NoneVisier Announces World's First Analytic AI Agent Platform to Augment and Extend Every Employee's Performance and ProductivitySnap is pitching its new augmented reality glasses as a fun way for you to feel closer to your friends. If only the shades looked a little more friendly themselves. The Santa Monica, California company debuted its first model of Snap Spectacles in 2016. They were brightly colored circular frames that focused primarily on shooting photos and video, which were captured as wide-angled circles that evoked the sort of fun, anarchic energy of a skateboarding video. They didn’t have any augmented reality features at all, and were more akin to early Meta Ray Bans . Crucially, the Snapchat Spectacles were fun, trendy (depending on your style) glasses that looked far more like real, fashionable sunglasses than the typically monstrous smart glasses: rectangular head ornaments, or the dorky and oft-mocked Google Glass . Snap released a few more versions of its circular Spectacles, but in 2021 its ambitions shifted in an effort to incorporate augmented reality—images, words, and graphics projected into your field of view so the visuals seem to hover right in front of you. Snap’s AR-enabled Spectacles traded the whimsical, teen-friendly aesthetic for a black, sharp-angled rectangular look that would fit right into a cyberpunk ‘80s movie. The ‘24 edition of the Spectacles continue that Balenciaga chic, albeit with smoother curves that make them only slightly less blocky and obtuse than the previous version. Also like the 2021 glasses, these Spectacles are not technically on sale to the general public. The 2024 Specs do have a price tag and you can pay to use them, but the cost is hefty and you have to jump through some hoops. To get access to the Spectacles, you have to join Snap’s developer program, which costs $99 per month and requires a year-long commitment. The program is aimed at developers looking to make apps for the platform and priced accordingly, so normies who want to wear them on the street will likely get turned off from signing up. “Our vision has always been to bring the power and joy of augmented reality to people everywhere, and our newest pair of Spectacles is one step closer to making that vision a reality,” Scott Myers, vice president of hardware engineering at Snap, wrote in an email to WIRED. “We’re starting with developers who share our vision for overlaying computing onto the real world and want to build that future together.” Snap announced these new Spectacles in September, just a few days before Meta unveiled its rival Orion glasses . Both are primarily marketed at developers and will have limited distribution. Both pairs of glasses look similar. The Orion frames are slimmer, sure, but both models are bulky black face obelisks that are unlikely to become a popular fashion item. Which is probably why they look so austere. They’re not really for you. Not yet. Snap hasn’t provided a timeline for how that development may go, but it also isn’t just going to wait around until an ecosystem develops. Snap is also aiming its marketing at its core users, eager to eventually ease out of the development phase and reach a wider audience that want to connect with friends and use the glasses for creative collaboration. Snap’s Spectacles web page lets Snapchat users try on a virtual pair of the glasses and encourages them to play and learn together with Specs “Designed to get more people, closer over the things they love, together.” Like Meta’s Orion, it will likely take years for the AR glasses to shape up. But the race is on, and Snap is hoping to get its Specs on people’s faces as fast as it can, even if casual users might not be all that interested in wearing them yet. Face Time The author wearing Snap '24 Spectacles. I got the chance to try the new Spectacles in a hotel room overlooking the San Francisco Bay. Snap gave me the demo on background, meaning I wasn’t able to quote anyone in the room or shoot any videos of me using the glasses. But I was able to take a sweet selfie so you can see how rad I look wearing them. The first thing I noticed about the Spectacles is that they’re big. They weigh 7.97 ounces, or just under half a pound. That isn’t much, but the weight still wears on your ears and bridge of your nose after a while with Specs on. The good news is that you won’t have to wear them for long, as the battery only lasts for 45 minutes of continuous use. They might be a big, questionable fashion choice, but the Spectacles fit on the face rather well if you can get past the goofy look. The glasses work both indoors and outdoors, which the Snap folks showed me by letting me wander outside to take photos of the San Francisco Ferry building with the Spectacles by using a voice command. The display is sharp and vivid, even outdoors, meaning I could read text or see visuals just fine in the sunlight. The display renders at a resolution of 37 pixels per degree, which is very high for a digital image. It exceeds the PPD of Meta’s Orion glasses, which are currently rated at 13 PPD, with Meta’s stated goal of getting to 30 PPD. (The human eye can register real-world details at about 60 PPD.) The only problem is that the Spectacle’s display window for the augmented features—text, games, holographic overlays—only takes up 46 degrees of your field of vision. That’s three times the width of Snap’s previous AR glasses, so it’s a step forward for Snap. But the company’s optics are bested by competitors. The Spectacles’ 46-degree field of view is slightly less than the 52-degree view in Microsoft’s now-discontinued Hololens 2 , but much less than the Orion’s 70-degree field of view. What that means is that while you can see the rest of the real world like you would