia and beyond.
Mining and agriculture exports are likely to remain strong in the coming year but may slow down a little from previous highs due to a falling Australian dollar and overseas economic challenges
These economic pillars create job stability and with continuing strong population growth underpinned by immigration, the fundamentals for our housing markets remain strong.
Changing consumption patterns: new opportunities for businesses
Millennials, now in their 40s, are driving significant changes in how and where we spend our money as a nation.
At the same time, baby boomers are rewriting the narrative of retirement by continuing to spend freely -which is very different to the way their parents managed their golden years.
Shopping and third spaces: Shopping centres are thriving as they evolve into community and entertainment hubs. Millennials, living in smaller homes and balancing work-from-home arrangements, are driving the popularity of “third spaces” like indoor play centres and childcare facilities. These spaces provide convenience and community while addressing the practicalities of modern family life.
Retail resilience: Retailers focused on home improvement, lifestyle products, and family needs are poised for success. Businesses that align with millennial spending habits like subscription services, eco-friendly products, and family-oriented activities will see strong growth.
Narrowing the gender pay gap: a generational shift
The gender pay gap will continue to shrink, particularly among non-parents under 50.
However, the gap is likely to persist among primary caregivers, reflecting the disproportionate burden of childcare on women.
Here’s why Simon Kuestenmacher believes the future is brighter:
Educational gains: Women now outperform men in education, a key driver of their future income. This shift is reshaping household dynamics, with more women becoming the primary earners and influencing workplace policies around flexibility and childcare.
Generational leadership: Gen X and millennials, with their focus on gender equality, are moving into leadership positions, ensuring that workplaces become more inclusive and equitable.
What this means for business: Companies that support gender diversity and offer flexible work arrangements will not only attract top talent but also align with societal shifts.
Mental health: challenges and opportunities
One of the more sobering trends that Simon Kuestenmacher is expecting for the coming year is the rise in mental health issues, particularly among young Australians.
While greater awareness and reduced stigma are positive developments, the data also reflects the growing pressures of modern life.
Key demographics: Women in their early 20s now report the highest levels of poor mental health. This raises questions about how these challenges will evolve over their lifecycle and what interventions are needed.
Corporate and public roles: Businesses that prioritise mental health through wellness programs, flexible work options, and supportive cultures will see stronger employee engagement and retention. Public initiatives to address loneliness and stress will also grow, creating opportunities for innovation in mental health services.
Vaping: the next frontier in public health
Simon Kuestenmacher believes that Australia’s anti-smoking campaigns are a global success story, but vaping has emerged as a new challenge.
With its health risks and environmental impacts, vaping is under increasing scrutiny.
Regulation on the horizon: The current lack of oversight regarding vaping is alarming, with many vaping products mislabeled and containing harmful chemicals. Stricter regulations are inevitable, and businesses in health advocacy or sustainable product development have an opportunity to make an impact.
Consumer awareness: Public education campaigns will likely target vaping with the same intensity as anti-smoking efforts, shifting perceptions and behaviours over the coming years.
Conclusion: thriving in 2025 and beyond
The trends shaping 2025 reflect a mix of challenges and opportunities.
As we often say, demographics may not be destiny, but they provide a roadmap to the future.
From shifting interest rates and evolving consumption patterns to societal changes like the narrowing gender pay gap and rising mental health awareness, the year ahead offers plenty to navigate and capitalise on.
By doing so, you can turn the trends of 2025 into opportunities for your own growth and success.
If you found this discussion helpful, don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast and share it with others who might benefit.
Subscribe now on your favourite Podcast player:
About Michael Yardney Michael is the founder of Metropole Property Strategists who help their clients grow, protect and pass on their wealth through independent, unbiased property advice and advocacy. He’s once again been voted Australia’s leading property investment adviser and one of Australia’s 50 most influential Thought Leaders. His opinions are regularly featured in the media.
Watchlists are a common feature across all the major streaming platforms. But do you really need to create and maintain watchlists? I’m here to argue against them—so much so that I’m actually deleting all of my watchlists, and recommend that you do the same.
Why I’m Deleting My Streaming Watchlists
Streaming has become such a standard practice that I have been paying for Netflix for over a decade. And while Disney+ and Apple TV+ haven’t been around as long, they have still been available for many years now. While I watch plenty of films and TV shows on all of the above, I spend most of my time maintaining watchlists of content I’m unlikely ever to watch.
However, I’ve recently realized that watchlists are ultimately pointless. So, I’m deleting them from all the streaming platforms I use. Here’s why…
If I Haven’t Watched a Show Yet, Am I Ever Going To?
Some of the films and TV shows I have on my watchlists have been sitting there waiting to be watched for years. Yes, literally years. So, I started to question why they’re on there in the first place. Surely, if I really wanted to watch them, I would have by now. And if not, why not?
Some new films and shows are instant-watches for me. An absolute priority that I cannot wait to consume. But if something has been on a watchlist for years, it probably wasn’t worth watching in the first place. So, it’s better to clear everything out and start over with content I actually want to watch, right?
If a Show Gets Canceled, I Don’t Bother Starting It
Another reason to delete watchlists is the risk of shows being canceled before I have even started watching them. Streaming services (but Netflix in particular) are renowned for canceling promising shows before their time. And if that happens before I have started watching it, I won’t bother.
I Prefer Watching What I’m In the Mood For At That Time
Maybe I’m alone in this, but I have to be in the mood to watch something at a given time. Especially if it’s a multi-episode and/or multi-season series that I haven’t started yet. So, I would rather open a streaming service and start searching from scratch based on what I’m in the mood to watch at that moment.
There Isn’t Enough Time to Watch Everything
As someone with a full-time job and commitments beyond that, I find my time stretched quite thin. Add in the fact that I have multiple hobbies and interests, including gaming, reading, and hiking, and the time I have to spend watching TV is severely limited.
So, with that in mind, what is the point of having hundreds of films and TV shows on a watchlist waiting to be watched? Because, speaking honestly, the chances of me getting around to watching most of them is tiny.
I Ignored the Hype, and Now It’s Too Late
Plenty of films and shows get hyped (or overhyped) these days, with everyone seeming to watch them at the same time. Examples include Squid Game, Severance, and Loki. The problem is, if you don’t watch when the hype is at its peak, it’s easy to miss the boat. And once the hype has died down, you feel you have somewhat missed the boat to the point of simply not bothering.
How to Delete Your Streaming Watchlists
Now that you know why I’m deleting my watchlists, here’s how to remove films and shows on Netflix and Disney+. There’s no way to delete your watchlists in one fell swoop, so go through each piece of content you’ve previously added until your watchlist is empty.
As you’ll see below, the instructions for different streaming platforms are pretty similar, with you simply needing to navigate to the film or show you want to remove and tap the correct button to remove it from your watchlist. The exception is Apple TV+, which doesn’t even have a standalone watchlist at the time of writing.
How to Delete Your Netflix Watchlist
On Netflix, your watchlist is called My List. It will be populated by the films and TV shows you have previously added to it to watch later. However, you can remove content from your My List in the same way as you added it, which means navigating to the listing page for the film or TV show and removing it.
Your My List should be visible on the homepage (if you scroll down). However, you can also access it by opening the main menu and looking for My List. Either way, select the title you want to delete, and then, depending on what device you’re using, you’ll have the option to Remove from My List or Edit > Delete.
How to Delete Your Disney+ Watchlist
On Disney+, your watchlist is literally called Watchlist. Again, it will be populated by the films and TV shows you have previously added to it to watch later. As with Netflix, you just need to navigate to the film or TV show you previously added to your Watchlist to remove it. And once you have removed everything, your Watchlist will be empty.
Navigate to your Watchlist and select the title you want to remove from your Watchlist. On its listing page, you should see a tick icon (which signifies that it’s saved to your Watchlist). Simply, tap it again to remove the content from your Watchlist. You’ll know if the action was successful as the tick icon will change to a plus symbol (+).
Ultimately, I’m deleting my streaming watchlists to live in and for the moment. Next time I open Netflix or Disney+, I’ll think to myself, “What do I want to watch right now?” and search for that film, show, or (if I don’t have a specific title in mind), genre, or mood. This is also why I create and maintain multiple profiles to find content faster—cutting down on how long I spend figuring out what to watch is just as important!
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-31/Festive-frenzy-Spring-Festival-ignites-China-s-economy-1AC4Uf2y1gI/img/7ff9d9dc42cd470681cff8b41aca203d/7ff9d9dc42cd470681cff8b41aca203d.png' alt='The Yuyuan Garden Lantern Festival, east China's Shanghai Municipality, January 14, 2025. /CFP'
Stocking up on Chinese New Year goods, visiting loved ones, indulging in reunion feasts and attending vibrant temple fairs – China’s Spring Festival, the most cherished traditional celebration, is not only a time for family reunions, but has also become a major driver of consumption.
This year, with the Chinese government designating New Year’s Eve as a statutory holiday, the Spring Festival holiday has been extended to eight days, creating even more opportunities for businesses to thrive.
Extended holiday fuels tourism boom
The eight-day holiday has sparked people’s tourism enthusiasm. According to the Ministry of Transport, this year’s Spring Festival travel rush is expected to set new records in total trips. Over the 40-day period, cross-regional travel is projected to reach 9 billion trips.
During this Spring Festival, many Chinese opted for both family reunions and travel. “The longer holiday gives me the flexibility to both visit family and take a trip,” said Fang Ying from Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, who plans to reunite with her family before heading to Japan for skiing.
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-31/Festive-frenzy-Spring-Festival-ignites-China-s-economy-1AC4Uf2y1gI/img/e8717040db2741cea8b1e4708d7a3e10/e8717040db2741cea8b1e4708d7a3e10.jpeg' alt='Tourists are seen at the Dadonghai Beach, Sanya City, southern China's Hainan Province, January 30, 2025. /CFP'
Flight booking data from Qunar, a Chinese online travel agency, reveals that 50 percent more travelers are purchasing multiple tickets compared to last year, thanks to the extended break.
As this is the first Spring Festival following its inclusion in UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, destinations with unique local traditional cultural activities are drawing increasing crowds. Famous events like Quanzhou’s puppet shows, Shantou’s Yingge dance and the Yuyuan Garden Lantern Festival in Shanghai are becoming must-see attractions for both locals and tourists alike.
Outbound tourism has also reached new heights. According to Qunar, Chinese tourists visited over 2,100 cities worldwide, a 50-percent increase from last year. Ctrip, another online travel agency, reports that cross-border travel orders on the holiday’s first day were up by more than 30 percent. Top destinations include Japan, Thailand, the U.S., Singapore, Australia and Vietnam.
Foreign tourists join the festivities in China
Thanks to relaxed visa policies, such as the “240-hour visa-free transit” rule, more international visitors are choosing to visit China during the Spring Festival. Ctrip’s data shows a remarkable 203 percent year-on-year increase in inbound travel orders during the holiday, with tourists flocking from countries including South Korea, Japan, the U.S., Australia and the UK.
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-31/Festive-frenzy-Spring-Festival-ignites-China-s-economy-1AC4Uf2y1gI/img/f186c2acd1cc4b17bdfca748a90e1369/f186c2acd1cc4b17bdfca748a90e1369.jpeg' alt='Foreign tourists take photos with a dragon-shaped lantern, Hangzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, January 29, 2025. /CFP'
To enrich the visitor experience, many attractions have introduced special Spring Festival activities. For instance, Chengdu’s Wuhou Temple hosted a festive “Little Fortune God” event, where six foreign children were chosen as the “Little Fortune God,” a symbolic role believed to bring good fortune to themselves and their families in the year ahead.
A visitor from Singapore shared her experience with the China Media Group: “I heard the Yuyuan Garden Lantern Festival is a must-see event in Shanghai, and it truly lives up to its reputation.” This is her first trip to China, and she has already tried local delicacies like “da bing” (Chinese pancake), “you tiao” (fried dough sticks), “cifan” (glutinous rice rolls) and “dou jiang” (soy milk) in other Chinese cities.
To make travel easier for international visitors, many apps have launched their English versions. For example, Baidu Maps has introduced its English version, providing detailed information on over 1.5 million points of interest, from restaurants to shopping centers, helping eliminate language barriers.
Spring Festival Film Frenzy
While many travelers are exploring the world, others are enjoying China’s exciting Spring Festival film lineup.
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-31/Festive-frenzy-Spring-Festival-ignites-China-s-economy-1AC4Uf2y1gI/img/4abbe0946e2a4c90baea71407b81847d/4abbe0946e2a4c90baea71407b81847d.jpeg' alt='Audiences walk past film posters in a cinema, Shaoxing City, east China's Zhejiang Province, January 27, 2025. /CFP'
This year’s movie season boasts several highly anticipated blockbusters, including “Ne Zha 2,” “Detective Chinatown 1900,” “Creation of the Gods II,” “The Legend of the Condor Heroes,” “Operation Hadal” and “Boonie Bears.” These movies span genres such as animation, mythology, martial arts, suspense and action.
On the first day of the Chinese New Year (January 29), box office revenue reached a record-breaking 1.806 billion yuan (about $251 million), surpassing the 2021 record of 1.693 billion yuan. By January 31, total box office earnings, including pre-sales, had already exceeded 4 billion yuan, with “Ne Zha 2” leading the pack at 1.3 billion yuan.
The success of these films underscores the rising popularity of domestic intellectual properties (IPs), signaling a promising future for the Chinese film industry. Analysts believe this trend will continue to fuel the growth of creative new works, further establishing Chinese film IPs as powerful global brands.
New elements of the case against Sean “Diddy” Combs were revealed Thursday as federal prosecutors expanded their indictment against the hip-hop mogul, saying he forced two additional women into taking part in a sex-trafficking scheme and dangled another woman over a balcony.
The superseding indictment, filed in a Manhattan courthouse, increases the number of alleged victims of sex trafficking from one to three. It also adds four years to the alleged criminal conspiracy, saying it began in 2004 instead of 2008 and lasted until 2024.
Combs, being held in a federal correctional facility in Brooklyn, N.Y., has pleaded not guilty to the charges and maintained he is innocent of any wrongdoing.
The expanded indictment does not add charges to the sprawling September indictment that alleges the founder of Bad Boy Entertainment long used his empire to coerce victims into sex in gatherings known as “freak-offs.”
Combs faces three counts: racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and violating the Mann Act, which prohibits transporting someone across state lines for the purpose of prostitution. The 54-year-old music icon is set to go on trial May 5.
“The prosecution’s theory remains flawed,” said Marc Agnifilo, an attorney for Combs, responding to the expanded indictment. The lawyer noted that there were no new charges, dismissed the latest allegations as “ridiculous” and countered that federal prosecutors were alleging two of Combs’ “former girlfriends were not girlfriends at all, but were prostitutes.”
Combs was arrested in September after nearly a year of investigation by federal authorities. The day after his arrest, prosecutors unsealed a grand jury indictment.
That indictment listed a “Victim-1,” whose allegations mirrored those of Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, a singer and former girlfriend of Combs who sued him in 2023. The mogul settled that lawsuit. The expanded indictment refers to “Victim-2” and “Victim-3” but does not reveal their identities.
It alleges Combs “used force, threats of force, and coercion to cause victims, including but not limited to three female victims,” to engage in commercial sex acts.
Prosecutors allege that, as part of a sex-trafficking scheme, Combs and his entourage engaged in violence, abuse, arson and kidnapping. Thursday’s superseding indictment alleged that, during one kidnapping, the mogul brandished a firearm.
The refreshed indictment also refers to a 2016 incident in which Combs is accused of dangling a woman off a balcony. That allegation resembles one made last year in a lawsuit by Bryana Bongolan. The suits says Bongolan was in Ventura’s apartment asleep when Combs arrived and banged on the door. Once inside, the lawsuit claims, he grabbed her and held her over a banister.
Combs’ upcoming trial is expected to last at least four weeks. Agnifilo, in court filings, has accused investigators with the Department of Homeland Security of “strategically leaking confidential grand jury material and information, including the 2016 Intercontinental videotape, to prejudice the public and potential jurors against Mr. Combs.”
Combs’ attorneys have unsuccessfully sought to exclude evidence they say was leaked, including the 2016 video, which shows Combs and Ventura in a hallway of the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles.
The video, obtained and published by CNN in March, shows Combs chasing Ventura down the hallway, kicking her, striking her and throwing a vase at her before dragging her back to the door of a room. The video, which quickly went viral, confirmed at least some of the physical abuse allegations against the singer detailed in a lawsuit filed in November.
Since the first indictment, a growing number of people have sued Combs, accusing him of sexual abuse, some of them minors at the time of the alleged acts. None of the federal allegations involve minors.
New Delhi, January 31: Ola S1 X Gen 3, Ola S1 X+ Gen 3, Ola S1 Pro Gen 3, and Ola S1 Pro+ Gen 3 is launched in India. Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO of Ola Electric, announced the arrival of the Ola Electric Gen 3 scooters on January 29, 2025. During his announcement, he stated, bringing the “Next Level” with Ola Electric Gen 3 scooters. He emphasised that the OLA Gen 3 platform is improved upon the Gen 2 models in every aspect to offer better performance, additional features, and with a new design.
The Gen 3 platform has innovatively combined the battery, motor, and electronics components into a single unit to enhance the scooter’s structural integrity. The Gen 3 battery pack uses Ola’s in-house developed 4680 battery cells. The new magnetless motor is expected to improve efficiency by integrating all components with magnetised electrical coils to generate higher torque efficiently. Additionally, the platform has streamlined wiring by integrating multiple electronic control units into a single multi-core processor to enhance reliability. Tesla Full Self-Driving Tech in Action: Video Shows Tesla’s Brand-New Model 3 and Y Cars Driving Themselves From Production Line to Loading Docks, Elon Musk Reacts With Big Announcement.
Ola S1 X Gen 3, Ola S1 X+ Gen 3, Ola S1 Pro Gen 3, Ola S1 Pro+ Specifications and Features
The Gen 3 motor boasts a 4% increase in energy efficiency and five times better reliability, enhancing the overall range of the scooters. Ola Electric has transitioned from a belt drive to a chain drive system. Every vehicle in the Ola S1 portfolio is equipped with an Anti-lock Braking System (ABS). The scooters feature premium build quality with sporty accents and are available in five colour options.
The Ola S1 X Gen 3 includes a coloured LCD display and offers battery pack options of 2kWh, 3kWh, and 4kWh. It delivers improved performance with a peak power of 7kW, accelerating from 0 to 40 Km/h in 3 seconds, and has a top speed of 123 Km/h, with an IDC range of approximately 242 Km.
The Ola S1 X+ Gen 3 also comes in five colour options and features a 4kWh battery pack, which provides 11kW of peak power, a top speed of 125 Km/h, and an IDC range of 242 Km. It includes a front disc brake, a physical key, a mid-drive motor with an integrated MCU, single ABS, and a 4.3-inch coloured LCD display. It can accelerate from 0 to 40 Km/h in 2.7 seconds.
The Ola S1 Pro Gen 3 is available in two variants with 3kWh and 4kWh battery pack options. It offers 11kW of peak power, a top speed of 125 Km/h, an IDC range of 242 Km, and a 0-40 Km/h acceleration time of 2.7 seconds. The Ola S1 Pro+ Gen 3 features battery options of 5.3kWh and 4kWh with dual ABS. The 5.3kWh variant uses in-house developed 4680 battery cells. It delivers 13kW of peak power, a top speed of 141 Km/h accelerates from 0 to 40 Km/h in 2.1 seconds, and will deliver an IDC range of 320 Km. New Tesla Model Y Launched in US, Delivery To Begin in March; Check Price, Specifications and Features (Watch Video).
Ola S1 X Gen 3, Ola S1 X+ Gen 3, Ola S1 Pro Gen 3 and Ola S1 Pro+ Price and Availability
The prices for the Ola S1 X Gen 3 price are set at INR 79,999 for the 2kWh battery pack, INR 89,999 for the 3kWh battery pack, and INR 99,999 for the 4kWh battery pack. The Ola S1 X+ Gen 3 is priced at INR 1,07,999. The Ola S1 Pro Gen 3 is available with a 3kWh battery pack for INR 1,14,999 and a 4kWh battery pack for INR 1,34,999. The Ola S1 Pro+ Gen 3 is priced at INR 1,54,999 for the 4kWh battery pack and INR 1,69,999 for the 5.3kWh battery pack. Deliveries for the Ola S1 Gen 3 scooters are set to begin in mid-February, and interested customers can place their orders starting from today.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 31, 2025 12:23 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Marc Andreessen [archival audio]:So, I decided to read my way out in both directions, both all the way out to the left, all the way to Lenin and Marx and communism on the one hand, and then all the way out to the right on the other hand, and see if I could at least reconstruct a worldview for at least some sense of context for what’s happening today.
Lauren Goode: At that time, this is 2022, when he did this Upstream interview, he says he’s somewhere in the middle. He acknowledges that he’s a prime beneficiary of globalization, says he also works in an industry that’s been incredibly enriched by immigration, but you can also get a sense from this podcast at this time that he’s starting to get tired of some of the messaging and the social demands of the left.
Zoë Schiffer: I feel like we’re going to get trolled for talking a lot about other podcasts on our podcast, but let me just say that it is journalism to listen to these extremely long interviews. Oh, my gosh, we’re not just looking at the clips.
Lauren Goode: I know. Can I just say, I used to really enjoy my walks along Ocean Beach and now I’m just like, well, let me pull up another three-hour podcast.
Michael Calore: Honestly, if you’re going to get inside of the mind of somebody like Marc Andreessen who is constantly thinking about 18 different things at once, then listening to him talk for a couple of hours is a good way to get a very complete picture of where his mind is at.
Lauren Goode: Yeah, absolutely, or at least as complete of a picture as we’re likely to get.
Michael Calore: So, through the Biden administration, Marc Andreessen was meeting with the White House in his capacity as a venture capitalist in order to help steer government regulation into territory that would be more favorable to his investments, and things really started to shift with his relationship with Biden. Were there specific issues that they weren’t seeing eye to eye on?
Zoë Schiffer: Yeah, for sure, but one thing that has really stuck out to me when we’ve been listening to Marc Andreessen talk about these meetings and the issues that they were fighting over is, I guess it’s obvious that billionaires meet with high-ranking government officials, but every time I hear it, I’m like, oh, wow, I guess that is how the world works. They’re just sitting down talking about their grievances. They get the direct line to the White House.
Lauren Goode: They’re talking about memecoins, basically.
Zoë Schiffer: Yeah, that’s what they do. Literally though, Lauren, that seems to be what’s happening. So yeah, the three areas that the Biden administration and the Marc Andreessens of the world seemingly really do not see eye to eye on are content moderation, crypto, and AI. So, with content moderation, Mark Zuckerberg has talked about this a lot recently, but there’s this sense that the Biden administration is calling tech companies, putting pressure on them, this is actually called job owning, to take down posts or suppress certain narratives. Marc Andreessen, he’s implied that he’s quite uncomfortable with this. Then with the crypto industry in particular, Marc says that the Biden administration starts a terror campaign against crypto, and this is obviously personal, because his venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, has 7.6 billion in crypto assets, and Biden’s doing things like issuing executive orders, directing federal agencies to assess the risks of crypto. He appoints SEC chair Gary Gensler, who ramps up crypto enforcement actions pretty significantly, and then the real breaking point is with AI, so leading into the 2024 election between Biden and Trump, Marc Andreessen again has these closed-door meetings, he says, with the Biden administration, and they say that they’re going to get very involved in AI. They’re basically, according to Marc, not going to allow AI startups to flourish, they’re going to have just a few big tech companies that are doing AI, and the government will basically control them. Sam Altman has come out publicly and said this is not his view of those meetings, which he apparently maybe attended, but Marc is like, we cannot allow this to happen. We have to come out in full force for Donald Trump, and that is what he does.
Bitcoin price dropped by 1.23 percent over the past 24 hours on international exchanges, as the prices of most cryptocurrencies reflected a mixed market sentiment on Friday. According to CoinMarketCap, the asset was trading at $104,002 (roughly Rs. 90.1 lakh) on Friday, on global crypto exchanges. Bitcoin also fell by less than two percent on Indian exchanges — the digital asset was trading at $105,486 (roughly Rs. 91.4 lakh) on BuyUcoin. Analysts believe that the market is likely to experience some volatility over the next few days.
“Bitcoin reached an intraday high of $104,782 (roughly Rs. 90.8 lakh), spurred by $15 million (roughly Rs. 130 crore) in short liquidations in the futures market. However, the rally is not likely to sustain itself unless spot buying increases,” Avinash Shekhar, Co-Founder and CEO, Pi42 told Gadgets 360.
Ether also saw its value fall on Friday, alongside Bitcoin. On international exchanges, ETH was trading at $3,224 (roughly Rs. 2.79 lakh) after a 1.03 percent drop, as per CoinMarketCap. On Indian exchanges such as Giottus and CoinDCX, ETH price dipped by 2.18 percent to trade at $3,357 (roughly Rs. 2.91 lakh).
“Ethereum continues to experience a problem with breaking through the $3,500 (roughly Rs. 3.03 lakh) threshold due to decreasing layer-2 activity and increased competition from other blockchains. Though the Pectra upgrade, as well as possible changes in regulation of Ethereum ETFs, could support Ethereum,” Shekhar added.
Ripple, Solana, Binance Coin, Dogecoin, Cardano, and Chainlink joined Bitcoin and Ethereum as their prices fell on Friday, according to the crypto price tracker by Gadgets 360.
Leo, Uniswap, Cronos, EOS Coin, and Bitcoin SV prices also dipped on Friday.
The overall crypto market cap fell by 0.51 percent over the past 24 hours. With this, the valuation of the sector dropped to $3.54 trillion (roughly Rs. 3,06,79,844 crore), CoinMarketCap data showed. The dominance of BTC on the market presently stands at 58.28 percent.
“As we approach the end of the monthly trade, the markets are displaying a sense of stability as top cryptos have been trading within a consolidated range. While the US, Argentina, and the Czech Republic are moving ahead with Bitcoin, the European Central Bank President is not in favour of the cryptocurrencies being included as central bank reserves,” the CoinDCX research team told Gadgets 360. The exchange has also advised investors to be mindful while investing in digital assets during the ongoing market volatility.
On the other hand, some crypto assets like Tether, USD Coin, Tron, Avalanche, and Stellar rose in value on Friday. Shiba Inu, Litecoin, Polkadot, Near Protocol, and Monero also showed minor gains.
“All eyes are on the ETH/BTC pair holding steady at 0.03 mark. If this level is not breached, we can see a mega altcoin rally very soon,” the CoinSwitch markets desk told Gadgets 360.
Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article.
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Meta is removing the Audience Types option from Advantage+ catalog ads that use the sales objective, pushing advertisers toward its AI-driven targeting tools.
This change reflects Meta’s broader strategy of automating ad targeting, betting that its AI can better match products with potential buyers than manual audience selection.
The big picture. While the change removes some manual controls, Meta’s automated targeting has been showing stronger performance metrics, according to their internal data, suggesting this could benefit advertisers despite the reduced direct control.
Key details:
Advantage+ catalog ads dynamically display products based on user behavior, using data from Meta Pixel or app SDK.
The system personalizes product displays based on individual user interests, intent, and actions.
These ads can appear as single images, carousels, or collections.
Yes, but. Advertisers aren’t losing all targeting control. They can still create catalog custom audiences based on product interactions, retarget potential customers who’ve shown interest and include/exclude specific audiences from seeing ads.
Why we care. The removal of “Audience Types” from Advantage+ catalog ads might initially seem like a limitation, but Meta’s data suggests their AI-driven targeting actually performs better than traditional manual targeting methods. This is because an AI system’s job is to process vast amounts of user behavior data in real-time, identifying patterns and connections that human advertisers might miss. The system analyzes user interests, browsing behavior, purchase intent, and past interactions to make more precise targeting decisions.
However, this change also requires advertisers to adapt their approach. While you’re losing some direct control over audience selection, important targeting capabilities through catalog custom audiences are not going away.
Between the lines. This update signals Meta’s growing confidence in its AI targeting capabilities. The company is essentially saying its automated systems can outperform human-selected audience targeting.
What you need to know. To maintain advanced targeting options, advertisers will need to:
Have Meta Pixel or app SDK installed.
Create custom audiences manually.
Use more advanced targeting setup processes.
Bottom line. While this change may initially feel like a loss of control, Meta’s data suggests their automated targeting could actually improve ad performance – as long as advertisers are willing to trust the algorithm.
The box set contains the first three graphic novels in the series–Dark Souls: Breath of Andolus, Dark Souls: Winters Spite, and Dark Souls: Legends of the Flame. In total, the three graphic novels clock in at 336 pages.
The Dark Souls graphic novel series features the aesthetic and some of the locales found in the popular From Software games, but this trio of books penned by George Mann and illustrated by Alan Quah are original tales with new characters and quests. Each paperback is filled with gorgeously grotesque art and come packaged in a new slipcase designed for this reissued collection.
Author George Mann has adapted multiple other major franchises into novels and comic books, including Star Wars, Doctor Who, Dragon Age, and Warhammer.
It’s worth noting that these three graphic novels were previously compiled in Dark Souls: The Complete Collection, a 384-page paperback omnibus that also includes a prequel graphic novel titled The Age of Fire and the Tales of Ember short story anthology. The single-volume collection retails for $35, but is on sale for only $25 at Amazon.
Flossing your teeth at least once a week may be linked to a lower risk of stroke caused by a blood clot blocking brain blood flow and irregular heartbeats, according to a preliminary study to be presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2025. The meeting is in Los Angeles, Feb. 5-7, 2025, and is a world premier meeting for researchers and clinicians dedicated to the science of stroke and brain health.
“A recent global health report revealed that oral diseases — such as untreated tooth decay and gum disease — affected 3.5 billion people in 2022, making them the most widespread health conditions,” said study lead author Souvik Sen, M.D., M. S., M.P.H, chair of the Department of Neurology, Prisma Health Richland Hospital and the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia, South Carolina. “We aimed to determine which oral hygiene behavior — dental flossing, brushing or regular dentist visits — has the greatest impact on stroke prevention.”
The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, one of the first large-scale investigations of this kind in the U.S., assessed the home use of dental floss through a structured questionnaire of more than 6,000 people. Among those who reported flossing, 4,092 had not experienced a stroke, and 4,050 had not been diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation (AFib).
Participants were asked about their status regarding high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking, body mass index, education, regular brushing and dentist visits. During the 25 years of follow-up, 434 participants were identified as having strokes, of which 147 were larger artery brain clots, 97 were heart-driven clots and 95 were hardening of the smaller arteries. Additionally, 1,291 participants were noted to have experienced AFib.
The analysis found:
Flossing was associated with a 22% lower risk of ischemic stroke, 44% lower risk of cardioembolic stroke (blood clots traveling from the heart) and 12% lower risk of AFib.
The associated lower risk was independent of regular brushing and routine dental visits or other oral hygiene behaviors.
Increasing the frequency of flossing had a greater chance of stroke risk reduction.
Flossing was also associated with a lower chance of cavities and periodontal disease.
Researchers were surprised by the reduction of irregular heartbeats, or AFib. AFib is the most common form of irregular heartbeat. It can lead to stroke, heart failure or other cardiovascular complications. More than 12 million people are projected to have AFib in the United States by 2030, according to the American Heart Association’s 2025 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics.
“Oral health behaviors are linked to inflammation and artery hardening. Flossing may reduce stroke risk by lowering oral infections and inflammation and encouraging other healthy habits,” Sen said. “Many people have expressed that dental care is costly. Flossing is a healthy habit that is easy to adopt, affordable and accessible everywhere.”
Study limitations include that data were based on answers to a questionnaire, and the 25-year follow-up appears to have focused on stroke and heart outcomes only. There was no follow-up concerning flossing or other oral behaviors over the years, Sen said.
“This study offers more insights into the specific dental health behaviors that may be linked to stroke risks and potential risk reduction. With further research, dental health practices could possibly be incorporated into the “Life’s Essential 8″ risk factors, which include diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, sleep, body mass index, blood pressure, blood glucose and blood lipids,” said Daniel T. Lackland, Dr.P.H., FAHA, American Heart Association EPI and Stroke Council member and professor of epidemiology and director of the Division of Translational Neurosciences and Population Studies in the department of neurology at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Lackland was not involved in this study.
Study background, and details:
The study began in 1987 and is ongoing.
Of the 6,258 participants, 82% were self-reported white adults and 18% Black adults. Their average age was 62 years and 55% were women.
Potential participants were excluded if they had total tooth loss, dental implants, heart disease, organ transplant, artificial joints, implanted heart valve or stent or major surgery.
About the Organiser Established in 2019, the School of Law, Indore, is a constituent school of SVKM’s Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) approved by the Bar Council of India. Offering B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) and B.B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) programs, the school is committed to producing legal professionals who excel academically while championing justice, compassion, and integrity. The School of […]
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Metsera and Maze Therapeutics are the second and third biotechnology firms this year to go public, raising $275 million and $140 million, respectively, in a pair of new stock offerings priced Thursday.
Metsera, an obesity drug developer, sold nearly 15.3 million shares at $18 apiece in an offering that ranks as one of the industry’s largest since 2022, according to BioPharma Dive data. Maze, a maker of kidney disease medicines, priced more than 8.7 million shares at $16 each, exceeding the terms it had set earlier this week.
Metsera shares will trade on the Nasdaq Friday under the symbol “MTSR,” while Maze’s stock will be listed under “MAZE.”
Metsera’s offering completes a quick jump to public markets. The company officially emerged from stealth last April.
Like many other well-funded startups to recently launch, Metsera aims to compete in the multibillion-dollar market for weight loss drugs with medicines that improve upon Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound. The company used a large bankroll — more than a half a billion dollars through two funding rounds — to acquire and test a portfolio of oral and injectable drugs.
In January, Metsera revealed Phase 2 data suggesting its top prospect, MET-097i, may last longer in the body than Zepbound or Wegovy. The company is testing it as a weekly injection in additional mid-stage trials in obesity and diabetes, and plans to evaluate a monthly dosing schedule in a third Phase 2 study. Two of those trials should produce results in 2025, according to Metsera’s filing.
The company is also developing a long-acting oral medicine and an injectable drug targeting the gut hormone amylin. An earlier version of the oral drug is in Phase 1 testing in Canada. Metsera intends to incorporate findings from that study into an early-stage trial of a refined compound in the U.S., from which data could come later this year.
The injectable therapy, MET233i, will be evaluated in combination with MET-097i in 2025 as well if Metsera observes “sufficient evidence of clinical safety” in an ongoing, early-stage trial, according to the filing.
Maze has also had success with private fundraising, securing nearly $500 million across several financing rounds. The latest came in the form of a $215 million Series D announced less than two months ago.
The funding helped Maze develop drugs for kidney disease and metabolic disease as well as a Pompe disease treatment that it later licensed out.
Maze’s lead drug in November entered Phase 2 testing for a type of kidney disease caused by mutations in a gene called APOL1. Maze expects to report data in 2026 and, in its IPO filing, claimed the drug could compete with a Vertex Pharmaceuticals treatment that’s in late-stage testing. Maze said preclinical research indicated its drug could be “substantially more potent” than Vertex’s, making it “more suitable for clinical exploration in a broader range of patients.”
A second program is currently in Phase 1 trial in chronic kidney disease. Study results will come in 2025, after which Maze will start a Phase 2 trial in the rare genetic disorder phenylketonuria.
Maze first licensed its Pompe disease drug to Sanofi in 2023 but, after an unusual challenge to that deal by the Federal Trade Commission, handed rights to Shionogi the next year. Maze has also put some of its research into two startups, Contour Therapeutics and Broadwing Bio, though the former company has since been dissolved, according to its IPO filing.
In each of the past three years, there have been around two dozen biotech IPOs, far fewer than during an IPO boom that coincided with the COVID pandemic. Industry experts expect an uptick in 2025 as more mature biotechs test public investors’ interest.
“With a large backlog of private companies, we expect the IPO pipeline to step up a bit in 2025,” as many of those companies have “good cash balances” and “lots of data,” wrote Jefferies analyst Michael Yee earlier this month.
The first quarter is typically a busy time for IPOs. Metsera and Maze join China-based cancer biotech Ascentage Pharma in going public this month. And four other companies have lined up behind them. All seven companies have drugs in clinical testing, and four have advanced into at least Phase 2.
With more suburbs reaching the million-dollar mark, many potential homebuyers are left wondering just how much they need to earn to join the million-dollar homeowners club.
You may be surprised to learn that the salary required to buy a $1 million property isn’t as high as you might think.
What does it take to buy a $1 million home?
According to new data from Money.com.au, the numbers reveal that to purchase a $1 million home with a 10% deposit ($100,000), a household pre-tax income of around $187,000 is required.
That’s about $93,500 per applicant if two people are sharing the mortgage, which is actually below the average Australian full-time salary of $100,016.
But let’s break this down further.
If you can save up a 20% deposit ($200,000), you’d need a pre-tax household income of $165,000, or $82,500 per applicant.
This would allow you to avoid the added cost of Lender’s Mortgage Insurance (LMI), making the property purchase more cost-effective in the long run.
These estimates assume an average variable mortgage rate of 6.27% over a 30-year term and that your combined monthly living expenses are around $4,000 with no dependents or other debts.
Of course, stamp duty and other government charges come as extra costs on top of your deposit and income requirements.
What’s really the challenge?
The real hurdle for most aspiring homeowners isn’t necessarily earning enough to service a mortgage—it’s coming up with the deposit.
As Money.com.au’s Home Loans Expert, Mansour Soltani points out:
“Saving up for a deposit of $100,000 or $200,000 can be a significant challenge, especially with rising living costs.”
The property market is becoming increasingly competitive, and million-dollar homes are quickly becoming the norm across the country.
But before you start thinking you need to chase after the next million-dollar property, Soltani also offers some sage advice:
“Sometimes, it’s wiser to target a home under $1 million in a less fashionable suburb to avoid overextending your finances.
The key is not to get swept up in the property frenzy, but rather, to make a decision based on what is financially sustainable for your lifestyle.”
How common are million-dollar homes?
According to CoreLogic’s latest Million-Dollar Markets report, almost a third of Australian suburbs now have a median property value at or above $1 million.
Out of 4,772 suburbs analysed, 29.3% have crossed that threshold.
Over the past year, the number of these so-called “million-dollar markets” has grown by 18.5%, with 1,257 suburbs now in the million-dollar club—up from 1,057 just a year ago.
What does this mean for you?
For those looking to get into the property market, it’s clear that million-dollar homes are no longer an exclusive club reserved for the very wealthy.
However, careful financial planning is essential.
With interest rates currently hovering around 6.27% and ongoing living expenses, managing the repayments is just as crucial as saving for that deposit.
If you’re considering purchasing a property, it’s essential to be realistic about your financial capacity and long-term plans.
As million-dollar homes become more common, it might be time to rethink the traditional definition of “affordable housing” and adjust expectations accordingly.
Ultimately, buying a home—even a million-dollar one—is within reach for many Australians, but only if they approach it with the right strategy.
So, take a step back, assess your financial situation, and consider all your options before diving into the market.
About Leanne Spring Leanne is a highly experienced Buyers Agent in the Brisbane Real Estate market. Leanne became a passionate lover of property in 2001. Since then, both professionally and personally, she has been involved in all aspects of property including purchasing, negotiating, renovating, and selling.
Spatial audio seems an awesome idea for enhancing our auditory experience through simulated three-dimensional space. However, it doesn’t always sound like it should. So, where exactly is spatial audio useful?
First-person shooter (FPS) games demand quick reflexes and sharp situational awareness. The extra stimuli from simulated 3D audio make it easier for players to recognize their in-game surroundings, providing better situational awareness.
In competitive FPS titles like Counter-Strike and Valorant, knowing exactly where an enemy is located can mean the difference between winning and losing. Spatial audio allows players to hear footsteps, reloads, or gunfire with precise directionality. Instead of guessing, players can have a good idea of where the sound is coming from.
Spatial audio in FPS games makes you a better player and enhances your experience, even in single-player games. For example, having spatial audio while playing Left4Dead makes the environment more alive (or dead), and immerses you to the world the game developers had intended for you to experience.
So, whether you’re playing a competitive shooter or just looking to better immerse yourself in a game, try wearing headphones. I recommend an open-back headphone as it provides a better sound stage, making the spatial audio sound more natural.
Virtual reality (VR) thrives on immersion, and spatial audio is a critical piece of that puzzle. While VR headsets provide a visual escape into other worlds, the experience feels incomplete without realistic sound. Your VR experience won’t be as immersive or as enjoyable compared to one with spatial audio.
VR concerts and virtual tourism have also become a thing. People can now host and attend virtual concerts and meetups. Imagine attending a live virtual concert where you hear the band from the stage’s direction while the crowd’s cheers surround you. Spatial audio brings these experiences closer to reality, making VR more engaging and life-like.
VR training is another application where spatial audio is crucial. VR training programs for pilots, racers, or even firefighters require spatial audio to better simulate the real world and make training more effective.
5
Immersive Movie Nights
Nate Williams/MakeUseOf
A home theater setup with spatial audio turns a movie night into a cinematic adventure. Technologies like Dolby Atmos create an auditory experience where sound moves around you in a three-dimensional space. Instead of hearing a jet fly by, you feel it zooming overhead. Explosions erupt from all sides, and dialogue sounds more intimate, as if the characters are in the room.
Streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney+, and Apple TV+ support spatial audio for compatible movies and shows. Popular blockbusters such as Avengers: Endgame or Dune are mixed in Dolby Atmos to give viewers a more immersive experience. Paired with the right surround sound system, spatial audio recreates the magic of the cinema.
For those with limited space or budget, soundbars like the Sonos Arc or headphones like the AirPods Pro can still deliver impressive spatial audio experiences. Experiencing immersive movie nights has never been more affordable.
4
ASMR and Relaxation
Spatial audio has found a unique place in ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) content. ASMR videos and recordings aim to relax listeners by triggering tingling sensations with soft sounds like whispering, tapping, or brushing. Spatial audio enhances these effects by placing sounds all around the listener, creating a deeply personal and calming experience.
With platforms like YouTube and Spotify, you can now get the full ASMR experience with a multitude of tracks already mixed for spatial audio.
Aside from ASMR, spatial audio is also used for meditative practices to simulate serene environments such as a rainforest, a Zen garden, or ocean waves. Some people even use spatial audio to simulate a library while studying or a commercial gym while working at home. It’s amazing how you can use spatial audio to increase focus and reduce stress just by using a pair of headphones and some free spatial audio tracks you can find on the internet.
Music has always been a powerful medium, and spatial audio takes it to a new level. When tracks are mixed specifically for spatial audio, listeners can experience instruments and vocals from different angles and depths. It feels like the band is performing around you rather than in front of you.
Streaming platforms like Apple Music, Amazon Music HD, and Tidal offer a growing library of songs mixed in Dolby Atmos or Sony 360 Reality Audio. Popular artists like Billie Eilish, The Weeknd, and Hans Zimmer have embraced spatial audio to bring their music to life in ways that stereo simply cannot.
This format is not just a gimmick; it’s a creative tool for artists. It provides a richer, more dynamic listening experience, making it a worthwhile upgrade for music enthusiasts.
Spatial audio also has significant applications for individuals with hearing impairments. Enhancing sound localization helps users distinguish between multiple audio sources in environments like classrooms, offices, or crowded spaces. This improved clarity makes auditory information more accessible.
Assistive listening devices incorporating spatial audio provide a natural way to identify where sounds originate. For example, hearing aids or cochlear implants with spatial audio can help users navigate social interactions, meetings, or even outdoor environments more effectively.
Virtual meetings also benefit from spatial audio accessibility features. Hearing-impaired individuals often struggle with overlapping voices in online calls. Spatial audio separates speakers into different “locations,” making it easier to follow conversations and identify who is speaking.
The rise of remote work and virtual communication has made video calls a daily reality for many. Spatial audio enhances video calls by creating a more natural conversational experience. Instead of all voices sounding like they’re coming from the same spot, spatial audio places each participant’s voice in a unique location. This mimics in-person interactions where sound directionality helps distinguish speakers.
Platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams have begun exploring spatial audio integrations. These tools can reduce cognitive load by making conversations easier to follow, especially during large meetings. For example, if one speaker is “on the left” and another “on the right,” it’s simpler to identify who’s talking without constant visual cues.
Spatial audio also improves engagement in virtual events, such as webinars or online classes. Simulating realistic sound environments keeps participants focused and reduces fatigue.
Spatial audio is more than just a technical marvel—it’s a transformative tool that enhances how we experience sound in everyday life. Incorporating spatial audio into these activities elevates the overall experience, making interactions more immersive and enjoyable.
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-30/-Little-Potatoes-hit-the-slopes-at-Harbin-s-Yabuli-Ski-Resort-1AAbtPadM3K/img/2f1757000893485989f21a9357a92866/2f1757000893485989f21a9357a92866.jpeg'A skier performs a trick at the Yabuli Ski Resort in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. /IC
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-30/-Little-Potatoes-hit-the-slopes-at-Harbin-s-Yabuli-Ski-Resort-1AAbtPadM3K/img/2f1757000893485989f21a9357a92866/2f1757000893485989f21a9357a92866.jpeg'A skier performs a trick at the Yabuli Ski Resort in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. /IC
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-30/-Little-Potatoes-hit-the-slopes-at-Harbin-s-Yabuli-Ski-Resort-1AAbtPadM3K/img/2f1757000893485989f21a9357a92866/2f1757000893485989f21a9357a92866.jpeg'A skier performs a trick at the Yabuli Ski Resort in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. /IC
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-30/-Little-Potatoes-hit-the-slopes-at-Harbin-s-Yabuli-Ski-Resort-1AAbtPadM3K/img/2f1757000893485989f21a9357a92866/2f1757000893485989f21a9357a92866.jpeg'A skier performs a trick at the Yabuli Ski Resort in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. /IC
The Yabuli Ski Resort in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, bustles with excitement with the approach of the 9th Asian Winter Games. Hundreds of young skiers from southern China, affectionately nicknamed “Little Potatoes,” took to the slopes, dressed in colorful ski gear. Laughter and cheers filled the air as these beginners bravely navigated the snowy trails – some stumbling, others gliding down successfully. With each daring descent, these young skiers embodied the spirit of adventure and showcased the growing passion for winter sports in China.
One of the casualties of an era centered on ring lights over stage lights is the marginalizing of the all-around “performer,” that blood-sweat-and-tears breed who could light up rooms and arenas alike with undeniable talent, passion and sparkling artifice. Anyone can call themselves an artist. But only the well-earned love of audiences makes someone a true performer — of the you-got-it-kid variety — and, at 78, EGOT superstar Liza Minnelli may be one of the last of her kind.
You’d need a serious aversion to showbiz to screw up a documentary about Minnelli’s mission to razzle-dazzle theater crowds, moviegoers and TV viewers with what God (and Judy) gave her. Thankfully, filmmaker Bruce David Klein finds the sweet spot between admirer and honest broker with the warm, engaging tribute biodoc “Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story.”
Minnelli herself is on camera throughout: laughing, reminiscing, breaking into song and (nice to see) looking energized. But these freshly shot segments aren’t the anchor of Klein’s narrative. Rather than assemble a soup-to-nuts tale hamstrung by chronology, he shrewdly offers up her story as an all-star revue about her ascent. He positions Minnelli’s hard-fought stardom emerging from under her mother’s rainbow-shaped shadow as a collaboration with many caring mentors — adoring champions and friends who saw gifts too real to be denied.
And what mentors! Kay Thompson played mother and confidante, Charles Aznavour taught her song-acting, Bob Fosse streamlined her movement, lyricist Fred Ebb drew inspiration from her, and she was a fashion muse for Halston. They may not be around anymore, but their archival presence here, along with historical context from longtime pal Michael Feinstein (the movie’s dominant interviewee), paints a picture of love, toil and glamour from the ’60s onward that is privileged in its peek at backstage emotional support in an unforgiving business. Minnelli was the perfect talent for a vulnerable new age, projecting strength and fragility equally with those gams, eyelashes and belted feelings.
Sure, being Judy Garland’s daughter gets you a courtesy look — and, from Mama, inklings of jealousy — but a decade that takes somebody from a teenage Tony (“Flora the Red Menace”) to a 20-something Oscar (“Cabaret”) and Emmy (for the incredible special “Liza With a Z”) to cover-model status, only happens when you’re working harder than anyone else. (The movie’s chapter headings, on the other hand, quotes taken from key learning curves in Minnelli’s life, veer a little too close to the kinds of cheesy titles you see on quickie memoirs: “Don’t Go Around With People You Don’t Like” and “Not Everything Has to Be a National Anthem.”)
The handling of childhood, marriages, lovers and addictions are where you can sense a velvet rope being gently pulled in front — we get glimpses but nothing too deep, save the reminder that being public about her struggles also made her an honesty icon as well as a red-sequined one. Those famous sequins, by the way, were Halston’s genius move to hide her perspiration, just as Thompson’s larger-than-life friendship helped hide her grief after her mom’s death, and Fosse’s choreography thrillingly deflected a self-consciousness about her scoliosis. It’s no wonder, in that world of savvy deflection, she knew how to make denial a powerful tool on the bullet train to triumph.
And yet inside the insanity of a famous It girl’s breathless ups and downs, beyond the fascinating history that “Liza” delightfully unravels, there’s a comforting takeaway: the warmth and respect with which friends and loved ones old and new — Feinstein, Ben Vereen, Mia Farrow, John Kander, Darren Criss — talk about her on camera. What “Liza” touchingly suggests is those people are life’s real EGOT.
‘Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story’
Not rated
Running time: 1 hour, 44 minutes
Playing: Opens Friday, Jan. 31, Laemmle Royal, West Los Angeles; Laemmle Town Center, Encino
Bengaluru, January 30: The Indian automotive sector, which contributes approximately 7 per cent to the country’s GDP, is likely to see 70 per cent workforce expansion in the second half of FY25, a report showed on Thursday.
The automotive sector is experiencing a net employment change of 8.5 per cent, with hiring momentum fuelled by growing consumer interest in electric vehicles (EVs), premium models, and high-tech, connected automobiles, said the report by TeamLease Services, India’s premier staffing solutions company. Tata Motors Q3 Results: Net Profit Down 22% at INR 5,451 Crore, Revenues From Operations Up 2.7% Amid 19% Higher EV Sales.
This surge in demand is compelling companies to ramp up EV production and integrate advanced technologies, creating a robust demand for specialised roles such as robotics experts, software engineers, and supply chain managers. A significant 70 per cent of employers in the sector plan to expand their workforce, showcasing the industry’s growth trajectory and its pivotal role in the Indian economy.
The geographical distribution of hiring trends reveals that Chennai (63 per cent), Mumbai (62 per cent), and Delhi (61 per cent) are the leading cities for workforce expansion in existing roles. For new job opportunities, Gurgaon took the lead, with 19 per cent of employers indicating expansion, followed closely by Mumbai, Indore, and Coimbatore, each at 15 per cent, according to the report.
“The automotive sector is witnessing a shift as it adapts to changing consumer preferences and technological advancements. The focus on EVs, connected vehicles, and premium models has redefined the industry’s growth narrative and talent requirements,” said Subburathinam P, Chief Operating Officer, TeamLease Services.
Companies are investing in specialized skill sets like IoT, AI and Analytics while optimizing existing resources to stay competitive. This dynamic interplay between innovation and workforce strategy positions the sector as a key driver of India’s economic and employment growth, he mentioned.
By function, engineering roles dominate hiring intent at 66 per cent, followed by sales (60 per cent) and information and communication technology (ICT) roles (56 per cent). A significant 82 per cent of employers in the sector are extending working hours to meet seasonal demand rather than solely expanding their workforce. Maruti Suzuki Q3 Results: Net Profit Up 16% at INR 3,727 Crore in 3rd Quarter of FY25; Revenue at INR 38,764 Crore.
This approach reflects a conscious effort to balance productivity with cost efficiency, particularly in a sector marked by rapid technological advancements and shifting market dynamics, said the report.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 30, 2025 07:23 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Meta employees typically vote on which questions executives should address at companywide meetings. Ahead of such a gathering scheduled for Thursday, several of the most-endorsed questions were related to DEI. But Meta leadership have told employees that the popularity of a certain question no longer guarantees that it will be answered by company leadership, according to one of the employees. The New York Times earlier reported the change.
A number of US companies, including in the tech industry, removed mentions of diversity goals and programs in their annual filings about a year ago amid growing public criticism of the initiatives in the form of civil lawsuits and pressure from activist investors. A new round of cutbacks have been announced by retailers, restaurants, manufacturers, and tech developers as President Donald Trump returned to the White House this month.
Trump has repeatedly criticized DEI policies and programs, calling them “nonsense” and “discriminatory.” After he was inaugurated on January 20, Trump quickly moved to end DEI programs at agencies across the federal government.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has sought to warm his once-frosty relationship with the president over the past few months. On Wednesday, Meta and Trump reached an agreement to settle a lawsuit Trump filed over the temporary suspension of his user account after the January 6 Capitol insurrection, according to a federal court filing. Meta agreed to pay about $25 million, with most of the funds going toward Trump’s future presidential library, The Wall Street Journal reported. Dani Lever, a Meta spokesperson, confirmed the reporting to WIRED. Trump’s attorneys in the case did not respond to requests for comment.
Zuckerberg didn’t acknowledge the settlement on the company’s quarterly earnings call on Wednesday, but did applaud the president. “We now have a US administration that is proud of our leading companies, prioritizes American technology winning, and that will defend our values and interests abroad,” he said. “And I am optimistic about the progress and innovation that this can unwind.”
At Meta, the effect of the DEI cuts may be muted, in part, because the company has been working on trimming them for some time behind the scenes, according to a former Meta employee directly familiar with the changes. “It’s been a slow, painful death,” they say. After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, then chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg spearheaded the company’s increased commitments to diversity, including commissioning an internal civil rights audit. In its 2022 diversity report, Meta noted that it had doubled the number of women and Black staff members since 2019 as part of its diversity goals.
With Sandberg’s support, the former Meta employee says, “there was like this huge rush of energy to make a difference.” But in July 2022, Sandberg announced her departure from day-to-day operations at the company. Around that same time, the tech giant announced that it would start identifying teams to let go during upcoming widespread layoffs, which took place several months later. The eventual cuts affected some 11,000 people and were the first blow to Meta’s progress on diversity, the former employee alleges.
El Salvador is introducing reforms to the use of Bitcoin in its financial and industrial sectors. The Central American country has agreed on a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to receive a loan of $1.4 billion (roughly Rs. 12,130 crore). As part of the agreement between the IMF and El Salvador, the government will limit its engagement with the world’s most widely used cryptocurrency. To align with IMF’s condition, El Salvador has made BTC payments voluntary for local merchants in the private sector. A report by Reuters said that this decision was approved and finalised by the country’s legislature earlier this week.
Lawmaker Elisa Rosales extended the amendment to the Legislative Assembly for a voting process this week. There were only two votes against the reform, while 55 legislators voted in favour, leading to its finalisation. Rosales said the move would promote and ensure a practical use of the crypto asset that will subsequently strengthen its permanence as a legal tender, Reuters reported added.
El Salvador Rushes Crypto Reforms to Receive IMF Loan
The deal between El Salvador and the IMF was finalised in December 2024. Over the next 40 months, the IMF will give the country a loan of $1.4 billion (roughly Rs. 12,130 crore) to help stabilise the country’s economy. At the time, the IMF said, “The Salvadoran authorities and a staff team from the IMF have reached staff-level agreement on a 40-month extended arrangement to address balance of payment needs and support the government’s economic reforms. The potential risks of the Bitcoin project will be diminished significantly in line with fund policies. Legal reforms will make acceptance of Bitcoin by the private sector voluntary.”
As part of the agreement, El Salvador will also ‘confine’ its public sector’s exposure to BTC-related activities. As per the IMF’s instructions, the country must accept taxes only in the form of US dollars, and not BTC. In addition, the country has also been asked to gradually unwind its participation in pushing adoption of its crypto wallet ‘Chivo’.
The IMF withheld financial aid to El Salvador since April 2024 Later in October, the IMF asked the country to narrow the scope of its Bitcoin legislation and limit the exposure of the public to this volatile asset.
While El Salvador incurred the IMF’s wrath due to its crypto-friendly policies, it also managed to attract Web3 firms to establish their offices in the country. Tether said it would relocate its headquarters to El Salvador. Similarly, Jack Dorsey-backed Bitcoin miner Ocean also moved its head office there last year.
Google is launching a limited test using AI to automatically generate background images for Shopping Ad product listings.
How it works. The AI system will:
Generate contextual background scenes for existing product images.
Maintain the original product appearance without alterations.
Require human review and approval before ads go live.
Why we care. This update represents a significant shift in how product photography can be handled in ecommerce advertising. Moreover, since product presentation directly influences consumer purchasing decisions, this automated enhancement could potentially improve conversion rates without requiring additional investment in creative assets.
On the other hand, do you want Google automating the image that shows on the background of shopping ads, when we have hears advertisers lack of confidence in AI being able to reflect brand guidelines in AI generated creatives accurately?
Worth noting. Advertisers can opt out of the test if they prefer to maintain complete control over their product imagery.
The big picture. This move aligns with Google’s broader strategy of integrating AI across its advertising products, potentially democratizing access to high-quality product presentation for smaller retailers who can’t afford professional studio photography.
First seen. This update was first brought to our attention by Samantha Noble, founder of Biddable Moments, who shared an email from Google on LinkedIn:
What we’re watching. How consumers respond to AI-generated backgrounds and whether this leads to measurable improvements in shopping ad performance.
Bottom line. Google is betting that AI-enhanced product imagery will drive better ad performance, though advertisers maintain the final say in whether their products participate in this experimental feature.
The long-running tabletop mech game BattleTech has spawned numerous video games, including MechWarrior, MechAssault, and 2018’s BattleTech, but if you’ve ever wanted to get into the board game that started it all, now is the perfect time. The game recently celebrated its 40th birthday with a new 40th Anniversary Edition of the core box, and various new expansions have launched in the months since, including new mech minis, source books, and more. The latest new releases include the BattleTech: Mercenaries expansion and a bunch of standalone mech and vehicle minis to add to your tabletop sessions.
The BattleTech: Mercenaries box includes eight BattleTech miniatures and four vehicle miniatures, plus a gameplay primer, rulebook, punch-out tokens, maps, pilot cards, Battlefield Support cards, and a premade campaign to play through. Note that this expansion requires the BattleTech: Game of Armored Combat 40th Anniversary Edition to play.
Along with the new Mercenaries box, you can also expand your BattleTech collection with a batch of new miniatures. There are five packs available now, each of which includes multiple mech or vehicle minis and associated pilot cards, such as the Inner Sphere Tecon Lance with Firestarter, Ostscout, Spector, and Javelin mechs, or the Clan Cavalry Star set with the Black Python, Shadow Hawk, Griffin, Jenner, and Locust mechs. Those sets are available now, while the Inner Sphere Security Lance box with Marauder, Archer, Atlas, and Grasshopper mechs is available to preorder for $30 ahead of its February 5 release date. Check out all the new and upcoming BattleTech miniatures in the list below.
New BattleTech mech and vehicle miniatures
If these new BattleTech models have caught your eye, but you haven’t gotten into the game yet, you’ll want to check out the BattleTech: A Game of Armored Combat 40th Anniversary box set that launched last year. Not only is it required to use these new expansions, but it’s also a comprehensive standalone set that includes everything you need to start playing, including 8 minis, a rulebook, game pieces, and more. It’s available for $58.19 at Amazon. However, if you just want to ease into the game, then the 40th Anniversary Beginner Box is a worthwhile alternative. IThe $24 box set includes two mech minis, simplified quick-start rules, and a map sheet, which is the bare minimum you need to play basic 1-on-1 matches or start your own mech squad.
BattleTech 40th Anniversary Edition
Beyond these starter sets and new expansions, there are aso numerous other BattleTech releases you can pick up, including miniatures, card decks, premade campaigns, supplemental reference books, and more. It’s worth noting that all BattleTech miniatures come fully assembled but unpainted. If you want to paint your collection to add some more detail to your tabletop skirmishes, you can pick up the BattleTech Mercenaries Paint Set with 20 colors for $76.39 (was $90). Check out the list below for some BattleTech recommendations, or browse the full BattleTech lineup at Amazon.
More BattleTech Tabletop Deals
The BattleTech universe spans more than just the tabletop series. It’s also the basis for the long-running Merchwarrior video game, which recently saw its own mercenaries-themed entry, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, on PC. You can pick up the Steam version for $30 at Fanatical. Like other MechWarrior titles, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is a mech combat sim, featuring real-time combat where you directly pilot a big, stompy death machine in single-player missions against BattleTech’s various inter-planetary clans. If you prefer something more tactical, the 2018 turn-based PC strategy game BattleTech is worth checking out. Players control squads of customized mechs in deadly skirmishes akin to the tabletop game its based on. The standard edition $36 at Fanatical (was $40), but you can also grab the BattleTech: Mercenary Collection for $80.30 (was $89.23), which includes the base game, the full season pass, and additional content.
BattleTech and MechWarrior PC Games
BattleTech also has an expansive line of official novels, many of which are on sale at Amazon. Check out a few in the list below.
BattleTech Books
Disclosure: GameSpot and Fanatical are both owned by Fandom.
Systemic lupus erythematosus, more commonly known as lupus, has a variety of symptoms and room for improvement when it comes to treatment.
Cutaneous lupus erythematosus is a common manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus.
The condition is characterized by rashes on various parts of the body including the face and scalp, hair loss and scarring of the skin.
The rashes are caused by inflammation from the immune system fighting the body.
The standard treatment for cutaneous lupus erythematosus is using immunosuppressants and biologic drugs to reduce inflammation.
While the medications can be helpful, many patients with systemic lupus erythematosus already take a high number of drugs and are looking for other treatment methods other than pills.
J. Michelle Kahlenberg, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of internal medicine in the Division of Rheumatology at University of Michigan Health led a team of researchers looking at one of these alternatives, a topical treatment called mupirocin.
This trial was based on Kahlenberg’s previous discovery that cutaneous lupus rashes are often colonized with a common skin bacteria, Staphyloccous areus, also known asstaph, and contributes to inflammation in the rashes.
Mupirocin kills this type of bacteria.
The study randomly selected systemic lupus erythematosus patients currently experiencing cutaneous lupus erythematosus flares to treat their skin lesions with mupirocin or with an inactive control, petrolatum jelly.
Samples from the nose and lesional skin were used to determine baseline and post treatment Staphylococcus abundance and microbial community profiles.
Paired samples collected prior to treatment with the topical solution and seven days after treatment showed decreases in lesional staphylococcus aureusin the mupirocin treated samples.
Importantly, the reduction in staph also was accompanied by a reduction in inflammatory signals, including interferon-driven gene expression, in the lesions.
“In addition to decreasing the inflammation by decreasing lesional staphylococcus aureus, the mupirocin treatment also lowered skin monocyte levels, which are important in driving cutaneous lupus,” said Kahlenberg.
Mupirocin is a prescription treatment, and while this early study showed signs of decreasing inflammation, the study wasn’t designed to see if it can decrease the rash of cutaneous lupus erythematosus.
“Additional larger studies are needed to determine whether topical antibiotics will be helpful to make rashes go away,” Kahlenberg said.
“However, this is an exciting first step to show that there may be additional treatments that can improve inflammation beyond our usual immunosuppressant and biologic drugs.”
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There are already more than hundreds of hormones known to exist in the human body. By sending information to your organs, skin, muscles and other tissues via your blood, hormones help your body coordinate various processes.
Are your hormones out of control? The silent cancer risks you can’t ignore!(Image by Unsplash)
The majority of the tissues (mostly glands) that produce and release hormones are part of your endocrine system. In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Varini N, Senior Consultant – Obestertrician and Gynaecologist at Milann Fertility Center in Bengaluru, shared, “Numerous body functions, such as metabolism, homeostasis (continuous internal balance), which includes blood pressure and blood sugar regulation, fluid (water) and electrolyte balance, body temperature, growth and development, sexual function, reproduction, sleep-wake cycle and mood, are all regulated by hormones.”
She further revealed, “A small amount of hormones can have a big impact. Due to this, even small variations in levels can have a big impact on your body and result in diseases that need medical attention. On the other hand, a hormonal imbalance or extended exposure to specific hormones may raise the chance of developing reproductive malignancies. Ovarian hormones like progesterone and oestrogen can raise the risk of ovarian, endometrial and breast cancers, among other reproductive cancers. Cell division is influenced by hormones, and this can result in the accumulation of genetic mutations and cancer.”
Study suggests that chronic stress can rev up the hormone epinephrine, which further boosts an enzyme called lactate dehydrogenase that can trigger breast cancer stem cells.(Image by Unsplash)
Factors that raise the chance of developing reproductive cancer –
1. Reproductive patterns: The risk of breast cancer may be elevated by early menstruation, late menopause, and never having given birth.
2. The use of hormone replacement treatment (HRT), particularly when oestrogen and progestin are combined, can raise the risk of breast cancer.
3. Obesity: The risk of endometrial cancer and also breast cancer might rise with extreme weight.
4. Endometriosis: Type I ovarian cancers are closely linked to endometriosis.
The impact of hormones on reproductive cancers
The health of the reproductive system depends on hormones like testosterone, progesterone and oestrogen. However, several malignancies have been connected to chronic or excessive exposure to these hormones:
1. Breast Cancer: Progesterone and oestrogen have a major role in breast cancer development. The risk is increased for women who use hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for an extended period of time, have an early menarche, or have a late menopause. Breast cancer cells that are hormone-sensitive may proliferate more rapidly as a result of these hormones.
2. Ovarian Cancer: Research indicates that a woman’s chance of developing ovarian cancer may be influenced by hormonal factors, such as the number of ovulatory cycles she undergoes. Disorders that interfere with the natural balance of hormones, such as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), may also be involved.
3. Endometrial Cancer: One of the main risk factors for endometrial cancer is unopposed oestrogen exposure, which occurs when progesterone levels are not high enough to balance oestrogen. Because fat cells produce oestrogen, this disease is frequently seen in obese women. Similar effect is seen in PCOS.
4. Prostate Cancer: Dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a stronger version of testosterone and testosterone itself are linked to prostate cancer in males. Prostate malignant cells may proliferate in response to elevated amounts of these hormones.
Mechanisms linking hormones to cancer
Hormones affect cancer risk in a number of ways –
1. Cell Proliferation: In tissues that are hormone-sensitive, hormones such as testosterone and oestrogen encourage cell division. Mutations brought on by increased cell division increase the risk of developing cancer.
2. DNA Damage: A number of hormones have the ability to generate metabolites that cause DNA damage and oxidative stress, which can aid in the development of cancer.
3. Receptor Activation: When hormones attach to particular cell receptors, they initiate processes that may result in unchecked cell division.
4. Immune Suppression: Unbalanced hormones can make it more difficult for the immune system to identify and eliminate aberrant cells, which promotes the growth of malignant cells.
Risk factors
Dr Varini N said, “Age, family history, lifestyle choices, and medical history are some of the factors that can make the hormonal relationship to reproductive cancers worse. Because of their cumulative exposure to hormones, older persons are more likely to develop hormonal malignancies. The consequences of hormone exposure can be amplified by genetic predispositions, such as mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2.”
A new report warns against rising breast cancer cases. (Pexel)
She added, “Vulnerability is increased by diseases like PCOS, endometriosis, and long-term hormone therapy use. Oestrogen and progesterone, two female sex hormones, are dosed in birth control pills to regulate fertility. Endometrial and ovarian cancer risk may be reduced by them. On the other hand, they marginally raise the risk of cervical and breast cancer.”
Prevention and early detection
Raising awareness and educating people about early signs and symptoms is the most popular and successful preventative strategy. Dr Varini N concluded, “Hormone levels can be regulated by eating a balanced diet, exercising frequently, and keeping a healthy weight. For early detection, routine screenings such as PSA tests, pelvic examinations, and mammograms are crucial. Preventive interventions such as selective oestrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) or prophylactic surgery may be explored for high-risk patients. Risk can be decreased by using oral contraceptives and hormone replacement treatments sparingly and under medical supervision.”
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.
Takeda CEO Christophe Weber plans to retire next year after a decade steering the Japanese drugmaker, a tenure in which he led Takeda through one of the largest pharmaceutical mergers in history and a major research and development revamp.
Julie Kim, currently president of the company’s U.S. business unit, will succeed Weber, backed by a unanimous vote of Takeda’s board. Kim, a graduate of Dartmouth University and Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, spent more than 13 years at Baxter International and then worked for the Baxter spinoff Baxalta, which became part of Shire in 2016 and then Takeda in 2019.
Weber praised Kim’s “values, intellect, grit and dedication to our people and patients” in a statement released by Takeda Thursday. Weber will work with Kim over the next year and a half on the transition and then plans to leave the company without holding a board seat.
Weber, who joined Takeda in 2014 and became CEO the following year, is one of the longest-tenured CEOs in the pharmaceutical industry. He arrived at Takeda after more than 21 years at GSK in various positions, finishing as president and general manager for vaccines.
As CEO, Weber set out to shake up Takeda and turn the centuries-old company into a stronger global competitor. In 2016, soon after he became CEO, Takeda announced a restructuring that refocused research on three therapeutic areas and centralized operations in San Diego, Boston and Shonan, Japan.
Takeda’s $62 billion takeover of Shire in 2019 supercharged the effort, shaving five years off the company’s projected timelines for profit goals, R&D chief Andy Plump said at the time. The deal gave Takeda a rare disease business, stronger positions in hematology and immunology and access to a greater market share in the U.S.
Still, some questioned whether the Shire deal was worth the cost. And Takeda faced several setbacks during Weber’s tenure, including manufacturing difficulties for a drug acquired in the Shire deal, a misfire in seeking U.S. approval for a dengue vaccine and the withdrawal of a lung cancer drug. In 2024, the company announced another restructuring likely to result in layoffs.
When Kim takes the reins at Takeda next year, she will become one of the few female CEOs leading top drugmakers, joining the ranks of GSK’s Emma Walmsley, Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Reshma Kewalramani and Merck KGaA’s Belén Garijo.
Kim first joined Baxter in 2001, moving on to become head of business model innovation at Baxalta before its takeover by Shire. Her last position at Shire was global franchise head for hematology before Shire’s takeover by Takeda. She served as president of Takeda’s plasma-derived therapies business unit before becoming president of the company’s U.S. business unit in 2022.
2025 is shaping up to be a better economic year than we have had in 2024.
Slower aggregate house price growth in 2025 is expected, with individual city outcomes dependent upon relative affordability.
Affordability was the reason that lower-priced dwellings rose by more than higher-priced one’s last year.
Supply was the key factor that drove house price growth;
Historically house prices rise following rate cuts; the extent of the rise though is also driven by other economic and financial variables;
Are you wondering what lies ahead for Australia’s housing market?
After an eventful 2024 where dwelling prices rose by an average of 7% nationally, it’s time to unpack what’s driving the market and what investors and homeowners can expect this year.
Here’s what the latest data and analysis from the Bank of Queensland Housing Market Update reveal.
What drove the market in 2024?
Last year, affordability and supply were the two dominant factors shaping the property market according to Bank of Queensland’s Chief Economist, Peter Munckton.
Lower-priced dwellings outperformed higher-end properties in every major city, reflecting many buyers’ financial constraints.
Affordability concerns, compounded by the lack of interest rate cuts, were key drivers here according to Munkton.
Interestingly, unit prices outpaced houses in cities with the highest growth, such as Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth, because they offered more affordable entry points for buyers.
Conversely, regional areas like South Australia and the Northern Territory saw stronger demand for houses, driven by affordability pressures spilling over from the cities.
Supply and its impact
The availability of properties for sale varied significantly between cities and played a crucial role in price movements.
Cities like Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra saw higher levels of listings, which tempered price growth.
Meanwhile, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth experienced tight supply, pushing prices higher as competition intensified.
This imbalance of supply was a decisive factor, according to the BOQ Report, particularly as new housing construction remained low across the board.
The influence of interest rates
Bank of Queensland’s Chief Economist, Peter Munckton explained that historically, interest rate cuts have been a catalyst for housing price growth.
Since 1980, there have been 10 rate-cutting cycles in Australia, and in each case, house prices increased over the following two years.
However, the extent of these gains varied depending on other economic and financial conditions, such as employment levels, population growth, and credit availability.
For example:
The late 1980s saw a sharp rise in prices due to significant rate cuts and deregulation of financial markets.
The early 2020s witnessed strong growth driven by low rates, robust population growth, and quantitative easing policies from the RBA.
However, many of these conditions aren’t present today.
With modest rate cuts anticipated in 2025 (around 0.5%-0.75%), price growth is expected to be more subdued.
What’s in store for 2025?
Looking forward, slower house price growth is anticipated across the board according to Munckton. .
While rate cuts may provide some relief, affordability challenges and elevated listing levels in certain cities will likely constrain growth.
Here’s the forecast for standalone house prices in 2025, based on data from the Bank of Queensland and CoreLogic:
Australia-wide: +3%
Sydney: +1%
Melbourne: +2%
Brisbane: +5%
Adelaide: +6%
Perth: +9%
Hobart: +3%
Darwin: +4%
Canberra: +5%
This means that cities like Melbourne, Hobart, Canberra, and Darwin, where price growth was weaker in 2024, may see better performance in 2025 and beyond.
On the other hand, markets that excelled last year, like Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth, could face affordability-driven slowdowns.
Final thoughts
The Australian property market is entering a phase of more modest growth.
While some cities will outperform, others may face headwinds.
For seasoned investors, this period presents an opportunity to fine-tune strategies, diversify portfolios, and prepare for the next phase of the market cycle.
If you’re considering your next move, take a close look at the fundamentals driving each market.
As I always say, timing, location, and a deep understanding of local dynamics will be the keys to success.
About Brett Warren Brett Warren is National Director of Metropole Properties and uses his two decades of property investment experience to advise clients how to grow, protect and pass on their wealth through strategic property advice.
It’s not easy to find yourself drawn to a man who is separated from his wife but not legally divorced. No matter how good being with him feels or how solid your connection seems, a part of you is always on the lookout for red flags when dating a separated man. This is exactly what happened to Julie, a midwife and birth doula, who met a separated man on a dating app and started seeing him.
She recently wrote to Bonobology, seeking direction from our panel of experts on whether or not her decision of dating a separated man was right. “My partner has been separated from his wife for three years now but the divorce is not even close to coming through. We have been dating for 4 months and about two weeks back he asked me to be exclusive. He’s talking about us taking a week-long trip together and sometimes alludes to what it’d be like for us to live together. But never talks about the status of his divorce proceedings or when the divorce is likely to be finalized.
“While I’m excited by the idea of being in a committed relationship with a man I’ve come to adore, I cannot help but worry about the fact that legally he is still married. Also, his being so closed off about his divorce makes me worry about whether this relationship has a future. I’m 38, and have no interest in being a perpetual girlfriend to someone or ending up in a dead-end relationship.”
The fears and anxieties around dating a man going through divorce had me intrigued, and as I delved deeper into the matter, I discovered that there are many women like Julie, out there, wrestling with the dilemma of whether or not to date a man going through a divorce. So, I thought it apt to put together this detailed guide on dating a separated man, addressing questions about whether it’s ever okay, the green and red flags you need to be mindful of, and ways to navigate this complex relationship without letting it take a toll on your emotional well-being. If you’re currently on the fence about dating a man who is separated but not divorced, read on to get some clarity on how best to handle this situation.
Is It Okay to Date a Separated Man?
The first question that comes to mind when you find yourself drawn to a man who’s separated but not divorced is, “Is it okay to date a separated man?” As this OP on r/AskWomenOver30 asks, “I’m starting to see a man that’s been separated for about a year but the divorce is stalled arguing over properties that he came into the marriage with. He has two kids and I have one. I’ve never dated a guy in this position and I’m very new to dating since having the baby myself. I’m honestly really really excited about him because he seems super into me and I’m super into him too. I’m 30 and he’s 36. What is the hard wisdom that I can maybe avoid learning the hard way?”
You see, dating a separated man is bound to bring up such concerns because it’s the grayest of gray areas when it comes to relationships. The man you’re dating or considering dating is technically single and technically married at the same time. While it has all the markers of a potentially complicated relationship, it’s not necessarily a bad idea. Whether or not dating a separated man is okay, ultimately, boils down to the specifics of his situation and what you’re comfortable with. To decide whether or not it’d be okay for you to pursue this connection, here are a few factors you need to consider:
1. What’s his situation?
Is he ready to invest in a relationship?
Whether a man dating while separated is a red flag depends on the specifics of his situation. For instance, if he has been separated from his wife for years and the divorce hasn’t come through because of the red tape or certain contentious issues they haven’t been able to hash out, he may have had the time to process the upheaval of emotions over his marriage falling apart and be in a place where he can turn over a new leaf.
Being at peace with his past, not being aggressively hostile toward his ex, or still being hung up on her are some signs a separated man is ready to date. On the other hand, if he’s fresh out of a marriage, he might still be navigating grief, guilt, or anger. In that case, you need to ask yourself: Is he ready to give you the emotional energy a relationship requires?
Dr. Rachel Summers, a relationship counselor, advises, “Before committing, make sure you understand the nature of his separation. Is it amicable? Are there unresolved conflicts or legal battles? His emotional availability depends largely on how he’s handling this transition.”
Related Reading: 7 Important Things To Know About Dating While Separated
2. What are his intentions?
Before you end up falling in love with a man going through divorce, make sure you understand what his intentions are or what he seeks from jumping into the dating pool when his marriage is not even cold yet. Why is dating while separated? Is he seeking genuine companionship, or is he trying to distract himself from pain? Psychologist Dr. Mark McCarthy says, “Some people jump into dating too soon to fill a void or escape loneliness. Make sure he’s dating you for the right reasons—not looking for a rebound relationship.”
3. Are you ready to handle the complexity of this relationship?
Dating a separated man comes with baggage, more often than not. For example, he might still have financial or co-parenting ties with his ex that require them to meet and interact on a regular basis. Now, even if there is nothing going on or left between him and his ex, all that history can complicate things. Are you emotionally prepared to handle it? If not, dating this man may not be for you, not because you’re not right for each other but because the circumstances aren’t.
4. What does your gut say?
Listen to your instincts
How does being with him make you feel? Do you feel secure? Or do lingering doubts and insecurities creep in? Are you able to believe his version of the story without any second thoughts? Or do you worry that there may be more there than meets the eye? Are you subconsciously looking for red flags when dating a separated man or do you feel at ease? These feelings, thoughts, or even physical sensations can be a manifestation of your instinct for self-preservation, and trusting them is essential.
Dr. Summers emphasizes, “Your comfort matters as much as his story. If something feels off, it’s okay to step back and reevaluate.” Dating a separated man isn’t a one-size-fits-all situation. If he’s genuinely ready for a relationship and you feel confident in his intentions, it could work out beautifully. But if his unresolved issues weigh you down, walking away from a separated man is a completely valid choice too.
Related Reading: 21 Huge First Date Red Flags You Should Be Wary Of
11 Red Flags When Dating A Separated Man
Dating a separated man can be an emotional rollercoaster. As this OP on r/Divorce, who has been dating a separated dad, learned when she was already too deep in the relationship. The man she’s with has been separated for four months, out of which they’ve been dating for two (at the time of her post), and eventually, anxieties and insecurities began to creep in.
She says, “…He talks about his ex a lot… which had me concerned a bit at first…. but I get it, every experience he’s had since a teenager she was there, so it’s hard… For context, she ended things with him. He then tried to get her back, went to therapy and everything. She refused to do the couples counseling and said they were done. Then he started online dating as a way to cope… Then she goes and says she wants him back…and he says NOPE he’s done! Then he met me…. and said things changed.
“Since his ex has realized he’s definitely seeing someone… she’s messaged him novels…about how she’s never going to give up on him and how she thinks she can get him back no matter what. The other day, he and I were talking about what we think “cheating is”. I said emotional cheating like flirting with exes while with someone and asked him if they happened to flirt at all lately, he got all nervous and then showed me his phone, it was novels upon novels of them texting lots…hers were emotional and his were a bit also but he was in no way flirting.
Are you going to get sucked into his marital drama?
“…We are laying in bed in the morning. His ex called 5 times in a row, but he was on a phone call already so didn’t answer. Then she calls again, and he answers, she is at their old house moving HER things now, and she’s asking him about all sorts of pointless nonsense. Then later while eating breakfast she calls 2 more times again to waste his time while he’s with me. He lets her go eventually, and then after an hour or so, she calls again and he doesn’t answer. Then texts her to say ” I’m busy”, and she replies “Call me later, I don’t care if ur busy with ur STUPID gf! ” I felt a bit upset about that, I told him he should stand up for me and that was a bit rude of her.
“…He then gives me a heads up later that night that she asked him to do Xmas morning with her and the kids to which he agreed. He also told me a week ago she asked him to do co-parenting therapy together and he also agreed because it would benefit the kids. But now I can’t help but feel flooded with anxiety!! I’ve not felt this way about someone in so long, but I’m terrified about this situation at the same time…How can I make this work?”
As you can see, navigating the complex equation where your partner has an ex who isn’t technically their ex yet can lead to an emotionally draining relationship and can bring up fears and insecurities about the future. To make sure you don’t end up being consumed by someone else’s marital drama in the hopes of finding love, it’s absolutely crucial that you pay attention to these red flags when dating a separated man and reassess your decision to be with him if you spot any:
Related Reading: 7 Myths About Men And Divorce – Busted
1. He’s not legally divorced yet
One of the biggest red flags when dating a separated man is the fact that he is still legally married, which means he hasn’t fully closed that chapter of his life. Dr. Summers states, “A man who is still legally married may not be emotionally or practically ready to commit to someone new. Divorce can be a long and draining process, and unresolved legal ties can complicate relationships.”
Being “separated” is often a gray area. While some may use it to signify the end of a relationship, others may still be sorting out their feelings or hoping for reconciliation after the separation. Besides, divorce involves emotional and logistical disentanglement, which takes time. Without legal finality, there’s a risk he could backtrack or have unresolved ties with his ex. This is especially concerning if the man you’re with has started dating shortly after separating from this wife. In that case, there is a good chance that he is dating to numb the pain of his marriage not working out or using it as an unhealthy coping mechanism to deal with the separation.
2. He speaks negatively about his ex
Dating a man going through divorce is not a good idea if he exhibits hostility or negativity toward his ex. Labeling her as the “crazy wife” or placing the entire burden of the divorce on her, saying things like she was controlling, she was a narcissist, or calling her names indicates emotional immaturity and a lot of unresolved feelings at play.
Hearing him talk negatively about his wife may make you think that he’s over his ex but it couldn’t be farther from the truth. If he’s still venting anger, he may not have emotionally moved on and may still be emotionally tied to his ex through resentment. “If he constantly criticizes his ex, it might indicate unresolved anger or bitterness,” says psychologist Dr. Mark McCarthy, “This negativity can seep into your relationship.”
Related Reading: 15 Signs He Is Still In Love With Your Ex And Misses Her
3. He’s secretive about his separation
As we saw in Julie’s case, her partner’s reluctance to open up about the divorce and separation became a source of anxiety and insecurity. That’s what lack of transparency in a relationship does. It’s definitely a red flag because it indicates that the man you’re dating may have something to hide about the knitty-gritty of his separation. If he avoids discussing his separation or is vague about details, it may mean he’s hiding unresolved issues or is unsure about moving forward with you.
“Secrecy about the separation’s timeline or reasons suggests he might be hiding something, such as lingering ties to his marriage or unresolved conflicts.”
—Ava Torres, relationship coach
4. He rushes into the relationship
While it may feel flattering when someone makes you the center of their world and showers you with attention, rushing into a relationship can be a coping mechanism to avoid dealing with the pain of separation. Dr. Summers warns, “If he’s pushing for commitment too soon, it could be a sign he’s using the relationship to distract himself from the pain of his separation.” That’s because a healthy relationship requires time to develop.
If your partner is glossing over that process and is taking things forward at a pace that feels too heady, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on whether his feelings are genuine or if he’s using the relationship as an emotional crutch. Sarah, who moved in with her separated partner just two months into dating, realized it the hard way when she began to notice that he couldn’t stop reminiscing about his ex and his marriage. No matter what the topic of conversation, he’d invariably mention his ex, and Sarah started feeling like he wasn’t quite as over her as he’d led her to believe.
5. He’s emotionally unavailable
Being emotionally distant is a sign he is not ready for a relationship
One of the signs a separated man is ready to date is that he is emotionally available and vulnerable with his current partner, which serves as the foundation of a strong relationship. On the flip side, difficulty opening up, avoiding deep conversations, or being distant during emotional moments are red flags when dating a separated man.
These are clear indicators of emotional unavailability, which stems from not having fully processed the breaking up of his marriage. “Emotional unavailability is common among recently separated individuals,” says Dr. McCarthy. “They may need time to heal before they can fully open up.”
6. He avoids talking about the future
If he’s reluctant to discuss a future with you or talk about where the relationship is heading, it could mean that he is not ready for commitment or perhaps, hasn’t fully shut the door on the possibility of a reconciliation with his wife. If every time you bring up the topic of going away for a vacation, exchanging keys to each other’s houses, or meeting friends or family, your partner deflects, it surely means he’s unsure or hesitant to move forward. “A man who sidesteps future plans might not see you as a long-term partner,” warns Ava Torres.
Related Reading: 15 Signs A Commitment-Phobe Loves You
7. He’s still financially tied to his ex
Financial obligations like joint accounts, shared debts, or ongoing alimony disputes can become a source of friction because they create stress and limit his ability to focus on building something new with you. Besides, when you find your partner splitting bills or managing joint debts with his former spouse, it can leave you wondering, “Is he still married to her in his mind?”
This can bring a whole lot of other insecurities in the relationship. While such financial entanglements aren’t always avoidable in the dissolution of a marriage, you need clarity on whether your partner has a plan and a timeline for resolving these. If not, it’s a definite red flag that will impact your relationship sooner or later.
8. His kids aren’t aware of you
If you have been together for a considerable amount of time and he has been talking about commitment and exclusivity but is hesitant to introduce you to his children or keeps your relationship secret, it’s a red flag that he may not be prepared to put his money where his mouth is.
“Keeping you a secret from his children may suggest he’s unsure about the relationship’s seriousness,” says Dr. McCarthy. While taking time to introduce a new partner to children is wise, complete secrecy might indicate that he’s not ready to blend his old life with his new one.
9. He compares you to his ex
Comparisons mean a part of him is still hung up on his spouse
Speaking of red flags when dating a separated man, this one takes the cake because of just how hurtful or invalidating it can be. Whether positive or negative, comparisons to an ex are a sign that he’s still mentally preoccupied with his past relationship and can make you feel like you’re competing with someone who isn’t even present.
Statements like “You’re so much more understanding than my ex” or “I could never open up to my ex the way I can with you” can seem flattering at first, but if you really think about it, it means that he hasn’t been able to make peace with the past and a part of him is always thinking about his ex. Perhaps, he is using this relationship with you to validate his choice of walking away from his marriage.
10. He avoids introducing you to his friends and family
While it is understandable for a man dating while separated from his wife to take things slow in his new relationship, if you have been together for several months or even a year or more and he still hasn’t introduced you to his family or brought you into his social circle, it’s a red flag that he is either unsure of the relationship or self-conscious about his decision to start dating before his divorce has been finalized.
Either way, this hesitation means that he isn’t ready to fully integrate you into his life. “This could indicate he’s not ready to make the relationship official or is unsure about its longevity,” warns Dr. Summers. The reasons may vary but the bottom line is that if he is dragging his feet on welcoming you into her inner circle of people, he has his doubts about this relationship and it’d be wise for you to not pin your hopes on it working out for the long haul.
Related Reading: We Couldn’t End Our Relationship Nor Do We See A Future Together
11. He’s still very involved in his ex’s life
While co-parenting or shared responsibilities can necessitate some level of contact with his ex, excessive interaction might indicate lingering emotional ties. If he is keeping tabs on whether or not his ex is dating and whom, checks in to see if she is doing okay, goes out of the way to support her if she is unwell or emotionally low, these unhealthy boundaries with his ex are a clear warning sign that he may still have feelings for her. This lingering attachment can hinder your ability to build a relationship on your own terms.
9 Tips To Navigate Dating A Separated Man
If you notice any of the glaring red flags when dating a separated man, my recommendation would be that you cut your losses and walk away. Someone who hasn’t taken the time to close an important chapter of life, mourn its loss, work through the grief, and reflect on how to grow from the experience can never be the partner you deserve. Besides, all that drama comes from unresolved relationships and emotional tanglements is just not worth it.
Even if he’s done what it takes and shows all the signs a separated man is ready to date, there may be emotional and logistical complexities that can affect your relationship with him. That’s why dating a separated man requires careful navigation. Here are some expert-backed tips to help you manage this dynamic effectively.
1. Understand his separation status
A conversation about his separation is crucial for understanding if he is ready for a new relationship
It’s essential to clarify where he stands in the separation process. Is he newly separated, or has it been a while? Is the divorce finalized? These details can indicate how ready he is for a new relationship. Dr. Summers explains, “The separation timeline matters because a man who’s recently separated may still be processing emotions like grief, guilt, or anger.” To truly understand where he stands vis-a-vis the separation, you mustn’t hesitate to ask questions like,
What has this separation been like for you so far?
Do you feel ready to move on?
With all that’s going on in your life, do you think you can make space for a new relationship?
Are you sure the separation is permanent or do you think there is scope for reconciliation?
This will give him a chance to share his emotional state and the logistics involved.
2. Set clear boundaries
Setting clear boundaries is crucial when dating a separated man to define the relationship and ensure you’re not pulled into unresolved issues such as his interactions with his ex or co-parenting responsibilities. “Boundaries are crucial in ensuring you feel respected and secure while he navigates his separation,” says Ava Torres.
For instance, if his ex calls or texts any time she needs to discuss something about the children and it bothers you that it eats into your quality time together, discuss prioritizing your time together. You could put your point across gently by saying something like, “I understand you have commitments, but I’d like us to create uninterrupted time for each other.”
Related Reading: 9 Examples Of Emotional Boundaries In Relationships
3. Take it slow
As we’ve discussed, rushing into a relationship might indicate that a separated man is monkey-branching to avoid dealing with the emotional pain or using you as an emotional crutch to get through a difficult time in his life. That’s why, if you feel like he’s taking things forward at a pace you’re not comfortable with, insist on slowing down the relationship.
Dr. McCarthy advises, “Pace the relationship in a way that feels natural and allows space for both of you to address your emotions honestly.” This will allow you to build trust and gauge compatibility. You can do this by setting small milestones like meeting his close friends or having a conversation about exclusivity only when both of you feel comfortable.
4. Evaluate his emotional availability
A man who is separated from wife may still be hurting and not be emotionally ready to invest in a new relationship. Before you get too emotionally invested, look for signs a separated man is ready to date such as his ability to communicate openly and handle conflict maturely.
Notice how he responds to emotional conversations. If he avoids them or shuts down, it may indicate he’s not fully ready. That’s your cue to reassess how much you want to invest in this relationship.
“Emotional availability is about being present and engaged in the relationship. If he’s emotionally distant, it’s a red flag.”
—Dr. Anita Foster, psychologist
5. Avoid being a rebound
If he’s dating to distract himself from pain or loneliness, you risk becoming a rebound. A rebound relationship can feel intense at first but often lacks long-term stability. Dr. Summers warns, “Be cautious of relationships that move too quickly or feel like they’re based solely on physical or emotional dependency.” To make sure you don’t go down this rabbit hole of emotional pain:
Look for depth beyond initial chemistry
See if he is ready to invest in the relationship
Ask about his dating goals
Ensure they align with yours
Related Reading: Do Rebound Relationships Ever Work?
6. Be prepared for baggage
No matter how much time and effort he has invested in working through his emotional struggles and healing from the setback of a marriage not working out, there is bound to be baggage. Apart from emotional baggage, there is also logistical baggage involving ongoing legal matters, co-parenting, or financial ties.
You have to be mindful that these factors can impact your relationship and be prepared to offer support to your partner. “You don’t have to fix his problems, but you should be prepared to navigate the complexities that come with his situation,” says Ava Torres. For instance, if he’s dealing with child custody arrangements, be supportive but also assertive about how much involvement feels comfortable for you.
7. Respect his co-parenting responsibilities
If he has children, they will understandably be a top priority. However, this doesn’t mean your needs should be sidelined. For that, you need to discuss schedules and set relationship expectations early on, honestly and maturely. For example, talk about,
How you will handle time for each other when it’s his turn to have the kids
When he’d feel comfortable introducing you to the kids
What kind of role you’re likely to play in their lives
How to handle last-minute changes due to his kids’ needs without creating resentment
8. Don’t ignore red flags
Even if things start off smoothly (as they usually do), make sure you pay attention to red flags when dating a separated man as and when they emerge—be it excessive involvement with his ex, avoidance of serious conversations, emotional unavailability, or lack of boundaries with ex. And address them without delay.
For instance, if you notice that your partner is suddenly too involved in his ex’s life, say, “I’ve noticed you’re talking to and spending time with your ex a lot, and I’d like to understand what’s going on. Can we talk about it?”
Related Reading: Emotional Flooding: What Does It Mean In A Relationship?
9. Prioritize your own emotional well-being
Above all, prioritize self-preservation and safeguarding your emotional well-being. It’s easy to get caught up in someone else’s challenges, but don’t let it eclipse your happiness and emotional health. “A healthy relationship starts with two whole individuals. Don’t lose yourself while trying to support someone else,” says Ava Torres. Set boundaries to ensure you have the time and energy to invest in yourself and prioritize your:
Self-care routines
Hobbies
Friendships
Ambitions and goals
Final Thoughts
Dating a separated man can work if both of you approach the relationship with honesty, patience, and emotional readiness. By setting boundaries, taking it slow, and prioritizing open communication, you can build a connection that respects both his situation and your needs. Above all, trust your instincts—your well-being matters just as much as his.
Being A Second Wife: The 9 Challenges You Should Be Prepared For
12 Signs His Ex-Wife Wants Him Back (And What To Do)
15 Most Common Reasons For Divorce
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Giving your spouse a gift on Valentine’s Day is a sweet gesture to express love. However, planning it as a surprise can be tricky—especially if you share devices or accounts with your partner.
Use Incognito Mode or Private Browsing
Shopping in incognito mode ensures your browsing history isn’t saved. Once you close the browser, there’s no trace of the websites you visited, so others using the same device won’t see your plans.
To activate incognito mode across different browsers:
Google Chrome: Click the three dots and select New Incognito window. Or, press Ctrl + Shift + N (Windows) / ⌘ + Shift + N (Mac).
Microsoft Edge: Click the three dots and choose New InPrivate window, or use Ctrl + Shift + N (Windows) / ⌘ + Shift + N (Mac).
Mozilla Firefox: Click the three lines and select New private window, or use Ctrl + Shift + P (Windows) / ⌘ + Shift + P (Mac).
Incognito mode has different names across the major browsers, but it performs the same role.
Turn Off Email Notifications
Online stores often send order confirmation emails that could spoil the surprise. To avoid this, turn off email notifications from the retailer or temporarily mark their emails as spam. You can also use a separate email account for Valentine’s shopping, so all order-related emails go there instead.
To turn off email notifications from Gmail, click the gear icon in the top right corner. Then, choose See all settings from the menu. Head to the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab and click Create a new filter.
In the From field, enter the retailer’s email address (you can also add their name to the Subject field). Next, click Create filter and then check the box for Mark as read. Finally, click Create filter again to save the changes.
Any emails from that retailer will automatically be marked as read and won’t appear in your inbox.
Clear Browser History and Cookies
If you’re not using incognito mode while shopping, clear your browsing history and cookies to avoid leaving a trail.
In Google Chrome, click the three dots at the top right, select Delete browsing data, choose the time range and items to clear, and then click Clear data.
In Microsoft Edge, tap the three dots in the top right, head to History, and click the Bin icon. Choose what to clear, set the time range, and hit Clear now.
In Mozilla Firefox, click the three lines in the top right, then navigate to History > Clear recent history. Now select the time range and items to clear, then click Clear now.
For quicker access to these settings, use Ctrl + Shift + Delete on Windows or ⌘ + Shift + Delete on Mac.
Shopping apps also send push notifications about recent purchases. This could be a red flag for your surprise gift, so it’s best to disable them until after Valentine’s Day.
Here’s how to disable notifications:
iOS: Open Settings, tap Notifications, select the app, and toggle off Allow Notifications.
Android: Head to Settings, tap Notifications > App notifications, choose the app, and turn the toggle off.
Just remember to turn them back on again after Valentine’s Day.