through a pair of normal glasses, the augmented elements only come through in a rectangular window right in the middle of your vision. That limits the digital overlay to a block in the middle of the screen, just wide enough to cover, say, a sidewalk if you’re walking down the street. It works just fine with AR features like text that stays in the window and moves with you. But if there are fixed AR elements in a world, the augmented view only extends to where your peripheral vision starts. Move your head around and the images will get cut off when they reach the edges of the AR window. There are microphones to register your voice commands. Forward-facing cameras on the outer rim of the Spectacles control the stuff on the translucent screen and track your hands. There are no hardware hand controllers, you just hold your hands up in the air to make pinch and pull gestures with your fingers. The distances for those controls aren’t super consistent from app to app. Sometimes you have to reach way out in front of you to pop a bubble, sometimes you have to pinch while holding your hand right next to your face. It takes a while to get the hang of normal interactions because of these changes in distances, which vary between the different apps depending on how each one was developed. This rendering shows a concept of what Snap hopes to eventually achieve with the Spectacles' AR capabilities, but the view in the glasses looks nothing like this right now. Snap really wants its Spectacles to do what Snapchat does best: let people share stuff. The Spectacles don’t seamlessly connect to Snapchat the service yet, though there are a few features that carry over. MyAI, Snapchat’s AI chatbot feature, lets you use voice commands and pics snapped by the outward-facing camera to ask questions about your surroundings and get immediate answers and links to sites like Wikipedia that might offer more information at the bridge you’re looking at. Video Calling Lens lets you call people through Snapchat, then lets them see what you are seeing through your Spectacles. Bitmoji also carry over, identifying you as your character in settings and AI interactions. “Snapchatters have been using AR since 2015,” Meyers says, “and because of that, we believe their transition to wearing AR glasses will be seamless.” Snap is also positioning the Spectacles as devices that let people interact in person too. At one point in my demo, all four of us in the room (three Snap employees and me) put on a pair of Spectacles and joined a shared fingerpainting room. We used our fingers to paint shapes and lines in the air in front of us. One of the reps drew a portal in the door. Another challenged me to a brightly colored game of Tic-Tac-Toe floating in the air between us. I tried to draw a big cool S but failed, just like I did in middle school. It was a nice moment, and one that hints at how Snap wants its devices to serve as a shared platform people can creatively build on when they’re together in the real world. It was also just people standing around and doodling, which we have been doing since the dawn of time. “People want to connect with those they're closest to,” Meyers says. “That’s why Snapchat is centered around communicating with your real friends and staying grounded in the real world. “ Heat Vision The '24 Spectacles being announced earlier this year. All this computation uses up energy, which generates heat. Inside the arms of the glasses is a vapor chamber—a miniature cooling system that disperses the heat away from the processors and across the arms of the glasses. This helps keep the chips inside the frame from getting hot against your temples, but it does also mean the heat spreads to the parts of the arms that are touching your head. I wore the glasses for about 45 minutes and when I removed them, the arms felt warm to the touch and I had started to sweat a little around my temples. (Note: I sweat very easily, your glandular output may vary.) It is not an unpleasant amount of warmth, and it’s manageable if the battery is going to max out at 45 minutes anyway. But the Specs do heat up. Maybe Snap could market them as ear warmers. At a demo, one game developer showed me a game his company built for the Spectacles. It tracks how far you walk and overlays a gamified grid over the top of your surroundings. As you walk, you collect coins that add up over your route. RPG-style enemies will pop up occasionally too, which you can then fight off with an AR sword that you wield by waving your hand around in real life. You have to hold the sword out directly in front of you in order to keep it within the confines of that narrow field of view, though, so that means walking with a stiff, outstretched arm. The pitch is that you can play this game while walking, which seems to me like a good way to accidentally whack somebody else walking on the sidewalk or get hurt when you chase a coin into traffic. Snap encourages wearers to avoid using AR that blocks their vision at times when they shouldn't be distracted, and to pay attention to their surroundings. But there are no procedures in place on the Spectacles now that send a pop up warning when something is in the way, or prevent people from using the glasses while driving or operating heavy machinery. People have been grievously injured while distractedly playing Pokémon Go, but Snap says this is a different use case. Holding your phone directly in front of you to catch a rare Snorlax is a problem because then you’re blocking your vision with a device. The Spectacles let you see the real world at all times, even through the augmented images in front of you. That said, I found that having a hologram in the middle of my vision can definitely be a distraction. When I tried out the