Use a Different Payment Method
People often overlook their payment method when shopping online, but it can actually ruin a surprise. If you have a joint bank or credit card account with your partner, they might easily spot your purchases.
To keep things secret, try using prepaid gift cards or virtual credit cards instead. That way, they won’t notice any suspicious transactions, and you can still keep it a secret.
Choose an Alternate Shipping Address
Now that everything is set, there’s just one last step: updating the shipping address. If you usually get packages at home, consider using another place like a friend’s house, your office, or even a P.O. box. It might feel like an extra step, but it’ll ensure your special surprise doesn’t end up in the wrong spot.
These are some tips I usually use when shopping online to surprise my partner. So, if you’re planning something special this Valentine’s Day, give them a shot and see how they work for you.
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-30/Tourists-flock-to-Harbin-for-Spring-Festival-holiday-1AAd1nrqJby/img/3e100a9e0ca84bb1996c25f9335c8eee/3e100a9e0ca84bb1996c25f9335c8eee.jpeg'People visit a snowman-themed scenic area in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province on January 29, 2025. /IC
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-30/Tourists-flock-to-Harbin-for-Spring-Festival-holiday-1AAd1nrqJby/img/3e100a9e0ca84bb1996c25f9335c8eee/3e100a9e0ca84bb1996c25f9335c8eee.jpeg'People visit a snowman-themed scenic area in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province on January 29, 2025. /IC
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-30/Tourists-flock-to-Harbin-for-Spring-Festival-holiday-1AAd1nrqJby/img/3e100a9e0ca84bb1996c25f9335c8eee/3e100a9e0ca84bb1996c25f9335c8eee.jpeg'People visit a snowman-themed scenic area in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province on January 29, 2025. /IC
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-30/Tourists-flock-to-Harbin-for-Spring-Festival-holiday-1AAd1nrqJby/img/3e100a9e0ca84bb1996c25f9335c8eee/3e100a9e0ca84bb1996c25f9335c8eee.jpeg'People visit a snowman-themed scenic area in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province on January 29, 2025. /IC
Visitors are flocking to Harbin to experience its unique ice and snow culture during this year’s Spring Festival holiday. At a local scenic area, which boasts various kinds of snow sculptures, the snowmen were adorned with festive red decorations. The cute snow sculptures known as “Mr. Snowman” and “Ms. Snowflake” attracted many visitors to take pictures with them.
On Feb. 9, there’s a strong chance that Kendrick Lamar will walk onto the stage at the Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans, and call Drake a pedophile in front of hundreds of millions of viewers.
It would be hard for him to perform his smash hit “Not Like Us” without doing so — or at least without reminding viewers of the song’s most infamous hook. The track — nominated for record and song of the year at the 67th annual Grammys — is at the center of an explosive defamation suit between Drake and Universal Music Group, the label home to both artists. Drake claims UMG promoted a song that spreads false allegations about him; the label group says it merely supported the creative expression of a Pulitzer-winning artist on its roster.
In a time when prosecutors have used Young Thug’s lyrics against him in court, and the new president wants to make it easier for the rich and powerful to sue for defamation, is there any legal risk for performing “Not Like Us” at the Super Bowl?
The Times spoke with Ken White, a renowned 1st Amendment litigator, criminal defense attorney and prolific podcaster, about the stakes of Lamar’s performance in light of Drake’s suit and the changing legal environment for defamation — even in rap beefs.
It’s hard to imagine that Kendrick Lamar won’t perform “Not Like Us” at the Super Bowl. Is there any risk in playing that song on the biggest stage in America while there’s an active defamation suit against UMG about it?
There’s a risk, but it appears to be low because of the way that Drake has decided to do this. He very deliberately went after UMG, and said this isn’t about Kendrick. It was more like “I don’t want to pick a fight with Kendrick, I only want to pick a fight with UMG.” All he would be able to do is say, “UMG promoted this song at the Super Bowl, their hands got Kendrick Lamar the gig.”
It doesn’t seem to increase Lamar’s threat profile much. It’s already a widely known song, so the stance Drake seems to take is, “I’m going to go after kind of the unpopular defendant no one likes, a big record label.”
If Kendrick did perform the lyrics where he calls Drake a pedophile, does this open up the NFL or TV networks or anyone else to exposure here?
It increases the damages in theory. But does middle America listening to Kendrick at the Super Bowl really damage Drake’s reputation more than it’s already been damaged? Probably not. It does potentially bring in other people who are responsible for helping to publish what he says are false statements. I’m sure the NFL and the network and all have thought about that. It wouldn’t surprise me if they’re trying to stop it from being done at the Super Bowl.
I’m a defense lawyer, so of course I’m going to say, “Guys, don’t do this. It’s just going to give me a headache.” I’m sure every general counsel with the network or the NFL is saying, “No, for the love of God, don’t do it.” But the halftime show has always been willing to showcase stuff that is somewhat edgy. So I don’t really know how they’ll play it, but if I were an in-house counsel, I’d be telling them not to do it.
Drake’s suit notably is not aimed at Kendrick, but UMG. Drake may have his own reasons for choosing that. What do you think he’s actually trying to accomplish?
He might be, in effect, contract-negotiating with UMG by other means. He might actually want money, or he could be trying to thread the needle of repairing his reputation by not continuing to lose a rap beef. The problem is he chose to continue to participate in this, and now he doesn’t like the results.
Suing Kendrick Lamar over a rap beef would be something that Kendrick Lamar would say in a diss track that Drake would do. But Drake’s got to do something. So he figures, “Maybe this way I can go after a defendant no one likes and try to preserve my reputation, but not look like a complete loser.”
But you know, next time don’t get into a rap beef with someone much better at that than you are.
Would he have had a better chance at suing Kendrick directly?
No, I think UMG. Drake starts his complaint describing the violence against him after the song came out, because that’s the most persuasive way to present the case. Start with the most incendiary stuff to get sympathy and make people think, “Oh yeah, this actually had a very dangerous outcome.” I don’t think there’s a lot of dispute that some people took the song 100% literally and did crazy stuff.
But that’s not the real issue in a defamation case. You have to show that UMG knew that all the stuff in the song was false. But I don’t know if that’s more difficult than showing that Kendrick Lamar knew that it was false. Lamar is very popular, music labels aren’t. And it’s also one step removed, a little less embarrassing for him.
That’s part of the dance of rap beefs though, to have artistic license but a wink at real life resonance.
Drake’s complaint, to me, is completely dishonest. It completely fails to articulate the context. There’s nothing about the history between them, that this was the latest diss track in the back and forth between these guys, that it’s a rap beef that’s basically the modern version of the dozens. It just treats it as if, out of nowhere, out of pure malice, Kendrick just decides to accuse Drake of being a pedophile.
It’s an attempt to conceal one of the most important 1st Amendment issues, which is, “Is this a potentially false accusation of fact, or is it rhetoric and hyperbole?” That is a choice, but I don’t think it’s a choice that judges are going to like, because it seems awfully disingenuous. It’s an example of why you need anti-SLAPP [strategic lawsuits against public participation] statutes, because that allows you to point out, “Hey, these guys are hiding this stuff from you.”
Drake’s suit claims UMG knew the allegations in the lyrics weren’t true and pushed the song anyway. Is that risky, to have to actually do discovery about the merits of those claims?
Absolutely, but you don’t even get to that point unless you get over the initial hurdle of “Could this be defamation?” And to get there, you have to show that you know this is a provably false statement of fact. If you say, “Ken, your mom is so fat her blood type is Ragú,” my mom, God rest her, can’t sue over that, because everyone understands this is an insult, not something that’s literally true.
So if you’ve got this rap beef, the question is, does this mythical reasonable person, who is fully familiar with the context, hear a diss track and think, “Wow, this is literally true.” Or do they say “This is an art form passed down over the centuries, doing deliberately exaggerated insults against the other person?”
You can’t take it literally, which Drake’s attorneys intentionally drafted the complaint to conceal. But yeah, absolutely, once you decide it could be provably true or false, then you’d get into all the stuff in Drake’s life.
This is a weird moment for rap lyrics in courtrooms — prosecutors in the Young Thug trial tried to use his lyrics as statements about actual crimes. UMG’s defense here will likely be that this is creative expression and it can’t be defamatory. Is the environment for rap lyrics in court changing?
It’s a live wire issue in a criminal context. There’s been this dispute, “Can you take rap lyrics as evidence of genuine criminality and violence? Or is it artistic expression?” Some places have passed laws about this, some courts have seen it in different ways. There have been amendments to some rules of evidence that said you can’t use artistic expressions as evidence of intent.
I think that’s a cultural clash between rap culture and stodgy, 80-year-old white judge culture. I don’t think any judge thinks that if Johnny Cash is getting prosecuted for an assault, you’d be able to bring in “I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die” as proof of intent. Culturally, the judge would understand this expression.
The eternal problem though is that there are always some people who think that it is real. The question is whether this mythical judge-constructed reasonable person, a sober decision maker familiar with all the context and facts, if that person would take it literally.
Could this suit have any kind of chilling affect on future diss tracks like this?
I doubt it. It’s so lucrative, it’s so effective, it’s so great for marketing. I think what Drake may be looking for is the kind of outcome where UMG says “We’re ready to settle this, because everyone should understand this is artistic expression. No one takes it literally.”
But Drake is a super rich guy that’s not known for making great decisions, and he may decide that he wants to defend his honor and take this all the way.
We again have a president who has been outspoken about changing defamation laws to make it easier to sue. Should that come to pass, would that affect anyone’s calculus on speech like this song?
I’m concerned. Ten, even five years ago, I would have said no, the central pillars of law are solid. But now you’ve got a conservative movement that’s looking to undermine some of the underpinnings of defamation law, including the concept that you have to show actual malice if the plaintiff is a public figure. [President] Trump is super transactional, he’s not a legal thinker. But the whole Federalist Society crowd, some of them are absolutely pushing to make it easier for rich public figures to sue and win.
The other thing that’s changing is the legal culture. We’ve increasingly moved into this culture where performative, politically-inspired defamation lawsuits are expected and permissible. Filing a frivolous defamation claim would have been seen as an embarrassing sign of weakness, but it’s become common now.
UMG is a gigantic company. They’ve got all the lawyers they need, so it’s a much bigger problem for someone like you, a journalist, or anyone else who wants to talk about rich and powerful people. It’s not even about whether they’re going to win. It’s about the abusing the process. It’s PR management by other means.
An AI assistant created by Chinese startup DeepSeek became the number one most-downloaded app in Apple’s US App Store over the weekend, sending shock waves through Silicon Valley and causing the price of major tech stocks to plummet. Nvidia saw more than $460 billion erased from its market capitalization on Monday, a drop Bloomberg characterized as the “biggest in US stock market history.”
The shake-up stems from an open source model developed by DeepSeek called R1, which debuted earlier this month. The company said that it rivals the current industry leader: OpenAI’s 01. But what stunned the tech industry most was that DeepSeek claimed to have built its model using only a small fraction of the specialized computer chips that AI companies typically need to develop cutting-edge systems.
On Monday, DeepSeek posted a message on its website saying it was temporarily limiting new registrations due to “large-scale malicious attacks” on the company’s services.
DeepSeek’s R1 model “challenges the notion that Western AI companies hold a significant lead over Chinese ones,” Jack Clark, cofounder of the AI startup Anthropic, wrote in his newsletter. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen called it “AI’s Sputnik moment.”
Cheng Lu, a research scientist at OpenAI, said DeepSeek’s chatbot demonstrated impressive Chinese conversational skills. “It’s the first time I can feel the beauty of Chinese language created by a chatbot,” he said in an X post on Sunday.
DeepSeek’s AI assistant is currently available for free and comes with three main functions. First, users can ask the chatbot questions and receive direct answers. For example, when WIRED asked for recipe ideas incorporating pomegranate seeds, DeepSeek’s chatbot quickly provided a list of 15 options ranging from yogurt parfaits to a “Middle Eastern-inspired” rice pilaf, but it didn’t cite any specific chefs or recipes.
DeepSeek’s app also has a search mode that surfaces answers from the internet. When WIRED asked, “What are some important news stories today?” DeepSeek’s chatbot cited the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and linked to several Western news outlets such as BBC News, but not all of the stories appeared to be relevant to the topic. Ironically, one was a New York Times story about DeepSeek’s impact on the stock market.
Lastly, there’s a “DeepThink” mode that allows users to tap into DeepSeek’s R1 model, which was built upon the company’s existing V3 model. The difference between the two is that R1 has so-called “reasoning” abilities that allow it to explain step by step how it reached its conclusions. For example, when asked, “What are the most important historical events of the 20th century?” DeepSeek initially provided a long meandering answer that began with a number of broad questions.
“That’s a hundred years, so there’s a lot that happened,” read part of its reply. “I should probably break it down by decades or major themes like wars, political changes, technological advancements, social movements, etc.” DeepSeek’s chatbot then went on to cite World War II, the Cold War, and the Holocaust.
But before R1 could finish its reply, the entire answer disappeared and was replaced by a message that read, “Sorry, I’m not sure how to approach this type of question yet. Let’s chat about math, coding, and logic problems instead!” A number of experts and early adopters have noted that DeepSeek, like other tech platforms that operate in China, appears to extensively censor topics deemed sensitive by the Chinese Communist Party
But despite these limitations, DeepSeek’s free chatbot could pose a serious threat to competitors like OpenAI, which charges $20 per month to access its most powerful AI models. Unlike its Chinese counterpart, OpenAI doesn’t disclose the underlying “weights” of its models, which determine how the AI processes information. It also has declined to make public the full “chains of thought” produced by its own reasoning models.
The government is set to present the Union Budget for the next financial year on February 1. With only a couple of days until the next budget is revealed, members of India’s Web3 sector have revealed some of the changes to policy and taxation that they are hoping to see during the coming year. In addition to calling for revised crypto tax rates, crypto firms have urged the government to prioritise measures that ensure India remains competitive with other countries, particularly in the realm of emerging technologies.
Introduction of Crypto Regulation
Neither India nor the US have formulated rules or regulations to govern the burgeoning crypto sector. Leaders of crypto firms claim that India has a unique opportunity to launch itself as a business-for-blockchain hub with one of the largest pools of developers in the world.
“The US will take aggressive strides in crypto regulation. India, in the coming budget, should talk about prioritising investments to improve our digital infrastructure, expand blockchain research, and introduce clear policies to regulate the sectors of emerging technologies like blockchain, crypto, and Artificial Intelligence (AI),” Unocoin Co-Founder Sathvik Vishwanath told Gadgets 360.
Vishwanath also said that if the government aligns its approach on Web3 with global trends and focusses on digital asset innovation, the country will be competitive with other nations that are also working on the same technologies.
In the US, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has set up a special Task Force to accelerate work on crypto-related legislation. The UK plans to finalise its crypto rules by 2026. India, meanwhile, does not have any specific timeline by which it is likely to get its comprehensive crypto rules.
Tax Reforms
Cryptocurrency earnings are taxed at 30 percent in India, and a one percent tax deducted at source (TDS) is levied on each transaction. The government introduced these taxes on April 1, 2022. The crypto sector has repeatedly urged the authorities to revise and reduce these tax rates to help the sector grow.
“Currently, high taxes and TDS law in India have pushed investments pouring into the Web3 sector to other countries like the UAE. This has led to domestic innovation being hindered. Budget 2025 must come with tax rate revisions and permission for loss offsets,” said Sonu Jain, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer at 9Point Capital.
Last year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the abolishment of angel tax for all classes of investors. This rule levied taxes on investments from wealthy individuals who pour their own capital into startup businesses. It is worth noting that last year’s budget speech did not include any mentions of crypto or blockchain.
“If the Finance Minister focuses on smart taxes rules and blockchain development, it could have a big impact on India’s global position in the crypto sector, which is presently valued at over $3 trillion,” said Thangapandi Durai, CEO of Madurai, Tamil Nadu-based Koinpark crypto exchange.
A majority of marketing leaders are diversifying and adjusting their strategies due to AI search, the fragmentation of search, and a potential Google breakup, according to a new survey from enterprise SEO platform Botify.
Why we care. SEO continuing to change. Quickly. ChatGPT and other generative/answer engines have the potential to reshape the search paradigm. Meanwhile, more people believe Google’s search quality is in declining (in part due to AI Overviews taking over the most valuable space in search results and brutal algorithm updates). And many sites are seeing the erosion of organic traffic from Google.
The big picture. 62% of marketing leaders said they are diversifying and adjusting their strategies. Meanwhile, 31% intend to diversify but haven’t made any adjustments. The remaining marketing leaders are either maintaining strategy or not making any adjustments.
Non-Google search platforms. These are the non-Google Search platforms that marketing leaders are considering:
YouTube (66%)
ChatGPT (56%)
Amazon (45%)
TikTok (40%)
Measuring search. The rise of generative search and generative AI assistants has shifted how marketing leaders measured search performance over the last year significantly (55%) or slightly (36%). The remaining 9% said they haven’t changed how they measure performance. Here’s how some are now measuring success, according to the survey:
52% have shifted from rankings to presence in search snippets and appearing in answers (Google AI Overviews/ChatGPT/Perplexity).
27% have shifted from click-through rate to conversions.
7% shifted from rankings to visits.
About the data. Botify partnered with Centiment for this survey of 300 marketing department leaders (directors, VPs, or higher in the retail, ecommerce, tourism, and hospitality industries). It was conducted in December.
There’s an ongoing debate as to whether Microsoft’s Game Pass hurts or helps sales of titles that are available on the service. But as far as id Software co-founder and Doom co-creator John Romero is concerned, Game Pass is beneficial to the video game industry.
“I love it,” said Romero. “I mean, who doesn’t love Game Pass? It’s Netflix for games; who doesn’t want that? It’s great because it’s try before you buy… one thing after another thing. Really the barrier for people to play games is just access to those games. Even free-to-play games, it’s like, knowing that those games exist, and Game Pass is like ‘Here they are!'”
Romero went on to add that Game Pass “doesn’t hurt the game companies that made those games,” because players get to experience titles more quickly even if they don’t keep them. It’s unclear if Romero feels this way even about games that launch on Game Pass at the same time that they hit stores. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was seemingly unaffected by its availability on Game Pass, and it was the top-selling game in America for 2024. Conversely, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle only debuted at No. 14 on December 2024’s list of best-selling games. That game may have also been hampered by the fact that its PlayStation 5 port won’t arrive until later this spring.
Although Romero didn’t work on Doom: The Dark Ages, that title will be a day-one release on Game Pass when it arrives on May 15. And unlike Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, it will also be hitting PlayStation 5 at the same time as its debut on Xbox Series X|S.
Encouraging bilingualism at home can have many cognitive benefits, which may be particularly helpful to kids with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), new research from the University of Miami College of Arts and Sciences indicates.
A team of researchers led by Celia Romero, a graduate student in clinical psychology, along with associate professor Lynn Perry, professor Michael Alessandri, and former University professor Lucina Uddin, explored the role of bilingualism in 112 children, including typically developing children and children with autism, between the ages of 7 to 12 years old. Overall, they found that children who spoke two or more languages often had stronger executive functioning skills. This means they are able to control impulses and to switch between different tasks more easily than children who only spoke one language.
“We discovered that multilingualism is associated with improvements in executive function, which in turn is associated with improvements in autism symptoms,” Perry said. “There were hints of this in the literature before, but it was exciting to see how far reaching those differences were in this research.”
Published in the journal Autism Research, the results are significant because executive functioning skills are a key challenge for children on the spectrum but are important for all kids to thrive in school and later in the workplace. Yet, the team found the benefits of speaking more than one language were not limited to children with autism.
Key features of autism include social communication difficulties and restrictive and repetitive behaviors, as well as difficulty with executive function skills. These are mental processes that help us plan, focus, remember instructions, and manage multiple tasks effectively. While executive function skills develop and improve across the lifespan, individuals with autism often struggle with executive functioning, impacting their ability to manage daily tasks and adapt to new situations.
The study also looked at the impact of multilingualism on core symptoms of autism, including perspective taking, restricted and repetitive behaviors, and social communication.
“We also found that multilingual children have enhanced perspective taking skills, or the ability to understand someone else’s thoughts or point of view,” Romero added.
An idea called joint activation from the field of neuroscience can help explain the results. Prior research suggests that the bilingual brain has two languages constantly active and competing. As a result, the daily experience of shifting between these languages is associated with enhanced executive control. This concept is also known as the “bilingual advantage” and is a topic of much debate.
“If you have to juggle two languages, you have to suppress one in order to use the other. That’s the idea, that inhibition — or the ability to stop yourself from doing something — might be bolstered by knowing two languages,” said Uddin, now a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and director of the Brain Connectivity and Cognition Laboratory.
Romero realized she wanted to explore this topic while working in Uddin’s neuroscience lab on campus that was doing brain imaging research on children with autism. She noticed that some bilingual families did not speak to their child in their native language because they thought it may be too challenging and harmful for their child to learn more than one language.
“I started investigating this to let families know there’s no detriment for their child to learn another language, whether or not they have a neurodevelopmental disorder,” she said. “We know this through research, but often it takes time to translate that to families, so I hope this study helps address that.”
In his work as executive director of the University’s Center for Autism and Related Disabilities, Alessandri said this question often comes up with parents.
“It is wonderful to have sound research supporting our general recommendation to not restrict language exposures to children in multilingual homes,” Alessandri said. “This will surely bring a sense of relief to many of our families living with loved ones with autism.”
Romero and Perry are now doing further research with preschool children to see if bilingualism also has an impact on kids’ peer interactions, which are crucial for children’s social and cognitive development. And at UCLA, Uddin is currently conducting a large follow-up study to further investigate the impact of multilingualism on brain and cognitive development in children with autism.
About the Indian Litigation Fellowship The aim of this programme is to provide fellowships for young first-generation women litigators at the start of their career. The fellowships are intended to provide financial and mentorship support to encourage and equip more women litigators with the necessary support systems and professional training early in their careers. The […]
The post Indian Litigation Fellowship 2025 for 1st Gen Women Litigators [7 Fellows to Get Rs. 3.6L/Year Each]: Apply by Feb 28! appeared first on Lawctopus.
Entrepreneur Nikhil Kamath’s unique office balances India’s cultural heritage and art with timeless luxury. Here’s a virtual tour.
Nikhil Kamath, who co-founded Zerodha, has a really cool, fascinating office that spotlights Indian design, art and architecture. Designed by House Of Three, the richly-detailed ambience in this office is like a breath of fresh air in a world ruled by minimalistic white and grey office spaces. With its rich palette of beiges, whites, browns and greens, Nikhil Kamath’s office offers rustic and vintage vibes you would not expect in a regular office. Also read | Step inside Boney Kapoor’s stunning ₹65 crore Mumbai home with grand staircase, dreamy decor, massive rooms
Nikhil Kamath gives a glimpse inside his office. (Instagram/ House Of Three and Nikhil Kamath)
This office is raw, edgy and very Indian in nature
With an ambience that is wonderfully luxurious, unapologetically Indian and appears more lounge and less office, this office has a unique aesthetic appeal. Every room and corner in this office has a distinct personality. Traditional Indian art and artefacts brings it all together – be it on the simple yet elegant designs of the furnishings or the calming yet glorious walls.
Plants of all sizes and other natural elements add a touch of greenery to the office. Adding brown and beige accents like throw pillows, rugs, or wall art creates a rich environment, and arguably sets this workplace apart from any other.
Nikhil Kamath on the inspiration
Nikhil’s office is a fine example of integrating a dash of Indian art and architecture seamlessly within an office space. Speaking about it, Nikhil said in a recent Instagram video shared by House Of Three featuring him, entrepreneur Abhijeet Pai as well as Sounak Sen Barat and Anu Malathy Shyamsundar, who designed their office, that he wanted the office to be ‘earthy and Indian’.
“The eclectic nature of Indian art and architecture is incredible. We wanted earthy, Indian, native influences that we have grown up around. I think we’ve done a great job and this is a representation of that,” Nikhil said.
Anu added, “I think this is going to sort of set of precedent towards how people look at designing their office spaces. He’s (Nikhil) entrusted you to create something that’s so close to his heart. It’s magical the way the entire space has come through.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday told U.S. lawmakers that, if confirmed as the nation’s health secretary, he would support policies from President Donald Trump that would restrict abortion.
As head of the Department of Health and Human Services, Kennedy would have broad power over agencies that impact abortion access in the U.S., including the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates abortion medications like mifepristone, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which collects data on reproductive health.
“I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy,” Kennedy said during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. “I agree with him that the states should control abortion.”
His comments are a reversal from past statements, where Kennedy, a former Democrat, had identified as pro-choice. Prior to suspending his U.S. presidential run as an independent candidate, Kennedy said on his campaign website he would support legislation to reinstate Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that gave women the federal right to an abortion.
Trump has already enacted policies that impact abortion, including an executive order last week restricting federal funding for health programs abroad that promote or provide the procedure. Kennedy also said during Wednesday’s hearing that Trump wants him to further scrutinize the safety of mifepristone, the first medication in a two-drug regimen that can be used to end a pregnancy through 10 weeks gestation.
“I serve at the pleasure of the President. I’m going to implement his policies,” Kennedy said.
Trump, who in November nominated Kennedy to lead HHS, has promised to let Kennedy “go wild” in healthcare. The Senate is expected to vote on Kennedy’s confirmation next week.
Emergency abortion care
Kennedy appeared uncertain Wednesday about a major federal law overseen by HHS that clarifies emergency care.
The decades-old law, called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, requires hospitals to provide stabilizing emergency services to patients regardless of their ability to pay.
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., asked Kennedy whether a woman could receive an abortion in a state where the procedure is banned if she were suffering from life-threatening bleeding due to an incomplete miscarriage.
“You would agree, as an attorney, that federal law protects her right to that emergency care, correct?” Cortez Masto said.
“I don’t know,” Kennedy replied after a pause.
Cortez Masto also questioned what authority Kennedy would have as HHS secretary over EMTALA. Kennedy said he would have “budgetary power, and that it’s pretty limited to that.”
“CMS actually investigates complaints of EMTALA violations, as well as the Health and Human Services Inspector General, who, by the way, was just recently fired by Donald Trump,” Cortez Masto responded.
Although federal law mandates abortions be performed in emergencies, HHS has significant oversight into whether and how the agency penalizes states for complying with the law.
The agency ultimately sued Idaho after its near-total abortion ban went into effect, arguing the restriction conflicted with EMTALA’s mandate. The Supreme Court ruled doctors were allowed to perform abortions to stabilize a patient’s life and health, but it sidestepped the broader question about whether EMTALA superseded state abortion bans. The ruling has since created confusion about how state abortion bans and federal law conflict.
Scrutiny of mifepristone
The Supreme Court effectively preserved national access to mifepristone when it ruled unanimously in June that the plaintiffs in a high-profile legal challenge to the drug’s availability lacked standing.
The plaintiffs, led by a group called the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, had sued the FDA and mifepristone manufacturer Danco Laboratories, claiming loosened regulatory requirements caused harm to doctors who prescribed the drug.
In 2016 and 2023, the FDA relaxed rules surrounding the pill’s use, allowing for prescriptions to be dispensed via mail and permitted use through 10 weeks gestation. The drug has been approved since 2000.
The lawsuit, which was initially filed in 2023, was also seen by some in the biopharmaceutical industry as a threat to the FDA’s role regulating medicines.
During his confirmation hearing Wednesday, Kennedy indicated the Trump administration could take a closer look at the drug. “Trump has asked me to study the safety of mifepristone,” Kennedy said. “He has not yet taken a stand on how to regulate it. Whatever he does, I will implement those policies.”
In response to a question from Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., Kennedy added, “We need to know what adverse events are, we need to understand the safety of mifepristone and every other drug.” He said he would ask the National Institutes of Health and the FDA to look into safety issues, even though mifepristone’s safety has been well documented through dozens of studies.
“The studies are there, the safety is proved, the science is there,” Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., said during the hearing. “What you’re telling us is, if President Trump orders you to take action to make it harder for women to get direly needed healthcare, you’ll follow his order.”
If confirmed, Kennedy would oversee the FDA and, by extension, have authority over its regulatory policies. While HHS stepping in to overrule the FDA is not common, it has happened in the past.
If you’ve ever wondered how to make smarter money moves, whether property is still the best way to grow wealth, or how to set yourself up for financial freedom, today’s show is for you.
Sarah Megginson, personal finance expert and Head of Editorial at Finder.com.au and I unpack the Finder Wealth Builder Report, which is a fascinating deep dive into how Aussies are saving, investing, and making their money work harder
Sarah shares some eye-opening insights from the report—like what separates successful investors from those who just can’t seem to get ahead, why younger Aussies are finding it tougher to build wealth, and how small habits can lead to big financial gains over time.
Takeaways
Property remains a significant driver of wealth in Australia.
Generational wealth transfer is changing the landscape of investment.
Financial literacy is essential for making informed investment decisions, but it’s not taught to most Aussies.
2025 will present unique challenges for property investors.
Resilience is key to overcoming financial setbacks.
Alternative investments are becoming more accessible to everyday Australians.
Learning from financial losses can lead to greater wealth in the long run.
Teaching children about money is vital for their financial future.
Also, please subscribe to my new podcast Demographics Decoded with Simon Kuestenmacher – just look for Demographics Decoded wherever you are listening to this podcast and subscribe so each week we can unveil the trends shaping your future.
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CHEVIOT HILLS, Calif. — The Palisades Charter High School J.V. baseball team huddled on the all-dirt infield of their temporary home, a makeshift venue for a displaced team. The playing surface and outfield grass were patchy and uneven. With no mound, its primary use was for softball.
But it was what they had to work with. And the tragic circumstances — a fire that ravaged their school and city — that led them to this spot mattered little in that moment. What was important? The varsity captain, Ryan Hirschberg, was displeased with the junior varsity group’s effort and focus during their joint practice.
“The only reason, J.V., that you had to run today, is that you weren’t paying attention,” Hirschberg told the team after practice had ended.
“It’s not because we want to make you guys run. If we mess up, we’ll run too.”
Hirschberg is running players-only practices until coaches are allowed to join in early February, and so he did his job. Scolded them for it, then watched as they all ran mandatory sprints past the outfield and onto an adjacent field.
At that moment, this practice felt very serious. The consequences of failure felt legitimate. And there would be real punishments for not locking in on the purpose of their presence at Cheviot Hills Recreation Center, a public park the city had permitted the team to use to prepare for their season.
But in many ways, baseball didn’t matter. How could it for Ian Sullivan? A lefty pitcher whose home burned down, the fire taking with it all of his tangible childhood memories. How could it for Jett Teegardin? A junior infielder who visited his burned-down neighborhood a day later, before returning to the hotel that’s become a temporary home.
Yet in this moment, baseball mattered more than anything because they wanted it to matter. The Palisades fire upended life for all 38 baseball players who populate the J.V. and varsity rosters. They’ve come together to support one another through a traumatic experience. They don’t know where they’ll play this year, or with what uniforms or equipment, but they are determined to field a team, have their season, and now, with added meaning, compete for a championship. Baseball, for them, is a brief escape from tragedy. But it is also a chance to do something for a community that desperately needs something to rally around.
“Situations like this build character, and they show people who you are,” said Hirschberg, who has donated clothes, organized practice, started a GoFundMe that’s raised $13,000 and simply been a friend to teammates who need one.
“People don’t get to see the best of you in the best of times. It’s the worst of times where you have to show people who you are.”
On Tuesday, Jan. 7, a now infamous fire overtook the Palisades and other neighborhoods in Los Angeles. It killed dozens and destroyed thousands of homes, charring the lives and worldly possessions of everyone in its wake.
The high school — which has been used as a set for films like “Freaky Friday” and shows like “Modern Family” — was significantly damaged. And while much of the baseball field remains intact, the surrounding area was heavily impacted. The facility is inaccessible. The uniforms and equipment within it are likely unusable.
The area around Palisades Charter High School was heavily damaged. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Head coach Mike Voelkel doesn’t know where they’ll play home games this season — the hope is a mix of Loyola Marymount University, UCLA and other local colleges — but it doesn’t matter. His team will play every game on the road, if it comes to that.
“I told the kids, I said, ‘We’re playing. I don’t care how,” Voelkel recalled. “We’ll go get T-shirts if we have to. For recovery, for wellness. For the promotion of a young kid’s development. It’s important that you get back out there.
“Some people have a tendency to dwell on it, or play the victim. Those are the kind of people that stay there, sometimes the rest of their lives. I was going to do everything I could to get our kids back on the field.”
Voelkel, who lives south of the Palisades, remembers waking from a nap on the afternoon the fires began. He’d already received an email that morning instructing staff to not come ito work.
His TV was tuned to Spectrum News, where he saw California governor Gavin Newsom in the Palisades on his screen. It was then he realized just how concerning the situation could become.
He began contacting players and their families, many of whom were evacuating. A coach of 18 years, Voelkel had put so much emotional and physical labor into that team and facility. He spent that day not knowing if it would all be over.
Classes at Pali High, as it’s known colloquially, have since shifted to being completely online. But the physical separation didn’t stop his team from immediately jumping into action to help each other. Voelkel’s wife, Norma, who works in real estate, started working to make sure everyone had a place to stay.
Players were delivering supplies to their teammates. One player drove to the home of another who was out of town to collect essentials, in case the fire eventually got to them too. Major prominent companies and people started reaching out to offer supplies. Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he and some players are planning to attend a practice in the near future. The team also donated baseballs. Cincinnati Reds pitcher and L.A. native Hunter Greene donated cleats. The Pali High basketball team received tickets to Los Angeles Lakers-Golden State Warriors from Steve Kerr, who is an alum.
The support is appreciated; it doesn’t erase the trauma of having their season and lives turned upside down, the tragedy still playing out as this baseball team immediately works to rebuild. When they do take the field again, their new jerseys will have a “Pali Strong” patch stitched on them.
Voelkel was asked what this season will mean, but cut off the question before it could be completed.
“A victory,” he said flatly, so assured in the answer.
“To take all of this stuff. To piece it together. To get our families taken care of. There’s so many things. I’d like to win games, I’m very competitive. But in this situation, you have to look at the whole. There are other things that far, far outweigh the winning.”
The practice uniform on Jett Teegardin’s back was delivered to him days prior by Hirschberg. It’s one of the only sets of clothes he has.
He packed to leave for two days max, believing he and his mom would have a home to return to soon. That night, they looked at their Ring doorbell camera and saw embers flying around the neighborhood.
The next day, he returned to a home that no longer existed. Even the contents of their fireproof safe were destroyed. The neighbors he grew to love are now displaced with their community gone.
“It’s very hard. You picture yourself in your house, your room, everything that’s gone,” Teegardin said. “I was a sperm donor baby. So I didn’t really have a father figure. I’m just trying to be there for my mom, mainly. Throughout every situation, I’ve always tried to be there for her.
“Me talking to her to make sure she’s OK, makes me OK. Knowing she’s OK makes me 10 times better.”
When Ian Sullivan thinks about what he’s lost, his mind goes to his game balls. The one he earned when he was 8 years old. The yearbooks, trophies, pins from his trip to Cooperstown, N.Y. — all the relics of his childhood.
On the day he was ordered to evacuate, Sullivan thought the winds would blow the fire in the opposite direction. His parents were working, so he packed family photos, their cat and dog, then left, thinking it would be a short departure.
Instead, a week after the fire, Sullivan and 12 of his friends from fifth grade met up at a friend’s house in Calabasas. Nearly all of their homes had been destroyed. The meet-up served as a chance to be together.
“It’s a dark time right now, but light will always shine through the dark.,” he said. “The Palisades is going to be back. I feel like I’m not just playing for myself and my teammates, but I’m playing for my town, and my home.”
After the fire, Sullivan and Teegardin sent a group text message to everyone on the team. They knew that teammates might be cautious around them, given their circumstances. Sending the text, they hoped, would break down that wall.
“If this fire isn’t something to light your ass, to get you motivated to win this year, then I don’t know what is,” they wrote.
The responses started flooding in. “Hell yeah,” one sent. People that never contributed before were co-signing the messages with encouragements of their own.
“I think everyone’s more motivated than ever,” Teegardin said. “That was everyone’s spark to try their best. … We have to win now. We have to do this for us, and for our coach.
“This fire, it’s brought us a lot closer.”
It was a picturesque Wednesday afternoon, the sun just beginning to set over the practice, as a parkgoer approached the practice, curious about what was happening.
This was a regular occurrence, according to the players. People were curious for more information about what they were dealing with.
This man, with his dog, approached the gate separating the field and the sidewalk. He asked Sullivan, who was there rehabbing his injured arm, what team they were with. A conversation ensued — talk of the fire, lost homes and the upcoming season. The chit-chat was so relaxed and friendly, almost non-reflective of its subject matter.
“Good luck,” he said to Sullivan. “It’s so horrible.”
A father, Joe Stanley, had driven three of the players to practice. He sat, watching intently from the top row of the bleachers, donning a cap from the team.
“I think it’s resilience and pride, definitely. These kids are like a family,” Stanley said. “They spend a lot of time together and are a tight-knit group. This is great. They need this.”
There’s a feeling of normalcy to it all. But even amid that lull, these kids are keenly aware of their reality. Jude De Pastino, a junior, said that everyone on his team is experiencing trauma, even if they don’t feel it yet. Practice, he said, brings some normalcy.
In the first four days after the fire, he was “in a state of shock.” He traveled into the Palisades with a group of friends who’d all lost their homes. Logan Bailey, a senior captain who did the same, said he saw live wires zapping in the street, with telephone poles burning down. He said it appeared almost surreally cinematic.
“It’s beyond what you can imagine, pictures really don’t do it justice,” De Pastino said. “Our whole lives as we know it have quite literally been flattened.”
The group huddled again, just before the sun fully set, after nearly three hours of practice. Parents’ cars started filling the parking lot, waiting to pick up their sons. This reprieve was special. It was needed, and it will continue almost daily until the season starts in late February.
But for now, that reprieve was ending. And real life, scarier and more uncertain now than it’s ever been, was once again awaiting them.
“This is one of those stories you tell on your deathbed,” Bailey said. “You can be as old as it gets, and it still never leaves your mind. It’s going to stick with everyone here, for the rest of their lives.”
(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson, The Athletic; Photos: Josh Edelson / AF via Getty Images, Sam Blum)
Starting on February 18, 2025, T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile postpaid subscribers can nab an MLS Season Pass for free. That’s a $99 value.
With the subscription, you can see all live regular-season matches, MLS Cup playoff matches, Leagues Cup, and other programming and content with no blackouts. The league starts play on February 22, 2025.
To claim the perk, you can head to the T-Life app for iOS or Android. You can claim the free subscription until March 4, 2025.
Since MLS Season Pass is available on Apple TV, you will need to have an Apple Account with a payment method on file. At the end of the 2025 MLS Season, the subscription automatically renews for the 2026 season for $99. So if you don’t want to pay, you will need to cancel one day before the renewal date.
You can access all the MLS action with the Apple TV app. It’s available on Apple devices, many smart TVs, streaming devices, and elsewhere.
If you’re not a soccer fan, T-Mobile has a variety of other perks for subscribers, like free in-flight Wi-Fi and high-speed data access outside the United States. Metro Flex Plus customers can also receive an Amazon Prime membership for free.
T-Mobile hopes that perks like the MLS Season Pass can draw new subscribers and keep existing customers. If you’re in the market for a carrier, take a look at our comparison of Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile to help you make the best decision.
Giving More Users a Taste of Apple TV
Even though MLS isn’t as popular as other major sports leagues in the United States, the arrival of Lionel Messi has increased interest.
The free perk for T-Mobile subscribers looks to be a win for soccer fans and Apple, giving even more viewers a look at Apple’s streaming app when watching MLS action.
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-29/Chinese-New-Year-travel-soars-as-holiday-kicks-off-1Ayutc0nfrO/img/b6a03d2069b44db19e740c7ebeadb6e9/b6a03d2069b44db19e740c7ebeadb6e9.png'A photo taken on January 29, 2025 shows people appreciating a dragon lantern dance in Wuhu, Anhui Province, China. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-29/Chinese-New-Year-travel-soars-as-holiday-kicks-off-1Ayutc0nfrO/img/b6a03d2069b44db19e740c7ebeadb6e9/b6a03d2069b44db19e740c7ebeadb6e9.png'A photo taken on January 29, 2025 shows people appreciating a dragon lantern dance in Wuhu, Anhui Province, China. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-29/Chinese-New-Year-travel-soars-as-holiday-kicks-off-1Ayutc0nfrO/img/b6a03d2069b44db19e740c7ebeadb6e9/b6a03d2069b44db19e740c7ebeadb6e9.png'A photo taken on January 29, 2025 shows people appreciating a dragon lantern dance in Wuhu, Anhui Province, China. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-29/Chinese-New-Year-travel-soars-as-holiday-kicks-off-1Ayutc0nfrO/img/b6a03d2069b44db19e740c7ebeadb6e9/b6a03d2069b44db19e740c7ebeadb6e9.png'A photo taken on January 29, 2025 shows people appreciating a dragon lantern dance in Wuhu, Anhui Province, China. /VCG
A surge in enthusiasm for travel is sweeping China and this trend was highlighted on January 28, the first day of the Chinese New Year holiday.
Notably, this year marks the first Spring Festival following its successful World Heritage inscription and the first under the newly extended eight-day statutory holiday that began on Chinese New Year’s Eve. This shift has significantly boosted tourism and cultural consumption on New Year’s Eve itself.
Many families are now choosing to visit attractions together after their reunion dinner, making it a new way to stay up late and welcome in the New Year. On Tongcheng, one of China’s major travel platforms, bookings for New Year’s Eve tours have more than doubled year-on-year. Popular search terms on the first day of the holiday include temple fairs, lantern festivals, shadow puppetry, and flower shows.
To say 50 Cent isn’t taking Gloria Allred’s new case against him too seriously might be an understatement. Dude has been flat-out laughing in the high-profile attorney’s face after she filed a lawsuit alleging that he and his entourage rode up on a scooter-riding photographer and whacked the guy with an SUV door.
“Gloria you’re not gonna get any money from me that way, but if you call me I’ll take you to dinner. LOL,” the rapper-entrepreneur wrote Tuesday on Instagram. An accompanying photo shows him and Allred laughing and clasping hands at an event in 2014.
Apparently, Fiddy — born Curtis Jackson III — finds it hilarious that Allred is representing Guadelupe De Los Santos, a photographer and “social media journalist” who is suing him and his entourage for alleged assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and interference with De los Santos’ exercise of his civil rights.
In the lawsuit, filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Jackson et al are accused of driving up behind the paparazzo, who previously had been tailing the rapper on a scooter and recording him with a cellphone attached to a selfie stick. Jackson is accused of hitting De Los Santos with the passenger door of the SUV a short while later, causing injuries to De Los Santos and taking the electric scooter out of commission.
“While waiting at the traffic light, [De Los Santos] felt and heard a vehicle pull up from behind him in the far-right lane. It was the SUV containing Defendant Jackson,” the lawsuit says. “As the SUV approached Plaintiff De Los Santos, the front passenger door suddenly and forcefully opened, without warning or provocation, and struck Plaintiff De Los Santos on his left side, knocking him and his scooter to the street and adjacent sidewalk to his right.”
The civil-rights part of the complaint refers to De Los Santos allegedly being prevented from exercising his California-given right to pursue a lawful occupation as a social media journalist. The lawsuit requests a jury trial and asks Jackson to pay legal fees and costs as well as general, compensatory, special, exemplary and/or punitive damages. Plus interest.
The lawsuit says the photographer “suffered injuries to his lower body on his left side as well as to his torso” and experienced “accompanying pain and emotional distress.”
Jackson, whom the lawsuit says crossed paths with De Los Santos in September after leaving a book signing at the Grove, appeared to disagree.
“The moment I realized I don’t like lawyers,” he wrote Tuesday on social media next to a photo of him and Allred meeting each other at that 2014 event. He punctuated his thought with a laughing emoji, then continued, “Gloria you should know better, chase a different ambulance.”
But Jackson has lawyers too, and one of them told TMZ late Monday that the performer hadn’t seen or been served with the lawsuit yet. “However,” that attorney continued, “if and when such a frivolous claim is filed and served, rest assured that Mr. Jackson’s legal team will swiftly move to dismiss the matter and seek the maximum costs, fees, sanctions and other remedies that are available under law.”
New Delhi, January 29: Ola Founder Bhavish Aggarwal on Wednesday said electric scooter based on Gen 3 platform will be unveiled later this week.
“Ringing the ‘Next Level’ with @OlaElectric Gen 3 scooters! We’ve significantly surpassed Gen 2 products in every way — much higher performance, more features, great design! And a surprise to change the industry all over again,” he stated on X.
The Bengaluru-based Ola Electric will unveil the product range on January 31.
Ola Electric expects the new platform to bring in around 20 per cent margin savings. Some savings will come in in January and then many more every quarter as all of the Gen 3 technologies come into play, he stated during the Q2 call with analysts. Ola Electric Gen 3 Scooters Launch on January 31, Bhavish Aggarwal Says ‘Surprise To Change the Industry All Over Again’.
“In terms of gross margin, we expect about a 20 point improvement as Gen 3 plays out over the next 12 months step-by-step,” he noted.
During the call, Aggarwal had mentioned that in Gen 3 upgrade, the company is doing re-architecture of the motor platform which reduces cost, increases power density.
“We’re doing rearchitecture of the electronics platform to lower the number of ECUs into smaller, largely a single board. We’re doing some very cool work on battery as a structure which takes away some layers of plastic,” he told analysts. ‘Unsupervised Full Self-Driving Begins’: Elon Musk Reacts to Tesla Cars Autonomously Driving Themselves to Designated Loading Dock Lanes in Factory (Watch Video)
The company is doing some very interesting work on the way the mechanicals, the fabrication of the vehicle happens in the factory, which reduces the manufacturing cost, he added.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
“It’s pretty shocking to build an AI model and leave the backdoor wide open from a security perspective,” says independent security researcher Jeremiah Fowler, who was not involved in the Wiz research but specializes in discovering exposed databases. “This type of operational data and the ability for anyone with an internet connection to access it and then manipulate it is a major risk to the organization and users.”
DeepSeek’s systems are seemingly designed to be very similar to OpenAI’s, the researchers told WIRED on Wednesday, perhaps to make it easier for new customers to transition to using DeepSeek without difficulty. The entire DeepSeek infrastructure appears to mimic OpenAI’s, they say, down to details like the format of the API keys.
The Wiz researchers say they don’t know if anyone else found the exposed database before they did, but it wouldn’t be surprising, given how simple it was to discover. Fowler, the independent researcher, also notes that the vulnerable database would have “definitely” been found quickly—if it wasn’t already—whether by other researchers or bad actors.
“I think this is a wake-up call for the wave of AI products and services we will see in the near future and how seriously they take cybersecurity,” he says.
DeepSeek has made a global impact over the past week, with millions of people flocking to the service and pushing it to the top of Apple’s and Google’s app stores. The resulting shock waves have wiped billions from the stock prices of US-based AI companies and spooked executives at firms across the country. On Wednesday, sources at OpenAI told the Financial Times that it was looking into DeepSeek’s alleged use of ChatGPT outputs to train its models.
At the same time, DeepSeek has increasingly drawn the attention of lawmakers and regulators around the world, who have started to ask questions about the company’s privacy policies, the impact of its censorship, and whether its Chinese ownership provides national security concerns.
Italy’s data protection regulator sent DeepSeek a series of questions asking about where it obtained its training data, if people’s personal information was included in this, and the firm’s legal grounding for using this information. As WIRED Italy reported, the DeepSeek app appeared to be unavailable to download within the country following the questions being sent.
DeepSeek’s Chinese connections also appear to be raising security concerns. At the end of last week, according to CNBC reporting, the US Navy issued an alert to its personnel warning them not to use DeepSeek’s services “in any capacity.” The email said Navy members of staff should not download, install, or use the model, and raised concerns of “potential security and ethical” issues.
However, despite the hype, the exposed data shows that almost all technologies relying on cloud-hosted databases can be vulnerable through simple security lapses. “AI is the new frontier in everything related to technology and cybersecurity,” Wiz’s Ohfeld says, “and still we see the same old vulnerabilities like databases left open on the internet.”
CoinDCX has announced a new crypto literacy project in Mumbai, that will attempt to kickstart discussions on crypto and digital assets at a popular meeting place in the city — tea stalls. Dubbed ‘Bitcoin Chai Cafe’, the Indian crypto exchange’s latest initiative is designed to promote crypto-related conversations at tea stalls, which are frequented by office goers, students, and others from varied age groups. The firm is looking to expand crypto awareness beyond the usual Web3 circles to mainstream financial communities and students.
The crypto firm says it will introduce ‘chai cafés’ on wheels into financial hotspots and tech parks across the city, as part of the campaign. In addition, local tea stalls have also been provided with crypto-branded cups that feature Bitcoin-related references, which the exchange expects will spark discussions amongst people at the tea stalls.
“Just as equity investors have traditionally connected over chai to discuss market trends, we envision a similar culture emerging around the emerging asset class crypto. This inspired us to develop an initiative that would resonate with the Indian public and organically foster conversations around crypto,” Chief Growth and Marketing Officer Prashant Verma said in a prepared statement.
In recent years, the crypto sector in India has shown signs of expansion despite the lack of a regulatory framework to govern the sector. In November 2024, the Bharat Web3 Association claimed in a report that India’s Web3 ecosystem, comprises over 400 firms. The states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, the report said, were becoming hotspots for crypto-related businesses. Last year, the country also topped Chainalysis’ index of countries that are leading in crypto adoption for the second consecutive year.
Crypto assets are volatile in nature, and engaging with these digital assets mindlessly can lead to heavy losses. During the India Blockchain Week that was held in Bengaluru in December 2024, stakeholders of the Web3 industry repeatedly asked the community members to create crypto awareness and open dialogue amongst investors and enthusiasts.
Last year, crypto firms like CoinDCX and Mudrex released similar campaigns to create awareness amongst the investor community on safe ways to engage with these volatile crypto assets.
The holiday season saw a significant increase in digital ad spending across retail media, paid search, and paid social channels according to the Q4 2024 Digital Marketing Quarterly Trends Report by omnichannel advertising platform for commerce media, Skai.
Despite concerns over a shorter shopping season and ongoing economic pressures, advertisers doubled down on digital campaigns, driving a 20% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) increase in ad spend across all channels. Retail media emerged as the biggest winner, with remarkable year-over-year (YoY) growth.
By the numbers:
Paid search. While spending increased 20% QoQ, YoY spending dipped by 2%, with a decline in standard shopping campaign clicks suggesting a shift toward Performance Max. Text ads clicks remained flat YoY, with CPCs decreasing by 2%, highlighting a shift in campaign strategies.
Retail media. Ad spend surged 23% YoY, driven by a 28% increase in impressions and a 20% boost in clicks. Stable costs-per-click (CPC) at 3% further enhanced value for marketers.
Paid social. TikTok led the way with a 28% YoY increase in ad spending, helping paid social maintain overall growth. Meta’s deprecation of the Conversions campaign objective led to an impression deficit.
Why we care. These numbers reveals digital advertising’s resilience during Q4 2024, with 20% quarter-over-quarter growth despite economic headwinds. The standout performance of retail media, growing 23% year-over-year with stable costs, confirms it as an increasingly vital channel.
Meanwhile, significant shifts in paid search and social media, including TikTok’s strong growth and changes in shopping campaign dynamics, highlight important strategic considerations for future campaign planning and budget allocation in 2025.
Between the lines. Despite predictions that year-round deals and a shortened holiday shopping window would dampen Q4 spending, marketers successfully adapted by:
Launching early Amazon-led promotional campaigns before the Cyber 5 period.
Maintaining stable ad costs across channels, with retail media CPCs only increasing by 3%.
Leveraging TikTok’s strong engagement with younger audiences during the critical shopping season.
Big picture. While retail media flourished, traditional digital channels faced some headwinds:
Paid search saw declining clicks for standard shopping campaigns, suggesting a shift toward Performance Max.
Paid social struggled with impression growth following Meta’s deprecation of the Conversions campaign objective.
What they’re saying. “The holiday season will always drive spending across digital marketing. In retail media, the performance and ubiquity of those ads allowed for healthy growth throughout the season,” said Nich Weinheimer, EVP of Strategy at Skai.
Bottom line.Q4 2024’s digital marketing performance demonstrates the continued evolution of holiday shopping patterns, with retail media emerging as an increasingly crucial channel for marketers.
Diablo 4 is celebrating the year of the snake with the return of its Lunar Awakening event, and it’s making the event even more rewarding than last time around.
As detailed by Blizzard, the Lunar Awakening event will be live February 4-18 for both the game’s Eternal and Seasonal realms. Like last year’s event, Lunar Awakening replaces all of the game’s shrines with special Lunar Shrines. These shrines function much the same as their normal counterparts, only with even more powerful effects in addition to their usual ones. Lunar Artillery Shrines, for example, have a chance to blast enemies with a holy bomb in addition to piercing enemies with holy arrows as usual. Whereas Greed shrines typically just grant players more gold for killing monsters, the Lunar Greed Shrine actually makes it so every kill also has a chance to summon a Treasure Goblin.
Players can earn free cosmetics by slaying monsters while under the effects of a Lunar Shrine during the event.
The Lunar Shrine bonus effects are the same as they were during 2024’s event, but what is different this time is the amount of bonus XP players gain while under the effects of a shrine. For this year’s version, players will enjoy a 100%, multiplicative experience bonus for the duration of the shrine’s effects, up from 50% last year. That will make leveling a new character or earning endgame Paragon points even faster (and it’s already pretty darn fast to begin with).
Slaying monsters while under the effect of a Lunar Shrine will earn players the reputation needed to progress through the event’s reward track. There are 10 rewards in total to claim, including a mount, weapon appearances, and a Resplendent Spark needed to craft Mythic Uniques. Lunar Awakening-themed items will also be available on Diablo 4’s premium cosmetics shop for the duration of the event.
Diablo 4 recently saw the launch of Season 7–ne where players can equip new supernatural powers to aid them in slaying their foes. Many of the powers found in Season of Witchcraft, like Firebats and Piranhado, take inspiration from Diablo 3’s Witch Doctor.
The game’s most recent update saw the addition of the Armory to both the Eternal and Seasonal realms, allowing players to save up to five loadouts per character in the name of encouraging more build experimentation. It also brought major balance changes to Diablo 4’s Runewords and substantially nerfed its new expansion-exclusive class, the Spiritborn.
Medieval friar William of Ockham posited a famous idea: always pick the simplest explanation. Often referred to as the parsimony principle, “Ockham’s razor” has shaped scientific decisions for centuries.
But lately, incredibly complex AI models have begun outperforming their simpler counterparts. Consider AlphaFold for predicting protein structures, or ChatGPT and its competitors for generating humanlike text.
A new paper in PNAS argues that by relying too much on parsimony in modeling, scientists make mistakes and miss opportunities.
First author and SFI Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow Marina Dubova says overreliance on parsimony is historical.
“Scientists need a tool to guide how they build models of the world. Parsimony was historically adopted as an easy tool to use. Since then, it’s not been questioned enough. Educational programs teach parsimony as a key principle in scientific theory and model building. Most research tries to justify why parsimony is good, but those justifications haven’t stood the test of time,” she says.
Dubova recently ran a computational simulation showing that random experiments generated better models than did scientific experiments chosen based on previous assumptions.
Now Dubova, a cognitive scientist, is probing one of the biggest scientific assumptions of all: avoiding complex models.
“Relying on parsimony alone as our guiding principle limits what we can learn about the world and potentially drives us in wrong directions,” says Dubova. “Parsimony and complexity are complementary tools. Scientists need to use evidence, judgment, and context-specific demands to determine whether a more parsimonious or complex model suits their research goals.”
Dubova and co-authors discuss findings that suggest misapplied parsimony can make models biased and lead to bad predictions. For example, simple models for interpreting live brain scans often read periodic back-and-forth patterns when, in fact, brain activity is changing slowly over time. Leaving out key characteristics (like patient age) from a model evaluating untested new drugs could lead to poor predictions of who will and won’t respond well.
By contrast, complex models can be more flexible and accurate, as new approaches in climate change research have shown. Often in science, each lab develops its own model for making predictions about the phenomenon of interest, and the field eventually converges on the most parsimonious model that best fits the data. However, climate scientists have found that when they combine dozens of sometimes contradictory models from different labs into one ensemble, climate forecasts get better at predicting actual real-world phenomena.
“Even when these climate models are incompatible, scientists decide to employ them all because they know each one is capturing some aspect of the world. The literature suggests that using them together helps us better predict the reality around us,” she says. “Could this approach inspire completely new understandings of what climate is, without us as scientists trying to impose our preference for just one simple explanation?”
Dubova hopes that the paper will kickstart new research into when scientific modelers should choose parsimony or complexity.
About Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law Why Law at RGSOIPL Technological advancement has transformed every aspect of human life and profoundly impacted social relationships. The challenges it poses for the legal system are manifold. This has increased the need of lawyers with multi-disciplinary expertise. Modern day business requires professional with specialised knowledge in […]
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Wednesday, Jan 30 promises to offer loads if you wish to explore the culture of Delhi-NCR. Before you plan your day, check out HT City Delhi Junction on Insta!
#CineCall
What: Smile International Film Festival for Children and Youth | The Boy with Pink Pants
Catch It Live on Thursday, 30 January 2025
Where: Audi 2, Siri Fort Auditorium, August Kranti Marg
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily halted the Trump administration’s freeze on federal financial assistance, bringing to a close arguably the most chaotic day in Washington since the president assumed power.
U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan blocked Trump’s aid freeze scant minutes before it was set to take effect at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday. The administrative stay — which was requested by a group of nonprofits suing the administration for withholding federal dollars — lasts until another court hearing on the issue Monday afternoon.
A lack of clear answers from the White House about what programs would be affected by the funding pause caused widespread worry and confusion on Tuesday, including in the healthcare sector, which receives the majority of federal grants.
The situation was exacerbated by states and providers losing access to key portals through which they draw down federal funds, including for Medicaid. The sites remained down even after the Trump administration clarified that the massive safety-net insurance program was exempt from the spending moratorium.
However, states have recovered access to their Medicaid portals as of Wednesday morning, multiple state officials confirmed to Healthcare Dive.
It appears that states regained access in waves, with Oklahoma, for example, able to access the system by 3:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday but New York not being able to do so until Wednesday morning.
The Medicaid portal was never meant to be shut down and no payments were affected, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Republican lawmakers.
“The problem has been clarified and the Medicaid portal is fully operational as we speak,” Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said Wednesday morning during the Senate HELP Committee’s confirmation hearing of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as HHS Secretary.
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget sent a memo to federal departments on Monday instructing them to pause federal financial assistance until officialscan make sure spending aligns with President Donald Trump’s executive orders cracking down on diversity, equity and inclusion programs and a range of other conservative flashpoints.
The memo said Medicare and Social Security funding could continue but was vague about what programs were subject to the pause. The omission of Medicaid —which currently provides health insurance to 80 million Americans, almost half of them children — sparked anxiety among the states, which rely on federal dollars for at least half of their Medicaid spending.
On Tuesday, states lost access to the payment system through which they draw down federal funds. A warning message on the portal stated that payments may be delayed or rejected “due to Executive Orders regarding potentially unallowable grant payments.”
That warning message is now gone.
Medicaid directors or health department officials for Colorado, Michigan, Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and New York also confirmed they’ve regained access to the payment portal.
“We’re able to access the federal Payment Management System (PMS) this morning and the federal wire transfers we were expecting are in our account,” Marc Williams, a spokesperson for the Colorado’s Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, said.
Multiple officials stressed that patient services have not been affected.
Losing federal aid for long enough could have forced states to consider cutting reimbursement to doctors and hospitals caring for Medicaid patients, or restrict member benefits, according to experts.
The funding freeze is viewed by many as unconstitutional, given the executive branch doesn’t have the power to unilaterally rescind funds appropriated by Congress. Democratic attorneys general from 22 states and the District of Columbia have also filed their own lawsuit over the president’s actions.
While homeowners and investors continue to prosper, renters, younger Australians, and migrants face mounting challenges.
Courageous policymaking and systemic change are essential to addressing these inequities and ensuring economic stability for future generations.
Australia’s housing market has long been a barometer of economic health and societal prosperity.
Yet, its impact is uneven, creating distinct winners and losers in a system that seems designed to favour those already in the game.
As property prices continue to rise around the country, housing affordability can’t stay out of the news, so in this week’s Demographics Decoded Podcast, Simon Kuestenmacher and I discuss who benefits, who loses, and what it means for future generations.
Of course this is more than just a matter of numbers—it’s a reflection of policy decisions, demographic shifts, and societal priorities.
For weekly insights and strategic advice, subscribe to the Demographics Decoded podcast, where we will continue to explore these trends and their implications in greater detail.
Subscribe now on your favourite Podcast player:
The Winners: who gains when property prices rise?
Homeowners and Property Investors
There are 11.3 million dwellings in Australia, and the total value of all the residential real estate in Australia is $11.1 trillion, according to CoreLogic.
Homeownership remains the cornerstone of wealth creation in Australia with roughly two-thirds of Australians owning the home they live in, and 2.3 million Aussies owning investment properties.
For these groups, rising property values translate into increased equity, wealth, and financial security.
Homeowners see their net worth grow passively while investors enjoy higher rental returns and capital gains.
The benefits extend to the so-called “Bank of Mum and Dad,” where parents use the equity in their properties to help their children enter the market, reinforcing a cycle of wealth that stays within families.
However, this perpetuates the widening gap between those who have access to this type of support and those who do not.
State Governments and Local Councils
Few entities benefit more from rising property prices than state governments.
Stamp duty, a tax charged during property transactions, delivers a windfall every time a house changes hands.
While land tax has been proposed as a fairer, more sustainable alternative, it is politically unappealing to introduce it as an alternative to stamp duty due to its gradual revenue flow compared to the immediate sugar hit of stamp duty.
Local councils also profit from fees tied to property values, ensuring they have a vested interest in keeping prices high.
This reliance on property-related revenue creates a system where governments are financially incentivised to maintain high prices, even as affordability becomes a national crisis.
Other winners
Banks can sell bigger and longer mortgages if home prices rise.
At the same time, all those in property-related industries such as real estate agents, buyer’s agents, mortgage brokers, auctioneers, property developers and property spruikers come out on top.
There is a broad ecosystem of property websites, financial advisers, insurance companies, property valuers, property photographers, and lawyers that is in higher demand when property prices rise.
And politicians see that most Australian voters benefit from higher house prices.
It is a great excuse to repeat the famous John Howard quip that he had never met anyone who complained about their house going up in value.
This led to quite a few silly policies that pretend to tackle housing affordability.
The Losers: who pays the price of high housing costs?
Renters
Renters face mounting challenges as rising property prices push rents higher.
With no stake in the property market, they often find themselves trapped, unable to save for a deposit as rental costs consume an increasing portion of their income.
First-Home Buyers
First-home buyers are arguably the most visible casualties of skyrocketing prices.
Policies like first-home buyer grants and superannuation withdrawals for housing are touted as solutions, but they often exacerbate the problem.
By injecting more money into the market without addressing supply issues, these measures inflate prices further, creating a cycle where each new generation finds it harder to enter the market.
Younger Australians
The wealth gap between generations is widening.
Millennials and Gen Z, particularly those without access to the “Bank of Mum and Dad,” feel increasingly shut out of the market.
Despite earning competitive wages and having solid educational backgrounds, they struggle to compete with older generations who have benefited from decades of rising property values.
This growing sense of disenfranchisement has significant social and political ramifications.
Skilled Migrants
Housing affordability also threatens Australia’s ability to attract and retain skilled migrants.
While high-income professionals like engineers and IT specialists may manage, lower-income migrants in healthcare and aged care face significant hurdles.
For many, the prospect of sending money home as remittances while trying to save for a home in Australia seems untenable, making destinations like New Zealand or Canada more appealing despite their own housing challenges.
Policies at Play: why the problem persists
Short-Term Solutions, Long-Term Problems
Policies like first-home buyer grants and superannuation withdrawals for housing are politically palatable but economically flawed.
They provide a temporary boost to select groups while driving prices higher for everyone else.
Worse, they erode long-term financial security by depleting retirement savings and diverting public funds to ineffective programs.
Zoning Changes and Supply Initiatives
Recent zoning changes in states like New South Wales and Victoria aim to promote medium- and high-density housing near transport hubs.
While this is a step in the right direction from an urban planning perspective, it doesn’t address the underlying cost of construction, which is significantly higher for apartments than for houses on greenfield sites.
Australia’s ambitious plan to build 1.2 million new homes in five years is a step in the right direction but faces significant obstacles, from labour shortages to high material costs.
Meanwhile, Build-to-Rent schemes offer some hope, but these projects are unlikely to meet the full spectrum of demand, especially for low-income families.
The Path Forward: balancing winners and losers
A Shift in Political Will
A genuine solution requires honest, courageous policymaking.
Policymakers must prioritize long-term strategies over short-term optics.
For instance, tax reforms that favour renters or incentivise the construction of affordable housing could help rebalance the scales.
At the same time, governments must transition away from policies like first-home buyer grants that create more harm than good.
Preserving Political Stability
The dissatisfaction of younger Australians is already reshaping the political landscape.
Millennials and Gen Z voters are abandoning the major parties in favour of smaller, more radical alternatives.
This trend could lead to a fractured political system, complicating the policymaking process.
To avoid this, major parties must address housing inequities head-on, even if it means making tough, unpopular decisions.
What Lies Ahead
Australia’s housing market is a microcosm of broader societal divides.
While homeowners and investors continue to thrive, renters and younger Australians face mounting challenges.
Without significant intervention, these disparities will only deepen, threatening social cohesion and political stability.
For now, the winners in Australia’s property market remain dominant, but the tide could shift.
Whether policymakers can rise to the challenge remains to be seen, especially when there are so many winners when property values rise.
But one thing is clear: the stakes have never been higher.
Understanding these dynamics is not just an academic exercise—it’s essential for navigating Australia’s economic future.
If you found this discussion helpful, don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast and share it with others who might benefit.
Subscribe now on your favourite Podcast player:
About Michael Yardney Michael is the founder of Metropole Property Strategists who help their clients grow, protect and pass on their wealth through independent, unbiased property advice and advocacy. He’s once again been voted Australia’s leading property investment adviser and one of Australia’s 50 most influential Thought Leaders. His opinions are regularly featured in the media.
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Scottie Scheffler was attempting to make homemade ravioli on Christmas Day — with limited equipment in a rental home — when he realized he’d made a serious mistake. He decided to use an empty wine glass to shape and slice his pasta dough.
“I had my hand on top of it and it broke, which, side note, I’ve heard nothing but horror stories since this happened about wine glasses, so be careful,” Scheffler said Tuesday. “Even if you’re like me and you don’t drink wine, you’ve got to be real careful with wine glasses.”
The stem of a wine glass stabbed Scheffler in the upper palm of his right hand. That’s the crux of the incident that led to a surgical procedure and took the 2024 PGA Tour Player of the Year out of his first two tournaments of the season, The Sentry in Maui and the American Express in Palm Springs.
The No. 1 player in the world is making his first tournament start of 2025 this week at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which begins on Thursday. It comes after a two-week long hiatus from golf and physical activity, as well as a steady process of easing back into training and playing. That period was frustrating for a player who thrives in competition. Scheffler doesn’t like to sit back and watch.
“It’s one of those deals where immediately after it happened, I was mad at myself because I was like gosh, that’s so stupid, but you just don’t think about it when you’re in the moment,” he continued. “Yeah, definitely been a little more careful doing stuff at home.”
Immediately after the incident, a friend of Scheffler’s who happens to be a surgeon came to the rescue and helped stop the bleeding. The next day rolled around and the wound was no longer open, but the pain remained, and Scheffler felt a general lack of range of motion. He decided to reach out to a hand doctor he’d worked with on a thumb injury while in college. They opted for surgery. Scheffler said that he does not expect his right hand to incur any long-term damage.
Scheffler spent his recovery time reflecting and analyzing an historic season that included seven wins on the PGA Tour — the most since Tiger Woods won seven in 2007 — plus an Olympic gold medal and the Hero World Challenge. He re-watched film of his tournament rounds and took his mind back to those cruise-control moments in competition, taking note of both his swing positions and demeanor.
“There’s a few tournaments I looked back at where the thing that stuck out the most was that I never really overreacted to stuff, I kind of stayed in it and kind of waited for my moment to get hot,” Scheffler said.
Now the Texan hopes to resume where he left off in 2024, beginning this week at Pebble Beach and then at Spyglass for the tour’s second signature event of the season. Eight of the top 10 players in the OWGR are here on the Monterey Peninsula, and a healthy Scheffler is ready to get back to beating them all.
Required reading
(Photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images for The Showdown)
Ultimate Ears Miniroll provides loud sound in a small size with easy connectivity to multiple devices simultaneously.
The speaker offers multi-day battery life, quick charging, and an attachment strap for versatile placement.
Its PartyUp connectivity allows you to use multiple Minirolls as a single sound system.
Smartphone speakers are often not enough for large open spaces or if you want to share it with other people. So, whether you’re a music lover or just want a small wireless speaker to set the mood when you have friends at your place, the Ultimate Ears Miniroll will give you what you want to hear.
Ultimate Ears Miniroll
$59.99 $79.99 Save
$20
The Ultimate Ears Miniroll is a small waterproof Bluetooth speaker that delivers enough sound to fill an entire room. It also connects to multiple devices simultaneously, making it easy to use as your daily driver speaker.
Pros & Cons
Small and portable
Can be placed practically anywhere
Long battery life
Price and Availability
The Ultimate Ears Miniroll is available on Amazon and the Ultimate Ears website for a regular price of $79.99, although it sometimes goes on sale. It’s available in four colors—Gentle Black, Majestic Blue, Revive Grey, and Calming Pink.
A quick press on the Miniroll’s power button is enough for power control, making it easier to switch on or off compared to other speakers that require you to hold its power button for three seconds. That function (holding the power button for three seconds or more) will put the speaker in pairing mode. You can then connect to it with a tap on your phone, and you’re good to go.
It also connects to two devices simultaneously, so you don’t have to worry about transferring connections between your smartphone and tablet or even with another smartphone if you’re sharing the speaker. Unfortunately, it only connects to other devices via Bluetooth—it doesn’t have an aux port, and its USB-C port is only for charging.
A Loud Booming Sound From Such a Small Speaker
Jowi Morales / MakeUseOf
As the name suggests, the Miniroll is Ultimate Ears’ smallest offering, with a diameter of less than five inches and a thickness of less than two. This makes it easy to grasp in one hand, and it has two large buttons for volume control right on its face. Its power button sits on the right side, with an indicator light that shows its power and battery status. You also get the play/pause button right underneath it, letting you go to the next track with a double-press and to the previous one by pressing it three times.
Jowi Morales / MakeUseOf
Despite its small size, the Miniroll offers quite a sound. When set at maximum volume, the speaker hits a bit over 100dB—about the loudness of a jackhammer going full tilt a meter away. The Miniroll is a bit bassy, letting you feel the thump of what you’re listening to. Nevertheless, whether you’re into classical orchestra, pop rock, or EDM, you will appreciate this little speaker’s sound.
Jowi Morales / MakeUseOf
It’s also perfect for watching movies, allowing you to feel immersed in the scene because of how loud it can go without sacrificing audio quality. And even though it uses a Bluetooth connection, the split-second delay between what you see on the screen and what you hear from the speaker is minute enough that you won’t feel it.
However, this difference is noticeable if you’re playing first-person shooter games, as the sound delay is magnified when you’re doing the action. But you’ll only notice this for the first few seconds, and you’ll likely tune this out once you get into the action.
Jowi Morales / MakeUseOf
If you have additional Minirolls or friends that have their own, you can use Ultimate Ears’ PartyUp feature, which lets you pair as many Minirolls as you like. While this doesn’t offer any type of stereo or surround sound benefits, it will increase the volume, which is useful if you want to fill larger spaces (or even an entire home) with what you’re playing. Unfortunately, it’s not compatible with other Ultimate Ears speakers, so it won’t work with those speakers.
Multi-Day Battery Life That Charges in Minutes
Jowi Morales / MakeUseOf
I exclusively used the Ultimate Ears Miniroll as my office speaker for a week while preparing for this review. I always listen to music when I work, and I’m happy to say that this tiny thing lasted me more than four days of use at around three to four hours each day. This meant that the speaker’s battery life stayed on track with the 12-hour life that Ultimate Ears claimed it could do.
You can charge this speaker with its USB-C port, which is easily accessible right under the volume down button. Despite being IP67-rated, meaning it is protected from accidental soaking in one meter of water for 30 minutes, its charging port isn’t behind a watertight plug, making it easy to juice up. It also took me less than an hour to bring it to nearly 100% charge, so you don’t have to worry about going without sound for long if your Miniroll goes empty.
Place It Anywhere
Jowi Morales / MakeUseOf
Another feature that makes this speaker stand out is the stretchy attachment strap, which lets you place it practically anywhere. The strap is attached directly to the Miniroll on one side and clips securely on the speaker on the other side. Although it’s easy to remove, it also stays in place once locked in, ensuring that the speaker will stay in place.
Jowi Morales / MakeUseOf
This strap lets you attach the speaker to anything about an inch wide and has a slot in the middle so you can hang it off a hook. It’s also a crucial part of the speaker if you’re not using it for hanging, as it serves as a vibration-absorbent foot that prevents the Miniroll from rattling against your desk.
Should You Buy the Ultimate Ears Miniroll?
Jowi Morales / MakeUseOf
The Ultimate Ears Miniroll is a great choice for anyone looking for a small Bluetooth speaker. It has impressive battery life and its PartyUp feature will let you connect multiple Minirolls for the ultimate party. Connecting it to your phone and other gadgets is also a breeze, and the ability to have two devices simultaneously connected to it will make daily use a no-brainer.
However, its $80 regular price is a bit steep, especially if they just want a small speaker to fill a room with sound while working. Despite being a tad more expensive than some alternatives, its features and ease of use make it worth the purchase price.
Ultimate Ears Miniroll
$59.99 $79.99 Save
$20
The Ultimate Ears Miniroll is a small waterproof Bluetooth speaker that delivers enough sound to fill an entire room. It also connects to multiple devices simultaneously, making it easy to use as your daily driver speaker.
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-29/Primates-cash-in-on-Spring-Festival-fun-at-Chongqing-animal-park-1AyAaCB4G6Q/img/46e976cb62c9458dbc4853c53d0457fc/46e976cb62c9458dbc4853c53d0457fc.jpeg'Ring-tailed lemurs open a hongbao at Leheledu Animal Theme Park in Chongqing, southwest China. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-29/Primates-cash-in-on-Spring-Festival-fun-at-Chongqing-animal-park-1AyAaCB4G6Q/img/46e976cb62c9458dbc4853c53d0457fc/46e976cb62c9458dbc4853c53d0457fc.jpeg'Ring-tailed lemurs open a hongbao at Leheledu Animal Theme Park in Chongqing, southwest China. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-29/Primates-cash-in-on-Spring-Festival-fun-at-Chongqing-animal-park-1AyAaCB4G6Q/img/46e976cb62c9458dbc4853c53d0457fc/46e976cb62c9458dbc4853c53d0457fc.jpeg'Ring-tailed lemurs open a hongbao at Leheledu Animal Theme Park in Chongqing, southwest China. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-29/Primates-cash-in-on-Spring-Festival-fun-at-Chongqing-animal-park-1AyAaCB4G6Q/img/46e976cb62c9458dbc4853c53d0457fc/46e976cb62c9458dbc4853c53d0457fc.jpeg'Ring-tailed lemurs open a hongbao at Leheledu Animal Theme Park in Chongqing, southwest China. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-29/Primates-cash-in-on-Spring-Festival-fun-at-Chongqing-animal-park-1AyAaCB4G6Q/img/46e976cb62c9458dbc4853c53d0457fc/46e976cb62c9458dbc4853c53d0457fc.jpeg'Ring-tailed lemurs open a hongbao at Leheledu Animal Theme Park in Chongqing, southwest China. /VCG
Stuffed with nuts and red dates, these “hongbao,” or red envelopes, proved to be a real treat for the primates of Chongqing’s Leheledu Animal Theme Park.
To share Chinese New Year cheer, keepers at the animal park in southwest China distributed the red envelopes among ring-tailed lemurs, squirrel monkeys, black-capped capuchins and others.
Leheledu Animal Theme Park is home to over a hundred species of birds and animals, including African elephants, giraffes, golden tigers, silver tigers and bottlenose dolphins.
Thursday’s FireAid benefit concert is the biggest of the many local events raising money for victims of L.A.’s devastating wildfires. The show, which will take place at the Intuit Dome and Kia Forum in Inglewood, counts Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Olivia Rodrigo and Green Day among the many headliners. Here’s everything you need to know if you want to watch and donate.
When is FireAid?
The show begins with a live broadcast at the Kia Forum at 6 p.m. PST. The Intuit Dome portion of the show starts at 7:30 p.m.
Which acts are performing, and where?
At the Forum, you’ll find Alanis Morissette, Anderson .Paak, Dave Matthews and John Mayer, Dawes, Graham Nash, Green Day, John Fogerty, Joni Mitchell, No Doubt, P!nk, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stephen Stills, Stevie Nicks and the Black Crowes.
At the Intuit Dome, you can see Billie Eilish, Earth, Wind & Fire, Gracie Abrams, Jelly Roll, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Lil Baby, Olivia Rodrigo, Peso Pluma, Rod Stewart, Stevie Wonder, Sting and Tate McRae.
Where is it streaming?
Pretty much everywhere you would watch TV. It will be broadcast live across: Apple Music and AppleTV, DirecTV, Disney+, Hulu, FanDuel, KTLA+, Max, Netflix, Paramount+, Pluto TV, Peacock, NBC News Now, Prime Video and Twitch. It’ll also stream on SiriusXM, SoundCloud, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Veeps, X and YouTube. iHeartRadio will host a broadcast on more than 860 radio stations and its iHeartRadio app.
If you want to make a night out of it, select AMC and Regal locations nationwide are broadcasting the event in movie theaters.
Who is producing FireAid?
The music management titans in the Azoff family, with producing partner Live Nation and operating partner the L.A. Clippers.
Where will my money go if I donate?
Donations made to FireAid will be overseen by the Annenberg Foundation, focusing on both short-term relief efforts and long-term fire prevention projects. Additionally, Connie and Steve Ballmer (owners of the Clippers and the Intuit Dome and Forum) are matching all donations made during the broadcast.
Mumbai, January 29: Tata Motors on Wednesday reported a 22 per cent decline in its net profit for the third quarter (Q3) of FY25 at Rs 5,451 crore, down from Rs 7,025 crore in the same period last fiscal. The drop in earnings was primarily due to higher discounts offered to boost sales and weaker margins, despite a slight improvement in overall revenue. Revenue from operations rose by 2.7 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,13,575 crore, supported by a modest increase in sales, according to its filing.
However, the company’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margins declined by 60 basis points to 13.7 per cent. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) stood at Rs 10,000 crore which is a slight improvement of 60 basis points compared to the previous year. Automotive free cash flow stood at Rs 4,700 crore, supported by improved sales, while finance costs shrank by Rs 760 crore to Rs 1,725 crore. Bajaj Auto Share Price: Company’s Share Jump 5% Today After 8% Increase in Consolidated Profit for 3rd Quarter Ended December 31, 2024.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), Tata Motors’ luxury vehicle subsidiary, reported record quarterly revenue of 7.5 billion pounds up by 1.5 per cent increase from last year. The segment’s EBIT margin stood at 9 per cent, the highest in a decade, but its EBITDA margin declined by 200 basis points to 14.2 per cent. Profit before tax (PBT), excluding exceptional items, stood at £523 million, lower than the 627 million pounds recorded a year ago. In the commercial vehicle (CV) segment, revenue dropped by 8.4 per cent year-on-year to Rs 18,431 crore due to weaker sales and an unfavourable product mix. Maruti Suzuki Q3 Results: Net Profit Up 16% at INR 3,727 Crore in 3rd Quarter of FY25; Revenue at INR 38,764 Crore.
However, EBITDA margins improved to 12.4 per cent due to a support by material cost savings and benefits from the government’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. The passenger vehicle (PV) segment saw a 4.3 per cent decline in revenue to Rs 12,354 crore. Despite lower revenue, the EBITDA margin improved by 120 basis points to 7.8 per cent, driven by cost-cutting measures and PLI incentives. Tata Motors’ electric vehicle (EV) sales in the personal segment increased by 19 per cent year-on-year, but fleet sales were impacted due to the expiry of FAME II subsidies. Tata Motors’ stock closed 3.3 per cent higher at Rs 752.5 apiece.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 29, 2025 05:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Elon Musk is only one week into his role in President Donald Trump’s new administration, but the US federal government is already rolling out the Twitter playbook to manage its spending and personnel. Just like Musk did when he took over the social media platform, Trump’s team is attempting to drastically reduce the number of government staffers and ensure those who remain are loyal to the president’s agenda.
On Tuesday, federal employees received an email that mirrors the “Fork in the Road” missive sent to Twitter (now X) staff shortly after Musk bought the company in 2022. The email asks federal workers to resign by February 6 if they do not wish to return to the office five days a week and commit to a culture of excellence. Those who choose to resign will continue to get pay and benefits until September, according to the memo.
“The federal workforce should be comprised of employees who are reliable, loyal, trustworthy, and who strive for excellence in their daily work,” reads the email, which was later published on the US Office of Personnel Management website. “Employees will be subject to enhanced standards of suitability and conduct as we move forward.”
The news comes as Musk’s minions take over the US Office of Personnel Management, which acts as a human resources department for the federal workforce. Elon Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WIRED. The Office of Personnel Management also did not respond to a request for comment.
Musk and his advisors, including Trump’s newly appointed AI and crypto czar David Sacks, used a remarkably similar strategy at Twitter. About a week after the acquisition was complete, Musk laid off half the workforce. Sacks helped advise him on which teams and people would be cut.
About two weeks later, remaining employees received an email with the subject line “A Fork in the Road.” Musk said that they would need to be “extremely hardcore” in order to realize his vision for Twitter 2.0. This meant “working long hours at high intensity.” He noted that “only exceptional performance” would receive “a passing grade.” Employees were asked to opt into this vision via a web form. Anyone who failed to do so by the following day would receive three months severance, Musk said. Thousands of Twitter employees would later sue, arguing that they were not paid their full severance. Musk ultimately was able to get the suit dismissed.
“We are all shaking our heads in disbelief at how familiar this all feels,” says Yao Yue, a former principal engineer at Twitter. “Except, the federal government and its employees have specific laws in terms of spending, hiring, and firing.”
In this case, federal employees are being asked to send an email with the word “Resign” in the subject line in the next 10 days. “Purging the federal government of dedicated career civil servants will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government,” Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union of federal workers, said in a statement. “This offer should not be viewed as voluntary. Between the flurry of anti-worker executive orders and policies, it is clear that the Trump administration’s goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to.”
MobiKwik, a digital wallet player, on Tuesday announced that it has launched a full version of India’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) eRupee in partnership with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Yes Bank.
Payments platform CRED has launched a beta version of its eRupee wallet, developed in collaboration with the RBI and Yes Bank.
Yes Bank’s role as the first sponsor bank to enable CBDC issuance for a third party application provider (TPAP) like CRED exemplifies its commitment to driving innovation and supporting the future of digital payments, the company said in a statement.
MobiKwik is the first digital wallet to go live with a full-scale production version of the eRupee wallet, the new CBDC product is available to all its Android users, the company said in a statement.
The eRupee wallet allows users to send and receive funds to other eRupee wallets as well as regular bank accounts via UPI; both peer-to-peer (P2P) and peer-to-merchant (P2M) transactions are supported, it said.
For example, a user can scan and pay on any UPI QR using eRupee as it is fully interoperable on UPI, it said.
“MobiKwik’s large base of existing full KYC users will immediately be able to open an eRupee wallet and load it from their bank account. New MobiKwik users will have to complete video KYC before they can open an eRupee wallet,” it said.
Currently, the eRupee wallet has a daily transaction limit of Rs 50,000, per transaction limit of Rs 10,000, and currency denominations of 50 paise, Re 1, Rs 2, Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 200, and Rs 500 are available in eRupee, it said.
Announcing the launch, Bipin Preet Singh, Managing Director of MobiKwik, said, “We expect that CBDC will make the Indian rupee digital and further expand the digital economy. eRupee transfers can be made to anyone with an eRupee wallet or UPI ID.” Initially, RBI only permitted banks to offer access to digital currency but in April 2024, it said that it would allow non-banks to offer e-rupee transactions.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Google is testing a new search results display for a small group of EU users when they search for products, restaurants, flights, and hotels. The test is part of Google’s efforts to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act.
“Under the test started Monday, Google has set up new units for users to choose between results from price comparison sites such as Booking Holdings’ Booking.com and results that take them directly to supplier websites when they are searching for products, restaurants, flights or hotels.”
What Google EU search results look like. Here are screenshots showing what it looks like to search for [flight to boston from vienna] right now:
You can then filter to see only Airline options:
Or Flight sites:
And if you search for [steak dinner in vienna], you can filter down to Places:
And Places Sites:
New units. These images don’t show the new units mentioned in the report. Please contact us if you spot these new units in the wild and share screenshots. These images are meant to give our readers outside of the EU an idea of what search results look like when Google doesn’t self-preference.
What Google is saying. A Google spokesperson said:
“To find a better balance between these sites, while meeting the goals of the DMA, we have proposed a new solution to give people a choice between intermediary comparison sites and direct suppliers like hotels.”
Why we care. The Digital Markets Act is meant to promote more competition and diversity in search results. For websites in the EU, it will be worth monitoring whether these changes result in any impact on traffic.
Dig deeper. How the Digital Markets Act is reshaping search and Google’s monopoly in Europe
Danny Goodwin is Editorial Director of Search Engine Land & Search Marketing Expo – SMX. He joined Search Engine Land in 2022 as Senior Editor. In addition to reporting on the latest search marketing news, he manages Search Engine Land’s SME (Subject Matter Expert) program. He also helps program U.S. SMX events.
Goodwin has been editing and writing about the latest developments and trends in search and digital marketing since 2007. He previously was Executive Editor of Search Engine Journal (from 2017 to 2022), managing editor of Momentology (from 2014-2016) and editor of Search Engine Watch (from 2007 to 2014). He has spoken at many major search conferences and virtual events, and has been sourced for his expertise by a wide range of publications and podcasts.
States and the nation’s health industry were thrown into disarray after the Trump administration ordered Monday that the government freeze nearly all federal grants at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday, a sweeping directive that at least initially appeared to include funding for Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program that covers more than 70 million Americans.
By midmorning Tuesday, state officials around the country reported they had been shut out of a critical online portal that allows states to access federal Medicaid funding.
Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said on the social media site Bluesky that the portals were down in all 50 states following the Trump administration’s order.
“This is a blatant attempt to rip away health care from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed,” he wrote.
Around midday Tuesday, as state health officials pressed the federal government for clarity, the White House Office of Management and Budget — which issued the Monday memo — put out new guidance clarifying that “mandatory programs like Medicaid” were not included in the freeze.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, declined to confirm that Medicaid was exempt when pressed by reporters during an early afternoon briefing.
But she later said in a post on the social platform X that “no payments have been affected” by what she described as a “portal outage.”
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The possibility that federal Medicaid funding would be shut off overnight spooked advocates already on edge about the program’s future. President Donald Trump vowed on the campaign trail not to seek cuts for Medicare or Social Security, the nation’s major entitlement programs serving mostly retired people. But he did not make the same promise about Medicaid, which pays for health care for primarily low-income and disabled people — approximately 1 in 5 Americans.
Separate from the freeze, congressional Republicans are discussing cutting the nearly $900 billion program, arguing costs have ballooned with enrollment, notably including the program’s expansion to cover more low-income adults. Lawmakers are also eyeing ways to save money for Trump’s other legislative priorities — in particular, extending the tax cuts from his first term that expire at the end of this year.
The federal government pays most costs for Medicaid, which is operated by states. Medicaid pays for most long-term care for Americans and for about 40% of all U.S. births, and together with the related Children’s Health Insurance Program covers about 38 million children.
Federal funding for Medicaid does not go directly to individual enrollees but to the states, which then distribute it to providers, health plans, and other entities that serve Medicaid enrollees.
State officials can access that funding through internet portals.
Joan Alker, who is executive director of the Center for Children and Families at the Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy, said on X Tuesday that the portal lockout is “a major crisis.”
She pointed out that many states access their federal funding at the end of the month — “i.e. this week,” she wrote.
The original freeze order came in the form of a vaguely worded two-page memo from the Office of Management and Budget to all federal agencies directing them to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance.”
“This temporary pause will provide the Administration time to review agency programs and determine the best uses of the funding for those programs consistent with the law and the President’s priorities,” the memo said. The only programs explicitly noted as exceptions were Medicare and Social Security, which left it unclear how states would continue to pay doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, and private health plans to manage Medicaid.
Around the nation, health officials scrambled to make sense of the order, which was scheduled to take effect at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday. A federal judge halted the freeze shortly before its implementation, blocking the change until next week.
Even as OMB clarified that Medicaid was not included, the immediate impacts to other critical health programs were becoming clear, especially for community health centers and medical research centers.
Democrats in Congress expressed outrage at the Trump administration for pausing federal funding not only to Medicaid but also to numerous other programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, the WIC nutrition program for pregnant and postpartum women and infants, and school meal programs for low-income students.
“The Trump Administration’s action last night to suspend all federal grants and loans will have a devastating impact on the health and well-being of millions of children, seniors on fixed incomes, and the most vulnerable people in our country,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement Tuesday. “It is a dangerous move towards authoritarianism and it is blatantly unconstitutional.”
The National Association of Medicaid Directors and the major nursing home associations were among those seeking clarification from the White House on Tuesday about the order’s impact on Medicaid funding.
Numerous state officials and groups said they were considering or had already filed litigation challenging the order. One lawsuit was filed Tuesday against OMB in federal court in Washington, D.C., by the National Council of Nonprofits and the American Public Health Association, seeking a temporary restraining order to “maintain the status quo until the Court has an opportunity to more fully consider the illegality of OMB’s actions.”
Attorneys general in California, New York, and four other states announced Tuesday afternoon a joint lawsuit against the Trump administration over the order, which they said had already frozen systems for Medicaid, Head Start, and even child support enforcement across multiple states.
“There is no question this policy is reckless, dangerous, illegal, and unconstitutional,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James. She added that she and other Democratic attorneys general would seek a temporary restraining order to halt the OMB policy from going into effect.
Leavitt defended the freeze during her White House briefing — the first of the new administration — saying it was critical to ensuring that federal funding was being used appropriately.
“This is a very responsible measure,” she said.
Reporting contributed by Bram Sable-Smith, Jordan Rau, Renuka Rayasam, Brett Kelman, and Christine Mai-Duc.
When Destiny 2: Heresy arrives early next month, players will find themselves back on the Dreadnaught, the Hive ship that’s been left adrift since The Taken King expansion. And while players have fought inside the ship before, the Dreadnaught has undergone some changes since its last appearance.
“What’s significant about the Dreadnaught’s return for Heresy is that it’s going to be changing, and we’re going to be fighting through it in ways we’ve yet to experience,” said Nikko Stevens–Destiny 2’s Narrative Architect–during a feature on PlayStation’s official site. “The Dreadnaught has reawakened for the first time in almost a decade, spurring the Vanguard and Guardians across the system to take notice. We finally get to see what has become of the Dreadnaught years after Oryx was felled and its halls were left to corrode, without a Navigator.”
There are plenty of Taken enemies waiting for players on the Dreadnaught, and the goal of the mission is to push back against the corruption that has largely overtaken the ship. That’s why this mission will introduce a new activity called The Nether. In this task, Players will be dispatched to disable the ship’s internal weapons and prevent the Taken corruption from spreading. Both the players and their enemies can also be positively or negatively affected by boons which will shake up the balance of power between them.
Destiny 2: Heresy will launch on February 4 alongside a collaboration with Star Wars that introduce gear, armor ornaments, accessories, emotes, and finishers that are inspired by some of the Empire’s fiercest warriors including the Death Troopers and the Imperial Guards. Some of Destiny 2’s previous collaborations have featured items from and inspired by The Witcher, Mass Effect, and Assassin’s Creed. Bungie also recently shared a first look at Destiny 2’s new dungeon, Sundered Doctrine, and the invitation for the best players in the game to compete in a race to be the first to finish it.
Researchers at Linköping University have succeeded in creating a close connection between individual cells and organic electronics. The study, published in Science Advances, lays the foundation for future treatment of neurological and other diseases with very high precision.
“We could target individual cells and explore how this affected their ability to stay healthy and functional,” says Chiara Musumeci, researcher at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics, LOE, at Linköping University.
The brain is controlled by electrical signals that are converted into chemical substances in the communication between the brain cells. It has long been known that different parts of the brain can be stimulated with the help of electricity. But methods are often imprecise and affect large parts of the brain. Sometimes, metal electrodes are needed to hit the right part of the brain, which entails a risk that the hard electrode instead damages the brain tissue, causing inflammation or scarring.
A solution for treating specific parts of the brain could involve conductive plastics, also known as polymers.
“The goal is to combine biological systems with electrodes, specifically using organic conductive polymers. As polymers are soft and conformable and can transport both electricity and ions, they are preferable to conventional electrodes,” says Chiara Musumeci.
Together with researchers at Karolinska Institutet, the research team at Campus Norrköping has succeeded in anchoring the conductive plastic to individual living cell membranes. This opens up for future precise treatments of neurological diseases.
“At the moment, our results are rather general, which is a good thing, as our future research can explore what types of diseases this important tool would be suitable for. But more research is needed before we can say anything with any certainty,” says Alex Bersellini Farinotti, researcher at Karolinska Institutet.
Previous attempts to anchor organic electronics at the cell surface have been made, but with genetically modified cells that make the membranes more receptive. In their present study, the researchers have not used genetically modified cells and yet managed to achieve a tight coupling without affecting the cell’s other functions. This is the first time this has been done.
To succeed, the researchers used a two-step process where an anchor molecule is first used to create an attachment point in the cell membrane. At the other end of the molecule is a structure where the polymer electrode itself can attach.
The next step in the research is to get a more evenly distributed and stable anchoring over the membrane and to see how the polymer coupling behaves over time. Hanne Biesmans is a doctoral student at LOE and believes that there is great potential but also many challenges left to solve.
“We have taken a big step forward now. But we can’t say with any certainty that it will work in living tissue. This is basic research, where we are now trying to figure out the way forward.”
Generally, it is assumed that women are more emotionally invested in a relationship. When it ends, men are believed to be emotionally unaffected and unscathed from the breakup, and find it easier to moving on quickly.
Men don’t easily move on after breakups.(Pexels)
But, a study published in Behavioural and Brain Sciences puts forward a fresh perspective, breaking this preconceived notion of the unaffected man. As per the findings, men suffer greater emotional and psychological distress after a breakup.
It is noteworthy, as the study breaks the common stereotypes.
ALSO READ: What is solo polyamory? Strange new relationship trend that’s redefining love and commitment
Men have a weak support system
The study findings revealed that men in a way are more dependent on the romantic relationship. They turn to their partners for emotional support and intimacy.
Women, in reality, are relatively less affected when relationships end compared to men, as they have a strong support system of friends and family to rely on. Women are more open with their emotions and share them with friends and family.
Men, on the other hand, often lack such a support system because they have been conditioned to be emotionally stoic and independent. Even among their friends, they tend to play it cool rather than show their vulnerable side.
Societal norms place a very strong emphasis on men suppressing their emotions, discouraging them from seeking support or communicating their feelings openly. This is harmful for emotional processing. As a result, when a relationship ends, men are left to deal with the breakup largely on their own, making the emotional toll much heavier for them.
Relationships matter more to men as they begin to treat the relationship as the primary source of emotional support and connection because they don’t have any other strong support system. The intimacy that a romantic relationship brings builds that emotional support for men.
Men are more romantic
Men believe in love at first sight and emotionally depend more in their relationships. (Pexels)
Along with this the researchers also highlighted that men are romantic. This is surprising as commonly women are deemed to be more romantic. But this study is all about breaking stereotypes and revealing the reality.
It further explained how men are more motivated to seek romantic relationships than women. They are more likely to idealize love, believe in concepts like ‘love at first sight,’ and express their feelings earlier in a relationship. Men also fall in love much faster.
Relationships benefit men more than women
The relationship brings mental and physical health benefits for men as they are less stressed, improving their overall wellbeing. Men in relationships also experience low hypertension, due to less stress.
The study pointed out that single men suffer from loneliness, depression and stress more than single women.
Due to this dependence, the study narrowed down to one of the important findings- men initiate breakups or divorces less than women. 70% of the divorces are initiated by women. Even non-marital relationships are ended by women most of the time.
The hesitation or reluctance to call quit on the relationship for men is because of the anticipated emotional cost of no emotional support and intimacy. The researchers explained that this fear sometimes even may outweigh the potential benefits of ending the relationship.
Unlike how women perceive breakups as a new phase of discovering themselves and focusing on their passion and goals, men don’t see breakups as an opportunity to grow.
ALSO READ: No luck with dating? Relationship coach shares tips on how to find the best fish in the sea in 2025
Multiple lawmakers in Congress reported Tuesday that states were shut out of Medicaid payment portals after the Trump administration enacted a freeze on all federal financial assistance — despite a new White House fact sheet saying Medicaid is not subject to the pause.
Medicaid portals were down in all 50 states, according to a Tuesday post on X from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Wyden called it a “blatant attempt to rip away health insurance from millions of Americans overnight.”
Illinois processed $518 million in Medicaid bills on Thursday and received its federal match funds on Monday, before the Trump administration shut down the state’s access to the Medicaid portal, according to comptroller Susana Mendoza.
“However, I am very concerned about how long this ‘freeze’ may last,” Mendoza said in a statement, calling the Trump administration’s action “reckless.”
The reports conflict with messaging coming from the White House. “Mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP will continue without pause,” according to a Q&A from the Trump administration obtained by Healthcare Dive.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration is aware of the Medicaid portal outages and expects it to “be back online shortly” in a post on X Tuesday afternoon.
“We have confirmed no payments have been affected — they are still being processed and sent,” Leavitt said.
Providers have reported other payment systems are also offline, suggesting the outages could be part of a broader shutdown of federal portals related to grants and funding.
The HHS’ payment management website currently has a warning notice that payments may be delayed or rejected “due to Executive Orders regarding potentially unallowable grant payments.”
On Monday, Trump’s acting budget director sent a memo to all federal agencies directing them to halt all financial assistance, including grants and loans, starting at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday. The pause will remain in place until the Office of Management and Budget has a chance to review the spending, according to the memo.
The goal is to ensure agencies’ use of federal dollars complies with recent executive orders from Trump, including ones cutting back on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, increasing deportation of illegal immigrants and restricting elective abortions.
Democrat lawmakers and some lawyers criticized the freeze, noting the executive branch doesn’t have the power to unilaterally change the disbursement of congressionally appropriated funds. Experts also raised concerns about a lack of clarity in the OMB’s memo. Though it expressly states the freeze doesn’t apply to Medicare and Social Security benefits, it doesn’t mention Medicaid, under which some 80 million low-income Americans receive healthcare.
Halting federal Medicaid funding would be a huge blow to states, providers and patients across the country. It would also likely be illegal, as the law requires the CMS to match states’ Medicaid funds each quarter.
The OMB’s omission quickly raised red flags. Stakeholders, including state Medicaid directors, health policy researchers and patient advocates, urged the Trump administration to say one way or the other whether Medicaid funding will continue.
“Any pause in federal funding of Medicaid – the largest source of federal funding received by states – would be disastrous,” Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, said in a statement. “That such a memo could have been drafted without clarifying this question is negligent and suggests a callous indifference to the tens of millions of Americans who are covered by Medicaid.”
During a White House press conference Tuesday afternoon, Leavitt reiterated that the pause on federal grant programs doesn’t include funding for individual assistance programs, including Social Security, Medicare, food stamps or welfare benefits.
The White House Q&A argues that halting federal disbursements is not illegal, but is instead a “temporary pause to give agencies time to ensure that financial assistance conforms to the policies set out in the President’s Executive Orders, to the extent permitted by law.”
Along with Medicaid and SNAP, “any program that provides direct benefits to Americans is explicitly excluded from the pause,” the Q&A reads. “Funds for small businesses, farmers, Pell grants, Head Start, rental assistance, and other similar programs will not be paused.”
As an Australian property investor, you’re probably always on the lookout for ways to boost your returns and trim your tax bill.
Well, here’s the thing: understanding investment property depreciation could be your secret weapon.
This guide will walk you through the ins and outs of rental property depreciation schedules, helping you confidently navigate the sometimes murky waters of property investment.
What’s an Investment Property Depreciation Schedule?
An investment property depreciation schedule in Australia is a report that lays out the tax deductions you can claim for the depreciation of your rental property.
Essentially, it tracks the decrease in value of the building’s structure and assets (thanks to natural wear and tear) over time.
This schedule allows property investors to reduce their taxable income by detailing what they can claim—usually divided into two main categories: capital works (the building itself) and plant and equipment (things like fixtures and fittings).
A qualified Quantity Surveyor typically prepares this depreciation schedule, and it can cover up to 40 years from the date the property was built. Claiming depreciation isn’t just a paperwork exercise—it’s a way to maximise your tax returns and improve cash flow from your investment.
Tips: To make the most of a depreciation schedule, get it prepared as soon as possible after buying an investment property. Even if the property isn’t brand new, you can likely still claim significant deductions. Consulting a qualified Quantity Surveyor early on ensures you capture all possible deductions right from the beginning.
Types of Investment Property Tax Depreciation
When it comes to investment property tax depreciation, there are two main buckets to consider:
Capital Works Deductions: This is all about the building itself and things that are fixed in place. For properties built after September 15, 1987, you can typically claim 2.5% per year for 40 years. That’s four decades of potential tax savings!
Plant and Equipment Deductions: This covers removable items like appliances, carpets, and blinds. The amount you can claim depends on each item’s expected lifespan.
In a residential property, the most common plant assets are:-
Kitchen stoves
Carpets and vinyl floor coverings
Blinds and Curtains
Hot water systems
Air conditioners
Security systems
And many small items you wouldn’t think about such as door closers, bathroom accessories, exhaust fans and even the humble rubbish bin.
The ATO lists all items you can claim — and for how long. Known as ‘the effective life’, this is how long they say an asset lasts before it needs replacement.
For example, carpet has an estimated life of 10 years, a kitchen stove 12 years, and that bin will last a decade.
Getting your head around these categories is crucial for maximising your investment property depreciation claims.
Why Bother Claiming Depreciation on Your Investment Property?
Claiming depreciation on your investment property isn’t just a nice bonus – it can seriously impact your bottom line.
Here’s why it’s worth the effort:
You’ll pay less tax (and who doesn’t like that?)
Your cash flow gets a healthy boost
Your investment might perform better overall
You can claim on both new and old properties (within certain limits)
By taking advantage of these benefits, you could see a real difference in how your investment property performs financially.
Just keep in mind that the rules around claiming can be a bit of a maze.
In my mid it is always worth having a chat with a pro to make sure you’re on the right track.
How Does Investment Property Depreciation Actually Work?
Think of investment property depreciation as getting a tax break for the wear and tear on your property over time.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) sets the ground rules for how this all plays out.
Which Properties Can You Claim On?
Most residential investment properties in Australia are fair game for depreciation claims.
But the amount you can claim might vary depending on factors like your property’s age and whether you bought it new or second-hand.
What Paperwork Do You Need?
To claim depreciation, you’ll need a pro to whip up an investment property depreciation schedule for you.
This isn’t just any old document – it needs to be created by a qualified quantity surveyor who knows their stuff inside out.
They’ll list out everything you can claim and how much you can claim for each item.
What’s in a Depreciation Schedule?
A solid depreciation schedule will typically include:
A breakdown of what you can claim for the building itself
A list of all the removable items and how much you can claim for each
A crystal ball look at what you might be able to claim over the next 40 years
Picking the Right Way to Calculate Depreciation
There are two ways to crunch the numbers:
prime cost method
diminishing value method
The one you choose can make a big difference to how much you can claim each year.
Tips: For a deep dive into these methods and what they mean for your wallet, check out the discussion on capital gains tax calculations for investment properties on the ATO Community forum.
Having a professional complete your depreciation schedule and knowledge of the latest tax laws, you will be able to increase return on investment (ROI) and keep more cash!
When it comes down to tailoring the advice for your situation, seek the services provided by qualified professionals in taxes and quantity surveying. The fact of the matter is that every property and each investor are unique!
About Ken Raiss Ken is director of Metropole Wealth Advisory and gives strategic expert advice to property investors, professionals and business owners. He is in a unique position to blend his skills of accounting, wealth advisory, property investing, financial planning and small business. View his articles
MELBOURNE, Australia — There are plenty of reasons to travel to Melbourne for the Australian Open each January, especially from a winter climate.
It’s sunny, it’s warm and Aussies at Melbourne Park are good with beer at noon and banter all day. Roger Federer had it about right when he nicknamed this event the “happy slam”.
The Australian Open also doesn’t treat tennis like a fragile museum piece, never to be touched or tweaked because ‘that’s not the way it’s done’, or one of those other haughty phrases the guardians of the game use to rationalize their stodginess.
This is the signal Grand Slam: the event that starts each season and offers a window into where tennis is headed with remarkable and deliberate regularity, all on the north bank of the Yarra River. Retractable roofs; 10-point deciding tiebreaks; cameras in the player tunnels and glitching cartoon tennis stars: it all debuted here. What California is to America, Australia has often been for tennis — the lab where new stuff goes for a test drive before being pushed out in so many other places.
“We’ve always tried to keep pushing the business,” said Machar Reid, the head of innovation for Tennis Australia, in an interview in Melbourne.
This year’s innovations have been especially visible. Coaches are sitting in pods on the three main courts with tablet computers packed with live stats, rather than in a box above the court and in the stands, where they had to lean over to chat with players craning their necks and cupping their ears to hear a potential gem among the noise.
Carlos Alcaraz talks with his coaching team during his fourth-round match against Jack Draper. (Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)
Even players who were against allowing any coaching, who really hated having a rule against coaching when it was happening match in, match out, have got on board.
“I always thought tennis is an individual sport where you kind of have to figure things out on your own in a way,” said Alexander Zverev, world No. 2.
“If tennis is going that way, then it should go that way to 100 percent.”
Novak Djokovic and his coach Andy Murray are having a face-to-face chat between sets. Iga Swiatek and her coach Wim Fissette are trading words between points. That kind of closeness is natural for a tournament that turned its underbelly — the tunnels under Melbourne Park that house the player areas and allow the best in the world to move freely and privately between the gym, the lounge, and their matches, bumping fists and talking shop as they go — into one large Big Brother live feed.
It’s probably a safe bet this is all coming soon to a tournament near you. Maybe not the Big Brother.
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The AO, as it calls itself (a little less grand than Wimbledon’s “The Championships”) was the first Grand Slam to have one retractable roof, then two, then three. It was the first to bring cameras into the bowels of the stadium, following players as they walked to the court through that fancy tunnel with all the photos and names of past champions.
The net camera first became a main staple here, according to organizers. It had the first heat scale, and the first air quality scale.
The U.S. Open fashions itself as a food and style and tennis technology hotbed. Tennis Australia has gotten some heat for that this year, as the tournament, along with some other Grand Slams have done away with the electronic let sensor. The chair umpire makes the call based on whether they hear the ball tick the net, a system tournament officials insist is reliable.
Players don’t agree. Zverev called it “quite ridiculous”.
“Every single corner of everything has a camera. We have video review and all the high-end technologies that we can possibly have. But a simple let machine that we’ve been using for the past 25 years is not available at a Grand Slam.”
Chances are, most spectators don’t pay it any mind. At the Australian Open, fans come for the tennis, but stay for the music festival.
All afternoon and into the evening, there are guitarists and singers performing in the main plaza between the courts, where fans take a break from the matches — if they ever make it to them in the first place. Those couches and pillows strewn across the shaded, artificial grass where the music plays make for an awfully pleasant spot to spend an evening sipping lager and whiskey.
Tennis fans enjoy the ‘Finals Festival’ at the Australian Open in 2023. (Kim Landy / Getty Images)
Last year, the tournament introduced innovations — by tennis standards — that have been long overdue.
Ushers began letting people take their seats between every game, rather than having to wait for a changeover, the old rule penalizing fans for going to the toilet, making them potentially miss 20 minutes of action. Players were caught slightly off-guard on the first day, but quickly got used to it and the change has spread elsewhere, especially in the higher sections of stadiums.
“We have been a little bit behind the other sports with changes and trying to keep the pace with the evolution of society and the new generation that we all know doesn’t have that much of a great attention span, and they want the movement,” Djokovic said Thursday night, after his third-round win over Tomas Machac. “That’s one of the ways to really try to open up a bit more and not have strict rules.”
There was another change — a bar and cafe next to a court instead of a bank of stands, with music and no limitations on noise during play. Last year, there was one. This year there is another. And just like that, taking a child to a tennis match, or catching up with a friend a few feet away from the action, becomes doable. Watching tennis no longer feels like the punishment your parents hand down when you misbehave: sit still and be quiet for the next three hours!
On the afternoon of the first Saturday, Rachel and Miki Petrovic, who were on their annual trip to the Australian Open from their home in Serbia, took in an otherwise forgettable doubles match over a beer as their seven-week-old infant, Violetta, rested beside them in a stroller.
“I have a baby,” Rachel told The Athletic. “Here I don’t have to worry about being annoying.”
A few feet away, Andrew Matthews and Danny Sincic, longtime Melbournians and attendees but first-time party-court visitors were enjoying a ginger beer and an IPA.
“Never been to anything like this,” Sincic said. “Makes it feel a bit more social than having to sit in the stadium without talking.”
“I don’t know how the players feel, but it’s good for us,” Matthews said.
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The players are basically fine with it. At this point, they know that when they play tennis in Melbourne Park, it might feel like a rugby match — especially if they play an Aussie. Chair umpires and stadium officials will attempt to keep the hometown faithful in line, but they don’t try that hard.
After all, that would rob the tournament of its more moments, such as Danielle Collins’ second-round win over home favorite Destanee Aiava. After enduring more than two hours of harassment from the Australian fans, Collins blew kisses to the crowd and thanked them in her on-court interview for helping her land a “big fat pay check”.
Djokovic, who ends up trolling crowds more often than anyone, gave Collins his full backing.
“Big fan of Danielle Collins,” he said the Thursday night after Collins’ interview. “We should try to look to connect more with the younger people and bring them. I want to see a little bit more entertainment.”
He has thoughts, including on-court dancers during changeovers or some version of a Super Bowl half-time show mid-match. Coco Gauff points out that in a sport with one-minute changeovers, it doesn’t really work. Maybe, somewhere in Melbourne, it’s already been noted on a whiteboard.
(Top photo: Brett Price / VWPics via Associated Press)
Spam filters have made it really easy to keep malicious emails out of your inbox, but it’s by no means impervious. If you need a reason always to exercise caution when opening an email despite it getting past security, you only need to look at email salting attacks.
Email Salting Attacks Hide Scams From Spam Filters
As reported by Cisco Talos, email salting attacks allow scammers to sneak their emails past spam filters and have them land in your inbox. It works by adding junk text that confuses spam checkers, while presenting the email in a way where humans can’t see the additional flak.
When a spam email checks an email, it will dig through its HTML code to see what it’s saying. You, the reader, don’t see the HTML; you instead see what the HTML creates when your browser turns all that code into something more palatable for humans.
Email salting works by adding junk text into an email to break up the words. That way, the spam filter doesn’t “see” what the scammer is trying to do. However, the scammer uses sneaky tricks to make it so the junk text doesn’t appear when you read the email, leaving just the words they want you to read.
Here’s an example that Cisco Talos spotted: in this email, the scammer wanted to impersonate Wells Fargo. However, if they just wrote “Wells Fargo,” the spam filter will detect and catch the scam attempts. Instead, the scammers added junk text in the middle of the words “Wells” and “Fargo” and then set the additional text to zero width.
That way, when the spam filter scans the email, it sees this:
WEqcvuilLLS FAroyawdRGO
But because the junk text has zero width, it doesn’t display when you read the email, leaving you with:
WELLS FARGO
Bam: now the scammer can impersonate Wells Fargo without the spam filter catching on.
Another example involves the scammer adding Zero-Width Space (ZWSP) and Zero-Width Non-Joiner (ZWNJ) characters between each letter in a word. Because they’re characters, the spam filter reads them when judging if something is spam or not. However, because these characters represent zero space, they don’t appear when the email is rendered, meaning that you see the word just fine without any breaks in it.
These examples demonstrate that you should never blindly believe an email, even if it dodges your spam filter and arrives in your inbox. Always double-check the sender and the content before clicking on any suspicious links, and check out these examples of fraud and phishing emails to watch out for.
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-28/Festive-decorations-light-up-the-Ice-City–1AwRljK9SuI/img/4eb072a135e349b5af674e6bd6115bdf/4eb072a135e349b5af674e6bd6115bdf.jpeg'The city of Harbin in Heilongjiang Province is lit up by festive decorations on January 26, 2025, for Chinese New Year and the upcoming Asian Winter Games. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-28/Festive-decorations-light-up-the-Ice-City–1AwRljK9SuI/img/4eb072a135e349b5af674e6bd6115bdf/4eb072a135e349b5af674e6bd6115bdf.jpeg'The city of Harbin in Heilongjiang Province is lit up by festive decorations on January 26, 2025, for Chinese New Year and the upcoming Asian Winter Games. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-28/Festive-decorations-light-up-the-Ice-City–1AwRljK9SuI/img/4eb072a135e349b5af674e6bd6115bdf/4eb072a135e349b5af674e6bd6115bdf.jpeg'The city of Harbin in Heilongjiang Province is lit up by festive decorations on January 26, 2025, for Chinese New Year and the upcoming Asian Winter Games. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-28/Festive-decorations-light-up-the-Ice-City–1AwRljK9SuI/img/4eb072a135e349b5af674e6bd6115bdf/4eb072a135e349b5af674e6bd6115bdf.jpeg'The city of Harbin in Heilongjiang Province is lit up by festive decorations on January 26, 2025, for Chinese New Year and the upcoming Asian Winter Games. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-28/Festive-decorations-light-up-the-Ice-City–1AwRljK9SuI/img/4eb072a135e349b5af674e6bd6115bdf/4eb072a135e349b5af674e6bd6115bdf.jpeg'The city of Harbin in Heilongjiang Province is lit up by festive decorations on January 26, 2025, for Chinese New Year and the upcoming Asian Winter Games. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-28/Festive-decorations-light-up-the-Ice-City–1AwRljK9SuI/img/4eb072a135e349b5af674e6bd6115bdf/4eb072a135e349b5af674e6bd6115bdf.jpeg'The city of Harbin in Heilongjiang Province is lit up by festive decorations on January 26, 2025, for Chinese New Year and the upcoming Asian Winter Games. /VCG
In the run-up to Chinese New Year, the “Ice City” of Harbin is adorned with various kinds of decorations, such as red lanterns and colorful lights, which light up the city at night and add to the festive vibe. What’s also striking are the ice sculptures, mascots and posters for the upcoming Asian Winter Games across the city’s streets and avenues. To celebrate the two events, the bridges and buildings along the city’s Songhua River will have extended lighting hours.
Meryl Streep took matters into her own hands — literally — as wildfires rampaged across Los Angeles County earlier this month.
According to nephew Abe Streep, the Oscar-winning actor sprang into action after a fallen tree blocked her driveway as she tried to evacuate her home the day after wind-stoked fires broke out across the region. In his harrowing account of the historic fires in Altadena, Pacific Palisades and Hollywood that was published Tuesday in New York Magazine, Streep wrote that his aunt, 75, borrowed a neighbor’s wire cutters and “cut a car-size hole in the fence” they shared.
The “Devil Wears Prada” star, “determined to make it out,” then drove through her neighbor’s yard to escape, her nephew recalled.
Meryl Streep was one of a handful of area residents whose experiences with the fires — which have claimed 29 lives and destroyed more than 15,000 structures — were told in the New York story. The younger Streep also spoke to a longtime West Altadena resident, a Palisades native and schoolteacher, actor Haley Joel Osment and his aunt’s “Only Murders in the Building” co-star Martin Short, among others.
Short, who knew “right away” in the early years of his career that he would live in Pacific Palisades and bought there in 1984, told Abe Streep he “will definitely stay in my home,” despite one of his sons losing a house. “The Sixth Sense” and “Blink Twice” star Osment said he and his parents lost their homes in the Eaton fire.
In one of the most destructive firestorms to hit Los Angeles County in recent memory, at least 130,000 Angelenos fled for safety — with celebrities among those reeling from the devastation.
As of Tuesday morning, the Palisades, Eaton and Hughes fires in L.A. County were 95%, 99% and 98% contained, respectively, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Containment of the Border 2 fire in San Diego County was listed at 74%. No homes burned in Hollywood’s Sunset fire, which was fully contained on Jan. 9.
The rainstorm in recent days brought much-needed moisture to Southern California and welcome relief to fire-weary Angelenos. Ryan Kittell, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Oxnard, said Tuesday that while the amount of rainfall wasn’t enough to prevent fire season from extending into February, “This was a largely beneficial rain.
“I think we dodged a bullet,” he said. “It helped with the firefights and definitely gives us a break from fire weather.”
Times staff writer Grace Toohey contributed to this report.
Mumbai, January 28: TVS Motor Company on Tuesday reported a 1.48 per cent decline in its revenue from operations for the third quarter (Q3) of FY25 at Rs 11,134.63 crore from Rs 11,301.68 crore in the previous quarter (Q2 FY25). The automaker also posted a decline of nearly 6.66 per cent in net profit for Q3 which stood at Rs 618.48 crore, compared to Rs 662.62 crore in Q2 FY25. However, the company posted a 4.2 per cent year-on-year increase in net profit, which stood at Rs 618 crore, supported by higher sales volumes and improved operational efficiency.
The automaker’s revenue from operations, when compared year-on-year, showed a 10 per cent rise, climbing from Rs 9,097 crore in Q3 FY24. TVS Motor’s operating EBITDA grew by 17 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,081 crore in Q3 FY25, compared to Rs 924 crore in the same period last year. The EBITDA margin also improved to 11.9 per cent, marking its highest-ever level, up from 11.2 per cent in Q3 FY24. Profit before tax (PBT) rose 8 per cent year-on-year to Rs 837 crore, although it included a fair valuation loss of Rs 41 crore during the quarter. Budget 2025: Electric Vehicle Industry Eyes Tax Cuts, Financial Boosts and Infrastructure Upgrades in Union Budget 2025-26.
This was a shift from a gain of Rs 65 crore in the same period last year. The company’s overall two-wheeler and three-wheeler sales grew by 10 per cent year-on-year to 12.12 lakh units during the quarter, driven by a 22 per cent rise in scooter sales and a 6 per cent increase in motorcycle sales. However, three-wheeler sales saw a decline, falling to 0.29 lakh units from 0.38 lakh units in the year-ago quarter. Electric scooter sales showed growth, jumping 57 per cent to 0.76 lakh units, according to its filing. Ultraviolette F99 Achieves 258Kmph Top Speed, Registering Its Name as Fastest Indian Electric Motorcycle in India Book of Records: Autocar India-Ultraviolette Automotive (Video).
For the nine months ending December 2024, TVS Motor’s two-wheeler sales, including exports, grew 14 per cent year-on-year to 34.29 lakh units. In contrast, three-wheeler sales declined to 0.98 lakh units from 1.16 lakh units in the previous year. Despite this, two-wheeler exports increased by 19 per cent to 7.78 lakh units during the nine-month period. Electric vehicle sales during this period rose by 40 per cent to 2.03 lakh units. Following the Q3 results, TVS Motor’s share price went up over 4.5 per cent to Rs 2,331 on the NSE.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 28, 2025 03:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Altogether, around 10 attempts to change the gulf’s name have been reverted over the past week on OpenStreetMap. Several contributors have contended that OSM should wait for common usage in society to change before making an edit to the primary name of the gulf. “OSM’s primary goal is to reflect what people on the ground believe is correct, striving for accuracy and neutrality in the face of diverse perspectives,” says Clifford Snow, a member of the organization’s Data Working Group who has reversed some of the edits allegedly made without consensus.
A similar back-and-forth has played out over Denali. But reaching agreement may wind up proving difficult. “I do not believe that OSM will ever be able to pick one [name], without offending some user somewhere,” one contributor wrote. “We need a path out of this quagmire that does not involve edit wars.”
Other contributors discussed when it would be appropriate to make the changes. Mapping providers, including Google, say they follow the US Geological Survey’s Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), but that database hasn’t been updated with the new names yet. Department of Interior spokesperson Elizabeth Peace declined to speculate about when USGS staff might get around to processing the updates.
Under a 1947 law, decisions about which geographic names the US government will use are to be made by the Secretary of the Interior and the Board on Geographic Names, or BGN, a panel of officials from a smattering of government agencies. The GNIS is a repository of BGN-approved names.
As of Tuesday, at least one listed member of the BGN had received no correspondence or records related to changing the name of the gulf, according to a request filed by WIRED under the Freedom of Information Act. That suggests either that the usual mechanisms have not been engaged, or that some other authority is being exercised to change the official name. The Interior Department spokesperson declined to comment.
Another point of uncertainty has been whether the entire gulf should be renamed. The president’s order addressed “the U.S. Continental Shelf area bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba.”
But as one contributor on OpenStreetMap wrote, “The Gulf of Mexico is much bigger than this. So it seems rather than a renaming, this executive order is creating a new name for a sub area of the Gulf of Mexico.”
The White House didn’t respond to WIRED’s request to clarify the intended boundaries for the new name. If the change were to apply to any non-US territory, the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency would have to update what’s known as the Geographic Names Server, a database of names for foreign locations. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency declined to comment.
Mikel Maron, a spokesperson for the OpenStreetMap Foundation, which helps steward the volunteer efforts, says the debate over the Trump order highlights the value of having an open community trying to represent the complexity of the world. For now, their discussion continues. “Ultimately the OSM Foundation Data Working Group has stepped in to put a hold on any big changes in the OSM database until things are more clear,” he says.
Snow, the working group member, says the trending consensus is leaving the Gulf of Mexico and Denali as the primary names and adding a label to each for the new official US name. But if Gulf of America catches on, the open-source map may have to follow.
Crypto investment firm Mudrex has resumed crypto withdrawal services on its platform after a brief halt to upgrade its compliance suite. In an update shared on Tuesday, January 28, Mudrex said it had upgraded and automated its compliance process with Artificial Intelligence (AI). The platform claimed it had improved its systems to combat financial crimes. The company halted its crypto withdrawal service on January 13. The upgrade is Mudrex’s first for the KYC process it has in place for crypto withdrawals.
“In line with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and local regulatory requirements like complying with FIU and AML guidelines, Mudrex requires users to verify their details through its Customer Due Diligence (CDD) and Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) processes. These stringent measures are designed to combat financial crimes,” Mudrex said in a statement shared with Gadgets 360.
Alankar Saxena, the co-founder and CTO of Mudrex, shared more details about the development on X. He said the process was critical to prevent bad actors from moving crypto funds around through Mudrex for illegal activities.
Earlier this January, we temporarily paused crypto withdrawals on @officialmudrex to enhance compliance and safety standards. Today, I’m happy to announce that crypto withdrawals are back live for all users, as promised. Huge thanks to our compliance and engineering teams for…
A blog post from Mudrex further explained that it enforces a 14-day cooling period for new users to prevent fraud and unauthorised transactions on the platform. During this period, the platform said, its users must complete their EDD process, under which they are asked to share details like their income source as well as bank statements.
“In the Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) process, users need to provide additional information to verify the legitimacy of the source of funds. This helps us identify and assess any potential risks associated with their profile,” Saxena told Gadgets 360.
In its blog, the platform added it would verify the recipient’s address before letting crypto tokens be transferred. New or unused wallet addresses for the senders and receivers would have to re-verify themselves, which could take up to seven days.
Mudrex charges a two percent platform fee on the transaction amount. It says these funds are required to maintain the compliance and infrastructure requirements. Some users of the platform have complained about the high platform fees, but the crypto firm maintains its stance.
This fee is for compliance and infrastructure needs. We’re working to provide the best services.
Cryptocurrencies are not comprehensively regulated in India for now. The government, has however, mandated crypto firms to comply with anti-money laundering laws and register with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to keep track of the companies that are operating in the volatile sector. Crypto firms also must have their customers complete the KYC process during signups so that there is some trail to the otherwise private crypto transactions, which could be exploited for illegal acts like money laundering and terror financing.
Moreover, incidents like ByBit’s recent suspension of crypto trading service — or last year’s WazirX wallet hack leading to a loss of around $230 million (roughly Rs. 1,900 crore) — have also nudged industry players to add more layers of security to their operations.
Google acknowledged that Performance Max (PMax) campaigns can be controlled through API placement exclusions — contradicting months of its own documentation and support guidance, according to new research from ad tech firm Optmyzr.
This revelation gives advertisers more programmatic control over their PMax campaigns than previously thought possible, potentially saving significant time and resources in campaign management.
The big picture. Performance Max campaigns, Google’s AI-driven ad format, have been a source of frustration for advertisers seeking more granular control over where their ads appear.
Lead up. Earlier this year we saw that despite Navah Hopkins, Brand Evangelist of Optmyzr, reporting that Google said that API based placements exclusions don’t work for PMax campaigns, multiple advertisers were reporting the opposite.
By the numbers. Optmyzr ran an experiment, running from Dec. 30 to Jan. 21. It showed:
Zero ad spend on excluded placements after implementing API controls.
Complete effectiveness of API-based exclusions, despite Google’s previous claims.
Faster implementation compared to manual UI controls.
Behind the scenes. Google’s documentation and AI help center had explicitly stated that placement exclusions would only work through their user interface, not via API.
Multiple support channels reinforced this incorrect guidance.
What they’re saying. Following the experiment, Google admitted that placement exclusions work through both the API and UI as we see in this response from Ginny Marvin, Google Ads Liaison:
Why we care. Performance Max campaigns represent a significant portion of many advertisers’ Google Ads spend, but the lack of control over where ads appear has been a major pain point. This situation also highlights a broader point: you shouldn’t take platform limitations as gospel, even when they come directly from Google. Testing and verification could reveal hidden capabilities that provide competitive advantages.
Bottom line. This discovery highlights a broader issue in ad tech: platform documentation doesn’t always reflect actual capabilities, requiring advertisers to actively test and verify functionality.
What’s next. As advertisers, you should:
Review your PMax campaign controls.
Consider implementing API-based exclusions for more efficient management.
Maintain active oversight despite automated controls.
Confidently question capabilities they may have strong reason to believe isn’t true.
Between the lines. The finding suggests other undocumented capabilities might exist across Google’s ad platforms, encouraging advertisers to question and test official limitations.
Covered California, el mercado de seguros de salud del estado, ha alcanzado un récord de 1,8 millones de inscritos y la cifra podría aumentar aún más antes de la fecha límite de inscripción abierta del 31 de enero, debido en gran parte a una mejora en los subsidios que ha hecho que los planes sean más asequibles.
Pero el progreso del estado en la extensión de la cobertura de salud a todos los residentes podría frenarse con la segunda administración Trump y un Congreso republicano cuyo liderazgo ha sido hostil durante mucho tiempo a la Ley de Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio (ACA), la ley federal de 2010 también conocida como Obamacare.
La principal preocupación de los funcionarios de Covered California es la inminente expiración de los subsidios federales adicionales para pagar las primas de los seguros, aprobados por el Congreso en 2021 como parte de un paquete de ayuda durante la pandemia de covid. Eso resultó en primas más bajas para las personas de todo el país, especialmente los hogares de clase media, que compran seguros de salud a través de los mercados establecidos por ACA.
“Estamos siguiendo de cerca si se tomarán medidas para extender los subsidios mejorados, lo que tendrá un gran impacto”, dijo Jessica Altman, directora ejecutiva de Covered California, quien señaló que el programa tenía alrededor de 1,5 millones de inscritos antes de los subsidios mejorados.
Los republicanos han criticado el costo de los subsidios y no está claro si los renovarán.
Sin una extensión, los investigadores del Centro Laboral de la Universidad de California-Berkeley estiman que las primas de Covered California para los inscritos subsidiados se dispararían en un promedio de $967 al año a partir de 2026, y aproximadamente 69.000 californianos perderían su cobertura.
California tomó sus propias medidas el año pasado para hacer que la cobertura fuera más asequible, eliminando los deducibles y reduciendo otros costos de bolsillo en todas las pólizas de nivel medio conocidas como planes “plata”.
Sin embargo, es probable que el gasto en atención médica del estado enfrente nuevas presiones si los republicanos en Washington siguen adelante con sus planes de larga data de recortar la financiación de Medicaid, el programa de seguro médico para estadounidenses de bajos ingresos, conocido en California como Medi-Cal.
Además de reforzar Covered California, el estado también ha presionado agresivamente para expandir Medi-Cal, incluso para los inmigrantes sin papeles, y ahora gasta $161 mil millones al año en ese programa, aproximadamente la mitad pagados por el gobierno federal.
Cerca de 144.000 de los 1,8 millones de inscritos en Covered California al 14 de diciembre estaban adquiriendo cobertura por primera vez, y casi el 90% de todos los inscritos califican para recibir ayuda financiera.
Covered California ha extendido el período de inscripción hasta el 8 de marzo para los residentes de los condados de Los Ángeles y Ventura debido a los incendios forestales, y también ha emitido extensiones relacionadas con la gripe aviar y un terremoto en el norte de California.
Los residentes de bajos ingresos pagan poco o nada por las primas mensuales, mientras que para aquellos que ganan más, las primas están limitadas a un porcentaje de los ingresos del hogar. Con los subsidios federales mejorados, nadie está obligado a gastar más del 8,5% de sus ingresos en primas, siempre que elija un plan Silver. Sin embargo, estos planes pueden tener redes de proveedores más pequeñas y gastos de bolsillo significativos.
Según Covered California, la prima mensual promedio es de $136 para quienes reciben subsidios, dos tercios de los cuales pagan $10 o menos al mes. Pero las personas con ingresos más altos pueden terminar pagando bastante más. Por ejemplo, una familia de cuatro que gana $200.000 en el área de Los Ángeles pagaría más de $1.000 al mes por un plan Silver, según una calculadora de costos.
Si bien los subsidios federales y estatales han aumentado de manera significativa la cantidad de asistencia disponible, el costo subyacente del seguro ha seguido aumentando. Las primas de Covered California han aumentado un 7,9% en promedio para 2025, pero los subsidios adicionales protegen a la mayoría de los inscritos de este aumento.
“El gasto de bolsillo de la gente probablemente sea menor que el que hemos visto”, dijo Dylan Roby, profesor de salud, sociedad y comportamiento en la Universidad de California-Irvine. “Eso no significa necesariamente que las primas estén bajando. Solo significa que el gobierno estatal o federal está pagando una parte mayor de las primas que antes, en nombre de los inscritos”.
Ni Trump ni los líderes entrantes del Congreso han dado señales claras sobre cómo ven el futuro de los subsidios, pero ambos tienen un historial de intentar derogar y debilitar el Obamacare. Mike Johnson, presidente de la Cámara de Representantes, ha prometido una “reforma masiva” de la ley de atención médica, aunque sin dar muchos detalles.
Expertos, incluido Roby, dicen que los republicanos podrían extender los subsidios para evitar que los consumidores, las aseguradoras de salud, los hospitales y otros que se han beneficiado, protesten. La inscripción en los planes del mercado es especialmente alta en los estados controlados por los republicanos que no han ampliado Medicaid, porque ofrece a las personas de bajos ingresos una forma de acceder a un seguro de salud asequible.
“No creo que los miembros republicanos de la Cámara de Representantes estén tan inclinados a hacer que todas ls primas médicas de los estadounidenses aumentan”, dijo Roby. “Soy bastante optimista en cuanto a que [los subsidios] se renovarán”.
Pero la incertidumbre sobre el futuro de los subsidios, incluso si finalmente se renuevan, podría afectar el costo de los planes del mercado, dijo Rachel Linn Gish, directora de comunicaciones de Health Access California, una coalición de defensa del consumidor. Esto se debe a que las aseguradoras ya están comenzando a planificar sus tarifas para el próximo año y probablemente incluirán en los precios el riesgo de no renovar, dijo.
“Vamos a luchar durante el próximo año para tratar de salvar esos subsidios mejorados y, posteriormente, todos los demás marcos y financiamiento de la Ley de Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio”, dijo Linn Gish. “Porque si se revierte algo de eso, la gente perderá la cobertura de atención médica”.
WWE 2K25 is now available to preorder ahead of its March 14 release, with Roman Reigns serving as the cover star. The latest entry in the annual wrestling sim series will feature a slew of quality-of-life updates as well as brand-new game modes. Most notably, 2K is introducing The Island, an online world where you can interact and compete with other players. WWE 2K25 sounds like it could be one of the most expansive wrestling sims to date. If you’re interested in stepping into the ring on launch day, you can get a handful of cool bonuses by preordering your copy early.
From the basic standard edition to the premium Bloodlines Edition that grants one-week early access, here’s a look at what’s included with every version of WWE 2K25
WWE 2K25 Preorder Bonuses
Regardless of which version of WWE 2K25 you preorder, you’ll get the Wyatt Sicks DLC pack, which comes with five playable Superstars for the card-collecting MyFaction mode. Here are the five Persona Cards you’ll get with your preorder:
Uncle Howdy
Dexter Lumis
Nikki Cross
Joe Gacy
Erick Rowan
If you’re playing on PS5 or Xbox Series X, you’ll get Uncle Howdy and Nikki Cross mask cosmetics for The Island. And if you preorder a digital version, the WWE 2K24 Cross-Gen base game is also included with your purchase.
Featuring Roman Reigns as the cover star, this edition of the game gets you the base game plus any eligible preorder bonuses. It includes dual entitlement across PS5 and PS4 or Xbox Series X and Xbox One. Physical preorders are live at Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop, while digital copies can be found on the PS Store, Xbox Store, and Steam.
Featuring The Undertaker as its cover star, this version is loaded with digital goodies. Along with the Wyatt Sicks DLC pack, here’s what else is included with the Deadman Edition:
Mattel Elite “Greatest Hits” Undertaker
Original Undertaker
Mattel Elite “Greatest Hits” Undertaker Persona Card
It’s not cheap, but this premium version of WWE 2K25 includes heaps of DLC content plus the Ringside Pass. You’ll also gain early access to the game on March 7 instead of March 14. Along with everything in the above versions, here’s what else is part of the Bloodline Edition.
Ringside Pass (Season Pass plus Superstar Mega-Boost)
The Rock Nation of Domination Pack: Persona Card and Playable Character
Mattel Elite Series 114 Jey Uso Persona Card
Mattel Elite “Greatest Hits” Roman Reigns Persona Card
Mattel Elite Series 114 Jey Uso
Mattel Elite “Greatest Hits” Roman Reigns
Family Above All Hoodie (PS5 and Xbox Series X)
OTC Shirt (PS5 and Xbox Series X)
Yeet Tank Top (PS5 and Xbox Series X)
Yeet Sunglasses (PS5 and Xbox Series X)
32,500 VC (Steam)
WrestleMania 41 Arena
WrestleMania 41 Main Event Superstars Persona Cards
WrestleMania 41 Playable Characters
Much of the WrestleMania 41 content details are yet to be announced, though it’ll likely be a fantastic inclusion and a good reason to snag the Bloodline Edition. We’ll update this when official details on playable characters are announced.
Most animal, plant and fungal cells contain organelles called mitochondria. These descendants of a primordial bacterial endosymbiont still preserve distinct genes and are known for their ability to create ATP as chemical energy. They also have other important functions, including cell signaling, viral and bacterial sensing, cell division, cell death, and innate and adaptive immune responses. Consequently, impairment in mitochondrial function can result in aging and age-related diseases.
An emerging area of research is the evolutionarily conserved transfer of mitochondria between cells. Yet researchers have lacked unique and universally accepted terms and practices to describe such transfers. Absent an agreed nomenclature and standard practices, different researchers may use different methods and terminology to describe the same event, or they may employ the same term that actually describe two different processes.
“Over the past few years, we have come to understand that mitochondria can be transferred from one cell to another, and that isolated mitochondria can be transplanted like an organ transplant,” said Keshav K. Singh, Ph.D., professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Genetics. “Though the origins of mitochondria transfer are unclear, it has been observed in evolutionarily diverse eukaryotes, including yeast, mollusks, fish and rodents, as well as human cells. We are just beginning to understand how alterations in this process contribute to disease pathogenesis and how to harness mitochondria transfer and transplantation biology to develop new therapies.”
In 2024, Singh and Jonathan Brestoff, M.D., Ph.D., Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, Missouri, set up an international consortium on mitochondria transfer and transplantation and led an international team of 31 researchers to develop consensus and recommendations about how to advance the field by providing common terminology and characterizations for the transfer or transplantation of mitochondria. Their consensus paper, “Recommendations for mitochondria transfer and transplantation nomenclature and characterization,” is published in the journal Nature Metabolism.
The paper begins with a brief history of the field — some foundational early discoveries, recent studies of mitochondrial transfer and development of therapeutic approaches, including cell engineering and clinical trials for children requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
The paper defines types of mitochondria transfer and mitochondria transplantation, and when both the donor and acceptor cell types are established in vivo, that defines a mitochondria transfer axis. The paper reviews methods to define mitochondria transfer, including mitochondria reporter proteins and dyes, methods to enforce transfer, and discussion of the fate of mitochondria after cell entry. Mechanism-based nomenclature is roughly grouped into contact-dependent mitochondria transfer, where the donor cell and recipient cell touch each other, and contact-independent mitochondria transfer.
The recommendations also review therapeutic approaches of mitochondria transplantation, including the definition of transplants; the types, durability, degree of engraftment and heterogeneity of transplants; cell engineering using extracellular mitochondria; and drugs that affect mitochondria transfer. Extracellular mitochondria are common in humans — for example there are about 3 billion to 12 billion extracellular mitochondria in a unit of blood platelets, a blood product that is routinely and safely transfused to patients intravenously.
The paper concludes that “the goal of this proposed nomenclature is to reduce the confusion that can be caused by the introduction of different names for similar processes or extracellular mitochondria subsets as this field has evolved. We recognize that mitochondria transfer and transplantation are very active areas of research and that it is possible that new findings and insights may necessitate updates to the proposed nomenclature.”
Singh has a long-standing interest in mitochondria. He was founding editor-in-chief of the journal Mitochondrion and the founder of the Society for Mitochondria Research and Medicine. In 2007 and 2009, his laboratory showed that isolated mouse mitochondria can be transferred to human cells by co-incubation, providing a proof of principle for transfer of mitochondria by diffusion, and that xeno-transplanted platelet mitochondria from an African American woman who suffered aggressive breast cancer at young age was able to recapitulate aggressiveness of breast cancer in mice. At that time, these findings were not appreciated by the field, Singh says.
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Kolkata, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday inaugurated the 48th International Kolkata Book Fair and expressed hope that one day it would emerge as the “best of the best” in the world.
Mamata inaugurates Kolkata Book Fair, says it will become ‘best of the best’
Despite the surge in digital reading platforms, books still rule the heart, she said referring to the good business witnessed in the 2024 edition of the fair.
“The International Kolkata Book Fair is one of the best book fairs, and I want to see it as the best of the best,” Banerjee said at the inaugural programme where three books written by her were unveiled.
The ‘Focal Theme Country’ of this year’s book fair is Germany. Ambassador of Germany to India Dr Philipp Ackermann attended the event as the Special Guest of Honour, while Director Goethe-Institut, South Asia, Dr Marla Stukenberg was also present.
“Book Fair is our pride. It is very close to our heart. Digital platforms are becoming very popular nowadays, but nobody can forget books. Without books, a house seems to be empty. Books are our friend, philosopher and guide,” she said.
Last year the Book Fair did a business of over ₹30 crore and nearly 27 lakh people visited it, she said.
“Maybe this year, this would cross 50 lakh or one crore,” she added.
“Our culture is to maintain unity and diversity. Ours is a big country and has different states speaking different languages. We love each caste, religion, creed and language. This is what our forefathers gave us as this philosophy,” Banerjee said.
Banerjee also referred to Kolkata’s links with Germany. “Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had a big and strong connection with Germany. His daughter Anita lives there. I have met her,” she said.
Eminent writer Abul Bashar was conferred the Guild Lifetime Literary Award at the inaugural ceremony.
Meanwhile, three books penned by Banerjee ‘Lipibadhya’, ‘Salute 2’ and ‘Banglay Nirbachan O Amra’ were launched.
At this year’s book fair, there would be 1,056 stalls, the maximum number any fair had earlier.
This year’s book fair also has a special mascot – ducks ‘Haso’ and ‘Hasi’.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
A radiopharmaceutical medicine developed by Germany’s ITM outperformed everolimus, an older chemotherapy, in a late-stage study of people with a rare type of neuroendocrine tumor, the biotechnology company said Tuesday.
ITM’s statement contained no data. But the company said its therapy showed a “clinically meaningful and statistically significant benefit” extending progression-free survival versus everolimus. Treatment was “well-tolerated,” ITM added.
ITM, which is short for Isotope Technologies Munich, plans to present full trial data at an upcoming medical conference. The company also intends to discuss an approval application with the Food and Drug Administration this year.
Dive Insight:
ITM is a veteran member of a research field that, over the past few years, has undergone a renaissance of investment and industry interest. The company has directly benefited from this boom, receiving $205 million in new funding from a syndicate of private investors seven months ago.
Unlike some other radiopharma drugmakers, ITM supplies the radioisotopes these drugs contain as well as develops them into therapies of its own.
ITM-11, the drug that ITM says succeeded in the Phase 3 neuroendocrine cancer study, contains the isotope lutetium-177, which is packaged together with a compound that targets a protein known as the somatostatin receptor. Both the isotope and the target of ITM-11 are the same as Lutathera, an approved radiopharmaceutical sold by Novartis.
In an interview last June, former ITM CEO Steffen Schuster acknowledged ITM-11 will compete with Lutathera, but noted how he hopes the arrival of his company’s medicine will grow the overall market. “There are so many patients who could get this treatment who don’t get treatment,” said Schuster, who stepped down Sept. 1.
ITM’s study, dubbed Compete, enrolled 309 people with inoperable neuroendocrine tumors that originated in the gut or pancreas and were positive for the targeted somatostatin receptor. Participants in the trial received either ITM-11 or everolimus for up to 30 months, or until their cancer progressed.
“The patients included represent a real-life scenario, and the Compete study evaluates the important question of which therapy might be used first to provide greater benefit to patients,” Jaume Capdevila, a study investigator and senior medical oncologist at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, said in a statement provided by ITM.
ITM is also studying ITM-11 in other forms of these so-called GEP-NET tumors, as well as in children with somatostatin receptor-positive tumors.
Despite access to extensive data, many forecasts will miss the mark, largely due to unpredictable factors like investor sentiment. Investor sentiment, currently at historic lows, will remain a critical, yet hard-to-quantify, influence on market movements.
Unforeseen events, or “black swan events,” will shape the market unpredictably, as they do every year. Examples from 2024, like prolonged high interest rates, economic stagnation, and global conflicts, underscore how predictions often miss such impactful developments.
A handful of forecasts will hit the mark, often by chance. Those who get it right will claim expertise, but true forecasting success is rare and inconsistent.
Many property investors fail to benefit from long-term wealth creation: 20% sell within the first 2 years; 50% exit within 5 years, missing the compounding benefits of strategic property ownership. Waiting for the “perfect time” to invest often proves to be a mistake.
Savvy investors who act during quieter market conditions and focus on “investment-grade” properties in prime locations will thrive.
About this time each year it’s customary for those of us in the property industry to peer into the future in an attempt to predict what’s ahead for our housing markets.
While making such forecasts is not an exact science, I can safely make five predictions I am certain will be true for 2025.
1. Most predictions will be wrong!
My first prediction for the year is it will be a bad year for those in the prediction business.
I’m sure this will be correct as most economic and property experts get it wrong despite being armed with all the research available in today’s information age.
The problem is while the fundamentals (things such as population growth, supply and demand, employment levels, interest rates, affordability and inflationary pressures) are easy to monitor, one overriding factor the experts have difficulty quantifying is investor sentiment.
Currently, investor sentiment is low, in fact, it’s the lowest it’s been for decades, despite the economic fundamentals being quite solid.
2. Many things won’t happen and others will
Many of the predictions for 2025 won’t happen and a lot of things will happen this year that no forecaster thought to include in their predictions because market movements are far from an exact science.
Every year there is an ‘X factor’ — sometimes called a ‘black swan event’.
This is an unpredicted factor, either locally or from abroad, that affects our markets either positively or negatively.
However, in retrospect, these unexpected events will seem to be the obvious consequences of the current economic and political environment.
Last year no one really predicted that interest rates would remain so high for so long, or that we would be in a per capita recession for 7 quarters, or that the cost-of-living crisis would affect so many Australians.
And very few believe the wars in Ukraine or the Middle East would last so long, and I won’t even mention the predictions about the next American president.
3. Some forecasts will be right
I predict a small number of the many economic and property forecasts for 2025 will accidentally come true and those who randomly predicted them will claim to be experts, despite the fact it was the first time they got one of their hundreds of forecasts right and that they adjusted their forecasts over the year as circumstances unfolded.
4. Most property investors will get it wrong this year
This one is simple because they always do!
And I’m not talking about those who fail to take action this year and wait for things to be just right before they get into the market, even though that will be a big mistake this year.
What I’m talking about is based on data that shows 20% of those who do invest in property sell up within the first 2 years and around 50% sell within the first five years.
These failed investors will never gain the long-term wealth-creation benefits that property investing is all about.
5. Those who get it right will do very well
And my last prediction is those property investors who get it right will do very well out of real estate this year and set themselves up for the years ahead.
Those who saw previous quiet spells in the property market as a countercyclical opportunity have consistently done well for themselves.
They recognise the slower market as a chance to invest when others are too afraid to buy and when there are more willing sellers in the market than purchasers.
However, not all investors who buy during the downturn will get it right.
That’s because you can’t just buy any property and expect it to outperform in the long term.
The key is to buy the right type of property, in the right location.
At this time in the cycle, correct asset selection will be critical.
You need to buy an ‘investment-grade’ property below its intrinsic value and one that has a ‘twist’.
There needs to be something special about it — like value-add potential that allows you to manufacture capital growth through renovations or redevelopment.
Ideally, you should look at purchasing in the inner or middle-ring suburbs of our major capital cities in locations that have a historical pattern of above-average capital growth, regardless of the ups and downs of the property cycle.
Why?
Because the value of property in good locations will continue to increase in the future due to scarcity.
And when interest rates eventually fall and consumer confidence returns, an improving economy, jobs growth, population growth, the shortage of the right type of property as well as significant infrastructure spending will all have a positive impact on this type of property.
A few more property predictions for 2025
The upcoming federal election will ensure that immigration, housing affordability and the cost of living will remain in the news.
It will be a year of 2 halves – with a quieter first half and then the property markets will rebound when interest rates start to fall later in the year.
Vacancy rates will remain low, and rents will keep growing, albeit more slowly than in the last few years, as rental affordability has limited the capacity of many tenants to pay more.
State governments will continue to introduce legislation favouring tenants and taxing property investors, which will continue to motivate some investors to sell up – thereby making the rental shortage worse.
So the big question is …
What will 2025 bring your way in terms of wealth creation and the property markets?
About Michael Yardney Michael is the founder of Metropole Property Strategists who help their clients grow, protect and pass on their wealth through independent, unbiased property advice and advocacy. He’s once again been voted Australia’s leading property investment adviser and one of Australia’s 50 most influential Thought Leaders. His opinions are regularly featured in the media.
You know how it goes. You and your boo are sitting together, perhaps watching TV or just talking. You look at him, all gorgeous and irresistible. And suddenly, you’re overcome by this desire to just dig your teeth in his bicep or his angular jaw. Perhaps, you even act on this instinct from time to time, making your guy jump out of his skin. Afterward, you’re left wondering, “Why do I want to bite my boyfriend? Is this even normal or is there something wrong with me?”
Well, you and me both, sister. I have lost count of the number of times I have sunk my teeth in my SO’s flesh, and then seeing his reaction, wondered, “Why do I want to bite my partner?” Turns out, you and I are not alone. If social media posts and memes are anything to go by, affectionate biting is common in relationships. There are a lot of people out there either wondering why they want to bite their partners or why their partners want to bite them.
Upon discovering this, I decided to dig deeper into this phenomenon and discovered that this desire is a manifestation of something known as love aggression or cute aggression. Let’s take a closer look at what it is and why it triggers this need to bite someone you love.
Why Do I Want To Bite My Boyfriend? Decoding Cute Aggression
Confused about the inexplicable urge to bite her boyfriend, a 21-year-old female posted on Reddit, “I have always playfully bit my boyfriend now and again but recently we’ve leaned into it more. It is something we incorporate into sex but more so sometimes I’ll just be sitting there while we watch TV and see his delicious arm and grab it and start gnawing on it over and over and over again until I exhaust myself (he likes it, he says it feels good on his tense muscles, and if it’s ever too much he lets me know when to stop.)
“It gives me this physiological reaction unlike literally anything else. It makes me feel lightheaded and dizzy in the best way, almost like I’m high, and it makes me giggly and stupidly almost childishly happy. It doesn’t even turn me on necessarily (all the time), I just love to bite him for the sake of biting him. I could gnaw on him forever and it would never be enough. I’m addicted to biting my boyfriend. What’s going on here? Is something wrong with me?”
Biting can be a way of expressing affection
Another one shared a similar predicament, and asked, “When I get home from work and I see their stomach out from their shirt riding up my brain just says “bite bite bite” ESPECIALLY on their sides, it’s like the most bite-able part of them. Their ears are the second best part to bite but I think it’s because I like the texture of the cartilaginous parts.
“I don’t want to hurt them of course because I love them, so I am always gentle but there have been times in the past when I’ve bitten their ears more than they like. This is really harmless but it’s so weird, I don’t have the urge to bite other people so why do I act like a feral animal with my partner??”
Like I said before, the desire for love biting in a non-sexual way is not only common but also continues to baffle people. If you’re one of them, don’t worry, you’re not turning into a werewolf and it’s definitely not as weird as it sounds. In fact, science, psychology, and a little sprinkle of human quirkiness can explain why you might want to sink your teeth into him (in a totally non-aggressive way, of course!).
This desire for affectionate biting can be attributed to the fascinating psychological phenomenon called cute aggression, where overwhelming positive emotions—like adoration or joy—can manifest in behaviors such as wanting to pinch, squeeze, or even bite someone you love and adore. It’s your brain’s way of regulating intense emotions.
Related Reading: 45 Sexy And Dirty Text Messages For Your Boyfriend To Turn Him On!
You see, when you encounter extreme cuteness, your emotional response goes into overdrive, and the brain responds with a “dial-down” mechanism to maintain balance. The aggressive urge serves as a counterweight to overwhelming feelings of tenderness.
In one of the most well-known studies on cute aggression, researchers at Yale University, led by psychologist Oriana Aragón, explored this phenomenon. Participants were shown pictures of animals categorized as either “cute” (think kittens and puppies), “funny” (like animals making goofy faces), or “neutral” (e.g., cows). The study found that participants experienced the highest levels of cute aggression when exposed to the “cute” images. They reported wanting to “squeeze” or “bite” the adorable animals, even though they didn’t actually intend to hurt them. This reaction was strongest when the cuteness evoked an overwhelming sense of joy and affection.
“Cute aggression is a way to regulate overwhelming positive emotions. When you see something incredibly adorable, your brain’s emotional and reward systems go into overdrive, and this playful aggression helps bring you back into balance.”
— Oriana Aragón, psychologist and lead researcher on cute aggression at Yale University
When you see something incredibly cute, your brain’s reward system kicks into high gear. Specifically, the nucleus accumbens, a region associated with reward and motivation, lights up. The flood of dopamine (a feel-good chemical) is so intense that it creates a kind of “emotional overflow.” To counteract this, the brain might express an aggressive impulse—essentially a way to temper the overwhelming positive response.
Oriana Aragón also coined the term “dimorphous expressions” to describe this phenomenon. These are emotional expressions that seem contradictory—like crying when you’re happy or laughing in stressful situations. Cute aggression falls into this category, as it combines tenderness with seemingly aggressive urges. From an evolutionary standpoint, cute aggression might have developed as a way to ensure we protect and care for the most vulnerable.
This is exactly what it is at play when you want to pull a cute baby’s cheeks or look at a puppy and say, “I could just eat you up.” But how and why does love aggression manifest in the context of romantic relationships? Let’s find out by looking at 7 reasons why you may want to bite your boyfriend and what this desire indicates:
Related Reading: How To Talk Intimately With Your Boyfriend Over Text—15 Easy Ways
1. It’s a result of overflowing passion
When you’re head over heels for someone, it can feel like your emotions are bursting at the seams. The resulting overflow of attraction and affection makes you feel euphoric. When those feelings get too much to handle, your brain looks for playful outlets—biting your partner being one of them. It’s a way of expressing just how much you adore them in a way that words or even kisses can’t quite capture.
Besides, emotions like love and aggression share some brain pathways. This overlap can make intense passion spill into playful behaviors, like biting. Explaining the physiology behind love aggression, biological anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher says, “Romantic attraction activates the same brain regions associated with rewards, like food or achievements. When these emotions reach their peak, playful actions like biting can be an instinctive way to channel that energy.”
2. Heightened need for touch
It is a form of tactile bonding
Your senses go into hyperdrive when you’re around someone you’re deeply in love with or attracted to. You take in the way they feel, smell, or look, more vividly. The same goes for the need for physical touch, which is an important way for humans to connect and communicate, especially in intimate relationships.
Playful biting is just an extension of this need for physical touch and closeness—a form of tactile bonding if you will. When you feel overcome by a rush of emotions for your partner, just holding them or hugging them tightly may not quite cut it. That’s when love biting in the non-sexual context becomes a lighthearted yet affectionate expression of your feelings.
3. It can also be a way of marking territory
Picture this: You’re cuddling on the couch, and he’s scrolling through his phone. You nuzzle into his shoulder, feel the urge to nibble, and go for it. It’s playful, affectionate, and a tiny bit possessive, but in the cutest way. It’s your way of saying, “You’re mine.”
Now, I’m not saying you’re marking him like a wolf claiming its pack, but there’s a little evolutionary sprinkle here. Biting—or even pretending to—is instinctive and primal, a throwback to our caveman days when physical touch played a major role in communication. “Physical gestures like nibbling or playful biting are often subconscious ways of reinforcing emotional bonds. They tap into primal instincts that signal closeness, trust, and affection,” explains Dr Fisher.
Related Reading: 125+ Cute Nicknames To Call Your Boyfriend
4. Biting your partner fires up your brain’s reward system
If you’ve been wondering, “Why do I want to bite my partner? Is it weird or abnormal?”, know that biting —like kissing, hugging, or tickling—releases dopamine, the feel-good chemical. It’s an action that sparks connection and reinforces bonding. The same way you might sneak a kiss or hug him a little tighter, biting is just another quirky way your brain says, “This feels great.”
The next time you feel weirded out or confused about this need to want to bite your partner, look at it contextually. Maybe you’re mid-pillow fight, and he lands a soft hit on you. You retaliate by grabbing his arm and playfully biting him. Or you’re in bed, playfully tickling each other and you start nibbling on his earlobe. You both laugh and share a giggle—it’s an instant mood booster!
“Romantic attraction activates the brain’s reward pathways, flooding it with dopamine. This rush can feel so intense that playful behaviors like biting become an outlet for those overwhelming emotions,” explains Dr. Lucy Brown, a neuroscientist.
5. It’s playful and builds intimacy
Sasha, a 26-year-old woman, talks about how playful biting helped break the ice with her boyfriend on their maiden road trip together and brought them closer. “We had just started dating exclusively and decided to go away for the weekend. We were on our best behavior, being too cautious of what we say. At one point, the conversation just died down.
“I looked at Matt and was overcome with this huge wave of affection for him. I leaned in and bit him on his cheeks. He was surprised and then we both laughed so hard he had to pull over. Just like that all the awkwardness and inhibitions melted away. We instantly felt closer and more connected to one another.”
If you find yourself wondering, “Why do I want to bite my boyfriend?”, think of it as a lighthearted way of saying, “I’m comfortable with you.” Playful, affectionate biting fosters a sense of closeness, making your relationship dynamic and fun.
“Playful physical actions, like nibbling or biting, are powerful tools for bonding. They create unique, shared experiences that build trust and reinforce emotional connection in a fun way.”
— Dr. Tiffany Field, director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami
6. You’re just THAT attracted to him
Cute aggression biting can sometimes feel like the only way to express the intense emotions your partner stirs up in you. Imagine, he’s fresh out of the shower, with a towel wrapped around his waist and smelling fresh. How do you not dig your teeth into his back or his bare chest, right? Well, that’s intense attraction at work for you. Biting as an expression of attraction may seem primal, but let’s be honest, it’s also passionate and a little sexy. And of course, a fun way of saying, “You’re irresistible!”
7. It’s just you being you
The answer to, “Why do I want to bite my boyfriend?”, can also be as simple as, it’s an expression of your personality. Perhaps, you’re a quirky, playful person, and this is your way of expressing your feelings in an affectionate but fun way.
Everyone expresses love differently, and if biting (gently, of course) is part of your love language, more power to you. “Love and attraction are deeply personal experiences. The quirks, like wanting to nibble your partner, are often unique expressions of affection tied to your individual personality and the dynamics of your relationship,” says Dr. John Gottman, psychologist and relationship expert. As long as your boyfriend finds it cute—or at least tolerable—you’re golden.
Key Pointers
Overwhelming feelings of love or joy can trigger “cute aggression,” where you feel the urge to bite (or even pinch or squeeze) someone you adore.
It’s your brain’s way of balancing intense emotions by expressing them in playful, harmless ways
Biting also activates the brain’s reward system, releasing dopamine, which reinforces bonding and intimacy in relationships
Playful biting can also be a lighthearted way of expressing a bit of possessiveness—like saying, “You’re mine!”
Sometimes, biting is simply a reflection of your unique personality and love language
Final Thoughts
Now you understand that cute aggression is your brain’s quirky way of balancing extreme positive emotions by adding a touch of aggression and is rooted in evolutionary mechanisms, involving dopamine-fueled neural pathways. The next time you want to dig into your boyfriend’s soft flesh or hard muscles know that science is on your side. If he complains too much, share this article with him.
How To Impress Your Boyfriend: 21 Incredibly Simple Ideas
31 Adorable Things To Do For Your Boyfriend
75 Cute Things To Say To Your Boyfriend
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For INEOS, a regime intending to get to grips with Manchester United’s status as a loss-making enterprise, the potential €100million deal to bring Antony to Old Trafford stands out as a particularly acute example of the kind of lavish spending that has put the club in a precarious financial position.
With the Brazilian now in the Spanish city of Seville, having joined La Liga’s Real Betis on loan until the end of the season, United fans will be left contemplating how a player with such a price tag — £84.1million/$105.1m at the current exchange rate, the second-most expensive transfer in club history behind the re-signing of Paul Pogba in summer 2016 — could deliver just 12 goals and five assists in two and a half seasons.
The truth is United knew they were paying over the odds even at the time, according to sources familiar with the matter, speaking to The Athletic on condition of anonymity to protect relationships.
That awareness can be seen in Antony’s salary, which is akin to that of a mid-ranking member of the squad rather than a star signing. Antony agreed terms worth £140,000 per week for seasons when United are in the Champions League, plus bonuses based on individual performances, but because they are only competing in the second-tier Europa League this term, thus invoking the standard 25 per cent cut for their players, his salary has been around £105,000 a week.
Antony’s representatives had, when negotiating his deal, pitched at £250,000 per week, which would typically be commensurate with a transfer involving such a fee. Securing that would have represented a five-fold rise on what he had been earning at his previous club, Ajax of the Netherlands.
But his leverage in talks with United was weakened because he had told Ajax he wanted the move and, in his attempts to secure it, he stopped turning up for training in the closing days of that summer 2022 window. Figures at United were able to push back in contract talks in the knowledge Antony was desperate to join the Premier League club and they intimated improved terms could be on the cards if he did well, but that he would have to accept entry-level terms at first.
Antony scored on his United debut against Arsenal in September 2022 (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Sticking to a relatively modest salary for a club of their revenue meant United had options when surveying the market for Antony this window. Betis, whose median salary is around £40,000 per week, according to Capology, could afford to push the boat out a little for the 24-year-old. They will cover 84 per cent of his wage at a minimum, plus potential bonuses based on achievements, with only former Real Madrid and Spain forward Isco thought to be earning more than him in their squad.
But the disparity in Antony’s wage compared to his transfer fee, which is still the 18th highest in football history, is evidence of United appreciating that they were paying an excessive amount to Amsterdam-based Ajax even while signing the paperwork.
There was internal pushback over the money involved from people minded to protect the club’s finances and the decision on confirming the move was not unanimous, but senior figures decided they could live with the transfer premium given the circumstances, partly because the salary was not that high. Financial fair play (FFP) regulations and the club’s cash levels were a consideration, but they did not dominate thoughts in 2022 the way they do at present.
Antony was intended to be a starting winger, which would have made the overall cost more palatable, but his status on the periphery of the side for the majority of his time at United has accentuated his enormous cost.
How United got to that point is a case study of everything those now in charge of the club are determined to avoid.
Erik ten Hag’s first summer as Manchester United manager, in 2022, was overshadowed by the failed pursuit of Frenkie de Jong, which coloured conversations for months. The €85million set aside for midfielder De Jong’s proposed move from Barcelona caused a blockage on spending in other areas, with United only freeing up major funds for Ajax defender Lisandro Martinez (in a deal worth £57m) by the time Ten Hag went off on pre-season (Christian Eriksen, a free agent, and Feyenoord full-back Tyrell Malacia were the other signings).
Ten Hag wanted Martinez and Antony from his previous club, but at that stage, Ajax would only sell one and the manager prioritised the Argentina international centre-back.
United had scouted Antony since his days at Sao Paulo’s academy, when he was only 15 years old. Reports to the club at that time said he had very good pace and technique but strongly favoured his left foot and had predictable decision-making. It was proposed he would need to get stronger and develop his weaker right side to succeed in the Premier League.
Antony’s summer 2020 move to Ajax saw United’s European scouts track his progress in the Netherlands, but during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s time as manager, some staff still valued him at only around £25million.
His record in the 2021-22 season of 12 goals and 10 assists in 33 games, including the Champions League, put him on the radars of Premier League sides looking for right-wingers the following summer. Liverpool, with Mohamed Salah’s contract up for renewal, had Antony on a list, as did Tottenham Hotspur. The anticipated fee at that stage was regarded as between £40million to £50m. He was also a full Brazil international, having made 11 senior appearances for his country to that point.
Antony had played under Erik ten Hag at Ajax before joining United (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Midway through that window, United cut off talks with Ajax on Antony and privately communicated they would not pay more than £60million.
United had alternatives for the right-wing role, most prominently his fellow Brazilian Raphinha, who had scored 11 goals in 35 Premier League games to save Leeds United from relegation, but the Old Trafford recruitment team, together with Ten Hag’s personal influence, rated Antony as the better signing, partly due to him being three years younger. In any case, Raphinha indicated he preferred Barcelona and his £55million transfer to the Camp Nou was sealed in mid-July.
Cody Gakpo was another alternative to Antony, albeit he typically operated on the left or up front for another Dutch club, Eindhoven’s PSV. At one point, United looked to bring in both players, as doubts about Cristiano Ronaldo’s future back at the club continued (he would eventually leave in the November).
United agreed personal terms with Gakpo but, in the final days of the window, stopped short of making a bid to PSV as the rising cost of Antony became clear. The following January, Gakpo joined Liverpool in a deal worth up to £44million.
GO DEEPER
Antony, Manchester United’s €95million problem
Player recruitment is an inexact science and there are a multitude of reasons for how signings work out, but comparing Antony’s post-transfer impact with those of Raphinha and Gakpo, who cost their new clubs £14million more in combined fees, is a painful case of sliding doors for United fans. This season, Raphinha has 22 goals and 11 assists in 30 games for Barcelona and is currently ranked second top-scorer in the Champions League, while Gakpo has 14 goals and five assists in 32 games for Liverpool.
Back in August 2022, United returning to the bargaining table for Antony was partly triggered by the continued uncertainty over Mason Greenwood’s availability — on a football level, his absence took away a right-wing option — and more sharply the back-to-back defeats to Brighton and Brentford which kicked off Ten Hag’s reign.
United, with football director John Murtough leading the sporting department, did not want a manager they had chosen after a five-month process to fail. Meanwhile, chief executive Richard Arnold was alarmed at the prospect of missing out on Champions League revenues and the threat of kit manufacturer Adidas cutting payments due to a non-Champions League participation clause. United’s kit sponsorship deal at that time meant Adidas would shave 30 per cent off the £75million-per-year contract for a second season absent from Europe’s elite competition, equating to £22.5m.
Several sources reported a sense of panic at Carrington, the club’s training complex, during those days. Pressure was also being felt from supporters eager to see a new attacker, with Ten Hag pushing to sign a forward.
Antony celebrates scoring against fourth-tier Newport in the FA Cup in January 2024, ending a 31-game goal drought (Athena Pictures/Getty Images)
Arnold and Murtough held talks with Ajax chief executive Edwin van der Sar, bidding €80million, €90m, then €100m. In an interview with The Athletic in November 2022, Van der Sar said: “We would have liked to keep him here one year longer — there was not a dire need to sell him, we had money in the bank — but the fee got so high. We challenged United to go as far as possible. They have a potential world star.”
Ajax stood firm on their valuation, having let five other players leave that summer and being aware that another sale might seriously damage their new head coach Alfred Schreuder. Ten Hag’s replacement lost his job five months later.
Joel Glazer, then United’s co-chairman, was convinced to sanction the spending after seeing how much Antony wanted to join United.
The final terms were €95m guaranteed, with a potential €5m more in add-ons, which are not thought to have been realised.
Antony started well, scoring in each of his first three Premier League appearances, against Arsenal, Manchester City and Everton, and he delivered an excellent winner against Barcelona to crown a stirring European night at Old Trafford in February 2023. In the middle of that season, he started a group game for Brazil at the 2022 World Cup and came on in their quarter-final against Croatia. Ultimately, United qualified for the Champions League by finishing third in the Premier League, going some way to justifying his move.
In the summer of 2023, fellow winger Anthony Elanga was sold to Nottingham Forest for £15million, with his minutes at United restricted.
That September, Antony spent a month out of the squad after police launched an investigation due to his former partner, Gabriela Cavallin, making allegations of assault against him. Antony denied those allegations and similar ones by two other women — Rayssa de Freitas and Ingrid Lana — made in Brazilian media. The case in Brazil is now closed, but as of last week, Greater Manchester Police were still investigating the alleged incidents that are said to have occurred in the United Kingdom.
As previously reported by The Athletic, the potential police action did not show up on background checks made by United before signing Antony.
Antony scored the decisive goal as United beat Barcelona 4-3 on aggregate in the Europa League knockout round play-offs in 2023 (Alex Livesey – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
His form, which had undulated during his first season, hit the skids. He then fell out with Ten Hag over being asked to play left-back.
In February, Ten Hag overlooked Antony for the visit of Fulham, turning to Omari Forson, a 19-year-old academy graduate who was making his first senior start. The next month, Ten Hag gave Antony brutal criticism in the dressing room after his display from the bench in a 2-0 win against Everton, to the extent that the player looked affected.
Antony featured in around half of United’s Premier League games last season, totalling 1,323 minutes from a possible 3,420.
During an interview in pre-season in Los Angeles last August, Antony said that he had learnt from his issues and would look for self-improvement by writing himself notes. By the final stages of Ten Hag’s United tenure in the autumn, he was getting more minutes, notably being sent on ahead of Amad away to Fenerbahce in the Europa League on October 24.
On the sidelines that night, Amad appeared deeply frustrated. Ten Hag defended his decision by pointing to Antony’s performances in training. Given Amad’s emergence to prominence since Ruben Amorim’s November appointment as Ten Hag’s replacement, fans will see another link in the chain reaction of Antony’s arrival.
Amorim tried playing Antony as a wing-back, but his exit now will make room in his squad, and in the accounts, for a new arrival to more suitably fit the new head coach’s 3-4-2-1 system.
United are in talks with Italian club Lecce for 20-year-old Denmark international Patrick Dorgu and are considering triggering the buyback option on Alvaro Fernandez Carreras, 21, who has impressed since moving to Benfica last summer.
United will hope Antony can enjoy a productive loan at Betis to raise his value ahead of an expected permanent summer exit.
At a cost of £82million upon signing, his transfer fee can be spread over the length of his five-year contract, meaning a remaining book value of £34.2m. Getting a club to match that figure, allowing United to offset his price for the purposes of financial regulations, will still be a tough ask.
GO DEEPER
‘Good or bad, he tells us everything’ – Understanding Ruben Amorim’s brutal honesty
(Top photo: Yagiz Gurtug/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
AI-generated content floods the internet, making it difficult to find genuine, human-written content. But it doesn’t have to be like that; you can return to the good old days.
The Pre-AI Search Chrome Extension lets me search the web without AI results, making it much easier to find what I really want.
How Pre-AI Search Improves My Search Experience
I miss the days when Google search results felt reliable and real. You could trust the information you found was written by a human, not a machine. But now, with so much AI-generated content floating around, things are different. Search engines push AI-written stuff to the top, making finding genuine, handwritten articles harder.
Thankfully, there’s the Pre-AI Search Chrome extension. One-click filters out all AI content and shows only human-written results. To use it, add the extension to Chrome, hit the Pre-AI Search button in the toolbar, and make sure the switch is on. Now, search on Google like you normally would.
If it glitches, toggle Filter Search Results off and back on to refresh. And don’t worry—it won’t slow down your search performance. The results are a throwback to pre-AI days when real people were the ones making the content. Since it only shows stuff from before January 2023, it might seem weird not to see the newest content first, but this actually ensures the content is human-written, not AI-generated.
But what if you need recent information? After all, it’s not really practical to only read outdated content. No problem—just toggle the switch off and refresh your search results.
Pre-AI Search Features and Benefits
If you’re looking for more advanced features, upgrade to the Pro version for just $4.99. You get a lifetime license key sent to your email within 24 hours. And if you’re not happy, you’ll get a 30-day money-back guarantee.
So, what exactly comes with the Pro version? Well, first off, you get access to custom date range filtering. This means you can narrow down your search results to a specific time frame—great for things like data analysis or research purposes.
In addition, the Pro version includes precision control that lets you customize your monthly search results. For example, if you want information about an event in June last year, you can refine your search to show results from just that month. And then there is an advanced time period preset. With this, you can quickly pick options like the past week, past month, or past year without manually entering dates. It saves time and makes filtering more efficient.
I know what you’re thinking: “Doesn’t Google already have these filtering options?” Well, technically, yes. But here’s the thing—Google’s date range filtering only works for preset options, which can go up to a year.
However, the custom date range filter is pretty unreliable and often misses results from the time frame you actually want. I’ve tested it multiple times, and honestly, it’s been disappointing. For example, I searched for articles from January 2021 to January 2022 but got results from random years like 2015 and 2019 instead.
On top of that, Pre-AI Search works locally on your computer. This means no data collection, tracking, or ads are involved—just a clean, smooth search experience. It’s also lightweight and won’t slow down the browser or hog memory. And with instant filtering, you can easily switch between AI-generated and pre-AI content when needed.
As a writer, I often need to fact-check and find reliable sources for my articles. With Pre-AI Search, I can skip all the robotic fluff and focus only on credible information.
It’s also great for students verifying the originality of their work or for researchers wanting to keep their research solid. Overall, it’s worth a try for anyone searching for cleaner and more precise results.
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-28/Snake-lanterns-add-Spring-Festival-cheer-to-Nanjing-1AwT3YpbEic/img/18ab480735674a50b846ef099acd4889/18ab480735674a50b846ef099acd4889.jpeg'A snake lantern “basks” in the sunlight at the Confucius Temple scenic area in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province on January 27, 2025. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-28/Snake-lanterns-add-Spring-Festival-cheer-to-Nanjing-1AwT3YpbEic/img/18ab480735674a50b846ef099acd4889/18ab480735674a50b846ef099acd4889.jpeg'A snake lantern “basks” in the sunlight at the Confucius Temple scenic area in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province on January 27, 2025. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-28/Snake-lanterns-add-Spring-Festival-cheer-to-Nanjing-1AwT3YpbEic/img/18ab480735674a50b846ef099acd4889/18ab480735674a50b846ef099acd4889.jpeg'A snake lantern “basks” in the sunlight at the Confucius Temple scenic area in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province on January 27, 2025. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-28/Snake-lanterns-add-Spring-Festival-cheer-to-Nanjing-1AwT3YpbEic/img/18ab480735674a50b846ef099acd4889/18ab480735674a50b846ef099acd4889.jpeg'A snake lantern “basks” in the sunlight at the Confucius Temple scenic area in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province on January 27, 2025. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-28/Snake-lanterns-add-Spring-Festival-cheer-to-Nanjing-1AwT3YpbEic/img/18ab480735674a50b846ef099acd4889/18ab480735674a50b846ef099acd4889.jpeg'A snake lantern “basks” in the sunlight at the Confucius Temple scenic area in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province on January 27, 2025. /VCG
With their slender shapes, snake lanterns have added to the Chinese New Year festivities in Nanjing, Jiangsu.
Ahead of the 8-day-long holiday in China this week, stalls in the Confucius Temple scenic area are stocked with these festive decorations, marking the Year of the Snake with a splash of color and cheer.
Can “This Is Us” collaborators Dan Fogelman and Sterling K. Brown reunite without making viewers cry?
It’s possible in the new TV world of Fogelman’s creation, Hulu’s “Paradise,” which stars Brown as CIA agent Xavier Collins, who is suspected of killing the president, Cal Bradford, played by James Marsden.
But did he? Or is someone else responsible? And is that the only question we should be focused on?
For six seasons, Fogelman’s “This Is Us” had viewers on their emotional toes with the time-jumping drama that told the sentimental story of a family across decades, infusing it with twists and turns uncommon to the genre but inherent to life. With “Paradise,” Fogelman puts his affinity for twists and turns to use, this time in a political conspiracy thriller. There may be less tears, but a death hangs over this series, too. In true Fogelman fashion, though, the final moments of the pilot reveal there’s also something bigger at play: This story is set inside an underground community funded by a tech billionaire, played by Julianne Nicholson, after a massive catastrophe threatens the extinction of the human race.
“Ironically, it’s a show that’s pretty void of politics completely, even though it’s about a president and it also — I don’t think it necessarily lectures on things like climate change — it’s just you watch a series of events unfold,” Fogelman says. “I’m not smart enough to write anything with an agenda. I just write. But clearly, there are things in the ether and there are things in the air right now that are underneath the show.”
And the questions that drive the season, according to Fogelman, won’t overstay their welcome.
“I wanted to serve a complete meal to people that watch a show in the first season,” Fogelman said. “A big challenge we had during ‘This Is Us’ was it was not a murder mystery, but it had this one mystery that was propulsive — it took us 14 episodes to answer it. With the time it’s taken to get things back on the air, and also just what the conception of the show is, I felt it was important that by the end of the first season, all eight episodes, you should have every question you’ve asked answered.”
Three of the season’s eight episodes are now streaming. During a recent sit-down in Los Angeles, Brown and Marsden spoke about the show’s big twist, how they would respond to crisis their characters confront, and backside acting.
James Marsden, left, as President Cal Bradfordand Sterling K. Brown as CIA agent Xavier Collins in Hulu’s “Paradise.”
(Brian Roedel/Disney)
Dan typically keeps things close to the vest when it comes to his twists and reveals. How much did you know about that final twist at the end of the pilot?
Brown: He didn’t tell me anything. He just wants you to read it. And this is something that he does in general. He doesn’t really tend to pitch things out because I don’t think he wants anybody’s notes. He just wants to present them [with the script] and say, “This is what the show is gonna be. If you like it, great. If you don’t, I’ll go somewhere else.” So I read it and really just enjoying the world of it — very similar to how I was enjoying “This Is Us” — then you get to the end of it, and your mind just goes [eyes grow wide]. I couldn’t believe he did it to me again. I did not see it coming. Kudos to him for always finding a way to make something rich that much richer.
Marsden: His [Dan’s] interest and curiosity about the human experience, and the range of experience we can have, and the confusion with emotions and relationships and the complexities of relationships, is this real fertile ground for him. No matter how ornate and spectacular or destructive or whatever the circumstances are within the plot, the core of that in a Dan show is the humans, it’s the relationships and how they’re affected by all of that.
At the end of the first episode, Sterling, your character is told some top secret security news, which is that the world is nearing the extinction of the human race. Can you keep that secret, Sterling?
Brown: I would be worried how people would react. I would probably be prone to tell people who I knew would be like, “OK, I’m gonna tell you something that’s gonna be crazy, but I need you to use this information for your benefit without sort of freaking out.” There would probably be some people that I would share it with, but it would be a very small group because that’s an enormous responsibility. And if you would have just blasted it out, it probably wouldn’t have been the reaction that you want from the world at large either. It’s a very difficult predicament to hold that.
Marsden: Yeah, I would have real regret if I didn’t and it negatively affected the people I care about. But I guess what we get into in the show a little bit is like, “OK, well, if you can keep this secret, then it will benefit you? Is that even fair?” My instinct would be that: I’m telling you this, but if the response to this is a panic or telling the wrong person, we’re gonna be f— even quicker.
Brown: You could have had to take me out, bro. If I didn’t feel well with this information, you might have been like, “All right, he’s off the [CIA] detail.”
Marsden: Are we looking at this like it’s terminal? Like, there’s no Paradise hope? I think I would probably not say.
Sterling K. Brown stars in the new Hulu series, “Paradise,” as a CIA agent suspected of killing the president.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
It’s almost too timely to ask this question in light of recent events, but how do you think you’d react in a moment like that? The fear, figuring out what you would take with you if faced with it.
Brown: It’s interesting because the [Los Angeles] fires just transpired … so my heart goes out to everybody who’s dealing with that. I had a few friends lose their homes. You know about the folks from “This Is Us,” [former co-star Milo Ventimiglia lost his home, and Mandy Moore’s sustained damage in the fires earlier this month] but a buddy of mine from Stanford who’s a lawyer, his home of about 12 years burned to the ground. I was actually out of the country shooting [a project]. We have this Marco Polo group thread and I was like, “Dude, what is the process like of deciding what you take? What are the things that you absolutely want to hold on to?” He’s like, “Dude, I left thinking that I was going to go back to the house. I didn’t even have a chance to really get all the stuff that I wanted.” So my wife and I started this conversation: What would I take? And she started getting mad at me about the things that I decided to take. And I was like, “There’d be a few mementos, but I really need my workout clothes because I need to work out the next day.” And she’s like, “You can go buy some more.” That’s where my head went. But it is a moment of analytical paralysis because it’s so big to consume. I guess you have to give yourself a thought experiment or otherwise you’re just frozen in that.
Marsden: I was out driving and as I was driving back to my house — there in the Hollywood Hills was the Sunset fire, so we evacuated as well; obviously nothing near [as bad as] Palisades and Altadena, but I remember being washed over with a sort of worrisome calm. It was like, “OK, you’re down here, you’re not up there.” I hate to say this because people lost their houses and things and valuables and children’s photos. But for me, it was like, “My kids are safe, my family is safe. I’m OK. There are others in way worse positions than I right now and I’m gonna be all right.” I didn’t feel compelled to race up there and try to get things out. Maybe that’s shock or some sort defense mechanism, or shutting down.
James, you have played a real president before, John F. Kennedy — so, you had something to emulate and build from in playing that. What were the conversations like with Dan as he talked about the kind of leader Cal would be, especially in a moment of crisis like this?
Marsden: He did bring up Kennedy a couple of times in the context of [how] the man was a great communicator, he was the smartest guy in the room, but he knew to surround himself with other very exceptional individuals. But ultimately he would put that through his decoder and his processor and do what was right for the people. I think Cal’s similar in that way. We never were trying to recreate. It wasn’t like a blueprint from a U.S. president we were taking, but it was more about who is this person as a human being. I found it really interesting that Dan told me that he [Cal] has the job, but he doesn’t really want the job. He’s here because he’s been conditioned to become that by his family. That was a really interesting template to dive off of creatively as a character because OK, what makes this guy tick? What interests him? What sort of regrets does he have about mistakes he’s made in his life, and how can he figure out a way of fulfilling the promises that maybe he hasn’t really been so great at holding true to. There was real great evolution of the character through the show, and that was exciting to me, that it was a person, it wasn’t a president.
Sterling K. Brown and James Marsden in Hulu’s “Paradise.” “There was real great evolution of the character through the show, and that was exciting to me, that it was a person, it wasn’t a president,” Marsden says.
(Ser Baffo/Disney)
I know this idea has been percolating with Dan for about a decade and the show doesn’t necessarily intend to touch on the political points of the current moment. But time has caught up — whether it’s concerns with the climate right now or what’s unfolding on the political stage.
Brown: Yeah, it’s hard not to notice. I do think the show asks a very interesting question regarding who holds real power. What is the nature of that real power? The strange bedfellows of capitalism and politics, and should they necessarily be so closely intertwined with one another? Do we need a little bit more separation? I think the show, or at least I argue that the answer to that is, yes. I was listening to something on my IG [Instagram] the other day [that said something like] the 400 wealthiest white people had the collective income of all the Black people in America; the collective 1000 richest white people in America have the collective resources of all African Americans and Latinos in America. And I’m like, “Wow” [eyes grow wide]. So, is government for the people or is government for the people that are able to fund the campaign? I think the show tangentially touches on that little bit. In terms of climate, I think the show is saying, “You gotta take care of this planet, man.” We cannot be cavalier. We’ve got a lot of people giving us a lot of warnings of what is going to happen if we don’t change.
Marsden: It’s harrowing. Nobody wants this to be the case. And what do we do? And how do we separate the facts when there’s so much misinformation? Is this a reality that we’re going to have to accept at some point or is it not?
So, you’re told that there’s an underground community happening in Colorado and you’ve been selected. Are you likely to go or would you be like, ”I don’t want to be underground.” And what necessities or essentials do you want there with you?
Marsden: Your people. If you can’t have your people, I’m staying.
Brown: I agree with that. If it’s a matter of life or death, I’m going if I can take my people with me. If I’m going to be alone by myself, without my kids and my wife, I’d rather be with my kids and my wife, and we’ll all go to heaven.
Marsden: I feel like, if this would have happened, it’d have to be a very quick lottery. As much as your survival instinct kicks in, and you want to go and have all your people in — and then you’re there, watching the rest of the world perish. I would be feeling so guilty and terrible, but also happy that you have your people.
James Marsden plays the president in a pre- and post-apocalyptic U.S. in Hulu’s “Paradise.”
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
And the chili cheese fries, which are apparently a must in this makeshift world.
Brown: That are not made with real milk. The lack of animal product is tough, but we can’t be releasing methane up in a cave. It’s not a good look.
Sterling, the third episode’s final moments has a reveal of a different sort for you: your backside in the shower scene. I wondered what both your reactions were in reading that in the script. Was that a twist you expected?
Marsden: I’m an admirer of the human physique, male or female. Thank God it’s him.
Brown: [laughs]
Marsden: And I thought I was in shape!
Brown: You are in shape. You’re in great shape. I focus on the posterior chain. It’s important to me. A lot of power lays in the back.
Marsden: What is the posterior chain?
Brown: Posterior chain is everything up and down the backside of your body and the posterior.
Marsden: I have a posterior ch—. Not a fully developed chain.
Brown: James’ [character] is dead. But if James is free, and as I go to the writers room, if there’s a possible flashback, hopefully we can get him back for Season 2 if and when we get picked up to work for that butt shot.
Marsden: I could work this thing out for 20 years and I would never look like this man.
New Delhi, January 28: Hyundai Motor India on Tuesday reported a net profit of Rs 1,161 crore for the October-December quarter this fiscal, which represents a 19 per cent decline over the corresponding figure of Rs 1,425 crore for the same quarter of FY 2023-24. The car major’s revenue from operations also declines 1.3 per cent during the third quarter at Rs 16,648 crore, as against Rs 16,875 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
“The decline in margins was mainly due to subdued demand and geopolitical factors,” the company said. The company sold a total of 186,408 units of passenger vehicles during this quarter. This includes 146,022 units in the domestic market with a strong contribution from SUV segment. TVS Motor Q3 Results: Indian Automaker’s Net Profit Declines 6.6% in 3rd Quarter of FY25, Revenue Down 1.48%.
The net profit for the first 9 months (April-December) of the current financial year period stands at Rs 4,025.8 crore compared to Rs 4,382.9 crore in the same period of FY2023-24. Looking ahead, Hyundai Motor India (HMI) said it is confident about its growth trajectory and has a positive outlook on growing EV penetration in India and is headed towards electrification with a holistic approach.
“The newly launched CRETA Electric will drive phenomenal success, build strong momentum and will be a game-changer in the EV landscape. The company is also building a strong EV ecosystem in India like localization, charging infrastructure, etc. and along with 3 more EVs planned in due time, and is expected to greatly contribute to India’s EV growth story,” the automaker said. Aligned with the aggressive capacity expansion plans from Pune plant, the company will also be focusing on diversifying its product portfolio. The company said it will also look to explore opportunities in alternative eco-friendly powertrains. Hyundai Motor, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Tesla To Recall Over 3,40,000 Vehicles for Faulty Parts in South Korea.
With access to Hyundai Motor Corporation’s global powertrain technologies like hybrids, hydrogen, flex fuel etc., the company believes it is well placed to adapt to any change in demand dynamics and regulatory environment. HMI managing director Unsoo Kim said while the challenges persist in the overall market due to global factors, “our business fundamentals remain strong, and we remain confident in our ability to leverage our strengths and actively explore potential opportunities to improve our volumes and profitability.”
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 28, 2025 05:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
The true price of developing DeepSeek’s new models remains unknown, however, since one figure quoted in a single research paper may not capture the full picture of its costs. “I don’t believe it’s $6 million, but even if it’s $60 million, it’s a game changer,” says Umesh Padval, managing director of Thomvest Ventures, a company that has invested in Cohere and other AI firms. “It will put pressure on the profitability of companies which are focused on consumer AI.”
Shortly after DeepSeek revealed the details of its latest model, Ghodsi of Databricks says customers began asking whether they could use it as well as DeepSeek’s underlying techniques to cut costs at their own organizations. He adds that one approach employed by DeepSeek’s engineers, known as distillation, which involves using the output from one large language model to train another model, is relatively cheap and straightforward.
Padval says that the existence of models like DeepSeek’s will ultimately benefit companies looking to spend less on AI, but he says that many firms may have reservations about relying on a Chinese model for sensitive tasks. So far, at least one prominent AI firm, Perplexity, has publicly announced it’s using DeepSeek’s R1 model, but it says says it is being hosted “completely independent of China.”
Amjad Massad, the CEO of Replit, a startup that provides AI coding tools, told WIRED that he thinks DeepSeek’s latest models are impressive. While he still finds Anthropic’s Sonnet model is better at many computer engineering tasks, he has found that R1 is especially good at turning text commands into code that can be executed on a computer. “We’re exploring using it especially for agent reasoning,” he adds.
DeepSeek’s latest two offerings—DeepSeek R1 and DeepSeek R1-Zero—are capable of the same kind of simulated reasoning as the most advanced systems from OpenAI and Google. They all work by breaking problems into constituent parts in order to tackle them more effectively, a process that requires a considerable amount of additional training to ensure that the AI reliably reaches the correct answer.
A paper posted by DeepSeek researchers last week outlines the approach the company used to create its R1 models, which it claims perform on some benchmarks about as well as OpenAI’s groundbreaking reasoning model known as o1. The tactics DeepSeek used include a more automated method for learning how to problem-solve correctly as well as a strategy for transferring skills from larger models to smaller ones.
One of the hottest topics of speculation about DeepSeek is the hardware it might have used. The question is especially noteworthy because the US government has introduced a series of export controls and other trade restrictions over the last few years aimed at limiting China’s ability to acquire and manufacture cutting-edge chips that are needed for building advanced AI.
In a research paper from August 2024, DeepSeek indicated that it has access to a cluster of 10,000 Nvidia A100 chips, which were placed under US restrictions announced in October 2022. In a separate paper from June of that year, DeepSeek stated that an earlier model it created called DeepSeek-V2 was developed using clusters of Nvidia H800 computer chips, a less capable component developed by Nvidia to comply with US export controls.
A source at one AI company that trains large AI models, who asked to be anonymous to protect their professional relationships, estimates that DeepSeek likely used around 50,000 Nvidia chips to build its technology.
Nvidia declined to comment directly on which of its chips DeepSeek may have relied on. “DeepSeek is an excellent AI advancement,” a spokesman for the Nvidia said in a statement, adding that the startup’s reasoning approach “requires significant numbers of Nvidia GPUs and high-performance networking.”
However DeepSeek’s models were built, they appear to show that a less closed approach to developing AI is gaining momentum. In December, Clem Delangue, the CEO of HuggingFace, a platform that hosts artificial intelligence models, predicted that a Chinese company would take the lead in AI because of the speed of innovation happening in open source models, which China has largely embraced. “This went faster than I thought,” he says.
An increasing number of Web3 firms are turning to the EU with the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) laws bringing regulatory clarity to the sector. In a fresh development, crypto exchanges OKX and BitPanda have secured licences in the EU region, making their operations legally compliant in 30 countries part of the European Economic Area (EEA). The $3.53 trillion (roughly Rs. 3,05,41,510 crore) crypto sector is favouring regions with clear rules and regulations. Earlier this month, the Crypto.com exchange also bagged operational permit in the region.
EU’s MiCA regulations went into effect on December 30, 2024, permitting crypto firms with licence in any one of the EU nations to operate across the region without having to go through the licencing process in other 26 EU countries, as well as in Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein, that are also part of the EEA.
OKX Licenced in Malta After Crypto.com
The OKX crypto exchange, founded in 2017 and headquartered in Victoria, Seychelles, announced Monday it had secured a full MiCA licence from Malta. The exchange said that OKX users would now be able to purchase crypto using local payment methods, including cards in the EU region. They would also be allowed to facilitate bank transfers to deposit or withdraw Euros from the exchange.
The exchange, that claims to serve 60 million customers around the world, said it would localise crypto services to over 400 million more potential customers in the EU with the licence.
We’re proud to be the first global exchange to secure a MiCA license! :flag-eu:
Our fully regulated crypto products are now set to roll out to 400M+ people across Europe.
This is a win for crypto, a milestone for regulation, and a step toward mass adoption.
Crypto.com also secured its MiCA registration from Malta this month, announcing the development on January 17. The exchange said it strongly believed the MiCA laws would establish a transparent work environment for Web3 firms across the EU.
:flag-eu: https://t.co/vCNztATSCO is extremely proud to be the first major global crypto asset service provider to receive in-principle approval of its MiCA Licence :flag-eu:
The licence will enable the company to passport services across the EU under the new MiCA regulatory framework.
Founded in 2016, the Singapore-based exchange claims to be catering to over 100 million customers globally.
BitPanda’s German Approval
“The rules are clear, the standard is set,” BitPanda said as it announced its MiCA registration Monday. The exchange secured its MiCA licence from Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), which oversees the financial market in the country.
“With MiCAR, we are not just meeting the industry’s highest standards, we are setting them. Our focus now is on using this licence to accelerate adoption and growth across the European market,” said Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad, Deputy CEO at Bitpanda.
Big news: Bitpanda has secured its MiCAR licence, granted by Germany’s BaFin – one of Europe’s top financial supervisory authorities. :rocket:
This sets a new benchmark for transparency, security, and trust in crypto across the EU. With this licence, we’re ready to bring regulated… pic.twitter.com/i1PlxhwK6U
The exchange, headquartered in Vienna, Austria, said the MiCA laws had brought in legal clarity and a level-playing field for the crypto sector. The exchange aims to leverage the benefits of the legislation to expand its userbase of six million with proper entry into the EEA arena.
Crypto in EU
While other nations like India, the UK, and the US were still deliberating on their crypto rules, the EU accelerated its efforts on the same and finalised a comprehensive set of laws in 2022. It allotted two years for crypto and Web3 firms to align their operations with the MiCA regulations.
Since the legislation went into effect in 2024, several crypto firms have rushed to acquire their MiCA registrations. Hong Kong-based HashKey exchange, for instance, bagged its MiCA approval from Ireland in the first week of January this year.
The EU and the UAE are two regions where crypto laws are currently more defined than other nations. While India is yet to get a comprehensive crypto legislation, the US has just started official work around forming crypto policies following President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, with promises of making the US the crypto capital of the world. The UK, meanwhile, is expecting to have its crypto regulatory framework finalised by 2026.
Microsoft Ads will soon roll out four major updates to Performance Max, significantly expanding your ability to target, measure, and optimize your campaigns.
These updates will give advertisers more granular control over their automated campaigns while introducing LinkedIn’s professional targeting data — a unique advantage over competing platforms.
What’s new. Here are the four new features:
LinkedIn integration. Advertisers in six major markets (U.S., Canada, UK, Australia, France, and Germany) will be able to tap into LinkedIn’s professional targeting data, including company, industry, and job function signals.
Reporting gets granular. Advertisers will be able to analyze performance by audience segments and track individual asset performance, providing clearer insights into what’s working.
Smart conversion tracking. New conversion value rules will let advertisers adjust values in real-time based on business-specific factors like location and device usage, making automated bidding more precise.
New customer focus. You will be able to enable specific targeting of new customers, with options to either increase bids for new customers or focus exclusively on acquiring them.
Why we care. Should these long awaited changes fully roll out, it should give you more precise control over automated campaigns while providing better measurement tools and access to professional audience data. For B2B marketers especially, the LinkedIn targeting integration across represents a significant competitive advantage with these new sophisticated audience targeting opportunities.
What’s next. These features are in pilot, suggesting Microsoft is gathering feedback before a broader rollout.
Bottom line. Microsoft is positioning Performance Max as a more sophisticated alternative to competing automated ad platforms by leveraging its unique access to LinkedIn’s professional network data.
Anu Adegbola has been Paid Media Editor of Search Engine Land since 2024. She covers paid search, paid social, retail media, video and more.
In 2008, Anu’s career started with
delivering digital marketing campaigns (mostly but not exclusively Paid Search) by building strategies, maximising ROI, automating repetitive processes and bringing efficiency from every part of marketing departments through inspiring leadership both on agency, client and marketing tech side.
Outside editing Search Engine Land article she is the founder of PPC networking event – PPC Live and host of weekly podcast PPCChat Roundup.
She is also an international speaker with some of the stages she has presented on being SMX (US), SMX (Munich), Friends of Search (Amsterdam), brightonSEO, The Marketing Meetup, HeroConf (PPC Hero), SearchLove, BiddableWorld, SESLondon, PPC Chat Live, AdWorld Experience (Bologna) and more.
When Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time was unveiled by Level 5 in 2023, the game was originally announced as only going to Nintendo Switch. However, a new report suggests that The Girl Who Steals Time is also making the leap to Sony’s PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.
Via Video Games Chronicle, Gematsu spotted a PlayStation Store page for The Girl Who Steals Time that listed April 23 as a release date for both the PS4 and PS5 versions. The page was subsequently removed, but a screencap was posted on Gematsu’s X account.
A PlayStation Store page for FANTASY LIFE i: The Girl Who Steals Time was published before being quickly removed last night. It lists PS5 / PS4 versions, and an April 23 release date (or April 24—time zones). Currently only *officially* announced for Switch release in April. pic.twitter.com/MlD0UIjOix
Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time was announced as a 2023 title for Switch before it was subsequently delayed to 2024 and again to April of this year. Like its predecessor, Fantasy Life, The Girl Who Steals Time is a role-playing life simulation game. The new game also introduces a time travel element, as players will be able to customize a ruined island by going back one thousand years into the past while making changes that affect the present and future. Players can also assume up to 14 different jobs on the island, including farmer and artist.
Level 5 is also planning to release two other games this year, including Professor Layton and The New World of Steam and Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road. Additionally, Level 5’s Decapolice is expected to follow in 2026.
A collaborative study between researchers from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine), and the Institute for Biostatistics and Informatics in Medicine and Ageing Research, Rostock University Medical Center, Germany, investigated how advanced AI tools, like Large Language Models (LLMs), can make it easier to evaluate interventions for ageing and provide personalised recommendations. The findings were published in the leading review journal Ageing Research Reviews.
Research into ageing is producing an overwhelming amount of data, making it difficult to determine which interventions — such as new medicines, dietary changes, or exercise routines — are safe and effective. This study investigated how AI can analyse data more efficiently and accurately, by proposing a comprehensive set of standards for AI systems to ensure they deliver accurate, reliable, and understandable evaluations through their ability to analyse complex biological data.
The researchers identified eight critical requirements for effective AI-based evaluations:
Correctness of the evaluation results. Data quality will be assessed for accuracy.
Usefulness and comprehensiveness.
Interpretability and explainability of the evaluation results. Clarity and conciseness of the results and the given explanations.
Specific consideration of causal mechanisms affected by the intervention.
Consideration of data in a holistic context:
Efficacy and toxicity, and evidence for the existence of a large therapeutic window;
Analyses in an “interdisciplinary” setting.
Enabling reproducibility, standardisation, and harmonisation of the analyses (and of the reporting).
Specific emphasis on diverse longitudinal large-scale data.
Specific emphasis on results that relate to known mechanisms of ageing.
Telling LLMs about these requirements as part of the prompting improved the quality of the recommendations they produced.
Professor Brian Kennedy from the Department of Biochemistry & Physiology, and Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme at NUS Medicine, who co-led the study, said, “We tested AI methods using real-world examples such as medicines and dietary supplements. We found that by following specific guidelines, AI can provide more accurate and detailed insights. For instance, when analysing rapamycin, a drug often studied for its potential to promote healthy ageing, the AI not only evaluated its efficacy but also provided context-specific explanations and caveats, such as possible side effects.”
“The study’s findings could have far-reaching effects,” added Professor Georg Fuellen, Director, Institute for Biostatistics and Informatics in Medicine and Ageing Research, Rostock University Medical Center, who co-led the study, “For healthcare, telling the AI about the critical requirements of a good response can enable it to find more effective treatments and make them safer to use. Generally, AI tools could design better clinical trials and help tailor health recommendations to each person. This research is a major step toward using AI to improve health outcomes for everyone, especially as they age.”
Moving forward, the team is now focusing on a large-scale study of how to best prompt AI models for longevity-related intervention advice, to evaluate their accuracy and reliability for a wide array of carefully designed benchmarks, that is, curated, high-quality data. The validation of such AI systems is specifically important because the longevity interventions may then be implemented by a large number of healthy people. Prospective studies will need to demonstrate that AI-based evaluations can accurately predict successful outcomes in human trials, paving the way for safer and more effective health interventions.
The team hopes to use their findings to make health and longevity interventions more precise and accessible, and ultimately improve the quality and duration of life. Collaboration between researchers, clinicians, and policymakers will be essential to establish robust regulatory frameworks, ensuring the safe and effective use of AI-driven evaluations.
About the Organisers The National Law Institute University, Bhopal (NLIU), established in 1997, has consistently been accredited as one of the leading legal institutions of the country. The Moot Court Association (‘MCA’) is one of the oldest student-bodies at NLIU; established in 2002. The MCA is responsible for all the mooting and allied activities like […]
The post 10th NLIU – Justice R.K. Tankha Memorial International Arbitration Moot, 2025 [April 4 – 6]: Register by Feb 3! appeared first on Lawctopus.
Mauni Amavasya 2025: Discover the date, shubh muhurat, key rituals, and spiritual significance of this sacred day, dedicated to introspection and purification.
Mauni Amavasya 2025: Mauni Amavasya, also known as Maghi Amavasya or Magh Amavasya, is an important day that occurs during the Magha month on the new moon (Amavasya). This spiritually significant day is deeply rooted in the traditions of the North Indian calendar. It is marked by introspection, silence, and soul purification through sacred rituals, with the holy dip in the Ganges River being one of its most prominent practices. (Also read: Chinese New Year 2025: Dates, animal of the year, significance, celebration and all about Spring Festival )
Mauni Amavasya 2025: Celebrated during the Magha month, Mauni Amavasya emphasises silence, introspection, and soul purification through rituals. (AI generated image)
Mauni Amavasya 2025 date and timings
This year, the significant festival of Mauni Amavasya will be observed on Wednesday, January 29. According to the Drik Panchnag, the auspicious timings are as follows:
Amavasya Tithi begins – 7:35 PM on January 28, 2025
Amavasya Tithi ends – 6:05 PM on January 29, 2025
Significance of Mauni Amavasya 2025
“Mauni” is derived from the Sanskrit word “Mauna,” meaning “silence.” Observing a vow of silence on this day is a common practice among devotees, promoting spiritual discipline and inner peace. Silence is seen as a powerful tool for self-purification and spiritual growth.
Mauni Amavasya this year holds extra significance during the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, symbolising cleansing and salvation through Ganges dips.(File photo)
This year, with the Maha Kumbh Mela taking place in Prayagraj, Mauni Amavasya holds even greater significance. A holy dip in the Triveni Sangam (confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati) during the Kumbh Mela is believed to cleanse devotees of past sins and lead them toward salvation or Moksha.
Additionally, performing rituals to honour ancestors on Mauni Amavasya is thought to bring happiness and blessings, as well as help alleviate Pitru Dosha, offering relief to those facing ancestral karmic imbalances.
Mauni Amavasya 2025 key rituals
Holy bath: Devotees rise early to take a ceremonial dip in sacred rivers like the Ganga, as it’s believed to cleanse the soul and wash away past sins.
Vow of silence: Many observe a vow of silence throughout the day, focusing on introspection, spiritual growth, and inner peace.
Fasting: Devotees often fast, either completely abstaining from food and water or consuming specific items like kuttu, fried potatoes, or sama kheer.
Ancestral worship: Rituals like ‘Pitru Tarpan’ are performed to honour ancestors. Lighting a mustard oil diya under a peepal tree is a key practice.
Charity: Acts of charity, such as feeding the needy or making donations to temples, are encouraged to gain spiritual merit.
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Sage Therapeutics’ board of directors has turned back partner Biogen’s opportunitistic attempt at a takeover, unanimously rejecting a $469 million offer from Biogen it said “significantly undervalues” the company.
Earlier this month, Biogen proposed to buy Sage for $7.22 per share, which represented about a 30% premium to Sage’s share price at the time. Sage sued in response to enforce a “standstill” agreement with Biogen, which co-markets Sage’s postpartum depression drug Zurzuvae and owns about 10% of the company.
While Sage’s board doesn’t view Biogen’s bid favorably, it will look into “strategic alternativies,” a process that could involve a combination, sale or other transaction that can “maximize value for shareholders.”
Dive Insight:
Analysts viewed Biogen’s offer as a “cold and calculated” move to consolidate control of Zurzuvae, which is on track to earn around $100 million in annual sales. The companies currently split profits.
Zurzuvae is essentially Sage’s only product, as it recently discontinued sales of an earlier postpartum drug called Zulresso. The company’s pipeline has failed to deliver, resulting in a string of setbacks for potential treatments of Huntington’s disease, tremor, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
Sage has laid off staff and shelved drug research in response. Most recently, the company cut 165 jobs and parted ways with several senior executives. Shares in the company have lost more than 70% of their value over the past year.
While Sage is in a vulnerable spot, the company’s board argues Biogen’s offer “is not in the best interest of shareholders.”
The board hasn’t set a timeline for its review, which it said may not ultimately yield a transaction. While the review is ongoing, the company “remains focused on the goal of establishing Zurzuvae as the standard of care for women with PPD.”
This week is Part Three of our three part series on The Seasons of Life.
In Part One of the series we discussed:
a) That life is about constant, predictable patterns of change.
b) For all of us, the only constant factor is our feelings and attitudes toward life.
c) We as human beings have the power of attitude and that attitude determines choice, and choice determines results.
d) Life and business are like the changing seasons.
e) You cannot change the seasons, but you can change yourself.
f) A major lesson in life to learn is how to handle the winters.
g) Winter time allows you to get stronger, wiser, and better.
The winters won’t change, but you can.
In Part Two of our series we discussed:
a) Spring is the season for entering the fertile fields of life with seed, knowledge, commitment, and a determined effort.
b) It is the promise of spring that as we sow, so shall we also reap, that for every disciplined human effort, we will receive a multiple reward.
c) There are just a handful of springs that have been handed to each of us. Don’t just let the seasons pass by.
This week we will talk about the third major lesson in life to learn; how to nourish and protect your crops all summer.
Sure enough, as soon as you’ve planted, the busy bugs and noxious weeds are out to take things over.
Here is the next bit of truth: they will take it unless you prevent it.
There are two key phrases to consider with the third major lesson.
The first is “all good will be attacked.”
Don’t press me for a reason.
I was not in on some of the early decisions, so I don’t know why.
I just know that it’s true.
Let reality be your best beginning.
Every garden will be invaded.
The second phrase is “All values must be defended.”
Social values, political values, friendship values, business values – all must be defended.
Every garden must be tended all summer.
If you don’t develop this skill, you’ll never wind up with anything of value.
But for those who make diligent efforts to plant, protect, and preserve there are not enough birds, bugs, or other obstacles to destroy all the efforts of last spring.
Now we will talk about fall (autumn), the time of harvesting the fruits of our springtime labour.
Fall also presents us with our fourth major lesson to learn in life, and that is to learn how to reap in the fall without apology if you have done well and without complaint, if you have not.
For nothing is more exciting than a bounteous crop, and nothing more dreadful than a barren field in the fall.
We must remember that in all areas of human existence, what we put into this world, we get back from it.
It is nature’s way of evening the score.
So regardless of the results, take full responsibility for your crop.
One of the highest forms of human maturity is accepting full responsibility for our lives.
Which brings me back to the beginning of our discussion in week one.
We must remember that life is constantly recycling itself.
Much of life is about the balancing of two opposites; like the positive and negative charge on a battery.
Life’s balancing of opposites totally surrounds our lives; man/woman, day/night, good/evil, life/death, water/land, summer/winter, recession/expansion, joy/sorrow, etc.
Yes, I believe we will have major changes, but I also believe we will continue to have just one winter, spring, summer and fall each year.
Much of our success will lie in our ability and philosophy to plant in the springtime of opportunity.
To weed and cultivate in the testing time of summer, to harvest without apology and/or complaint in the results time of fall and to get stronger, wiser, and better in the transition and learning times of winter.
Remember it is not what happens to you that determines your future, it is what you do about it.
So here’s to a great, faith-filled and prosperous year.
About Jim Rohn The late Jim Rohn was America’s Foremost Business Philosopher.
Welcome to this year’s ranking of the top 100 prospects in baseball. I’ve been compiling and writing such rankings for 18 years now, and those of you who’ve read them before will find the format here similar to those from the recent past.
My farm reports covering at least 20 prospects in each team’s system, plus notes on prospects who might appear in the majors this year or might be breakout prospects for the 2026 rankings, will appear the week of Feb. 3.
For the second year in a row, the most recent draft class is well-represented in the top 100; last year’s list had 20 players from the 2023 draft class, and this year’s list has 15, with more appearing on the “prospects who just missed” column that will run on Wednesday. The 2024 draft was not very good, but the minors right now … the minors are not good, my friends. It’s just not very deep, and getting to 100 names I felt good about was as hard as it has ever been.
Some of it is the increasing pace with which teams are calling up top prospects, as 12 of my top 20 prospects from last year’s list have graduated, but the bigger cause, in my opinion, is the forced contraction of the minor leagues back in 2021, which has rushed more players to Low A before they were ready and generally shrunk the time teams are giving to prospects who need more development.
Even guys who struggle in A-ball tend to move up because players are coming right behind them who need those at-bats or innings, and the result is more guys stalling out or regressing or just never taking the step forward that scouts and/or analysts expected. With continued rumors that MLB wants to cut yet another entire rung from the minors, this year’s top 100 should be a stark warning that the league is trying its best to strangle the goose that lays the golden eggs.
To be eligible for this list, a player must still retain Rookie of the Year eligibility for 2025, and have no experience in NPB/KBO, as those are major leagues and calling, say, Roki Sasaki a “prospect” is pretty silly (not to mention it takes up the space I’d rather use on an actual prospect).
I also don’t include the international free agents who just signed in January, since in nearly all cases those guys haven’t been scouted by other teams in a year or more. I know of one such guy who was under a verbal agreement with the team that signed him before he turned 13. No one has an up-to-date scouting report on him. That’s just not happening.
I tend to favor upside in prospects more than certainty, but there is value in both. A player who is all ceiling and no floor isn’t as valuable, in the trade market now or in considering his expected value in the long term, as one who has a somewhat lower ceiling but a much higher floor. I want players who might be stars. After that, I want players who might be above-average big leaguers — but I also try to keep in mind that many of these prospects won’t reach their ceilings, and to consider what other scenarios exist for their futures.
I use “seasonal age” for players, which is their age on July 1, 2025, the midpoint of the calendar. I use the 20-80 scale for tools (or 2-8 — same scale, different dialect), where 50 is average, 60 is plus, 40 is well below average, 80 is Pete Crow-Armstrong’s defense, and 20 is Yasmani Grandal’s foot speed. I try to discuss players’ tools, their frames, their level of athleticism and other physical attributes, as well as their skills, their aptitude, and other mental or intellectual attributes as well.
This is comparable to how major-league teams evaluate players, although they will always have the advantage of access to more and better data than those of us on the outside can get. The least I can do is try to reflect how the industry thinks about players, and give you the most accurate possible picture of the prospects in these rankings through both the lens of my own evaluations and those of the people within the industry whom I most trust.
When referring to starting pitchers, I acknowledge that that role is still evolving and we don’t have 200-inning guys anymore, with a lot of “five-and-dive” (throw five innings and hit the showers) or twice-through-the-order guys, but I will still talk about league-average starters and sometimes refer to back-end (fourth or fifth starters) or above-average (ace, No. 2, and some No. 3) starters. Bear in mind that there is a range around any projection or prediction for a player — if I say I think someone’s a No. 4 starter, he might have a ceiling as a No. 3 or more, and the floor of a middle reliever or a bulk reliever, where the No. 4 starter projection is the most likely or median outcome I see.
And now, on to the rankings …
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2024 Ranking: 22
Anthony has shot through the minors, reaching Triple A in his second full pro season out of high school, thanks to one of the best swings in all of the minors and an extremely advanced approach for a hitter so young. A 2022 second-round pick, Anthony changed his setup that offseason, freeing up his hands to loosen his whole swing through contact while also getting his hips and legs more involved to help him hit the ball harder, and it paid off almost immediately.
Since his early 2023 promotion to High A, he’s hit .294/.405/.521 across three levels, finishing last season in Triple A with as many walks as strikeouts at that stop. His average exit velocity for Triple-A Worcester was 88 mph, although he did start to hit the ball on the ground more (52 percent) in that brief stint, not a major concern but something to watch as he gets so close to a promotion to the majors. He’s very disciplined for his age, chasing just 20 percent of the time in Triple A, with a whiff rate under 9 percent, picking up spin very well even at a level when he was facing guys who’d pitched in the majors.
Anthony has mostly played center in the minors, but he’s not very rangy and he’s maybe an average runner, so he’s much more likely to end up in a corner, supplanted in center by someone with plus range. He’s got a chance to be a 30-homer, high-average, high-OBP guy in right field, maybe with plus defense there, which is a “best player in the league” profile.
2024 Ranking: 40
Walcott started the year in High A as an 18-year-old, joining Ethan Salas as the only players that young to start 2024 anywhere above Low A, and he started very slowly, hitting just .196/.326/.315 through the end of May. From then on, he cooked, hitting .296/.351/.511 until a late-season promotion to Double A, so that on the whole he ended the year with an OBP 17 points above the Sally League average and a slugging percentage 78 points above it — all as the league’s youngest regular.
The Bahamian-born Walcott looks like a man among boys, as he’s 6-foot-4 or 6-foot-5 and clearly more than his listed 190 pounds, with a wide frame that’s going to let him pack on some upper body strength. He’s an excellent athlete with above-average speed and gets very high marks for his feel for the game, including his ability to make in-game and in-season adjustments. He’s got tremendous bat speed and already produces hard contact at a very high rate, so there’s every reason to hope he can be a 30-homer guy with a high average even if his strikeout rate remains in the 24-25 percent range.
Walcott is a shortstop now, and not bad there, but he’s extremely likely to outgrow the position — he’s going to be larger than Carlos Correa or Corey Seager, two bigger guys who defied expectations to remain at short. At worst, you’ve got a right fielder who hits for average and power. He won’t even turn 19 until the first week of March, so he has plenty of time to keep turning these immense physical gifts into baseball skills. I think he’s underrated already, and he’s my pick to be the No. 1 prospect a year from now.
2024 Ranking: 20
Basallo might be hopelessly blocked at the moment by Adley Rutschman, but he’s the best catching prospect in baseball right now, having produced at every level up through Double A before his 20th birthday while showing enough tools and athleticism to project as an above-average defender. Signed for a $1.3 million bonus in January 2021, Basallo has a fantastic swing that’s short to the ball but hard enough to produce plus power already, with more to come as he matures. He’s shown excellent plate discipline so far, and has hit left-handed pitching extremely well throughout his career, avoiding the platoon concerns that bedevil so many left-handed hitting prospects.
Even in a tough debut in Triple A, where he really struggled to adjust to changeups, he still topped 110 mph (off a lefty!) and averaged 91 mph across all balls he put into play. He’s got at least a 70 arm and is athletic enough to become a 55 receiver and blocker, although right now he’s succeeding more on his pure physical ability and needs more polish on the finer points of catching.
Basallo will probably be ready for a big-league role by the end of 2025, which will present a big dilemma for the Orioles, as they’re one of the only teams in baseball for whom he wouldn’t be a huge upgrade behind the plate — and if Rutschman is “just” a 3-4 WAR player, as he’s been the last two years, I’m not so sure that he’s the better option.
2024 Ranking: 15
Jenkins has earned comparisons to Larry Walker since he was a high school junior, which I always suspected was at least a little bit driven by his first name, but there are more similarities than that. Jenkins is also a tall, athletic, and very strong left-handed-hitting corner outfielder, and he’s advanced quickly through the low minors when healthy by showing exceptional swing decisions — he seldom swings and misses (just 17.5 percent last year) and doesn’t chase pitches out of the zone very often (24.6 percent), unusual for a hitter of his size and power potential.
He has a fantastic left-handed swing that gets him to the ball quickly and puts the ball in the air more often than on the ground, while he’s shown the ability to go the other way when pitchers try to attack him on the outer third. That feel to hit as a 19-year-old who’s already reached Double A is part of what makes him so exciting as a prospect; he already can hit, and there’s size and strength here for plus power as he continues to grow and develop.
He’s mostly played center in the minors, but I still think he’s heading to right field between his size and just average speed so far. He also missed almost two months to start 2024 with a hamstring injury, so he hasn’t played a full season yet. He should return to Double A to start 2025, and if he stays healthy, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him get a call-up in September given how much hard contact he’s already making as a teenager.
2024 Ranking: 37
If Emerson had stayed healthy all year, he would have been close to the very top of this list, just based on how good he looked and how well he performed when he was able to take the field. The 22nd pick in 2023, Emerson went to Low A to start last year as an 18-year-old — his birthday is in late July — and hit .293/.440/.427 in 40 games, walking more than he struck out. The Mariners bumped him up to High A in early August, and he hit .225/.331/.317 in 29 games there — but still made plenty of contact — and then hit .370/.436/.537 as one of the youngest players in the Arizona Fall League.
The bad news is that he played a total of 83 games between the regular season and the AFL, hitting the IL in April with an oblique strain, breaking a bone in his foot by fouling a ball off it in mid-May, and then leaving Arizona in early November after straining a hamstring. He’s played about 80 percent of his pro innings at shortstop and has shown the range and instincts to stay there, even though he’s just an average runner; if his propensity to get hurt continues as he matures, he may be better served moving to third or second, but he’s so much more valuable at short that he’ll probably stay there at least through the high minors.
He has all of the ingredients to be a hitter for a high average and OBP, with a short path to the ball, excellent bat speed and a strong approach for his age. He might only lack the power to get to the upper echelons of MLB position players, but he also has an extra year (so to speak) to develop that when compared to other elite shortstop prospects.
2024 Ranking: 14
Clark was the third pick in the loaded 2023 draft, and while I know some Tigers fans gnashed their teeth when Wyatt Langford (taken fourth) reached the majors last spring, Clark is one of the very best prospects in the minors and still projects as a star, especially coming off a very strong 2024. Playing at just 19 the entire season, Clark hit .286/.386/.421 in the pitcher-friendly Florida State League, then hit .264/.344/.421 after a July promotion to High A, while stealing 29 bases in 33 attempts on the year.
His pitch recognition and selection remain very strong — he whiffed just 8.1 percent of the time he swung in Low A, and chased just 22.6 percent of the time, per Statcast data from that level — and he topped out at 106 mph in exit velocity, but he hit the ball on the ground a ton, as he can get too firm on the front side and ends up on top of the ball too often. He’s a true center fielder who was a 55 runner last year, down from 70 speed in high school, and showed just an average arm, all of which was also a bit down from high school, possibly just the result of a much longer season and more frequent play than he’d experienced before as an amateur in Indiana.
His floor is a regular in center with high on-base percentages and plus defense; his ceiling, if the Tigers help him regain some speed and get him to loosen up his front side to drive the ball more, is a 25-homer/40-steal on-base machine.
2024 Ranking: 7
Crews was the second pick in the 2023 draft and made his major-league debut about 13 months after signing, advancing quickly through the minors as expected but without the dominance that most people anticipated. Crews hit .274/.343/446 in Double A, in a good hitters’ park in Harrisburg, and .265/.340/.455 at Triple-A Rochester. It was a solid performance, boosted by above-average defense in center field, but he’s not just any prospect — he won the 2023 Golden Spikes award after starring at LSU and beating up on SEC pitching for three years.
The good news is that his batted-ball data points to better results going forward, as he ran into some bad luck in the majors despite hitting the ball pretty hard in a small sample; his hard-hit rates in Triple A (43.3 percent) and the majors (44.7 percent) were both above the median, even though he was just 22 and young for both levels. He’s closed off some of the trouble he had in 2023 with fastballs up in the zone, and missed just 10 percent of the fastballs he swung at in the majors. He hit lefties fine in his brief sample in the big leagues as well, struggling mostly against breaking stuff from righties, especially down and away.
Even with the tepid performance in the high minors, he still shows the underlying characteristics of an above-average hitter in the big leagues, and that coupled with what is probably grade 55 defense in center — or plus if he moves to a corner at any point — would still make him at least a consistent 3-4 WAR player right now. I’m still hopeful there’s more upside here with the bat than he’s demonstrated in his year-plus in pro ball.
2024 Ranking: 38
Williams is the most enigmatic prospect in the minors to me: He does absolutely everything you’d want a position-player prospect to do, except he strikes out way too often — he does all of those other things despite a 28.5 percent strikeout rate in Double A last year that should be, if not disqualifying, a major demerit on his scouting report.
Williams is a plus defender at short with an easy plus arm. He has 70 speed and shows above-average to plus power, hitting 20 homers for the second year in a row. He doesn’t chase pitches out of the zone much at all — his chase rate last year was 22 percent according to Synergy Sports, which puts him well below the overall MLB rate, but when he does chase, he nearly always whiffs, and he also misses pitches in the zone more than you’d like. It’s a decision issue rather than a mechanical one, but Williams performs so well in spite of the whiffs that changing his approach risks taking away some of the production as well.
His 2024 season may also undersell his abilities, as he was hit on the hand by a pitch in June, missed just six days, and wasn’t the same hitter afterward. He was hitting .294/.376/.552 with a 27.1 percent strikeout rate at the time of the injury, then hit .220/.324/.382 with a 29.4 percent strikeout rate after his return, which makes me suspect he was more hurt than he let on and just played through it. At worst, he’s a shortstop with plus power, defense, and baserunning value who might just hit for a lower average because of the strikeouts. That’s a 4-WAR player in a full season because of the value of the position, and I wouldn’t rule out him getting beyond that with even tiny adjustments to his swing choices.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Campbell was my minor league player of the year for 2024 after he posted a .330/.439/.558 line across three levels, from High A through Triple A, in his first full year in pro ball. The Red Sox took him in the fourth round in 2023 as a redshirt freshman at Georgia Tech, betting on the makeup and the athleticism, and that good scouting work paid off as he not only hit at every level but did so while playing four positions — second, short, third, and center. He’s a plus runner who’s fast enough to play any of those spots, but his fringy arm probably limits him to second or center, with second his best position right now and in the long run as well.
His swing has a little funk to it and he can get flat through contact, resulting in a 60 percent groundball rate in his brief time in Triple A, but he has an incredible eye at the plate and gets the bat to the ball consistently enough for hard contact. He does have some holes he’ll have to work on, including four-seamers up and anything moving down and in under his hands or at his front hip, some of which may just be a function of his limited experience before getting to Triple A. He’s also already gained 10-15 pounds of further muscle this winter, which could help with bat control and getting some more loft through contact. He could easily be a plus defender at second and at worst should post high OBPs with 20-30 steals and 50+ extra-base hits a year.
2024 Ranking: 4
The 2024 season was a lost year for Lawlar, who tore a ligament in his right thumb in March, then hurt his left hamstring twice while on rehab assignments, limiting him to just 104 regular-season PA and keeping him out of the majors entirely after he debuted in 2023. He did go play for Licey in the Dominican Winter League and doubled his playing time for the calendar year, although he didn’t hit as well there, leaving him probably no further along than he was this time last year.
He’s a really athletic shortstop who has shown he can make hard contact to hit for high averages, hitting more line drives to the gaps than balls into the seats, only getting to more power when he played in the hitters’ havens of Amarillo and Reno in 2023. His swing is pretty short to the ball, with good follow-through that’s on a lower plane for line drives, and his wrists are so strong that he’s going to at least get to a high doubles total and probably still hit 15-20 homers at his peak. He didn’t run much last year but has plus speed and good instincts on the bases, all of which could also help him if he ends up moving to center field in deference to a plus defender at shortstop. If left at the position, he could be a 50/55 defender, thanks to some strong work by Arizona’s player development crew.
I did note some concerns about him lunging out of his swing in 2023, but that’s all on the back burner now as we wait to see the healthy version of him return this spring training. He’s got a strong floor as an everyday guy, at short or center or maybe even second, but if he can stay healthy and push that power to more like 20 homers or 60+ extra-base hits, he’d be more of an All-Star.
2024 Ranking: 29
Jobe is the best pitching prospect in the minors right now, although every candidate for that list has missed some time with injuries in the past two years, Jobe included, so buyer beware. He’s got a four-pitch mix highlighted by a high-spin four-seamer that sits 94-98 when he’s starting and an elite changeup, one of the best in the minors, that has tremendous late tumble, and that he can throw to both sides of the plate and uses against left- and right-handed batters. He’s also got a sweeper-slider and a hard slider, both of which are more weapons against righties, although the sweeper is probably going to be the fourth pitch in his arsenal in the majors.
He has cleaned up his delivery somewhat since 2023, so he should be better positioned to repeat it and throw both more strikes and better strikes going forward, as high walk rates have been one of the only negatives on his report to date — he walked 12.6 percent of batters he faced in Double A and Triple A last year, which is a giant gift to batters given how hard his stuff is to hit. He’s also had a lot of non-arm injuries, missing the first half of 2023 with a lower back injury and two months of 2024 with a hamstring strain, so he’s thrown just 252 2/3 total innings in three full pro seasons, including time in the AFL in 2023. That may point to a limited workload in 2025, especially since he’s likely to spend most or all of it in the majors. It’s No. 1 starter upside if he can go from 45 control to 55, which he certainly should given his athleticism and where the delivery stands now.
2024 Ranking: 34
Painter was supposedly on the bubble to make the Phillies out of spring training in 2023, when he was still 19, but ended up with a UCL tear that required Tommy John surgery and wiped out that season and all of 2024 as well. He returned during the Arizona Fall League this offseason and threw 15 2/3 innings over six outings, still pumping 96-98 with good carry, showing a plus curveball and slider, with only the changeup lagging behind.
He’s built like a workhorse starter at 6-foot-7 and a listed weight of 215 that’s probably out of date by 10-plus pounds, although the elbow tear and two lost years at least push his timetable to take 30 turns in a big-league rotation back a bit. He’s probably going to demolish Triple-A hitters this year and end up in the majors in some kind of relief or swing role as the Phillies manage his innings and try to develop his changeup and his command, especially coming off a layoff where he’s likely to still have some rust. The healthy version of Painter should be a 200-inning, No. 1 starter.
2024 Ranking: 89
Miller was the Phillies’ 2023 first-round pick, coming off a senior season at J.W. Mitchell High School north of Clearwater that ended for him in early March when he broke a hamate bone. Between the injury and the fact that he was 19 at the draft, he slid down some teams’ draft boards, which was the Phillies’ windfall when they selected him with the 27th pick, as he’s quickly become their best position-player prospect.
Last season, he ripped through Low-A Clearwater with a .275/.401/.483 line in 39 games where he topped out at 108 mph, then started slow in High A before taking off in his last month and a half there, ending up with a .258/.353/.444 line before a final-week promotion to Double A, all very impressive for a player in his first full year in the minors.
He has exclusively played shortstop since he signed, and contrary to predraft reports, he’s played it really well, to the point where no one seems to question whether he can stay at the position. He’s got very good instincts and shows above-average range in both directions, with a plus arm, playing defense like he wants to make every play. I saw him right after the promotion to High A and noted an overly aggressive approach and tendency to get on top of the ball; within about two weeks, he’d already adjusted and was seeing more pitches and driving the ball again. He’s even a plus runner now who stole 23 bases in 28 attempts last year, likely adding even more value to his game.
Miller has played just 122 games in pro ball, and won’t turn 21 until June, so he’s still got time on his side and I think more power to come. With Trea Turner’s defense slipping — his Runs Above Average on defense hasn’t been positive since 2021 — Miller might be the Phillies’ future at shortstop, and sooner than you think.
2024 Ranking: 26
Shaw might be the Cubs’ starting third baseman this April, and he’s earned the shot after reaching Triple A in his first full pro season and hitting better as the season progressed. Shaw started 2024 in Double A, where he overcame some bad luck on balls in play to hit .279/.373/.468 with just a 17.5 percent strikeout rate, and then bumped up to Triple A and hit .298/.395/.534 with a 19.7 percent strikeout rate. He makes very consistent hard contact, averaging 89.3 mph in Triple A with a 90th percentile exit velocity of 106. He utilizes a very rotational and clean swing that tends to put the ball in the air.
He’s a shortstop by trade but has played second and third as well in the minors, a reflection of the Cubs’ needs, with second base probably his best position and his third-base defense playable if not quite average yet. He’s a 55 runner with excellent instincts and could probably handle center or left if needed. Shaw is one of the best bets to hit for a high average of any prospect in the minors, and should add another half-grade of power to get last year’s 21 homers up into the 25-30 homer range in his best years. Depending on his position and how much he can improve his defense, he could be a 5-WAR player at his peak.
2024 Ranking: 12
Quero was No. 12 on last winter’s top 100, but had just one regular-season plate appearance in 2024 before he tore the labrum in his throwing shoulder, eventually undergoing surgery to repair it that ended his season. He’s supposedly on track to be ready for spring training, so in theory he’s still just as good of a prospect as he was a year ago, with his throwing probably the biggest question, although the loss of a year of at-bats also hurts just about any prospect this side of Chipper Jones. It was particularly a shame for Quero after he worked to improve his conditioning the prior year so he could hold up under a full year of catching duties.
As a hitter, he shows a short swing with strong follow-through, hitting 16 homers in 90 games in 2023 and projecting to 20-plus homers in his peak years in the majors. He had shown a tendency to swing too hard, mitigating it so far because he has strong hands and wrists to control the bat through the zone. He’ll have to shake off the rust from the layoff, and then can resume working on recognizing changeups from lefties and spin from righties, both of which were vulnerabilities for him in 2023. Assuming his arm is OK — it was probably a 70 on pure arm strength, so he has some wiggle room — and the surgery hasn’t adversely affected his swing, he still projects as a star who’s a plus defender and a very strong hitter for the position.
2024 Ranking: 86
Rushing bounced back from a concussion he suffered in 2023 that impacted his performance, putting together a superb 2024 season that has him banging on the door of Chavez Ravine, hitting .271/.385/.512 between Double A and Triple A with solid defense and improved performance against velocity. Rushing has shown excellent zone awareness since his debut, with a chase rate of just 21 percent across both levels last year, and his hard-hit rate in Triple A was 44 percent, comparable to Alec Bohm and Kyle Tucker in the big leagues.
He can overstride a little and get off balance, especially given how hard he swings, but when it’s all synced up his swing is geared to produce hard contact in that ideal zone of angles off the bat for power. He’s a solid receiver who threw out 30 percent of runners last year, and might be underrated as a defender because he’s such a good hitter (something baseball fans who were online in the 1990s might know as Nichols’ Law of Catcher Defense — a catcher’s defensive reputation is inversely proportional to their offensive abilities).
The Dodgers just gave Will Smith a mammoth contract, but he’s also been banged up quite a bit the last two years, so Rushing’s imminent arrival in the majors might be right on time. If he’s even a .340 OBP, 20-homer guy, which seems reasonable given his production and underlying data from 2024, that would make him one of the most valuable catchers in baseball.
2024 Ranking: 3
Salas was one of two 18-year-olds to start 2024 above Low A, along with Walcott. Salas’ season was very good in context, but didn’t quite live up to the hype or the scouting reports coming into the year. He hit .208/.288/.311 for High-A Fort Wayne, with just a 21 percent strikeout rate; his .256 BABIP does point to some bad luck, but his contact quality went backwards as well, and the easy power he showed in 2023 — or can show in BP — was absent in games most of the regular season. He was better in the Arizona Fall League, hitting as many homers there (4) in 23 games as he did in 111 games for Fort Wayne, which plays in a bad hitters’ park.
He’s still a plus defender and earns praise for his work with pitchers and coaches, giving him a very high floor as a catcher who has shown great contact skills and at least shown plus power in BP. He won’t turn 19 until June 1, so he has a ton of time to bring all of this together. However, at the very least there’s a lot more skepticism about his probability to become a star among other scouts and execs than there was a year ago.
2024 Ranking: 27
The Orioles went under-slot with their top pick in the abbreviated 2020 draft so they could go over slot for two players in the fourth and fifth rounds, and Mayo, the fourth-rounder, has more than justified their approach, as he’s already reached the majors at age 22 after hitting well at every stop in the minors.
Mayo spent most of 2024 in Triple A, hitting .287/.364/.562 there with 22 homers in just 89 games around an IL stint (he broke a rib trying to catch a foul ball). His batted-ball data from that level was just as impressive — his exit velocity topped out at 114.9 mph, his 90th percentile EV was 107.2 mph, and his hard-hit rate was 41 percent, all of which would be above the major-league medians for those figures. His Barrel rate was over 12 percent, which would have ranked in the top 50 had he done it in the big leagues.
He’s 6-5 and does have long levers so his swing can get big, some of which is the natural tradeoff for the kind of power he displays, but may also point to a longer adjustment period in the majors as pitchers exploit that length. He hasn’t swung and missed excessively in the minors, however, and he has made small adjustments to his approach and his mechanics as he’s moved up, so there’s every reason to think he’ll do so in the majors. He’s played third and first in pro ball and has made himself into a capable defender at the hot corner, but first base will always be the easiest option — or possibly right field, as he has plenty of arm and moves well enough for a corner outfield spot. His bat looks like it’ll play anywhere, with 30-35 homer upside and a good enough plan at the plate to eventually get to league-average or better OBPs.
2024 Ranking: 48
Chandler was part of the Pirates’ 2021 draft class, where they took Henry Davis with the first pick and went well under slot so they could sign several other first-round talents to over-slot deals — with Chandler by far the best of the group to date. The former quarterback-shortstop-pitcher is now exclusively on the mound, and 2024 was a big step forward for him, as he moved through Double A to Triple A and cut his walk rate from 10.9 percent in 2023 to 8.6 percent across all of last year.
Chandler has one of the best four-seamers in the minors, 94-99 with exceptional shape and life, giving it the illusion of rise, and hitters just can’t do anything with it: Triple-A batters whiffed on it 27 percent of the time they swung, and when they did hit it they were more likely to go the other way because they couldn’t pull it. He’s mostly fastball-slider-changeup now, barely using the curveball, so he can focus on improving just one breaking ball. It’ll probably always be his third-best pitch, but it was effective against righties last year, and his changeup is still a plus pitch for him that he can use against both sides.
The Pirates let him work a little deeper into games in 2024 and he showed no loss of stuff, while this was the second year in a row that he pitched a full season, so he should be ready to step into the big-league rotation by midyear. He only became a full-time pitcher in 2023, so he may still have more growth ahead of him on the mound than the typical 22-year-old, and he’s every bit the athlete you’d expect from someone who was committed to Clemson for two sports. Even if the slider is never more than a fringe-average pitch, he looks like he’ll at least be a No. 2 starter with the two elite weapons and the potential for above-average command as he matures.
2024 Ranking: 79
Schultz has gone from barely pitching as a senior at Oswego East High School outside Chicago as he was dealing with mono to becoming the best left-handed pitching prospect in baseball just two years later. He’d made only 16 appearances in the minors coming into 2024, having missed time the year before, but spent most of his season in Double A as a 20-year-old and dominated, striking out 32 percent of batters he faced and posting a 1.48 ERA.
He’s 6-9 and really uses the height to his advantage, coming at hitters from a low slot with good extension so that hitters make weak contact on his fastball even though it doesn’t miss many bats. He’ll sit 93-96 as a starter, with high spin rates but not a ton of life to it, a plus-plus slider as his out pitch, along with a high-spin curveball and perhaps too-firm changeup, although so far he’s had no issues with platoon splits.
He’s going to earn comparisons to Chris Sale as another lanky low-slot lefty, but he’s a different animal; he might never miss bats at the same rate, but will generate a lot of weak contact and keep the ball in the park instead. As long as he stays healthy — and that’s not guaranteed, as the history of 6-9 or taller pitchers is pretty grim — he’s going to have a long run of giving hitters nightmares as a top-end starter.
2024 Ranking: 47
Rodriguez had a typical year for himself — he walked and struck out a lot, made very hard contact, and got hurt. In 47 games total across four levels, he hit .280/.459/.567 with a 24.4 percent walk rate and 29.7 percent strikeout rate, hitting nine homers in that span, or roughly a 31-homer pace. He injured his right thumb while stealing a base in April, tried to come back and play through it, but reinjured it in September and ended up having a “cleanup procedure” on it after the season. He makes extremely hard contact when he’s healthy, though. Even in his brief time in Triple A, he put 13 balls in play, peaking at 114.6 mph and averaging 90.1. And his knowledge of the strike zone is real; he even brought his chase rate down from about 14 percent last year to 11 percent this year and just 8 percent in his brief time in Triple A.
Rodriguez calmed down his leg kick a little bit last year, although it doesn’t seem to have made much difference in his results, and he still probably needs to swing more often at pitches in the zone. If he stays in centerfield, with this power and patience he could be a better Mike Cameron (46.7 career WAR, so don’t scoff). It’s more likely Rodriguez ends up in right field, where his unusual profile as a hitter will still make him an above-average regular, and there’s the potential for more if he gets a little more aggressive at the plate — and can stay on the field for a full season.
2024 Ranking: 21
Domínguez may never quite be the Mickey Mantle-esque star that the earliest hype around him indicated, but he’s going to be a very good player — more so if the Yankees just leave him in center field and let him hit. Signed for a $5 million bonus as a 16-year-old in 2019, Domínguez was very physically mature for his age then, and showed plus power early on in his career as a result. He’s also a 70 runner and has 30/30 upside if he hits enough to get to it, and so far, he has hit for contact and average up through Triple A, hitting .287/.363/.465 there last year in his return from 2023 Tommy John surgery.
He’s a switch-hitter with really good swings from both sides of the plate, but has always been better from the left side and has struck out 29.3 percent of the time when batting right-handed over the last two years, one thing that bears watching as he moves to the majors. He’s a natural center fielder and a good one, with range from that plus speed along with solid instincts to read balls off the bat. There’s some hit tool risk, especially against southpaws, and he doesn’t have the same room for physical projection that most prospects his age still do. I see enough present strength and power — his EV50 in Triple A was 101.6 mph, which would have ranked fourth on the Yankees last year — to project him as a 25-30 homer guy as is, and with the speed and defense that still makes him a well above-average regular and occasional All-Star.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
McGonigle was the Tigers’ second pick in 2023, but took home a first-round bonus to buy him away from a scholarship to Auburn, and his pro debut made that look like a screaming bargain for Detroit. (It helps that the current draft bonus system wildly undervalues the best players.) His 2024 was bookended by injuries, but after recovering from a hamstring strain, he hit .326/.407/.470 in his 60-game stint in Low A, then got off to a solid start in High A before he broke the hamate bone in his right hand, ending his season.
The middle infielder from a small private school outside of Philadelphia has a very clean, simple swing with good hip rotation to drive the ball to the gaps, and the excellent ball-strike recognition he showed as an amateur has certainly carried over — he walked more than he struck out at Low A and at High A, with 11 walks and just four strikeouts in 14 games at the latter stop. He’s played short and second in pro ball but doesn’t have the range or quickness for shortstop, profiling much better at second and perhaps ending up a 55 defender there.
If there’s a knock on his game, it’s that he’s not as projectable physically as most of the guys ahead of him on this list; he makes plenty of hard contact now, but there’s not much room on his 5-10-ish frame to get stronger, so any further power gains (he had five homers in 74 games, although the Florida State League is bad for power hitters) will have to come from swing tweaks. He’s probably going to have a very long career as an above-average regular who ranks among the league leaders in OBP with just average or fringy power and solid defense at second … and, if he hits what I’d arbitrarily call a 95th percentile outcome, retire with 2,500 hits.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Celesten might be a superstar, if he can stay on the field and make the most of his prodigious physical abilities. Signed in January 2023 for a $4.2 million bonus, Celesten missed all of the 2023 complex season with a hamstring strain, then went to the Arizona Complex League (skipping the DSL) to start 2024 and hit .352/.431/.568, which put him in the top 10 in the league in average and slugging among all players with at least 100 PA. He missed a month with wrist pain, returned for one game in late July, and then shut it down, eventually undergoing surgery to repair a broken hamate bone. The team said it was an old injury, so he did all that at the plate while playing through an injury that typically saps a ton of power from a hitter. He’s a true switch-hitter with plus speed, an above-average to plus arm, and good actions at shortstop, lagging behind in some of the less tangible aspects like his internal clock and getting better reads off the bat. If he has the work ethic to match his tools, he’s going to be a superstar.
2024 Ranking: Ineligible
Bazzana was the first pick in the 2024 draft out of Oregon State, where the Australian infielder had starred for three seasons as the Beavers’ second baseman, finishing with a .407/.568/.911 line as a junior. Cleveland sent him right to High A, where he struggled a little out of the gate, enduring a five-game hitless stretch in his second week there before warming up for his last month-plus at the level and ending with a .238/.369/.396 line in his pro debut.
He’s a very polished WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) player, offering little in the way of physical projection but also earning plaudits everywhere for his acumen for the game, leading evaluators to believe he will be able to make adjustments as he faces better pitching. He has an odd start to his swing with the bat back behind his rear shoulder and pointing down, but he’s ready when it matters and has a short path to the ball once his hands get started. He showed incredible plate discipline in college and most of that carried over into the minors, as he still didn’t chase much (22 percent) and only struggled against sliders in that brief stint, particularly left on left.
Bazzana is limited to second base or possibly left field. Cleveland’s trade of Andrés Giménez clears the keystone for him, and there’s every reason to expect him to see the majors some time this year given his advanced approach and present power/strength. Even if he’s just average on defense, his propensity to hit for high averages and get on base with probably 20ish-homer upside should still make him an All-Star.
2024 Ranking: 25
De Paula is one of the best pure offensive prospects in the minors right now, with an incredible approach at the plate that resulted in a .268/.404/.405 line between Low A and High A with 84 walks (good for 14th in all of the minors) and just 95 strikeouts. He makes hard contact right now, with strong exit velocities that you might not infer from his power output (just 10 homers, 17 doubles, three triples), as he doesn’t get the ball in the air as often as you’d like just yet. He’s a 40 runner and isn’t a great defender anywhere, so the hope is he ends up a 45 defender in an outfield corner, while the fear is he ends up at first base or at DH.
The bat will play anywhere, especially if his power emerges with age and more muscle on his 6-3 frame, particularly in his wrists and forearms, allowing him to control the bat head better through contact to hit the ball on a line. I’m betting on that happening given his age, physique, and exceptional command of the strike zone.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Baldwin is such a good defender behind the plate that he’s almost certainly going to be someone’s everyday catcher, and if his raw power keeps showing up in games as it did after a midseason promotion to Triple A, he’s going to make some All-Star teams. He was Atlanta’s third-round pick in 2022 out of Missouri State, where he wasn’t a full-time player until his draft year, and he’s improved substantially as a hitter since entering pro ball, loosening up at the plate to try to get to more of that plus power. He had a slow start in Double A but Atlanta promoted him to Gwinnett in early June, after which he took off, hitting .298/.407/.484 at the higher level with 12 homers in 72 games.
He hits the ball extremely hard — his average exit velocity in Triple A was 92 mph, his EV50 was 103, and his 90th percentile EV was 107 — so there’s every reason to think the power is real. He whistles the bat through the zone with excellent bat speed, and even with a pretty high starting position he hasn’t had trouble getting to pitches at the bottom of the strike zone so far. He’s an outstanding blocker and receiver with plus arm strength but just fringy accuracy so far, leading to a career 20 percent caught stealing rate in the minors. A 20-homer catcher with plus defense will rank among the best backstops in the majors, and Baldwin looks like he can be at least that, and probably will debut this year.
2024 Ranking: 8
Mayer looked like he was on track to be the top prospect in baseball around midyear, but he got hurt yet again, with his last game in 2024 coming on July 30, further underscoring his history of missing time with injuries. He was in the midst of a bounce-back season at the plate, returning to Double A and hitting .307/.370/.480 there while cutting his strikeout rate from 26 percent to just under 20 percent, when the injury struck, although he was promoted on paper to Triple A after he hit the injured list.
Mayer has a very pretty left-handed swing with good loft in his finish, projecting to plus power down the road, probably 25-30 homers a year. He’s a strong athlete and has the arm and hands to be a plus defender, flashing that range at times but needing to be more consistent on routine plays. He murders fastballs, with the bat speed to catch up to top-end velocity, while offspeed stuff gave him more trouble than ever in 2024. It may be mechanical, as he’s locking his front knee very early and trying to hit with a completely firm front side, leaving him vulnerable to stuff down at or below his knees; if that’s the issue, it’s also fixable, and he hasn’t always hit this way.
More concerning is that Mayer has yet to play in 100 games in a pro season, topping out at 91 in 2022, missing time due to a lumbar strain (2024), shoulder inflammation (2023), a sprained wrist (2022), and “back issues” (2022). He’s 22 now and still has superstar potential — a 30-homer shortstop with plus defense and what should be above-average OBPs is going to be the best player on his team in most cases. He has to show he can play 140 games in a year and get back to hitting offspeed stuff to be that kind of prospect again.
2024 Ranking: 85
Eldridge played as much as any prospect in 2024, with 565 total plate appearances across four levels of the minors and a stint in the Arizona Fall League, where he was understandably gassed. He performed well at the first three stops as a 19-year-old in his first full pro season. He was a two-way player in high school who had arm strength as a pitcher but no breaking ball to speak of, so while the Giants sort of said he’d continue to pitch when they drafted him, everyone wised up and told him to go hit.
He’s 6-7 but has a short swing for someone that size, one that’s far more geared towards contact than the kind of big-fly, loft-oriented swing you might expect from such a tall hitter, and he kept his strikeout rate to just 25 percent until he got to Triple A, which is always the biggest concern with any hitter his height (or taller). He looks like he’ll be a huge power hitter, but while he makes hard contact, I’m expecting higher averages and doubles totals but a more modest home run output in the 20-25 homer range.
He has played some right field but it’s apparently an Eldridge horror show out there, so first base it will be. He still has work to do there, but there’s really nothing stopping him from becoming at least a 55 defender at the position, and he does give fielders a big target for their throws. The Giants pushed him very hard last year, so 2025 should be a consolidation year for him, where perhaps he starts in Double A and gets a long run there before moving up to the hitter-friendly PCL. He’s their next franchise player, but needs time to be ready to deal with major-league pitching, especially as he had more trouble with offspeed stuff as he moved up the ladder last year.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
The Mets wanted Sproat so badly, they drafted him twice. He decided not to sign in 2022, choosing instead to return to Florida to try to improve his draft stock, and he did, going a round higher in 2023 and probably making another $500,000 in the process. He reached Triple A in his first full pro season, dominating High-A and Double-A hitters with a five-pitch mix. He had a 2.05 ERA on the season and 110 Ks with 31 walks in 87 2/3 innings when he was promoted to Triple-A Syracuse. He struggled in seven starts there, allowing 36 hits, including seven homers, in just 28 innings, as his fringy command came back to bite him, with too many fastballs left about belt-high and more experienced hitters better able to pick up some of his offspeed stuff.
He works heavily off a four-seamer that’s been up to 99-100 and sits 96-97, while his best pitch is a slider that’s above-average to plus depending on the day; he’ll throw a decent change, a curve, and a two-seamer as well. It’ll always be control over command, as he’s so aggressive that it’s hard to foresee him ever toning it down enough to be precise with his locations. He’ll have to do a little bit of refinement to make the last leap to the majors, as hitters will hit your stuff, no matter how good it is, if you put it on a tee for them. He has some similarities to Edwin Jackson, a huge stuff guy who was more of a No. 4 starter for most of his career, although I think Sproat has better control than Jackson did at the same age.
2024 Ranking: Ineligible
De Vries signed last January for $4.2 million, the second-biggest bonus in the 2024 international free agent class, and the Padres were unusually aggressive with him — who am I kidding, they always do this — in sending him not to the DSL, not to the Arizona League, but to Low A, making him the only 17-year-old regular anywhere in full-season ball last year. He more than held his own, hitting .237/.361/.441 with a very respectable 23.3 percent strikeout rate that was slightly better than the Cal League average. He has a real knack for centering the ball and as he gets stronger his batting average is going to climb very quickly, since he already has the contact skills. He knows the strike zone extremely well for someone so young, and he rarely misses fastballs; he had more trouble with other pitch types, unsurprising given his complete lack of prior experience anywhere in pro ball, but didn’t panic with two strikes and only swung and missed slightly more often in those spots. His regular season ended in mid-August when he strained his right shoulder on a diving play, but in a sign that the injury wasn’t too serious, the Padres sent him to the Arizona Fall League, where he was, of course, the youngest player. He turned 18 in October, so he’s younger than some high school players who’ll be drafted on Day 1 this upcoming July. De Vries was already showing signs of adjustments when he got hurt, cutting his whiff and chase rates on various pitch types in the second half, and he has barely begun to grow into his 6-2 (actual height) frame. He’s got a chance to stick at shortstop, he’s a plus runner, and he might end up with 20+ homer power. Give him a full, healthy year along with the benefit of all the experience he got in 2024 and he might be a top 10 prospect by next January.
2024 Ranking: Ineligible
Wetherholt might have gone No. 1 in last year’s draft had he had a full, healthy spring for West Virginia, but a hamstring injury limited him to 36 games for the Mountaineers, just 27 of them in the field, so he ended up going No. 7 to the Cardinals — and that looks like a steal for St. Louis. Wetherholt had one of the best swings in the draft class and a long track record of hitting for average and high contact rates, hitting .449/.517/.787 as a sophomore and then .331/.472/.589 despite clearly playing hurt for some of his junior year.
He’s not very physical, but makes plenty of hard contact — his hard-hit rate in Low A after the draft was 55 percent, exactly the same as his hard-hit rate from the spring, and he topped out at 109 mph in Palm Beach — thanks to a short, efficient swing that gets the most from his lower half (when his lower half is intact). He moved to shortstop from second and third as a junior, but of course never played it at full strength after the first weekend, so while the safe bet is that he ends up at second base, he hasn’t had a chance to show much at shortstop yet. Regardless of his position, his swing mechanics and his approach at the plate point to high averages and a lot of doubles power, enough to make him a long-time regular who might challenge for some batting titles.
2024 Ranking: 28
“The Jaguar” made his big-league debut in September, just over three years after the Cubs acquired him from the Yankees for Anthony Rizzo in a trade that worked out well for both clubs. Alcántara started slowly in 2024 and hit the injured list in early June with an injury to his left shoulder, but after he returned, he took off at the plate, hitting .292/.388/.459 between Double A and Triple A in 63 games before the callup. He’s 6-6 and lanky, with a ton of room to keep filling out and adding power beyond what he already shows — nearly half of his balls in play in Triple A were hard-hit (95 mph or better exit velocities) — while he’s still developing the wrist and forearm strength to stay on plane through contact and get the ball in the air more, with a 51.7 percent groundball rate in the minors last year.
Alcántara has worked his way up to become a plus defender in center as he’s improved his focus and his reads on balls off the bat. He’s not ready for the majors yet, between the tendency to get on top of the ball and some real trouble with sliders once he reached Triple A (he whiffed at just over half of the ones he swung at there), but with his plus defense and speed and the 30-40 homer potential, he has the most upside of anyone in the Cubs system.
2024 Ranking: Ineligible
Condon was the No. 1 player on my predraft rankings last year and went to Colorado with the third pick, but his post-draft performance couldn’t have differed more from what he did in the spring for Georgia. Condon won the Golden Spikes Award with a .433/.556/1.009 line for the Dawgs, hitting 37 homers in 60 games, setting the school’s career home run record and the NCAA’s single-season record since they switched to BBCOR bats. In 109 PA for High-A Spokane, however, Condon hit .180/.248/.270, struck out 34 times (31.1 percent), and walked just four times. Pitchers saw a 6-6 hitter with long levers in the box and went after him hard in with fastballs and soft away with sliders and changeups.
Condon is an impressive athlete who made extremely hard contact as an amateur, ranking among the leaders in Division 1 with a 90th percentile exit velo of 111.8 mph, and he did adjust in the spring when pitchers went after him with breaking stuff, forcing them to come back to the fastballs on which he feasted. He’s played third base and all over the outfield, playing passably at the hot corner and in center, but the broad consensus is that he’s going to end up in right given his frame and likely eventual size. He did have a lingering hand injury when he first signed that may have affected him at the plate, but that can’t explain away all of the struggles. Perhaps he was pressing; perhaps he just hadn’t seen breaking stuff of that quality before; perhaps it’s just a tiny sample.
I don’t think his ceiling has changed at all — he’s a 30-homer bat with the kind of contact quality that leads to high BABIPs and averages, and he should be a plus defender in an outfield corner — but there’s more uncertainty here than there was on draft day.
2024 Ranking: Ineligible
Kurtz was the best hitter in a loaded Wake Forest lineup last spring, leading the team formerly known as the Oakland A’s to take him with the No. 4 pick, after which he continued to rake in his pro debut. He hit .368/.520/763 in 50 PA between High A and Double A, hurt his hamstring, then hit .353/.450/.608 in 60 more PA in the Arizona Fall League. He’s limited to first base — the horror — so he needs to hit, but so far he’s hit everywhere, and it’s especially promising that he’s been swinging the bat more since he signed, as he walked a ton in college (78 times last spring) and could look passive at the plate. He’s up from swinging 33 percent of the time in college to 38 percent in the minors, and that’ll probably increase a little more as pitchers realize just how good his ball/strike recognition is. When he does swing, he makes extremely hard contact; his 90th percentile exit velocity at Wake Forest was over 111 mph, and he continued to hit the ball hard in his brief time in the minors.
There’s a good chance for 30-homer power with 70-80 walks or more per season, and that’s going to make him a star and possibly the best player in the Sacra … er, the Athletics lineup.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Arizona took Crisantes in the seventh round in 2022 out of Nogales (Ariz.) High School, just a few minutes from the U.S.-Mexico border, but the infielder didn’t debut until 2023 or play a game in the field until 2024 after he underwent two Tommy John surgeries — the second to repair the first — as a high schooler. Through 121 games in the minors, however, he’s hit .342/.427/.486 with a really mature approach and enough hard contact to project him to a 60 or better hit tool in the majors. It’s a really simple, clean swing with a little loft in its finish, producing a 27.4 percent line-drive rate in 2024, and he’s strong enough already for well above-average contact quality for a teenager. (The MLB average line-drive rate in 2024 was 19.6 percent.)
His defense is a work in progress between his recovering arm and several years off the field; he probably fits best at second base, as he’s athletic enough for the position and it doesn’t require a ton from his arm, while he lacks the range for short or the twitchiness for third. There’s always a lot of risk in prospects whose value is primarily tied up in their hit tool — not to be too obvious, but if they don’t hit for high averages, they have nothing to fall back on — which is why Crisantes isn’t even higher on this list. Everything about Crisantes, from the swing to the batted-ball data to the performance, says he’s going to hit a ton.
2024 Ranking: 54
Teel was part of the four-player package that Boston sent to the White Sox for lefty Garrett Crochet, and right now he seems like the best bet to be Chicago’s primary catcher this year after he finished 2024 in Triple A. The Red Sox 2023 first-round pick out of Virginia, Teel started his first full pro season in Double A, hit .299/.390/.462, then moved up to Triple A with Kristian Campbell and hit .255/.374/.343 in 28 games at that last stop. He’s an excellent athlete who moves very well behind the plate and has a plus arm, with solid-average speed that’s more evident underway than out of the box. He’s got quick hands at the plate and a short path to the ball with a little loft in his finish, way more likely to hit for average than for power given his good-not-great contact quality and the way his swing works.
He has had some trouble with lefties in pro ball, striking out 31 percent of the time he’s faced them in only about 130 PA, and he’ll need more reps against southpaws to avoid becoming a platoon player. His glove is ready, and his bat is at least ready enough to make contact against righties. The White Sox have the luxury of time to let him continue to develop in the majors and hope he reaches his upside of a solid-average or better regular behind the plate.
2024 Ranking: Ineligible
Montgomery was No. 4 on my predraft board last year, but slipped to the No. 12 pick after he broke his ankle in Texas A&M’s Super Regional series in June. The Red Sox drafted him, although that will become a point of trivia since he never played a single game for Boston before they traded him this offseason to the White Sox in the Garrett Crochet deal, giving Chicago two of the top six players from my 2024 draft board along with their own first-round pick, lefty Hagen Smith.
Montgomery is a switch-hitter with power both ways, hitting much, much better from the left side, making consistently hard contact — his hard-hit rate last spring for Texas A&M was a nice 69 percent, putting him in the top 1 percent of all Division 1 hitters. He was a two-way player through his sophomore year at Stanford before he transferred to College Station, so of course he has a plus-plus arm and is at least a 55 defender in right. The two big questions around Montgomery are whether the ankle injury will affect him at all going forward and whether he should give up hitting right-handed, as he struck out 29 percent of the time that way last spring with just a .227/.395/.485 line (versus .355/.465/.819 left-handed). It’s 30-homer upside with strong defense and the hard contact to keep his batting average above the median as long as he comes back at 100 percent.
2024 Ranking: 73
Hence would be one of the absolute best pitching prospects in baseball if he showed he could stay on the mound for a full season of work, but the 2020 draftee has yet to reach 100 innings in any one season — just pitching extremely well when he is on the mound. He’s small, listed at 6-1, 195, but very, very athletic, and his arm is electric. He’ll touch 98 and sit 94-95 as a starter with a 70 changeup and a slider that’s at least average and plays up because it’s a different look and shape than the other two pitches. He’s never had a serious arm injury, missing most of 2021 with shoulder discomfort that never required surgery, losing about a month of 2024 with some kind of strain or pull in his side. He did go 90+ pitches in several starts for the first time last year, and posted his best strikeout rate (34.1 percent) and ERA (2.71) of any stint he’s had in full-season ball.
He might be a guy who pitches like a No. 1 or a No. 2 but only does so on the workload of a swingman or a back-end starter, although I never like to underestimate a player who’s this athletic.
2024 Ranking: Ineligible
Burns was the No. 2 pick in the 2024 draft and the first pitcher taken, coming off a dominant spring at Wake Forest that saw him strike out more than 40 percent of opposing batters. His fastball has been up to 100 and sits 96-98 with big induced vertical break, and his slider is a 70 with late, tight break along both axes. College hitters couldn’t touch the slider, whiffing two-thirds of the time they tried (so the lesson is never try). He has a 55 curveball and a straight changeup with some tumble to it that is his weakest pitch, probably his main area for work going forward now that he’s in pro ball.
He has some effort to his delivery, including a slight head-snap, but so far he hasn’t had any trouble throwing strikes or locating his main two pitches. If his command and control hold up, he’s a potential No. 2 starter, and could follow another former Wake Forest pitcher, Rhett Lowder, in reaching the majors inside of 15 months of his draft day.
2024 Ranking: 43
Crawford held serve last year, continuing to hit the ball hard and get on base at a high clip (.360 overall between High A and Double A), but also continuing to put the ball on the ground 60 percent of the time because his swing has him coming down at the top of the ball. He’s a 70 defender in centerfield and an 80 runner who swiped 42 bags in 51 attempts last year and probably could steal 60 without breaking a sweat. He overstrides at the plate, so he’s frequently off-balance, and doesn’t load his hands at all from a high setup, resulting in a bat path that often has him coming down towards the zone. Some of this is a matter of strength, as Crawford was all projection when the Phillies drafted him in the first round in 2022, and he still has a lot of physical growth ahead of him, but some is mechanical and it’s time for him to make some real adjustments to get in better position to drive the ball.
He’s going to have plus raw power, and that combined with elite defense and speed will make him an impact player for a long time if he can change his swing to get that raw power into games.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Arias destroyed the Florida Complex League last season as an 18-year-old, hitting .355/.471/.584 to win MVP honors and earn a bump up to Low A, where he more than held his own with a .257/.331/.378 line and just a 17.4 percent strikeout rate. He’s got tools and athleticism to spare, showing excellent bat speed and wrist strength already, along with a fantastic swing that has great rhythm to it and lets him get his lower half involved for more power. He’s a true shortstop with soft hands and solid instincts already, showing a plus arm and above-average speed on both sides of the ball. Arias just turned 19 in November and probably gets to High A at some point this year, given how good his contact skills are already. He has the upside of a plus defender at short with above-average OBPs and 20 homers a year, with the only major risk just his age and the distance he has to travel to get to the majors.
2024 Ranking: Ineligible
Smith was a draft-eligible sophomore last year who reworked his swing and his body to surge to a .387/.488/.654 line in his sophomore year at Florida State, raising his average by over 100 points, and landing with the Cubs at the No. 13 pick. He then had the best pro debut of any prospect in the draft, hitting .313/.396/.609 across three levels and finishing up in Double A. That ended his Cubs career, as they traded him to Houston in the Kyle Tucker deal this offseason, immediately making him the Astros’ No. 1 prospect.
Smith’s swing gets the bat to the zone quickly, and he makes a lot of very hard contact, topping out over 115 mph in the spring for Florida State, and the Cubs already managed to get him to lift the ball more often to turn that loud contact into more power. He’s only played third base since signing and that’s his best long-term outcome; that seemed like wishful thinking as recently as 2023, but his improved conditioning gives him a chance to stay there, with first base or right field also possibilities. He looks like he can flat-out hit, and might get to 25 homers too. If he does that as a third baseman, he might be able to fill Alex Bregman’s shoes in Houston and make a few All-Star teams.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
The Brewers went over slot in the sixth round in 2023 to sign Pratt, who was 40th on my draft board (so an early second round talent), and his first full season was a rousing success. Pratt played at least 55 defense at short, with some scouts saying it’s already plus, and he showed a way better approach at the plate than just about any high school hitter from Mississippi I can remember. He hit .295/.394/.395 in Low A last year, with a 12.2 percent walk rate and just an 18.3 percent strikeout rate in a league where the overall strikeout rate was 25.3 percent. He moved up to High-A Wisconsin for the playoff run and had a harder time … except that he launched five homers in 23 games there, more than he had hit in 73 games in Low A.
There’s power in there, maybe 15-20 homers a year, although even if he’s more in the 10-12 category, plus defense and really strong on-base skills will make him a solid or better regular at shortstop. If his power output does keep improving as he gets a little older and stronger, he’s got a chance to be a 4-5 win player.
2024 Ranking: 46
Young had another very solid year at the plate while being young for his level, hitting .271/.369/.390 as a 20-year-old in Double A, all comfortably above the averages for the Texas League (.240/.327/.374), even though he was the fourth-youngest regular at the level. He’s always been an advanced hitter for his age with exceptional feel for contact; data from Synergy Sports show him with a whiff rate of just 19 percent last year, and nothing over 22 percent on any of the big four pitch types.
His swing is handsy and doesn’t generate much power, although he does make hard enough contact to keep his average up, and gets the ball in the air enough to maybe see him as a 40-doubles, 10-homer guy in the majors. He can play shortstop but probably will end up superseded by a plus defender, while he’s played extremely well at second and might be a plus defender himself at that spot. He’s a no-doubt big leaguer, with the floor of a very good platoon infielder who can play multiple spots but maybe sits against good lefties, and a strong probability that he’s at least a solid-average regular at one of the two middle infield positions.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Ballesteros is one of the best pure hitters in the minors, and if you really believe he can catch, he’s a top 20ish prospect — but his body is less than ideal for the position and he’s probably going to end up somewhere else. Ballesteros played all of 2024 at age 20 and hit well at three stops, .299/.372/.495 in Double A, .281/.340/.454 in Triple A, and then .317/.376/.557 in 19 games in the Arizona Fall League. He doesn’t miss pitches in the zone, although to be fair, his strike zone isn’t very big, but does get overly aggressive with two strikes and expands the zone significantly. He may always just be a “swing first, ask questions later” hitter, since he can make contact with so many pitches, and he’s got grade-55 power already.
He’s heavy, even after losing some weight (and keeping it off) in the last year, and that’s going to make it hard for him to handle everyday catching duties, as he’s not very agile behind the plate, and his just-average arm doesn’t help matters. He could be an occasional backstop who mostly handles first base and/or DH, gaining a lot of value from the games he does catch and from what should be consistently high batting averages with 15-20 homers a year.
2024 Ranking: 99
Detroit picked up Liranzo along with Trey Sweeney in the trade that sent Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers, only to go on an improbable run to the playoffs after the deadline, which seems like a win-win to me. Liranzo started the year slowly for High-A Great Lakes, and was hitting .220/.344/.356 at the time of the deal, but then somewhat inexplicably took off with the change of scenery — he hit .315/.470/.562 in 26 games for the Tigers’ affiliate in West Michigan, then went to the AFL and hit .375/.492/.667 in 15 more games, walking more than he struck out at both spots.
He’s pretty mobile behind the plate and has a 70 arm, needing to work more on receiving to remain a full-time catcher. His bat is special — he’s got a quiet, easy swing that still produces plus raw power because he’s so strong to begin with, and his ball/strike recognition is excellent already. He had no trouble adjusting to offspeed stuff in the AFL, in contrast to much of the regular season where he ran into some difficulty with sliders and changeups. He was on the younger side for High A at age 20 and probably should spend all of this year in Double A to work on his catching and keep tightening up that pitch recognition. It’s 25-homer, .350+ OBP upside in a switch-hitter, and if he’s even a 45 catcher, he’ll be a 4-5 win player in his peak years.
2024 Ranking: 60
Lowder reached the majors just over a year after the Reds took him with the No. 7 pick out of Wake Forest, showing three pitches with a ton of movement albeit a little less velocity than he had shown in college. His best pitch as an amateur was his changeup, which is hard to pick up out of his hand and has both fading and tumbling action to it, but it was actually less effective at generating whiffs than his 92-95 mph four-seamer or his high-spin slider in his six big-league starts, even just against lefties.
All three of his pitches should be above-average, with the run helping the fastball play up and sharp downward break to the slider, so it was surprising that he gave up so much contact, with a 41 percent hard-hit rate, in his debut. Even with that high contact rate, Lowder was very lucky in the majors, with a 1.17 ERA but a 3.10 FIP, and even that latter figure doesn’t adjust for the improbability of allowing 0 homers in 30 innings. He’s major-league ready and probably a league-average starter given his current velocity and what looks like 55 control and maybe 45 command, with of course the chance to get beyond that if he starts working less in the heart of the zone with his fastballs. (You may not give a damn, but he’s the first player named Rhett in big-league history.)
2024 Ranking: Ineligible
The top lefty in the 2024 draft class, Smith got better every year at Arkansas, culminating in a year where he struck out 17 batters in his second outing against an Oregon State lineup that featured eventual No. 1 pick Travis Bazzana. Smith worked at 92-97 with a plus slider and gets some added deception from a funky delivery and a starting position on the extreme first-base side of the rubber, although that latter point makes it harder for him to locate his fastball or changeup to his glove side (which would be inside to righties). He takes a huge stride towards the plate and generates a ton of arm speed, coming from a slot below three-quarters which, given who drafted him, brings the name “Chris Sale” to mind.
He had Tommy John surgery in high school, missing his senior year, but has been healthy ever since and saw his velocity and results creep up each year. He’s a potential No. 2 starter, although I’d like to see him move a little more towards the middle of the rubber so he can work more effectively to both sides of the zone.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Boston shocked everyone in 2020 when they took Yorke, a high school second baseman who had to move off shortstop after shoulder surgery, in the first round, but his first full pro season in 2021 appeared to vindicate them when he hit .325/.412/.516 at both A-ball levels. His follow-up in 2022 was marred by multiple injuries, including a nagging left wrist issue that interrupted his stint in the Arizona Fall League, and his 2023 fell somewhere in between, so it seemed like he’d settled in as a future regular but one without much upside. He did nothing after returning to Double A to start 2024, but from the moment Boston promoted him to Triple A, he turned into Rogers Hornsby, hitting .333/.420/.498 even through a trade to the Pirates for Quinn Priester. Those numbers came with tons of hard contact: He peaked at 111 mph, half his balls in play were hard hit (95 mph+), and the average velocity of that upper half (his EV50) was 101.9 mph, all of which were comfortably above the MLB medians.
His swing is very simple and direct; it doesn’t have a ton of loft, so he’s probably not going to be a big power guy (barring a swing change), and instead should run high BABIPs and averages, maybe challenging for the league lead in doubles. He’s a solid-average defender at second and his throwing has improved enough that he’s not going to have any trouble staying there, although the left side of the infield is probably out of the question. My evaluations of Yorke have been all over the place since he was drafted, so take this with even more grains of salt than usual, but I’m buying Yorke now as a future 55, an above-average regular who’ll have some years when he’s an All-Star because he hits for such a high batting average.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Rocker’s road to the majors was … uh, rocky? Sorry, I’ll work on that. He was the No. 10 pick in 2021, but the Mets didn’t like something in his post-draft physical, so he went to indy ball and pitched well enough to go No. 3 to Texas in 2022, but blew out his elbow six starts into his pro debut the next year. He returned in 2024 and the Rangers kept moving him up as he kept posting, eventually getting him three starts in the majors in September where he looked as good as he had since his freshman year at Vanderbilt.
He had lowered his arm slot back in 2022, but it’s back to its original position, which allows him to get more depth on his slider. The slider is easily plus and might be a 70 once again, and keeps him on top of his 94-97 mph four-seamer. His path from here is largely about him — he has succeeded in the past by out-stuffing guys, and being very aggressive with those two main pitches (he has a curve and changeup, but uses them less), but in the big leagues he’s going to have to show better command to get ahead of hitters and to avoid a lot of four-inning, 85-pitch starts. This is a bet that he’ll make those adjustments and end up at least a mid-rotation starter, perhaps someone who pitches at a higher level than that but needs to skip some starts here and there to keep him healthy.
2024 Ranking: 33
Ryan’s 2024 season featured his big-league debut, so yay, but it was bookended by two injuries, the latter of which probably will keep him out until 2026 as he underwent Tommy John surgery in August. He started the year on the shelf with a sore shoulder, but did reach the majors for four starts where he showed electric stuff, sitting 96-98 with ride on the four-seamer and both the slider and cutter flashing 55 or better. The cutter was new for him in 2024 and gives him another weapon for lefties, as it looks just like his four-seamer but has a little last-second break downward to fool hitters, although in the majors he leaned on the changeup more than the cutter. He’s a converted infielder who’s very athletic on the mound and has already made incredible progress in command and control and has shown the ability to make adjustments from one year to the next. The injury and the lost time do hurt his overall outlook. He’s a No. 2 starter if he comes back at 100 percent and can hold up for a full season.
2024 Ranking: 67
Quero came to the White Sox in the 2023 deadline deal that sent Lucas Giolito (briefly) to the Angels. He reached Triple A last year in his first full year in Chicago, hitting well at two levels with very strong OBPs. He’s an advanced hitter for his age, which balances out some of the lack of projection in his body, as he’s not likely to get that much stronger and further improvements will have to come from tweaks to his mechanics or swing decisions. He’s a switch hitter who’s definitely better from the right side, with large platoon splits the last two years — in that span, he hit .342/.440/.510 against lefties, and .242/.351/.370 against righties. His biggest area of improvement last year was using his strong ball/strike recognition to swing more — he swung at 39 percent of pitches he saw in 2023, then upped that to 47 percent last year, and, lo and behold, he hit better across the board, including boosting his slugging percentage against right-handed pitchers by 111 points. He hit 16 homers last year, but doesn’t project to produce much if any more power than that; he’s more likely to be a high-doubles guy with strong on-base skills.
Quero remains a solid-average defender with an average arm, still working on some of the finer points of the position but also a no-doubt catcher whose bat looks like it’ll make him a regular there. He may be better off in some kind of soft platoon role, depending on how much of the improvement against righties was real, but there’s still everyday ceiling here.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Genao had a disappointing year in 2023 in Low A, hitting .263/.345/.385 in 72 games after missing the first two months with a torn meniscus, but he went back to Low A to start 2024 and hit all year long — .341/.383/.553 repeating Low A, then .322/.377/.463 after a June promotion to High A. He’s grown substantially since he was first measured at his “official” height and weight of 5-9, 150, gaining significant strength but also getting to the point where he might end up outgrowing shortstop. He’s a switch-hitter who’s better from the left side but capable enough from the right side to keep it up, actually hitting with more power right-handed in each of the last two years. He’s an average runner and not terribly twitchy, with second or third base more likely than shortstop, but his bat should still make him an above-average regular at either spot.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Mathews was a senior sign out of Stanford in 2023 who succeeded with a plus changeup and above-average command but worked at 90-92 when going once a week. He gained a ton of velocity last offseason, however, working 92-97 on the four-seamer, with a slider that’s more effective now in the mid-80s despite low spin rates and soft break. The result was that he raced from A-ball through four levels and led all minor-league pitchers with 202 strikeouts, only running into some trouble when he got to Triple A.
His arm speed on the changeup is just like it is on the fastball, but the pitch comes out 10 mph or more slower and has some tumble as well, flummoxing hitters who think it’s coming in at 94, and the funk in his delivery further adds to the deception of the pitch. That said, I don’t love the delivery; there’s a lot of effort behind the funkiness, and he takes a modest stride with some head-snap at release. He was badly overworked as a college senior, especially in the postseason, and then saw his velocity jump up very rapidly inside of a year, which seems in my experience to often precede elbow injuries (this is based on anecdotal evidence, to be clear). He’s clearly passed most of the Cardinals’ other pitching prospects and is probably the best guy called up for a rotation spot in the majors if there’s an injury — or if they move one of their veterans in a trade before Opening Day.
2024 Ranking: 44
I wish the Brewers would just give Black the first-base job and call it a day; he should outperform Rhys Hoskins’ 2024 line quite handily after hitting .258/.375/429 in Triple A last year. Black is extremely disciplined at the plate and already has a reputation for fighting for every strike; his chase rate is good at 20 percent (just in Triple A), not exceptional, but he connected with those in some way more half of the time, either fouling them off or putting them in play. He rarely whiffs and has shown he can hit lefties up through the top levels of the minors. He doesn’t throw well enough for the left side of the infield after shoulder surgery, although he runs well enough to maybe play center and certainly could play second if the Brewers didn’t already have Brice Turang there. He’s a very capable first baseman, if an untraditional one, with average power and his real strength in getting on base. Black would be more valuable at another spot, which is why he’s in this place in the rankings, but for his current team he’s also their best internal option at a less-valuable position he can play.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
White was the Marlins’ second pick in the 2023 draft, a huge high school lefty out of Massachusetts who had big stuff but questions around his long arm swing and present command. He turned a lot of that on its head in spring training last year, showing up in incredible shape and with a clear determination to get better any way he could, and ended up pitching better after a midyear promotion to High A. White topped out at 97.6 mph in the Florida State League last year and sat 94-96 with his high-spin four-seamer, getting good ride at the top of the zone, along with an easily plus changeup and a slider that looked about average but played exceptionally well even at a relatively low velocity for the pitch (mostly 78-82). His delivery is pretty easy, perhaps still lacking deception — a concern scouts raised when he was an amateur — but it didn’t affect him anywhere in A-ball and I wouldn’t change anything right now. If he gets more power to the slider, which at least has above-average spin rates to work with, he could easily have three plus pitches, with a 200-inning starter’s build and what now looks like at least average command. White did a great job preparing himself for the season last winter and the Marlins might have a future ace.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Hope was part of the four-player trade that sent Michael Busch and Yency Almonte to the Cubs, bringing Hope and Jackson Ferris to the Dodgers, a deal that got the Cubs their best season from a first baseman since 2019, but that has also given the Dodgers two of their top six prospects. Hope seemed like a longshot when the Cubs took him in the 11th round in 2023 out of a small high school in central Virginia; he was a tremendous athlete with plus speed but no history of hitting even decent pitching and poor instincts in the outfield. Fast forward a year and he’s become a much, much better hitter in every way, improving his pitch selection and recognition, getting stronger (to the point where he probably doesn’t have a lot of physical projection left), and becoming at least an average defender in an outfield corner.
He doesn’t chase pitches out of the zone and he really doesn’t miss anything inside, regardless of pitch types. He is more vulnerable to velocity up and/or away and pitchers are going to try to attack him there or down with offspeed stuff, but he’s made so many adjustments already it seems reasonable to bet he’ll adjust again as needed. He’s every bit of a 70 runner and shows plus power already, and you can project 30/30 on him pretty easily if he continues to hit and control the zone as he moves up the ladder. He did have some more trouble with better pitching in the AFL, and the move up to High A and a worse hitter’s environment this year will tell us more about just how advanced he is and how much time he might need to get to the majors. Hope’s upside is enormous, with a wide variance in potential outcomes.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Briceño signed with the Tigers in January 2022 for $800,000 as a catcher with some offensive potential, but at this point it looks like he’s just going to be a first baseman who mashes. He had played only 11 games above the complex leagues coming into 2024, then got hurt 28 games into the Florida State League season, missing three months with a strained PCL in his right knee. To make up for some of that lost time, he went to the Arizona Fall League, where he was one of the youngest players at 19 and one of a very small number of players there who hadn’t played above Low A yet. In 25 games, he hit absolutely everything. It’s a hitter’s environment out in the desert, sure, but his .433/.509/.867 line was good enough to lead the league in average and slugging.
He’s a big guy, listed at 6-4, 200, and probably stronger than that, but his swing is very easy and quiet, and he’s reached 109 mph in each of his two stints in Low A already, with an EV50 just over 100 mph. He also showed strong pitch recognition in the Florida State League and in Arizona, and rarely swung and missed; if there’s a knock on his offense, it’s that he’s a little too pull-heavy now, although he’s also hardly had the need to try to do anything else. He only played first base in Arizona with Thayron Liranzo there, and Briceño was already iffy as a catcher even before the knee injury. I think his future is at first, and it might behoove the Tigers to just put him there now and let him go rake rather than slow his development or risk further injury at a position he’s already unlikely to play. He might be a top 20 prospect in a year from his bat alone.
2024 Ranking: Ineligible
Caglianone was a two-way star at Florida, hitting 35 homers as a junior while also making 16 starts, although his future is much brighter as a hitter than on the mound. He has 80 raw power and did work to cut his strikeout rate from his sophomore year (18.1 percent) to his junior year (8.2 percent), missing less often on pitches in the zone. He still chases pitches out of the zone way too often, doing so nearly 40 percent of the time last spring, and needs to develop more of a two-strike approach and work on going the other way on pitches outside, as he’s very pull-heavy.
As a pitcher, has been up to 99 and shows at least an average changeup, but it’s a cross-body delivery with a lot of effort to it, resulting in well below average control (15.4 percent walk rate in two years for the Gators), and he’s already had one Tommy John surgery in high school. The Royals have said so far that they intend to let him hit and pitch, which probably means he’s going to stay at first base to protect his arm; I’d love to see him just focus on hitting, given the 40-homer upside and the need for some big adjustments, which might also let him handle right field.
2024 Ranking: 30
Williams had a breakout year in 2023, but he started to feel pain in his right wrist during an awful start in April last season and eventually had surgery that kept him out for exactly four months, limiting him to 30 total games including his rehab assignment. He didn’t hit well anywhere except for the one six-game series he spent in Triple A, still drawing plenty of walks but without any impact when he did make contact — which could easily be a result of the wrist injury. He went to the Fall League to pick up some more at-bats, and was a 45 defender at short there and running closer to average than plus, and might be better suited to second base regardless of the presence of Francisco Lindor at shortstop in Queens. It’s a compact swing combined with very good ball/strike awareness, and he could be a high-average/high-OBP second baseman with 55-60 defense, which would make him a solid or better regular. His 2024 season was just a lost year, and while he can’t get those at-bats back, it’s also possible that we’ll have to just disregard what he did do when he played because he wasn’t 100 percent.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Keaschall was the Twins’ second-round pick in 2023 out of Arizona State and finished his first full pro season in Double A, hitting well at two levels with very high contact rates and some surprising power. Keaschall has always shown good awareness of the strike zone and that carried over into pro ball, with a chase rate under 20 percent on the season, and excellent pitch recognition to go along with it. He’d had issues with fastballs up in college, but he’s looser at the plate now and gets to those pitches more often. He’s also staying back longer before transferring his weight to his front side, allowing him to get more power from his lower half and helping him swat 15 homers in 102 games last year.
He’s close to a 60 runner and should end up a 55 or better defender at second, just lacking the arm to move to short or third, and range-wise he looks more than capable of handling centerfield. He played with a torn UCL last year and ended up undergoing Tommy John surgery in August, so we’ll have to see what his arm strength looks like on his return. He’s a very likely regular as long as he can still handle the throws from second base, and his bat might even profile if he has to move to left in the worst case scenario.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Dana did not belong in the big leagues last season, and his 9.58 ERA in three starts shouldn’t be held against him. He had a wildly successful year as a 20-year-old in Double A with just 76 innings of previous pro experience. He posted a 2.52 ERA in the minors, striking out 27.2 percent of batters and walking just 7.2 percent, making 23 starts for Rocket City and then the three more for the Angels to make for about as full a season of work as you’ll find for a 20-year-old pitching prospect.
Dana mostly works with a 92-95 mph fastball and an above-average slider, with an occasional changeup that has good deception and a little tumble, and a curveball that’s not bad but that he barely uses. He’ll have to use the changeup more to continue to keep lefties in check, as he did in Double A, but otherwise he has a good pitch mix and his delivery should get him to at least above-average command. He’s got a solid floor as a No. 4 starter and is young enough to keep refining his pitches and his overall pitching plan and get to a No. 2.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Rosario posted a 7.11 ERA in his draft year for the University of Miami, and a 7.05 ERA as a sophomore, despite a good arm and a potential out pitch in his splitter that he barely used, as Miami had him working more sinker/changeup. The Rangers took him in the fifth round for the quality of his stuff — obviously not for the quality of his results — and told him to throw the splitter and go with a four-seamer up, and voila!, instant prospect!
He works from the extreme third-base side of the rubber, getting some more deception against righties, as he has the splitter for lefties and can still be effective against them even without throwing offspeed stuff on the inner third to them. He has elite control already, pounding the strike zone with his fastball and walking just 3.7 percent of batters he faced at both levels of A-ball last year, although that’s likely to go up as older hitters lay off the splitter when it’s out of the zone. He repeats his delivery to keep up the control, and while he’s not very tall he looks strong enough to handle a starter’s workload. Even as is, sitting 92-95 with the plus splitter and a maybe-average slider, he should be a mid-rotation starter and get to the majors this year.
2024 Ranking: Ineligible
Waldschmidt got first-round buzz for much of the spring of 2024 but ended up sliding to the No. 31 pick, possibly because teams had concerns about the ACL tear he suffered a year prior. Right now that looks like a boon for the Diamondbacks, who took him with their second selection of the draft. He had one of the best pure hit tools in the draft, rarely missing a fastball and generally not chasing much on any pitches. He hit .370/.500/.653 for Kentucky despite a wide setup and no stride, which limited how much he could generate power from his lower half and resulted in a swing that could get too steep as he tried to loft the ball. He does have room to add 20-25 pounds, and has already made some small mechanical adjustments to try to loosen up his hips and keep his swing in that optimal range for power. In instructional league, the DBacks tried him at third base, where he last played as a freshman at Charleston Southern before he transferred to Kentucky, but the results weren’t good and he should just go to an outfield corner and stay there. He has .300 average/25-homer upside if he can loosen up those hips.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Montes is a huge, lumbering prospect from Cuba who hits the ball exceptionally hard, so the natural comparison is to a young Yordan Alvarez, who was older than Montes when he first played in full-season ball but reached the majors days before his 22nd birthday. Montes is extremely strong and has produced exit velocities well north of 110 mph, with clear 40 homer upside as long as he hits enough to get to it. He’s not as natural of a hitter as Alvarez, although the Mariners worked with him on pitch selection and a two-strike approach last year and he did see better swing decisions overall. He raked in Low A as a 19-year-old, hitting .309/.411/.527 with just a 19.1 percent strikeout rate, then moved up to High A around the midpoint and hit .260/.378/.427 there with a 29.6 percent strikeout rate, still making hard contact but a lot more whiffs on stuff in the zone.
He’s going to end up at first base, as he’s already really big for an outfield corner and doesn’t have much range, but there’s a pretty good chance he hits for enough power and takes enough walks to be an above-average regular there. I don’t think Montes is really the next Yordan; he doesn’t have the same kind of hit tool, but he also doesn’t have Yordan’s knees, which both required surgery when he was 23 and made him even less mobile than he was before.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Ingle was a part-time catcher at Clemson when Cleveland took him in the fourth round in 2023 and announced him as a catcher, a project that of course would make his high-contact, low-power bat a lot more viable. A year and a half later, the project looks like a resounding success, as Ingle reached Double A last year, has walked more than he’s struck out as a pro, and has improved his defense to the point where he’s clearly going to stay at catcher.
Ingle knows the strike zone extremely well, and he whiffed just 14 percent of the time he swung last year, with a short, quick swing that has a little more lift in its finish than it did in college, bringing his groundball rate down from 55 percent as a college junior to 45 percent last year. His defense isn’t pretty but he can catch and block, and a quick transfer helps his fringy arm play up to the point where he’s adequate against the running game. He hit 11 homers last year between High A and Double A, all off right-handed pitchers, and he’ll have to show he can make better quality contact against lefties, whereas now he just walks against them. He’s small but well put together, and with his contact and on-base skills he could be a .375 OBP/.400 SLG guy, which is a heck of a regular behind the plate even if he’s just fringy defensively.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Freeland broke his hamate bone in his draft year in 2022, then struggled in his full-season debut in 2023, hitting .240/.345/.362 in High A while dealing with some minor injuries. His production took off last year after getting fully healthy and making some small adjustments to his swing. He ripped through High A and hit .245/.370/.422 in half a season in Double A before a promotion to Triple A to finish the season, where he hit .243/.335/.396 but had some excellent underlying data. Born with a clubfoot that required several surgeries, Freeland runs close to average and plays an average-ish shortstop now with a plus arm. He’s dabbled a little at second and third, playing about 50 innings at each spot last year, and the odds are he’ll end up at one of those spots in the long run.
He’s a switch-hitter who doesn’t post huge exit velocities but also doesn’t post a lot of low ones either, averaging over 91 mph in his brief Triple-A time despite never hitting anything above 107. He’s also a very disciplined hitter who doesn’t chase or whiff very often, and has shown above-average power already, with 53 extra-base hits last year, including 18 homers. There isn’t really any projection here beyond further developing the hit tool against better pitching. He doesn’t really need to do anything more to be a solid regular at second or third, or an above-average one if he does manage to stick at shortstop.
2024 Ranking: Just missed
Chourio spent all of 2024 in Low A as a 19-year-old and ended up ranking 10th in all of the minors with 86 walks, the most drawn by any teenager in minor league baseball last year. Jackson’s younger brother is also a centerfielder and an excellent athlete, a switch-hitter and centerfielder right now who could end up in a corner as he continues to fill out and who may end up just hitting left-handed. He’s a strong defender right now up the middle with above-average speed, so if he can maintain that even with the physical projection he has left, he could remain in center in the long term.
His plate discipline and hand-eye are outstanding, leading to chase and whiff rates well above (better than) average, although he needs to add some hand strength to get some more consistent loft in his finish. His groundball rate in 2024 was 49.3 percent, which was actually his lowest rate at any stop in pro ball. He’s been much better from the left side; batting right-handed last year, he hit just .245/.409/.283, with more walks (16) than total bases (15). It might be a bat speed question, as his right-handed bat path looks fine and he actually gets a little more loft than he does left-handed.
He doesn’t have Jackson’s ceiling, but there’s a scenario here where Jaison stays in center and figures out hitting against lefties enough to be a grade 60 player, with 20ish homers and very high OBPs, and the floor is really solid given his very real patience and likelihood of plus defense in a corner. His 2024 did end with a broken wrist, so it’s possible he won’t get all the strength back until some time this summer.
2024 Ranking: Ineligible
Rainer was the second high school player taken in the 2024 draft and the top high schooler on my draft board, ranking highly as a true shortstop with a plus arm and sneaky power that gives him the chance to be a two-way impact player. He’s a plus defender with great instincts, showing real leadership on his high school team on the field (such as directing other players on positioning) and a plus arm that’s been up to 95 on the mound. He’s power-over-hit right now, with a lot of leverage in his swing and good loft to drive the ball to all fields, but his bat speed is just fair and when he saw good velocity as an amateur he struggled. He’s still pretty raw, especially for a California high school kid, with a lot of room for physical and skills improvements, and the Tigers will probably be able to help him tighten up the swing to be shorter to the ball. It’s 20-homer upside in a plus defensive shortstop as long as he hits enough to get to it.
2024 Ranking: 59
Nimmala was one of the youngest draftees in 2023, turning 18 four months after he was picked, and as such should have started 2024 in the complex league rather than Low A, but after a torrid spring training the Jays sent him to the Florida State League … and he struggled, hitting .167/280/.306 with a 34 percent strikeout rate before the Jays sent him back to the complex to reset. After three weeks there, he went to the complex league for a few games, then returned to Low A and hit .265/.331/.564 the rest of the way. He ended up leading the Florida State League in slugging (.476) and finished fifth in the league with 15 homers, all as the league’s youngest qualifying hitter. He’s a true shortstop with good actions and a plus arm, and the power he showed on the field is legit, as he’s got very strong hands and wrists, with a swing that’s very rotational and puts the ball in the air a ton — his groundball rate in Low A last year was just 31.4 percent. He’s still only 19 and remains projectable enough to end up a 30-homer bat in a few years; right now it’s more consistently hard contact (his 90th percentile EV in Low A was 102.3 mph, and his EV50 was 99.0 mph on the dot) than huge top-end EV (peak was 107). He’s still a high-risk, high-reward player, as he continued to strike out 29.7 percent of the time in his second go-round in Low A, and generally needs to tighten up his pitch recognition and bring his chase rate (31 percent) down at least a little. I keep coming back to his results for his age, though — he was younger than Dante Nori, the Phillies’ first-round pick in 2024, for one example — and the potential for big power at a position up the middle. He’s still every bit the prospect that made him a first-rounder in the 2023 draft — and a top-10 talent on my own board.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Caba was the centerpiece of the trade that sent Jesús Luzardo to the Phillies, as the Marlins went for some ceiling by adding the young shortstop, who is one of the best defensive infielders in the minors. Caba might be an 80 defender already, with a plus arm, incredible instincts, and quick actions at the position. He played all of 2024 at age 18 and hit .254/.427/.335 in the Florida Complex League, walking 51 times and striking out just 34, before a late-season promotion to Low A, where he still made contact but only hit .179/.304/.190. His approach is real — rather than that of someone who is up there to walk — and now he needs to get stronger to be able to do more when he does put the ball in play. His swings are good from both sides of the plate; he can open his hips too early from either side, robbing him of some of the power he might get from his lower half. He only turned 19 in November, so he’s going to get stronger from here. He doesn’t need plus or even average power to be a quality regular given his defense and his on-base skills.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Cleveland drafted Velazquez in the first round in 2023 and immediately moved him out from behind the plate to allow him to develop his bat and perhaps reach the majors more quickly than he otherwise would have. His first full pro season was a promising sign in that direction. He got off to a great start as a 19-year-old in Low A, hitting .261/.371/.441 in the first half, before wearing down in the second half. He’s a big, strong kid, but a better hitter than you might expect at first glance, striking out just 20.1 percent of the time in Low A even as one of the youngest players in full-season ball, and he does make hard enough contact to project to 25 homers at his peak. He hits with a wide stance and no stride, just a toe-tap for timing, so he doesn’t get all the power he could out of his lower half and his swing can flatten out because he doesn’t fully rotate his hips.
The Guardians tried him in left field last year as well as at first base, and he was capable enough that they’ll probably keep that alive as a possibility for him going forward. His future is in his bat, with contact skills and zone awareness that set him up very well for future success, and cleanup-hitter upside if he loosens up a little to drive the ball more easily.
2024 Ranking: 49
Horton was getting close to a big-league callup last year when he suffered what was first called a lat strain in his start on May 29. It turned out to be a Grade 2 strain of the subscap muscle in his rotator cuff, and his season was over. He’s still rehabbing and should be good to go for spring training, although the Cubs may choose to keep him on a pitch or innings limit as he builds back up.
Horton has two plus pitches in his wipeout slider, which he added near the end of his last year at Oklahoma, and a changeup that’s improved substantially since the Cubs got their hands on him. His fastball is 92-96 but plays down from it because he doesn’t have a lot of deception. It has a little cut and pitch models like it, but hitters like it too, hitting it hard when it’s in the zone. He’s probably going to have to be a 40 percent fastball guy and work more to the edges of the zone with it, as it’s not a high-ride pitch for the top of the zone and definitely not one he can use in the heart to get whiffs, but he has the two real weapons to get guys out and has shown above-average control up through Double A. He’s a starter as long as he’s healthy, maybe a No. 3 who takes a little while to figure out his optimal pitching plan. We’ll know a lot more once he gets into a game in Arizona.
2024 Ranking: 75
Dollander’s 2024 season was sort of a consolidation year for him, as he got some of his slider back but doesn’t have it as a consistent plus pitch as it was back in 2022. As a sophomore at Tennessee, he had a wipeout slider, easily a grade 70, and may have been the best college pitcher in the country that spring, but that offseason he went to some sort of self-styled expert and switched to a sweeper that was ineffective — although it helped the Rockies get him at the ninth pick in the 2023 draft. His changeup has improved significantly in the last two years to be a solid-average pitch, with a little wiggle at the end to help but mostly deceiving hitters from how he throws it. The slider is the key; when it’s on, it’s 85-87 with hard tilt and a big move away from right-handers. It can end up more cutter-like at 89-90, still effective but with a different shape that makes it look more like the fastball, and could even be his best approach to lefties rather than the changeup. The Rockies have already helped him get part of the way back to his 2022 form, and if they can get that slider to be more consistent, it’ll be a real out-pitch, and the weapon he’ll need given his just average command and control. He has a fourth starter floor, but more upside as the slider develops or recovers.
2024 Ranking: Just missed
Mitchell’s first year in a full-season league was a mixed bag, a net positive at the end that didn’t answer some of the concerns that dated back to when the Royals first drafted him at No. 8 in 2023. He’s got power, nearly getting to 20 homers as a teenager in Low A, and the Royals have helped loosen him up a little by reducing the very wide stance he used in high school to a more typical one that has him back in the box to start, giving him lots of room to stride forward and get his hips rotating. He showed excellent ball-strike recognition last year as well, and while he had some difficulty with offspeed stuff, he’s laying off more of those pitches when they’re not strikes than he did before.
He seemed to wear down by the summer; he hit .257/.391/.468 in the first half, striking out too often (31.2 percent), then hit .195/.338/.372 from the All-Star break until a promotion to High A for the last two weeks of the season. Mitchell isn’t much of a runner, at least not by the stopwatch, but he’s improved his baserunning significantly and stole 25 bags in 32 attempts. He has a cannon of an arm, with average to above-average receiving and blocking skills now that could end up plus. Mitchell has already made some big adjustments since he signed, which is the best harbinger of a player’s ability to make further adjustments. I’m encouraged by the progress in his swing decisions; if he continues that trend, he’s going to end up an above-average regular, even if it takes him another three or so years to get to the majors.
2024 Ranking: 78
Arroyo missed all of the 2024 regular season after tearing the labrum in his left shoulder in March, undergoing surgery that kept him out until the Arizona Fall League, where he played 18 games but looked understandably rusty. He has the tools to be a plus defender at short, with excellent range and a strong arm, but remains very inconsistent in the field, lacking great timing, dropping his arm on a lot of throws, and otherwise making scouts question whether he’ll have the skills to stay there long term. He has bat speed and has shown he can handle good fastballs, still needing to get stronger and to improve his breaking-ball recognition. He’s also an above-average to plus runner who should add value on the bases.
He’s still just 21 and has time to add that strength and work on the pitch recognition, although he’s lost probably 400 or so at-bats that he can’t easily recover due to the injury. Arroyo has everyday ceiling as a shortstop if he can bear down and get more consistent on defense, or he could be a solid regular at second base if he fills out some more and starts hitting the ball harder.
2024 Ranking: Ineligible
I very rarely put international free agents on my top 100 before they’ve played a game in the U.S. complex leagues, but two things worked in Made’s favor this year: the minors are as thin as ever in elite prospects, and he’s really *&^ing good. Made signed for just $950,000 in January 2024 and had a reputation as a power-over-hit guy, but instead he showed up in the DSL and showed a way more mature approach at the plate than expected, walking more than he struck out — that’s not that hard to do in the DSL, just don’t ever swing — and making very good swing decisions. He’s barely begun to fill out but already makes hard, loud contact from both sides of the plate, getting compared to Jackson Chourio at the same age, but with better batted-ball data. He’s a shortstop now with a plus arm that will help him with a likely move to third base once he’s a little older, and the Brewers have already given him time at third and second, so they may be thinking along the same lines. He could easily be a top 20 prospect at this time next year if the approach and the loud contact carry over to the ACL or even Low A.
2024 Ranking: 61
Ford had a mixed year in 2024, moving up to Double A and continuing to get on base, albeit with slightly worse results across the board at the plate, while his defense behind the plate was worse and there’s more chance now that he ends up at DH than there was a year ago. He still has very strong plate discipline, chasing pitches out of the zone just 19 percent of the time, about one-third of those were pitches just one ball’s width outside of the zone. He has shown he can lay off many right-handers’ sliders down and away. He has more raw power than his .367 slugging percentage would imply, but last year he just didn’t square the ball up anywhere near as consistently has he had before, and his tendency to pop up pitches a little above the belt got worse. He’s a plus runner and great athlete who moves well behind the dish, but he’s a 45 receiver right now and his plus arm hasn’t translated into even average caught-stealing rates.
The Mariners did try him a few games in left field this year, but the early returns weren’t promising. He’s 21, knows the strike zone, has untapped power, and is very athletic, all reasons to still believe there’s upside here, but Ford’s 2024 season was kind of a disappointment, and if he doesn’t stay behind the plate I’m not sure the bat will profile as a regular at any other spot.
2024 Ranking: Ineligible
King spent two years at Division II Wingate University, then transferred to Wake Forest for his junior year and excelled for the Deacons despite the huge jump in competition, hitting .308/.377/.577 with just a 12 percent strikeout rate. He mostly played third base and centerfield for Wake, occasionally moving to shortstop when Marek Houston was hurt or needed a day off, but the Nats took King with the No. 10 pick and only played him at short in his pro debut. He’s a 55 defender there now and could still improve given his lack of experience and limited instruction there.
He’s got a quick bat and is very aggressive at the plate, especially early in counts, because he can put so many pitches in play, even ones out of the zone — for now, at least, as that doesn’t always work as you get further up the ladder. He’s got sneaky pop, maybe good for 15 homers a year, but his game is going to be much more about hitting for contact and average, since his current swing doesn’t get a ton of lift on the ball. His 55/60 speed makes him a solid defender in center if shortstop doesn’t work out, but he’s most valuable at short and I think he’s going to hit more than enough to be a very good regular there.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Arroyo needed to get to more power, and he did in 2024, repeating Low A and boosting his slugging percentage by 127 points, then heading up to High A and hitting .290/.397/.519 — all before his 20th birthday. He signed in January 2022 with the reputation of being an advanced hitter, and that’s been true, as he has a great approach that has him aggressive within the strike zone without expanding outside of it too often. He’s short with a stockier build, with really no chance to stay at shortstop, so there was more pressure on him to hit the ball harder, and he did so, with big improvements in his batted-ball data and his power output. He hit five homers total in 61 games in 2023, then hit 23 in 120 games last year. He barrels the ball very consistently and puts it in the air over 60 percent of the time. In the field, he has a plus arm and good enough hands to stay on the dirt somewhere, playing almost all of his reps at second base last year but with third base also a possibility as long as he doesn’t get much bigger from here. We’ve seen plenty of undersized infielders become All-Stars in recent years because they could square the ball up for frequent hard contact, including José Ramírez and Alex Bregman. That’s Arroyo’s absolute best-case scenario, of course, but as long as he stays on the dirt he should be at least an everyday player.
2024 Ranking: 64
Bradfield’s full-season debut went pretty much as expected, as he continued to play elite defense in center and show 80 speed, but he hasn’t made any changes at the plate to try to drive the ball more consistently. He’s one of the best defensive centerfielders in the minors, with huge range thanks to his speed and good reads off the bat, and that and his speed give him a pretty clear floor as a fourth outfielder. That’s buttressed by his high-contact approach; he whiffed only 15 percent of the time he swung last year, according to data from Synergy Sports, and chased pitches out of the zone only 17 percent of the time.
He’s still got an overly complicated swing that results in a lot of groundballs, although the Orioles are working with him to try to get him to hit more line drives to the outfield, even just over the infielders’ heads, and let his legs do their thing. He’s slight and not likely to ever hit for more than below-average power, but he’s strong enough to ambush the occasional pitch and pull it out to right. He started 2024 slowly but improved as the season went on, finishing with a month in Double A where he hit .287/.395/.396, which I think is probably his best-case scenario in the majors. Add defense that could be +15 runs in a full season in center and you’ve got a 5-WAR player. He just has to keep progressing at the plate, mechanically and in production, to get there.
2024 Ranking: 50
Collier’s 2024 season was a mixture of some very good stuff and some bad as well, as he mashed as a 19-year-old in High A but also showed up way bigger than he had the year before and he needs to get his conditioning under control. He was one of only nine teenagers to play all of 2024 at High A or above, only turning 20 in November, and hit .248/.355/.443 with 20 homers, tying for second in homers in the Midwest League behind a 23-year-old. He continued to improve his swing decisions, cutting way down on his chase rate from 2023 and picking up pitch types better, even as he was very young for his level.
The bad is that Collier has let his body get away from him, as he’s gotten so heavy that he might end up at first base, which is a waste of his athleticism and raises concerns about his makeup and work ethic. There’s just no reason for a 19-year-old with his frame to get this heavy — he’s listed at 210, but I’d guess he’s closer to 240 — this soon. His 30-homer upside would still make him a regular at first or DH, and he’s probably to end up with 60+ walks a year. He’s more valuable at third base, of course, with a strong enough arm for it, and he’s also going to put himself at risk of back and knee problems if he doesn’t manage his size.
2024 Ranking: Ineligible
Griffin was the best tools prospect in the 2024 draft class — meaning he had the best overall combination of physical tools, with potential 60 or 70 grades in power, speed, arm, and fielding in centerfield, but no one seems to know if he’s going to hit. The Pirates took a shot with the No. 9 pick in the draft and will have to be patient, as the history of high school hitters from Mississippi is pretty dismal because of the caliber of competition those hitters face as amateurs. He’s played short and center but looks much better in the outfield, with pro reports on his shortstop defense from instructs not especially glowing, and he’s got a 70 arm that produced low-90s velocity when he pitched. It’s also huge raw power with a swing that generates a ton of leverage, both good from his hip rotation and bad from his deep hand load that creates a longer path. He does have quick hands and should be able to adjust to a shorter swing without sacrificing much power if any, assuming the Pirates decide to go that route. There’s a ton of risk here — multiple scouts have seen him, raved about the tools, and told me “I just don’t know if he can hit” — but Griffin offers 30/30 upside with plus defense in center.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Sykora was the first pick on Day 2 of the 2023 draft, and signed with Washington for a first-round bonus. All he did in 2024 was pitch like a first-rounder, as he struck out 39.2 percent of Low-A hitters he faced and walked just 8.2 percent in 85 innings across 20 starts, posting a 2.33 ERA. He’s a giant already, and his delivery has arms and legs flying everywhere, so it must be terrifying for hitters to see all of that mass coming towards them, followed by a small projectile that might be moving at 99 mph. He sits more 93-96, with a slider that ranged from the upper 70s to the mid-80s with short but abrupt downward break, and a heavy split-change around 83-85, with both of the offspeed pitches missing a ton of bats this year.
The arm is still kind of late relative to his front leg, and all the moving parts in the delivery make me suspect it’ll always be more control than command for him. He also doesn’t seem to pitch down with his four-seamer at all, which might not be an issue but just strikes me as unusual. Sykora pitched like a future ace last year, and he has two pitches that could get him there. He may have simply out-stuffed Low-A hitters, however, and I would like to see him do it against more advanced hitters before buying in completely.
2024 Ranking: Ineligible
Caldwell would have been a top-10 pick in the 2024 draft if he were 6-1 rather than his actual height, which is definitely less than his listed 5-9 and might be as little as 5-6. No one doubts that he can play, though — it’s potentially three plus tools in his hit, run, and field grades, with an average-ish arm and below-average power. He’s got a compact swing and excellent plate discipline, approaching at-bats like a leadoff hitter whose job is to get on base any way he can. There’s definite bat speed here, enough to turn on good velocity, but there isn’t average power now and he doesn’t have the projection to get there. His best route to becoming a regular — or even an above-average one — is to be a high-OBP, high-contact hitter who steals bases and plays plus defense in center, even with six-to-eight homers a year. He’s not the next Corbin Carroll, another undersized outfielder who the Dbacks selected and developed into a superstar, but he could move quickly through A-ball if his plate discipline is really as good as advertised.
2024 Ranking: 90
I still believe Misiorowski is 100 percent a reliever, but I also think he’s going to be one of the best relievers in baseball once he gets accustomed to the role. His stuff is so good that he punched out 30 percent of batters he faced in Double A and then again in a brief stint in Triple A, even though he’s got maybe 40 command if you’re kind. He averaged 98 on his four-seamer in Nashville, topping out at 100.7 mph, and his slider sits 90-93, with both pitches easily grading out at 70 and possibly 80. His low- to mid-80s curveball gives him a different look, with some sharp downward break, although his command of that pitch is the worst of the three. He routinely gets more than 7 1/4 feet of extension, so hitters really have no chance, and given how wild he is anyway, who can blame them for standing there and not swinging? He walked 14.3 percent of batters he faced last year, with maybe the best two-pitch combo in the minors, where he could send hitters a telegram to tell them what’s coming and they still couldn’t hit it. It’s a very high-effort delivery and he hasn’t toned it down at all since he signed, which further points to a relief role. If he moves to the bullpen, I think he’ll strike out 40 percent of batters or more and continue to limit hard contact, and become one of the best relievers in the majors. I just do not see any way that delivery and command could work in a rotation.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
No player on this list surprised me more by making the cut than del Castillo, who didn’t make my Arizona top 20 last year, when I said he “could surface as a capable backup, with some on-base skills and enough defense to catch once or twice a week.” Oops. He hadn’t hit much at all in a stint in Triple-A Reno, one of the minors’ best hitters’ parks, in 2023, but returned there in 2024 and hit .311/.392/.597 with a career-high 26 homers, hitting well on the road as well.
He was originally drafted in 2021 as a below-average defensive catcher who could hit but didn’t show much power. He’s worked to improve his receiving and blocking to the point that he’s an average defender with a 45 arm who can really hit and probably has 20-homer power. He barreled up 10 percent of balls he hit while in Triple A, and his EV50 there was 101 mph, with a swing geared to produce hard line drives. He’s best suited to a hybrid role where he catches some of the time and plays first or DHs the rest of the time to get him into the lineup as much as possible. I don’t think he’s a star, but I do think he’s an everyday player right now.
2024 Ranking: 56
Taylor had a weird first full year in pro ball in two ways — he ended up hitting for more power with less contact than I think anyone reasonably expected, and the way he got to all those strikeouts (24.8 percent in High A, 36.8 percent in Double A) was kind of unusual as well. Taylor hits the ball hard and ended up with a great line in High A beyond the strikeouts, hitting .269/.389/.513 with 44 extra-base hits in 84 games, before struggling in 30 games in Double A, where he hit .194/.290/.435 — still showing power, but of course with way too many Ks. He did raise his bat path a little, making it steeper to manufacture some more lift, which might explain the increase in strikeouts — he actually doesn’t chase much at all, and he doesn’t miss a ton in-zone, but when he does expand, it’s kind of disastrous for him.
2024 Ranking: 81
Regular readers of mine know I don’t like DeLauter’s swing — at all, really. It’s the worst-looking swing on this list. I’m not even sure who’s second. But DeLauter has also had success everywhere he’s played so far in the minors, and the biggest knock on him right now isn’t the fact that looking directly at his swing will turn you to stone, but that he hasn’t been able to stay on the field for a full season. Since the Guardians took him with the No. 16 pick in 2022, at which point he was already out with a broken bone in his left foot, DeLauter has played in just 96 regular-season games, plus two stints in the AFL. The original fracture cost him the remainder of 2022. He required surgery in that winter after he re-fractured it, then suffered another fracture in that foot in April 2024, then developed turf toe in his first game back from that injury. He strained his hamstring in late August and missed another month.
On the plus side, he’s hit very well when he’s been able to play. He destroyed A-ball pitching, hit .271/.353/.436 in 36 games in Double A across two years, and went 7-for-23 with two homers in Triple A this year, followed by his second straight year of excellent production in the AFL.
As for the swing, he opens his hips very early and then almost drags the bat through the zone, with a swing that looks like he’s trying to scoop the ball and pull it out to right. As a result, he doesn’t hit anything on the outer third for any power at all, and in a small sample so far lefties have really crushed him, especially with breaking stuff. He’s going to have to make some adjustments to get him on time to the zone more consistently, and I think major-league pitchers are going to attack that front hip with velocity up and in, which he can only hit on the ground, and then go soft away to exploit the swing. Nobody has really done that effectively so far in his career, however, so maybe he’s just good enough to work around them and use his high contact skills to force pitchers to pitch to his strengths — Dustin Pedroia did something similar, and he had a very unorthodox swing as well. DeLauter’s also a 55 runner and might be a plus defender in a corner, although I think his propensity to get hurt probably makes centerfield a non-starter.
2024 Ranking: 94
Mauricio missed all of 2024 after tearing his ACL while playing winter ball, then had a minor setback in his rehab that might delay his return further, although right now he’s expected to be ready for the start of the regular season. Prior to the injury, he was the Mets’ top prospect, with lightning in his wrists that produces grade-70 power, peaking at 117 mph in his brief major-league debut. He’s just way too aggressive at the plate, chasing offspeed stuff out of the zone at a rate that’s not going to be sustainable for a major-league regular — which is why the loss of a year-plus of plate appearances was so damaging for him, as he needs to work on ball/strike and pitch recognition, and the best way to do that is by playing. I’ve said before he reminds me a ton of Alfonso Soriano, who had similarly electric wrists, never figured out shortstop, and wasn’t anything close to “patient” at the plate, but improved his approach enough to hit 412 homers and play 16 years in the majors. That’s a best-case scenario for Mauricio, and probably more unlikely after the injury. We’ll have to see where he is on his return, what he’s swinging (or not swinging) at, and how he moves in the field.
2024 Ranking: 24
This is the, uh, get off the pot year for Johnson, as it is for several of his classmates from the 2022 draft (Druw Jones, Cam Collier). He’s entering his age-21 season and still hasn’t shown the plus hit tool everyone seemed to think he had as an amateur. Johnson failed to post a .250 batting average for the second year in a row and hit for even less power in 2024 than he had in 2023, again drawing a ton of walks while hitting too many groundballs and pop-ups. Johnson has excellent bat speed and clearly knows the strike zone, and he showed real progress during the season as the Pirates worked with him on his swing decisions to get him to do more damage on pitches on the inner half. He also moved further back in the box, and as a result of those adjustments, he cut down on his whiff and chase rates after the All-Star break and pulled the ball more often. Unfortunately, none of it translated into more hits or more power. A .237/.367/.386 season line isn’t going to make him more than an extra guy in the majors. He has too good of a swing and too much plate discipline to not hit at least in the high .200s.
2024 Ranking: 92
Meyer was the No. 10 pick in the 2023 draft, far and away the best high school pitching prospect in that draft class, but he showed up for his first spring training behind his peers, with his fastball velocity down several ticks after his personal offseason program. While his velocity did eventually improve, it was a harbinger of a first year that was a mixed bag, to put it mildly. He’d touched triple digits in high school with high spin rates on his fastball and two breaking balls, but in his first outing in the regular season last year he was just 90-93, building up to 93-97 in his final outing in Low A on May 25. He’s got a very long arm swing and his arm can be a little late, despite which he still shows a plus slider that generated a 41 percent whiff rate in Low A. His changeup continued to improve and it’s plus when he lands it, with too many finishing out of the strike zone right now, while his curveball backed up and wasn’t the same plus weapon it was for him in high school. His control overall was nowhere near where it should be, as he walked 16.3 percent of batters he faced in Low A and 17.9 percent in High A, approaching a level where it’s fair to question if he’ll ever have the control to be a major-league starter. Meyer showed No. 1 starter stuff in high school and he flashed some of it last year, but this wasn’t the same guy the Marlins drafted. I’m not giving up on him as a future above-average starter, to be clear, as the stuff is too good, but am acknowledging that his odds of ending up a reliever went up even as he got through his age-19 season without injury.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Hamm was Detroit’s fifth-round pick in 2023 after his first full year as a starter for Middle Tennessee State. He had an unusually high arm slot — nearly over the top — for a starting pitcher but a real weapon in his curveball. He went to High A last year and cut his walk rate from 10.4 percent in 2023 before the draft to 7.8 percent in the minors this past season, striking out 30.6 percent of batters with a full assortment of pitches. His curveball is still plus, his slider is at least solid-average, and his straight changeup is surprisingly effective — it’s hard to throw a changeup from that high of a slot, but he does it, and hitters don’t especially care for it. He’s working much more to his glove side now than he did in college, using the fastball and slider that way, since the slider is his only pitch with much horizontal movement, and he had no platoon split at all in High A last year. The knock on Hamm is that he didn’t hold his velocity all season, and he got hit a little more as the fastball velo declined over the course of the summer. It was his first full pro season, and he only spent one spring as a full-time starter in college, so this was the most he’d ever pitched without some kind of break or layoff, which is the only reason I’m willing to cut him some slack on the velo dip. If that happens again, he’s probably a reliever, and has the weapons to be a good one. His spot on the top 100 is a bet that he’ll stay a starter with more experience and perhaps a little work with the Tigers’ strength and conditioning team, ending up a solid No. 3 or more. If that doesn’t work, he could be a bulk reliever given how many effective offspeed pitches he has, just working less than a starter to try to keep his velocity up.
2024 Ranking: 41
Jones’ second full year in the minors went a lot better than his first. For one thing, he stayed healthy all year, playing 109 games after playing just 41 (including rehab games) the year before. For another, he started to produce for the first time in pro ball, hitting .275/.409/.405, tying for 12th in all of the minors with 85 walks — same as his draft classmate Termarr Johnson. It’s not all good news, as he still hit the ball on the ground way too often (57.2 percent of the time) for a guy with plus raw power, and his defense in center was more often grade 60 than 70 — or grade 80, like his father’s.
He’s shown more in-game power the other way than to his pull side, and doesn’t really try to turn on stuff on the inner third yet. His ball/strike recognition turned out to be much more advanced than expected, and the fact that he came back as well as he did from a 2023 season that was ruined by multiple injuries and some visible uncertainty at the plate is a positive sign. He could still end up just an extra outfielder but I think it’s too soon to assume that, given the power and plus defense he showed as an amateur.
2024 Ranking: Ineligible
The Jays’ 2024 first-round pick at the No. 20 pick was ranked 13th on my own board, and the No. 3 starter in the class (again, my rankings), coming off a dominant year for East Carolina where he struck out 145 in 93 innings (40.3 percent) and posted a 2.03 ERA — and didn’t turn 21 until two weeks after the draft. He has one of the shortest arm actions I’ve ever seen on a prospect of his caliber, but the stuff that comes out is undeniable, as he has a 91-96 mph four-seamer and a plus splitter with huge bottom and even some lateral movement, along with a decent slider in the mid-80s he uses mostly versus right-handers. His short arm stroke and the shape of his stuff make him much more of a north-south pitcher and I think he’ll have to find something to work a little more east-west, just to keep hitters honest on both sides of the zone. The delivery does worry me, because it’s unusual, and short arm actions like this generally end up in the bullpen. He’s been healthy the last two years as a starter for ECU, however, and I wouldn’t change anything given how good the stuff is. I’d move him as quickly as possible, as you’re not waiting for any projection on the current pitches, and see a potential No. 3 starter in the near future.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Cespedes’ stateside debut was limited to 25 games and 105 PA before he broke a hamate bone, but he flashed some of why he earned a $1.4 million bonus in January 2023. He’s small but strong, with a powerful swing for someone his size that backs up the numbers he’s produced so far, with 11 homers in 71 career games between the DSL and Florida Complex League. He hit .319/.400/.615 in that brief stint in Florida last year, striking out just 19 times in the 105 PA, showing strong command of the strike zone already. He’s not going to stick at shortstop, however, and might end up at third base rather than second given his frame and how his body looks now at age 19. He’ll move to Low A this year and may take some time to get all his hand strength back; beyond that, he looks like a hitter who could move quickly through the low minors because he’s stronger and more polished than the typical teenaged hitter, with the upside of an above-average regular at third with fringy defense but a strong all-around offensive game.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Lombard was the Yankees’ first-round pick in 2023 out of a South Florida high school, and he spent all of 2024 in full-season ball when he would previously have spent it at the now-defunct short-season level — yet another example of a player hurt by the contraction of the minors. His overall line of .231/.338/.334 is unimpressive, but under the hood there’s quite a bit to like. Lombard injured his hamstring in April, spending two weeks on the injured list but apparently battling it on and off throughout the year even after he returned. He did make some hard contact that didn’t show up in his stat line, topping out at 110 mph, and there is still a ton of projection on his 6-2 (or taller) frame to come into more bat speed and eventually in-game power. He just wasn’t ready for full-season ball; he could pick up offspeed stuff pretty well but had a hard time catching up to plus fastballs and ended up behind in the count too often. When healthy, he’s a plus runner, which might slide down towards 55 speed as he gets bigger. He’s also likely to move off shortstop but end up a plus defender at third or second, probably third given his above-average arm and eventual size. There’s a lot of maybes here, and the surface numbers aren’t impressive; just bear in mind that, like a lot of teenagers, he didn’t belong in whatever the heck Low A is at this point, and that he got on base as well as he did, flashing some very hard contact for a teenager, is actually very promising.
2024 Ranking: Unranked
Mack was the No. 31 pick in the 2021 draft, then missed most of 2022 with injuries and had a disappointing 2023 in High A, hitting .218/.295/.287, although he did stay healthy enough to get 503 plate appearances. He returned to High-A Beloit to start 2024 and took off, hitting so well in 13 games that the Marlins very wisely bumped him up to Double A, where he hit .241/.322/.456 with 22 homers in 112 games and a 25.7 percent strikeout rate as a 21-year-old. Only four minor-league catchers hit more homers than Mack did last year; two are on this list, one can’t really catch, and the last is 33 years old. It’s all-fields power — nine of his 24 total homers on the season were to left or centerfield. He’s improved behind the plate to become an above-average receiver and maybe even a plus framer, while he’s always had a plus arm and threw out 34 percent of runners last year. He still has to work on some pitch recognition, as he was way better against fastballs and his inexperience against pitchers who could really spot a slider or drop a changeup away showed. The bar to be an everyday catcher in the majors is so low, however, that even if Mack ends up a .290 OBP guy with 20 homers and 55 defense, he’d be a very good regular, and that’s well within his reach.
2024 Ranking: 93
Stewart moved up to High A last year and hit .279/.391/454 in 80 games for Dayton as a 20-year-old before suffering an “off-field” injury, tearing a tendon in his wrist. It required surgery and ended his season. He continues to show a very advanced approach, recognizing all pitch types and commanding the strike zone, and has tweaked his swing since he first signed to hit far more line drives and fewer groundballs. He had a 27.8 percent line-drive rate in 2024, which would have ranked third in the Midwest League if he’d qualified, and he makes hard contact, just without enough loft or huge exit velocities to put the ball in the seats. It’s a short path to the ball with some lift to it, but with more doubles power that puts a lot of line drives into the gaps. I don’t think he’s got the projection left to end up a 20-homer guy, but he has a reputation as both a hard worker and a guy who likes to work out, so I wouldn’t say it’s impossible. He’s a fringy defender at third and played some second as well in 2024, probably a 45 defender at either spot, with first base the default option if he can’t stay elsewhere on the dirt. The worst-case scenario is he’s a 10-homer first baseman with above-average OBPs, a regular on some teams but not all; the best-case one is where he sticks at third, gets stronger for 20+ homers, and has OBPs close to .400 … which would probably make him an MVP candidate, now that I spell it out.
(Top photo illustration by Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Photos from left to right — Jackson Jobe, Samuel Basallo, Roman Anthony, Sebastian Walcott: Tim Warner, Christopher Pasatieri / Getty Images; Brace Hemmelgarn / Minnesota Twins / Getty Images; Chris Bernacchi / Diamond Images via Getty Images)
Password managers are a great way to store your login details, but if a hacker gets a hand on your master password, they’ll gain access to every account you’ve stored on them. Fortunately, Bitwarden is adding a feature that will make it much harder for hackers to access your vault, even if they know your password.
Bitwarden Users Will Get Two-Factor Authentication Emails by Default
As announced on the Bitwarden website, the password manager app has a new two-factor authentication (2FA) protection layer. Bitwarden users can always add their own 2FA methods via the settings for free, but this update specifically targets people who have yet to enable 2FA:
Soon, after you enter your Bitwarden account email address and master password, if the device where you’re logging in is not recognized by the Bitwarden server and you do not have two-step login enabled nor are using enterprise SSO, Bitwarden will email a verification code to the email account on file. You will need to go to your email account to access the code and provide it to the Bitwarden application to continue.
This may sound handy initially, but it poses a problem for people who store their email passwords in Bitwarden. It creates a nasty catch-22 where they need to access their email to get their Bitwarden login code, but they need to access Bitwarden to get their email password.
To prevent this from happening, Bitwarden advises that you make a memorable password for your email account, then add a 2FA layer onto it so people can’t access your inbox. You can also follow Bitwarden’s guide on adding an authenticator to your account, which will disable the email 2FA method. And if this is the first time you’ve heard of the app, check out why you should use Bitwarden to save your passwords.
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-23/Colorful-lanterns-add-to-the-festive-vibe-in-Jinan-1AoHEW9XIHK/img/789d4523e5ef4422b9cc4d919935695d/789d4523e5ef4422b9cc4d919935695d.jpeg'Colorful lanterns are seen on display at a commercial block in Jinan City, Shandong Province on January 22, 2025. /IC
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-23/Colorful-lanterns-add-to-the-festive-vibe-in-Jinan-1AoHEW9XIHK/img/789d4523e5ef4422b9cc4d919935695d/789d4523e5ef4422b9cc4d919935695d.jpeg'Colorful lanterns are seen on display at a commercial block in Jinan City, Shandong Province on January 22, 2025. /IC
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-23/Colorful-lanterns-add-to-the-festive-vibe-in-Jinan-1AoHEW9XIHK/img/789d4523e5ef4422b9cc4d919935695d/789d4523e5ef4422b9cc4d919935695d.jpeg'Colorful lanterns are seen on display at a commercial block in Jinan City, Shandong Province on January 22, 2025. /IC
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-23/Colorful-lanterns-add-to-the-festive-vibe-in-Jinan-1AoHEW9XIHK/img/789d4523e5ef4422b9cc4d919935695d/789d4523e5ef4422b9cc4d919935695d.jpeg'Colorful lanterns are seen on display at a commercial block in Jinan City, Shandong Province on January 22, 2025. /IC
Various activities were held across China to celebrate “Xiaonian,” which falls on the 23rd or 24th day of the last month on traditional Chinese calendar, marking the beginning of the Spring Festival. In Jinan, Shandong Province, different kinds of colorful lanterns were displayed to adorn the city’s parks and commercial blocks, adding to the festive vibe.
WASHINGTON — Questions about former Vice President Kamala Harris’ plans have swirled since she lost her presidential bid in 2024 — notably about whether the former California senator and attorney general would run for governor next year. Now, part of the picture has been filled in with the announcement of her husband’s new job.
Former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff is joining the white-shoe law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, and plans to split his time between Los Angeles and New York, the firm announced Monday.
“I am delighted to be joining Willkie, where I am looking forward to working alongside trusted and innovative legal counselors,” Emhoff said in the firm’s statement. “I couldn’t be more thrilled to join this talented and collaborative team.”
The former Los Angeles entertainment, media and intellectual property attorney, 60, will be a partner at the firm and advise corporations, entities and people in the midst of crisis or dealing with shifting legal ground.
“Doug’s leadership and his service as a trusted counselor to many global business leaders across a broad range of industries, as well as his extensive legal expertise and business acumen, make him a tremendous asset,” firm Chairman Thomas Cerabino said in the statement. “We’re thrilled to be adding Doug to the Willkie partnership during this period of transformational firm growth.”
Founded in 1888, the firm has 1,200 employees in 15 offices in six countries. The focus of the roughly 100 attorneys in its Los Angeles office includes the entertainment and media industries as well as estate planning for wealthy Hollywood figures, athletes and corporate leaders.
The announcement that Emhoff will spend part of his time in New York is notable because of rumors that Harris and her husband had been looking into moving there.
Harris, also 60, met Emhoff on a blind date. The couple married in 2014.
She unsuccessfully ran for president in 2019, became Joe Biden’s running mate and was elected vice president in 2020 and then unexpectedly became the 2024 Democratic nominee after Biden decided not to seek reelection amidst mounting Democratic concerns about his stamina and condition emerged last summer.
Since Harris lost to President Trump in November, there have been persistent questions about her next move – would she seek to lead the nation’s largest state in 2026 or perhaps mount another run for president in 2028.
Emhoff’s move ultimately doesn’t answer the question. While the gubernatorial field is crowded, she faces less pressure to jump in anytime soon given how well she is known among the state’s Democratic voters and her fundraising prowess. And Emhoff could step back from his legal work if she decides to run, as he did once Harris became Biden’s running mate.
Harris, for her part, had some parting advice for supporters as she conceded the election in November: “Do not despair.”
The final category of information DeepSeek reserves the right to collect is data from other sources. If you create a DeepSeek account using Google or Apple sign-on, for instance, it will receive some information from those companies. Advertisers also share information with DeepSeek, its policies say, and this can include “mobile identifiers for advertising, hashed email addresses and phone numbers, and cookie identifiers, which we use to help match you and your actions outside of the service.”
How DeepSeek Uses Information
Huge volumes of data may flow to China from DeepSeek’s international user base, but the company still has power over how it uses the information. DeepSeek’s privacy policy says the company will use data in many typical ways, including keeping its service running, enforcing its terms and conditions, and making improvements.
Crucially, though, the company’s privacy policy suggests that it may harness user prompts in developing new models. The company will “review, improve, and develop the service, including by monitoring interactions and usage across your devices, analyzing how people are using it, and by training and improving our technology,” its policies say.
DeepSeek’s privacy policy also says the company will also use information to “comply with [its] legal obligations”—a blanket clause many companies include in their policies. DeepSeek’s privacy policy says data can be accessed by its “corporate group,” and it will share information with law enforcement agencies, public authorities, and more when it is required to do so.
While all companies have legal obligations, those based in China do have notable responsibilities. Over the past decade, Chinese officials have passed a series of cybersecurityand privacy laws meant to allow state officials to demand data from tech companies. One 2017 law, for instance, says that organizations and citizens should “cooperate with national intelligence efforts.”
These laws, alongside growing trade tensions between the US and China and other geopolitical factors, fueled security fears about TikTok. The app could harvest huge amounts of data and send it back to China, those in favor of the TikTok ban argued, and the app could also be used to push Chinese propaganda. (TikTok has denied sending US user data to China’s government.) Meanwhile, several DeepSeek users have already pointed out that the platform does not provide answers for questions about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, and it answers some questions in ways that sound like propaganda.
Willemsen says that, compared to users on a social media platform like TikTok, people messaging with a generative AI system are more actively engaged and the content can feel more personal. In short, any influence could be larger. “Risks of subliminal content alteration, conversation direction steering, in active engagement ought by that logic to lead to more concern, not less,” he says, “especially given how the inner workings of the model are widely unknown, its thresholds, borders, controls, censorship rules, and intent/personae largely left unscrutinized, and it being already so popular in its infancy stage.”
Olejnik, of King’s College London, says that while the TikTok ban was a specific situation, US law makers or those in other countries could act again on a similar premise. “We can’t rule out that 2025 will bring an expansion: direct action against AI firms,” Olejnik says. “Of course, data collection may again be named as the reason.”
Updated 5:27 pm EST January 27, 2025: Added additional details about the DeepSeek website’s activity.
Brazil has joined Spain and Germany in obstructing the operations of Sam Altman’s controversial World project. The National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) has suspended the services of the World project within the country. A notice about the development was issued over the weekend to Altman’s tech firm Tools for Humanity (TFH), that parents World. Brazil had initiated a probe on Altman’s crypt company in November 2024 to analyse how it processed iris-scans of people signing up.
The World project, back in 2023, when it was called Worldcoin, had said it was initiating a programme called Worldcoin Grants to give recurring stipends available to verified World ID holders in eligible countries. To claim these rewards, users would have to download the World app.
Brazilian authorities took notice of these financial offerings along with the project’s iris-scanning process for biometric verification to launch an investigation into its operations.
Explaining its decision to suspend the project, the ANPD said, “In a preventive analysis, the General Coordination of Inspection understood that the granting of monetary compensation by the company, through the offering of cryptocurrencies, may harm the obtaining of consent from the holder of personal data.”
The World project was supposedly founded to serve as a way to eliminate the need for individuals to share personal details with Web protocols to interact online by offering World IDs. The project claims that these ‘World IDs’ are a proof of personhood that distinguishes genuine human beings from bots on the Web.
During its investigation, Brazil’s General Coordination of Inspection observed that monetary benefits of signing up for the project could be playing an influential role for getting people to get their eyes scanned as a biometric requirement for the project. In addition, it also found that this biometric data collected by the World project is potentially impossible to be erased and that people who sign up do not necessarily have the option to revoke their consent. These factors also added to Brazil’s decision to suspend the project’s services in the country.
“Monetary consideration offered by the company may interfere with the free expression of will of individual, by influencing the decision regarding the provision of their biometric data, especially in cases where potential vulnerability and insufficiency make the weight of the payment offered even greater,” the ANPD explained.
Neither Altman nor TFH have responded to the development yet.
In December, regulators in Spain and Germany directed the project to delete iris scans of users collected in both countries. Whether or not Altman’s firm adhered to the direction remains unclear. Prior to this, Hong Kong, too, blocked the project in May, citing privacy concerns.
The project, initially named Worldcoin, was rebranded to World in October 2024.
HubSpot’s SEO collapse has been the talk of the SEO world for the last several days.
As a reminder, here’s a screenshot of HubSpot’s organic traffic drop, based on Semrush data:
Among the endless reactions and perspectives, two former HubSpot employees shared five good reminders about SEO strategy.
1. SEO takes time
Pruning content and focusing on E-E-A-T were among the many obvious remedies SEOs pointed out following the news of HubSpot’s apparent organic traffic decline.
Well, these aren’t simple tweaks for a brand the size of HubSpot. They’re massive undertakings, according to this LinkedIn post by Bianca Anderson, HubSpot’s former SEO strategist (who is now manager, organic growth for hims and hers):
“When HubSpot began optimizing for EEAT, it required overhauling processes in a way that significantly slowed the output of net-new content AND optimizations. Additionally, pruning a blog at HubSpot’s scale, with thousands of articles, is no small task and takes extensive effort to execute effectively (and SMARTLY).
“…fixing this kind of thing isn’t an overnight process. It’s not as simple as mass redirects. This type of work can take YEARS to properly execute.”
Dig deeper. How long SEO takes to work
2. Google’s algorithm is extremely volatile
This may feel like an obvious observation for many of you reading, but Anderson made an important point about how volatile Google’s algorithm has been lately:
“Algorithm updates over the past two years have been unprecedented in their volatility (I know we all know this, but just want to emphasize) — it’s been an onslaught. Major brands like HubSpot and WordStream, are feeling these changes deeply.”
Dig deeper. Google algorithm updates.
3. There is no shared definition of ‘content quality’
Google is not the sole arbiter of quality, according to this LinkedIn post by Braden Becker, former principal growth marketing manager at HubSpot (who is now the global SEO lead for Faire):
“I believe their quality standards are vastly more sophisticated than they were when I was working on the HubSpot Blog, and the company is surely paying a little for that. But just because Google makes a grand decision on a big website doesn’t mean the victim objectively deserved it.”
Becker highlighted another key point about quality:
“There’s a difference between ‘quality’ and ‘the most helpful answer’ to a given search term. I think Google consistently focuses on the latter, despite not always being clear about that.”
Dig deeper. Mastering content quality: The ultimate guide
4. SEO strategies must always evolve
SEO strategy is fluid, Becker said:
“You try to do what’s right for the business at the time. What worked, we kept doing. And what didn’t work, we stopped doing.”
Anderson added:
“From what I’ve seen, TOFU (top-of-funnel) non-ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) targeting content seems to be the most impacted. Is this partly the result of a wide-scale strategic de-prioritization? Maybe. I don’t know.
“What I do know is this: HubSpot has been actively working on this long before these traffic declines became more publicly known.”
Dig deeper. Evolving SEO for 2025: What needs to change
5. Traffic is not a leading metric of success
Traffic and revenue are not the same thing, as Anderson pointed out:
“Traffic is cool, but it should rarely be a leading metric of success (especially now). Conversions or other core KPIs that drive business matter far more.”
Dig deeper. SEO KPIs to track and measure SEO success
Bottom line. Peter Rota, senior technical SEO manager, HUB International, made several great points in this LinkedIn post. Of note:
We can only see a portion of what happened – we don’t have Google Analytics or Google Search Console data.
We don’t know how many of these keywords brought meaningful visitors.
We don’t know whether any of this lost traffic impacted their sales/revenue. We might get more insight Feb. 12 – that’s the date when HubSpot is expected to release its Q4 results.
Rota added:
“In SEO, you can literally do everything right, and one day, Google could be like know what, we’re changing things. No site is truly ‘white hat,’ and everyone thinks they’re doing amazing SEO until you get hit.
“We all have access to the same public data, but the reality is that the SEOs who are working/ worked at HubSpot only know the true story of what happened.
“So, stop giving advice, stop thinking you know better. They literally wrote the book on inbound marketing and have taught many of us SEO or we’ve learned something from them.”
Few things in life are more terrifying than hearing Moon Knight announce his ultimate attack in Marvel Rivals. Widely considered to have one of the best ultimate abilities in the game, Hand of Khonshu opens up a portal above opposing players and bombards them with area-of-effect attacks. This attack might have gotten even more powerful recently, as according to some testing done by the Marvel Rivals community, it’s reportedly dealing double the damage it’s supposed to.
Reddit user Sidewaysgts (via Kotaku) posted a video on the game’s subreddit, showing off some of the absurd power of this ultimate in its current state. According to Netease, each talon summoned by the ultimate is supposed to do 75 points of damage, but Sidewaysgts showed off instances where training bots in the practice level were being hit with 150 points of damage instead. This seems to happen less often to bots who are further outside the field of influence, but if you’re wondering why your Hulk or Thor is being absolutely shredded by Moon Knight lately, this might be the reason why.
It’s not clear yet if this is a bug or intentional, but it does make Moon Knight one of the biggest threats in the Marvel Rivals metagame right now. Even without reportedly increased lethality, Hand of Khonshu is still the bane of many players as it’ll continue to inflict damage even if Moon Knight is stunned or eliminated.
Unlike other abilities, there’s barely any wind-up time for the fast-charging ultimate once it has been activated and it has a massive circle of influence that reigns down talons for a long period of time. If you hear Moon Knight yelling about the moon haunting you, prepare to respawn because it’s already too late for you. The only feasible counter right now is more Moon Knight, as Loki players can use the Asgardian’s ultimate to transform into the Fist of Khonshu and use the powerful ability themselves.
In other Marvel Rivals, the game recently introduced two members of the Fantastic Four to the roster–Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman–as part of its Dracula-themed season. Spider-Man players can grab a new set of threads soon that’s based on Insomniac’s Spidey costume, and a new Spring event has added superhero soccer to the game.
A therapeutic vaccine targeting human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) induced regression in high-grade precancerous cervical lesions, according to the results from a phase II clinical trial published in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
“Nearly all premalignant cervical lesions and cervical cancers are caused by HPV infection, with HPV16 implicated in the majority of cases,” said Refika Yigit, MD, principal investigator and oncological gynecologist at University Medical Centre Groningen in the Netherlands.
In those with grade 3 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN3), cells are already on the path toward malignancy. If left untreated, approximately one-third of these cases progress to cervical cancer within 10 years and roughly half within 30 years, Yigit explained.
“The main purpose of our trial was to investigate whether our therapeutic vaccine — Vvax001 — could offer a potential alternative treatment to the standard-of-care loop excision, which is frequently associated with complications,” Yigit added.
The Vvax001 vaccine is a modified version of the Semliki Forest virus that cannot replicate and produces the oncogenic E6 and E7 proteins that are expressed exclusively by HPV16-infected cells.
In the phase II trial, 18 patients with HPV16-positive CIN3 received three doses of Vvax001 three weeks apart, and then were routinely monitored via colposcopy before a final colposcopy-guided biopsy at 19 weeks post-immunization.
Nine of the 18 patients experienced regression — six to low-grade dysplasia and three with complete regressions and no signs of dysplasia. Lesion size was significantly reduced in all but one of the patients, and these reductions were evident within a month of finishing vaccination. The nine patients whose disease did not regress received loop excision surgery, though no residual disease was found in four of these patients, suggesting the additional time to surgery might have allowed for full lesion eradication, according to the authors.
“To the best of our knowledge, this response rate makes Vvax001 one of the most effective therapeutic vaccines for HPV16-associated CIN3 lesions reported to date,” said Yigit. “If confirmed in a larger trial, our results could mean that at least half of the patients with CIN3 might be able to omit surgery and avoid all its possible side effects and complications.”
In the standard-of-care setting, HPV clearance is linked to lower risk of recurrence, and Yigit said her team expects the same here. Ten of the 16 patients evaluated cleared HPV16, including all nine of those whose disease regressed. Two patients whose disease did not regress also cleared HPV16; however, their lesions harbored other HPV strains.
After a median follow-up of 20 months, none of the patients had recurrences.
Limitations of the study include limited follow-up time, small sample size, and lack of a control group for spontaneous regression due to ethical concerns.
This study was supported by the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF) and ViciniVax.
Sonam looked just too glam in a black sheer dress, teamed with a faux fur jacket and pearl and diamond accessories.
Sonam Kapoor is at the Paris Fashion Week and the diva is already setting fresh fashion goals for us. Sonam’s sartorial sense of fashion is made for the fashion inspo book, for she knows how to always pick the right attire for the right occasion. For Paris fashion Week 2025, Sonam attended the Dior show and gave us glam fashion inspo in a stunning ensemble. Also read | Shanaya Kapoor’s stunning Paris Fashion Week diaries serve masterclass in Gen Z style. See pics
VOGUE India shared Sonam Kapoor’s pictures from Paris Fashion Week 2025 on their Instagram.(Instagram/@vogueindia)
VOGUE India shared a set of pictures of the actor on their official Instagram account, and netizens are smitten already. “Sonam Kapoor Ahuja has arrived at Paris Fashion Week for the Dior show,” read an excerpt of VOGUE India’s Instagram post. For the Dior show, Sonam picked a stunning black sheer dress with a black tube and a sheer black translucent gown. The attire hugged her shape and gave us major fashion goals. Sonam teamed it with a faux fur coat designed by Dior that’s just too glam.
“The actor and newly-minted ambassador of the maison, opted for a monochromatic look featuring a fluid sheer dress from their Spring/ Summer 2025 collection. She paired it with a faux fur coat from the house’s Resort 2025 collection. Pink-toned makeup and pulled-back hair completed her ensemble,” VOGUE India’s post read. Also read | Paris Fashion Week 2025: Rick Owens’ alien-inspired collection merges gothic drama with sustainable fashion
Here’s how Sonam accessorised her look:
Sonam accessorised her look in glossy black leather gloves and matching black leather boots with stilettoes. She carried a black leather bag in one shoulder as she posed for the pictures. For jewellery, Sonam opted for statement earrings with white pearls, and ear cuffs with pearl and diamond embedded details. Also read | Paris Fashion Week: Hermes menswear speeds ahead with bold colours, sleek tailoring for Fall collection
Sonam wore her tresses in a pulled back bun with diamond accessories completing her look. The actor opted for an equally glamorous makeup to match the attire. In pink eyeshadow, black winged eyeliner, black kohl, blush cheeks, and a shade of nude pink lipstick, Sonam completed her look.
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News / Lifestyle / Fashion / Sonam Kapoor stuns in sheer black dress at Paris Fashion Week, styles it with Dior coat that’s equally glamorous
Cell & gene therapy stands at the forefront of modern medicine, promising transformative treatments for previously intractable diseases. But, as the field continues to advance, a growing body of evidence suggests that we may need to fundamentally rethink one of the most basic aspects of cell culture: O2 concentration.
While the field has made remarkable strides in optimizing numerous culture parameters, the continued use of non-physiological O2 levels could be stifling our efforts to conduct more insightful research and develop better, more effective therapies.
Culturing therapeutic cells in more physiologically relevant O2 concentrations can give better early insights into their potential therapeutic efficacy, too. For example, research has shown that, in hypoxic conditions replicating those observed in the solid tumor microenvironment, CAR T-cells display impaired expansion, differentiation, and cytokine production, which could negatively impact their ability to eradicate solid tumors. Such studies could offer valuable insights into where and how such therapies can be optimized to produce the next generation of more effective cancer-targeting medicines.
Taking control of O2 — ushering in the future of cell therapy research
With the importance of O2 concentration becoming increasingly clear in a range of applications — including cell therapy research — researchers are understandably looking to incorporate O2 control into their cell culturing experiments. Now, thanks to advances in CO2 incubator design and function, this is possible.
As well as offering careful control of CO2 levels through advanced dual wavelength infrared CO2 sensors, these modern incubator systems can, when desired, also precisely regulate O2 concentration through the introduction of nitrogen and with the help of advanced zirconia sensors — all without the need for additional costly and space-consuming lab equipment.
With the ability to precisely control O2 concentration, researchers can better replicate physiological conditions in their cell culture, which could help drive more insightful, reproducible research, and potentially drive better and safer cell therapies for improved healthcare outcomes.
Despite popular belief, rising interest rates aren’t the primary cause of increasing rents. The RBA’s research indicates that rent prices are determined by supply and demand, not by landlords’ mortgage costs.
The main driver of the rental crisis is rapid population growth, particularly due to record-high immigration levels. This has created strong demand for rental properties, outstripping supply.
New housing supply has been slow to keep pace with demand, affected by regulatory hurdles, supply chain disruptions, and rising construction costs. This shortage is causing rents to rise.
Blaming interest rates for the rental crisis oversimplifies the problem. The real solution lies in addressing the housing supply-demand imbalance through structural changes like speeding up housing approvals and incentivising affordable housing.
To solve the rental crisis, policies should target increasing housing supply, balancing population growth with housing availability, and promoting regional development to ease pressure on major cities.
Even though some landlords face higher mortgage costs, their ability to increase rents is constrained by market competition. Rents are more influenced by demand than by landlords’ financial needs.
The current rental crisis in Australia has sparked significant debate, with many quick to blame rising interest rates as a key culprit.
Sure, higher rates certainly influence the property landscape, but according to the RBA, they aren’t the primary driver of the rental crisis.
Instead, there are deeper structural issues at play, particularly related to population growth and supply constraints.
The popular argument: interest rates drive rent increases
The logic behind this argument is straightforward.
As interest rates rise, mortgage repayments for landlords become more expensive.
To offset this increased cost, landlords supposedly raise rents, passing on the financial burden to tenants.
With record-high interest rates, it’s tempting for some negative nellies to see this as the key driver behind rising rents.
However, when the RBA analysed the relationship between rising interest costs and rent increases, their findings were eye-opening.
Here’s what the RBA found: interest rates don’t directly impact rents
According to the RBA’s research, the idea that landlords automatically pass on their higher mortgage costs to renters doesn’t hold water.
The RBA points out that landlords cannot simply raise rents because their costs have gone up.
Rent prices are predominantly determined by supply and demand conditions in the rental market, not by the financial needs of landlords.
In fact, in a competitive market, where tenants have multiple housing options, landlords can’t arbitrarily increase rents just because their mortgage repayments have risen.
If they try to raise rents beyond what the market can bear, tenants will simply look for cheaper alternatives.
This shows that landlords are price takers rather than price setters when it comes to rents.
In other words, while landlords might wish to pass on their costs, the broader rental market simply doesn’t function that way.
The reality is that rents are influenced more by the dynamics of supply and demand than by a landlord’s rising interest bill.
What’s really driving the rental crisis?
The RBA’s findings shift the focus to the real driver of the rental crisis: population growth.
In their analysis, the RBA emphasises that “excessive population growth” is the primary cause behind Australia’s tight rental market.
Australia’s population has been growing rapidly, primarily driven by record levels of immigration.
According to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia’s net overseas migration reached record levels in 2023, with over 400,000 new arrivals.
This surge in population has created unprecedented demand for housing, especially in urban areas.
However, while demand for housing has soared, the supply side has struggled to keep pace.
New housing construction has been sluggish, compounded by supply chain disruptions, labour shortages, and rising construction costs.
The combination of strong demand and limited supply has led to a significant shortage of rental properties, pushing rents higher.
Supply shortages: a critical factor
The lack of sufficient housing supply has been a long-standing issue in Australia, exacerbated by zoning restrictions, lengthy approval processes, and other regulatory hurdles.
This supply-demand imbalance is at the heart of the rental crisis.
High levels of migration have intensified the demand for rental properties, but with insufficient new housing being built, the competition for available properties has driven rents up.
In general, landlords have been able to raise rents simply because demand vastly outstrips supply, not because they are passing on increased interest costs.
In fact, the level of rental increase has not usually covered the extra cost of being a rental accommodation provider.
The broader economic context
It’s also important to recognise that while interest rates are high, they are high for everyone, not just property investors.
Interest rate hikes are part of the RBA’s broader strategy to curb inflation by slowing economic activity.
Higher borrowing costs are intended to cool down demand, but this tactic has had limited success in the housing market due to Australia’s housing supply constraints.
Moreover, many landlords may have locked in fixed-rate mortgages when rates were lower, meaning they aren’t immediately affected by the rise in interest rates.
For those on variable rates, while their mortgage costs may have increased, their ability to raise rents remains constrained by the supply and demand conditions in their local market.
The danger of simplistic narratives
Blaming interest rates for the rental crisis risks oversimplifying the problem and overlooking the structural issues that have led to Australia’s current housing shortage.
If policymakers focus too narrowly on interest rates as the cause, they will miss the opportunity to address the root causes of the problem: the need for increased housing supply and better planning to accommodate Australia’s growing population.
Addressing the real issues
To tackle the rental crisis, the focus should be on increasing the supply of housing, particularly affordable rental housing.
This requires:
Fast-Tracking Housing Approvals: Reducing the bureaucratic red tape and streamlining the approval process for new housing developments can help bring more homes to market faster.
Incentivizing Affordable Housing: Governments can offer incentives to developers and investors to build more affordable rental properties, including tax breaks or subsidies for affordable housing projects.
Balancing Population Growth and Housing Supply: While migration is critical in providing the extra tax-paying workers we need and bringing other significant economic benefits, it must be balanced with an adequate housing supply. Governments need to ensure that infrastructure and housing are planned in conjunction with population growth.
Encouraging Regional Development: Incentivizing migration to regional areas can help alleviate pressure on housing in major cities while also promoting economic growth in regional communities.
The bottom line…Population growth, not interest rates, is the primary cause
While it’s easy to point the finger at rising interest rates as the cause of Australia’s rental crisis, the RBA’s research highlights that interest rates have little direct impact on rents.
Instead, the rental crisis is driven by excessive population growth outstripping the available housing supply.
If we are serious about solving the rental crisis, we need to focus on policies that increase the supply of affordable housing and ensure that population growth is managed in a way that doesn’t put undue pressure on the housing market.
Only then can we hope to create a more balanced and sustainable rental market in Australia.
About Michael Yardney Michael is the founder of Metropole Property Strategists who help their clients grow, protect and pass on their wealth through independent, unbiased property advice and advocacy. He’s once again been voted Australia’s leading property investment adviser and one of Australia’s 50 most influential Thought Leaders. His opinions are regularly featured in the media.
The end of a marriage is usually a painful experience, and the divorce process can often be wrought with emotional turmoil and stress. Facing a future without the person you vowed to share your life with feels like a deep personal loss and can bring up feelings of sadness, anger, guilt, and grief, which at times may feel overwhelming. Coping with the emotional aftermath of a divorce can be even harder due to the practicalities involved such as financial considerations, living arrangements and decisions around child custody.
While divorce can undoubtedly be a significant and life-changing event in a couple’s life, it is important to bear in mind that the difficulties faced can also present opportunities for growth, self-discovery and the potential for a happier future. In this article, we will explore some of the lesser-known benefits that can emerge from going through a divorce, helping you navigate the process with greater resilience, strength and optimism.
Healthier Family Dynamics
The journey to divorce is rarely one that just impacts the two people involved. It can also have an impact on those closest to them such as their children or other family members who are exposed to negative patterns and behaviors such as frequent arguing, criticizing and emotional coldness.
This can cause considerable stress and tension, creating an unhealthy home environment which can be particularly stressful for children. Witnessing their parents displaying unloving relationship dynamics can be immensely upsetting and frustrating, and they may express these feelings in unhealthy or even dangerous ways.
Divorce releases both parents from their relationship, allowing them to continue their life in a healthier and happier way. With separate living arrangements, each parent can focus on providing their children with the love and attention they need in an environment where they can feel seen and supported.
Following a divorce, children can also benefit from seeing their parents in a more positive light as they are no longer dealing with the strain of a difficult relationship. This allows all members of the family to become a better version of themselves, enabling healing and growth and an overall healthier family dynamic.
Greater Confidence
A marriage coming to an end can bring with it a feeling of failure and loss which can take a toll on each person’s confidence and self-esteem. These feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt which can erode a person’s sense of self-worth, impacting other areas of their life.
Divorce can offer both parties a chance to rediscover themselves, giving them the opportunity to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses and any interests, hobbies and passions they once enjoyed. Perhaps these activities were sidelined as other matters took priority during their marriage such as raising children or social engagements.
By taking these up again or trying new pursuits, individuals can begin to reignite their sense of passion, enthusiasm and zest for life giving them a newfound sense of confidence and inner strength.
Related Reading: Divorce By Mutual Consent
Improved Health
Relationship challenges can cause significant stress and emotional upset for each party involved. This can stem for a variety of reasons such as poor communication, a breakdown in trust, or incompatibility between the couple. This challenge can have an adverse effect on mental health and emotional well-being resulting in health conditions such as depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue and PTSD.
The stress caused by negative relationships has also been found to have an effect on the cardiovascular system, by increasing blood pressure which can have other serious health ramifications over time, including an increased risk of heart disease and stroke. For some couples, the stress of a strained marriage can cause pre-existing health conditions to resurface or worsen or lead to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as overeating, smoking, or excessive drinking. If you are going through a divorce and reeling under the stress of figuring out the best way forward, seeking guidance from experienced divorce lawyers such as STG Divorce Law in Chicago can provide you with valuable support, helping you navigate the legal process and protect your best interests.
Once the divorce is finalized, these stresses begin to abate, allowing people to re-focus on self-care and prioritize their health and well-being. Whether it’s joining a gym, taking up dance classes or making healthier food choices, divorce offers parties a unique opportunity to reevaluate their lifestyles and make decisions that support their overall well-being, allowing them to reclaim control over their physical and emotional health.
Greater Freedom
One of the most noticeable changes that arise out of a divorce is the newfound sense of freedom both parties have. Without the need to consider a partner’s preferences or schedules, individuals have the luxury of dedicating more of their time and energy to their own interests, dreams and desires. Whether it’s taking up new hobbies, reconnecting with old friends, or traveling to far-flung destinations, divorce can offer parties a whole world of possibilities that may have seemed out of reach to them during their marriage.
While many people use this period of self-discovery to explore their passions, learn new skills, build meaningful connections or embark on projects they’ve always dreamed of pursuing, for others, divorce can offer the simple pleasure of rediscovering the joy of spending time alone and embracing their independence.
The freedom of time and greater emotional, mental and physical space can give individuals a renewed sense of purpose and focus which can lead them to make more authentic decisions that serve every aspect of their being and add to their overall sense of happiness and fulfillment.
Related Reading: Surviving Divorce at 50: How To Rebuild Your Life
Final Thoughts
While divorce can be a painful and challenging period in any couple’s life, it can also be the catalyst for positive transformation and growth for the parties involved. From healthier family dynamics to improved health and well-being, divorce offers the potential for individuals to grow and become healthier, happier and more fulfilled individuals. With this in mind, divorce can be viewed as a pathway to self-improvement, healing, and a brighter future.
Uncontested Divorce: Step-By-Step Procedure and Benefits
Divorce Counseling: Benefits Of Pre- And Post-Divorce Therapy
Considering Divorce And Feeling Lost? Here’s Help!
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MEDLEY, Fla. — On the eve of WNBA free agency beginning last Tuesday, several league decision-makers gathered under the same roof.
Inside Unrivaled’s Wayfair Arena, Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon sat next to a basket stanchion with team president Nikki Fargas to her left, watching the end of the 3×3 league’s opening weekend. Dallas Wings front office members observed the action across the court from them. Seattle Storm brass sat off the floor in one corner of the show court, and the Los Angeles Sparks representation was a few rows up. The Atlanta Dream contingent watched closer to center court.
WNBA teams attended to support their players as well as the launch of a new league that could shift historic offseason routines and keep more star players in the U.S. during the offseason. But there was other work in Florida: Free agency negotiations officially began Tuesday.
With some convenient scheduling, Unrivaled became the epicenter of all the chatter, gossip and deal-making.
“This is the best place to be able to recruit free agents,” said Phoenix Mercury guard Natasha Cloud, who is playing on Unrivaled’s Phantom Basketball Club.
The beginning stages of Unrivaled overlapping with WNBA free agency wasn’t one of the league’s original goals, co-founder Napheesa Collier said. But it’s undoubtedly added to early buzz — Satou Sabally, for instance, used her first Unrivaled media availability to share with reporters that she had told the Wings she wanted to be traded — and it’s increased convenience for free agents, coaches and GMs.
Courtney Vandersloot is an unrestricted WNBA free agent, playing with Unrivaled Mist Basketball Club. Her first true free agency experience came after the Chicago Sky’s 2021 title. That offseason, she was playing in Russia, at UMMC Ekaterinburg, taking remote evening meetings after long practice days. “It was late nights. You’re relying on technology, hoping that the internet works,” Vandersloot said. “It doesn’t feel very personable.”
Now?
WNBA teams have posted up at hotels across the Miami area, squeezing in meetings after Unrivaled practices and around players’ schedules.
GO DEEPER
Grading and analyzing every WNBA free agency signing: Kelsey Plum heads to Los Angeles Sparks
Eight WNBA free agents, including those who are cored and restricted, are on Unrivaled rosters. Sabally, Vandersloot, Alyssa Thomas, DiJonai Carrington and Brittney Griner highlight the list. Others could potentially be on the move via trade, too. Jewell Loyd, a member of Unrivaled’s Mist Basketball Club, is on the move to the Aces, in a deal that seems likely to have a domino effect throughout the league.
Leading into Unrivaled’s opening weekend, multiple players were light-hearted about the implications of being together in one place during free agency. Vandersloot said anyone who gave her a pack of IPAs “might have a head start” in recruiting her. Sabally joked that she had already received a few cups of coffee.
Cloud said she wants what’s best for Sabally. But she added: “If that is Phoenix, I will literally tell her I will give up my apartment if she wants that too.”
As Feb. 1, the date deals can be announced, approaches, the reality of negotiations looms larger, and the quips have dissipated.
“It was a total shift. People are lingering in the hallways, having full-blown conversations,” one player granted anonymity to speak freely about the recruiting process said. “We’re not joking anymore.”
The WNBA is preparing to enter its 28th season, but robust free-agency recruiting is still a relatively new part of the winter. Aces guard Chelsea Gray said in an Uninterrupted mini-documentary about her 2020 free agency: “You hear about it happening on the men’s side. Why not have it happen on the women’s side? Why not have people be like, ‘You need to fly her out?’”
Two offseasons ago, Istanbul, Turkey, became the crossroads of the cycle as the New York Liberty, Washington Mystics, Minnesota Lynx and Storm tried figuring into the Breanna Stewart sweepstakes. A team traveling abroad demonstrated interest in building a relationship.
Now, Unrivaled is that crossroads of the free agency world, and players can conveniently build relationships with each other. Peer connections are the benefits of everyone gathering in one place.
“You’re able to talk to other players directly, and you can figure out what type of resources, how important is their team to the owners? If you have an owner of a team that doesn’t prioritize the women’s team, they’re going to talk about it, and that’s a place where I would (be) less likely to go,” Sabally said.
Players can cross-pollinate their thoughts on facilities. Multiple players at Unrivaled, both free agents and players signed to deals, said that topic had come up in the meal room, sauna and weight room.
“It’s been fun hearing players trying to get certain players to join teams. You’re kind of just able to hear other people’s experiences as well,” New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu said.
GO DEEPER
Unrivaled’s an instant hit, but can the new women’s basketball 3×3 league sustain?
Not every franchise flocked to Florida right away. Minnesota Lynx head coach and president of basketball Cheryl Reeve and assistant coach Eric Thibault were spotted at last Wednesday’s EuroLeague game between Fenerbahçe and Umana Reyer Venezia. Free agent bigs Emma Meesseman and Tina Charles play for the Turkish club as does Minnesota forward Nina Milić.
But by Friday night’s Unrivaled action, they had arrived in Florida.
Lynx guard Courtney Williams said she wasn’t planning to recruit free agents. But Williams admitted that could change in an instant.
“If (Cheryl) gives me a call,” Williams said, “I’m gonna start chatting.”
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Photo: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)
Kindle Scribe combines e-reader and note-taking capabilities with a new design and Premium Pen.
Writing on the 300 PPI screen feels like paper, but pricey compared to other Kindle models.
Note-taking abilities have improved, but new features may not justify the high cost.
Amazon’s Kindle lineup still remains the best way by far to enjoy an ebook. But the second-generation Amazon Kindle Scribe wants to bring an e-reader together with the ability to take notes and more. It’s generally a mixed bag and not worth the high price tag.
Amazon Kindle Scribe (2024)
The Amazon Kindle Scribe combines an e-reader and note-taking tablet into one package. The second-generation modes feature a new design with a front-flush display and uniform white borders to better mimic writing on paper. The included Premium Pen feature a customizable shortcut button and eraser. You can now write notes directly on the page of a book with Active Canvas
Pros & Cons
Large, easy-to-read 300 PPI screen
Can write notes directly in books
Writing on screen feels very much like on paper
Premium Pen feels great in the hand and features shortcut button
Most new features are also available on cheaper first-generation model
Expensive compared to other Kindle models
Price and Availability
The Kindle Scribe retails for $400 for the 16GB version, $420 for a 32GB model, and $450 for a 64GB edition. It is available in two colors: tungsten or metallic jade. The Kindle Scribe can be found through Amazon, Best Buy, and other retailers. All models come with the Premium Pen.
Specifications
Brand
Amazon
Screen
10.2 inch
Resolution
300 ppi
Storage
16, 32, or 64GB
Connectivity
Wi-Fi
Front Light
Yes
Weight
15.3oz
Battery Life
Up to 12 weeks
An Improved Design
Brent Dirks / MakeUseOf
The Kindle Scribe looks much better than the first generation thanks to its new design. Along with a front-flush, 10.2-inch display, white borders better mimic writing on a sheet of paper.
There are two colors to choose from—tungsten and jade. The hue will only be noticeable on the border of the front, the back, and the Premium Pen.
The 300dpi screen is by far the best on any Kindle I’ve used. The auto-brightness setting worked well to provide the best backlight for a dark room or even outside. The warmth is even adjustable, and you can create a schedule to change that as well.
Weighing a little more than a pound and very thin, I found the Kindle a little difficult to hold for long periods of time. The aluminum back feels very slippery, and I was always adjusting my hand for a more comfortable position. Amazon, as you might expect, sells a wide variety of cases that cover the back with other materials, but that just adds to the cost of the experience.
On the left side of the Kindle Scribe is the power button and USB-C port for charging. Amazon advertises up to 12 weeks on a single charge. But in reality, especially when using the screen at a higher brightness level and frequently, that will be much less. After using the Kindle Scribe heavily for around a month, I only needed to charge it once.
I would like to see the Kindle Scribe offer the same wireless charging found in the lower-cost Paperwhite Signature Edition and Colorsoft Signature Edition. Unlike most of the other high-end Kindles, the Scribe isn’t waterproof, so be careful around the pool or in the bath.
When not in use, the Premium Pen is made to magnetically attach to the right side. In practice, you’re better off using a case or just finding a safe spot for it. When placing the Kindle Scribe in my backpack, it detached every single time, forcing me to fish in the bottom of my backpack. Even while adjusting my hand during reading, it always had a way of detaching.
While the magnetic connection isn’t a strong spot, I really enjoyed using the pen itself. It feels great in the hand and is not slippery like an Apple Pencil. There’s also no need to worry about charging or pairing the pen.
I’ve used a number of stylus models, but using the tip feels as close to writing on paper as I’ve experienced. The Pen also has a customizable Shortcut button. You can press and hold the button to use tools like a highlighter, pen, fountain pen, and sticky note. It’s very well-placed and easy to use. On top of the pen is an eraser—just press it on the screen to erase text. It feels exactly like using a real-world eraser, and there was no lag at all.
Finally, Take Real Notes While Reading
Brent Dirks / MakeUseOf
One of the biggest additions is the much-requested ability to actually write a note in a book you’re reading. In the first-generation model, you could write a small sticky note on a book, and you’d have to come back to it later and press the icon to see what was written.
Now, you can write directly on the book using the Active Canvas feature. Just start writing anywhere and the book will adjust to fit the text. As an extra-added caution, once the note is written, you’ll press a check mark to add it to the page. The note is tied directly to the text, and you will see them in the same place even if you change font sizes. The entire process is quick and without any lag.
In early 2025, Amazon will allow you to also write notes in expandable book margins, but that feature wasn’t available yet for me to test.
I’m more of a book highlighter than a note-taker, but I was pleased with the overall experience. It’s nice to be able to flip through the pages of the book and see exactly what I’ve written. I’m interested to see if the margin writing will allow me to write more notes to see on a single page.
While you can take notes, you still can’t circle or underline a word or passage, which is still a bit of a disappointment.
Using AI for Better Notes
Brent Dirks / MakeUseOf
The note-taking abilities from the first-generation device transfer over to the model with some new smarts.
You can create a notebook to write on with a number of customized templates, everything from a ruled page to a daily planner and storyboard. You can even import your own template or find additional options on the Amazon site.
All the notebooks aren’t confined to just the Kindle Scribe. With just a single tap, you can create a PDF to send to your email or others. When taking notes, you can choose from a wide variety of pens and ink sizes.
And since AI technology is pretty much everywhere now, Amazon couldn’t resist adding some AI smarts to the Kindle Scribe. AI can be used to do two tasks—summarize your notes or refine your handwriting.
I had mixed results with both features. You’ll need an Internet connection to send the information to the cloud, and even when you do, it takes anywhere from 30 to 40 seconds to return results. Even though my handwriting can be atrocious at times, the AI somewhat accurately handled my scribbling.
Both of the tools convert your handwriting into an easy-to-read font. The summary or handwriting is attached to the front of the notebook for easy access. I would love to see the same AI features being used on in-book notes.
Should You Buy the Amazon Kindle Scribe (2024)?
The second-generation Kindle Scribe is by far the best Kindle I’ve ever used. I’ve truly enjoyed reading books on such a large and natural-looking e-ink screen. It’s light and great to read anything you can imagine. But I’ve been far less impressed with the note-taking abilities.
While it’s great to finally be able to actually write notes in a book and look back at them later, the other writing features are less impressive and are also available on the lower-cost first-generation Scribe. With a minimum retail cost of $399.99 for the Kindle Scribe, I could spend a little more and purchase an entry-level iPad and Apple Pencil, take notes, and do much more.
Amazon Kindle Scribe (2024)
The Amazon Kindle Scribe combines an e-reader and note-taking tablet into one package. The second-generation modes feature a new design with a front-flush display and uniform white borders to better mimic writing on paper. The included Premium Pen feature a customizable shortcut button and eraser. You can now write notes directly on the page of a book with Active Canvas
Beyond their aesthetic beauty, many of Suzhou’s classical gardens served as venues for theater troupes to give private performances at the request of their owners. This highly immersive experience is something you can still enjoy in Suzhou today.
Grant Ellis is not making a big deal about being only the second Black star of “The Bachelor.” His focus is on finding true love.
“My experience has been great,” the former pro basketball player and current day trader said last week during a video call. “It’s been a whirlwind — a lot of emotion, a lot of decision-making. But overall, it’s been great. I have no complaints.”
Though Ellis is focused on romance, the 29th season of the show, launching Monday, will be scrutinized as perhaps the most crucial test yet for the popular ABC franchise, which has continually been accused by critics and previous Black participants of racism and cultural insensitivity since its 2002 premiere. Despite pledges by executive producers to correct past wrongs, troubling misfires in the handling of race in recent seasons of “The Bachelor” and spinoff “The Bachelorette” have cast doubt over those promises to improve, placing added significance on Ellis’ turn in the spotlight.
His quest for love as he dates 25 women competing to be his wife comes four years after the season starring Matt James, the first Black Bachelor, became the most disastrous for the franchise, tainted by an uproar after photographs surfaced of contestant Rachael Kirkconnell at an antebellum South-themed party. Then-host Chris Harrison defended Kirkconnell in a combative interview with former “Bachelorette” star Rachel Lindsay on “Extra,” where she was a correspondent, which stoked the controversy further and eventually led to Harrison’s departure from the franchise after nearly 20 years.
James later charged the all-white producing team of betraying their promise to show him as an accomplished Black man who had overcome many personal and professional challenges. Executive producer Bennett Graebner said in an interview with The Times last year that the show “let Matt down” and that production resources had been established that were not in place during James’ season, “which went wrong on so many levels.”
Ellis sidestepped questions about the past struggles of the franchise and James’ season.
Grant Ellis is the center of the 29th season of “The Bachelor.”
(John Fleenor / Disney)
“I think Matt handled himself really well, but the takeaway I have is really about my season,” he said. “The way my season turned out is great. I wish Matt the best at what he does, and I’m sure he’ll do great things.”
(Notably, James announced on Jan. 16 that he and Kirkconnell, who became a couple after departing the franchise, have split up.)
When pressed on whether he had any reaction to James’ complaints, Ellis was tight-lipped. “I watched the season but really didn’t get involved in all the controversy. I saw the love story that unfolded. As far as anything else, I really don’t have a lot to say.”
Graebner and fellow showrunner Claire Freeland were not available for comment.
While the participants on “The Bachelor” and spinoff “The Bachelorette” have become more diverse after years of featuring predominantly white casts, the franchise has not turned the corner on its troubled past. The problems include the bullying of contestants of color by the Bachelor Nation fan base and accusations that producers failed to protect its stars from the harassment, as well as spotty vetting that allowed contestants who had posted racially offensive content on social media to appear on the show.
The backlash escalated during the most recent season of “The Bachelorette” starring Jenn Tran, the first Asian woman to lead the franchise.
While Graebner and Freeland promoted the milestone of Tran’s casting, they acknowledged the forward movement was diminished by the near-absence of Asian suitors.
The season evolved into another debacle in the live finale when a distraught Tran revealed that the man she had chosen as her husband-to-be, Devin Strader, had ended their engagement a month before the broadcast. Strader joined Tran onstage minutes later, and she wept as the footage of her joyous proposal to him was played back. Viewers accused the show of cruelty in making Tran relive her heartbreak on live television.
Reports surfaced following the finale that Strader had been arrested in 2017 on suspicion of burglarizing the house of an ex-girlfriend. He had not informed producers of the arrest when he was interviewed for the show.
Graebner and Freeland declined to comment on why Strader’s arrest was not discovered in the vetting process. They also refused comment on why Jodi Baskerville, who became the franchise’s first Black executive producer in 2021 after the racism scandal that upended James’ season, departed during Tran’s season.
On top of that, he claims that Pearl is significantly less likely to provide misinformation than many other AI search engines—which he believes are likely to deal with “a tidal wave” of lawsuits based on bad answers they give. “Those other players are building amazing technologies. I call them Ferraris or Lamborghinis,” Kurtzig says. “We’re building a Volvo—safety first.”
This pitch about Pearl’s superiority, of course, made me even more keen to try it. Kurtzig seemed so certain that Pearl would still enjoy Section 230 protections. I asked the AI if it agreed.
Pearl said it likely qualifies as an “interactive computer service” under Section 230, which would mean that it’d be shielded from being treated as a publisher, just as Kurtzig suspected. But, the AI went on, “Pearl’s situation is unique because it generates content using AI.” It didn’t have a definitive answer for me after all.
When I asked to speak to a lawyer directly, it rerouted me to JustAnswer, where it asked me to provide the answer I wanted verified. I said I needed to go back and copy the answer, as it was several paragraphs long, but when I navigated back to the Pearl website, the conversation was gone and it had reset to a fresh chat.
When I tried again, this time opening the Pearl browser on desktop, I received a similarly uncertain answer. I decided to trigger a human-fact check; after several minutes, I received the TrustScore™—a measly 3!
Pearl recommended that I seek out an actual expert opinion, porting me to its subscription page. I’d been given a log-in so I didn’t have to pay while I tested the tool. It then connected me with one of its “legal eagle” experts.
Unfortunately, the lawyer’s answers were not clearer than the AI. He noted that there was ongoing legal debate about how Section 230 will apply to AI search engines and other AI tools, but when I asked him to provide specific arguments, he gave a strange answer noting that “most use shell companies or associations to file.”
When I asked for an example of one such shell company—quite confused about what that has to do with a public debate about Section 230—the “legal eagle” asked if I wanted him to put together a package. Even more confused, I said yes. I got a pop-up window indicating that my expert wanted to charge me an additional $165 to dig up the information.
I declined, frustrated.
I then asked Pearl about the history of WIRED. The AI response was serviceable, although basically the same stuff you’ll find on Wikipedia. When I asked for its TrustScore™ I was once again confronted with a 3, suggesting it was not a very good answer. I selected the option to connect with another human expert. This time around, possibly because it was a question about the media and not a straightforward legal or medical topic, it took a while for the expert to appear—well over 20 minutes. When he did, the expert (it was never established what gave him his media bona fides, although his profile indicated he’d been working with JustAnswer since 2010) gave me a remarkably similar answer to the AI. Since I was doing a free test, it didn’t matter, but I would’ve been annoyed if I had actually paid the subscription fee just to get the same mediocre answer from both a human and an AI.
For my last stab at using the service, I went for a straightforward question: how to refinish kitchen floors. This time, things went much more smoothly. The AI returned an adequate answer, akin to a transcript of a very basic YouTube tutorial. When I asked the human expert to assign a TrustScore™, they gave it a 5. It seemed accurate enough, for sure. But—as someone who really does want to DIY refinish my kitchen’s old pine planks—I think when I actually go looking for guidance, I’ll rely on other online communities of human voices, ones that don’t charge $28 a month: YouTube and Reddit.
If you end up testing Pearl, or any other newfangled AI search products, and you have a memorable experience, please do let me know how it went in the comments below the article. You can also reach me by email at [email protected]. Thanks for reading, and stay warm!
The cryptocurrency chart reflected more losses than gains on Monday, January 27. Bitcoin dipped by 4.53 percent on international exchanges to trade at $100,423 (roughly Rs. 86.7 lakh), data by CoinMarketCap showed. On Indian exchanges like BuyUcoin, meanwhile, BTC incurred losses of over three percent to trade at the price point of $101,658 (roughly Rs. 87.7 lakh). According to market analysts, BTC’s struggle is presently oscillating between optimism and uncertainty ahead of US’ interest rate decision slated for later this week.
Explaining the decline in Bitcoin’s prices, the CoinSwitch Markets Desk told Gadgets 360, “All eyes however will be on FOMC’s interest rate decision this Wednesday where the Federal Reserve is expected to pause interest rate cuts given the economic data in past comments from the committee members, with Trump demanding for lower rates – there is an outside chance of another rate cut, which can be very bullish for the overall markets.”
Ether joined Bitcoin on the loss-making side of the price chart on Monday. On global exchanges, ETH dropped in price by 5.79 percent to trade at $3,154 (roughly Rs. 2.72 lakh). Meanwhile on Indian platforms, the asset reflected price dips of around four percent to trade at $3,190 (roughly Rs. 2.75 lakh).
The crypto price tracker by Gadgets 360 showed most cryptocurrency prices declining on Monday.
These include Solana, Binance Coin, Dogecoin, Cardano, Avalanche, and Polkadot.
Shiba Inu, Uniswap, and Litecoin also registered losses.
The crypto market cap dipped by 4.72 percent in the last 24 hours, as well. The valuation of the sector currently stands at $3.45 trillion (roughly Rs. 2,98,01,007 crore), as per CoinMarketCap.
Only a handful of cryptocurrencies retained minor gains on Monday. These include Leo, Tether, and Iota.
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Hubspot’s SEO strategy is the talk of the SEO and marketing world today. Why? Just look at this image:
Organic traffic appears to have declined sharply, dropping from 13.5 million in November to 8.6 million in December, according to Semrush (disclosure: Search Engine Land is a Semrush company). HubSpot’s blog seems to have taken most of the impact.
It may be that Google wants to stop rewarding websites that publish content outside their area of expertise – that lack depth and topical authority on. The type of content that is more geared toward getting Google organic traffic than being written for people. What Google might call “SEO-first content” (or helpful content).
Some of the topics seeing huge declines for HubSpot appear to be blogs about famous quotes, writing a resignation letter, and cover letter examples.
Why we care. SEO just keeps getting harder. HubSpot, for years, executed a masterful content strategy that was emulated by countless other brands and websites. For years, it was considered by many to be the gold standard of B2B vendor blogs. Now, it appears that SEO playbook is no longer working, likely due to a combination of Google core updates and AI Overviews. Reminder: Think depth, not breadth.
Zoom out. Google released a pair of algorithm updates – the December 2024 core update and December 2024 spam update. Also, the November 2024 core update completed its rollout on Dec. 5 – exactly one week before the December core update began.
SEO reactions. Some SEOs are blaming the huge traffic drop on HubSpot’s lack of topical authority, while others pointed to possible “thin content” issues. Here’s a sampling of some of the reactions to the news of HubSpot’s SEO results falling off a cliff:
Taylor (Berg) Chapa, group manager, web strategy and experience at Headspace, had a great thread on X, some highlights:
“I don’t want a [mental health] company to rank for ‘why do I feel funny when I’m in love’ or ‘Thanksgiving’ or ‘love quotes’ that’s not a good use of resources and we weren’t the site for that.”
“Our largest competitor was focusing so hard on traffic that they couldn’t even rank for MH keywords. And they still don’t. and it’s all because they have a ‘traffic at all costs’ keyword strategy.
The hubspot SEO decline is a great example of hitting critical mass of content relevance. A fun little secret: At my last job we never content gapped our largest competitor. I specifically said not to. Why? Because that competitor was making content totally outside of MH.
— Taylor Berg Chapa bluesky @taylorberg (@taylorannberg) January 23, 2025
“So about that massive drop to the HubSpot blog… just look what they’ve been publishing. They deserve the wreckage for being such lazy SEOs and content marketers!”
So about that massive drop to the HubSpot blog… just look what they’ve been publishing. They deserve the wreckage for being such lazy SEOs and content marketers! pic.twitter.com/sWG2bUF49X
“If this is true, this is very bad for companies who deeply depend on SEO. HubSpot has one of the very best blogs, invests heavily in that content, and has for a decade+. If they can’t…”
– The game has changed. No one is safe, not even a mega brand like HubSpot.
– Google doesn’t really want you publishing topics that are ‘too far astray’ just for the sake of getting traffic.
– Why publish these topics anyway? Extreme top of funnel is not worth it.
– Is this really hurting HubSpot? I think yes, because crappy content targeting irrelevant keywords unfortunately drags down the performance of everything else, even the good pages.
Dig deeper. The art of subtraction: How to do more with less in SEO
Polish developer CD Projekt Red has numerous projects in development currently, and one of them is an entirely new IP. The game is in development under the codename Project Hadar. While it’s still early days for this game, and not much is known, there are some key details that have been revealed so far.
Hadar is a new IP from CD Projekt.
When will Project Hadar be released?
CD Projekt Red has only confirmed the existence of a new IP and has not shared when it could be released, or even a projection of when the studio wants to launch the game.
Preorder Project Hadar
Preorders for CD Projekt Red’s new IP are not available yet, which makes sense given the game hasn’t even been announced or assigned a release date.
Project Hadar new IP trailer information
As of yet, CD Projekt has not released any official trailers for its new IP.
Project Hadar new IP platforms
CD Projekt has not announced any platforms for its new IP, but given the developer’s history, it can be safely assumed the game will come to PC and console.
Project Hadar new IP story, setting, and characters
Since Project Hadar has not been announced officially, there isn’t much to go on at this stage. However, the developers have confirmed what the game is not, and that is a “cosmic horror in feudal Japan.” Executive Michal Nowakowski said previously on social media, “It’s definitely NOT a cosmic horror in feudal Japan.”
Given that Project Hadar is a new IP, it stands to reason it will take place in a new, original universe featuring brand-new characters. The word “Hadar” has many definitions, including a fossil site in Ethiopia and a star in the Centaurus constellation, but there is no telling if however the word may be defined is in any way associated with what the product might be when it’s done.
CD Projekt developer Maria Mazu told GamesRadar that they were “so happy” to learn they would get to make a new IP. “I feel like it only makes sense given how many kinds of people we have on this, like the storytelling side of things but also our artists,” Mazur said. “It feels like a waste not to invest all that into something new or something that comes straight from us. I am very excited about Hadar.”
Project Hadar game engine
Project Hadar is likely to be developed with Epic’s Unreal Engine, though this is not confirmed. CD Projekt has a deal in place with Epic to make more of its games using Unreal Engine 5 as well, including The Witcher 4, and it would make sense for the deal to cover CD Projekt’s other games. But again, this is not confirmed.
Who’s developing Project Hadar?
CD Projekt is developing Project Hadar. As of October 31, 2024–which is when the latest data was published–CD Projekt said it had 18 people working on Project Hadar. This was actually down from 20 people at the end of July 2024. As you can see in the chart below, the overwhelming majority of CD Projekt’s developers are working on Polaris, which is the codename for The Witcher 4.
CD Projekt has evolved in recent years to become a bigger studio that is making multiple games simultaneously. In addition to Hadar and The Witcher 4, CD Projekt’s teams are working on a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, a remake of the original Witcher, and a Witcher spin-off called Sirius.
Only a small number of CD Projekt developers are working on Hadar right now.
Project Hadar development news
CD Projekt announced Project Hadar in October 2022. At the time, the studio said the game was “created from scratch” and was, at the time, in the “earliest stages of the creative process.” At the time, the studio made it clear that it was not developing an actual game yet, but instead putting together the “foundation” for a game.
No one should expect Project Hadar to be released anytime soon. The Witcher 4 is the studio’s current main focus, and it just entered full production at the end of 2024.
CD Projekt making a new IP is a major development for the studio, as the company is best known for its adaptations of other creator’s works. The Witcher is based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s novel series, while Cyberpunk 2077 is based on Mike Pondsmith’s role-playing game.
Like a poison pen, dying cells prick their neighbors with a lethal message. This may worsen sepsis, Vijay Rathinam and colleagues in the UConn School of Medicine report in the Jan. 23 issue of Cell. Their findings could lead to a new understanding of this dangerous illness.
Sepsis is one of the most frequent causes of death worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), killing 11 million people each year. It’s characterized by runaway inflammation, usually sparked by an infection. It can lead to shock, multiple organ failure, and death if treatment is not rapid enough or effective.
But recent research has shown that it isn’t actually the infection that causes the spiraling inflammation: it’s the cells caught up in it. Even if those cells aren’t infected, they act as if they are, and die. As they die, they send out messages to other cells. Those messages somehow cause the recipient cells to die. If scientists understood what caused this deadly message chain, they might be able to stop it. And that could help heal sepsis.
The deadly message mystery may now be solved. It appears that the “messages” are a byproduct of the cells trying to stay alive, UConn School of Medicine researchers report in Cell.
The process starts with cells that really are infected. To prevent the infection from spreading, those cells destroy themselves by sending a protein called gasdermin-D to their surface. Several gasdermin-D proteins will link together to create a round pore on the cell, like a hole punched in a balloon. The cell’s contents leak out, the cell collapses, and dies.
But the collapse isn’t inevitable. Sometimes cells can act quickly and eject the section of their surface membrane with the gasdermin-D pore. The cell then zips the membrane closed and survives. The ejected membrane forms a little bubble, called a vesicle, that just happens to carry the deadly gasdermin-D pore. The vesicle floats around, and when it encounters a cell nearby, that deadly gasdermin-D pore punches into the healthy nearby cell’s membrane and causes that cell to spill and die.
“When a dying cell releases these vesicles, they can transplant these pores to a neighboring cell’s surface, which leads to the neighboring cell’s death,” says Vijay Rathinam, an immunologist in the UConn School of Medicine. In other words, the deadly messages are a side effect of cells just trying to save themselves. A group of dying cells can release enough gasdermin-D vesicles to kill a considerable number of nearby cells. That spreading message of death fuels the spiraling inflammation of sepsis.
Rathinam and his colleagues are now looking for a way to damp down the deadly gasdermin-D vesicles. If successful, it could lead to a treatment for inflammatory diseases like sepsis.
This study led by Skylar Wright, an MD/PhD student in the Rathinam lab, was done in collaboration with the laboratories of Drs. Jianbin Ruan, Beiyan Zhou, Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja of UConn Health and Dr. Katia Cosentino of University of Osnabrück, Germany. This project was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health to Dr. Rathinam.
The post International Law Fellowship Programme 2025 by the UN [20 Fellows; 3 Weeks; Fully Funded; The Hague]: Apply by Feb 26 appeared first on Lawctopus.
We are basking in the glow of Anushka Sharma’s yellow lehenga look just by looking at it. The actor wore a Mahima Mahajan design.
For a recent ad campaign, actor Anushka Sharma wore the perfect yellow lehenga. The mother-of-two was a ray of pure sunshine in a gorgeous Mahima Mahajan lehenga that sells for ₹1.6 lakh on the designer’s website. Find out more about Anushka’s hand-embroidered lehenga and choli set that she wore with a matching heavy dupatta. Also read | Anushka Sharma makes a stylish return from Alibaug in quirky leopard-print jeans. And they cost just ₹4,600
If you are a bride looking for pre-wedding lehenga options, take inspiration from Anushka Sharma and opt for a yellow shade that complements your skin tone. (Instagram/ mahimamahajanofficial)
What Anushka Sharma wore
Anushka just wore one of the most intricate, look-at-me ethnic looks we’ve ever seen on her (her street style is certainly nothing to downplay either). The actor emitted sunshine and ethereal outfit vibes in a golden lehenga from Mahima Mahajan’s Fitoor autumn/winter 2024 collection.
The designer lehenga set had intricate embroidery featuring gold and silver threads and hand-embellished mirrors in various shapes and sizes. The floral motifs created with delicate embroidery in shades of pastel pink and green and the mirror work added a touch of glamour and sophistication to Anushka’s ethnic look.
Anushka accessorised her lehenga perfectly
Anushka wore a statement kundan necklace and elegant earrings with green stones to match her outfit’s colours and embellishments. The actor opted for a sleek low bun to showcase her jewellery and outfit. As for makeup, she went with soft nude lip, bright eyeshadow, and defined brows for a radiant yet dewy look.
Fashion inspiration for brides
If you are a bride looking for pre-wedding lehenga options, take inspiration from Anushka and opt for a yellow shade that complements your skin tone. Golden yellows look great on medium to dark skin tones, while soft, buttery yellows suit fair skin tones. Wear a yellow lehenga with intricate embroidery, zari work, or mirror work to enhance the overall look.
Like Anushka, add a statement piece of jewellery, like a bold necklace or earrings, to draw attention to your face. Opt for soft, natural makeup to complement the bright yellow lehenga. Choose a hairstyle that showcases your face and the intricate details of the lehenga. A sleek bun or a braided updo would be perfect.
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News / Lifestyle / Fashion / Anushka Sharma is pure sunshine in regal ethnic look: See all the photos of her yellow lehenga that costs ₹1.6 lakh
Neil Kumar has for years contended his unorthodox drug company is overlooked by biotechnology investors. He may not have that problem for much longer.
The company he leads, BridgeBio Pharma, is in the early stages of launching a treatment for a heart condition called transthyretin amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy. Though the drug, Attruby, isn’t BridgeBio’s only approved product, it has the largest financial upside.
Global sales of the other marketed therapy for the condition, Pfizer’s tafamidis, were on track to eclipse $5 billion last year, reflecting a market that analysts forecast could eventually be worth $15 billion to $20 billion annually.
BridgeBio is trying to make the case Attruby, which similarly stabilizes a misshapen protein, is more potent. The two drugs haven’t been directly tested against each other, however.
BridgeBio could also soon have as a third competitor Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, which has different type of therapy under review by U.S. regulators. Both Pfizer and Alnylam have larger salesforces and more established commercial track records than BridgeBio — one reason why investor expectations are “far lower” for BridgeBio’s drug, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Josh Schimmer wrote last year.
That skepticism is reflected in BridgeBio’s stock price, which is worth less now than it was one year ago. The company’s valuation, Kumar told BioPharma Dive in November, implies a pessimistic outlook in which Attruby is “the worst second-mover launch of all time.”
Kumar is used to such doubts. BridgeBio’s structure, as a centralized ‘hub’ with a web of biotech ‘spokes,’ is meant to be a more cost-effective way of making drugs, but isn’t generally popular with public investors. Attruby, which for a time was under the ownership of a spoke called Eidos Therapeutics, is an example of how BridgeBio’s system can work: It was developed for lower cost than what’s typical in the industry, according to Kumar.
Butalong the way, BridgeBio’s value slumped, the public markets turned against biotech and investors zeroed in on companies they thought most likely to get bought, he said.
“The whole problem with biotech is it’s such a long ecosystem. I’ve been working on that goddamn drug for ten-and-a-half years, and I’m just starting to launch it,” Kumar said. “It’s an amazing journey, but most people do not want that.”
Kumar says the company is finally on the verge of a breakout. Early prescription numbers revealed at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference last week suggested Attruby’s launch could beat Wall Street’s projections and lifted shares by nearly 30%. The company is also expecting Phase 3 readouts over the next year or so that could put it on a “path to profitability in the next several years,” Leerink Partners analyst Mani Foroohar wrote last week.
Kumar spoke with BioPharma Dive about BridgeBio’s battles for investor support and its plan to win market share. The following conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
BIOPHARMA DIVE: There’s been debate about the merits of ‘hub-and-spoke’ biotech. Why lean into that model when public investors, at least so far, haven’t rewarded you for it?
NEIL KUMAR: We employ it for three reasons. One is we like to focus at the level of biology for each disease. Another is we want to marry that with the fact most things fail in our industry. We wanted diversification at the central level so we could shut down what wasn’t working and focus on what was. And lastly we wanted the efficiencies that come from having a centralized backbone.
Why is it difficult to convince investors of that value?
KUMAR: Only two types of value get rewarded by investors. One is, ‘I think you’re going to get bought.’ For the last three years, all investors have generated alpha from is betting on companies that get bought, so they want to be in spaces where M&A is going to happen. They don’t really want to create the next big company. They just want to create the asset that gets bought.
The other is owning recurring revenue, which means you have a drug that’s running off revenue. But even if you do have a drug product, they want you to be a single-asset company, because then you can easily get bought.
The hub-and-spoke model becomes very difficult to explain to those people. Or they just don’t want to invest in it because they’re not interested in investing in you as an allocator of capital. They’re like, ‘I can do that myself.’
What could change investor views?
KUMAR: We could turn the corner because this market has been so difficult. At some point, someone is going to say there has to be a [profitable] way to do it. At some point, someone has to care I progressed Eidos all the way through Phase 2 for less than $60 million. If I were in a venture capital-backed company, it would’ve cost hundreds of millions of dollars. If I were in pharma, it would’ve cost even more.
Key to BridgeBio’s success is Attruby. What gives you confidence it can compete against one similar, already-established product and another that could be on the way this year?
KUMAR: On the clinical side, it’s continuing to talk about the messages that are on [Attruby’s] label. As early as three months, we see an impact on a combination of hospitalization and death. I haven’t seen that elsewhere. We have a 42% reduction on that endpoint at 30 months and a 50% reduction in hospitalization at 30 months. Hospitalizations are most of the events in these trials. The fact that we’re keeping people out of the hospital in that profound way means people are living longer and living better. And we are a more potent stabilizer [than tafamidis].
We’re also doing more clinical experiments than almost anyone else to continue to elaborate on, ‘Okay, how do we treat the [atrial fibrillation] population? What do we do for renal disease?’
On the access side, we priced at a slight discount to tafamidis. Alnylam’s [drug] is double the cost of tafamidis. So not only do we believe we have the most effective drug, we also have a drug that has the lowest list price.
But list price isn’t the game in America, it’s a lot of other stuff too. We designed everything about our distribution network to lower the bar for people to get on this drug should they want to. We’re a small company. We’re totally focused on this.
What did you learn from Pfizer’s launch?
KUMAR: They’ve had a killer launch. They do $6 billion in sales. They’ve done a nice job educating the community. But there are opportunities we hear from patients and physicians to do even better. I think as we do that, Pfizer will catch up, prices drop and everyone does better. That’s how markets are supposed to work, and the beneficiary, ultimately, should be the patients.
What will you be watching should Alnylam’s drug get approved?
KUMAR: How early are they having an impact on hospitalizations and mortality? What’s the degree of impact they’re having at 30 months? And what do they look like on hospitalizations and the hospitalization data that they haven’t published?
The silence on their hospitalization data is deafening. Where is it? People care a lot about hospitalizations. There are very expensive payer systems, and it’s one of the largest forms of morbidity associated with this disease.
This is likely to be a year of transformation and growth, where you may face challenges in your career and finances.
But John Lindeman reminds us of some lessons from the past that investors must remember this year.
This Chinese New Year ushers in the year of the Snake, and according to the Chinese Zodiac, this is likely to be a year of transformation and growth, where you may face challenges in your career and finances.
Being optimistic and adaptable will help overcome these setbacks.
For property investors, strategic investments for long-term growth will reap better returns.
Whether or not you believe in these forecasts, many claim that the Chinese Zodiac becomes a “self-fulfilling prophecy” because so many people act in accordance with its predictions that they actually come true.
The prediction itself causes the result.
But did you know that exactly the same events often occur in the property market?
It starts when we hear about certain locations where properties are selling faster than hot cakes.
We are urged to be quick, or we’ll miss out.
More and more investors rush in to buy and so they actually create the shortage that is being predicted.
Such frantic buying often leads to dramatic price rises, but unless the demand is backed by a genuine need for more dwellings, the shortage can become a surplus and prices collapse.
This graph shows how the median price of units on the Gold Coast boomed from 2002 to 2007, nearly trebling in value over just five years.
Buyer demand was fed by huge numbers of overseas investors purchasing off the plan units, but when the Global Financial Crisis arrived in 2008 and many of these owners had to sell, prices crashed.
Always make sure that any property investing opportunity you are interested in is backed by actual demand for housing, and not purely by demand from speculative investors responding to the same messages as you are.
About John Lindeman John Lindeman has well over a decade of experience researching the nature and dynamics of various types of assets at major data analysts and is a leading property market researcher, author and commentator. For more information visit Lindeman Reports.
Everybody wants to cover sports media, but maybe everyone shouldn’t.
Mike Florio, “Pro Football Talk” aggregator/insider/gadfly extraordinaire, is on the most watched pregame show, NBC’s “Football Night in America,” every Sunday night, but he fashions himself a little bit of the league’s and media’s police. Some of the stuff he does can be pretty good.
Others, not so much.
This week, on the “SI Media with Jimmy Traina” podcast, Florio praised NBC over its rival network, Fox, regarding Tom Brady, the $375 million TV game analyst who owns a 10 percent stake in the Las Vegas Raiders.
“I’ve been with NBC for 15 years now,” Florio said. “There is no way in hell NBC would give Tom Brady a microphone when he owns a piece of a team. They would never do it.”
Well, except when Dale Earnhardt Jr. owned cars in the Xfinity Series on NBC. Earnhardt called races in the league, just not his own. That has been Fox’s arrangement with Brady so far.
On top of this, NBC just acquired the rights to the NBA and has had talks with Dwyane Wade, a minority owner of the Utah Jazz, and Grant Hill, who currently is a TNT analyst and has an ownership stake in the Atlanta Hawks.
“They would never do it,” Florio told Traina. “They would say, ‘Tom, you’ve got to pick a lane.’”
When asked if this is accurate, an NBC Sports spokesperson said, “We’re not going to comment on hypotheticals.”
Florio created Pro Football Talk almost a quarter century ago, and it is a pretty incredible story of how he transformed from a lawyer with a hobby to an institution that rivals the top football sites and has him front and center on a premiere studio show. But when he made a partnership with NBC, no matter how close he goes to the edge — and he goes further than a lot of people — he went into business with the network and its relationships.
With that, Pro Football Talk’s past criticism of Mike Tirico at ESPN has vanished since Tirico became NBC’s franchise player. Florio, the no-holds-barred, will-aggregate-everything-and-anything, failed to ever post about his teammate, “Football Night in America’s” Tony Dungy’s 2023 apology after commenting on the myth that litter boxes were being put in school bathrooms for children who identify as cats. There was no feline first-grader post on PFT.
“There is a fundamental difference between being a good teammate to a co-worker and owning a percentage of and having a significant voice in the direction of a team that competes in a league that you are covering,” Florio told The Athletic on the comparisons between him and Brady.
All this is not to say that Florio’s overall point about the inherent conflict of interest with Brady’s ownership stake in the Raiders and calling out Fox doesn’t have merit. In an ideal world, it is one or the other.
In Florio’s world, Fox should have given Brady an ultimatum on his $375 million contract to broadcast games or go own the Raiders. Even if you agree with Florio, Fox may not have the right to just back out of a contract.
Florio has built a lucrative business, rewriting, opining and reporting NFL news. He goes all-in a lot of times. In this case, he shouldn’t have. You know glass houses, rocks and all.
ChatGPT is evolving, bringing even more flexibility to users’ interactions with AI. With the ability to customize its personality traits, you can now shape ChatGPT’s responses to better match your needs and preferences, promising more tailored conversations.
What Are ChatGTP’s Personality Traits?
Specifying personality traits for ChatGPT allows you to customize how the AI chatbot interacts with you. You can give it a name to call you and describe the traits you want it to exhibit, such as being chatty, witty, and encouraging, or transform ChatGPT into a Gen Z, opinionated chatbot.
While it’s tempting to go all out and add a long list of desired traits immediately, I found it easier to start simple. Begin with just a few key characteristics and refine them as you interact with ChatGPT more. You can always edit the traits later to fine-tune ChatGPT’s persona.
You need to create separate chats for different needs, as the traits are enabled only for new chats.
How to Customize ChatGPT’s Personality Traits
Tailoring ChatGPT’s personality is a straightforward process.
Click on your profile picture and select Customize ChatGPT.
Fill in the “What should ChatGPT call you?” and “What traits should ChatGPT have?” fields to give ChatGPT context about you.
You can also use the checkboxes to select the traits you want ChatGPT to exhibit.
Toggle on “Enable for new chats” and click Save.
At the time of writing, the specific personality traits based on the new UI are not yet available on mobile. However, OpenAI has stated that it will roll out this feature to mobile and MacOS in the next few weeks.
Once available, you might look for the Customize ChatGPT option in the app’s settings or menu and follow the prompts to set your desired traits. You can always modify these traits later as you refine your preferred ChatGPT persona.
Try Giving ChatGPT These 3 New Traits For Even Better Responses
The new personality customization options give you more control over the tone, style, and depth of responses so that ChatGPT’s responses don’t go wild. After experimenting, here are three traits I’ve found particularly useful for getting more preferred responses.
Analytical and Detail-Oriented
If you want precise and well-reasoned answers, setting ChatGPT to be “analytical” and “detail-oriented” is a great choice. For example, I asked, “How can I improve my home budget?” and got this response:
“Start by categorizing your expenses—essentials like rent, groceries, and utilities. Then, track discretionary spending like subscriptions or dining out. Use apps like Mint or YNAB to visualize patterns. Finally, set clear savings goals and automate them to stay consistent.”
This trait combination is perfect for tasks like breaking down complex problems, creating actionable plans, or maybe when you need an in-depth explanation.
Straight-Shooting and Opinionated
Need clarity or a no-nonsense answer? The “straight-shooting” and “opinionated” traits make ChatGPT reach the point. For example, I asked, “Is remote work better than office work?” and received:
“It depends on your personality. Introverts might thrive at home, but remote work isn’t for everyone—offices still offer collaboration benefits. For me? Remote all the way.”
This setup is great when looking for direct answers and confident opinions without unnecessary fluff.
Forward-Thinking
When you need motivation or advice, “forward-thinking” traits work wonders. I tested this by asking, “How can I overcome procrastination?” ChatGPT replied:
“Start small! Tackle one task today, and reward yourself after. Imagine how great it’ll feel to achieve your goals—your future self will thank you!”
This combination makes ChatGPT a supportive partner for tackling challenges or planning for the future. It’s ideal for personal development or when morale needs to be boosted.
The personality customization feature, while still new, offers exciting possibilities for tailoring ChatGPT to your unique needs and preferences. As OpenAI continues to refine and expand these options, I expect we’ll see even more creative and productive uses emerge and set ChatGPT to complete tasks.
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-26/Wuxi-s-Huishan-Ancient-Town-shines-in-the-lead-up-to-Spring-Festival-1AtAbqcOhW0/img/0219ebcc5e06411c94872024fec146f7/0219ebcc5e06411c94872024fec146f7.jpeg'Huishan Ancient Town in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province is lit up with Spring Festival lights on January 25, 2025. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-26/Wuxi-s-Huishan-Ancient-Town-shines-in-the-lead-up-to-Spring-Festival-1AtAbqcOhW0/img/0219ebcc5e06411c94872024fec146f7/0219ebcc5e06411c94872024fec146f7.jpeg'Huishan Ancient Town in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province is lit up with Spring Festival lights on January 25, 2025. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-26/Wuxi-s-Huishan-Ancient-Town-shines-in-the-lead-up-to-Spring-Festival-1AtAbqcOhW0/img/0219ebcc5e06411c94872024fec146f7/0219ebcc5e06411c94872024fec146f7.jpeg'Huishan Ancient Town in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province is lit up with Spring Festival lights on January 25, 2025. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-26/Wuxi-s-Huishan-Ancient-Town-shines-in-the-lead-up-to-Spring-Festival-1AtAbqcOhW0/img/0219ebcc5e06411c94872024fec146f7/0219ebcc5e06411c94872024fec146f7.jpeg'Huishan Ancient Town in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province is lit up with Spring Festival lights on January 25, 2025. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-26/Wuxi-s-Huishan-Ancient-Town-shines-in-the-lead-up-to-Spring-Festival-1AtAbqcOhW0/img/0219ebcc5e06411c94872024fec146f7/0219ebcc5e06411c94872024fec146f7.jpeg'Huishan Ancient Town in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province is lit up with Spring Festival lights on January 25, 2025. /VCG
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-26/Wuxi-s-Huishan-Ancient-Town-shines-in-the-lead-up-to-Spring-Festival-1AtAbqcOhW0/img/0219ebcc5e06411c94872024fec146f7/0219ebcc5e06411c94872024fec146f7.jpeg'Huishan Ancient Town in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province is lit up with Spring Festival lights on January 25, 2025. /VCG
In the run up to Spring Festival, Huishan Ancient Town in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, is aglow with brilliant lanterns and bustling with visitors. Renowned for its well-preserved Ming and Qing dynasties architecture, the ancient town is alive with colorful lantern displays and rows of red lanterns hanging high. This year, Wuxi will be one of the four branch venues to feature in the CMG Spring Festival Gala, highlighting its rich cultural heritage and vibrant festive spirit. Known for its historical charm and scenic beauty, Wuxi is a city that blends tradition with modernity, making it the perfect backdrop for celebrating the Chinese New Year.
PARK CITY, Utah — For those of us fortunate enough to avoid evacuation, much less life-altering destruction, during the recent L.A. wildfires, the past weeks have come with a certain numbness. What level of grief is appropriate, after all, if you are experiencing it secondhand?
“Rebuilding,” from writer-director Max Walker-Silverman, provided the outlet I needed. Starring Josh O’Connor as Dusty, a rancher trying to pick up the pieces after a wildfire destroys his home, the film culminates in a moment of sorrow — and resilience — that finally brought me to tears: “You got what you got,” as one character puts it, “and it was always enough for me.”
The film, which deals with derelict FEMA trailers, bureaucratic red tape and the impossible choice between starting over or moving on, was inspired by Walker-Silverman’s own family tragedy: A wildfire destroyed his grandmother’s Colorado home, taking her beloved recipes with it and leaving her once-verdant land a blackened burn scar. Co-starring Lily LaTorre as Dusty’s daughter, Callie-Rose; Meghann Fahy as his ex, Ruby, and Kali Reis as Mila, a woman who’s lost not only her home but her husband in the fire, “Rebuilding,” with uncanny timing, relates a tale that will be told many times over the coming years in Southern California and other disaster zones.
Ahead of the film’s premiere, Walker-Silverman and the film’s cast visited The Times’ studio at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. The conversation has been edited and condensed.
Max, I want to start with you, since your family’s experience of a wildfire inspired the film. How is your family doing now? What part of the rebuilding process are you all in?
Max Walker-Silveman: This story comes about from a very basic human thing, which is loving one’s home and feeling good there, and then being forced to reconcile with that home being fragile and occasionally being taken from us. And strangely, even in the face of that loss, a feeling of home remaining and, in a very surprising way, being deepened. It’s an experience that I’m familiar with and that many people are familiar with. And it’s very surprising. This movie I created [is] about not disaster, ultimately, not loss, but about the amazing things that happened afterwards, which is, time and time again, people taking care of each other and communities coming together and people being friends and neighbors in ways they never would have otherwise. And I wrote this, I think, because disaster is going to be part of our lives forever. It’s not something that will really begin or end. And if that’s the case, hopefully the communities that come together afterwards can continue to be part of our lives as well.
For the rest of you, I’m wondering if in making this film anything about the rebuilding process struck you or surprised you or maybe dismayed you about how that plays out in our country right now for people?
Josh O’Connor: As Max articulates powerfully, these disasters are becoming more frequent and affect everyone, directly or indirectly, more frequently now. So I was really interested in Max’s focus on the human side of how we respond. And community is the solution in these matters. And I think right now, as you alluded to, we’re all very aware of what’s going on in L.A. and all over the world. And our job is to look at the human impact of these things.
Dusty starts off being very concerned with the idea of “building back just the way it was.” And what we watch him do is sort of understand how change and adaptability might actually allow for more of that hope than exactly putting things the way that they were. What were the conversations like between you and Max that sort of helped you understand the mindset that Dusty has and how it changes over the course of the film?
O’Connor: One of the early chats we had, and something we went and explored a bit and it’s actually in the movie, is the surprising and magical moment when green comes back to the landscape. Dusty’s image of rebuilding as it was, you know, replicating what they had, it’s in a way tied in to grief. And there’s something really exceptional about accepting something different that doesn’t necessarily have to be worse or better, but is new. That’s what I really liked about this moment of the green coming through — that landscape, irrespective of him trying to get the loan or trying to build back what he had, it will never be the same. And that can be a beautiful thing.
It’s interesting that you bring up grief because what I experienced watching the film, Meghann, is when your character reads [a] letter [from her late mother], it was like the emotions that I had about the fire came out. I’m wondering if you could talk about what the atmosphere was like on set that day.
Meghann Fahy: The vibe on set, as it was every day, was sort of gentle and loving and very peaceful. And it’s a very intimate moment. We’re all just sort of seated at this table. And I think I sort of felt the support energetically just by being at that round table with those people.
Walker-Silverman: That scene that you did there, Meghann, is like really one of the most amazing performances I’ve ever seen. I remember exactly where I was. I was curled up on that little staircase in the house with my monitor and I couldn’t see properly. And realized I was just crying. And then the take ended and everyone on set was crying.
Fahy: But that’s the thing about grief, is that it can feel so lonely when you’re in it. But that’s such a perfect example of every single person on that set, I’m sure everyone’s life has been touched by grief. So it’s just such a beautiful representation, that moment in the film, of another deeply human experience. And it is a connective tissue, whether or not we’re always aware of it or not.
Josh O’Connor and Lily LaTorre in “Rebuilding.”
(Jesse Hope / Sundance Institute)
Kali, your characterasks about staying in Colorado, “How long until it burns again?” I’m wondering how you kind of understood her fear of the fires coming back and causing destruction again, and then how she arrives at a kind of place of saying, “You know what, I do want to rebuild here instead of elsewhere.”
Reis: She says as much as she hates it here, she loves it here. And I think that’s her final connection to the loss, not only of her home, but her husband. And I think her real connection, she’ll always be there, because that’s where she lost them. So I know as much as she wanted to run away from the place that may burn again, that’s the connecting piece that she has — and this community that she built around this tragedy, this real human experience. You know, these natural disasters, they don’t have any prejudice. Everybody kind of came together in this community. So I think her final decision was, “If I have to go through it again, what better place to go through it again? What better people?”
One last question for the whole group. At one point, Dusty says, “It’s funny, the things you pack and the things you leave.” I wonder if the experience of making this film made any of you think of a particular heirloom or important item in your life, in your home, that you now would be like, “That’s on my list to make sure that I save.”
LaTorre: I only found out about it a few days ago, but my great-grandmother, she wrote a book — I think it was either about her life or about the university she went to. And it’s a really old book and we’ve got it at our house and watching the movie, it kind of made me think, “Well, this is my great grandmother’s. I wouldn’t want to just leave it there.” I would try my absolute hardest probably to save that antique to have the memory of my great grandmother.
Fahy: That’s a great one.
Walker-Silverman: My mom lost her mom’s recipes in the fire, handwritten recipes. So I think I have some recipes from my mom that I would treasure very much.
O’Connor: My grandmother’s ceramics would be like, I’d have an exit strategy.
Reis: I would definitely take my late brother’s necklace that he has. There’s five of us, and I would take his necklace with me for sure.
Fahy: I have a piece of jewelry from my grandmother that I think would be something I would want to keep.
The one exception to that is the UMG v. Anthropic case, because at least early on, earlier versions of Anthropic would generate the song lyrics for songs in the output. That’s a problem. The current status of that case is they’ve put safeguards in place to try to prevent that from happening, and the parties have sort of agreed that, pending the resolution of the case, those safeguards are sufficient, so they’re no longer seeking a preliminary injunction.
At the end of the day, the harder question for the AI companies is not is it legal to engage in training? It’s what do you do when your AI generates output that is too similar to a particular work?
Do you expect the majority of these cases to go to trial, or do you see settlements on the horizon?
There may well be some settlements. Where I expect to see settlements is with big players who either have large swaths of content or content that’s particularly valuable. The New York Times might end up with a settlement, and with a licensing deal, perhaps where OpenAI pays money to use New York Times content.
There’s enough money at stake that we’re probably going to get at least some judgments that set the parameters. The class-action plaintiffs, my sense is they have stars in their eyes. There are lots of class actions, and my guess is that the defendants are going to be resisting those and hoping to win on summary judgment. It’s not obvious that they go to trial. The Supreme Court in the Google v. Oracle case nudged fair-use law very strongly in the direction of being resolved on summary judgment, not in front of a jury. I think the AI companies are going to try very hard to get those cases decided on summary judgment.
Why would it be better for them to win on summary judgment versus a jury verdict?
It’s quicker and it’s cheaper than going to trial. And AI companies are worried that they’re not going to be viewed as popular, that a lot of people are going to think, Oh, you made a copy of the work that should be illegal and not dig into the details of the fair-use doctrine.
There have been lots of deals between AI companies and media outlets, content providers, and other rights holders. Most of the time, these deals appear to be more about search than foundational models, or at least that’s how it’s been described to me. In your opinion, is licensing content to be used in AI search engines—where answers are sourced by retrieval augmented generation or RAG—something that’s legally obligatory? Why are they doing it this way?
If you’re using retrieval augmented generation on targeted, specific content, then your fair-use argument gets more challenging. It’s much more likely that AI-generated search is going to generate text taken directly from one particular source in the output, and that’s much less likely to be a fair use. I mean, it could be—but the risky area is that it’s much more likely to be competing with the original source material. If instead of directing people to a New York Times story, I give them my AI prompt that uses RAG to take the text straight out of that New York Times story, that does seem like a substitution that could harm the New York Times. Legal risk is greater for the AI company.
What do you want people to know about the generative AI copyright fights that they might not already know, or they might have been misinformed about?
The thing that I hear most often that’s wrong as a technical matter is this concept that these are just plagiarism machines. All they’re doing is taking my stuff and then grinding it back out in the form of text and responses. I hear a lot of artists say that, and I hear a lot of lay people say that, and it’s just not right as a technical matter. You can decide if generative AI is good or bad. You can decide it’s lawful or unlawful. But it really is a fundamentally new thing we have not experienced before. The fact that it needs to train on a bunch of content to understand how sentences work, how arguments work, and to understand various facts about the world doesn’t mean it’s just kind of copying and pasting things or creating a collage. It really is generating things that nobody could expect or predict, and it’s giving us a lot of new content. I think that’s important and valuable.
Polygon Labs, the firm behind the widely used Polygon blockchain, recently announced a partnership with Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Limited as part of the latter’s efforts to introduce Web3 elements on its existing services. This week, a new crypto token, called JioCoin, started appearing on the telecom operator’s JioSphere browser app. The reward token appears to have been silently rolled out, with neither Jio nor Polygon having shared any details about the feature. Meanwhile, the JioSphere browser sheds some light on how JioCoins will work.
JioCoin Token Available on JioSphere for Android and iOS
JioCoin tokens are currently listed on the JioSphere app for iOS and Android. These tokens will be arriving soon for desktop version of the browser soon, according to the JioSphere website.
The JioSphere app for Android reveals that the company will issue JioCoins as reward tokens, which can be collected to earn rewards. The app also reveals that users with an India-based mobile number will be eligible to receive JioCoin tokens.
JioCoins seen in the JioSphere app for Android (tap to expand) Photo Credit: Screenshot/ JioSphere
Users can view details about the new JioCoin under the ‘Profile’ section on the JioSphere app — it is located under their username. It requires users to sign in to the browser, using their phone number.
The JioCoin tab shows zero balance for new sign-ups. Its description reads, “Engage with JioSphere to see the rewards roll in!”. Gadgets 360 was able to verify the presence of the feature on JioSphere for Android.
Tapping on this tab will redirect users to the JioCoin Wallet page. Each wallet appears to be assigned with a unique address comprised of alphanumeric characters and numbers. The wallet page also says that JioSphere users can unlock rewards for engaging with the browser. These reward tokens can later be redeemed to “save on transactions”, according to the details included in the app.
JioSphere has become the first app from the the telecom giant to be equipped with a wallet that can store JioCoins. As users engage with the browser and earn rewards, these tokens will be deposited in their designated wallets. “The value of the tokens is also determined bases user engagement,” the FAQ page for JioCoin says.
For now, there’s no word on how users can redeem their JioCoins, or whether they can be traded like regular cryptocurrencies. More information on the subject will be available shortly within these in-app wallets, according to the FAQ page.
The Role of Polygon’s Blockchain
The blockchain firm told Gadgets 360 on Tuesday that it its Polygon blockchain is powering the integration of these Web3 wallets with JioSphere. “Polygon Labs is excited to announce its first integration with Jio Platforms Limited. This marks a significant step in bringing Web3 capabilities to Jio’s ecosystem and is just the beginning of many transformative products in the works,” a spokesperson said in a prepared statement.
According to Aishwary Gupta, the global head of payments at Polygon, this partnership with Jio is one of its biggest in the country to date. Jio and Polygon announced their partnership on January 16. At the time, the blockchain firm announced that Jio is looking to introduce features that rely on Web3 technology, on its existing services that are available to over 450 million users.
As a search marketer, you’re already skilled at creating content that captivates audiences and drives results.
But when the audience is your own team and the goal is internal training, the task might feel a bit out of your comfort zone.
Creating training videos may seem unfamiliar, especially if video production isn’t your forte.
However, your existing skills in search marketing can be incredibly valuable when crafting engaging and educational training videos for your colleagues.
This article will guide you through the essential tools, strategies, and best practices to create training videos that are not only informative but also engaging and effective.
Exploring SearchBot for internal training video insights
What do you do when tasked with an unexpected assignment – one that plays to your weaknesses, like creating internal training videos?
One possible step is to check out Search Engine Land’s SearchBot SearchBot for advice.
In my own search, I tried using the “Productivity expert/motivational coach/personal guru” persona to explore tips and tools for building internal training videos. The Coaching Expert SearchBot (powered by ChatGPT 4.0-mini) offered some valuable insights:
“Here are some key points and tools you might consider including in your presentation on making internal training videos:
Tools for Creating Training Videos
1. Screen Recording Software: – Camtasia: Great for recording screen activity and adding annotations. – OBS Studio: A free, open-source option for screen recording and live streaming.
2. Video Editing Software: – Adobe Premiere Pro: A professional-grade video editing tool with extensive features. – iMovie: A user-friendly option for Mac users, ideal for basic editing.
3. Presentation Tools: – PowerPoint or Google Slides: Use these to create engaging slides that can be recorded as part of your video. – Prezi: Offers a dynamic presentation style that can make your training more engaging.
4. Audio Recording Equipment: – USB Microphones: A good quality microphone can significantly improve audio clarity (e.g., Blue Yeti). – Headsets: For clear audio during recordings or live sessions.
5. Video Hosting Platforms: – YouTube: For public or unlisted videos. – Vimeo: Offers privacy options and is great for internal sharing. – LMS (Learning Management Systems): If your company uses an LMS, consider integrating your videos there for easy access.
Tips for Making Effective Training Videos 1. Define Your Objectives: Clearly outline what you want to achieve with the training video. This will guide your content and structure.
2. Know Your Audience: Tailor your content to the specific needs and knowledge level of your audience to ensure engagement.
3. Keep It Concise: Aim for shorter videos (5-10 minutes) to maintain attention and focus. Break longer topics into a series of shorter videos.
4. Engage with Visuals: Use visuals, graphics and animations to illustrate key points and keep the audience engaged.
5. Include Interactive Elements: If possible, incorporate quizzes or discussion prompts to encourage interaction and reinforce learning.
6. Practice Delivery: Rehearse your presentation to ensure smooth delivery and to build confidence.
7. Gather Feedback: After the training, solicit feedback to improve future videos and address any gaps in understanding.
Conclusion Encourage your colleagues to embrace video as a powerful tool for training and development. Highlight the importance of continuous learning and how effective training videos can enhance knowledge retention and engagement within the organization.”
While these are helpful general guidelines, one thing the SearchBot didn’t touch on was the importance of scriptwriting and video planning tools.
For example, Google Docs or Notion are great for drafting scripts and structuring content, ensuring nothing important gets overlooked.
Tools like Trello or Asana can also help you organize the production process by breaking down each step – scripting, recording, editing, and reviewing.
Dig deeper: Video content guide: Why you should start creating videos now (plus examples)
Adding a dash of creativity to your internal training videos
While technical tips and tools are essential, the real magic happens when creativity transforms your content into something memorable.
Drawing inspiration from David Ogilvy’s philosophy of “big ideas,” I decided to seek unconventional sources of inspiration.
One such source was the 1976 comedy film Murder by Death – a clever spoof of detective movie tropes.
This time, I used another persona in Search Engine Land’s list: Sarcastic Marketer (for fun!). It’s been “pre-prompted” as a snarky, clever, and funny marketing expert. Here’s what the chatbot generated:
“[W]hen I think of engaging internal training videos, I immediately think of a 1976 comedy/mystery film featuring a cast of eccentric detectives. I mean, who wouldn’t want to learn about compliance policies from a parody of Hercule Poirot or a bumbling version of Sam Spade?
Here’s the genius plan:
1. Character-Based Scenarios: Use the iconic characters from Murder by Death as avatars for different training modules. Picture this: your compliance training led by a Poirot-esque character who meticulously unravels the “mystery” of company policies. “Ah, but what is the true meaning of ‘conflict of interest’? Let us investigate!”
2. Humor and Mystery: Inject humor into the training by creating a light-hearted mystery that employees need to solve. For example, “Who stole the last donut in the break room?” Employees can learn about teamwork and communication while trying to crack the case. Spoiler alert: it was probably the intern.
3. Interactive Elements: Incorporate interactive elements where employees can choose their own adventure, much like the film’s plot twists. “Will you follow the lead of the wise-cracking detective or the overly serious one? Choose wisely, or you might end up in a training loop of doom!”
4. Visual Style: Emulate the film’s quirky visual style. Use bold colors, exaggerated expressions and playful graphics to keep viewers engaged. Because nothing says “mandatory training” like a cartoonish detective with a magnifying glass.
5. Catchy Taglines: Create memorable taglines inspired by the film’s humor. “In the world of corporate training, the only thing more mysterious than our policies is why you haven’t watched this video yet!”
6. Post-Training Debrief: End with a “whodunit” style debrief where employees can discuss what they learned, just like detectives sharing their theories. “So, who really was the culprit behind the missed deadlines? Was it poor communication or just a lack of coffee?”
So, there you have it! By channeling the comedic brilliance of Murder by Death, you can transform those deadly dull training videos into something that employees might actually look forward to. Just remember, if all else fails, you can always blame it on the cat.”
By injecting creativity into your training videos, you can break free from the typical formulaic approach, turning mundane content into an engaging, even fun, experience for your team.
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Strategic insights for effective training videos
Creating impactful internal training videos requires more than technical know-how.
It demands a strategic approach that aligns with organizational goals, leverages industry trends, and incorporates data-driven improvements.
Here’s how to make your training videos effective and engaging.
Align training videos with business goals
Training videos should serve as strategic tools, not just tutorials. Tie them to broader business objectives like scaling lead generation, improving ROI, or boosting organic traffic.
For example, if your company is entering new markets, focus on localization strategies for PPC or international SEO best practices. Ensuring alignment with key goals enhances their relevance and impact.
Use introductory videos and advanced tutorials
Tailoring videos for various levels of expertise within your company is key to maintaining engagement and ensuring that learning is effective.
Consider creating distinct content based on the following:
Introductory videos: Target new hires or those with less experience. These might cover basic topics like using Google Keyword Planner or an overview of Google Ads, providing a solid foundation for those starting out in marketing.
Advanced tutorials: Cater to seasoned professionals with more complex topics, such as conversion rate optimization (CRO), attribution modeling, or technical SEO audits using tools like Screaming Frog. These sessions should delve deep into advanced strategies, providing more technical insights and practical applications.
Tailoring your content ensures that employees at all levels feel supported, challenged, and engaged in their learning journey.
Incorporate video SEO principles
Even internal training videos benefit from video SEO practices. Optimize file names, titles, and descriptions with relevant keywords to improve discoverability within your company’s systems.
This ensures that employees can quickly locate the resources they need, especially in larger organizations.
Tactical advice for creating effective training videos
Leverage analytics for optimization: Treat training videos like SEO or PPC campaigns by tracking performance metrics such as watch times, completion rates, and engagement. Tools like Wistia or Panopto can help identify content gaps or opportunities for improvement, ensuring your videos remain relevant and effective.
Integrate interactive elements: Boost engagement and reinforce learning by incorporating quizzes, polls, or interactive walkthroughs. For example, SEO training might include a quiz on keyword strategy, while a PPC walkthrough could guide users through campaign setup, offering hands-on experience.
By aligning your videos with business goals and applying these tactical best practices, you can create training content that resonates, informs, and drives measurable improvement within your organization.
Dig deeper: YouTube SEO fundamentals: What you need to know
Contributing authors are invited to create content for Search Engine Land and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the search community. Our contributors work under the oversight of the editorial staff and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers. The opinions they express are their own.
Mass Effect 2 is celebrating its 15-year anniversary today, January 26, 2025. Below, we look back at its unique episodic structure, and how other developers have not picked up its torch.
Most RPGs are like fantasy or science-fiction novels. The cross-continental journeys of Final Fantasy X or Dragon Age: Origins feel analogous to The Lord of the Rings or The Wheel of Time. Even sandboxes like Baldur’s Gate 3 lean on a linear set of events, the disruption of routine key to fantasy fiction. Mass Effect 2 is a serious contrast, instead modeling itself after a season of television. I’m not the first person to make this comparison, but even after a decade and a half of further RPG releases, ME2’s structure remains striking. The format helped catapult ME2 to upper echelons of many greatest-games lists. It is still the most beloved entry of the franchise, beating out its incomplete and controversial siblings. However, without the novelty of experiencing it for the first time, ME2 feels more like a valiant first effort at something new, rather than the apex of the form.
To summarize, protagonist Shepard is tasked with recruiting 12 party members to accompany him on a “suicide mission.” Outside of a few main quests, most of ME2’s runtime concerns itself with recruiting those characters and helping them resolve their personal issues. ME2’s main plot is ultimately inconsequential to the trilogy’s broader machinations. Instead, the game’s series of one-off missions steal the show, making ME2 more character-focused than its kin. One could argue that Baldur’s Gate 3, with its three acts, or Dragon Age: Origins, with its hub areas, have episodic structures. But each mission in ME2 is essentially an episode of TV. Most are entirely self-contained, and few relate back to the main plot in any meaningful way. They act the way individual episodes in a television show might act. The game is a serious attempt to bring the long-term, routine-focused dynamics of classic Star Trek to a massive RPG.
In theory, this offers space for characters to relax, take up space, and show their complexities and shades. Sometimes it even succeeds. The assassin Thane is an obvious highlight–a clichéd character given weight and grace through careful writing and some beguiling alien touches.
Mass Effect Lore: Cerberus
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The problems are in the ensemble. Mass Effect 2’s focus on individual characters leads to some remarkable moments, but it also means there is little room for party members to get to know and react to each other. To be fair, this is a problem that many RPGs have. Because you often swap out companion characters, leaving the remainder “back at camp,” means that you have little guaranteed time with any individual character and even less time with any pair or trio in your party. Intra-companion interactions are limited to banter or brief reactions. Conflict between party members cannot drive the plot because there is no guarantee that any individual party member will be present at any time. (Final Fantasy solved this problem years ago by assuming every party member is present for cutscenes, but restricting combat to a limited number).
Mass Effect 2 instantiated this problem in some novel ways. Each of the game’s 12 party members are only guaranteed to be present for two missions. DLC characters like Kasumi Goto and Zaeed Massani only get one. This means that party members have to go broad, charismatic, and identifiable. The majority of the cast are recognizable archetypes that get little elaboration: the traumatized punk with a heart of gold (Jack), the neurotic, autistic-coded scientist (Mordin), the beleaguered self-sacrificing warrior (Samara). The returning companions Tali, Garrus, and especially Liara avoid this to some degree (the Liara-focused DLC Lair of the Shadow Broker is perhaps the single best Mass Effect story). But Tali’s and Garrus’s quests offer variations on their arcs from the first game. What is Tali’s relationship to her culture and family? Should Garrus indulge his instincts of vengeance? Neither mission pushes either character beyond where they already were.
To give credit where it is due, ME2 does try to center character conflict. Opposing party members like Jack and Miranda (who works for the corp that experimented on Jack) get a moment of confrontation. However, these are isolated scenes that are easily defused with a persuasion check. ME2’s structure can’t allow these conflicts to boil over at a dramatic moment or become a pain point revisited during multiple missions. While individual characters can experience growth and change, the character of the ensemble itself must remain consistent. The only relationships that can develop, at least in a serious meaningful way, are between party members and the player. Even the suicide mission, in which all 12 party members participate, focuses on choices about individual characters. The growth of the ensemble, the development of it unto itself, is a defining element of most great television. ME2 can only manage a few gestures at it.
Despite all my grousing, ME2 does sometimes capitalize on its format. The episodic structure allows for a wider diversity of settings than the first game’s hub worlds and the third’s military theatres. Though the game’s overall plot is weak, its individual moments remain focused, allowing missions with high and low stakes, from rescuing a lost sister to saving a son from the sins of the father. This gives the game an emotional character, so that when the stakes get higher in the suicide mission, your heart is with the individual lives of your crew more than anything else.
Despite these strengths, no game has really taken Mass Effect 2’s mantle. RPGs like Pentiment, Disco Elysium, and Citizen Sleeper have innovated on the format in entirely different ways. Dragon Age: The Veilguard borrows the ideal of the “suicide mission,” concluding in a massive setpiece, but lets go of ME2’s more episodic elements. Throwback isometric games like Pillars of Eternity and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous attempt to wrangle the sprawl of tabletop campaigns into video game form. Even literal episodic games like Life is Strange borrow more from the miniseries, rather than the sci-fi television epic. While Mass Effect 2 is beloved, it is not exactly influential.
Fifteen years later, what Mass Effect 2 best showcases is promise. While hardly an experimental game, it attempts something novel in its genre-space and succeeds, but the gaps it leaves behind are tantalizing. One wonders what a similar game with a smaller cast, a greater focus on character conflict, and an unflagging commitment to episodic storytelling might bring. Its potential is still unrealized.
A research team from Columbia Engineering and the Irving Institute for Cancer Dynamics made a pivotal discovery in the field of cancer immunotherapy. In a paper published today in Science Immunology, the team identified a specific population of immune cells that play a critical role in successful treatment of relapsed acute myeloid leukemia (AML). This work was in collaboration with the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI).
AML, which affects four out of 100,000 patients in the U.S. every year, according to the National Cancer Institute, is a type of cancer that first attacks the bone marrow before moving to infect the blood. The current treatment plan includes targeted chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant. Unfortunately, up to 40% of these patients relapse after transplant and have a median survival of six months. At that stage, the only hope for remission is through immunotherapy.
Led by Elham Azizi, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering, the research explores how coordinated immune networks in leukemia bone marrow microenvironments influence responses to cellular therapy, raising the question: why do some patients benefit from immunotherapy while others do not? The current treatment for relapsed AML, donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI) — a therapy involving donor immune cells — has a 5-year survival rate of only 24%, according to research conducted by Pfizer.
This new study finds that a unique population of T cells found in patients who are responding to DLI might be the key. These cells fight leukemia by boosting the immune response. Additionally, the study shows that patients with a healthier, more active and diverse immune environment in the bone marrow are better able to support these cells and their cancer-fighting abilities.
Utilizing the team’s proprietary computational DIISCO approach, the researchers discovered key interactions between the unique T cell population and other immune cells may lead to patient remission. They also traced these T cells back to the donor product. However, it was discovered that the donor’s immune cell composition has little to no effect on the patient’s success. In fact, the success of this treatment is determined by the patient’s immune environment. DIISCO is a machine learning method used to analyze how cell interactions change over time with a focus on cancer and immune cells profiled in clinical specimens.
The study’s findings can lead to new intervention options such as improving the immune environment before starting the standard DLI treatment and exploring combinations of immunotherapies. This will help patients who don’t typically respond well to find a personalized option that works for them.
“This research exemplifies the power of combining computational and experimental methods through close collaboration to answer complex biological questions and uncover unexpected insights,” said Azizi, who is a member of the Irving Institute for Cancer Dynamics, the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Columbia’s Data Science Institute. “Our findings not only shed light on mechanisms underlying successful immunotherapy response in leukemia, but also provide a roadmap for developing effective treatments guided by innovative machine learning tools.”
“Seeing our findings validated through functional experiments is incredibly exciting and offers real hope for improving cancer immunotherapy,” said Cameron Park, a PhD student in the Azizi lab, who co-led this study with Katie Maurer at the Catherine Wu Lab at Dana Farber-Cancer Institute. Park was also a co-developer of the DIISCO algorithm.
In this particular research’s future, the team plans to explore interventions that enhance the effectiveness of DLI while focusing on modulating the tumor microenvironment. Although exciting, much more work has to be done before the team can head to clinical trials with the hope to improve outcomes for patients with relapsed AML.
Think Denmark, think Danish pastries. Buttery, flaky, light-as-air, a Danish is a multilayered, laminated sweet pastry in the viennoiserie tradition. Typically pigeonholed into a small slot across the world, a Danish pastry seems synonymous with the custard-filled spandauer—a staple at breakfast buffets across the world. But a recent trip to Copenhagen revealed that there’s more: kanelsnegle (cinnamon snail), kanelstang (cinnamon stick), tebirkes (pastry with poppy seeds), brunsviger (topped with caramelised brown sugar), and hindbærsnitte (raspberry slice) are among some of the Danish pastry varieties available.
Food historian Nina Bauer says the Danish pastry is called “wienerbrod” in Danish, literally “Viennese bread”, because the inspiration and baking techniques came from Viennese bakers. Local lore suggests the Danish pastry was born amid a strike among bakery workers in Denmark in 1850.
The strike led bakery owners to hire foreign bakers, including those from Austria, who brought their own baking techniques. The end of the strike led Danish bakers to adopt Austrian recipes, creating the famous Danish pastry.
But Bauer says the hiring of foreign bakers started long before 1850. “The history of the Danish goes back to the late 18th century when many bakers came from Austria and Germany. The Danish learned the art of laminating dough, a technique that made it light and airy. This inspired many Danish bakers to travel to Austria to study the art of Viennese baking,” she says.
NC Albeck, a baker at the Danish court, is said to have travelled to Austria around 1840 to learn the secrets of Viennese baking. On his return, he used the Austrian yeast-leavened puff-pastry dough to create wienerbrod horn, or Viennese bread horns.
Many other bakers followed, combining varied techniques with different kinds of fillings, including nuts, raisins, spices, jam, apple, marzipan, and custard.
The recipe for a true-blue Danish only has a few ingredients—a yeast-leavened dough of flour, milk, eggs, and sugar—but the process is long. The dough is rolled out thinly, covered with butter of rullemargarine (a baker’s margarine), and then folded and rolled several times, ultimately creating 27 layers.
“The 27 layers are one of the hallmarks of true Danish pastry. The signature folds create a pastry that is light and crispy on the outside, rich and buttery inside,” says Amalie Holm, at Hart Bakery, one of the most popular bakeries in Copenhagen.
Registrations are invited for a Video Making Competition by Vidhi Utsav, OakBridge Publishing. Submit your Videos by Feb 5! About the Organiser Vidhi Utsav is an initiative of OakBridge Publishing comprising a group of people who are passionate about law, literature, knowledge and advancing the rule of law. OakBridge Publishing is a new-age Publishing and […]
The post Video Making Competition at Vidhi Utsav by OakBridge Publishing [Feb 21 – 22; Cash Prizes Upto Rs. 50k]: Submit your Videos by Feb 5! appeared first on Lawctopus.
Monday, Jan 27 promises to offer loads if you wish to explore the culture of Delhi-NCR. Before you plan your day, check out HT City Delhi Junction on Insta!
#DelhiTalkies
Catch It Live on Monday, 27 January 2025
What: Bharat Parv 2025
Where: Red Fort, Old Delhi
When: January 26 to 31
Timing: Noon to 9pm
Entry: Free
Nearest Metro Station: Lal Qila (Violet Line)
#StepUp
What: Ganga
Where: Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road
Prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will testify before the Senate Finance Committee on Jan. 29 as he attempts to calm concerns from Democrats and Republicans about his nomination to be the nation’s top health official.
Though controversy has surrounded a number of Trump’s nominees, Kennedy stands out for drawing criticism from both sides of the aisle in the Senate. Republican Mitch McConnell and Democrat Elizabeth Warren are among those who have condemned his previous anti-vaccine rhetoric. Other Republicans are concerned about Kennedy’s support for abortion rights.
As the head of the Department of Health and Human Services, Kennedy would oversee critical agencies including the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. Trump has previously said Kennedy should “go wild” to shake up health care, and Kennedy has pledged to rid HHS of the “smothering cloud of corporate capture.”
Over the years, Kennedy has crusaded against seed oils, touted the benefits of raw milk and pushed to remove fluoride from drinking water. But none of his views have caused as much controversy as his false claims linking vaccines to autism. He’s also been involved in a number of anti-vaccine lawsuits and plans to keep a financial stake in an action against Merck & Co. even if he wins confirmation.
Drugmakers have largely downplayed the potential damage Kennedy could do to their business, pointing to legislative and bureaucratic guardrails. Andy Plump, Takeda’s head of research, recently predicted that changing politics would have “modest” effects for the industry. “Regulation is controlled by laws,” Plump said in an interview with BioPharma Dive. “And those are laws that are hard to evolve quickly.”
Still, Kennedy’s pledge to fire FDA employees or a mass exodus of staff could result in longer review times, hurting drugmakers’ bottom lines, William Blair analyst Max Smock wrote in a note to investors. Indeed, a number of top FDA officials have already left the agency ahead of the new administration.
And McConnell and Warren pointed out the danger contained just in Kennedy’s rhetoric on vaccines. “Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed — they’re dangerous,” McConnell, a polio survivor, said after the New York Times reported that a Kennedy associate had sought to revoke the approval of a polio vaccine.
Warren, meanwhile, noted Kennedy traveled to Samoa and encouraged doubt about vaccines months before a measles outbreak that infected thousands and killed 83 people. “At the time, you shrugged off the epidemic as ‘mild,’” Warren wrote to Kennedy. “This massive disregard for human lives is indicative of the irresponsible public health official that you would be.”
Kennedy is one of the last of President Trump’s high-profile nominees to secure a confirmation hearing after delays reportedly related to his financial disclosures. Marco Rubio has already been sworn in as Secretary of State; other nominees including those for Defense, Treasury and Justice have been vetted by committees and are awaiting votes by the full Senate.
While the Australian property market is expected to experience varied trends across different regions in 2025, factors such as interstate migration, loan volumes, and housing supply will play significant roles in shaping these outcomes.
Demand is likely to remain strong in more affordable markets like Queensland, Adelaide, and Perth due to borrowing capacity constraints.
Prices in Melbourne may not fall substantially if current conditions persist, as many owners are choosing to hold onto their properties rather than sell in a challenging market.
It’s always fascinating to explore how property prices might move over the coming year.
While short-term price fluctuations aren’t particularly relevant for long-term investors, this kind of analysis can be incredibly useful for those planning to sell or buy property in 2025.
Last week, I joined James Kirby on The Australian’s finance podcast to dive into this topic, and I wanted to share some of the key points from our discussion.
What happened in 2024?
Across the 5 major capital cities, house prices rose 5.2%, on average, over the 2024 calendar year:
It’s worth noting that Melbourne was the only market to record a decline in prices.
Anecdotally, I’m aware that in some parts of Victoria, particularly in coastal areas, there are far more potential sellers than buyers.
However, many sellers have chosen not to list their properties because they recognise that buyer demand is very weak.
The main reason prices in Victoria, including Melbourne, haven’t fallen further is that most owners aren’t under pressure to sell.
They’re content to sit tight and ride out this cycle rather than sell in a challenging market. If that situation doesn’t change in 2025, Melbourne’s prices won’t fall substantially.
Factors that will have the greatest influence in 2025
Last year, I highlighted interstate migration, loan volumes, and housing supply as the three most influential factors affecting property prices (see here).
Interstate migration
Interstate migration serves as a strong indicator of property buyer sentiment.
The latest data (up to June 2024) reveals some notable trends:
Sydney: Net interstate migration is deeply negative, with a net 7,700 people leaving per quarter over the past year – over 50% higher than the long-term average of 5,000 net departures per quarter.
Victoria: The state has seen a turnaround, averaging a net inflow of 660 people per quarter over the 12 months to June 2024. This is a significant improvement from the long-term average of a 1,000-person net loss per quarter. And a remarkable recovery from the Covid period (2020–2023), when Victoria experienced an average net loss of 5,000 people per quarter.
Queensland: Interstate migration remains strong, with 7,500 net people arriving per quarter, well above the long-term average of 6,000.
South Australia: Net migration is negative but remains better than its long-term trend.
Western Australia: After years of below-average migration, the state is now experiencing positive net inflows of approximately 2,500 people per quarter.
In summary, Sydney is becoming less popular, the narrative around Victoria has shifted positively, and Queensland continues to stand out as a highly popular destination.
Loan volumes
Loan volumes surged between 2020 and early 2022, driven by historically low interest rates that made borrowing far more affordable and attractive.
However, this trend reversed sharply from February 2022, particularly after the RBA began raising rates in May 2022.
Since March 2023, lending volumes have rebounded strongly and are now approaching the peaks seen in early 2022.
Unsurprisingly, investor loan volumes vary significantly across states compared to pre-COVID levels:
Victoria: Loan volumes are slightly below pre-Covid levels.
South Australia: Approximately 50% higher.
Queensland: Over 80% higher.
Western Australia: A remarkable 235% higher, though this is from a very low base.
Looking ahead to 2025, affordability and borrowing capacity will continue to be key factors shaping the property market.
These dynamics are likely to sustain strong demand in more affordable markets like Queensland, Adelaide, and Perth.
Interestingly, some lenders have already begun quietly relaxing credit policies, such as offering longer loan terms and requiring less paperwork, to enhance borrowers’ capacity.
Given that the banking regulator has indicated it won’t reduce the 3% loan buffer, I anticipate more lenders will adjust their credit policies to support borrowing.
This should help underpin loan volumes.
However, tight borrowing capacity will remain a dominant theme, further driving demand in affordable markets throughout 2025.
Housing supply and the federal election
Housing affordability is set to be a key issue in this year’s federal election, as it often is.
Federal elections can impact property markets, particularly if a major political party proposes significant policy changes.
From what I understand, the ALP has ruled out any changes to capital gains tax (CGT) or negative gearing, providing some certainty for property investors.
On the other hand, the Coalition appears likely to introduce a policy allowing first-home buyers to access their superannuation to help purchase a home.
Policies like this can have a real influence on the property market, particularly in the short term, as they can affect buyer demand and sentiment.
Will interest rate cuts have a big impact?
It’s widely expected that the RBA will begin cutting interest rates in 2025, with most commentators predicting the first cut around mid-year.
Money markets have already priced in three 0.25% rate cuts for 2025.
Even if rates are reduced by 0.75% in total, we shouldn’t overestimate the impact on borrowing capacity.
For most people, borrowing capacity would only increase by about 5% to 10%.
However, the real impact of rate cuts will be felt by existing borrowers, particularly those carrying significant debt, as their repayments reduce.
There’s no doubt in my mind that lower interest rates will fuel demand for property and, in turn, drive price growth.
Expectations of future rate changes beyond 2025 could also influence the property market.
As it stands, money markets aren’t pricing in any additional cuts beyond the three expected next year.
However, if those expectations shift – whether toward more cuts or potential hikes – it could have a significant impact on property prices.
A medium-term outlook is more helpful
While it’s interesting to speculate on how property prices might change in 2025, I believe it’s far more valuable to focus on the medium-term outlook, say the next 3 to 7 years.
Short-term price movements are almost impossible to predict with high conviction.
However, the longer the time horizon, the more predictable market trends become.
This chart highlights that property markets typically move in two distinct cycles: a flat cycle followed by a growth cycle. I’ve studied every flat and growth cycle since 1980.
Growth cycles since 1980
The table below includes all growth cycles since 1980.
On average, these growth cycles last about 10 years (the shortest is 4 years and the longest is 20 years).
This data provides valuable context for evaluating whether current growth cycles are nearing their completion:
Perth: The growth cycle began less than 2 years ago, with prices increasing by approximately 40% so far.
Adelaide: The growth cycle started 5.5 years ago, with prices rising by over 70% during that period.
Brisbane: Similarly, Brisbane’s growth cycle began 5.5 years ago, with prices also up by over 70%.
Sydney: The growth cycle started less than 4 years ago, but prices have only increased by 26% over that time.
This analysis suggests that Perth’s growth cycle is still in its early stages and is likely to continue for several more years.
Adelaide and Brisbane appear to be beyond the halfway point of their cycles. Sydney, however, is harder to assess and remains less clear.
Flat cycles
The table below includes all flat cycles since 1980.
On average, these flat cycles last about 8-9 years (the shortest is 7 years and the longest is 12 years).
Melbourne’s flat cycle began 8 years ago, during which the median house price has declined by an average of 2.4% p.a. in real terms – that is, after adjusting for inflation.
This is substantially more than any previous flat cycles, except in Sydney between 1989 and 1996 where prices fell by 2.8% p.a. in real terms.
This analysis suggests that Melbourne is likely getting close to the end of its flat cycle.
What to expect in 2025?
I expect 2025 to bring more of the same.
The RBA is likely to remain cautious with interest rates and given the strength and resilience of the employment market, I think the likelihood of more than three rate cuts is slim.
While rate cuts will provide some stimulus to the property market, I don’t anticipate a significant impact, as mortgage volumes are already quite high.
I also don’t believe the federal election will disrupt the property market.
If there isn’t a material increase in forced property sales, and I don’t expect there will be, I think Melbourne’s prices will hold up relatively well.
My 2025 predictions:
Perth: Once again, the strongest performer, with another year of double-digit growth.
Brisbane and Adelaide: Both set for strong years, with high single-digit growth.
Melbourne and Sydney: Likely to lag, with price movements ranging from -3% to +3%.
Slow markets can deliver better opportunities
In the long run, a high-quality, investment-grade property is likely to deliver strong returns, no matter which capital city it’s located in.
That said, it’s always smarter to invest with an eye on maximising both medium and long-term returns.
Right now, I believe Melbourne is the most attractive market.
It’s likely to enter a growth cycle within the next 1 to 4 years, and softer markets often provide excellent buying opportunities due to reduced competition from other buyers.
About Stuart Wemyss Stuart was a Chartered Accountant before establishing mortgage broking firm ProSolution Private Clients. He has authored two books and shares his experience with readers of Property Update. Visit www.prosolution.com.au
Starting to date for the first time or after a long break can feel like stepping into uncharted territory. It’s natural to have doubts, wonder “How does dating work?” or even getting stuck on “I don’t know how to date, might as well not try”. These thoughts might seem overwhelming, but the process isn’t as hard as you think. Dating is not about perfection—it’s about connection, growth, and mutual discovery. Whether you’re wondering if the time is right or searching for actionable dating tips on how to start dating, we’ve brought you all the answers!
We talked to a California-based psychiatrist and cognitive behavior therapist, Dr. Shefali Batra (MD in psychiatry), who specializes in counseling for separation and divorce, breakup and dating, and premarital compatibility issues, to bring you practical steps and expert advice.
11 Effective Tips On How To Start Dating
Dating for the first time can feel like attempting to assemble IKEA furniture without the instructions—overwhelming, confusing, and occasionally hilarious. But don’t sweat it! With the right moves and a pinch of humor, you’ll not only navigate the dating world but also enjoy the process. Below are 11 expert dating tips designed to help you take the first steps confidently and authentically.
1. Show up where people are
Meeting people requires, well, being where they are.
Join hobby groups
Attend events
Or even frequent coffee shops
For example, joining a book club or participating in a yoga class can help you find like-minded individuals organically. Dr. Batra advises, “If you’re nervous, start small: say hello to someone new or compliment their choice of book or outfit.” Genuine interactions, even casual ones, can boost your confidence, increase your connections and thus, help with dating.
Go out to meet people
2. Swipe with style
Dating apps are like a modern matchmaking tool. Crafting a good dating profile is crucial:
Include clear, recent photos and a bio that reflects your personality and interests
Avoid clichés like “I love traveling” without context; instead, write about your favorite trip
Swipe thoughtfully; quality connections matter more than quantity
3. Practice small talk
Small talk isn’t meaningless; it’s a stepping stone to meaningful conversations. Giving advice on how to start dating for the first time, Dr. Batra says, “Practice your conversation skills with colleagues or neighbors. If you’re at a networking event, ask open-ended questions like, “What do you enjoy most about your job?” Engaging in light, confident exchanges helps you relax during dates.
Related Reading: 21 Best Hookup Apps For Those Looking To Get Laid
4. Ask for setups
How does dating work for people who are not into online matchmaking? You can always go for the traditional route! Friends often have a good sense of who might be compatible with you. Mention you’re open to dating and ask if they know anyone who shares your interests. A setup comes with a built-in sense of trust since your friend is vouching for both of you. Remember to keep the initial meeting casual, like a coffee date.
5. Ace first impressions
Small gestures like dressing up, getting flowers for your date, maintaining eye contact, and smiling convey warmth and interest, setting a positive tone for the date. Dr. Batra shares, “Confidence is key, but it doesn’t mean perfection. Show authenticity—laugh at yourself if you spill coffee or fumble a joke.”
Related Reading: Planning A Commitment Ceremony? Everything You Need To Know
6. Stay open-minded
Embrace differences; they make relationships interesting. Someone’s quirks, like a love for pineapple pizza, might initially seem odd but can lead to shared laughs. Avoid dismissing someone for minor preferences; focus on their values and personality instead.
7. Move at your pace
When working on how to get back into dating, avoid rushing the process. Dr. Batra shares, “Constant texting or frequent meetups can feel overwhelming, especially when you’ve not dated for a while.” Space helps build anticipation and a natural rhythm in the relationship. So, allow things to unfold organically.
8. Plan low-stakes dates
First dates don’t need to be extravagant. A casual coffee shop or a walk in the park keeps the focus on conversation. Such settings are low-pressure, allowing both parties to feel at ease. Keep it light and fun to encourage a genuine connection.
Try casual dates
9. Be a great listener
Active listening is a superpower in dating. Respond thoughtfully and show interest in what your date shares. For example, if they mention a love for cooking, ask about their favorite recipes or cuisines. Listening builds trust and rapport.
10. Watch for red flags
This is great first relationship advice because, with no experience, you’re bound to swoon over anyone who gives you a tiny bit of attention (No need to get offended, we were all like this at some point of time). Dr. Batra shares, “Before starting a relationship, be mindful of behaviors that indicate potential issues, like excessive negativity or an inability to respect boundaries. Trust your instincts; if something feels off, it’s okay to step back.”
11. Be yourself
The most cliche tip out there to help with dating. And, believe it or not, the truest one too. Authenticity is attractive. Share your quirks and interests, whether it’s a love for midnight snacks or obscure documentaries. Being genuine fosters meaningful connections and ensures compatibility.
How To Start Dating Again: 10 Things To Keep In Mind
Re-entering the dating world can feel overwhelming, especially after a significant break. If you’re wondering “When should I start dating again?” The answer depends on how you’re feeling. These tips will help you determine if you’re ready yet and, if yes, how to get back into dating, whether you’re starting a new relationship or just testing the waters.
1. Check your emotional baggage
Unresolved emotions from past relationships can cloud new connections. Reflect on your feelings and ensure you’ve processed them fully. Journaling or therapy can help you unpack lingering issues. If you can think of your ex without bitterness, it’s a sign you’re ready. As this Reddit user shared, “Ultimately, it’s no one’s business but your own. Just make sure you’re not dating to fill the hole that the previous person left. You’ve gotta heal that on your own.”
2. Reflect on past lessons
Before you jump to figuring out how to start dating again, stop to analyze your last relationship. Ask yourself questions like:
What went wrong?
What could you have done differently?
Were you at fault in any way and if yes, how can you improve and be a better partner?
Dr. Batra shares, “Each relationship offers lessons. Consider what worked, what didn’t, and how you’d like future relationships to look. Use these insights to set clear expectations and avoid repeating patterns.”
3. Reconnect with yourself
Rediscover your passions and hobbies. Activities like painting or hiking boost self-confidence and remind you of your individuality. Having a strong sense of self is important for dating, so that you don’t settle for anything less than what you deserve. This Reddit user shared their journey after a break up, “I went back to therapy, journalled a lot, focussed on what I can improve on so I don’t let the emotional baggage seep in if ever I wanted to date again. All that hard work internally is worth it because I’m finally in an amazing healthy relationship”
Related Reading: 21 Clear Signs Of Unspoken Attraction Between Two People
4. Heal before you reveal
No matter how many dating tips you follow, entering the dating world prematurely can lead to superficial connections. Ensure you feel emotionally prepared to share your life with someone new. Take your time and prioritize your mental health. A Reddit user shared their perspective on the matter, “..a few months ago I ended things with a man I thought was the one. I’m not ready yet, even though I’ve just heard that my ex is actively dating other people now. I think you can’t quantify healing, and you shouldn’t rush to compete with your ex when it comes to moving on. Take your time.“
Related Reading: What Leo Man Dislikes In A Woman And What He Likes
5. Set boundaries
Begin by identifying your non-negotiables—these could include:
How much time you’re willing to dedicate to the relationship
Communication preferences
Or the types of behaviors you find unacceptable
Once you’ve clarified your limits, communicate them openly but respectfully. For example, if you value personal time, express that you need a few evenings a week for yourself. If someone struggles to respect your boundaries or makes fun of them, it’s a red flag worth noting.
6. Flirt fearlessly
Flirting doesn’t have to be serious; it’s about expressing interest playfully. So don’t hesitate too much to give a compliment or a flirtatious smile to let them know that you’re single as a pringle and ready to mingle. (Too corny?)
Don’t hesitate to flirt
7. Redefine what you want
Now that you’ve decided, “I want to start dating again,” define what dating means to you at this point of time. Clarify your expectations for yourself so that you can be transparent with the people you meet. Consider the following questions:
Are you seeking a long-term partner, exploring casual dating, or simply something sexual?
What qualities do you want in a partner?
As you’re starting fresh, is there something new you want to experiment with? (polyamory, different sexual orientation, etc.)
8. Stop comparing
Dr. Batra emphasizes, “Even if your last relationship was ideal and your ex was great, don’t go out expecting to find the same person again. They will come with their own qualities and flaws and if you try to fit them in a certain mold, it’s not fair to them.“ Yes, you still want a decent person who treats you right and shows you love. But they don’t know your love language yet like the last person did. For example, if they bring you roses but you like lilies instead, don’t take a trip down the memory lane. Just tell the person you like lilies better.
9. Take it slow
Yes, we know that you’ve boarded the “I want to start dating again” bandwagon enthusiastically, but remember to take your time knowing a person. You don’t want to commit to someone that you’d regret later and then go through the whole cycle again.
10. Celebrate your growth
Still stuck at “I don’t know how to date”? Don’t worry, no one does. It’s dating, not rocket science — it doesn’t come with a set manual. You’re allowed to bend the “rules” to suit your needs. Dr. Batra says, “The fact that you’ve tried to improve yourself, move on from your past and put effort into meeting people is worth celebrating. So give yourself a pat in the back. You deserve it!”
Key Pointers
Whether you’re learning how to start dating for the first time or rediscovering how to start dating again, authenticity is your greatest asset
Avoid rushing and allow relationships to grow naturally
Focus on shared values and personality traits rather than minor preferences
Reflect on past relationships to identify lessons and ensure emotional readiness
Dating is as much about self-discovery as it is about connection
Final Thoughts
Learning how to start dating again is a journey of growth and exploration. These dating tips encourage you to embrace your uniqueness and approach connections with an open mind. Whether wondering how to date or asking “When should I start dating?” remember that patience and authenticity lead to meaningful relationships. Starting a new relationship might feel intimidating, but each step you take builds confidence. Dive in with hope, curiosity, and an open heart, and you’ll discover the joy of genuine connections.
Will She Come Back? 15 Signs You’ll Get Back Together
How To Catch A Cheater That Deletes Everything: 12 Hacks
Why Don’t Girls Like Me? Reasons And Solutions
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“Me and Michael would always talk, every day, without fail,” says Ethan Devine.
On December 30, Devine sent Michael Newberry, the former Newcastle United youngster and his title-winning Linfield team-mate and close friend, a message on his 27th birthday. It will be forever unopened. Michael, a defender with Cliftonville in the Northern Irish Premiership, had passed away suddenly.
Michael’s life revolved around football and growing up on Stanhope Street — less than a 10-minute walk from Newcastle United’s home, St James’ Park — was only ever going to be defined by the city’s football club. The defender joined Newcastle’s academy aged 11 and, seven years later, won the highly coveted Wor Jackie Trophy: awarded to the club’s most promising youth prospect each season, ahead of future first-team regular Sean Longstaff.
Injuries prevented Michael from a first-team appearance at Newcastle, but he carved out a professional career in Iceland and, later, Northern Ireland, playing at Linfield alongside Devine as they won a league title together in 2022. “We became close, along with a few others,” says Devine. “It was Michael who helped mature me as a man. He kept me on the right path and was such an important person in my life.”
Cliftonville travel from the north of Belfast to the south of the capital to take on Michael’s former club Linfield today in the first meeting since his passing. His team-mates, friends and family are still trying to come to terms with their loss.
Michael holding Devine’s daughter (Photo courtesy of Ethan Devine)
On an icy lunchtime in Newcastle, Adrian Salem is in the warmth of his local pub. It is packed as Newcastle’s Premier League game kicks off.
For Adrian, football can provide the escapism that is essential after the most difficult days of his life. Saturdays have not been the same since Michael, his younger brother, died.
Adrian, eight years older, recalls how their father, also Michael Newberry and a former non-League footballer at nearby Gateshead, took them to training sessions. Michael would show off the skills he was learning to his brother. In return, Adrian — passionate about boxing — had Michael as a sparring partner.
Michael was understandably disheartened after leaving Newcastle in 2018. “He was telling us that he hadn’t made it,” Adrian recalls, shaking his head. “Every time we spoke, I told him how proud we all were of him and how others looked up to him. I would always give him a cuddle.”
Adrian, a keen boxer, spent hours practising his skills with Michael (Photo courtesy of Adrian Salem)
Michael’s football journey began at Red House Farm — a junior football club in Gosforth, north of Newcastle. “Michael was a great young lad, he was always smiling,” Mark Bolam, his coach from the youth club, says. “He loved football and was a really popular kid.”
Bolam recounts how Michael, even after signing for Newcastle, would return to training sessions and matches to support the team. “He got on so well with all the lads; there was a real bond. I remember Peter Beardsley (the former forward who captained Newcastle, before becoming a coach at St. James’ Park, including a spell as caretaker manager in 2010) at Newcastle telling me that Michael was the first player at training and the last one to leave. He would help set up our sessions.”
Michael, left, began his youth career at Red House Farm (Photo courtesy of Red House Farm)
At Newcastle, Michael was elevated above his age categories, playing for the under-18s aged 15. He struck up a centre-back partnership with Owen Bailey, one year his junior, from the under-14 side through to under-21 level.
“Michael was ahead of his time — a modern player,” says Bailey, now a midfielder with League Two side Doncaster Rovers. “He was fast, strong, good on the ball.”
Bailey, 25, describes how Michael was “one of the nicest lads I’ve met. He would go out of his way to make sure everyone was fine from a personal perspective before worrying about football, especially the younger ones. In that environment, everyone is competing for scholarships and pro contracts.”
Michael was elevated above his age category in Newcastle’s youth system (Photo courtesy of Adrian Salem)
Bailey says it was evident Michael was one of the standout players. “He never acted like he was — there was real humility,” he adds. “He clicked with everyone and had a laugh. He was such a good, funny person. He was the perfect example of the Geordie character: worked hard but didn’t take himself too seriously.”
That view was shared by another team-mate at St James’ Park, Dan Barlaser, the Middlesbrough midfielder. “He worked so hard in the gym — he was always in great shape,” Barlaser told the Newcastle programme. “He was always smiling, laughing. I will cherish those memories.”
Michael, far left, watches a training session alongside team-mates Ivan Toney, Longstaff and Barlaser (Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)
Despite being two of the most promising players in Newcastle’s youth system, neither Michael nor Bailey would play for the senior side. “He was really close,” Bailey says. “But there was a lot of change in the academy and that didn’t help anyone. A lot of the best talents dropped off the radar.”
Having signed a professional contract, Michael had a hairline fracture in his back that ruled him out for eight months during his final year at the club. Later, Newcastle’s under-23 captain Bailey suffered knee injuries that prevented him from playing for 18 months. The timings meant neither was offered further contracts.
Bailey argues Newcastle’s geographical isolation makes it particularly difficult for young players to continue their careers. Unlike other English urban centres such as London, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds or Birmingham, there is not a deep network of local clubs in the north east as alternatives. Bailey resurrected his career at Gateshead, then in the sixth tier.
Michael, who grew up a 10-minute walk from St. James’ Park, was a lifelong Newcastle fan (Photo courtesy of Adrian Salem)
Michael had interest from Blackburn Rovers and a trial with Motherwell in Scotland, before agent Nick McCreery told Michael that Icelandic club U.M.F. Vikingur had offered a contract.
Adrian believes Michael’s left-field move had been influenced by his own career. Adrian served in the army in Afghanistan and Iraq and has since worked in India and Dubai. “Michael maybe saw that and felt nothing would stop him moving away,” Adrian says.
Michael spent three seasons playing regularly in Iceland. “He was having the time of his life,” Adrian says, before adding that it was a challenge. “It was a vast, empty area. It’s one thing to experience that, but living there for that length of time is a lot. We knew he eventually missed home.”
Michael alongside his brother (Photo courtesy of Adrian Salem)
Michael was capped by Northern Ireland’s youth teams. Qualifying through his grandfather’s Belfast roots, he played for the under-17 and under-19 sides.
It was there that he first worked with David Healy and Ross Oliver. In January 2021, Michael signed for Northern Ireland champions Linfield, who were managed by Healy with Oliver as his assistant. “This was such a big deal,” Adrian says. Not only was it a proud moment for the family with their roots, but Linfield are the biggest club in the country. “I’m English and I’ve pals who support Linfield. It made me proud beyond words.”
Michael had won the Wor Jackie Trophy at Newcastle, named after Jackie Milburn, who remains Newcastle’s second-highest goalscorer, having scored 200 competitive goals. After leaving Newcastle in 1957, Milburn moved to Belfast and as player-manager won nine trophies.
Michael joined Linfield when they were top of the league and had won the previous two titles, arriving at the same time as midfielder Cammy Palmer, who came from Scotland. “We clicked straight away,” says Palmer, who stayed in the same hotel with Michael before they moved in together. Palmer, three years younger, remembers driving the pair to training in a car full of suitcases and backpacks.
“He was always there for a chat, no matter what,” he adds. “We both missed our families and friends, but we had each other and grew into the club and the city.”
They helped Linfield win another two league titles. “He got on with absolutely everyone. My wife came over and there was never any problem.”
Palmer and Michael lived together after joining Linfield in 2021 (Photo courtesy of Cammy Palmer)
When Michael scored his first Linfield goal, Healy told Palmer in the dressing room he would need to start chipping in or he wouldn’t have the bragging rights. They became close friends with team-mates Conor Pepper and Kirk Millar. “We would go round to Conor’s house to play poker,” Palmer says. “We socialised a lot. It was a good team and the bonds were close.”
Palmer says what he remembers most about Michael was how he regularly sat with different groups and prioritised checking in with the youngsters. “We always had a laugh, but he was there for me when I needed a chat or felt I was struggling. I hope I was that person for him.”
In January 2022, a year into Michael’s and Palmer’s time at Linfield, the club signed Devine from Championship club Knockbreda. A then-20-year-old who had never played in the top flight, the move was a big step in the striker’s career. “As soon as I arrived, Michael looked after me,” Devine says.
Devine and Michael won multiple trophies together at Linfield (Photo courtesy of Ethan Devine)
Last summer, Michael left Linfield for Cliftonville. He moved in with three team-mates who all transferred clubs that summer: Arran Pettifer, Axel Piesold and Taylor Steven. “He was like the father figure of that house,” Devine says. “He was always trying to look out for people.”
On Christmas Day, Michael made dinner. “He would have known what it was like not having a support base — that summed him up,” says Palmer.
The following day, Cliftonville lost against Crusaders. Michael played the full match. On December 30, Cliftonville were scheduled to play Dungannon Swifts and on the previous night, he and Devine chatted as normal. “That friendship probably got even stronger when we were not at the same club,” says Devine.
It was the last time Devine and Michael spoke.
Devine and Michael became close friends away from football (Photo courtesy of Ethan Devine)
Michael’s brother, Adrian, could not process the news — he still can’t. “I had told him that he could pick up the phone to me anytime, it would not matter why,” he says. “I don’t know why that night he felt he couldn’t ring us. He was my little brother. I held him in my arms when he was a baby. We were always there for each other. I loved Michael so much.”
As news circulated of Michael’s death, Linfield and Cliftonville requested to the NI Football League to postpone their matches that night. The league agreed, but the other four games went ahead.
Devine, now on loan at Ballymena United, and Palmer, at Glentoran, were scheduled to play. Devine chose not to, Palmer did. “That day I wasn’t really present, my mind wasn’t there,” Palmer says. “I was very emotional. I just kept thinking of all the memories and what his family were going through. I spent the day messaging Linfield players. They were distraught. I didn’t know how to think.”
Michael and his brother, Adrian, who is travelling to Belfast for the first time for Linfield vs Cliftonville (Photo courtesy of Adrian Salem)
Newcastle remains Adrian’s community and is where Michael’s funeral took place on January 16. He never had the opportunity to take up his brother’s offer to experience Belfast and is travelling to Windsor Park for Linfield vs Cliftonville.
“If there is one thing to learn from this, it’s to always remind people of how much they mean to you and how much you love them,” says Adrian.
If you would like to talk to someone having read this article, please try Samaritans in the UK or U.S. You can call 116 123 for free from any phone
While the iPhone’s Deep Fusion feature is designed to enhance image quality, it can sometimes overprocess photos, resulting in unnatural colors and excessive detail. Stop letting your iPhone ruin your photos and take control of how it processes your cherished memories.
Can You Disable the Auto-Enhancement Camera Feature on an iPhone?
Unfortunately, the Deep Fusion feature is built into the iPhone’s Camera app and cannot be turned off. As a result, once you take a photo, your iPhone automatically applies edits such as brightness adjustments, color correction, and noise reduction to enhance its quality.
However, this processing can sometimes worsen the image through oversaturation and overexposure. Once the automatic enhancements are applied, no amount of editing can undo the changes, meaning there’s no way to revert to the original image.
That said, all hope is not lost. There are ways to work around this feature and prevent your photos from being auto-enhanced. Here’s what you can do to break free from the impact of Deep Fusion on your iPhone.
Disable Smart HDR
Smart HDR is a feature available on modern iPhones (iPhone XS and later) that aims to improve the quality of images taken in varying light conditions. It works by capturing multiple shots at different exposures and combining them into a single image with more detailed highlights and nuanced shadows.
Turning off Smart HDR can help your camera capture a more authentic representation of what you see, which may resolve the issue. Here’s what you’ll need to do.
Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
Scroll down to tap on Camera.
Find the Smart HDR toggle and disable it.
Shoot in RAW
If disabling Smart HDR does nothing for you, consider shooting images in RAW format. The Apple ProRAW format allows you to utilize the full capabilities of your iPhone’s camera and capture images with minimal image processing.
Shooting in RAW also gives you greater control and flexibility while editing your images. You can adjust exposure, color balance, and other elements without losing quality or detail.
To shoot images in ProRAW mode, use these steps:
Open the Settings app on your iPhone and head to Camera > Formats.
Enable the toggle next to Apple ProRAW.
Open the Camera app and tap the RAW button in the top-right corner to activate it.
While the ProRAW mode seems the best way to capture images, the downside is that each file is approximately 25 MB. So, you may run out of storage soon if you only keep shooting in RAW.
The Apple ProRAW feature is only available on the iPhone 12 Pro and later Pro models. So, if you own a standard iPhone, you won’t be able to shoot in RAW. In that case, try out the below hacks.
Turn Off Night Mode
When your iPhone’s camera detects low light conditions, it automatically activates Night Mode. If you’re taking pictures in a dark area, chances are that the oversharpened and overexposed images are the work of Night Mode and not Deep Fusion.
You can try taking pictures with Night Mode off to see if that makes a difference in the picture quality. To turn off Night Mode, open Camera and tap the Night Mode button next to the flash button in the top-left corner of the Camera app.
Take Photos in Burst Mode
Another way you can bypass auto-enhancement is by taking photos in burst mode. When you use burst mode, your iPhone takes several shots of the subject and goes easy with all its harsh editing. You can then select and keep the most natural image out of all the shots you’ve taken in burst mode.
To activate burst mode, open the Camera app and drag the shutter button to the left. The longer you hold the shutter, the more pictures your camera takes. For this purpose, taking 5-10 shots in burst mode will suffice.
Once you’ve taken the picture, open it in the Photos app. Tap the Burst option in the top-left corner, swipe through the shots to choose your favorites, and tap Done. You can then select the preferred photo and delete the rest.
Prioritize Faster Shooting
Don’t want to go through the hassle of taking pictures in burst mode and selecting one? You can configure your iPhone Camera app to prioritize faster shooting. Similar to burst mode, this results in less processing and more natural photos.
Head to Settings > Camera and enable the toggle next to Prioritize Faster Shooting.
Take Advantage of Live Photos
An even better option to escape auto-enhancement is by using the Live Photos feature in the Camera app. The auto-enhance feature does not affect a Live Photo, and you can access an original, unedited version of the image via the Photos app.
You can turn on the Live Photo feature from the top-right corner of the Camera app before clicking a picture. Once you’ve shot a Live Photo, open it in the Photos app and tap Edit at the bottom of the screen. From there, tap the Live tool bottom menu, select the frame you want to keep, and tap Make Key Photo.
Use Third-Party Camera Apps
If you still feel your photos are overly processed, consider using a third-party camera app, as the auto-enhancement feature only affects photos taken with the iPhone’s native Camera app.
The best camera apps for iPhone will let you take high-quality photos that can match the built-in Camera app. Some, like the Halide Mark II Pro app, even allow you to take macro photos on an iPhone without macro support and shoot images in RAW. You can also use the camera on Snapchat or Instagram to take pictures without auto-enhancement.
As impressive as Apple’s Deep Fusion technology is, it’s not always the ideal choice. If you prefer a more natural look for your photos, these methods will help you bypass the automatic enhancements and capture images that truly reflect your artistic vision.
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-26/China-s-highways-to-see-record-EV-charging-during-Spring-Festival-1AtGt41bpmg/img/13b954f556e14c04a11aac0ca559519b/13b954f556e14c04a11aac0ca559519b.png' alt='An electric vehicle charging station in Huangshan City, east China's Anhui Province, January 24, 2025. /CFP'
The electric vehicle (EV) charging volume on China’s highways is set to hit a record high during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday, according to data from the State Grid Corporation of China.
Daily highway charging volumes are expected to average over 7.5 million kilowatt-hours during the eight-day holiday, which starts on January 28, marking a 52-percent year-on-year increase, the data showed.
The single-day peak charging volume during the holiday period is projected to exceed 9 million kilowatt-hours – expanding by 34 percent from the same period last year.
The data revealed that peak travel days ahead of the holiday, January 26 and 27, will see charging demand spike between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. as millions of travelers hit the roads.
China has accelerated the construction of charging infrastructure to meet rising charging demand. By the end of 2024, 98 percent of highway service areas had charging facilities – with 35,000 charging poles in place.
Notably, the number of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in use in China had reached 31.4 million by the end of 2024, marking a 260-fold surge over the past decade, thanks to the country’s technological progress in the NEV industry, the improvement of charging infrastructure and Chinese people’s growing eco-friendly awareness.
For the record, Morris Chestnut is not a real doctor. He just plays one on TV.
To be precise, Chestnut has played multiple physicians in the last several years, scrubbing in as a trauma specialist in “Nurse Jackie” before moving on to pathology in Fox’s “Rosewood.”
The last doctor he played, Barrett Cain in Fox’s “The Resident,” is a standout. Viewers loathed him. Chestnut loved it.
“Cain was more concerned about the money a patient would make for the hospital than the patient’s health,” he said with a mischievous laugh. “Fans loved to hate me. They would approach me and say, ‘You’re so mean.’ I really liked that.”
Chestnut is putting his “bad doctor” days behind him, taking on a new specialty as a compassionate geneticist and internist in CBS’ medical drama “Watson,” a modern reboot of the Sherlock Holmes mythology. He plays Dr. John Watson, Holmes’ partner, who becomes the head of an elite rare disorders clinic at a Pittsburgh hospital after Holmes is murdered.
“I’ve never made Hollywood my life,” Chestnut said. “It’s a tough place — physically and emotionally.”
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Reworking the Watson character means more to Chestnut than just expanding his medical resume. While he has enjoyed a fairly consistent career since his acclaimed debut in 1991’s “Boyz N the Hood,” Chestnut has mostly been featured in ensemble or supporting roles, many of them romantic vehicles showcasing his good looks and athletic build.
“Watson” represents his hoped-for ascension into the ranks of leading man.
“This is a significant milestone for me in a number of ways,” he said. “I’ve had lead roles before, but as an actor, I feel I’m hitting my stride in terms of how I approach the work. The opportunity to play this character, and on CBS, is huge. And to play with the Sherlock Holmes mythology is something I never would have imagined.”
CBS is putting heavy promotional muscle behind “Watson.” Before its official premiere Feb. 16, the network is launching the drama on Jan. 26 following the NFL playoffs.
“Given our strong belief in the show, it’s only fitting to give ‘Watson’ a high-profile launch with a powerful lead-in immediately following the AFC Championship football game, which is always one of the most viewed television events of the year, and a proven platform for launching some of our most successful series,” Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment, said in an email. She called Chestnut “a classic, charming lead star, and his singular take on the iconic doctor is bold, wise and heroic.”
The actor maintained that “Watson” is distinctive from other medical dramas. “We are not just doctors, we are detectives,” he said. “When patients come into our clinic, we don’t solve the medical mystery right there. We go into their homes, we go into the streets. It’s combining the medical aspect of Watson with the influence of Sherlock.”
Making his way through a healthy breakfast at a Beverly Hills hotel, Chestnut was enthusiastic as he discussed the series. He looked much the same as he did in the first “The Best Man” feature in 1999 in which his portrayal of a muscular football star solidified his heartthrob status.
He credited his appearance to his aggressively healthy lifestyle: “It’s a blessing from God. I’ve never made Hollywood my life. It’s just a part of my life. It’s a tough place — physically and emotionally. I’ve seen it eat people and spit them out. I go home and chill after work. I don’t go to parties. That stuff can take a toll on your soul, body and mind.”
Chestnut as John Watson in “Watson,” which premieres Sunday in the prime post-NFL time slot.
(Colin Bentley / CBS)
Chestnut, who is also an executive producer of “Watson,” was immediately excited when first presented with the pilot script from showrunner Craig Sweeny. “It was so strong. Had everything — action, emotion, wit. It left you with a cliffhanger to see where things were going to go. After I met with Craig and learned where he wanted to take the show, I knew I had to sign on.”
Yet he also is uncomfortably aware that not everyone is pleased with a Black actor taking on a role that has historically been portrayed by white men. The list of past Watsons include Nigel Bruce, Robert Duvall, Jude Law, John C. Reilly and Martin Freeman.
The move has been already met with gripes on social media, mirroring the criticism that greeted the casting of Halle Bailey in the live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid,” the “Star Wars” franchise and other beloved properties that have embraced more cultural diversity.
“I’m reluctant to discuss it, particularly in the times we’re living in,” said Chestnut, his deep voice registering his disappointment. “I’ve seen some negative comments about me playing this character. And I really don’t want to focus on that — I just hope people see the character in the mythology for who he is. I don’t want to call attention to that.”
Still, he acknowledged that his casting would have attracted less attention several years ago, when the Black Lives Matter movement sparked calls for more equity and inclusion in Hollywood.
Said Chestnut, “It would have been much more seamless, 100%. In these times, people like to point to certain things and bring a negative political spin to it. I’m glad that ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘Wicked’ are wildly successful. In my whole career, I’ve never made it about things outside of my work. It is frustrating to have to deal with that. Hopefully we are all successful.”
“Watson” is just one of several new doctor dramas checking into prime time this season. NBC’s “Brilliant Minds,” Fox’s “Doc,” Max’s “The Pitt” and ABC’s “Doctor Odyssey” have joined veterans “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Chicago Med.”
Assisting Watson in the clinic is a squad of young, accomplished doctors who are also investigating the rare disorders. Complicating his personal life is his lingering affection for his ex-wife, Dr. Mary Morstan (Rochelle Aytes), who is also the hospital’s medical director. And Watson is still being targeted by Holmes’ nemesis, Moriarty.
“I’m most energized not only by the evolution of my character, but of the other characters,” Chestnut said. “The audience is really going to feel for them. The show is exciting and emotional.”
Chestnut first rose to prominence in the 1990s with films such as “Boyz N the Hood” and “The Best Man.”
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
The series marks the network’s second Holmes reboot. “Elementary,” which starred Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu as the investigative duo, premiered in 2012 and had a solid seven-season run.
Sweeny, who was an executive producer on “Elementary,” said Chestnut was one of the actors he was thinking about when he was writing the pilot for “Watson”: “It was because of his empathy and intelligence. Everybody in the industry has nothing but glowing words for Morris as a person. He is one of the kindest and most respectful people I’ve ever worked with, as well as a great leader.”
He was also impressed by a few of the actor’s previous portrayals of physicians.
Said Sweeny: “In writing a medical show, I’m going to task the actor with swimming in an ocean of medical jargon. It takes a commitment. With this show, we’re committed to getting the science right with every medical twist and turn. Correct science has a lot of syllables. Morris is as committed to getting it right on his end as we are in the writing.”
“Playing a doctor is very challenging, and playing a doctor in a one-hour series is even more challenging,” Chestnut said. “The medical terminology is almost a different language. I have to know what I’m talking about. I can’t change the words around like I could in a regular role. The terms and diagnosis have to be accurate and on point. It puts a whole different layer to the performance.”
It’s a challenge he is grateful to take on, particularly at this point in his creative growth. In “Boyz N the Hood,” late director John Singleton‘s landmark debut about young people living amid the dangers of gang life in South Los Angeles, Chestnut played Ricky Baker, a star high school football star who hopes to go to college with a scholarship. Ricky meets a tragic end when he is gunned down by gang members.
“Aside from that film launching my career, it has helped me sustain my career,” he said. “It’s not only a great film, but people were rooting for me. People were emotionally connected to the character, but the staying power while I was doing other projects connected people to me. I can’t tell you how many people I talk to today who were not alive when the movie was released.”
The other key highlight is “The Best Man,” Malcolm D. Lee’s romantic comedy about a group of college friends who have a joyous but rocky reunion when two of them decide to marry. That film bucked the trend of Black films at the time that focused on turmoil in Black areas, focusing on sophisticated, upscale Black characters.
Chestnut was among the cast members who would move on to major stardom, including Taye Diggs, Terrence Howard, Nia Long, Regina Hall and Melissa De Sousa. The cast reunited for a sequel, 2013’s “The Best Man Holiday,” and the 2022 Peacock limited series “The Best Man: The Final Chapters.”
In the franchise, Chestnut played another star football player, Lance Sullivan, who is emotionally distraught in “The Best Man Holiday” after learning that his wife, Mia (Monica Calhoun), is dying of cancer. Once again, Chestnut said, “People were on an emotional journey with me. That also helped me sustain a career.”
Those films and subsequent projects have positioned him for the spotlight in “Watson,” he said.
“I am so honored they thought of me for this,” he said. “I just wanted the industry to recognize me, to see me and say, ‘I want that guy.’ ”
It’s hard to quantify the Swiftie demographic’s impact on these bets, but preseason, WIRED reached out to several sportsbooks including BetRivers, DraftKings, FanDuel and Rivalry, which said the Taylor Swift effect was real, and expected it would continue to affect their industry this season.
Tim Whitehead, sportsbook head at BetRivers, put it succinctly. “So long as the world’s biggest pop star is still dating one of the NFL’s most popular players, we’ll tap into that narrative to attract new audiences,” he told WIRED in a statement. But even early in the year, despite Kelce still attracting strong wagers, the outsized Swift effect seemed to have worn off. FanDuel noted that in two early games, neither attended by Swift, teammates of Kelce’s garnered similar betting levels to him. This month, a FanDuel spokesperson told WIRED that interest in betting on Kelce “has leveled out to be in line with the other playmakers on the Chiefs.”
Michael Naraine, an associate professor of sport management at Brock University in Canada, attributes this to the US election dominating news and prop betting cycles, along with less attention-grabbing headlines in the couple’s relationship as they settled into their partnership. “The T. Swift effect does still exist, it just has been muted over the last year,” he says. “It’s not as topical, it’s not as high a momentum, but it’s still valuable to the books.”
A study from the University of Queensland in Australia published in December found nearly 90 percent of the country’s regular sports bettors are male, and suggested that this was due, at least partially, to physical betting spaces being “male-dominated” over history, though smartphones make gambling more accessible to female audiences. This pattern holds in other countries, like the US, where only 28 percent of current sports bettors of 2,000 surveyed were women according to a two-week poll by YouGov last year. “It is unsurprising that betting companies are attempting to capitalise on this shift, targeting women with novelty bets like how many awards Taylor Swift will win at this year’s Grammy’s,” author Rohann Irving said in a release about the study.
Despite the outsize attention Swift’s received from online sportsbooks since dating Kelce, she is only one character in a chorus in the new wave of narrative betting that has risen alongside the industry. In the past, betting narratives which struck chords with bettors focused on underdog or champion players and teams. Today the tales spun have expanded to include a wide array of competitions, from the Oscars, to the US presidential election, to reality TV shows.
Jones, from FanDuel, says ardent sports gamblers give little shrift to this trend. “They’re looking at defensive matchups, offensive matchups, weather, historical data; they’re not caring who the guy’s dating,” he says. But many recreational bettors—whom Jones says make up “an overwhelming majority” of FanDuel’s customer base—seek out narratives like the Swift-Kelce romance when wagering.
Joshua Grubbs, an associate professor in the University of New Mexico’s department of psychology who has researched sports betting behaviors, says over email that sportsbooks “are absolutely trying to convert a group of people who are not betting into bettors.” But whether a Swift-based strategy differs from the industry’s usual marketing is less clear. “I don’t know that having Taylor Swift prop bets is any more pernicious than any other set of prop bets, free bet promos, or other gimmicks they offer,” he says.
For Grubbs, it’s instead a broader question of the appropriateness of gambling advertising, an unsettled debate which includes whether sportsbooks should be promoted on television or allowed to sponsor sports teams.
“At the end of the day, we’re content creators,” says Cooper of BetOnline.ag, noting that the more “click-baity” the content, the better. “When we see a storyline or something that’s trending, we’re going to lean into that and try to distribute to a broader audience.”
The industry representatives I spoke with were hopeful about a turnaround should Swift get engaged or have a child with Kelce. “If Taylor Swift ever did a Super Bowl halftime show and the Chiefs were in it, that would break the entire world, internet, everything,” Cooper says.
India’s Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH) has debuted a blockchain-based campus currency called Bimcoin. The token has been designed to facilitate secure and transparent transactions within the institute’s ecosystem for students, administrators, and vendors. An official launch statement circulated by the institute says that the initiative has been inspired by India’s central bank digital currency (CBDC)-related efforts and aims to cater to the “growing need” to integrate blockchain into existing real-world systems like finance.
“Unlike conventional financial systems, Bimcoin leverages blockchain’s decentralised nature, ensuring transparency, and incorporating programmable features such as smart contracts,” the statement from BIMTECH said.
Bimcoin Pilot Trials
Bimcoin has undergone pilot trials where the campus currency saw 1,100 completed transactions. During the trials, some issues around user onboarding and other technical integrations were identified, the institute said. BIMTECH claimed that it conducted “iterative testing and user training” to fix the issues found during the pilot phase.
Bimcoin is scheduled to undergo close-net testing before it sees a campus-wide rollout. The Institute did not share a timeline for the completion of testing and Bimcoin’s wider deployment. BIMTECH has also not disclosed the name of currency’s underlying blockchain.
BIMTECH’s Plans for Bimcoin
Through the initiative, the management school aims to give its students and faculty a chance to explore a blockchain-based payment solution.
“More than a payment solution, BIMCOIN serves as an educational tool, providing students with hands-on experience in blockchain technology, digital currencies, and real-world financial systems,” the statement noted.
Moving forward, the institute plans to make blockchain a part of its academic syllabuses as well.
“This is a significant step in nurturing a culture of innovation and preparing future leaders to thrive in a digital economy,” said BIMTECH director Prabina Rajib. “Aligning with Digital India Vision, the digital money leverages permissioned technology with advanced encryption, strict access controls, and data privacy protocols, ensuring the highest security standards.”
Indian Students and Blockchains
Web3 stakeholders and regulators urged educational institutes globally to implement awareness initiatives around blockchain and crypto systems.
In January 2023, colleges like IITs, ISB, and NITs across Delhi, Madras, Kanpur, and Roorkee were roped in by crypto firm Mudrex for a series of crypto initiatives under a programme named “WAGMI”.
IIT-Madras had also recently incorporated blockchain into its student election systems. At the time, the institute had told Gadgets 360 that its experiments with blockchain should not be seen as “betting on crypto,” rather as a pilot into exploring the distributed ledger technology on a wider scale.
The start of a new year signals more than resolutions – it’s a critical moment for PPC professionals to reset, refocus, and strategically realign.
As the digital marketing landscape evolves, success demands a clear-eyed approach to account management, client objectives, and personal growth.
Here are five essential areas every PPC specialist must prioritize in 2025.
1. Master the fundamentals: Strengthen your foundation
We often rush to tackle advanced strategies without solidifying the fundamentals, whether in client work or our personal development.
No matter your experience level, revisiting the basics is essential for long-term success.
Now is the perfect time to refocus on foundational elements, both for your accounts and your own growth, such as:
Tracking
Accurate and complete tracking is critical in the AI era. Your account’s performance depends entirely on the quality of the data flowing into it.
Review your setups and identify any gaps, such as enhanced conversions, offline conversion tracking, or basket-level data.
Account hygiene
This may not be the most exciting task, but it’s essential. If you were auditing someone else’s account, account hygiene would be one of the first things you’d examine.
Review ads, creatives, bidding strategies, campaign settings, and keywords to ensure everything is in order.
Over time, these elements can become out of place, so adjustments are likely needed.
For a starting point, check the Recommendations tab, then refine from there.
Account structure
Ensure the account structure aligns with the client’s advertising goals and objectives.
Task management
Review task management systems and service agreements to confirm they still match current needs.
Peak periods can lead to workload overflows, which may carry into the new year. Assess your tasks to remove anything unnecessary or of little value to the client.
Personal habits
During busy periods, morning account checks may be skipped, and weekly performance reviews or analyses might stretch to biweekly or even monthly. Make sure to get back on track.
Skill sharpening
Keeping up with industry newsletters or completing a PPC training course might have taken a backseat.
Reprioritize these activities to stay ahead in the field.
Dig deeper: How to create a roadmap for your PPC clients
2. Plan for success: Align goals and strategy
For the client side, start with an annual review or extended quarterly meeting with clients and key stakeholders to ensure objectives are communicated clearly and aligned.
The plan should focus on measurable goals and future strategy rather than revisiting technical basics. Key elements to include:
2024 performance overview: Evaluate performance against primary objectives with year-on-year or forecast comparisons.
Channel analysis: Identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. For example, if direct and organic traffic is underperforming, diagnose the cause (e.g., reduced brand awareness) and explore solutions, such as upper-funnel activity in current or new channels.
Realignment of 2025 objectives, goals, and targets: Use existing insights to set clear goals and define how to achieve them.
List of strategic actions: For instance, if revenue grew year-over-year but profits declined, a 2025 objective might be to test profit-based bidding strategies.
Strategy roadmap: Prioritize actions for the first two quarters rather than spreading them out over the entire year.
For personal development, take time to reflect on your goals for 2025 and collaborate with your agency or manager to create a development plan.
Consider the following:
Weaknesses or interests: Identify areas you want to improve or explore further this year.
Strengths: Focus on skills you excel at and aim to become an internal leader in those areas.
Portfolio review: Assess whether your current client portfolio aligns with your personal growth goals.
Career progression: Define the position you want to work toward and ensure your objectives align with achieving that role.
Dig deeper: 5 ways to align PPC campaigns with business objectives
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3. Resource readiness: Equip yourself and your team
Once planning is underway, assess the resources needed to implement your plans effectively.
These requirements may evolve based on client feedback and internal discussions. Key areas to review include:
Team capability
Can existing team members address any measurement or implementation gaps?
Will the client’s development team need to handle certain tasks?
If there’s a skills gap, is this an opportunity for you to upskill?
Service contract alignment
Do the tasks and requirements fit within the current service agreement?
If additional channel management is needed, will the account require extra support?
Creative process
Does the client’s creative process support new strategies or channels?
Are additional resources or adjustments needed to align with new goals?
Commercial scope
If current delivery exceeds the original agreement, plan a review with the client.
Consider how this extra service aligns with your personal growth objectives.
Upskilling needs
Identify any training or knowledge gaps necessary to meet both client and personal objectives.
Resource needs often overlap between personal and business goals.
For example, if you aim to improve your skills in profit tracking and a client’s goal is to focus on profitability over revenue, this creates an opportunity to align personal development with client success.
Prioritize areas that deliver value for both.
4. Learning and growth: Stay ahead in a fast-moving industry
In the fast-evolving digital marketing world, continuous learning is critical to staying relevant and achieving your growth ambitions.
Whether refining your expertise or exploring new areas, upskilling offers several benefits:
Fresh ideas and innovative thinking.
Confidence from enhanced knowledge.
Increased job satisfaction and motivation.
A clear signal of career ambition and drive.
Both personal and business growth can be supported through targeted learning. Potential focus areas include:
Specific skills: AI, attribution/measurement, multi-channel strategies, profit tracking.
Broader development: Leadership, management, and client communication.
While personal and client objectives may not always align perfectly, both require dedicated learning plans. Shape these around the year’s strategic goals:
For personal growth, focus on skills that help you lead in your specialty or explore new interests.
For business growth, consider training that strengthens client understanding, such as PPC’s role in overall strategy or how AI (e.g., Performance Max) reshapes campaign structures.
Bridging gaps between roles – such as clients fixating on minor CPC changes instead of strategy impact – through education can reduce misunderstandings, improve efficiency, and foster stronger relationships.
Empowering clients with relevant knowledge helps them better communicate results to stakeholders, benefiting both parties.
Dig deeper: Becoming a world-class PPC ad buyer: 8 key lessons
5. From goals to actions: Turning plans into progress
Planning is only half the battle; without action, even the best strategies fall flat.
Whether it’s executing a 2025 paid media strategy or achieving personal goals, effort, and resources must be allocated to move forward.
Here are effective ways to translate plans into progress:
Break down objectives: Divide broad goals into smaller, actionable tasks for clarity and focus.
Track progress: Create a weekly updated progression sheet to monitor goals and maintain transparency.
Set deadlines: Assign clear timelines to keep everyone accountable and motivated.
Communicate regularly: For client plans, track and report progress through regular communications and monthly updates.
Invest in resources: Commit to necessary tools, training, or initiatives. Financial investment adds urgency and focus.
Assign accountability: Clearly delegate responsibilities and deliverables to ensure follow-through.
By prioritizing these steps, whether individually or as a whole, you can set yourself and your clients up for a successful and productive 2025.
Dig deeper: PPC management checklist: Daily, weekly and monthly reviews
Contributing authors are invited to create content for Search Engine Land and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the search community. Our contributors work under the oversight of the editorial staff and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers. The opinions they express are their own.
Microsoft’s next big game, the RPG Avowed from The Outer Worlds developer Obsidian, is coming out in February. Unlike some of Obsidian’s other RPGs, Avowed is not an open-world game. This serves the game best, Avowed region director Berto Ritger said.
Avowed features large “defined zones,” as opposed to taking place in an open world. Ritger said having established and distinct zones is a “good pacing mechanism” for the choices players make.
“We know roughly what you’ve done before you’ve gone to the next thing. It’s still a very open structure within those zones, where you can do whatever you want for the most part, but it’s not one contiguous area where you could be anywhere at any moment,” Ritger said in an interview with Xbox Wire.
Avowed Refreshes The Fantasy Action Genre | GameSpot Preview | gamescom 2024
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Narrative designer Kate Dollarhyde echoed Ritger, saying in the interview that one of the difficult elements of open-world games is pacing.
“You never know where the player is and what they’re doing at any given time. So having these zones that happen in sequence means we always know what content you’ve just come from on the critical path,” Dollarhyde said. “Maybe not what side quests you’ve done, but we always know you’ve just had this [core] experience.”
Avowed releases on February 18 for Xbox and PC, and it will be available at launch for Xbox Game Pass. In addition to Avowed, Obsidian is making The Outer Worlds 2, which is also set for release in 2025.
In other Xbox news, Microsoft just recently held the latest Xbox Developer Direct event, and it included some big news and reveals, including the announcement of Ninja Gaiden 4.
Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) harboring BRAF V600E mutations benefitted from first-line treatment with the targeted therapies encorafenib and cetuximab plus a mFOLFOX6 chemotherapy regimen, according to results from the Phase III BREAKWATER trial led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
The findings, presented today at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Gastrointestinal Cancers (ASCO GI) Annual Symposium and published in Nature Medicine, demonstrated a 60.9% overall response rate (ORR) with the three-drug combination compared to 40% with the standard-of-care (SOC) treatment — chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab. In the experimental arm, 68.7% of patients had a duration of response of at least six months, compared to 34.1% of patients in the SOC arm.
Data from this multi-institutional collaboration across 28 countries supported the accelerated approval of this combination by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in Dec. 2024, providing an effective new first-line treatment option for patients with BRAF V600E-mutant mCRC.
“Chemotherapy has had limited efficacy as a first-line treatment in controlling the aggressive tumor growth we see in patients with this mutation,” said co-principal investigator Scott Kopetz, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology and associate vice president of Translational Integration at MD Anderson. “This new regimen highlights the importance of combining dual-targeted therapy with chemotherapy to improve patient outcomes in the first-line setting, and the durable responses are a significant development as we work to improve quality of life for these patients.”
More than 150,000 people are diagnosed with colorectal cancer each year, making it the fourth most common cancer in the U.S., according to the National Cancer Institute. BRAF mutations occur in approximately 8-12% of cases and are associated with aggressive tumor growth, low efficacy from SOC treatments and a poor prognosis, with a median overall survival less than 12 months. Previously, there were no first-line targeted therapies approved for patients with BRAF V600E-mutant mCRC.
The BREAKWATER trial was one of the first studies to utilize the FDA’s Project FrontRunner, an initiative to encourage the evaluation of therapies in earlier clinical settings for advanced cancers rather than after patients received numerous previous treatments.
The trial enrolled patients who were at least 16 years of age with previously untreated BRAF V600E-mutant mCRC. Patients were randomized equally to one of three treatment arms: SOC chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab; a dual combination of encorafenib plus cetuximab; or a triple combination of encorafenib, cetuximab and mFOLFOX6.
When researchers analyzed patient subgroups on the trial, the triple combination showed benefits across important groups, including patients with cancer spread to three or more organs and those with liver metastases.
“These results support this combination as a new first-line standard of care for patients with BRAF V600E-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer,” Kopetz said. “It also highlights the importance of swiftly identifying molecular subtypes of colorectal cancer at diagnosis to optimize treatment strategies for our patients.”
The safety profile of this combination was consistent with the known safety profile of each respective drug. No new safety signals were identified. The most common adverse reactions included nausea, rash, fatigue, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea and decreased appetite, all of which were reported in at least 25% of patients and were similar between arms.
Final calculations of progression-free survival and overall survival will be formally assessed in the next phase of the trial. Future analyses of this trial may shed light on predictive biomarkers for this combination therapy.
The study was sponsored by Pfizer Inc., and Kopetz disclosed consulting for Pfizer and receiving research funding from the company.
Damien Hirst’s Cherry Blossom prints greet you as soon as you step out of the elevator. Inside, works by Sameer Kulavoor, Takashi Murakami, and Jennifer Guidi grace the walls while the alcove seating is adorned with Rana Begum’s spray paint on paper. Arts Cafe at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) aptly complements the adjoining Art House, spotlighting a (potentially rotating) roster of contemporary Indian and international artists.
Food: The menu draws inspiration from Indian, European, and Asian flavours, offering a range of familiar and comforting plates.
Think naan with ‘everything bagel’ seasoning served with hummus, baba ghanoush, and avocado labneh; smoked salmon toast; assorted pizzas and pastas (try the saffron capunti pasta with lamb bolognese); corn on the cob; and jacket baked potatoes with a choice of fillings.
For those who are craving Indian flavours, the mini thali is a great choice with North Indian and Gujarati options; the latter has seasonal undhiyu, poori, kadhi, and khichdi. Leave room for dessert, particularly the Indian trinity of gajar halwa, jalebi, and rabdi ice cream presented in a single dish.
The syrupy baba au rhum is a treat for those with a sweet tooth. Pair your meal with a range of signature cocktails like the Popcorn Negroni, which is expertly made and Art of Rajasthan, a delicious concoction of Godawan whisky, tamarind and chilli syrup, and spicy sauce. Alternatively, choose from an extensive wine list, spirits, and a small selection of mocktails.
Service: Service is warm and friendly but a tad slow when the cafe gets busy.
Décor: Designed by Gauri Khan, the elegant interiors are done up in earthy tones with Art Deco detailing, ornate brass-and-gold patterns, and luxurious light fixtures.
Price: Average meal for two costs around `2,500 (without alcohol).
Address: 3rd floor, NMACC, G Block, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Mumbai
About Lawctopus Law School Lawctopus Law School (LLS) started in 2020 is housed by Lawctopus.com, a 14-year old career platform for law students and young lawyers. LLS’ faculty consists of Oxbridge scholars, top NLU graduates, law firm associates and partners of firms like Trilegal, Luthra & Luthra, Khaitan, top-rated UpWork freelances, and the like. Our […]
The post Republic Day Offer: 26% Off on ALL Courses by Lawctopus Law School; Valid: Jan 26 – 28! appeared first on Lawctopus.
Republic Day 2025 wishes: As we celebrate Republic Day, here are some images that you can send to your loved ones to celebrate the poignant day.
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India celebrates its Republic Day on January 26. This year, it falls on a Sunday. In 2025, the nation is marking its 76th Republic Day. Here are some images that you can share with your friends and family to celebrate this day. (Image by Canva)
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Republic day commemorates the adoption of the Constitution of India on January 26, 1950.(Image by Canva)
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Beyond just being a national holiday, Republic Day is also celebrated with immense pride as countrymen come together to honour the day. (HT Photo)
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The grand Republic Day parade also takes place on the Kartavya Path in New Delhi. It begins from Raisina Hill near the Rashtrapati Bhavan (President’s House), along the Kartavya Path, past India Gate, and onto the historic Red Fort. (Image by Canva)
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Every year, a theme is decided for the Republic Day, which is followed by various states and government departments. This year, the is Swarnim Bharat – Virasat aur Vikas’ (Golden India – Heritage and Development). (Image by Canva)
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This year, the chief guest is Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. (Image by Canva)
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The first Republic Day celebrations took place at Irwin Stadium (now Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium) in New Delhi in 1950. (HT Photo)
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The event featured the participation of more than 100 aircraft and 3,000 personnel from the Indian military. (Image by Canva)
As the first major drug industry conference each year, the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference is regularly described as a barometer of expectations for the year ahead.
This year, JPM delivered the dealmaking analysts and investors always say they hope to see: Johnson & Johnson agreed to buy Intra-Cellular Therapies for nearly $15 billion, while GSK and Eli Lilly announced smaller deals involving private biotechnology companies.
Rather than ebullient, the meeting’s mood remained restrained, reflecting the uncertainty of a moment marked by big questions. How will the Trump administration approach healthcare regulation? Will generalist investors remain wary of biotech? Can the industry’s expensive pivot into immunology and obesity deliver drugs promising enough to justify the investment? Will competition from China put pressure on young U.S. drugmakers?
The answers will shape the industry’s fortunes this year, as BioPharma Dive details in the stories below. Read on for a look at what’s in store.
When you study rich people like I have, particularly the self-made rich, you hear a lot of very inspirational stories about how ordinary individuals accumulated their wealth.
It’s clear to me that the worse the circumstances, the more important it is to have a calling, main purpose or lifelong dream.
Those things give birth to enormous passion and passion is a type of energy that fuels the pursuit of any purpose, calling or dream.
Passion gives you the energy to overcome any obstacle placed in your way and enables you to push on until you realize your dream.
But accumulating wealth is only one part of the equation.
Another equally important part is keeping the wealth you’ve accumulated.
The stories of individuals who have lost their wealth, after accumulating it, are important because they teach valuable lessons.
Holding on to the wealth you’ve accumulated is just as important as accumulating it.
Getting rich requires that you forge certain specific habits that make getting rich possible.
Some of the most important Rich Habits for accumulating wealth include the following:
Daily Growth – Daily self-improvement is a must for those who are pursuing wealth. You must make a daily habit of acquiring knowledge. You must also, on a daily basis, hone your skills – perfecting them until you become expert in them.
Rich Relationships – Forging relationships with other success-minded people is critical to success.
Dream-Setting – Building goals around each one of your dreams makes it possible for you to realize each of your dreams. Every dream is like a rung on the ladder. You climb the ladder of success, one rung at a time. This takes time. Eighty percent of the self-made millionaires pursued some dream or vision. They then built goals around their dreams and never quit trying, even if it meant bankruptcy or divorce. In fact, 27% did fail. But they still did not quit. They regrouped, got back up and kept trying.
Be Persistence – Persistence, I found, eventually results in good luck. Good luck pays dividends in the form of success and wealth.
Taking Only Calculated Risks –
Develop a Niche in Your Career or Business – Those in my study who had a unique expertise in a particular area were paid the most by their company or were able to charge more to customers or clients than their competition. You can develop your niche on the side, in the mornings, at night or over the weekend through self-study or by taking classes at night.
Create Multiple Streams of Income – Sixty-five percent of the millionaires in my study had at least three streams of income. This creates a hedge against failure and poverty. When one stream suffers, the others come to the rescue.
Be Patient – Eighty percent of the rich in my study did not become rich until age 50. Fifty-two percent did not become rich until age 56. It takes a long time to create wealth. You have to learn to be patient if you want to become successful.
Save Money – Ninety-four percent of the rich saved 20% or more of their income. They began saving long before they became rich. They then put their savings to use by taking certain calculated risks.
Take Calculated Risks – Success requires risk. You have to take some risk in time and money in order to build wealth of any kind. I’m not talking about gambling here. I’m talking about an entirely different type of risk called calculated risk. Calculated risk is a type of risk that requires you to do your homework. Good luck finds the prepared. This risk requires that you gain some experience and working knowledge in some area and then put that knowledge to work by taking action. It might be real estate, investing in some private business, starting your own business, etc. The millionaires in my study took risks with their savings. Fifty-one percent invested their savings to start up or invest in private businesses or make investments in specific areas such as real estate, unique products or unique services.
Be Optimistic and Enthusiastic About Life – Seventy-one percent of the self-made millionaires in my study were optimistic about life. They believed in themselves. They enthusiastically pursued their dreams and goals. Their optimism infected everyone around them. They became magnets for other success-minded people. This helped them in creating teams that would eventually help lead them to success.
Control Your Thoughts, Emotions and Your Words – Eighty-one percent of the rich made a habit of controlling their thoughts and emotions. Not every thought needs to come out of your mouth and not every emotion needs to be expressed. Doing so damages relationships; relationships that could otherwise open important doors for you and members of your family.
You Can’t Succeed on Your Own – The rich build teams. They find apostles for their cause – individuals devoted to them and who share their vision and purpose. The team players benefited financially from their success. You need the cooperation of others to help you succeed in life. The rich are good at forming teams of people who are able to cooperate together, focused on pursuing a singular dream or purpose. No one does it on their own.
Be Open-Minded – You can’t learn anything if you are closed minded. Being open to new ideas, new ways of doing things and the opinions of others is critical to learning and growth. Growth is the parent of success. You must grow into the person you need to be in order for success to visit you.
Give First, Get Later – In order to get, you must first give. You must give value to others either in the form of service or through some product offering. Giving always comes first. It was no surprise that 79% of the rich in my study volunteered for charities or non-profit groups. They made a habit out of giving their time, money and expertise.
Finish What You Start – The rich don’t quit. They stick to something until they succeed, go bankrupt or die. Eighty-percent were focused on achieving some goal and 55% spent one year or more on one singular goal. They do not leave projects uncompleted before starting other projects.
You Can’t Get Rich if You’re Unhealthy – “You can’t make money from a hospital bed.” That’s what one millionaire told me during my research. The rich exercise every day, they moderate their consumption of junk food, they drink alcohol in moderation, they avoid fast food restaurants, they floss every day they eat healthy foods and most don’t smoke cigarettes. Consequently, 82% of the rich said they had no health issues.
Don’t Be Cheap – The rich are generous with their time and money. Because they operate from an abundance mindset they are not afraid to donate their time and money. There is a difference between being cheap and being frugal. Many of the rich in my study were frugal with their money when it came to their personal expenses, but were nonetheless generous to others in need.
Be Fearless – The rich have made a habit of overcoming their fears. They are not superstitious and believe they can overcome any obstacle that is put in their way.
No Excuses – The rich believe they are the architects of their lives. They don’t give excuses, they don’t rationalize failures and they don’t blame anyone but themselves for their circumstances in life. They take individual responsibility for their behavior, their choices and their lives.
Be a Cheerleader – Rich, successful people are great cheerleaders. They encourage other success-minded people who are pursuing a dream or some purpose in life. Their own success helps them understand that all things are possible in life, irrespective of where you start out in life.
Staying rich requires that you forge certain specific habits that ensure the wealth you’ve accumulated does not disappear.
Here are a few of the most important Rich Habits that will help you keep your wealth:
Put Your Wealth to Work – Accumulating wealth is important but you must also put your wealth to work if you want to keep it. Putting your wealth to work means investing it wisely in stocks, bonds, real estate and other business opportunities.
Set Aside Part of Your Wealth for Retirement – Save 10-20% of the income you make and put that money into long-term retirement assets that you don’t touch until you retire.
Watch What You Spend – Do you know where your money goes? You should. Tracking what you spend opens your eyes so you may know exactly where your money goes. Tracking your spending allows you to make adjustments to how you spend your money. If you don’t track your spending it can get out of control. This Lifestyle Creep can cause your wealth to disappear over time. I’ve written often about the need to avoid Lifestyle Creep.
Avoid Spontaneous or Emotional Purchases – Never buy anything on impulse. It is almost always the wrong thing to do. That spontaneous or emotional purchase will lose its luster after only a few weeks. Then you’re stuck with something you don’t need and that does not generate any income.
Live Below Your Means – Living below your means keeps you from falling into the trap of Lifestyle Creep. No matter what good fortune visits you in life, do not change your standard of living. Don’t supersize your life by buying things you really do not need. Live a modest, simple life.
Never forget wealth is a two-step process.
The game doesn’t begin and end with getting rich.
You must forge Rich Habits that guarantees the wealth you accumulate sticks around for a long time.
About Tom Corley Tom is a CPA, CFP and heads one of the top financial firms in New Jersey. For 5 years, Tom observed and documented the daily activities of wealthy people and people living in poverty and his research he identified over 200 daily activities that separated the “haves” from the “have nots” which culminated in his #1 bestselling book, Rich Habits – The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals.
Lewis Hamilton could not hide his excitement as he walked among the road cars in the ‘heritage section’ of Ferrari’s headquarters in Maranello, Italy.
As he spotted a bright red Ferrari F40, one of the rarest of the manufacturer’s road cars, in the middle of the floor, he paused. Spreading his hands across the rear spoiler, a smile engulfed his face. He’d found his favorite.
It was this kind of wonder that Hamilton, a seven-time world champion who has seen and won it all in Formula One, sought when he decided to move to Ferrari. For all the success he enjoyed with Mercedes, nothing could match the history and the magic of F1’s most iconic team.
The moment he had dreamed about since childhood, becoming a Ferrari driver, had finally arrived.
Day one at Maranello had been almost a year in the making for Hamilton. Since announcing his shock decision to quit Mercedes after 12 seasons, he endured a difficult and, by his own admission, occasionally awkward final year. Closing that chapter in Abu Dhabi may have been emotional, yet Hamilton knew it was giving way to something new and exciting.
To mark the start of this era, uniting F1’s most successful driver and most successful team, every detail had to be meticulously planned. Ferrari F1 team principal Fred Vasseur was reluctant to have a big presentation or media event, not wishing to add any extra work or distraction to the team’s plate amid its preparations for the new season.
But it had to make Hamilton’s first week at Maranello memorable.
The F40 housed in the ‘old’ side of Ferrari’s factory — the headquarters is split between the historic part of the facility, noted by its yellow buildings and walls, and the ‘new’ side that is red — was wheeled through the Italian drizzle to the Piazza Michael Schumacher, named after the great who won five of his seven F1 titles for Ferrari. On it stands the house of Enzo Ferrari, the founder of the legendary manufacturer who had watched many legends sample his red cars from the window. History resides wherever you turn at Maranello.
Hamilton met with Vasseur and Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna before posing for photos outside the house next to the F40. Even Hamilton’s outfit for the day had been carefully planned by his stylist, Eric McNeal, right down to his red-soled Louboutin boots. The first official pictures of Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari F1 driver, quickly went viral and became the most-liked photo on F1’s Instagram page in less than 24 hours, as well as gracing all the front pages of the Italian sports newspapers the next morning.
Hamilton’s arrival photo went viral and made headlines around the world — especially in Italy. (Clive Rose / Getty Images)
Hamilton also made time to visit the fans, Ferrari’s loyal tifosi, who had congregated outside the factory gates at Maranello since the early morning hours, desperate to glimpse their new hero on his first day.
While at McLaren and Mercedes, Hamilton struck a strong bond with his fans (known as ‘Team LH’) and wants to rekindle that kind of relationship at Ferrari.
“I don’t know really what to expect, but I’m really looking forward to connecting with that community,” Hamilton said in a press conference last August. Taking a few minutes with fans to pose for pictures and offer signatures as they chanted his name was a good first gesture. It created a bystander out of Ferrari president John Elkann, one of the key brokers in signing Hamilton and perhaps the most powerful figure at Ferrari.
A lot rests on 2025 for both Ferrari and Hamilton. Ferrari missed out on its first constructors’ championship since 2008 by just 14 points, while Hamilton is still searching for a record-breaking eighth world title. His struggles with the Mercedes car through 2024 made for a season of lagging behind teammate George Russell. Shaking off that funk and proving he still has the edge that once made him near-impossible to beat at the peak of his powers in F1 is a critical part of this move.
It made Hamilton’s time getting to know his new colleagues through a factory tour and subsequent meetings on Monday and Tuesday vitally important. Hamilton always took strength from the closeness of his relationships with his teammates at Mercedes, particularly with his race engineer, Peter Bonnington, who he likened to a brother. Taking over that role will be Riccardo Adami, who was the engineer for Carlos Sainz (the Spaniard affectionately nicknamed Adami ‘Ricky’) as well as four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, and will now be the voice on the end of the radio to Hamilton through races.
Hamilton suiting up for his first test at Fiorano. (Ferrari)
Ferrari planned Hamilton’s first on-track outing behind the wheel of its 2023 car for Wednesday at its private test track, Fiorano, which is adjacent to the factory. But it was always weather-dependent, making it hard to predict in the depths of January in northern Italy.
Preparations through Monday and Tuesday included a seat fitting and sampling Ferrari’s simulator, giving Hamilton a chance to feel, at least virtually, how his new car would perform. One of his great struggles through 2024 was feeling confident and balanced with the car, particularly under braking with his late, aggressive style. Over a single lap, Hamilton often failed to get the most out of the car. The simulator will have at least given a first read of what he can expect from the Ferrari this year, even if nothing compares to the real thing.
Hamilton’s new race helmet design for this year returns to the yellow he first used as a child in go-karts to allow his father, Anthony, to easily spot him on the track. Shots of the helmet, as well as Hamilton posing in the classic red Ferrari race suit for the first time, were shared with the world, building up excitement before his first on-track running. All that was required was for the weather to play ball.
Driving a two-year-old F1 car on a misty, cold day around a short test circuit may not have the hallmarks of a special moment, but for Hamilton, this was a day he had dreamt of since playing as Michael Schumacher on video games as a teenager, wondering what it might be like to be in the cockpit of the red car someday.
Just as it was for Schumacher at Fiorano at the end of 1995 ahead of his move to Ferrari for the following season, Hamilton’s maiden outing was both understated and poignant. After changing into his new red race suit in Enzo Ferrari’s house, Hamilton walked over to the simple garage setup next to the track, no bigger than a gas station forecourt (and branded like one, thanks to team partner Shell) and was greeted by his team. As the engineers ran through the processes, Hamilton scribbled down things to remember into a small notebook.
Hamilton and Ferrari’s crew hit the ground running this week (Ferrari)
There were a number of new faces in Ferrari gear for Hamilton to get to know, but a few watched on with added fondness, including dad Anthony. Vasseur had worked with Hamilton in junior categories and they always remained friendly, paving the way for their reunion almost 20 years later. Jerome d’Ambrosio, the deputy team principal, and Loic Serra, the chassis technical director, both worked at Mercedes when Hamilton was there.
But maybe the most essential and surprising returnee was Angela Cullen, Hamilton’s former trainer and performance coach.
Hamilton and Cullen worked together for seven years before suddenly splitting just two races into the 2023 season. Cullen had been a core part of Hamilton’s inner circle, overseeing his physical preparations and helping him ahead of races. She spent last year working in IndyCar but is now back with Hamilton’s team after signing with Project 44, his management company that looks after his business interests. Her return is important for Hamilton, who will take comfort in having some familiarity during the big adjustment that comes with joining a new team.
At 9:16 a.m., Hamilton peeled out of the garage and onto the track. At last, he was a Ferrari F1 driver. Fans and TV cameras had gathered at a couple of vantage points overlooking Fiorano to catch a glimpse of the famous #44 emblazoned on the Ferrari, including one on a bridge next to a busy road. No length is too great for the tifosi.
Testing an old car would not have given Hamilton much in terms of accurate readings of how the new season may go, yet it at least offered the chance to adjust to Ferrari’s way of working. The SF-23 car, the only non-Red Bull winner of 2023, offered a first understanding of the power delivery of the Ferrari engine and the functions of the steering wheel, both of which will differ from what he was used to at Mercedes.
Hamilton only managed 30 laps through a handful of runs in the morning, completing an installation run on wet tires before switching to slicks, and there were images of him locking up at points, yet it was never about outright pace or performance. The race drivers are limited to 1,000km of private test running in old cars through the year, meaning Hamilton’s 89km run, followed by teammate Charles Leclerc’s 42km run in the afternoon, leaves plenty of room for more ahead of the new season. A further outing is planned for Hamilton in Barcelona in the coming weeks before his first run in the 2025 car on February 19 at Fiorano, one day after the F1 season launch event at The O2 in London.
Neither the limited running nor the weather would stop his Ferrari debut from being, to quote Hamilton, “one of the best feelings of my life.”
Once his run was complete, he was taken in a black Alfa Romeo road car to get out and wave at the dozens of fans who stood behind one of the fences. His mother, Carmen, stood taking photos on her phone. Watching her son in Ferrari red for the first time, she drank in the moment. Hamilton could not help but break into a smile at the chants of, “Olé!, olé, olé, olé! Lewis, Lewis!” that greeted him. The tifosi have already warmed to Hamilton, instantly becoming their new hero.
“I already knew from the outside how passionate the Ferrari family is, from everyone in the team to the tifosi,” Hamilton said. “To now witness it firsthand as a Ferrari driver has been awe-inspiring. That passion runs through their veins and you can’t help but be energized by it.”
Ferrari perfectly balanced making Hamilton’s arrival a ‘moment’ without detracting from the focus, which must be on its performance. It knows how important this year will be coming off the back of a 2024 season that will go down as a near-miss but also a big swell in momentum that has ignited hopes just at the right time. As much as this week featured public nods to the new beginning, the behind-the-scenes work and adjustment was what really mattered to Hamilton.
It is a week that will have rekindled a lot of Hamilton’s love and passion for F1. As committed as he was to the Mercedes project, even through the toughest of times, the on-track difficulties caused that flame to flicker.
This change to a new, ambitious project, one which carries the weight of an expectant fanbase, a nation’s sporting pride and the history of those who’ve come and succeeded before in Ferrari red is precisely what Hamilton needed.
Now, it’s about working hard to make the adjustment as smooth as possible, before his full debut in Australia on March 16 truly begins his Ferrari era.
Top photo: Clive Rose, Alessandro Bremec via Getty Images; Design: Will Tullos/The Athletic
Cutting back on subscriptions can be easier than you think, and it doesn’t have to mean sacrificing your favorite content. After reevaluating my subscription plans, I found ways to reduce my monthly costs while covering all my essentials.
One of the easiest ways I save on premium services is to share accounts. Many streaming services allow multiple profiles or simultaneous streams, making it possible to split the cost among family or friends.
For example, Netflix offers plans like Standard and Premium, which allow two to four people to watch simultaneously on one account. Each user gets a profile to keep their watchlists and recommendations separate. Disney+ supports up to four streams at once and lets you create multiple profiles. This feature makes sharing an account with friends or family simple without compromising your user experience.
Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Premium also offer family plans, where up to six people can share a subscription. Pooling resources with trusted friends and family can significantly reduce individual expenses.
5
Downgrade to More Affordable Plans
Most streaming platforms offer multiple subscription tiers. The premium tiers often include perks like ad-free viewing, higher resolution, or offline downloads. However, if you’re looking to cut costs, consider downgrading to a basic or ad-supported plan to save money.
Hulu: Its ad-supported plan costs much less than the ad-free option while offering access to the same shows and movies.
Netflix: The Basic with Ads plan is a budget-friendly alternative. While it comes with ads, it still lets you enjoy a majority of the content available on the platform.
Peacock and Paramount+: Both services provide low-cost ad-supported plans that cater to budget-conscious users.
If you can tolerate a few commercials, this adjustment can save you a significant amount of money over time.
4
Subscribe to Bundle Plans
Bundles are an excellent way to save money while enjoying multiple services. Companies like Disney and Verizon often combine streaming platforms into discounted packages. Here are a few popular examples:
The Disney Bundle: This includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ for a lower combined price compared to subscribing to each service separately.
Carrier Offers: Many mobile and internet service providers include streaming services as part of their packages. Verizon’s plans often include free or discounted access to platforms like Disney+ or Hulu. Similarly, T-Mobile offers Netflix with some wireless plans.
Bundling saves money and simplifies billing, as you combine multiple services under one payment.
3
Pay Essential Subscriptions Annually
Switching to an annual payment can yield considerable savings if you have streaming services you know you’ll use all year. Many platforms offer discounts for customers who commit to a full year upfront rather than paying monthly. This applies to streaming services and utility services such as VPNs, which can help with streaming geo-restrictions.
This approach works best for services you rely on regularly. For less frequently used platforms, stick to monthly billing so you can cancel anytime.
I take advantage of discounts and promotions to enjoy various premium services without paying full price. Before paying full price for a service, first try looking if the service offers the following:
Student Discounts: Platforms like Spotify and Apple Music offer special student plans with access to additional services, such as Hulu or Showtime, at no extra cost.
Seasonal Deals: Watch out for promotions during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and other major sales events. For example, HBO Max has previously offered discounted annual plans during these periods.
Free Trials: Many premium services, such as VPNs and many streaming sites, offer free trials ranging from one week to a month. When trying out a new premium subscription service, always use the free trials first and see if the provided service is something that’s worth the premium.
Regularly checking for these promotions ensures you’re always paying the lowest possible price for your subscriptions.
1
Cancel Underused Subscriptions
One of the simplest yet most effective ways to reduce your streaming costs is to cancel services you rarely use. Many people subscribe to multiple platforms but only use the service occasionally. To ensure you’re maximizing the use of your subscriptions, review your bank or credit card statements and identify all active subscriptions. Then, ask yourself:
How often do I use this subscription service?
Am I going to use this platform this month? Can I pause the subscription until later?
How essential is this subscription? Do I really need this service? How much will it affect me if I don’t have access to this service?
Another helpful strategy is rotating subscriptions. Instead of subscribing to all services simultaneously, focus on one or two for a few months. For example, you could subscribe to Netflix while catching up on a particular series, then cancel it and switch to Disney+ for the next few months. This ensures you’re only paying for what you actively use.
The key is regularly evaluating your habits and adjusting your subscriptions to align with your current needs. Implement these strategies, and you’ll likely be surprised at how much you can save while enjoying top-tier entertainment and services.
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Artist Chris Carlson lives in Denver. He is a Nuggets fan. He may not have been the most obvious choice to paint a mural in Los Angeles based on a Lakers legend.
“My relationship with the Lakers is complicated,” Carlson told The Times in an email interview. “Being from Denver and growing up as a Nuggets fan, I watched the Lakers knock us out of the playoffs every season during the [Carmelo Anthony] years.”
Carlson is, however, a huge admirer of Kobe Bryant. He jumped at the chance to paint a Nike-commissioned mural honoring the Black Mamba beside the Venice Beach basketball courts, where an 18-year-old Bryant broke his left wrist during a pickup game before his rookie season.
“I am definitely a Kobe fan!” Carlson wrote. “His skills were unmatched and his work ethic was inspirational. A lot of his philosophies about working toward being a better athlete can be applied to becoming a better artist. Things like embracing discomfort and pushing past your perceived limits really resonated with me.”
Carlson and Indiana-based artist Nate Baranowski finished painting the larger-than-life mural this month. It shows Bryant with a fierce scowl on his face. A giant snake appears to burst through the painting and wrap itself around Bryant, with their heads ending up side by side. The top features Nike’s Swoosh logo and the slogan: “This isn’t the year of the snake. This is the year of the Mamba.”
Mike Asner, who runs the KobeMural.com website, posted a video of the mural on the site’s Instagram page this week and the post blew up, garnering 2 million views and 187,000 likes in three days.
“That’s not normal,” said Asner, who estimates a typical post featuring a Bryant mural gets between 150,000 and 300,000 views and 10,000 to 15,000 likes.
Asner said he thinks people are attracted to “the realism and 3D nature” of the mural.
“People went crazy over this one,” Asner said. “I’ve never seen people go this crazy over a mural.”
Here is more from The Times’ interview with Carlson. The questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.
People play basketball in front of the new Kobe Bryant mural Saturday at Venice Beach.
(Chuck Schilken / Los Angeles Times)
How did this project come about?
Nike contacted me about creating this mural in Venice Beach. They had an idea to incorporate a 3D illusion and trompe l’oeil effects into a Kobe mural they were planning, and since optical illusion murals are my specialty they reached out to me. I loved their concept and I was thrilled when they selected me for the project.
What inspired the design?
The design started with the black mamba (the snake). I wanted the snake to be wrapping around the portrait of Kobe in a way that shows the two are linked and forever connected. Having the mamba breaking through the wall helps to create a feeling of intensity and power that I really wanted to capture in the mural. It’s like Kobe and the mamba are challenging us to be the best versions of ourselves. The architectural elements in the corners are the Kobe logo. I think they help pull the viewers’ eyes into the middle of the mural.
How did people respond while you were working on it?
The reactions from people on the courts while we painted were amazing! As soon as people saw that it was a Kobe mural, the excitement started building. It was one of my favorite painting experiences because of all the encouragement we got from the public while we painted.
How does this project differ from your usual work?
This is my largest mural to date, so that brings some different challenges. But it also allows the artwork to have a bigger visual impact. I’m also not usually painting in such a famous location. It was an honor to paint a mural featuring an iconic person like Kobe Bryant in an iconic location like the Venice Beach basketball courts.
The rapid spread of artificial intelligence has people wondering: Who’s most likely to embrace AI in their daily lives? Many assume it’s the tech-savvy—those who understand how AI works—who are most eager to adopt it.
Surprisingly, our new research, published in the Journal of Marketing, finds the opposite. People with less knowledge about AI are actually more open to using the technology. We call this difference in adoption propensity the “lower literacy-higher receptivity” link.
This link shows up across different groups, settings, and even countries. For instance, our analysis of data from market research company Ipsos spanning 27 countries reveals that people in nations with lower average AI literacy are more receptive toward AI adoption than those in nations with higher literacy.
Similarly, our survey of US undergraduate students finds that those with less understanding of AI are more likely to indicate using it for tasks like academic assignments.
The reason behind this link lies in how AI now performs tasks we once thought only humans could do. When AI creates a piece of art, writes a heartfelt response, or plays a musical instrument, it can feel almost magical—like it’s crossing into human territory.
Of course, AI doesn’t actually possess human qualities. A chatbot might generate an empathetic response, but it doesn’t feel empathy. People with more technical knowledge about AI understand this.
They know how algorithms (sets of mathematical rules used by computers to carry out particular tasks), training data (used to improve how an AI system works), and computational models operate. This makes the technology less mysterious.
On the other hand, those with less understanding may see AI as magical and awe inspiring. We suggest this sense of magic makes them more open to using AI tools.
Our studies show this lower literacy-higher receptivity link is strongest for using AI tools in areas people associate with human traits, like providing emotional support or counseling. When it comes to tasks that don’t evoke the same sense of humanlike qualities—such as analyzing test results—the pattern flips. People with higher AI literacy are more receptive to these uses because they focus on AI’s efficiency, rather than any “magical” qualities.
It’s Not About Capability, Fear, or Ethics
Interestingly, this link between lower literacy and higher receptivity persists even though people with lower AI literacy are more likely to view AI as less capable, less ethical, and even a bit scary. Their openness to AI seems to stem from their sense of wonder about what it can do, despite these perceived drawbacks.
This finding offers new insights into why people respond so differently to emerging technologies. Some studies suggest consumers favour new tech, a phenomenon called “algorithm appreciation,” while others show skepticism, or “algorithm aversion.” Our research points to perceptions of AI’s “magicalness” as a key factor shaping these reactions.
These insights pose a challenge for policymakers and educators. Efforts to boost AI literacy might unintentionally dampen people’s enthusiasm for using AI by making it seem less magical. This creates a tricky balance between helping people understand AI and keeping them open to its adoption.
Intelligence analysis firm i2 Group is upgrading its internal software with blockchain technology to be better equipped to identify illicit uses of cryptocurrency. The company plans to integrate blockchain-based features to its link analysis platform, named Analyst’s Notebook. i2 Group has partnered with blockchain data firm Chainalysis. With this step, the firm is looking to reduce its reliance on third-party sources like geospatial data to detect criminal and fraudulent activities, while training its public sector customers to use of blockchain-enabled data intelligence tools.
Chainalysis said in a prepared statement that cryptocurrencies are increasingly becoming a part of the global fintech ecosystem, and that law enforcement agencies from around the world need tools and training to identify miscreants misusing crypto to facilitate illegal transactions for money laundering or terror financing. The firm also said its blockchain capabilities will be integrated into the Analyst’s Notebook platform. It would enable cybersecurity experts using the Analyst’s Notebook to gather detailed insights on crypto-related activities that are suspected to be linked to illegal finances.
“The combination of Chainalysis’ on-chain data with i2’s link analysis platform marks a significant advancement in our mission to arm public sector agencies with the comprehensive blockchain insights they need to uncover complex illicit networks,” Chainalysis said.
This partnership comes as Chainalysis is ramping up efforts to tackle on-chain crime, which it claimed in a recent report, has become ‘increasingly diverse and professionalised’. This report released earlier this month said that the financial amount roped-in by illicit cryptocurrency addresses in 2024 was around $40.9 billion (roughly Rs. 353 crore). Nepal’s Financial Intelligence Unit also recently raised red flags around the rise in crypto-based money laundering.
The firm will also help i2 Group upskill its customers from the public sector in blockchain-enabled data intelligence tools. “We are excited to partner with Chainalysis to bring on-chain data into our platform. This integration will enhance the capabilities of our users, particularly in the public sector, by providing a more holistic view of data and improving the quality of their investigations,” said Jamie Caffrey, Executive Vice President at i2 Group.
Other Web3 and blockchain firms are also taking steps to curb the exploitation of crypto assets to facilitate cross-border transfer of funds for illegal intentions. For instance, Tron, Tether, and TRM Labs established T3, a specialised financial crime unit to retrieve crypto funds related to criminal activities.
As AI reshapes the digital landscape and Google continues to drive less traffic to brands, marketers face a critical challenge: how to balance strategies that deliver results today with innovations that prepare for tomorrow.
This article outlines eight key considerations to help you navigate these changes and stay ahead in the ever-evolving world of SEO.
Why SEO feels overwhelming right now
In 2024, five of the top 15 SEO stories on Search Engine Land were about AI, with several others covering major changes at Google that have led to less traffic being sent to brands.
These shifts leave us with a lot to think about. Studies and experiments show the immense potential of AI-based search tools, yet most of us are still focused on optimizing for what works today.
It can feel overwhelming to keep up. I often find myself lost in the wealth of insights shared by thought leaders like Rand Fishkin, Wil Reynolds, and Michael King.
This rapid pace of change is not new. I vividly remember attending SEMpdx Engage in Portland in 2019, where Fishkin presented on zero-click searches.
That was before the pandemic and long before ChatGPT made its debut, yet the trend of diminishing clicks from Google was already taking shape.
I’m not here to break new ground with data or studies – that’s best left to the industry leaders I mentioned earlier.
Instead, I want to share practical considerations to help you navigate the SEO landscape with confidence.
1. Focus on ROI
Long before AI, one of the biggest contributors to ineffective SEO has been the lack of a strong connection between SEO strategy and its ROI.
Given the time it takes to see meaningful results, you can’t afford to “do all the stuff” only to realize it was the wrong approach – or worse, conclude that SEO doesn’t work for your organization.
Even with a detailed strategy, it’s often challenging to connect SEO KPIs to business outcomes when presenting to stakeholders.
Anchoring your efforts in ROI, rather than just SEO metrics, is more critical than ever as the industry evolves.
Avoid shifting strategies and tactics without a clear understanding of what’s working for your organization and what isn’t.
Dig deeper: 7 proven methods to explain the value of SEO
2. Leverage AI
AI is the driving force behind the changes reshaping the SEO industry.
If you’ve been focused solely on existing strategies, hesitant to trust AI, or simply haven’t made time to experiment with it, now is the time to start testing and adopting it.
This doesn’t mean relying on AI to generate all your content or trusting it blindly.
Instead, focus on understanding its strengths, its limitations, and where it can create efficiencies.
For those juggling multiple roles or working solo in SEO, AI can serve as a valuable assistant – provided you verify and question its outputs.
Set aside time to test and innovate with AI. The technology is here to stay, and the longer you wait, the harder it will be to adapt as it becomes more advanced.
Dig deeper: 3 ways to use AI for SEO wins in 2025
3. Know who you are targeting
Your audience is the reason for doing SEO – not search engines or emerging AI tools.
The goal is for your content and brand to be found in ways that drive ROI.
While having a strong brand strategy and detailed personas is a great start, SEO today requires a deeper understanding of your target audience.
With fragmented traffic sources and fewer clicks from Google, it’s more important than ever to know exactly who your audience is, what they’re seeking, and how you can uniquely serve them.
As platforms like ChatGPT grow, even if they don’t drive direct traffic, quality must take precedence over quantity.
Casting a wide net isn’t enough; precision is key in this evolving landscape.
Dig deeper: How to find emerging audience needs using Google Trends
4. Identify where your audience is
Understanding your audience also means knowing where they are and how they engage online.
This has traditionally involved examining social media, email marketing, third-party content, and ads, along with their interplay with Google search behavior.
Today, we need to go further.
Whether you call it SEO, AI optimization, or something else, it’s essential to account for multiple platforms.
Are your audiences still using Google search?
Are they engaging with AI summaries in Google, ChatGPT, or Bing?
Are they evenly distributed across various platforms?
Optimizing for these sources requires an understanding of how your audience engages with each.
Asking the right questions and exploring deeper insights about your audience’s online behavior will shape where and how you reach them effectively.
Dig deeper: How to do audience research for SEO
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5. Invest in content
Content has always been a cornerstone of SEO and audience engagement, and it remains a crucial area to invest in.
While the way we create and consume content has evolved, it still serves as the fuel for digital marketing efforts.
AI has made content research, ideation, and even creation more scalable and accessible.
However, thought leadership and showcasing your unique value to your audience remain as important as ever.
With AI making it easier to produce content, standing out through quality will be even more critical.
Investing in high-quality, impactful content – especially content that works across multiple channels – will continue to yield strong results.
Dig deeper: Content marketing and SEO: Creating an integrated SEO plan
6. Evolve tactics and checklists
For years, I’ve cautioned against “checklist SEO,” where tactics are followed blindly without a clear strategy.
However, having a defined approach and documented processes is still essential.
As traffic sources diversify, your methodology must evolve to keep pace.
Outdated SEO practices won’t cut it, and relying on memory or unstructured workflows can hinder your efforts.
Maintain a written process that adapts as needed to ensure your strategy stays relevant.
This way, you can defend your approach to stakeholders and even to yourself when changes require swift adjustments.
Dig deeper: Evolving SEO for 2025: What needs to change
7. Be intentional in testing
Amid the demands of daily tasks, make sure to carve out intentional, scheduled time for testing.
Even those at the forefront of AI often feel behind when comparing themselves to others or evaluating the pace of advancements.
Make testing purposeful by setting clear goals and objectives.
Whether you need to push yourself to dedicate time or rein in constant experimentation to refocus on what matters now versus what’s coming next, find a balance that supports meaningful progress.
Dig deeper: SEO testing: Shifting from reactive to proactive strategies
8. Communicate with stakeholders
Keeping stakeholders informed, educated, and comfortable with SEO has always been a challenge, and the rapid changes brought by AI make this even more critical.
Whether your stakeholders are clients, bosses, or other decision-makers, they’re likely less immersed in SEO than you are.
Don’t let the complexity of AI or evolving strategies be an excuse to avoid effective communication.
Ensuring stakeholders understand your approach and the broader industry context will help build trust and alignment, even as changes continue to unfold.
Dig deeper: How to use SEO education for stakeholder management
Mastering SEO: Balancing proven tactics with emerging trends
If you’re deep in SEO, you’re probably not scared of change.
The shifts we’re seeing today affect everyone, and many of these trends – such as fewer clicks from Google – have been developing for years.
While the influx of new information and changes can feel overwhelming at times, my hope is that by applying the eight aspects I’ve discussed in this article to your mindset, approach, and overall strategy, you’ll be able to move forward with clarity.
By adopting these principles, you can set clear objectives that will help you adapt and thrive in this shifting environment.
Contributing authors are invited to create content for Search Engine Land and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the search community. Our contributors work under the oversight of the editorial staff and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers. The opinions they express are their own.
Long before I was a Games Journalist™ and thus required to watch just about every video game showcase, conference, and direct for my job, I was an eager video game fan doing the exact same thing but without, you know, a professional obligation. Regardless of whether these events required me to rise well before the sun (looking at you, Nintendo), for well over a decade I’ve been there, buzzing with excitement and ready to preorder things I certainly did not need.
Chances are that if you’re reading this, you too enjoy watching these events. Though you’d be correct in calling what’s shown at these conferences glorified commercials, I’ve often thought of it as us gamers getting our own little “Super Bowl commercial celebration” every month or so, which is pretty neat if you ask me.
Over the years of partaking in these often-solo watch parties, I’ve come to associate and expect certain things from certain studios and publishers. Devolver will always offer up a somewhat convoluted but high-value production that leans into the absurd, while Wholesome Direct pairs pastels with short-and-sweet sizzle reels, giving each one of the many indie games it’s highlighting a brief time to shine. Of the “big three” video game companies–PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo–Nintendo was the first, in my eyes, to really cultivate a strong, public facing identity. If it ever does away with its quirky voiceovers and charming segues, I’d be heartbroken, to say the least.
PlayStation, I’d then argue, was the second. When PlayStation comes to play, you know you are getting far more action than talk. Though its State of Plays might feature someone in a suit saying a few words between trailers, the company largely does not indulge in bells and whistles. Instead, you get trailer after trailer, with the company’s narrative-heavy prize jewels getting ample screentime. I get this approach and admire it: Sometimes we really should just let the games speak for themselves.
And that leaves us with Xbox. In more ways than one, Xbox has struggled with an identity problem for years. Is it the catalog of first-person shooters and multiplayer titles that makes it appealing? Should we see it more as a home entertainment ecosystem? Is it the fact that the console now allows you to play in a variety of ways–including not on the actual consoles–that sets it apart? Does the company’s greater emphasis on accessibility make it the best way to play? Is Game Pass truly the best value in gaming and a major selling point?
To be clear, this isn’t a dig at Xbox. I think it’s wondrous to be ambitious, well-rounded, and ever-changing–the current media and entertainment landscape demands it. But for a while, this led to the company not having a very clear identity. However, Xbox’s latest Developer Direct got me thinking about how far the company has come and how, over the past few years, it’s made great strides towards establishing a much-welcomed identity.
For the past few years, Xbox has been all about one thing in particular: the developers. Some of this, of course, has manifested in ways that I don’t particularly love, as both Xbox and PlayStation have been quick to identify and acquire seemingly any studio willing to sell. But whereas PlayStation outwardly focuses more on the games and franchises they are acquiring, Xbox feels quicker to highlight the studios and teams.
A still of Hazel from South of Midnight
In its January 2025 Developer Direct, Xbox spent close to an hour highlighting just five games: Ninja Gaiden 4, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, South of Midnight, Doom: The Dark Ages, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. The company provided plenty of gameplay, allowing unfamiliar but interested audience members a chance to see what they were about, and kept the time spent on each game remarkably equal, despite certain titles having more mainstream awareness. But even more compelling to me was how they gave the studios behind these games ample time to actually talk about themselves.
As someone who is all about dark fantasy and gothic vibes, getting to hear the team behind South of Midnight wax poetic about these topics, and express their reverence for the American Deep South’s folklore, was delightful. Though Clair Obscura’s turn-based combat lends itself to JRPG comparisons, it was interesting to hear that the team’s decision to structure its RPG as such was born out of a deep attachment to the genre and their longing to make something that combined it with their own sensibilities and culture. And id Software–the studio behind Doom–focused on the company’s legacy and how they are incorporating the series’ staples, such as fast-paced action and metal music, alongside additions like new medieval-style weapons and the ability to control a mech. Lastly, as someone who, for some wild reason, has yet to play the Ninja Gaiden series, I appreciated hearing the developers explain the game’s world and what pairing up with Platinum Games means for Team Ninja.
Xbox has said time and time again that it is focused on supporting developers it acquires, not assimilating them into its own ecosystem and way of play. Unfortunately, we have seen the company not always stick to this, as it shuttered Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Studios, Tango Gameworks, and Roundhouse Games just last year–it would frankly be disingenuous to not point this out and express my disappointment in this. However, this showcase still means a great deal to me and makes me hopeful that these closures will happen less and less going forward: that they will learn how to properly support studios and prevent what even Phil Spencer noted was a failure on the company’s part to properly aid developers in executing their vision.
Another part of why this is so important to me right now is because I firmly believe we are dealing with a large-scale dehumanization crisis. I recently saw a BlueSky post that really resonated with me, that essentially said that, because games are becoming increasingly affiliated with the tech sector, they are being treated in a more capitalistic way rather than as art. It’s plain to see, with one example of this being how many studios are instructed to follow certain trends–such as live-service games–rather than play to the strength of the developer.
Games are growing larger, more jam-packed, and more technologically impressive than ever before. But are we willing to sacrifice artistic vision and personality for that? This, alongside the push for greater AI usage in ways more ethically questionable than ever before, has me feeling that, in spite of certain game’s grand scale and presentation, we are somewhat regressing. When developers are being laid off left and right, and when those who remain’s voices feel silenced while others accept accolades off-screen, I can’t help but be irked by the way the people who make games are all too often forgotten or dismissed.
Xbox is by no means a perfect company. To be clear, none of these companies are. However, I do have admiration for the way it is tackling its showcases with more humanity and emphasis on developers. It is a trend I hope other studios, big and small, follow, lest we lose the innovation, humanity, and magic that makes my favorite hobby so incredibly special.
The vestibular system is a network of organs in the inner ears that detects the motions and position of the head. The brain uses this information, along with inputs from the eyes and joints, to maintain the body’s balance.
Visual information has long been proven to affect balance—for example, strobe lights and swirling images can cause instability—but a new study published in PLOS ONE shows that sounds can also be a disruptive factor for those who have vestibular hypofunction, a vestibular system disorder resulting in impaired balance.
“People with vestibular hypofunction have difficulty in places like busy streets or train stations where the overwhelming visual information may cause them to lose balance or be anxious or dizzy,” says lead author Anat Lubetzky, associate professor of physical therapy at NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. “Sounds are not typically considered during physical therapy, making our findings particularly relevant for future interventions.”
The researchers conducted an experiment with 69 participants divided into two groups: healthy controls and individuals with unilateral vestibular hypofunction (affecting one ear).
Participants wore a virtual reality headset that simulated the experience of being in a New York City subway. As they experienced the sights and sounds of the “subway,” they stood on a platform that measured their body movement (known as sway), while the headset recorded their head movement, two indicators of balance. Participants were provided with different subway scenarios: static or moving visuals paired with silence, white noise, or recorded subway sounds.
The results revealed that for the group with vestibular hypofunction, the moving visuals accompanied by audio (either white noise or subway sounds) resulted in the greatest amount of sway. This sway was evident by the body’s forward and backward movements, as well as head movements left to right, and head tilts upward and downward. Audio conditions did not affect the balance of the healthy individuals.
“What we’ve learned is that sound should be included as part of both the assessment of balance and intervention programs,” says Lubetzky. “Because balance training is known to be task-specific, ideally, these should be real sounds related to patients’ typical environments and combined with salient and increasingly challenging visual cues. Portable virtual headsets are a promising tool for both assessing and treating balance problems.”
Funding for this study was provided by a grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (R21DC018101), resources from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and a grant from the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (UL1TR004419).
About the Organizer The Centre for Human Rights and Duties has been designed to familiarize and sensitize more and more people in society towards issues relating to Human Rights and Duties and involve them in the Human Rights movement and not merely to impart formal instruction, conduct examination and award certificates to the candidates. It […]
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To some people, the word “ yoga ” evokes ritualistic chanting, long breaths and slow movement. To others, it means contorting your body into ever more complicated positions until sweat drips onto the mat.
Which style of yoga is right for me? Here’s a primer, with a caveat
In reality, it can be both — with a lot of variation in between. It depends on the teacher, who could be trained in several of numerous yoga styles: hatha, vinyasa, Iyengar, ashtanga, yin and more.
Though all styles involve poses , they differ in significant ways. Even classes within the same style can range from calming to vigorous.
So what is the best type of class for a beginner?
“The best is the one that works for you,” said Tim Senesi, who has been teaching yoga in Orange County, California, for 22 years. “There are many different paths leading toward the same aim.”
Here’s a primer on some of the most popular styles, followed by a big caveat. The hatha/yin yoga styles
The term “yoga,” which is derived from the Sanskrit for “union,” actually encompasses an entire discipline that includes movement, meditation and lifestyle. Hatha, meaning “force,” technically is any kind of yoga class involving asanas. If you’ve ever heard of a sun salutation, for instance, that is a foundational sequence of 12 asanas that begin many types of classes.
When it comes to classes listed as hatha, however, they generally are gentler with more focus on breathing exercises . Poses are held for a few breaths and students usually move more slowly.
Hatha can be good for beginners who are looking to relax while improving flexibility and balance.
Another style, yin, is even more focused on recovery by working to stretch the muscles’ connective tissue. Students hold poses for 5 minutes or more, allowing the body to settle into a pose rather than pushing it. The vinyasa/ashtanga styles
A more vigorous, flowing form of yoga, vinyasa coordinates movement with breath over a progression of asanas. Some higher-level vinyasa classes move at a pace of one movement per breath.
Often they will be called Flow or Power classes. They can be appropriate for people who are more athletic, but teachers still recommend that those students start with a beginner level.
“I wouldn’t really encourage them to start in a higher level vinyasa flow class because they’re not going to have the foundation to move safely through that,” said Anne Van Valkenburg, of Lanai, Hawaii, who has been training yoga teachers in a blend of styles for 18 years.
Another style, ashtanga, is similar except that it involves a set series of poses that students repeat day after day, often going at their own pace. As students get stronger, they advance to a higher series with more challenging poses, something akin to belt levels in martial arts. The Iyengar style
This style involves the same poses as vinyasa but classes usually move at a slower pace — although they are not necessarily easier. The focus is more on precisely aligning parts of the body through small adjustments. Poses are held for longer and students rely more often on props including cushions, blocks or straps.
Iyengar is particularly good for people recovering from injuries, or for people who are already active but want to get the foundation of yoga before moving into different styles. The caveat about choosing yoga styles
These days, most teachers blend various styles in their classes, and many classes aren’t billed with these terms. The few words describing the class should give you an idea of what to expect, but don’t be afraid to ask questions at the studio or reach out to individual teachers.
Ideally, seek out a beginner series, but if you can’t find one that’s right, don’t worry. Most teachers are happy to have beginners in their classes and will make accommodations.
Most of all, commit to trying a few classes until you find the style or teacher that resonates with you.
“I feel sad when someone tries yoga once or twice and they’re like, ‘Eh, I don’t like it,’” Van Valkenburg said. “There’s just so much out there that you might be missing something that’s super beneficial for your life.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Albert Stumm writes about wellness, food and travel. Find his work at https://www.albertstumm.com
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
An experimental obesity drug from Novo Nordisk helped people lose an average of up to 22% of their body weight over 36 weeks in an early-stage trial, results that, if reproduced in further testing, could rival medicines Eli Lilly has on the market and in development.
Novo said Friday it is planning “further clinical development” of the drug, called amycretin, but didn’t specify the design of additional trials or when they might begin. Amycretin affects the same two targets as a Novo drug called cagrisema that recently missed expectations in a Phase 3 trial, but does so in a single molecule rather than a two-drug combination.
Novo shares, which fell sharply on the cagrisema news, rose as much as 11% in before settling into an 8% gain midday Friday. But while multiple Wall Street analysts expressed enthusiasm, they also noted the lack of specific safety data and other caveats that render comparisons to other medicines difficult to make.
Dive Insight:
The obesity drug race is far from over, with a plethora of companies vying for a piece of what’s expected to become a huge market in the years ahead. Analysts project that “incretin” drugs, like Novo’s Wegovy and Lilly’s Zepbound, could top more than $100 billion in yearly sales by 2030.
Zepbound and Wegovy have set the bar for the competition, stimulating weight loss of about 21% and 16% in testing, respectively, and showing they can lower the risk of certain obesity-related health complications. But clinicians are hoping the drugs that come next might be more potent or address their weaknesses, such as the loss of lean muscle along with fat and the frequency of side effects that can cause people to discontinue treatment.
One way drugmakers say they could boost weight loss is by simultaneously targeting multiple metabolic hormones with a single medicine. Zepbound, which targets the hormones GLP-1 and GIP, is one example.
Novo is employing a different strategy with cagrisema and now amycretin, which both target GLP-1 and the hormone amylin. Novo reported Phase 1 data for an oral form of amycretin about a year ago. The new results involve a version of the drug delivered via an under-the-skin injection. They’re from a Phase 2 trial testing several different once-weekly doses against a placebo.
According to Novo, a 1.25 milligram weekly dose helped people lose an average of around 10% of their body weight at 20 weeks. Those who received a 5 milligram dose lost a mean of 16% after 28 weeks, while trial participants given the 20 milligram dose lost 22%, on average, at 36 weeks. Those measurements were calculated at different time points because of the study’s protocol.
Wall Street analysts were impressed with the drug’s effectiveness. David Risinger, of Leerink Partners, noted that the weight loss associated with amycretin was higher, at the same time point, than what was observed in testing of Lilly’s drug.
Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Prakhar Agrawal added that the data look “very good” and, “if trends continue
in larger trials,” could portend even more substantial weight loss.
Still, there were “three important caveats” from Novo’s press release that could temper enthusiasm, wrote William Blair’s Andy Hsieh. One is that placebo recipients gained weight, on average, in the trial, which is “rare” in larger obesity studies. Another is Novo didn’t provide safety results, only noting in its announcement that side effects were “consistent with incretin-based therapies” and typically mild to moderate in nature.
Lastly, Novo only disclosed weight-loss data for the trial volunteers who stayed on treatment, “which has the potential to inflate treatment effect in the real-world setting,” Hsieh wrote.
In response to an e-mail query from BioPharma Dive, a company spokesperson declined to say how many study volunteers stopped therapy or when the company might reveal more detailed data about those participants.
Beyond the stunning coastlines and bustling city life lies a land brimming with intriguing economic quirks, surprising demographic trends, and a property market that can turn heads around the globe.
So, for Australia Day, let’s look at 12 fun facts that reveal the hidden dimensions of Australia’s wealth, housing, and unique global standing.
While these 12 points illustrate the complex and multifaceted nature of Australia’s economic and demographic landscape, one thing is clear – We’re living in the best country in the world of the best time in history.
Think you know Australia?
Think again!
Beyond the stunning coastlines and bustling city life lies a land brimming with intriguing economic quirks, surprising demographic trends, and a property market that can turn heads around the globe.
So, for Australia Day, let’s look at 12 fun facts that reveal the hidden dimensions of Australia’s wealth, housing, and unique global standing.
1. We’re a nation of Homeowners!
Sure, there is an affordability issue at present; however, with a homeownership rate of around 65%, Australia ranks highly on the global stage.
Over the last few years there is a noticeable shift toward renting that reflects rising property prices and evolving lifestyle preferences, particularly among millennials and Gen Z, who leave their family formation and therefore home ownership purchases till later in life.
This trend is reshaping our housing markets, pushing for more rental accommodations.
Having said that, last year they were also 530,000 property transactions in Australia and around 120,00 first home buyers – in other words around 20% of all transactions were to 1st home buyers.
2. The Magic Million Dollar Price.
There are now a number of new luxury home markets around Australia, not just Sydney and Melbourne.
Both Brisbane and Perth have now surpassed the $2 million mark for houses in their top five per cent.
Australia’s regional “$1 million club” has also grown dramatically from just two areas five years ago to encompass 20 locations today.
Leading the charge are the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.
3. Big Country, Small Population
Australia’s vast land mass contrasts sharply with its relatively small population, leading to one of the lowest population densities worldwide.
This unique aspect influences urban planning and infrastructure development, fostering a large amount of space per person but also presenting challenges in service delivery and the cost of producing sufficient infrastructure across such expansive areas.
4. Diverse and Multicultural
Australia’s reputation as a melting pot is not just a cultural statement but a defining characteristic of its demographic landscape.
With around 30% of our population born overseas, Australia ranks as one of the most multicultural nations on the planet.
This rich tapestry of cultures not only enhances the country’s cultural fabric but also significantly influences its property markets, particularly in metropolitan areas.
According to the ABS, the leading countries of origin for these expats include the United Kingdom, which accounts for 5% of the total population, followed by India (2.8%), and China (2.6%). New Zealand also contributes a significant number of expats, making up about 2.5% of the population.
5. The Expat Appeal
Australia’s stable economy and high quality of life make it a top destination for expats.
In recent years, Australia has consistently ranked as one of the top destinations for expatriates globally.
This recent map by The Visual Capitalist on the migration patterns of the world’s millionaires forecasts that Australia will this year experience the highest influx of millionaire migrants (+5,200), while China will suffer the greatest loss (-13,500):
Ten years ago, some 17% of new homes sold to overseas buyers according to Michael Matusik.
This attention dropped to around 4% in 2021 and has bounced back since.
Whilst it’s not actually allowed – although it obviously happens – when it comes to overseas residents buying existing homes in Australia, we have seen a very similar shape as the new house buying trends.
Ten years ago, some 10% of existing homes were purchased overseas.
It dropped below 2% or thereabouts during the Covid restrictions and has since lifted to 3.5%.
Overall if we take a decade-long average just under 10% of new properties across Australia sell to an overseas buyer and when it comes to existing homes that’s about 5%.
6. Economic Powerhouse
Historically, Australia has enjoyed a robust economic performance, with sustained growth in GDP -in other words we have informed into recession during the recent challenging years like some negative nellies suggested we would.
Our success can be attributed to several factors:
Diverse Economy: Australia benefits from a diversified economy that includes strong sectors such as mining, agriculture, education, and tourism. This diversification helps buffer against economic downturns that might affect one sector more significantly than others.
Trade Relationships: Strong trade relationships, particularly with China and other Asian economies, have underpinned Australia’s economic growth. The demand for Australian minerals and agricultural products has remained high, supporting the economy even during global slowdowns.
Despite the overall economic growth, Australia has experienced what’s known as ‘per capita recessions.’
This means that even though the economy grows, the wealth spread per person doesn’t keep pace, impacting living standards and economic perceptions at the individual level.
Also the benefits of the country’s economic growth have not been evenly distributed, leading to significant income disparity.
7. The Love for Suburban Sprawl
The great Australian dream often includes a house with a yard in the suburbs, contrasting with global trends towards high-density urban living.
This preference has driven urban sprawl, affecting urban planning and commuting patterns, with implications for infrastructure and environmental planning.
8. A Leader in Wealth Accumulation
Household wealth in Australia rose for the eighth quarter in a row, up 2.4 per cent or $401 billion in the September quarter 2024, according to figures released by the ABS.
Total household wealth was $16.9 trillion in the September quarter, which was 9.9 per cent ($1.5 trillion) higher than a year ago.
Residential land and dwellings were the largest driver of the rise, contributing 0.9 percentage points to the overall 2.4 per cent rise in household wealth.
9. Tech Adoption in Real Estate
From virtual tours to AI-driven investment platforms, Australia is quick to adopt new technologies in the real estate sector.
These advancements are democratising property data, but in my mind, while this makes it easier for average Australians to access market data, without the perspective to analyse this data, many investors are going to make expensive mistakes.
10. Ageing Population
According to projections from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of Australians aged 65 and over is expected to double in the next 40 years.
By 2057, it’s estimated that nearly 22% of the population will be over the age of 65, compared to approximately 15% today.
This ageing demographic is primarily due to longer life expectancies and declining birth rates, characteristics that are transforming consumer needs and preferences in the property market.
11. Education is a major economic earner.
Education is a major export earner for Australia, with the presence of prestigious universities and well-regarded schools being a major draw card for foreign students.
However, international students aren’t the culprit in Australia’s housing crisis that many make them out to be.
According to the Student Accommodation Council (SAC), international students account for only 6% of the rental market.
Their impact on housing is heavily concentrated in inner-city areas, where most student accommodation is located.
A staggering 73% of local government areas (LGAs) have an international student population of less than 1%.
In other words, for the vast majority of Australian communities, international students aren’t even on the radar when it comes to housing pressures.
12. Regional Shifts in Population and Property Demand
The allure of regional Australia has grown significantly as remote work becomes more viable and accepted.
Cities like Geelong, Ballarat, and Newcastle are seeing an influx of new residents seeking more affordable housing options, larger lot sizes, and a perceived better quality of life away from urban congestion.
This migration is not only boosting local economies but also reshaping property demand patterns.
Happy Australia Day
These 12 points illustrate the complex and multifaceted nature of Australia’s economic and demographic landscape.
However, one thing is clear – We’re living in the best country in the world of the best time in history.
About Michael Yardney Michael is the founder of Metropole Property Strategists who help their clients grow, protect and pass on their wealth through independent, unbiased property advice and advocacy. He’s once again been voted Australia’s leading property investment adviser and one of Australia’s 50 most influential Thought Leaders. His opinions are regularly featured in the media.
Pickup lines can be fun, cheesy, or outright cringe-worthy, but some are so ridiculous they are almost guaranteed to fail. In this article, we bring you 152 stupid pickup lines ever uttered. These stupid rizz lines, whether overly corny, outright offensive, or simply nonsensical, should be avoided at all costs. Instead of impressing your crush, they are more likely to make them walk away laughing—or worse, cringing.
152 Most Stupid Pickup Lines That Are Sure To Get You Shot Down
Sometimes, we try too hard to impress, and weird pickup lines can be a double-edged sword. Instead of building relationships and connections, the wrong ones can leave you feeling embarrassed. Here are 152 of the worst pickup lines ever, guaranteed to get you shot down. Read them, laugh at them, and most importantly, avoid using them!
51 most stupid pickup lines for him
When trying to impress a guy, dumb pickup lines can lead to awkward silence or a polite excuse to leave. These cringe-worthy lines are perfect examples of what not to say. Remember, confidence and sincerity will always work better than absurd one-liners. Avoid these 51 terrible pickup lines unless you want to give him a reason to run for the hills:
Stupid pickup lines for him
“Are you French? Because Eiffel for you.”
“Do you have a band-aid? Because I just scraped my knee falling for you.”
“Do you like raisins? How about a date?”
“If you were a vegetable, you’d be a cute-cumber.”
“Are you a parking ticket? Because you’ve got ‘fine’ written all over you.”
“Can I follow you? Because my mom told me to follow my dreams.”
“Do you have a map? Because I got lost in your eyes.”
“Is your name Google? Because you have everything I’ve been searching for.”
“Are you from Tennessee? Because you’re the only ten I see.”
“Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?”
“Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?”
“Are you a time traveler? Because I see you in my future.”
“Are you a bank loan? Because you’ve got my interest.”
“Is your dad a boxer? Because you’re a knockout.”
“Are you made of copper and tellurium? Because you’re Cu-Te.”
“Are you Wi-Fi? Because I’m feeling a connection.”
“Do you have a sunburn, or are you always this hot?”
Related Reading: 250 Funny Questions To Ask Your Boyfriend
“You must be tired because you’ve been running through my mind all day.”
“If you were a Transformer, you’d be Optimus Fine.”
“Do you have a pencil? Because I want to erase your past and write our future.”
“Are you an angel? Because heaven is missing one.”
“Are you a light bulb? Because you brighten up my day.”
“Is your name Chapstick? Because you’re da balm.”
“Are you a snowstorm? Because you make my heart melt and freeze.”
“If you were a fruit, you’d be a fineapple.”
“Are you a campfire? Because you’re hot and I want s’more.”
“Is your name Waldo? Because someone like you is hard to find.”
“Are you a camera? Because every time I look at you, I smile.”
“If you were a booger, I’d pick you first.”
“Are you an alien? Because you’ve abducted my heart.”
“Are you a cat? Because I’m feline a connection.”
“Are you a piece of art? Because you’re priceless.”
“Is your dad a thief? Because he stole the stars and put them in your eyes.”
“Are you a snowflake? Because you’re one of a kind.”
Related Reading: 21 Clear Signs Of Unspoken Attraction Between Two People
“Is your name Starbucks? Because I like you a latte.”
“Are you the ocean? Because I’m lost at sea.”
“If beauty were a crime, you’d be serving a life sentence.”
“Are you a volcano? Because I lava you.”
“Are you a keyboard? Because you’re just my type of guy.”
“Are you a diamond? Because you’re flawless.”
“Are you a phone charger? Because I’m dying without you.”
“Are you Cinderella? Because you’re shoe-tiful.”
“Is your name Lucky Charms? Because you’re magically delicious.”
“Are you a baker? Because you’re making my heart rise.”
“Are you a lock? Because I’ve found the key to your heart.”
“Is your middle name Gillette? Because you’re the best a man can get.”
“Are you the moon? Because you light up my night.”
“If kisses were snowflakes, I’d send you a blizzard.”
“Are you a dictionary? Because you add meaning to my life.”
“Do you like Star Wars? Because Yoda one for me.”
“Are you caffeine? Because you’re keeping me awake all night.”
51 most stupid pickup lines for her
When attempting to impress a woman, resorting to clichéd and stupid rizz lines can leave her rolling her eyes or walking away. We bring you 51 of the worst pickup lines for her as prime examples of what to avoid. Instead, opt for authenticity and humor that doesn’t make you sound like you’re reading from a bad script:
Stupid pickup lines for her
“Are you a magician? Because whenever I look at you, everyone else disappears.”
“If beauty were time, you’d be an eternity.”
“Did we just share an elevator? Because you took my breath away.”
“If you were words on a page, you’d be fine print.”
“Are you an interior decorator? Because when I saw you, the entire room became beautiful.”
“Is your name Ariel? Because we mermaid for each other.”
“Are you my phone charger? Because you’re giving me life.”
“Is your dad a gardener? Because you’re a blooming flower.”
“Do you have a quarter? Because I want to call my mom and tell her I’ve met the one.”
“Are you a snowstorm? Because you’re making my heart race and my hands freeze.”
“Do you work at Subway? Because you just gave me a footlong smile.”
“Are you a time traveler? Because you’re making me feel like I’ve known you forever.”
“Are you an electrician? Because you’re lighting up my world.”
“Is your dad a mechanic? Because you’ve got my engine revving.”
“Are you a comedian? Because every time I look at you, I laugh with joy.”
“Are you the sun? Because you brighten up my day.”
“Are you a cupcake? Because you’re sweet and irresistible.”
Related Reading: 21 Best Hookup Apps For Those Looking To Get Laid
“If you were a dessert, you’d be a cherry on top.”
“Are you an alarm clock? Because you woke up my heart.”
“Are you a mirror? Because I see my future in you.”
“Are you a meteor? Because you’re out of this world.”
“Are you a tree? Because you’re growing in my heart.”
“Are you a race car? Because my heart speeds up when I see you.”
“If you were a song, you’d be my favorite track.”
“Do you believe in fate? Because I think we’re meant to be.”
“Are you a gardener? Because you’re planting happiness in my life.”
“Are you a plane? Because you’re taking me to new heights.”
“Is your name Melody? Because you’re music to my ears.”
“Are you the sun? Because my world revolves around you.”
“Are you a mountain? Because you leave me breathless.”
“Are you an astronaut? Because my world lights up when I see you.”
“Are you my wish? Because you just came true.”
“Are you a spark? Because you’ve ignited my heart.”
“Are you a thief? Because you just stole my attention.”
Related Reading: Why Don’t Girls Like Me? Reasons And Solutions
“If life was a game, you’d be my high score.”
“Are you a melody? Because you’re stuck in my head.”
“Are you a rainbow? Because you brighten up my cloudy days.”
“Are you a lighthouse? Because you’re guiding me home.”
“If you were a painting, you’d be my masterpiece.”
“Are you my morning coffee order? Because I can’t start my day without you.”
“Are you a charger? Because my battery is full when I’m with you.”
“If you were a movie, you’d be my favorite classic.”
“Are you chocolate? Because you’re sweet and addictive.”
“Are you a writer? Because you’ve written all over my heart.”
“Are you a melody? Because you soothe my soul.”
“Are you the moon? Because my nights shine brighter with you.”
“Are you fireworks? Because you’re lighting up my world.”
“Are you the horizon? Because my day ends perfectly with you.”
“Are you the stars? Because you’re lighting up my night.”
“Are you a piece of heaven? Because you’re divine.”
“Are you a poet? Because you’ve written on my heart.”
25 most stupid pickup lines you can use online
Online interactions require even more care when it comes to opening lines. These 25 stupid inappropriate pickup lines are a surefire way to get ghosted or blocked. Avoid these lines and instead focus on meaningful and engaging conversation starters:
Stupid pickup lines to use online
“Do you have a name, or can I call you mine?”
“Is your profile picture from heaven? Because you’re an angel.”
“Are you a hashtag? Because you’re trending in my heart.”
“Is your name Netflix? Because I could binge-watch you all day.”
“Are you a pop-up ad? Because you’re getting all my attention.”
“Do you have a moment? Because you just stopped my scroll.”
“Do you believe in love at first swipe?”
“Are you trending? Because everyone’s talking about you.”
“Is your life was a book I’d read it again and again.”
“Are you an app? Because I’m addicted to you.”
“Is your profile picture a star? Because I can’t stop looking at it.”
“Do you have an Instagram? Because my life needs your pictures.”
Related Reading: 19 Spiritual Signs Someone Is Thinking About You Sexually
“Is your username a puzzle? Because we’re a perfect match.”
“Are you a Snapchat filter? Because you’re flawless.”
“If you were a post, you’d be trending.”
“Are you my timeline? Because I want to see you 24/7.”
“Are you a direct message? Because I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Are you a screenshot? Because I want to save this moment.”
“Are you a browser tab? Because I can’t close you.”
“Are you my algorithm? Because you’re exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
“If you were an ad, I’d never skip you.”
“Are you an app update? Because you make everything better.”
“Are you my For You Page? Because you’re exactly what I needed.”
“Are you a filter? Because you make everything better.”
“Are you a tweet? Because you’re short and sweet.”
25 most stupid pickup lines for hitting on someone IRL
Be it online or real life, making the right impression matter. We’ve brought you 25 really bad pickup lines that are guaranteed to make you look foolish. If you’re aiming to connect with someone in person, steer clear of these terrible pickup lines:
Stupid pickup lines to use IRL
“Are you a banana? Because I find you a-peeling.”
“Are you a sunrise? Because you brighten my morning.”
“Are you a shooting star? Because my wish just came true.”
“Are you a spark? Because you’re lighting up my world.”
“Are you a magician? Because you just made my heart disappear.”
“Are you a black hole? Because you just sucked me in.”
“If you were a movie, I would watch you forever.”
“Do you play chess? Because you just checked my heart.”
“Are you a magnet? Because you’re pulling me closer.”
“Do you have a compass? Because I’m lost in your charm.”
“Are you a jewel? Because your value is immeasurable.”
“Are you caffeine? Because you’re keeping me awake all night.”
“Do you like adventures? Because I’d love to explore life with you.”
“Is your name Chaplin? Because you’re making me smile without words.”
“Are you the wind? Because you’re blowing me away.”
“Are you the Big Bang? Because you’re the start of something amazing.”
“Are you a teddy bear? Because I’d love to cuddle with you.”
“Are you a waterfall? Because you’ve swept me off my feet.”
“Are you a smoothie? Because you’re the perfect blend.”
“Are you a marathon? Because you’ve got my heart racing.”
“Are you a library? Because I could spend hours with you.”
“Do you like cookies? Because you’re one smart cookie.”
“Are you a match? Because you’re lighting up my life.”
“Are you a cupcake? Because you’ve made my day sweeter.”
“Are you glitter? Because you add sparkle to everything.”
Final Thoughts
While one-liners can sometimes break the ice in a funny or lighthearted way, the ones listed above are unlikely to earn you points. Stick to genuine compliments, humor, and sincerity to make a lasting impression. Remember, a real connection goes far beyond a one-liner!
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Mail merge makes sending personalized messages to a large group efficient and easy.
Prepare clean, organized data for a successful mail merge process.
Use the Microsoft 365 suite for integrated features or Gmail add-ons for smaller projects.
Worried you’ll skip someone or sound robotic with mass invites? I messed that up, too, until I learned about mail merge. With this trick, it takes minutes to send a mass of event invitations or newsletters with a personal touch.
What Is a Mail Merge?
A mail merge lets you send personalized messages to a large group of contacts in a single go. You can prepare a message template—often an email, a form, or a newsletter—and personalize it for many recipients without manually editing every mail.
I often use it when I need to reach several people at once, but I still want to address them by name and include specific information relevant to each person.
Think of it as an automated system that customizes your email template with individual names, addresses, or any other data you want to include.
A mail merge usually combines three elements:
A Main Document (like an email or a letter template in Word).
A Data Source (like an Excel spreadsheet, Google Sheets, or Outlook contacts with details such as names, addresses, or order numbers).
The Mail Merge Tool (a feature in Microsoft Word or third-party add-ons in Gmail).
By matching placeholder fields in your main document (e.g., “<<FirstName>>”) with corresponding fields in your data source (e.g., “John”), the tool automatically sends individual emails that look tailor-made for the person receiving them.
How to Prepare for a Mail Merge
Regardless of the data source, I realized the importance of creating clean, well-organized data. If your contact list is incomplete or messy, no matter how good the rest of your mail merge process is, your emails might end up with errors or missing details. So, make it once and use it repeatedly.
Identify the key fields: Decide what information you need to personalize your emails. Usually, this includes first and last names, email addresses, and maybe locations or recent order details.
Create an Excel File and add the data: Use column headers for each piece of data. For example:
FirstName
LastName
Email
Company
Phone Number
Clean Your Spreadsheet: Remove any extra spaces or formatting issues, and verify all email addresses are correct. A neat, consistent data source makes the process smooth.
When it comes to mail merge tools, I use the Microsoft 365 suite (Word, Excel, and Outlook) because of its robust features and seamless integration. However, you can also use Gmail and Google Sheets for quick merges or when working on small collaborative projects on Google’s platform.
Different mail merge tools offer various features and complexity levels. I suggest picking the tool that matches your workflow, the size of your mailing list, and your personal preferences.
If you need advanced features like detailed analytics, scheduling, or automation, consider specialized platforms (e.g., Mailchimp for newsletters).
Create a Mail Merge With Excel and Word (Via Outlook)
Word gives you a lot of control over a mail merge with its Mailings ribbon tab, which includes a Mail Merge wizard. But I am using the more straightforward approach here with the options on the Mailings tab.
Preparing the Data
Put some effort into creating and maintaining an Excel spreadsheet with your contact data. And please, back it up somewhere safe.
Here are some tips to prepare and format the spreadsheet correctly.
If your data is in Excel, you can prepare it directly. If it’s in a .txt or .csv file, you must import it into Excel and prepare it.
Ensure each column has a clear header (e.g., “FirstName,” “LastName,” “Email”).
It’s a best practice for spreadsheet column names to match mail merge field names. Also, you need separate first and last name columns to address someone by their first name.
Format the columns with any numeric data, as they can be tricky. For instance, ZIP/postal codes must be formatted as text to keep any leading zeros (e.g., 00499). Format them as text before import.
In the Word template, place the appropriate symbol for any currency or percentage before or after a merge field. Without them, any number may not make sense to the recipient.
Looking for sample data to practice mail merges? The examples here were created on sites like Mockaroo and Generate Data.
Start the Mail Merge in Microsoft Word
Craft the body of the email in Microsoft Word and save the document on your desktop as a template for the future.
There is more than one mail merge scenario. For instance, you may need to send attachments with every email or send different business data to each recipient according to their role. More complex methods can also be covered with Rules (Mailings > Write & Insert Fields group > Rules)
Create or open the Word document you want to use for mail merge.
Click on the Mailings tab in the ribbon.
Select Start Mail Merge > E-mail Messages from the dropdown menu.
Now write your email message in the blank document. Leave blank spaces where you want to insert personalized information. Word will insert the merge fields from your data source here.
Next, it’s time to grab the data from Excel.
Click on Select Recipients > Use an Existing List.
Browse to the source Excel file and click on Open in the dialog box to select it.
If you don’t have a mailing list yet, you can create one from the Type a New List option in the dropdown.
Choose File > Save.
Wherever you want personalized information (like someone’s first name), click Insert Merge Field.
Choose the relevant Excel column header.
On the Mailings tab, click Preview Results.
Use the arrow buttons to cycle through different recipients.
Verify that names, companies, and other fields appear correctly in the body text. You can also use the Check for Errors option to catch blank fields.
Fields like «FirstName» ensure recipients see their name rather than a generic greeting. You can also automate a name style and a greeting with the Greeting Line option in the Write & Insert Fields group.
Send the Merged Emails Via Outlook
If your preview shows consistent results, then all that’s left to do is hand over the last stage to Outlook.
Click Finish & Merge > Send Email Messages.
Specify these fields in the Merge to Email options.
To field: Choose the Excel column with the recipient emails (e.g., “Email”).
Subject line: Add your desired subject text here (you can’t insert a mail-merge field here in a basic Word mail merge).
Mail format: Select HTML for a nicely formatted email.
Hit OK, and Word will hand off each personalized email to Outlook.
Open Outlook to confirm messages are in your Outbox or Sent folder.
If you have a large list, consider sending emails in batches to spot and correct any errors. Some mail service providers also impose sending limits, restricting the number of emails you can send in an hour or a day.
Create a Mail Merge with Gmail & Google Sheets
Gmail and Google Sheets are also an alternative method for mail merges. While Gmail doesn’t have built-in mail merge capabilities, you can achieve similar results using Google Sheets and some excellent mail merge add-ons.
The process involves storing data in Google Sheets and sending emails using a Chrome extension like Mail Merge. Note that many add-ons do not strictly require a Google Workspace subscription. They work within the free version of Gmail but can have specific features or volume constraints.
Mail merges remain one of my go-to methods for sending large batches of personalized emails. Mail merge isn’t only for business emails. You can use it at home to send holiday greetings, do community outreach, or communicate with teachers and students.
The critical step is segmenting your data with a well-crafted template. Beyond that, follow the tips above and consider the time zones if you have a global contact list.
More than three months after they first arrived in Washington DC, the public can now see giant pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao for themselves. The Smithsonian National Zoo is hosting a two-week-long celebration to mark their American debut.
Roughly two decades ago, as many television aficionados tell it, the story of a beleaguered Los Angeles police station and its renegade strike team, led by Det. Vic Mackey, not only helped establish FX as a top cable network but demonstrated that basic cable could be more than a graveyard for movies and network reruns — it was capable of developing appointment-viewing prestige fare.
“The Shield” was an impressive debut for creator Shawn Ryan, who up to that point had contributed to fewer than 100 episodes of television across shows like “Nash Bridges” and “Angel.” (“That was considered extraordinarily inexperienced,” he says.)
In the time since, he’s had a slew of other shows, including “Lie to Me,” “Terriers,” “Last Resort” and, currently, CBS’ “SWAT,” which is now in its eighth season. While it may be harder to make shows that stand out nowadays, Ryan’s other current series, “The Night Agent,” is proof that he’s still making television that has viewers rapt.
Based on the novel by Matthew Quirk, “The Night Agent” follows Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso), a low-level FBI agent assigned to top-secret phone duty in the basement of the White House, who is thrust into action — and gets caught up in a deadly conspiracy — when the phone finally rings. In the process, Peter is on a personal mission to uncover the truth about whether his late father, also an FBI agent, actually committed the treason he was suspected of before his death. The first season of the action thriller was the most-watched Netflix original show for the first half of 2023, with more than 98 million views in the first three months of release, according to figures touted by the streamer.
The series returned for its second season last week, with Peter now officially a night agent who is again flung into action on a new mission that included trying to halt a chemical weapons threat to the U.S., which he succeeded in by stealing intelligence that ultimately helped swing a presidential election.
The drama has been renewed for a third season, which the 58-year-old writer said he was already hard at work on during a recent video call from New York, where he was gearing up for the show’s premiere event — the red-carpet portion was ultimately scrapped in the wake of the recent wildfires in Los Angeles.
Ryan, who lives in Sherman Oaks, had been in L.A. as the fires spread and has many friends who lost their homes, including an editor on “The Night Agent.” A significant amount of work on the show, from writing to postproduction, happens in L.A.
“I spoke to her, and I said, ‘I’m still planning to go out and do this press tour in New York and the screening — how do you feel about all that? Is this the right time?’” he says. “But she had an interesting perspective. She was like, ‘We work so hard on it. We’re so proud of it. We got into this business because we’re dreamers and we want to tell stories.’ She really encouraged me to come out here and talk about the show and do the screening and everything — [it’s] much less of a celebration, I would say, and more of an honoring of the work.”
Ryan spoke about Peter’s crisis of conscience this season, what he has planned for the next installment of the Netflix series and his biggest fear about “The Shield.”
Gabriel Basso as Peter Sutherland in “The Night Agent.”
(Netflix)
A presidential election loomed over Season 2. What interested you in exploring this idea of Peter unknowingly aiding in swinging an election?
I wanted the presidential election to be very much in the background — “Oh, why are they showing us these pamphlets? Why are we seeing a yard sign for this particular candidate here? Why are we watching Jacob Monroe [this season’s shadowy figure played by Louis Herthum] watch this interview with Savannah Guthrie? We actually started conceiving and writing this season before Season 1 even aired. So to write a storyline where a presidential candidate drops out of the race [close to the election] was something that felt very fresh to us in January 2023 when we were crafting the story.
Our political figures are all fictional; we have our own universe we live in. But what we liked a lot creatively was the idea that Peter did something and broke some rules for what he knew was the right reason, which was to save Rose, to find this mobile lab, to try to stop these chemical weapons from being deployed. He was successful, but it created these unintended consequences and ripple effects that could platform us into a Season 3. The idea that this broker who’s been his foil all season long not only isn’t brought to justice at the end of Season 2 but seems to have been empowered, and seems to [have] influence with a man who’s about to assume the presidency, was kind of catnip for us.
There’s that moment where Catherine [Amanda Warren] says it’s reductive to view the job as right or wrong, because everything is relative. Is that the great tragedy of “The Night Agent” — that Peter has to wrestle with the morality of every choice?
You have your pulse on something that we talked a lot about in our writers’ room. At the beginning of Season 1, we meet a young man in Peter Sutherland who is moral, who is principled, who is hellbent to do the right thing because his father was accused of doing the wrong thing. Peter believes he’s innocent. By the end of the season, he finds out no, he actually did it. One of the things I talked to the writers about at the beginning of Season 2 was, in Season 1, things were logistically very difficult for Peter, but they were morally clear what the right thing was — hey, they’re trying to kill the president; I have to get into Camp David and try to stop him. These people are trying to kill Rose. I’ve got to go off the grid and keep her safe. I said in Season 2, I want things to remain logistically difficult for Peter, but I want them to also become much more morally difficult. He wanted to be a night agent because, in his mind, this was a way to make up for his father’s sins. What I think he either was naive about or didn’t understand was the moral compromises that would come from a job that is centered in a world of deception, violence, lies, double-crossing. Maybe that ultimately is a tragedy. I don’t think it’s a tragedy yet, but I think it is the great question exposed in Season 2, and will get further explored in Season 3.
Do you see Peter staying on that course, of being inherently good, or could you see a moment where he does break bad?
I think it will ultimately depend on what we want the show to be. Do we want this show to be a vindication of Peter or do we want it to be the tragedy of Peter? I don’t have those answers yet. It’s always a dance because you have the creative side of it and then you have the commercial side of it, because I’m not the sole arbiter of how this show will run. Netflix will have an opinion. Sony, our studio, will have an opinion. I will have a seat at the table to discuss that, and if there’s a strong case to be made creatively for it being X number of seasons, I would hope that they would listen. I would expect that would have some sway. But thinking about the creative: What is the ultimate fate of Peter? What are we ultimately to take away from his journey and melding that with what’s the right commercial length for this show is a delicate dance.
Talk to me about Gov. Hagan (Ward Horton), the presidential candidate and eventual president-elect. There are red caps. Is it too easy to liken him to Donald Trump and what he represents? How are you thinking about him as you head into Season 3?
There’s some caps and there are some other elements, but there are some elements that would lean toward Democrats as well. We were very careful not to assign any political party to either Hagan or President Travers the year before or the other presidential opponent, Patrick Knox. Again, the season was written and crafted mostly in 2023 before the strike.
The idea isn’t to get into any specific political platforms. What I’m interested in is the specifics of a person elected who may owe allegiance to somebody that we know is bad. I think fear that we can have about any president of any party, and certainly, because Netflix is a global audience, not just an American audience, it’s something a lot of people worry about. Do the leaders who have control over aspects of my life have my best interests at heart? Or is there something else, something more nefarious? The show is about the individual versus the system. We don’t have to be specific about whether it’s a Democratic system, a Republican system, an American system or an Iranian system.
Luciane Buchanan as Rose Larkin and Gabriel Basso as Peter Sutherland in “The Night Agent.”
(Christopher Saunders / Netflix)
What are the challenges of writing a political thriller in today’s climate when the president-elect is a convicted felon who will not serve time?
Well, I would say the bar for surprising audiences has been raised in the eight years since Donald Trump appeared on the political stage. Whether you love him or hate him or are in between, there are just things that have occurred that a lot of people didn’t think could occur. One of the things that we discussed after we shot it is we have this scene where Patrick Knox steps down because he’s been outed as having a connection to these chemical weapons in the press. And it’s like, “Well, do we live in a world now where, no matter what you’re accused of, or what proof there is, you just deny it and stay in the race?” If you’re trying to do a hit piece on Donald Trump or any other politician, I think the audience smells that. And the audience feels that you’re trying to manipulate them. We’re not trying to manipulate people. I’m not trying to convince people. I tend to keep my politics rather private. I’m not interested in trying to convince people to think like me politically. I’m trying to get them to think about these specific situations that Peter’s in that he’s dealing with. What would you do if you knew that somebody in a position of power, like the president, was perhaps beholden to somebody who you knew to be inherently evil? That’s the beauty of working on a fictional show that can deviate … from what’s happening in the real world.
There’s about a 10-month gap from where Season 1 ended and Season 2 begins. Is there as much of a time jump when Season 3 picks up? What can you reveal?
I don’t want to say too much because even though we started filming, we haven’t finished writing Season 3. What I will say is it is not a direct pickup.
And you’re filming in Istanbul?
Most of the first episode takes place in Istanbul. We have completed that shooting. We shot for 13 days in Istanbul. I think we’re going to have one of the most spectacular car chases ever seen on a TV show. We’re going to return to filming in New York on Feb. 3, and the majority of the season is going to film in New York City. We’re going to take a little deviation in the season to another international city. But I don’t want to say what it is yet.
I know each season is a standalone, but Vice President Redfield survived Season 1. Gordon Wick is alive. Diane Farr is alive. Are these characters we’ll be seeing again eventually?
The answer is definitely, maybe. You know who’s obsessed with Gordon Wick? Gabriel Basso. He’s like, “I want to get that guy!” He’s pitched, “What if we open up, I’m climbing this fence and go into this bedroom and there’s Gordon Wick.” I was like, that’s not a bad idea but we’ve got to find the right place for it. I’ve talked about Diane Farr sitting in some prison cell, and is there some Hannibal Lecter-esque visit to her cell to get some information that we need.
“I’m not interested in trying to convince people to think like me politically. I’m trying to get them to think about these specific situations that Peter’s in that he’s dealing with,” says Shawn Ryan about writing a thriller in today’s political climate.
(The Tyler Twins / For The Times)
What can you tell me about the Rose situation? Can she actually stay away this time? How are you thinking about the Rose-Peter dynamic? She’s obviously a figure that we’ve come to expect on the show, but she’s a civilian helping on very sensitive national security issues.
We think a lot about it. There are conversations of whether there was even a story in Season 2 for her in that way. In my original pitch to Netflix about what this show would be in success over multiple seasons, Peter was the only character I said would be a constant. Then you work with somebody like Luciane Buchanan, who portrays Rose in such a wonderful way, and we found a storyline that felt authentic to us for Season 2. I would say that if and when there’s a storyline, whether it’s in Season 3 or beyond, that feels appropriate to have Rose be a part of, nothing would make me happier. But I don’t want to become a show that, like every year, is about a more and more ridiculous way that Rose is in danger and Peter has to save her. I think sometimes you have to be true to the story you tell. And the reality is that by the end of Season 2, they’re living very different lives in very different places.
So much of the show is about choices and leadership, particularly during crises. With “The Night Agent,” you had to navigate the pandemic the first season; with the second season, you had the dual Hollywood strikes. How did your experience with the 2007 writers’ strike inform how you managed the emotions of your room and the crew this time around?
I was on the negotiating committee for the Writers Guild in 2007 when we struck and was on the inside of all that. I don’t know if any of the other writers of my show were members of the guild when we struck [then], and so I did have a historical background and knowledge to share with them. I was able to give them what I felt were reality assessments because there’s a lot of games that get played during those things and the companies like to give false hope along the way. These two [recent] strikes have brought writers together, they haven’t driven them apart. When you’re in a writer’s room, there’s a bit of a natural hierarchy. But there is no hierarchy on the picket line. You’re all walking the steps. You’re all carrying a sign, you’re all fighting for a cause. And there’s something beautiful in that. I wouldn’t recommend going through a six-month strike to achieve that beauty, but in the same way I’m seeing in these fires [in L.A.], you find yourself talking more to your neighbors. You see yourself engaging with your community. You say, “What do you need from me? I’m here to help you,” which is a beautiful thing.
What concerns you about the landscape today? You’ve been outspoken about media consolidation. Is it that? Or is it whether the next generation of writers is getting the skill set they need to be the mega showrunners of tomorrow?
I don’t want to create a whole film vs. TV thing, but in my mind, there’s too much filmification of the TV universe. I was raised under the belief that TV makes stars, and I’m very extraordinarily fortunate that Netflix allowed us to discover our Peter and our Rose and turn them into stars rather than make some huge offers to [a known star] that you don’t even know if they’re right for the role, which happens all the time. I believe as fewer films have been getting made, producers and actors and directors from the feature world are trying to get in the TV world and bring a film focus to it so it’s more producer- and director-oriented than writer-oriented. As long as these budgets are huge, they’ll let some filmmaker take two years to make seven episodes of something. But is that sustainable in the long run? I believe not just in making great episodes, but I believe in making them quickly and affordably.
I worry about the exploitation of support staff in Los Angeles; the pay is so little, the hours are so long, that basically you’re creating a situation in which only people who have parents who can afford to subsidize their adult children in the pursuit of this can take those jobs, which is leading to a winnowing out of potentially great talent. The city is more expensive now. These fires are going to make rents only more expensive.
Michael Chiklis in FX’s “The Shield.”
(FX Network)
I know this is a question that has followed you for years: Would you ever revisit “The Shield”?
There was a time where I flirted with an interested executive at Fox who loved “The Shield” with making a movie. Now my caveat for making that movie was that in the first 30 to 40 minutes of the movie, there’s not a single character from the show “The Shield” in the movie. And then at about minute 40, Vic Mackey shows up because somebody’s looking into something in the underworld. The guy who was interested in it got fired and that [idea] disappeared.
I’ve had a really awful thought creep into my head the last couple of years that someday I’m going to wake up and see that “The Shield” is being resurrected without me. Now that’s the reality of Hollywood, right? I was part of the team that resurrected “SWAT,” not the original creators of the show. So I’ve been on that end of my question. Disney owns the rights to “The Shield” and I’ve had to start contemplating, “Well, what will my reaction be if I wake up to that headline one day?” First of all, I would hope that I would never wake up to the headline. I would hope that somebody would actually give me courtesy. But again, I don’t know that anyone ever made the call to the “SWAT” team. I think there’s a place for a “Shield”-type show. Am I the guy to come up with it in the 2020s? Is it up to someone else? Does somebody do it, but it’s just not called “The Shield”? Does AI write something? I hope none of that stuff happens. Nothing would make me happier than to be like, “Oh my God, I’ve got this lightning-strike idea for how we can resurrect ‘The Shield,’” but the bar is incredibly high.
Today, DeepSeek is one of the only leading AI firms in China that doesn’t rely on funding from tech giants like Baidu, Alibaba, or ByteDance.
A Young Group of Geniuses Eager to Prove Themselves
According to Liang, when he put together DeepSeek’s research team, he was not looking for experienced engineers to build a consumer-facing product. Instead, he focused on PhD students from China’s top universities, including Peking University and Tsinghua University, who were eager to prove themselves. Many had been published in top journals and won awards at international academic conferences, but lacked industry experience, according to the Chinese tech publication QBitAI.
“Our core technical positions are mostly filled by people who graduated this year or in the past one or two years,” Liang told 36Kr in 2023. The hiring strategy helped create a collaborative company culture where people were free to use ample computing resources to pursue unorthodox research projects. It’s a starkly different way of operating from established internet companies in China, where teams are often competing for resources. (A recent example: ByteDance accused a former intern—a prestigious academic award winner, no less—of sabotaging his colleagues’ work in order to hoard more computing resources for his team.)
Liang said that students can be a better fit for high-investment, low-profit research. “Most people, when they are young, can devote themselves completely to a mission without utilitarian considerations,” he explained. His pitch to prospective hires is that DeepSeek was created to “solve the hardest questions in the world.”
The fact that these young researchers are almost entirely educated in China adds to their drive, experts say. “This younger generation also embodies a sense of patriotism, particularly as they navigate US restrictions and choke points in critical hardware and software technologies,” explains Zhang. “Their determination to overcome these barriers reflects not only personal ambition but also a broader commitment to advancing China’s position as a global innovation leader.”
Innovation Born out of a Crisis
In October 2022, the US government started putting together export controls that severely restricted Chinese AI companies from accessing cutting-edge chips like Nvidia’s H100. The move presented a problem for DeepSeek. The firm had started out with a stockpile of 10,000 H100’s, but it needed more to compete with firms like OpenAI and Meta. “The problem we are facing has never been funding, but the export control on advanced chips,” Liang told 36Kr in a second interview in 2024.
DeepSeek had to come up with more efficient methods to train its models. “They optimized their model architecture using a battery of engineering tricks—custom communication schemes between chips, reducing the size of fields to save memory, and innovative use of the mix-of-models approach,” says Wendy Chang, a software engineer turned policy analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies. “Many of these approaches aren’t new ideas, but combining them successfully to produce a cutting-edge model is a remarkable feat.”
DeepSeek has also made significant progress on Multi-head Latent Attention (MLA) and Mixture-of-Experts, two technical designs that make DeepSeek models more cost-effective by requiring fewer computing resources to train. In fact, DeepSeek’s latest model is so efficient that it required one-tenth the computing power of Meta’s comparable Llama 3.1 model to train, according to the research institution Epoch AI.
DeepSeek’s willingness to share these innovations with the public has earned it considerable goodwill within the global AI research community. For many Chinese AI companies, developing open source models is the only way to play catch-up with their Western counterparts, because it attracts more users and contributors, which in turn help the models grow. “They’ve now demonstrated that cutting-edge models can be built using less, though still a lot of, money and that the current norms of model-building leave plenty of room for optimization,” Chang says. “We are sure to see a lot more attempts in this direction going forward.”
The news could spell trouble for the current US export controls that focus on creating computing resource bottlenecks. “Existing estimates of how much AI computing power China has, and what they can achieve with it, could be upended,” Chang says.
President Donald Trump signed executive actions related to cryptocurrency and Artificial Intelligence, moves that could bolster two nascent industries.
The president was joined by White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks, a venture capitalist and major political donor.
The crypto order creates a working group to advise the White House on digital asset policies and will include the involvement of key federal agencies, like the Treasury Department, Justice Department, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The group will be tasked with submitting a report to the president within approximately six months recommending a regulatory framework and legislative proposals, including evaluating the creation of a digital asset stockpile.
“It absolutely changes the fundamentals on the ground,” said Kara Calvert, vice president for US policy at Coinbase Global Inc., the biggest US crypto exchange. “You have a president who embraces digital assets and created an advisory council that recognizes the need for non-government expertise. That’s really exciting.”
Still, the order was met with a mixed reaction elsewhere in the crypto community. Bitcoin proponents express disappointment that the order didn’t specify that the largest cryptocurrency would be at the center of a national reserve as many had speculated. Trump had endorsed the idea on the campaign trail.
“What crypto twitter wanted is very different from what reality is,” said Zaheer Ebtikar, founder of crypto fund Split Capital. “If you think about it, even buying one Bitcoin by the US government will be extremely reflective because all other governments will follow and buy it. Evaluating a potential national digital asset stockpile is as optimistic as real news could be.”
Bitcoin dropped around one percent to $102,750 (roughly Rs. 88.5 lakh) after the executive actions were disclosed. The original digital currency, which accounts for more than half the crypto’s market value, has surged more than 50% since Trump was elected.
Sacks noted that the group would “make America the world capital on crypto under your leadership,” he said in a nod to Trump.
He added that the artificial intelligence action would allow the US to “dominate and to lead the world in AI.”
“You find them exciting? They might not be, except they’re going to make a lot of money for the country,” Trump said about the actions.
Trump’s order is a significant step toward fulfilling his campaign promises to be an advocate for the burgeoning crypto industry. On the trail, he vowed to streamline regulations, pick crypto-friendly figures to oversee the industry, support a stablecoin framework and establish a Bitcoin stockpile. He’s already made good on some of these promises, such as picking many crypto-friendly agency heads.
He’s also pardoned Ross Ulbricht, who created the notorious website Silk Road that sold illegal drugs using Bitcoin — a move that had a lot of support from the crypto community.
Those pledges marked a shift for Trump, who years ago voiced skepticism about digital assets, before embracing the industry — pushing his own crypto projects and courting executives and enthusiasts to back his campaign.
Last year, Trump issued a new collection of nonfungible tokens bearing his likeness, and, together with his sons announced World Liberty Financial, a yet to-be-launched project that promises to let people earn and borrow crypto. Then in January, Trump and his wife launched two meme coins, which have already garnered billions of dollars in market cap.
The executive order also marks a win for an industry that ramped up its political involvement in the last election through sizable donations.
Meta is rolling out ads on its Threads app, targeting a rapidly expanding social media platform with over 300 million monthly active users.
This move transforms Threads from a pure social experience into a potential advertising powerhouse, allowing businesses to easily extend their existing Meta ad campaigns with minimal additional effort.
Big picture. Advertisers can now add Threads to their campaign reach by simply checking a box in Ads Manager. Initially, the test will feature image ads appearing intermittently in users’ home feeds.
Key details:
Small-scale initial test with limited advertisers.
Ads will appear between content in the home feed.
Three out of four Threads users already follow at least one business (according to internal Meta data).
Why we care. Advertisers included in this pilot, can easily extend their existing Meta ad campaigns to a new, rapidly growing platform with 300 million monthly active users, with minimal additional creative work. By getting in early, advertisers can establish a presence, gain unique audience insights, and potentially capture market share before the platform becomes saturated with competitors.
Between the lines. Meta is treading carefully, promising close monitoring of the ad experience and providing user controls like ad skipping and reporting.
Brand safety. The company is implementing its existing brand safety tools, including an AI-powered inventory filter that helps advertisers control the content context of their ads.
What’s next. Meta plans to expand the ad program gradually, using user feedback and engagement metrics to guide future rollout.
Bottom line.Threads is transforming from a Twitter alternative to a potential advertising platform, leveraging Meta’s extensive ad infrastructure.
Not every player can experience video games in the same way, especially if they have impairments. That’s why Ubisoft is laying out the accessibility options that are included in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which may open some doors for players who might otherwise feel excluded.
One of the key additions to Shadows is that the cinematics will have audio descriptions available, which will be a first for the series. According to UX Director Jonathan Bedard, that feature helped him realize that it could convey the depth and emotions of Shadows in an unexpected way.
“It… made me happy to see an initiative coming from the team’s passion and making its way into the game,” said Bedard. “This shows how far we’ve come along in the last few years, in terms of people being aware of and caring about accessibility at Ubisoft. I am proud to see this evolution, awareness, and care spreading and making our games more accessible every time.”
Some of the other accessibility features utilized in Shadows include colorblind options, HUD customization, improved subtitles, the ability to simplify or skip QTEs, and screen narration for menu items and HUD modules.
Additionally, Ubisoft has revealed that there will be an expansion for Shadows, which is going to be a pre-order bonus rather than a standard DLC. However, the expansion will also be available for purchase at some point in the future. The company also acknowledged that the game’s most recent delay was intended to give the team more time to improve the parkour.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be released on March 20 on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC. You can see the full list of accessibility features below.
Visual
Colorblind options – Ability to change colors for certain gameplay elements from a list of presets
Screen Narration – Not only most menu items, but also many HUD modules and time-sensitive elements can be narrated
HUD Customization – Ability to turn all HUD elements on or off either all at once, or individually, either with shortcut or using presets – increase opacity, resize text, resize Icons or add background to increase readability
Screen shake on/off toggle
Audio
Subtitles – Better color modifications, speaker directions and speaker emotions
Gameplay Captions – Surfacing stimuli and points to their origins
Audio Description for Cinematics – Cinematic will be audio descripted
Audio Cues/Audio Glossary – New signs and feedback allowing navigation and path finding with non-visual cues
Separate, isolated audio sliders
Navigation and Guidance
FTUE – First time user experience flow is back, offering first-access critical options
Guided Mode – Offer streamlined systems and remove part of the gameplay to alleviate the requirement for player engagement in exploration and finding content
Tutorials Section – Tutorials can be found in the Codex section at any time
Menu Tutorials – Always alerts when there are new menu functions
Conversation Log – Every line can be perused from the start to the end of a dialogue
Controls
Control Remapping – Remap gameplay inputs, and their action (hold, press, double-press)
Many inputs devices – Mouse and keyboard, controllers, combinations
Lock-On Camera – Lock the camera on an enemy
X and Y axis inversion – Ability to invert the axis for aiming actions
Stick inversion – Invert the analog-stick behavior
Gameplay
Stealth and combat each have four separate difficulty settings
Guided Mode – Offer streamlined systems and remove part of the gameplay to alleviate the requirement for player engagement in exploration and finding content
Canon Mode – Enable automatic selection of narrative decisions for the “canon” story to unfold
Melee Attack Mode – Simplifies the combat by using a single input instead of multiple buttons or complex combinations
Quick Timed Events – Type of input required to complete Quick Time Events can be simplified, or skipped entirely
Aim Assistance – Four levels of aim assistance are offered (off, light, moderate, full)
A team of scientists has developed a groundbreaking approach using specially designed peptides to improve drug formulations. This innovative method significantly enhances anti-tumor efficacy, as demonstrated in leukemia models. The study, published in the journal Chem, was led by researchers at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Drug delivery systems often face two critical challenges: poor solubility and inefficient delivery within the body. Many drugs do not dissolve well, making it difficult for them to reach their intended targets. Furthermore, current delivery systems waste a significant portion of the drug during preparation — only 5-10% of the drug is successfully loaded, leading to less effective treatments.
Peptide Helpers
The research team has developed a novel solution by designing peptides — short strings of amino acids — to bind with specific drugs and create therapeutic nanoparticles. These nanoparticles are primarily composed of the drug, with a thin peptide coating that improves solubility, enhances stability in the body, and optimizes delivery to targeted areas. Remarkably, this approach achieves drug loadings of up to 98%, a dramatic improvement over traditional methods.
By using a combination of computer models and laboratory tests, new drug/peptide nanoparticles where identified. They subsequently demonstrated remarkable results in leukemia models. The nanoparticles were more effective at shrinking tumors compared to the drugs alone. Additionally, their high efficiency allows for lower doses of drugs, potentially reducing the side effects.
“Peptides, which are designed molecules made from the same building blocks as the proteins in our body, are extremely versatile,” said Co-Principal Investigator Rein Ulijn, director of the Nanoscience Initiative at CUNY ASRC and a chemistry professor at Hunter College. “We thought they could be useful in solving two big problems seen in many drugs: poor solubility and inefficient delivery. By designing a peptide that binds the drug while enhancing its solubility, we were able to create nanoparticles with very high loading.”
Customizable Technology
This innovation holds significant potential because peptides can be customized to enhance the effectiveness of various drugs. Given the vast range of possible interactions in peptide design, it may be feasible to tailor peptides for specific drugs, extending their applicability beyond cancer treatments.
“This breakthrough enables the development of better precision medicines,” said Co-Principal Investigator Daniel Heller,head of the Cancer Nanomedicine Laboratory at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s Molecular Pharmacology Program. “Using specially designed peptides, we can build nanomedicines that make existing drugs more effective and less toxic and even enable the development of drugs that might not be able to work without these nanoparticles.”
Naxhije “Gia” Berisha, a former CUNY Graduate Center Ph.D. student who performed much of the experimental work, highlighted the potential of the peptide approach: “We used experimental testing to identify promising peptides and computational modeling to analyze their interactions with therapeutic molecules,” she said “It’s incredible to see how simple variations in peptide sequence could match specific drugs. This suggests there may be a peptide match for every drug, potentially revolutionizing the way medicines are delivered.”
Looking Ahead
The research team is now adopting lab automation methods to further refine and accelerate the peptide-drug matching process. Their next steps include verifying the approach’s potential in a wider range of diseases. If successful, this innovation could lead to more effective treatments, reduced side effects, and significant cost savings in drug development.
The post Internship Opportunity at Hamari Pahchan NGO [Social Entrepreneurship; 1000 Openings; Online; Part-time; Jan – Feb]: Apply Now! appeared first on Lawctopus.
Shattila Ekadashi 2025: The auspicious festival of Shattila Ekadashi is a significant Hindu festival. Every year, it falls on the eleventh tithi in the Hindu calendar. This year, it is being celebrated on Saturday, January 25. Devotees observe this festival to seek Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi’s blessings. They donate food and money to those in need and observe a fast with devotion for the spiritual benefits of Ekadashi.
On Shattila Ekadashi, devotees seek the blessings of Lord Vishnu. (Pinterest)
Let’s find out the the parana timings, rituals, vrat katha, date, significance, and more about this festival.
Shattila Ekadashi 2025: Parana timings, muhurat
Per Drik Panchang, these are the timings you need to keep in mind while observing Shattila Ekadashi.
Parana Time – 7:12 am to 9:21 am, January 26
Parana Day Dwadashi End Moment – 8:54 pm
Ekadashi Tithi Begins – 7:25 pm on January 24, 2025
Ekadashi Tithi Ends – 8:31 pm on January 25, 2025
Additionally, parana means breaking the fast. Ekadashi Parana is done after sunrise on the next day of the Ekadashi fast. According to Drik Panchang, it is necessary to do Parana within Dwadashi Tithi unless Dwadashi is over before sunrise.
Shattila Ekadashi 2025: Vrat katha and significance
According to a legend, a Brahmin woman was deeply devoted and managed to please Lord Vishnu. However, she never engaged in acts of charity or donation. While her worship and devotion had purified her soul, she did not have the merit earned through acts of donation. Therefore, Lord Vishnu took the form of a saint and visited her to ask for alms. The Brahmin woman gave a lump of mud to the saint as alms. With the donation, she got a place in Vaikunth Lok.
The woman told Lord Vishnu that she always fasted in her life and had nothing in her house. Thus, Lord Vishnu suggested she meet the goddesses of Vaikunth Lok and listen to the importance of the Shattila Ekadashi fast and donation. Then, she fasted and donated sesame seeds, as it is believed that one who performed this ritual would live happily in Vaikunth Lok for many thousand years.
Shattila Ekadashi 2025: Puja rituals
On this day, devotees should offer prayers to Lord Vishnu, recite the Vishnu mantras, and seek his blessings for spiritual growth, prosperity, and health. A key practice on this day is a donation of sesame seeds, either to the temple or the poor. Devotees also take a dip in a holy river on this day, as it is considered highly auspicious. Lastly, one should observe a fast by not eating grains, oil, and other food items. You can eat fruits, vegetables, and roots. The fast is typically broken with a light meal in the evening.
Sara Brenner, a Food and Drug Administration official within the agency’s medical device division, has been named the FDA’s acting commissioner, according to an update made to a webpage listing leadership biographies.
The FDA declined to comment, citing a communications pause imposed by the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the drug agency.
Brenner will lead the FDA until a permanent commissioner is installed. President Donald Trump has nominated Johns Hopkins surgeon Marty Makary to run the FDA, but he has not yet been confirmed by the Senate.
Confirmation hearings for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who, as Trump’s pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, would be Makary’s boss, are scheduled for Jan. 29 and Jan. 30.
Brenner has worked in the FDA’s medical devices branch, most recently as chief medical officer for in vitro diagnostics and associate director for medical affairs. A preventive medicine physician, Brenner has been at the agency since 2019, according to her LinkedIn page, and helped coordinate diagnostic standards and policy as part of HHS’ response to COVID-19.
Brenner was previously a senior policy advisor at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during the first Trump administration.
Former FDA Commissioner Robert Califf stepped down on Jan. 20, when Trump took office. Namandjé Bumpus, the FDA’s second-in-command, left at the end of last year. Other senior officials have recently retired as well, including Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the agency’s main drug review office.
In his parting comments to staff, Califf emphasized the importance of post-market evidence and warned that “misinformation is precipitating a major public health crisis.” In a recent interview with Stat, Califf also raised concerns that agency staff may depart under the new administration.
It’s not their fault – they don’t know better – they weren’t taught how to handle money.
Of course, none of us was born with money skills.
And most of us had bad teachers – our parents – who were well-meaning but also had bad money habits.
In fact, that’s why I wrote my latest bestselling book – Rich Habits Poor Habits – to help the average Australian understand the way the rich think and act differently.
Anyway…
As I said, most Australians have poor money habits, but what they don’t realise – is that it’s these poor money habits that create their financial circumstances, so they blame the outside world.
It seems that some of us would rather justify, blame, explain, ignore and pretend… than change.
Some of us have been going around financially in circles for years, and now it’s time to step off the merry-go-round and embrace some reality…
And change!
My mentor Jim Rohn taught me that “If you don’t like how things are, change it you’re not a tree.”
He explained: “You can have more than you’ve got because you can become more than you are.”
Now… I believe that if you took all the money in the world and divided it equally, it would soon be back in the same pockets.
Do you agree?
That’s because your income will seldom exceed your own personal development, so unless you change your way of thinking (turn up your financial thermostat) and if you somehow come into more money, you are likely to lose it or sabotage yourself.
You see…. you can’t drive a Ferrari with the engine of a Hyundai!
However, as I said, you can have more because you can become more.
On the other side of the coin – unless you change how you behave, you will always have what you’ve got.
So here are some things you can do right away…
1. Take action – do something different.
Get a good mentor – someone who has achieved what you want to achieve
Most of us are procrastinators.
Unfortunately, for many of us, the right time never seems to arrive.
Some people are always about to change, but never actually do it.
And of course, it’s not really a time thing; it’s an attitude thing.
That’s because if it’s someone else’s fault, then you won’t have to change since it’s beyond your control.
Perfect.
Phew.
3. Take responsibility.
Become aware of the cause of your financial circumstances and stop blaming the world, the economy, your education, your job or your parents.
Self-awareness, humility and honesty are always valuable tools in the personal transformation process.
4. Drop your indifference
Plenty of people subscribe to the “hopefully things will work themselves out” plan for life.
Rubbish – things don’t “work themselves out” – we do.
Or not.
While the wishful thinkers are sitting around with their fingers crossed, the smart people are consciously and methodically creating their best life and exploring their potential.
Success or failure is not pre-determined; it’s YOU determined
About Michael Yardney Michael is the founder of Metropole Property Strategists who help their clients grow, protect and pass on their wealth through independent, unbiased property advice and advocacy. He’s once again been voted Australia’s leading property investment adviser and one of Australia’s 50 most influential Thought Leaders. His opinions are regularly featured in the media.
Have you ever felt weak in the knees and dizzy in the head just by thinking of someone or being in their proximity? You know, the kind where you can’t stop making up scenarios in your head about different ways you’d have hot, steamy sex with this person, and just those thoughts have you raring to go. Yeah? Well, you’re experiencing intense sexual attraction, which can be all-consuming. When you can’t shake off these naughty thoughts to focus on anything else, it’s only natural to be puzzled by the question, “Why am I so sexually attracted to someone I’m not even romantically involved with?”
Depending on your situation, this sexual chemistry you’re experiencing can either be the gateway to ethereal experiences or set you on an agonizing path of suffocating your desires. In either case, a better understanding of this undeniable sexual connection you’re feeling can help you process your desires better, without letting them take a toll on you, and offer clarity on how you want to handle them. To that end, let’s take a closer look at where intense sexual attraction originates and how you can deal with it.
How Sexual Attraction Develops
Have you ever looked at the object of your desires, and found yourself perplexed by the question, “Why am I so sexually attracted to him/her?” Surely has happened to me. Back when I was a journalism student, I had a massive crush on a guy who was a year senior. Every time we’d cross each other in the hallway or sit together as part of a group, I couldn’t think of anything except what it’d be like to kiss him or more.
While he wasn’t a typically attractive guy or even charming, something about his aloof persona really drew me in. So, you see, sexual attraction can work in fascinating ways. It’s often a complex phenomenon, shaped by a mix of biology, psychology, and social factors, and not merely governed by looks or first impressions. If you’ve ever wondered why you feel an instant spark or unexplainable connection with someone or why attraction deepens the more you get to know someone, let’s peel the layers of sexual chemistry to help you understand.
Sexual attraction works in fascinating ways
The science of sexual attraction
Contrary to the belief that sexual chemistry between two people or attraction toward someone is triggered by how you feel about them, its origin is more biological. Your brain and body are hardwired to respond to specific cues that signal compatibility, health, and fertility, and that’s what makes you sexually attracted to someone. This attraction is governed by factors such as:
1. Pheromones: The invisible connection
Pheromones are chemical signals released by the body that can influence how attractive you find someone. While you don’t consciously notice them, your brain does. “Pheromones play a subtle but powerful role in attraction. They act as a subconscious way to gauge compatibility,” says Dr. Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist and author of Anatomy of Love. For instance, a 1995 study published in Nature found that women are more attracted to the scent of men with different immune system genes (MHC genes) than their own. This biological preference increases the chances of producing healthier offspring.
2. Dopamine and oxytocin: The love chemicals
Sexual attraction is driven by feel-good hormones
Neurotransmitters like dopamine and oxytocin are also at play when you feel strong sexual attraction to someone. Attraction leads to the release of dopamine, the feel-good neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward. Likewise, sexual desire as well as any interactions with the person you’re attracted to or even fleeting physical touch leads to the release of oxytocin, often called the “love hormone.” Together, these chemicals make the state of sexual attraction a feel-good experience, making you want to relive it over and over again. Think of it as your brain’s way of saying, “This person makes me feel amazing. I want more of this.”
3. Physical cues and symmetry
Certain physical features like facial symmetry, clear skin, or physical fitness convey health and virility to your brain, even if you’re not consciously aware of it. In addition to these standards of conventional attractiveness, physical attributes like the way someone speaks or carries themselves can also trigger attraction. For example, research from the Royal Society found that men tend to find women with higher-pitched voices more attractive because they signal youth and fertility, while women are often drawn to deeper voices that signal strength and maturity.
Related Reading: 13 Female Physical Features That Attract A Man Immensely
The role of psychology
While biology sets the stage for sexual attraction between two people, how it plays out depends on your experiences, values, and personality. This is where psychology governs sexual attraction in the following ways:
1. The “similarity effect”
Contrary to the stereotype that opposites attract, people are often drawn to those who they share values, interests, or commonalities with. Studies have consistently shown that shared core values and interests create a stronger foundation for attraction—a phenomenon psychologists call the “similarity effect.” So, if you already feel attracted to someone, discovering that they share your love for hiking, or passion for rescuing animals, or love the same kind of music as you can enhance those feelings. A shared connection creates a sense of familiarity and trust, making you feel closer to each other.
2. Attachment style
Your attachment style, which is shaped by childhood experiences, plays a key role in who you’re drawn to and how attraction develops. For example, if you have a secure attachment style, you may be attracted to emotionally available and consistent partners. But if you have an insecure attachment style—avoidant, anxious, or disorganized—you might find yourself drawn to emotionally distant or unpredictable partners, even if they’re not good for you in the long run.
“Your past relationships and emotional patterns can act as a template for attraction.”
—Dr. Sue Johnson, psychologist and author of Hold Me Tight
The intangible spark
Sometimes, attraction defies explanation. You might meet someone who doesn’t check any of your usual “boxes” but still ignites an undeniable spark. This could be sexual chemistry, a mix of physical and emotional compatibility that feels instinctive and unexplainable. “Attraction is not just about what you see but also how someone makes you feel about yourself,” says Dr. Esther Perel, a renowned psychotherapist.
The connection between sexual chemistry and intimacy
Sexual chemistry is the initial spark that draws two people to each other
Sexual chemistry is often considered to be the same as intimacy in a relationship. It’s not unusual for people to think that intimacy is an instant feeling of passion you feel for someone or think that sexual connection and intimacy are synonymous. While the two are closely linked, they’re not the same thing. Sexual chemistry is the initial spark that draws two people to each other and intimacy is the flame that keeps the fire burning. They often complement and enhance each other, but can also exist independently.
Sexual chemistry can spark intimacy
Sexual chemistry often acts as the gateway to intimacy. When you’re physically attracted to someone, you want to spend time with them and get to know them better. Over time, this leads to a strong connection fostered in emotional closeness as trust, as a result of which intimacy grows.A 2016 study published in the Journal of Sex Research found that couples with strong sexual chemistry were more likely to invest in emotional intimacy, creating a positive feedback loop between the two.
Related Reading: Signs A Man Is Sexually Attracted To You
Intimacy can deepen sexual chemistry
While the sexual attraction between two people can start on a purely physical level, when intimacy develops, it can make the sexual connection also more fulfilling and meaningful. For instance, early in a relationship, you might be drawn to your partner purely for their physical appeal. Over time, as you share secrets, dreams, and life challenges, the sexual connection becomes intertwined with your emotional bond, making it even more passionate.
Sexual attraction and intimacy can exist independently of each other
Love and sexual attraction aren’t always interconnected
Like I’ve said before, not only are sexual attraction and intimacy two different things, but they can exist independently of one another. You may experience sexual chemistry without intimacy in the case of a one-night stand or a casual fling where the attraction may be fiery but is purely physical and the connection lacks emotional depth.
A deep emotional bond can exist between two people in a romantic relationship even without any sexual element. This may happen when two people have been together a long time and share a deep love and strong connection but the sexual spark has faded over time. Or the relationship may lack a sexual element right from the beginning, as is the case in relationships between asexuals or demisexuals.
When sexual attraction and intimacy coexist, it’s the most fulfilling combination
“While sexual chemistry can ignite a relationship, intimacy is what sustains it. Relationships thrive when both are present,” says Dr. Laura Berman, a sex and relationship therapist. When sexual chemistry and intimacy align, it makes you feel both desired and understood, creating a balance of passion and security in a relationship. That’s why couples in long-term relationships often report that their sexual connection becomes more fulfilling over time because intimacy enhances the chemistry they felt initially.
Why Am I So Sexually Attracted To Him/Her? 7 Probable Causes
Now that you understand how sexual attraction takes hold, plays out, and its role in building fulfilling connections, let’s circle back to why you may be feeling strong sexual attraction to someone. There is no denying that intense sexual attraction can feel overwhelming and all-consuming, and sometimes, it seems so inexplicable that it leaves you wondering, “Why am I so sexually attracted to him/her?”
While you may not be able to rationally explain the sexual tension and attraction you feel with someone, it’s never random. There are always underlying factors at play. These include:
Related Reading: The Different Types Of Attraction And How To Recognize Them
1. Your brain sees them as a good match
Unbeknownst to you, your brain may be picking up signals like pheromones that act as chemical messengers, leading to the release of dopamine and oxytocin, thus working as catalysts of sexual attraction on a subconscious level.
“Pheromones influence attraction by signaling genetic compatibility, which our brains instinctively seek out for reproductive purposes,” explains Dr. Fisher. A telling sign of this would be that you feel drawn to a specific aspect of this person’s physicality, like their natural scent (not the perfume or cologne they’re wearing).
2. You find them physically attractive
Sexual attraction feels magnetic
If you often find yourself wondering, “Why do I want him so bad sexually? Or “Why am I so sexually charged around her?”, especially when you don’t know this person too well or haven’t spent any quality time with them, it could be they possess certain physical traits that you subconsciously find attractive—it could be their height, the color of their eyes, their smile, or even their voice. In such cases, even though you don’t have a real connection to the person, you can’t stop thinking about them or looking at them when they’re in your vicinity. The sexual attraction feels magnetic and hard to rein in.
3. There’s a shared energy and charisma
If you’re wondering, “Why am I so sexually attracted to someone I don’t even know too well?”, the answer may lie not just in the person’s physicality but also in the way they make you feel about yourself. Perhaps, you’re drawn to their confidence or their enthusiasm feels contagious, or the way they light up a room by just walking into it. If you suddenly feel sexually drawn to a coworker, a mentor, or an acquaintance, this could be the underlying reason.
People who exude charisma often trigger feelings of admiration and desire. “Charisma isn’t just about charm; it’s about how someone makes you feel seen and valued. That emotional connection can heighten attraction,” says Vanessa Van Edwards, author of Captivate.
Related Reading: 15 Tips To Identify When You Are Connecting With Someone
4. Emotional or intellectual connection
If you’re suddenly experiencing strong sexual attraction to someone you’ve known a long time, the connection you share with them can be the reason why. Perhaps, you find yourself sexually attracted to a friend. It may seem sudden and out of the blue, but if you really think about it, you’d find that the trajectory from a platonic connection to feelings of attraction goes through deep, meaningful conversations and feeling seen, heard, and validated by that person.
Maybe you were going through a difficult time and this person was there for you through it all. You talked late into the night or they spent their evening comforting you. You liked the way their presence made you feel—secure and reassured. Now, suddenly, you can’t think of them as just a friend anymore. The desire you feel for them grows stronger and harder to deny.
Emotional and intellectual intimacy often does that, and when it gets intertwined with sexual desire, it can make the connection between two people even more intense. “Emotional and intellectual compatibility create a foundation for a deeper type of attraction, where the mind and body align,” says Dr. Perel in her book Mating in Captivity.
5. Unresolved desires or fantasies
A deep sexual desire can also stem from unresolved feelings, desires, or fantasies. For instance, you may continue to harbor a deep sexual desire for an ex with whom you had fiery sexual chemistry. You may have ended the relationship for whatever reason but you haven’t found that magnetic sexual connection with anyone else, and so you keep longing for them.
Or you may be attracted to someone because they embody a quality you greatly admire. Say they’re adventurous and carefree. Even though that is in stark contrast to your personality or the people you’re usually attracted to, it feels exhilarating and you can’t stop feeling drawn to them. This could also be because their carefree and open personality aligns with certain subconscious fantasies that you may not even be aware of.
“People often project their unmet desires onto someone they’re attracted to, which makes the pull feel even stronger.”
—Dr. Harville Hendrix, relationship counselor
6. The thrill of the chase
If you’re feeling sexual tension with someone you can’t have, the lure of the forbidden fruit or the thrill of the chase could be drawing you to them. A study published in Psychology Today suggests that obstacles or uncertainty can heighten attraction by triggering the brain’s reward system, making the “chase” feel addictive.
So, you may find yourself drawn to someone who is married or feel sexually attracted to a coworker, or may be unable to stop fantasizing about that emotionally unavailable guy/girl you hook up with every once in a while. Even though you know going down this road may complicate things, the kick you get from merely imagining what it’d be like to have this chase come to fruition can keep you hooked.
7. Timing and context
A paradigm-shifting life can stir up feelings of attraction
“Your emotional state and circumstances influence how you perceive others. Sometimes, attraction is about filling a gap in your life,” says Dr. John Gottman, a renowned relationship expert. The pull you’re feeling toward another person, the all-consuming sexual desire you’re drowning in could well be situational.
You might have experienced a major change in life, and the circumstances leading up to or after this paradigm-shifting life event may have played a role in stirring up feelings of attraction. A common example of this would be rebound relationships after a breakup. You may begin putting yourself out there to soothe your aching heart, seeking purely carnal connections with the person/people you’re attracted to, or finding yourself drawn to people you normally wouldn’t consider going out with.
What to Do When You’re Sexually Attracted To Someone
Experiencing powerful sexual attraction toward someone can bring up a whole host of emotions, right from excitement to confusion, and frustration, leaving you feeling overwhelmed. When you want someone so bad sexually and are caught in this whirlwind of emotions, you may end up acting in ways that you come to regret later on. That’s why it’s important to take some time to figure out if and how you should act on it.
You need to ask yourself, “Do you want it to develop into something more, or just want to play out your desires to quell your curiosity? If you want something more, is there a possibility of that happening or is it a no-go situation? Your answer to these questions will determine how you take this forward. Let’s break it down:
Related Reading: How To Lose Feelings For Someone You Love And Let Go
When it can go forward
If you get the sense that the sexual tension you’re experiencing with someone is mutual and nothing is standing in your way, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t explore what this connection could materialize into. However, even in this situation, it’s best to not jump with both feet. You must navigate the situation sensitively and cautiously. Here’s how:
1. Take it slow
To explore whether sexual attraction can pave the way for a deeper connection, you need to get to know the person better. “Attraction is powerful, but it’s only one piece of a healthy relationship puzzle. Look for shared values, interests, and emotional compatibility,” advises Dr. Gottman.
This is vital because strong attraction can cloud your judgment and make you overlook red flags or glaring incompatibility even if it’s staring you in the face. If you meet someone and feel like sparks are flying all over the place, instead of acting on your impulse and sleeping with them, consider meeting them for coffee, exchanging numbers, talking, and texting for a while to see if there is any real potential.
2. Be honest about your intentions
When you want someone so bad sexually, the overwhelming desire can make you act in disingenuous ways. For instance, even if you’re looking for a long-term connection, you may agree to a no-strings-attached relationship just because you want them so badly. Or make false promises of wanting a serious relationship when all you’re looking for is some casual fun. This can end up complicating things, resulting in heartbreak for either one or both of you. That’s why, first and foremost, you need to be clear about what you seek from exploring this connection and then be upfront about your intentions, so that you are both on the same page.
Related Reading: Starting A New Relationship? Here are 21 Do’s and Don’ts To Help
3. Focus on building a well-rounded connection
While strong sexual chemistry can set the stage for an intense connection between two people, emotional intimacy is what sustains it in the long run. So, don’t just limit your interactions to sex and the exchange of sexual fantasies and desires. Spend quality time with the person you’re with, learn about their values and dreams, and be vulnerable with them. Open up and let them in. Prioritizing emotional intimacy leads to a better sexual relationship as well.
When it can’t go forward
Experiencing sexual tension with someone you can’t have is brutal. Whether it’s a coworker, a friend in a committed relationship, an ex, or someone you’re fundamentally incompatible with, you find yourself torn between your desires and the reality that those desires will never come to fruition. Painful as it may be while it lasts, it’s possible to deal with your feelings gracefully:
1. Acknowledge your feelings
Pretending that you’re not attracted to someone when all you can think about is what it’d feel like to kiss them, hold them, or make love to them will only make these feelings resurface stronger. So, don’t deny how you feel or shame yourself for it.
Even if you’ve developed feelings for your best friend who is in a relationship or are attracted to your partner’s boss, accept them for what they are—a natural human response—without entertaining the possibility of acting on them. “Acknowledging your feelings instead of suppressing them allows you to process them in a healthy way and move forward,” says Dr. Perel.
Related Reading: The Best Way To Get Over Rejection Is To Face It
2. Create boundaries
Sometimes, sexual attraction can become so overwhelming that it can disrupt your life or other relationships. If that’s where you find yourself, it’s critical to set clear boundaries so that you don’t end up doing something you’d regret. For instance, if you’re attracted to a married coworker and can’t stop picturing yourself with them, it can be helpful to limit one-on-one interactions with them, stop meeting them outside of work, or focus your interactions on work-related matters only. “Boundaries protect you from crossing lines that could lead to regret. They help you maintain clarity and control in complex situations,” says Dr. Harriet Lerner, a clinical psychologist.
3. Focus on the bigger picture
View the situation objectively to save yourself from stepping into an emotional minefield
If you’re drawn to someone you know isn’t good for you—perhaps, a toxic ex you’ve been in an on-again-off-again relationship with or someone whose values and lifestyles are in stark contrast to your own—viewing the situation objectively can help prevent you from stepping into an emotional minefield.
Take a step back and talk to yourself like you’d to a friend. Ask, “Would pursuing this person bring me happiness in the long term?” “Is immediate gratification worth all the emotional turmoil I will put myself through if I go through with this?” The answers might just be the deterrent you need to steer clear of.
4. Redirect your energies
All that built-up sexual energy can make you act in ways you didn’t know you were capable of. While it may feel in the moment, it will only bring up feelings of regret and shame later on. To make sure this pent-up desire doesn’t take you down a road you don’t want to travel, it’s best to channel your energies into other areas of life.
“Redirecting sexual energy into personal growth not only helps you move on but also boosts your confidence and self-awareness,” says Dr. Fisher. When you feel tempted to act on your desires, hit the gym, go for a long walk to clear your mind, dive into a creative project, and consider meeting someone new.
Related Reading: How To Love Yourself In A Relationship – 21 Practical Tips
Navigating the gray areas
When it comes to human relationships, things aren’t always black or white, right or wrong. There can be many situations where you may not be sure whether it’s okay to act on your feelings—feeling sexually attracted to your friend’s ex or your sibling’s best friend. What do you do in such situations? Here are some tips:
Introspect about the nature of your feelings and see if acting on them can be the beginning of a meaningful relationship, which is worth ruffling a few feathers, or is it just a fleeting attraction
Assess the risks vis-a-vis the rewards. If there can be a potential fallout—like you risk losing a dear friend if you get involved with their ex—consider taking a step back
If you haven’t been able to decide the right way forward, consider seeking an outside perspective. Talk it through with a trusted friend or even a therapist to understand what the right course of action is
FAQs
1. Can you stop being sexually attracted to someone?
Yes, it’s possible to stop being sexually attracted to someone if you acknowledge and accept your feelings without guilt or shame, set clear boundaries, and consciously redirect your energies to distract yourself. It may take time and conscious effort but you can work through these feelings and get over them.
Key Pointers
Your body and brain both play a role in triggering sexual attraction
Sometimes, the spark can be intangible and hard to explain
Intimacy and sexual chemistry can exist independently of one another, but sexual attraction can pave the way for deeper intimacy
You may feel intense sexual attraction toward someone due to emotional or intellectual connection, shared energy or charisma, unresolved feelings, the thrill of the chase
If you find yourself drawn to someone sexually, assess whether or not there is a possibility of taking that connection to the next level and act accordingly
Final Thoughts
Sexual attraction is a powerful experience but it is also a normal human response. It’s how you deal with it and respond to it that defines the outcome—good or bad. When you approach these feelings with honesty and care, you can work through them or set the foundation for a long-term, meaningful relationship. When you act on impulse and let your primal desires steer your actions, you will likely crash and burn. Remember that attraction isn’t just about the spark—it’s also about how you channel it in ways that bring fulfillment, integrity, and joy to your life.
19 Spiritual Signs Someone Is Thinking About You Sexually
21 Clear Signs Of Unspoken Attraction Between Two People
What Is The Difference Between Making Love And Having Sex?
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Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews took to Instagram on Thursday, breaking his silence following multiple fourth-quarter miscues — a lost fumble and dropped two-point conversion to tie the game — during the team’s 27-25 AFC divisional loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
“It’s impossible to adequately express how I feel. I’m absolutely gutted by what happened on Sunday,” Andrews wrote. “I’m devastated for my teammates, my coaches and Ravens fans. I pour every ounce of my being into playing at the highest level possible, because I love my team and the game of football like nothing else. That is why it’s taken me until now to collect my thoughts and address this publicly.”
In the days following Baltimore’s season-ending loss, a GoFundMe fundraiser, originally organized by Bills fan Nicholas Howard, has accumulated over $100,000 across more than 3,000 donations to a charity close to Andrews’ heart, Breakthrough T1D. Established in 1970, the non-profit organization focuses on global type 1 diabetes research and advocacy for those who, like Andrews, have been impacted.
“Despite the negativity, I’ve seen heartfelt love and encouragement, including from those who have generously donated to the Breakthrough T1D organization,” Andrews wrote on Thursday. “Even when the moment seems darkest, perspective can reveal that there’s still a lot of light in this world. I’m now going to do my part to bounce back and contribute to it.”
That Andrews didn’t speak to reporters after Sunday’s game and again wasn’t present in the locker room Monday was out of character for the veteran tight end. He’s long been one of the Ravens’ most accessible and accountable players. He was awarded the Ravens’ Media Good Guy earlier in his career for his cooperation with the media.
Obviously, his comments on his Instagram account aren’t going to make this a non-story. Whenever Andrews next meets the media, his fourth-quarter fumble and the drop of a potential game-tying two-point conversion pass in a two-point loss to the Bills will remain prominent storylines. However, it wasn’t going to be hard for the Ravens and for Andrews to move forward from this bitter loss without the tight end addressing it in some fashion.
This was already shaping up to be an interesting offseason for Andrews. He’s in the final year of a four-year, $56 million contract. His salary-cap number rises to $16.9 million in 2025. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh maintained Wednesday that Andrews is a huge part of the team’s future, but complicating matters is the fact that Baltimore’s other two tight ends, Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar, are both headed into the final year of their contracts.
General manager Eric DeCosta acknowledged that the team will have some difficult decisions to make at the tight end position going forward. — Jeff Zrebiec, Ravens senior writer
The infamous Lumma Stealer malware is back with a new campaign, ready to steal your data. This time, the scammers are using thousands of fake Reddit and WeTransfer web pages that lead straight to the malware—but look incredibly convincing.
Watch Out For These Malware-Infested Fake Reddit Pages
Security analyst @crep1x uncovered the new Lumma Stealer campaign and uploaded a full list of compromised domains to GitHub. At the time of publication, there were more than 500 hundred pages impersonating Reddit and more than 400 masquerading as WeTransfer—all containing downloads links to the malware.
The victims are served links to the fake Reddit pages using a number of techniques. For example, Google Notebooks hosting a link to the malicious page rank in Google Search, which direct the unsuspecting user to a WeTransfer site hosting the Lumma Stealer payload.
Once the malware is installed, it steals data for use on other platforms or sale on dark web forums. However, there is a slight reprieve for some potential victims. Crep1x notes that “requests must come from a system considered a potential victim”; otherwise, you’ll be redirected to a legitimate web page.
But as good as that sounds, it’s not worth relying on as a security method.
Info-Stealer Malware Is Dangerous—and Everywhere
This malware campaign using Lumma Stealer is far from the first to take aim at your private data. Scammers previously used this malware in a fake CAPTCHA scheme. It was also one of the common malware types used in fake ChatGPT apps.
So, while this malware scam uses Reddit and WeTransfer pages as bait, it’s far from unique in its use of Lumma Stealer.
At 5:30 a.m., Wang Hui, a woman traveling with her family, is waiting at Shenzhen North Railway Station to board the first high-speed train from south China’s Shenzhen City to northwest China’s Xi’an City, which departs at 6:08 a.m.
A mother and permanent resident in the metropolis, Wang explained that, despite building a life in Shenzhen, she always yearns for her hometown, especially during the Spring Festival.
“I’ve been in Shenzhen since university, and now I have my own family, but every year, as the Spring Festival approaches, I can’t help but feel the pull of home,” she said, smiling despite the early hour and the long journey ahead.
Another traveler, surnamed Zhong, was heading back to her hometown in Chenzhou, central China’s Hunan Province. Having lived in Shenzhen for more than a decade, she said the city’s rapid growth had never lessened her feelings of homesickness during the Spring Festival.
“I’ve planned this trip for a month. The Spring Festival is when you want to be with family and embrace the traditions that connect us,” Zhong said.
The Spring Festival travel rush, known as chunyun, is underway across China, as millions, like Wang and Zhong, embark on long journeys to reunite with family for the most significant holiday of the year.
This year’s travel rush began on January 14 and will last until February 22, spanning 40 days. Authorities are expecting an unprecedented nine billion inter-regional trips during this period. By January 19, over 1 billion inter-regional trips had already been made, according to transportation authorities.
According to Ctrip, one of China’s leading online travel agencies, most travelers depart from first-tier cities such as Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing and Hangzhou, and Harbin, Chongqing and Chengdu are among the most popular tourist destinations.
For millions of travelers, the Spring Festival is about more than just family reunion. It’s about reconnecting with the cultural roots that define the holiday. As they head home for the reunion dinner, they are not only making a physical journey but also participating in a broader movement to preserve and celebrate China’s rich cultural heritage.
<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-01-24/China-s-Spring-Festival-Record-breaking-travel-cultural-feast-1Aq88ZtOyfS/img/7d70bea200df4d538feea343adec4dc6/7d70bea200df4d538feea343adec4dc6.png' alt='A girl poses with various lanterns in Lianyungang City, east China's Jiangsu Province, January 24, 2025. /VCG'
Celebrating cultural heritage
For many Chinese, the heart of the Spring Festival lies in family reunion. However, getting together with family is just the beginning, with numerous traditions following suit.
Shopping for festival goods, pasting Spring Festival couplets, giving red envelopes (hongbao), lighting fireworks, hanging lanterns and staying up on New Year’s Eve (shousui) are all key customs.
Another tradition is watching the Spring Festival Gala, or chunwan. This annual TV art show, which has been broadcast since 1983, remains a centerpiece of the celebrations. The four-and-a-half-hour program features a mix of singing, dancing, opera, sketch comedy, crosstalks, martial arts and acrobatics. As the first gala since the Spring Festival was inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, this year’s event integrates more elements of this cultural legacy.
Beyond the gala, intangible cultural heritage (ICT) is taking center stage in various aspects of the holiday. In Chongqing, one of the city’s cultural shops, run by a man surnamed Guo, has seen a surge in sales of traditional items like paper-cutting, shadow puppetry and New Year paintings. “More people are seeking unique, handmade gifts that reflect our heritage,” Guo said.
ICT-themed tourism has also boomed. From learning traditional paper-cutting in Zhejiang Province to marveling at the Lantern Festival in Zigong City, people are flocking to destinations that offer immersive cultural experiences.
This trend is reflected in travel bookings, with regions known for ICT seeing an increase in tourist interest. Data from Meituan Travel, one of China’s leading online services platforms, shows that searches for intangible cultural heritage experiences, such as the huohu (fire pot) performance in Guiyang and the Zigong Lantern Festival, have risen five-fold and twice, respectively, compared to previous years.
With the record-high chunyun unfolding, this year’s Spring Festival not only involves an unprecedented number of travelers but also sees a boom in cultural consumption, fueling a vibrant tourism market and injecting new vitality into the country’s economy.
Billy Ray Cyrus on Friday announced a new album in the wake of his lackluster performance at the post-inauguration Liberty Ball and amid family drama heightened by new input from his most recent ex-wife.
Two days after Cyrus faltered through his two-song inaugural set in Washington, D.C., his son Trace Cyrus sounded an alarm about the musician. Then on Thursday, the “Achy Break Heart” singer’s ex-wife Firerose backed up Trace’s remarks in public comments of her own.
Just as he did with his Liberty Ball appearance, Billy Ray Cyrus appeared to minimize those concerns Friday when he announced that his next album would be produced by son Braison. Earlier this week, representatives for Billy Ray declined to comment on the family concerns.
“This is art imitating life, imitating art,” the two-time Grammy Award winner said Friday in a statement. “It starts and ends with art. Braison is very talented and [2025] is his year. I’m glad to be a part of it. This record is gonna be special. I’m gearing up for what will be the journey of a lifetime.”
Firerose’s recent thoughts came in response to Trace Cyrus’ open letter, posted Wednesday on social media, in which he said that his family — which also includes Trace’s younger sisters, pop stars Miley Cyrus and Noah Cyrus, and older sister Brandi Cyrus — was “genuinely worried” about the “Achy Breaky Heart” singer. Trace said he could “barely recognize” his father as the man he once idolized, and that he and his sisters have been concerned for years. He claimed that the patriarch had “pushed all of us away.”
“You’re not healthy Dad & everyone is noticing it,” he wrote, adding, “I hope you realize this message only comes from a place of love and also fear that the world may lose you far too soon.”
On Thursday, Billy Ray Cyrus’ ex-wife Firerose echoed some of those sentiments, telling Page Six that “what’s being seen in public now reflects much” of what she experienced in private during their relationship, which ended abruptly amid allegations of abuse and fraud.
“It’s very sad to see those same struggles continue for him, but I’m glad the truth is coming to light — for his potential good because healing is only possible when you confront the truth and accept there’s a problem,” she told the outlet.
Cyrus and Firerose, who met in the early 2000s while working on Disney Channel’s “Hannah Montana” and kindled a relationship years later, announced their engagement in November 2022 and wed in October 2023. They revealed they were divorcing less than a year later, and the messy dissolution was settled last August after more than a month of tension. Cyrus has since characterized the marriage as a “crazy insane scam.”
But Braison Cyrus said in the Friday statement about the upcoming record that he had spent the last year getting to know his father better, hearing stories, jokes and songs that others have not.
“It’s an opportunity to tell my dad’s story through music, and I’m fortunate to be able to take it,” he said. “Music, stories and family are the most important things to my dad, so to bring the two together is a full-circle endeavor.”
Then in an Instagram story, Braison revealed that his father spent a week in the hospital in the fall: “I’m grateful that my dad is happy, healthy and ready to make this record,” he wrote. “It’s a rare opportunity to make something this special and tell my dad’s story through music. Can’t wait to finally share it.”
The as-yet-untitled record is set for release this summer via Roam Man Productions and will be distributed by indie label Empire. It will feature songs co-written by father and son. Although Billy Ray Cyrus has released several standalone singles in recent years — including an “Old Town Road” remix with Lil Nas X and a few songs with Firerose — the upcoming album will be his first since the 2019 release of “The SnakeDoctor Circus.”
Cyrus shares five children with ex-wife Tish Cyrus-Purcell, whom he was married to from 1993 to 2022: Trace and Brandi, whom he adopted after Tish had them with her first husband, Baxter Neal Helson; plus Miley, Braison and Noah, the kids they had together. He is also the father of Christopher Cody, whom he welcomed with ex-girlfriend Kristin Luckey in 1992.
Times staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.
US-based banks are voicing their intentions to expand crypto involvement, in the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House with promises of pro-crypto regulations. Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick reportedly said that the bank wishes to explore if it can act as a crypto transactor while keeping its regulatory obligations intact. In order to do so, the CEO said that the New York City-headquartered bank plans to ramp up discussions with US regulators in the coming months.
The CEO revealed the bank’s plans on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF 2025) in Davos. Pick told a CNBC correspondent said that Morgan Stanley will be working with the US treasury and other relevant agencies to assess how safe would it be for the bank to foray into crypto services.
Pick also discussed the recent frenzy surrounding President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump’s memecoins. “I think there is liquidity. I think the broader question is whether some of this has come of age, whether it’s hit escape velocity, you know, time is the front the longer it (cryptocurrency) trades. And you know, perception becomes reality. For us, the equation is really around whether we as a highly regulated financial institution can act as transactors or follow the money,” he said
In the past, Morgan Stanley has taken a few steps to foray into crypto services. In August 2024, the Wall Street bank reportedly started allowing its financial advisors to recommend Bitcoin-backed ETFs to select high net worth clients. Due to regulatory uncertainty, the bank continued to maintain its distance from engaging with virtual assets.
The crypto industry is waiting for US President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto promises to materialise. Just days after Trump’s inaugural ceremony, the US SEC set up a task force, tasked with the responsibility of accelerating the drafting of crypto rules. The US President previously stated that he plans to make BTC a reserved asset in the US.
Earlier this week, the chairperson of the Bank of America also predicted that traditional banks are likely to go bullish on crypto-related services once the regulations are more defined under President Trump.
Performance Max (PMax) and search campaigns often trip over each other and make a mess out of your data and the customer journey. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
At SMX Next, Brad Geddes, co-founder of Adalysis, dove deep into the data analysis of why you need to exert control over your search terms. He walked through the steps you can take to ensure these two campaigns aren’t fighting each other but working in tandem to improve your account performance.
The core of the conflict: PMax and Search overlap
Geddes set the stage by addressing the ongoing competition between PMax, search, and shopping campaigns:
“Right now, the shift is PMax, search and shopping campaigns often compete with each other as opposed to complementing each other.”
This competition can lead to inefficiencies, as campaigns vie for the same search terms.
One of the central concepts Geddes introduced was Google’s “priority” system for ad displays. Google prioritizes exact-match keywords when deciding which ad to show. However, the definition of “identical” can be surprisingly stringent, Geddes said:
“If you have this search term, ‘Italy tour guide,’ and you have the search keyword, ‘Italy tour guide,’ that’s identical. But if the search term is ‘Italian tour guide,’ it’s not identical.”
Data insights: The extent of overlap
An analysis of 2,000 accounts found that 45% of PMax search terms also appeared in search campaigns, Geddes said. However, PMax often secured more impressions, showing for 61% of these shared terms. Yet, despite PMax’s dominance in impressions, Geddes emphasized:
“Search has better click-through rates 65% of the time and better conversion rates 84% of the time.”
The problems that lead to overlap
Geddes offered actionable strategies to address this overlap, starting with keyword management.
Problem 1: Poor organisation leads to lower ad rank
Poor ad group organization is a significant issue impacting ad rank and relevance in search campaigns. Geddes critiqued Google’s approach to responsive search ads (RSAs), which involves automatically mixing and matching keywords and ad assets to create ads, as it often results in mismatched messaging.
He uses the example of a New York City hotel specializing in being dog-friendly.
The hotel had an ad group with keywords like “New York City dog-friendly hotel,” expecting their RSA to display ads highlighting “dog-friendly” when users searched for those terms. However, most impressions for the keyword “NYC dog-friendly hotel” showed ads with generic phrases like “downtown New York City hotel” or “Times Square hotel,” failing to mention pet-friendliness.
The solution?
Reorganizing ad groups.
By analyzing search terms, creating more specific ad groups, and writing ads tailored to those terms, the hotel expanded from one broad ad group to around 20 focused ones. This improved the relevance of ads and tripled conversions without increasing the budget.
Evergreen ad group organization enhances relevance, quality scores, click-through rates, and conversion rates, outperforming automated approaches.
Problem 2: Not adding search terms as keywords
Our second issue in search campaign performance is tied to Google’s reliance on automation.
Google’s approach encourages marketers to use broad match keywords and automated bidding, such as CPA or maximum conversion value bidding, under the premise that Google’s system will handle the search terms effectively, Geddes said. However, he pointed out a critical flaw:
“If you don’t manually add your top search terms as keywords, those terms won’t exist as keywords in your account.”
This prevents an exact match between the search term and keyword, leading to a scenario where PMax campaigns might take precedence over search campaigns.
The solution he offers is straightforward: marketers should still manually review and identify their top-performing search terms and add them as keywords in their search campaigns. This ensures better alignment and control, avoiding over-reliance on Google’s automation.
Problem 3: Google recommendation, removing redundant keywords
Geddes highlighted Google’s suggestion to remove “redundant keywords,” such as similar variations like Italy tour guides, Italy guided tours, and tours of Italy. Google views these as duplicates and recommends removing them.
However, if you remove these variations, you lose identical keywords in your account, allowing PMax to take priority over search campaigns, Geddes said.
Problem 4: Google auto-apply settings – turn off
Check your Auto Apply settings in Google Ads, as Google may automatically implement changes like removing redundant keywords or “non-serving keywords” (those with few or no impressions), Geddes said.
While removing non-serving keywords might seem harmless, he cautions that it can cause problems for businesses with seasonal demand.
For example, a roofing company may see fewer impressions in winter, or flower delivery keywords may drop after major holidays. If these keywords are auto-removed, they won’t be available when the next season starts, potentially leading to PMax taking over or ads not showing at all.
He emphasizes reviewing and managing Auto Apply settings to avoid unintended changes that could undermine campaign performance.
Problem 5: Ad rank preview tool
Google’s ad preview tool can provide valuable insights but has shown limitations in recent months. Geddes notes that Google often reports:
“We don’t know why your ads aren’t showing for the search,” a problem potentially linked to PMax. The tool might focus on previewing responsive search ads (RSAs), and if RSAs aren’t showing, PMax ads take over, leaving Google unable to explain why ads aren’t serving.
Another frequent issue: keywords not triggering because another “identical” keyword exists. While the system flags the duplication, the identical keyword might have low ad rank, making it ineligible to display. This allows other ads to show instead.
Pay attention to impression shares and bids, especially when low ad rank is affecting ad performance, Geddes said. This underscores the importance of monitoring how ad rank impacts eligibility and ensuring the account is well-optimized to prevent such conflicts.
Problem 6: Lost IS budget & Bid strategy
Geddes explains how using search campaigns alongside PMax campaigns can lead to conflicts if not managed carefully. In one example, an account had a structured setup where search and corresponding PMax campaigns complemented each other based on regions or products. However, problems arise when the search campaign loses impression share to budget. If the search campaign’s budget runs out, PMax takes over, shifting traffic to PMax instead of search.
To avoid this, he advises ensuring that search campaigns have minimal loss of impression share due to budget so they can compete effectively.
When impression share is lost due to rank, he suggests two solutions:
Reduce targeting types, like having fewer keywords, to improve efficiency.
Raise bids or improve quality scores to regain ad rank, but avoid increasing bids to the point where profitability is lost.
Geddes highlights a common issue with bid strategies: search and PMax campaigns often use different bidding methods, such as manual CPC for search and maximum conversion value for PMax. This results in different bids submitted to auctions, causing PMax to win ad rank when its bids are higher. For example, if an advertiser sets a $15 target CPA for search and a $25 target CPA for PMax, PMax can outbid search in the auction, even if search performs better.
He emphasizes that this mismatch is often a self-inflicted issue caused by inconsistent bid strategies and campaign settings, which advertisers need to address to ensure search campaigns remain competitive.
Problem 7: Campaign settings
Geddes emphasizes the importance of aligning location and scheduling settings between Search and PMax campaigns to improve performance.
Check whether both campaigns target the same regions, as discrepancies can lead to inefficiencies. For example, some companies may exclude specific areas, like Alaska, Hawaii, or California, in their Search campaigns due to shipping or regulatory reasons, but their PMax campaigns might still target those locations, or even the entire country or world.
“PMax can show for some region in this case they target different regions,” Geddes said, which can cause overlap or misalignment. Similarly, ad scheduling should also be consistent across both campaign types.
“PMax should be more restricted than Search, not more expansive,” to ensure better control and targeted performance, he suggested.
Problem 8: Misspellings aren’t the “identical” term
Google’s approach to search term data caused challenges, particularly the grouping of misspellings with correct spellings. While this change simplifies reporting, it creates significant issues for advertisers:
“You can no longer tell what’s a misspelling in Google. You have no clue.”
This is problematic, especially for new brands like Airbnb or Lyft, where early misspellings dominate until Google recognizes them as valid terms.
Geddes highlighted two major concerns:
“A, you can’t see those stats anymore. B, we don’t know how things are being corrected.”
It’s unclear if Google prioritizes correcting misspellings before applying search term logic or if corrections occur afterwards, complicating analysis and strategy.
Misspellings are a growing problem, with Google sometimes making “crazy spell corrections,” Geddes said.
As a result, some advertisers are reverting to outdated practices, such as adding exact match misspellings, which Geddes describes as “a crazy amount of work” but possibly necessary due to PMax campaigns amplifying misspelling issues.
He advises advertisers to monitor this closely:
“It’s something that you might start watching more than you ever did before.”
“Take your search term data, take your PMax search term data, put it in a pivot table, and look for overlaps.”
By identifying high-performing search terms, advertisers can add these as exact-match keywords in their search campaigns, ensuring better control and performance.
Another recommendation involved improving ad group organization to enhance relevance and ad rank. He shared a success story where reorganizing ad groups for a New York City hotel resulted in tripled conversions on the same budget.
“Good ad group organization helps relevance from a quality score standpoint and improves click-through and conversion rates,” Geddes said.
Fix ad-serving issues
Geddes summarized the fix of these ad-serving issues into three main buckets:
Evaluate. “Take your search term data, take your PMax search term data, put in a pivot table and look for overlaps.”
Create. “What are our top search terms? It doesn’t matter if they’re from search campaigns or PMax campaigns. Let’s make sure those are in your search ad group – with relevant ads and landing pages.
Check. ”Check your settings, your bid settings, your location settings, your time of day settings, your budget settings. Consistency is what we’re looking for”
Exception – Shopping Campaigns
There are challenges, however in managing overlap between Search and PMax campaigns in retail, where the same search term might trigger ads from both campaigns. Geddes noted:
“The same search term could show a search ad from search and a product ad from PMax, or PMax could show both,” which creates reporting complexity. “The reporting’s really messy.”
To address this, Geddes suggests analyzing top search terms and checking if they are included in Search campaigns. However, he cautions against broadly using negative keywords at the campaign or account level to block PMax, as this approach can complicate campaign performance.
He highlights tools like Adalysis, which help simplify this process by identifying overlaps:
“We’ll look and say here’s your PMax search terms. Is this a keyword in Search? Is it a search term in Search?”
For example, Adalysis can analyze terms with no conversions in PMax but better performance in Search, enabling advertisers to optimize organization and performance.
Geddes advises focusing on overlap percentages and using systems that make managing negative keywords and overlaps more efficient. He mentions that Google plans to introduce campaign-level negative keywords for PMax, which will make managing overlaps easier:
“As soon as that happens, that’ll be baked into the workflow…to make life easier.”
Looking ahead: The role of PMax
Despite its challenges, Geddes acknowledged that PMax can play a supportive role, especially for smaller accounts:
“PMax is almost that backfill. It can be remarketing, serve across channels, and fill in the gaps for us.”
For advertisers hesitant to embrace PMax, Geddes reassured:
“If you don’t want to try it, there’s no need to do it right now.”
Dig deeper. Performance Max vs. Search campaigns: New data reveals substantial search term overlap
All hell is about to break loose in May, as after five years, a brand-new Doom game is on the way from id Software. Scheduled to launch on May 15, preorders are now open and PC players can get a big discount on the game. Over on Fanatical, you can save 25% on your preorder and get Doom: The Dark Ages for just $58.79, or you can grab the premium edition for $84 instead. The latter comes with two days early access starting May 13.
As a bonus, preorders will also come with a cool skin for the Doom Slayer, the Void Doom cosmetic that dresses the bane of all demons in stylishly black colors.
The Premium Edition comes packed with a bunch of extra content as well, including two days early access if you preorder and the following extras:
It’s worth noting that the new Doom will also be available day-one through Xbox Game Pass, so if you’re looking to grab a subscription to Microsoft’s gaming library, there are some good deals on right now. One of the best we’ve seen is three months of Game Pass Ultimate for $34 at Woot, which is $16 less than the usual $50 price for prepaid codes. Subscribing to Game Pass Ultimate directly through Microsoft would cost you $60.
Since this is the best tier of Game Pass, you’ll also get several more benefits across console, PC, and cloud-compatible devices, as well as access to a massive library of games.
If you’re only planning to play on PC, you can get three months of PC Game Pass for $30, but clearly, the deal above is the better option here as you get much more in return for just an extra $4.
Disclosure: GameSpot and Fanatical are both owned by Fandom.
A study led by scientists at Rutgers University-New Brunswick has shown that specialized cells involved in how the body responds to insulin are activated in the brain after exercise, suggesting that physical activity may directly improve brain function.
A study, published in Aging Cell, a journal focused on the biology of aging, indicates that therapies targeting this insulin action may be developed to offset or even prevent dementia progression.
“We believe this work is important because it suggests exercise may work to improve cognition and memory by improving the abilities of insulin to act on the brain,” said Steven Malin, an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences and lead author of the study.
Conducted in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging, the researchers focused on the role of neuronal extracellular vesicles, specialized cells released by the brain.
Extracellular vesicles, once dismissed by researchers as “cell dust,” have in the past 15 years grown exponentially in recognition as important players in the microscopic world of the human body, facilitating transport of key molecules such as proteins between cells. For this study, the scientists targeted vesicles produced in the brain that ferry several proteins involved in insulin sensitivity — one of which is called Akt.
Insulin sensitivity is a measure of how well the body responds to insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar levels. People with high insulin sensitivity can use blood glucose more effectively in the body, such as in its muscles, which reduces blood sugar. People with diabetes, with its key symptom of low insulin sensitivity or insulin resistance, have brain cells that are less responsive to insulin. This can have negative impacts on cognition.
Researchers were able to study the vesicles by isolating them in the blood of participants in an experimental study. The trial, conducted over two weeks, included a group of 21 volunteers who had an average age of 60 and had prediabetes. Over the course of the study, they engaged in 12 individual, supervised, 60-minute exercise sessions of moderate to high intensity. The participants ingested a glucose drink before and after training. Researchers then collected blood samples before and during the drink from the participants at the start and end of exercise training.
The blood samples showed that the number of neuronal vesicles carrying proteins involved in insulin sensitivity increased after each training, with Akt being most notable.
“We showed for the first time that exercise impacts insulin signaling from neuronal extracellular vesicles in relation to clinical improvements in blood sugar,” Malin said. “And we use these neuronal extracellular vesicles as an indicator of brain insulin sensitivity.”
Exercise, therefore, is potentially able to improve the brain’s capacity to respond to insulin for neuronal function, he said.
Insulin is a hormone increasingly recognized to regulate cognition, the mental process of acquiring knowledge through thought, experience and the senses. Prediabetes is a serious health condition that occurs when blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as Type 2 diabetes. Those with prediabetes run the risk of having insufficient levels of insulin in their bodies, particularly the brain, which increases the chances of developing diseases of dementia such as Alzheimer’s, Malin said.
Insulin also plays a crucial role in memory formation, recall, processing speed and the functioning of synapses, structures that allow brain cells to communicate with one another.
“If insulin is insufficient in the brain, that means not only will brain cells become potentially dysfunctional, but also they may fail to interact with each other properly,” Malin said. “It’s like playing the game telephone with a friend. At some point the message gets lost when the brain becomes insulin resistant.”
Exercise has long been believed to improve cognition, but the mechanisms involved have been unclear. Past studies have uncovered evidence that high blood sugar contributes to a decrease in the brain’s ability to recall information and learn new information.
Malin said that insulin, which is produced by the pancreas and travels to the brain to perform its functions, plays a central role in promoting brain blood flow and neuronal functioning for cognition.
“Our work suggests that therapies that target brain insulin action may be able to ward off dementia,” Malin said.
In a new study, Malin and his colleagues are examining whether a single bout of exercise can enhance the ability of intranasal insulin to support cognitive health in aging adults with obesity by measuring brain blood flow and neuronal extracellular vesicles. Their future plans are to conduct a long-term exercise training study that assesses brain insulin sensitivity improvements in relation to cognition in older adults.
Other Rutgers scientists on the study included Michal Beeri, director of the Herbert and Jacqueline Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; and Daniel Battillo, a doctoral candidate in the kinesiology and applied physiology graduate program. Scientists from the National Institute of Health’s National Institute on Aging involved in the study included Dimitrios Kapogiannis, Maja Mustapic and Francheska Delgado-Peraza.
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What you eat shows up in your hair—literally! A poorly balanced diet lacking essential nutrients can significantly impact hair health, leading to weak, brittle strands and poor overall hair quality. What you consume plays a vital role in maintaining strong, healthy hair.
Nutritional guide for healthy hair: Foods to boost growth and prevent shedding. (Freepik)
“Hair’s structural matrix is primarily composed of keratin, a protein that underscores the importance of adequate protein intake in your diet. Additionally, metabolically active hair follicles require a consistent supply of vitamins and minerals to function optimally. Nutrient deficiencies in your diet can result in hair thinning, excessive shedding, and a brittle texture, emphasizing the need for a nutrient-rich, balanced diet to support vibrant, healthy hair,” says Dr Ipshita Johri, dermatology and aesthetic consultant, Laser specialist and founder, Skinfinity Derma. (Also read: Sonam Kapoor’s natural skincare secrets to glowing skin and hair: ‘I swear by ubtan, coconut oil’ )
Dr. Ipshita further shared with HT Lifestyle nutritional red flags that impact hair health:
1. Protein deficiency
A diet that is devoid of good quality protein leads to weak and brittle hair as hair does not receive adequate amino acids for the synthesis of keratin. Hence, for healthy hair and scalp health, inclusion of lean meat, egg, fish, dairy products, pulses, legumes, nuts, seeds etc., are needed.
2. Iron deficiency
Be mindful of including naturally iron-enriched foods in the diet, such as green leafy vegetables, red meat, fortified cereals, etc. and pair them up with vitamin C-rich foods for adequate absorption of iron. The role of iron in hair health is to transport oxygen to the hair follicles. The deficiency of iron in the diet leads to telogen effluvium, a condition characterised by excessive hair shedding.
3. Zinc deficiency
Zinc deficiency can lead to poor hair health.
The role of zinc is to primarily support the health of hair follicles and also balance out the sebum production in the scalp. So, it is essential to add zinc-rich foods to the diet, such as pumpkin seeds, nuts, etc.
4. Biotin deficiency
Biotin (Vitamin B7) is essential for keratin synthesis. Though rare, biotin deficiency is associated with hair thinning, and to overcome this, biotin-rich foods like eggs, almonds, sweet potatoes, and bananas should be included.
5. Vitamin D deficiency
Vitamin D deficiency can weaken hair follicles.(Pixabay)
Spend time in sunlight and consume vitamin D-fortified dairy. Fatty fish and egg yolks are used to avoid hair shedding and alopecia, as vitamin D stimulates hair follicle growth.
6. Vitamin C deficiency
Vitamin C aids in collagen production and enhances iron absorption. Its deficiency can weaken hair structure. The solution is to include citrus fruits, strawberries, bell peppers, and guavas in meals.
“Your diet decides your hair health, and this makes the role of a balanced diet highly essential. To identify nutritional deficiencies early, pay attention to your hair, such as hair thinning, brittleness, dryness, etc., and take timely action. By consuming a wholesome diet, you can achieve healthy and voluminous hair with a well-nourished scalp,” says Dr. Ipshita.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.
Today, a brief rundown of news involving Merck & Co. and AstraZeneca, as well as updates from AbbVie, Stealth BioTherapeutics and Vigil Neuroscience that you may have missed.
A regimen of cancer drugs Keytruda and Lenvima extended progression-free survival over standard chemotherapy in people with a type of gastroesophageal tumor, but did not show an overall survival benefit. The results, announced by Merck & Co. and Eisai Friday, are from a Phase 3 study called LEAP-015 that enrolled hundreds of people with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic HER2-negative gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma. The companies said they are continuing to evaluate the data, which they’ll present at a future medical meeting. The findings do not affect Keytruda or Lenvima’s current approvals, or other trials in the LEAP program. — Ned Pagliarulo
AstraZeneca will invest $570 million in a new office facility in Ontario that will help grow the company’s presence in Canada. The drugmaker already employs more than 2,100 people in Canada — many of whom work on clinical trials — and last year acquired Hamilton, Ontario-based Fusion Pharmaceuticals. The new facility will add more than 700 positions to its workforce there, across “all areas of the business,” AstraZeneca said Thursday. — Ben Fidler
AbbVie will work with San Diego-based biotech startup Neomorph to develop protein-degrading “molecular glue” drugs for cancer and immune diseases, the companies announced Thursday. Neomorph will get an unspecified upfront payment from AbbVie in the deal and stands to receive up to $1.64 billion more in option fees and milestones. It’s the third industry collaboration since last February for Neomorph, which also has partnerships with Biogen and Novo Nordisk. — Ben Fidler
The Food and Drug Administration will take another three months to decide whether it will approve Stealth BioTherapeutics’ drug elamipretide for Barth syndrome. The company on Thursday said the FDA determined it needs more time to review recent information submitted by Stealth following an October meeting of agency advisers. The FDA didn’t cite any safety issues, nor did it request more testing, Stealth said. The new decision deadline is April 29. — Ned Pagliarulo
Shares in Vigil Neuroscience rose by double digits this week after the biotechnology company reported Phase 1 trial data for an experimental drug it’s developing for Alzheimer’s. The data, which detail the drug’s safety and distribution through the body, support advancement into a Phase 2 study, Vigil said. Code-named VG-3927, the small molecule drug is designed to boost a neuroprotective response in the brain to accumulations of tau and amyloid, proteins associated with Alzheimer’s. — Ned Pagliarulo
Interest rates might drop, but don’t expect a huge boom in home values or transactions.
Lending policies and regulations will be key in how much impact lower rates will have.
Unemployment is set to rise, but that won’t mean much for the housing slowing and net overseas migration is slowing, leading to less pressure on rental demand.
Residential construction is still in a slump, but there’s a silver lining.
Overall, expect a slower year for value growth and sales compared to last year.
As we step into 2025, the economic landscape is shifting. Pandemic-driven trends like high inflation and overseas migration are easing.
The RBA cash rate might finally drop, with lending policies playing a role in how this impacts the market.
Unemployment is set to rise, but those with secure jobs will enjoy higher real incomes.
Residential construction is in transition—workloads are high, but new projects are slowing.
Interest rates might be cut in early 2025 as inflation continues to drop, with annual core inflation falling to 3.2% in November (below the RBA forecast of 3.4% for December).
Two of the big 4 banks are currently expecting a rate cut in February.
The industry should brace for the possibility that rate reductions may have little effect on home values and transaction activity this year.
Even if the average mortgage rate drops by 135 basis points (the lower bound of forecasts for the cash rate at the end of 2025), a median-income household could reasonably afford a $593,000 home — still much lower than the current median home value of $815,000.
A rate of 3.1% by the end of 2025 is also higher than the pre- COVID, decade average (2.55%) that supported strong lending volumes in the 2010s.
A potential window into how Australians would respond to higher borrowing capacity is the Stage 3 tax cuts from 2024.
While this would have boosted borrowing capacity through higher net income, the housing market saw an anaemic response, with growth in values slowing from June 2024.
Changes to macroprudential settings (the policies used by regulators to reduce credit risk and support financial stability), will likely affect the availability of housing finance.
Lowering the mortgage serviceability buffer from 3.0 percentage points to 2.5 percentage points (a reversal of the increase in October 2021) could boost home-buying activity through increased borrowing capacity.
However, this action from the regulator isn’t guaranteed. According to APRA’s November statement, the risk of financial shocks hasn’t abated, and regulators have warned that high household debt levels are a major concern.
If household debt levels rise as interest rates fall, APRA could introduce new measures, such as limits on high loan-to-value ratio (LVR) or high debt-to-income (DTI) lending, such as whatthe RBNZ has implemented in New Zealand.
The RBA forecasted unemployment to rise to 4.5% by the end of 2025, but so far the labour market remains tight, and the unemployment rate is at just 4.0% (the pre-covid, decade average was (5.5%).
Assuming that the labour market does loosen this year (which is an expected result of lower inflation and economic demand), we might not expect much of an impact on the housing market.
For the past two decades, there has been a mildly positive relationship between the unemployment rate and housing values, potentially because periods of rising unemployment trigger lower interest rate settings to stimulate the economy.
For those who remain employed in 2025, lower inflation will also provide a boost to real incomes that could be put towards a deposit or housing transaction costs
The devil will be in the details of a looser labour market and its impact on housing in 2025.
For example, rising periods of unemployment have historically impacted younger Australians (i.e. 15–24yr olds) more than other age groups, and these younger Australians are more likely to be concentrated in the rental market than in home ownership, thus having more of an impact on rental demand.
However, there may be localised impacts on housing demand and value depending on industries and regions that face greater job loss.
Net overseas migration peaked at 556,000 in the year to September 2023 and fell to 446,000 by June 2024.
According to the Centre for Population, it is expected net migration will continue declining to about 340,000 by mid-2025 as the ‘COVID-catch up’ effect fades as more short-term migrants leave.
While overseas migration isn’t the only factor flowing through to rental demand, significant changes in migration patterns have impacted the market.
The chart above compares the historic exposure of individual SA4 markets to net overseas migration with rental value changes between September 2023 and December 2024.
Areas with high migration saw a substantial increase in rents in 2022 when border restrictions eased. Now, the slowdown in overseas migration appears to be reducing demand more quickly in these same rental markets.
Residential construction will remain low, but cost pressures could stabilise
New home approvals are low, with only 169,000 new dwellings approved by November 2024—a 24% drop from the decade average and 30% below the Housing Accord’s average annual target (240,000).
High construction costs, land costs, and interest rates, along with potentially diminished buyer confidence in the new home sector, have dampened approval numbers.
There are some signs of a pickup, with dwelling approvals bottoming out in early 2024, which is most obvious in high capital growth markets like WA, SA and QLD.
Interestingly, about 250,000 approved dwellings are still incomplete.
The slowdown in building activity will eventually ease capacity constraints, allowing for more timely delivery of homes and clearing the backlog.
However, competition from the public infrastructure sector for labour and input materials is likely to remain substantial.
Continued government support and business investment are essential to boost productivity in residential construction.
Overall, despite rate cuts and easing inflation, 2025 is expected to see lower value growth and sales numbers than last year.
This could involve a shallow downturn in values at the start of the year, followed by a mild recovery as inflation and interest rates move lower, real incomes rise and housing supply remains low.
About Eliza Owen Eliza is head Of Residential Research Australia for Corelogic and a respected property market commentator.
Eliza holds a first class honours degree in economics from the University of Sydney
Breakups can feel like the end of the world, but sometimes they’re just a pause button, allowing space for reflection and growth. But this hope for reconciliation can leave you obsessively wondering, “Will my ex come back?” stopping you from moving on. We advise you to look for tangible signs you’ll get back together to determine if you should wait for a patch up or move on.
To get some expert insights on the topic, we talked to a California-based psychiatrist and cognitive behaviour therapist, Dr. Shefali Batra (MD in psychiatry), who specializes in counseling for separation and divorce, breakup and dating, and premarital compatibility issues. Let’s explore these signs and how to turn them into actionable steps for a second chance at love.
15 Signs You’ll Get Back Together With Your Ex
Have you broken up recently but can’t stop thinking if there’s any unfinished business? It’s common for questions like “Why do I have a feeling he will come back?” or “Will she ever come back?” to linger after a breakup. If you’re noticing signs your ex is becoming interested again or catching yourself reminiscing about the good times, it could mean the door isn’t fully closed. From unexpected run-ins to familiar late-night calls, signs you’ll get back together often emerge in small but telling ways. Let’s decode these clues and see if your story with your ex is truly “to be continued.”
1. You’re “accidentally” running into each other
These “coincidences” may not be coincidences at all but one of the signs your ex is becoming interested again. Whether it’s bumping into them at their regular coffee shop or seeing them at a mutual friend’s gathering, these encounters often signal lingering interest. If you or they are subtly orchestrating these meetings, it’s a strong sign your ex will give you another chance. It suggests an unspoken desire to remain in each other’s orbit, hinting that getting back together after a breakup might not be far-fetched.
You keep running into each other
2. They still have your Netflix password
Dr. Batra says, “This isn’t just about convenience. If they’re still logged into your accounts, they’re holding on to a connection—even if it seems trivial.” They might even use this as an excuse to reach out (“Hey, did you watch that new show?”). Small shared habits like these can show signs your ex will give you another chance, as they struggle to let go of the relationship entirely.
3. Every meme reminds you of them
Sending them memes or jokes that remind you of your relationship is a low-key way of maintaining contact. If they engage enthusiastically, it’s one of the funnier signs you’ll get back together. One of the answers to why do exes come back is having a shared humor. It creates a bond that often survives a breakup, paving the way for stages of reconnecting with an ex. Keep an eye on whether they reciprocate your efforts to keep the connection alive.
Related Reading: Will She Come Back? 15 Signs You’ll Get Back Together
4. Your friends are rooting for a patch up
When your friends notice how much you still talk about your ex, it’s often a sign you’re not ready to move on. Their reactions can also reflect their belief in your compatibility. If they’re rooting for your reunion, or if they hint that hooking up with an ex isn’t a bad idea, it’s worth reevaluating your feelings and whether reconciliation is what you truly want.
5. They’re responding to your Instagram stories
If your ex is actively engaging with your social media, for example:
Liking posts
Replying to stories
or dropping emojis
It’s a modern sign your ex is becoming interested again. These small interactions may seem insignificant, but they often show an effort to stay connected. Take note if their reactions go beyond casual likes, such as commenting on something personal, which may indicate they’re testing the waters for reconciliation.
Related Reading: 21 Clear Signs Of Unspoken Attraction Between Two People
6. You’re both “finding closure” through late-night calls
Endless late-night chats, especially about your relationship, can be a major sign of unresolved feelings. If these conversations are more about revisiting good memories than addressing closure, it’s a strong sign your ex will give you another chance. Late-night vulnerability often brings out the truth, making it easier to reconnect emotionally and even contemplate hooking up with an ex as a first step toward rebuilding the relationship.
A Reddit user shared their breakup and patch up journey, “My ex and I got back together. Together for 1 year and we had no real big fights but over a couple of weeks she became distant and dropped the bomb on me saying she has a lot going on and she has to find herself. We kept somewhat in touch, it was somewhat mutual to just text each other randomly. But those texts always hurt. Fast forward, I gave her space and she started contacting me more.”
7. Their jacket is still your go-to comfort wear
Keeping their belongings, especially items you use regularly, indicates a reluctance to move on. This emotional attachment works both ways. If they haven’t asked for their things back—or if they’ve kept some of yours—it’s a mutual sign you’ll get back together. Objects often carry sentimental value, serving as reminders of the bond you shared.
You still have and wear their clothes
8. They text you first thing when something funny happens
Dr. Batra shares, “If your ex consistently reaches out to share amusing or significant moments, it shows that they still value your connection.” This behavior suggests you remain their go-to person for emotional support, a key sign your ex will give you another chance. Such communication indicates they still trust and care about your opinion, even post-breakup.
9. You’ve started using “we” again
Referring to past memories with “we” rather than “I” shows that your mind hasn’t transitioned to seeing yourself as separate from them. This can signal lingering attachment. If thoughts like, “Why do I have a feeling he will come back?” are popping up, it could be because you’ve heard your ex using “we” while reminiscing, and picked up on it subconsciously.
Related Reading: What Leo Man Dislikes In A Woman And What He Likes
10. Their mom still calls you
When their family remains in touch, it’s a sign of approval and unfinished business. It shows you were important to their life beyond just the romantic relationship. If their mom casually mentions your ex during these calls, it’s an indirect sign your ex is becoming interested again or at least that the family is rooting for reconciliation.
11. Your fights are about “the future” now
Arguing about future scenarios rather than past mistakes suggests there’s still hope and planning happening subconsciously. These fights could be about:
Your career choices
Your love lives
Or simply, hangout plans
These future-focused discussions are clear signs your ex will give you another chance, as they indicate unresolved feelings and mutual consideration for rekindling the relationship.
Related Reading: 19 Spiritual Signs Someone Is Thinking About You Sexually
12. You’re both “too busy to date anyone else”
If neither of you is seriously seeing other people, it’s a clue that you’re emotionally unavailable for anyone else. This unspoken exclusivity is one of the types of breakups that get back together, driven by an underlying belief that the door hasn’t closed completely. So, if their social media is filled with quotes about “embracing singlehood” or “taking some time for myself”, it may be a favorable sign that things will work out.
13. Their friends still like your posts
When their friends engage with your social media, it indicates two things:
They still see you in a positive light, which means there are no negative feelings present from your ex’s side
The friends are still rooting for you as a couple
This indirect support often reflects your ex’s feelings, making it a meaningful sign your ex will give you another chance.
14. They remember your favorites
Why do exes come back, showing up with your go-to snacks or coffee order? Dr. Batra says, “It’s a calculated attempt to connect emotionally. Nostalgic gestures like these remind you of shared experiences and can act as subtle olive branches.” These gestures could look like:
Sharing a song that you may like
Sending your favorite food
Sending you memes that match your humor
15. Every rom-com reminds you of them
If romantic movies and stories make you think of your ex, it’s a sign you’re not ready to move on. Your subconscious attachment is one of the initial emotional stages of reconnecting with an ex, highlighting the hope for a happy ending.
7 Tips On Getting Back Together With Your Ex
So, you’ve solved the ‘Should I get back with my ex?’ debacle and decided to give it another chance. Now the next challenge is to figure out how to win back an ex after a breakup. Reconciliation is not about repeating old mistakes—it’s about rebuilding a stronger, healthier relationship. Before jumping in, take a thoughtful approach. Evaluate your actions, timing, and intentions to avoid reigniting old issues. Whether it’s through personal growth, honest communication, or respecting boundaries, these tips can help you address lingering doubts like will he come back or will she come back after no contact and move forward wisely.
1. Take responsibility
Before attempting reconciliation, reflect on your role in the breakup. Was it due to miscommunication, emotional neglect, or unresolved personal issues? If you contributed to the problems, acknowledge your mistakes honestly.
For example, instead of a vague “Sorry if I hurt you,” express specific regret like, “I regret not being there for you when you needed me.”
If you’re not good at apologizing, write down the mistakes you made during the relationship and practice articulating a genuine apology.
Dr. Batra says, “Taking accountability shows growth and maturity, reassuring your ex that you’re ready for a healthier relationship. Without this step, the cycle of past mistakes may repeat, derailing any chance of getting back together after a breakup.
Related Reading: 17 Signs A Woman Has Not Made Love For A Long Time
2. Time it right
Timing is everything when wondering how to get back with ex. If they’ve just experienced a tough day or started seeing someone new, reaching out may come across as insincere or desperate. Similarly, rushing in too soon after a breakup could overwhelm them. Dr. Batra advises, “Pay attention to their emotional state. Are they posting uplifting content or engaging with mutual friends? This could indicate they’re open to reconnecting. Approaching them when emotions are stable increases the chances of a productive conversation.”
Observe their social media or casual interactions to gauge their emotional readiness
Choose a neutral time, like a weekend afternoon, to reconnect
Related Reading: 25 Bedtime Stories For Girlfriend
3. Improve yourself
If the breakup highlighted personal shortcomings, focus on self-improvement before wondering, “Will my ex come back?”. Did your laziness or lack of ambition create friction? Did unresolved insecurities damage the relationship? Use this time to work on yourself—whether that’s:
If you are wondering, “Will my ex come back?” demonstrating growth can reignite your ex’s interest. People are naturally drawn to those who take charge of their lives. Share your progress subtly, like posting about hobbies, fitness achievements, or professional milestones on social media.
Work on improving yourself
4. Be funny, not cringey
Humor can dissolve awkwardness and rebuild emotional intimacy. Dr. Batra shares, “A well-timed inside joke or lighthearted comment can remind your ex of the fun moments you shared. However, overdoing it—like spamming them with memes or trying too hard to be funny—can come across as desperate.” Instead, use humor strategically to create positive associations and lighten the mood, paving the way for open communication.
For example, revisit a shared joke or funny memory in a text message, such as, “Remember when we tried making pancakes and ended up with a kitchen disaster?”
5. Communicate clearly
Vague messages like “wyd?” or “how are you?” won’t cut it when you’re trying to mend a relationship. Directly address your intentions and emotions. Let them know you’ve been reflecting on the breakup and believe there’s potential for a stronger connection. Dr. Batra says, “Clarity shows respect and maturity, which is an essential tip on how to win back an ex. Be honest, but also allow room for their feelings to surface naturally.”
For example, send a message like, “I’ve been thinking a lot about us and wondering if you’d be open to a conversation about where we stand.”
Related Reading: Why Don’t Girls Like Me? Reasons And Solutions
6. Show, Don’t Tell
Giving advice on how to get back with ex, Dr. Batra advises, “Telling your ex that you’ve changed is not enough—your actions must back it up. If a lack of reliability or commitment was an issue, demonstrate consistency in your actions.”
For example, if you often bailed on plans, ensure you’re punctual and dependable in your interactions now
Plan a casual outing and follow through with enthusiasm to show your reliability and commitment
Proving your growth through tangible changes will make it easier for your ex to trust your intentions.
7. Respect their space
You may be obsessed with the question “Will he come back?” but overwhelming your ex is not the right way to find out. Constant texts or calls can push them further away, making them feel pressured or cornered. Instead:
Give them time to process their emotions while subtly reminding them of your presence
Limit your communication to once or twice a week initially, giving them room to reflect while maintaining occasional contact
Missing someone often requires a bit of absence. Respecting their boundaries creates a healthy dynamic and shows emotional maturity.
Key Pointers
Subtle behaviors like frequent “accidental” encounters, engaging on social media, late-night conversations, or holding onto shared habits can be clear signs you’ll get back together with your ex
Before pursuing your ex, introspect your feelings and reflect on questions like “Should I get back with my ex?
Owning up to your mistakes and showing tangible personal growth is crucial for rebuilding trust
Clear, honest communication is key to addressing lingering questions like “Will my ex ever come back?” Reach out at the right time and express your intentions thoughtfully
Respecting boundaries while subtly maintaining contact gives your ex the room to process their feelings and potentially miss you
Final Thoughts
Reuniting with an ex can be a rewarding journey if approached thoughtfully. By taking responsibility, timing your outreach wisely, focusing on self-improvement, and communicating clearly, you can rebuild trust and connection. Subtle yet consistent efforts like humor, action-backed change, and respecting their space can address doubts like will my ex ever come back or will she ever come back. Remember, getting back together after a breakup requires patience and mutual willingness. Before diving in, ask yourself is getting back with an ex a good idea—and proceed only if the answer is a confident yes.
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DSLRs and mirrorless cameras can deliver the exact low-light shots I want, yet I still find myself reaching for my smartphone. There’s something about its convenience and results that just clicks.
I have an iPhone 13 for smartphone photography, and my camera is the mirrorless Fujifilm X-S10. Your low-light photography results might vary, depending on your devices. For example, full-frame cameras are much better than mirrorless devices and DSLRs for low-light pictures.
1
No Tripod Needed
Although I own a camera tripod, I don’t always have one with me. I’ll carry my tripod for specific tasks (e.g., joining a night photography tour on holiday), but it’s too heavy to bring each time. Unfortunately, I need it to take my preferred types of photos with my camera.
On the flip side, I don’t need a tripod to take low-light pictures on my smartphone. Even if I wanted to use one, a smartphone tripod is much easier to carry around than one designed for cameras.
Danny Maiorca/MakeUseOf
2
Less Camera Shake
Taking photos in low-light situations often means having to take photos in cold weather. I live relatively far north, meaning that low-light conditions only truly occur during the year’s colder months. Capturing images in these scenarios makes camera shake more likely. So, I have to be more wary of blurrier photos.
Since I often have to increase my camera shutter speed, any movement can ruin my photos. My smartphone, on the other hand, has good image stabilization. Therefore, small movements are less likely to have a big impact on my photos. Some images are blurry, but these are few and far between compared to my camera.
Danny Maiorca/MakeUseOf
3
Minimal Editing
I share most of my low-light smartphone photos with just my friends and family; as a result, I often don’t want to edit them extensively. My current phone produces solid results, and I rarely want to adjust them beyond adding a filter and potentially altering the exposure.
Comparatively, I’m rarely happy with my low-light mirrorless photos straight out of the camera. I’m happy to edit if I use them for professional purposes, but I’d rather not if they’re just for personal consumption. Not having to edit my low-light photos also frees up time to do other things (e.g., learn more about photography).
4
Quick and Spontaneous
My smartphone is much easier to carry around than my camera, and I also have easier access when I want to take pictures. Whenever I see an interesting low-light situation, I just have to take out my phone and take a picture. With my camera, I’d have to get it out of my bag, switch it on, change the settings, and then capture the image.
By that point, the moment I wanted to photograph could have passed. For example, I visited Iceland in winter 2024. While walking to dinner, I randomly looked up and saw the Northern Lights. It came and went quickly, and I wouldn’t have gotten my shot if I had been too busy setting up my camera.
Danny Maiorca/MakeUseOf
Danny Maiorca/MakeUseOf
5
No ISO Hassle
ISO is one of the most important night photography camera settings, and I typically set mine to around 1,000 when shooting handheld. However, doing so takes time. Each time I change the ISO, I then have to see if the shutter speed is slow enough to capture an image without risking a blurry photo. I could use a tripod to solve this issue, but the setup is too complex for everyday pictures.
Danny Maiorca/MakeUseOf
While some smartphone camera apps let you alter the ISO (and I definitely needed to on older iPhones), I haven’t yet needed to with my current device. Instead, I just have to point my phone at the scene and take my photo.
6
Less Grainy Shots
Unfortunately, my Fujifilm low-light photos often have lots of grain because I need to increase the ISO. I can remove photo grain with AI features in Lightroom, but I don’t want to use this tool for personal shots. While the story matters more than small defects, I’d still like for my pictures not to look grainy unless I’m specifically creating a film-style effect.
Although I’ve encountered problems with grain with previous iPhones, my current device rarely gives me such issues. Sometimes, I actually have to add sharpness because they’re too flat. But even when that’s necessary, fixing this problem is much faster than removing grain.
7
Better Low-Light Settings
I can’t deny that my Fujifilm photos almost always look better than their smartphone equivalent after extensive editing. However, my smartphone often makes low-light settings look better from the camera—ideal for casual shots. For example, when I saw the Northern Lights in Iceland, they looked better on my phone than in real life. My phone was also excellent at controlling the brightness to capture them.
Danny Maiorca/MUO
Danny Maiorca/MUO
Despite enhancing the scene, my images still look real. Since I don’t like my images looking fake, this is a win-win for me. It also makes it easier to show that I didn’t use AI to make my photos.
8
Night Mode Magic
I was shocked at how much better the photos on my iPhone 13 were when I initially switched from the iPhone 8 Plus. My low-light pictures with the latter were almost always a lost cause, with too much grain or just being too blurry. Since I haven’t experienced this problem with my iPhone 13 (and I’ve owned it for over two-and-a-half years at the time of writing), some of it is due to its Night Mode feature.
Danny Maiorca/MakeUseOf
Night Mode adds more details to my night and low-light images, and my device also changes the exposure accordingly. Moreover, my phone adjusts the shutter speed more accurately. The movement is almost non-existent compared to a two-second or three-second picture with my camera.
While I love my mirrorless camera, I much prefer capturing low-light shots on my smartphone. My device’s Night Mode makes getting my desired results easier, and I like how the images look without needing to edit them. Not having to carry a tripod around is another plus.
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