walking game, my eyes focused more on the little cartoon collectibles floating around than the actual ground ahead of me. This might not be a problem while the Specs are solely at the hands of a few developers. But Snap is moving quickly, and also wants to appeal to a wider array of buyers, likely in an effort to build up its tech before its rivals can run away with the AR prize. After all, Meta’s AR efforts seem to be further along than Snap—lighter frames, more robust AI on the backend, and ever-so-slightly less of an off putting look. But there are some key differences between how the companies are trying to push their burgeoning tech forward. Meta’s Orion glasses are actually controlled by three devices—the glasses on your face, a gesture sensing wristband, and a large puck—about the size of a portable charger —that does the bulk of the processing for all the software features. Unlike Meta’s glasses, Snap’s Spectacles are all packed into a single device. That means they are bigger and heavier than the Meta glasses, but also that users won’t have to carry around extra pieces of equipment when they finally make their way into the real world. “We think it’s interesting that one of the biggest players in virtual reality agrees with us that the future is wearable, see-through, immersive AR,” Myers says. “Spectacles are quite different from the Orion prototype. They’re unique in that they are real immersive AR glasses that are available now, and Lens Studio developers are already building amazing experiences. Spectacles are completely standalone, with no extra puck or other devices required, and are built on a foundation of proven, commercialized technology that can be produced at scale.” Snap’s goal is to make its Spectacles intuitive, easy to use, and easy to wear. It’s going to take a while to get them there, but they’re well on that path to those three points. All they have to do is shave off some weight. Maybe add some color. And keep people from wandering into traffic.
Osobor, Diallo lead Washington in 90-53 rout of NJIT in final nonconference tune-upZT Corporate’s 27th Annual Chairman’s Gala: A Night of Glamour, Visionary Leadership, and Unforgettable Moments
'Lacked a bit of intensity' - Cajuste keen to remain positive after Palace defeat
Middle East latest: Israeli strikes on Gaza hospital wound 3, Netanyahu vows 'iron fist' in Lebanon
NBA memo to players urges increased vigilance regarding home security following break-insUS President-elect Donald Trump suggested that Canada should become the US’ 51st state, but a Canadian minister insists it was just a joke. Trump reportedly made the comments on November 29 during dinner with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other government officials at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. The meeting occurred just days after Trump took to social media and on products from Mexico and Canada unless both countries tightened their borders to prevent drug trafficking and illegal migration. A source told that Trump allegedly told Trudeau that if he could not meet his demands “without ripping the US off in trade,” then Canada could perhaps . The comments certainly sparked controversy, but Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc insisted that Trump was only joking. While before a weekly cabinet meeting on December 3, he said it was “not the context at all.” He added that they had a productive conversation about border security. “ When pressed about exactly what Trump said during dinner, US Senator Bernie Sanders shared his thoughts on Trump’s comment. Not everyone saw the humour in Trump’s jokes. What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments.Franklin Resources Inc. Buys 2,026 Shares of ScanSource, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCSC)Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in MannKind Co. ( NASDAQ:MNKD – Free Report ) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 160,016 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 4,603 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.06% of MannKind worth $1,047,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MNKD. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MannKind by 189.8% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,744,519 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $24,766,000 after acquiring an additional 3,107,598 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in MannKind in the third quarter worth $12,252,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in shares of MannKind by 60.7% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,648,327 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $16,658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,600 shares during the period. Parkman Healthcare Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of MannKind by 37.1% during the 3rd quarter. Parkman Healthcare Partners LLC now owns 3,304,085 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $20,783,000 after acquiring an additional 894,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in MannKind by 421.3% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 471,802 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,968,000 after acquiring an additional 381,298 shares during the period. 49.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. MannKind Stock Down 1.0 % Shares of MannKind stock opened at $6.82 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.10. The stock has a market cap of $1.88 billion, a PE ratio of 97.43 and a beta of 1.28. MannKind Co. has a 12 month low of $3.17 and a 12 month high of $7.63. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Get Our Latest Research Report on MNKD Insider Activity In other news, Director Steven B. Binder sold 67,539 shares of MannKind stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.76, for a total transaction of $456,563.64. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,075,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,267,175.76. This trade represents a 5.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink . Also, insider Stuart A. Tross sold 55,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.34, for a total transaction of $403,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 967,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,099,181.94. This represents a 5.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders sold a total of 190,075 shares of company stock valued at $1,325,587 in the last ninety days. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders. About MannKind ( Free Report ) MannKind Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of inhaled therapeutic products for endocrine and orphan lung diseases in the United States. It offers Afrezza, an inhaled insulin used to improve glycemic control in adults with diabetes, and the V-Go wearable insulin delivery device, which provides continuous subcutaneous infusion of insulin in adults. Featured Stories Five stocks we like better than MannKind Compound Interest and Why It Matters When Investing Buffett Takes the Bait; Berkshire Buys More Oxy in December Stock Average Calculator Top 3 ETFs to Hedge Against Inflation in 2025 What Investors Need to Know About Upcoming IPOs These 3 Chip Stock Kings Are Still Buys for 2025 Receive News & Ratings for MannKind Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for MannKind and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy say they’re hunting for ways to make American government more efficient. One possible target: the semiannual changing of the clock that so many Americans dislike. “Looks like the people want to abolish the annoying time changes!” Musk wrote last week on his social platform, X, linking to another user’s online poll that found most respondents wanted to end daylight saving time. The practice of shifting clocks forward one hour in March and back one hour in November is intended to maximize Americans’ exposure to sunlight during working hours but has long been derided for causing groggy mornings, missed appointments and even some public health problems. “It’s inefficient & easy to change,” Ramaswamy wrote in a reply to Musk. It was not immediately clear whether the two men, whom President-elect Donald Trump has tapped to run a new effort dubbed the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) were seriously floating a new policy priority or just spitballing on social media. It was also unclear how a Trump White House would seek to end clock changes, given that Congress - not the executive branch - has controlled the nation’s time shifts, and lawmakers’ recent legislation has stalled. Ramaswamy did not respond to a request for comment. X and Tesla, which Musk also owns, did not immediately respond to requests sent to them asking for comment from Musk. In a follow-up post, Musk told Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) that he did indeed want to end the time changes. The simmering fight over how Americans set their clocks, and when they must do it, has drawn unusual coalitions in Washington based more on geography than on politics. Republicans and Democrats, mostly from the coasts, have called for year-round daylight saving time, saying that permanently advancing the clocks one hour and never “falling back” would allow more people to enjoy sunshine and avoid the frustrations involved with resetting clocks. “Switching the clocks just doesn’t make sense for a country on the move,” Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Massachusetts) said in a statement to The Washington Post. “But we need permanent daylight saving time - more hours of daylight in the evening means more hours to get things done.” Politicians in the center of the country have often balked at the idea, warning that a year-round “spring forward” would mean winter sunrises that could creep past 9 a.m. in cities such as Indianapolis and Detroit. Meanwhile, public health groups have said that permanent time would be more natural for our circadian rhythms, citing research that the clock changes increase the risk of heart attacks, stroke and other health problems. “There is a significant stress on the body, and changes that occur, when we are not aligned to the right internal clock,” Lourdes DelRosso, a sleep medicine physician at the University of California at San Francisco-Fresno and co-chair of this year’s World Sleep Day awareness event, said in an interview earlier this year. A March 2023 YouGov poll found that 62 percent of Americans want to end the practice of changing the clocks, but there was little consensus over what to do next. Half of respondents said they wanted year-round daylight saving time, just under one-third wanted permanent standard time and the remainder said they were unsure or had no opinion. For more than a century, Americans have shifted their clocks forward every spring and back every fall, a tradition that was eventually enshrined in federal law. Voters’ complaints about those clock changes are not new. Lawmakers in the early 1970s moved to permanently adopt daylight saving time, but the decision almost immediately backfired with nationwide complaints, such as children waiting in the dark for school buses to arrive. Congress rolled back the change after 10 months. That defeat has not stopped Markey and other lawmakers who have steadily pushed to lengthen the number of days that Americans spend under daylight saving time, extending that period in 1985, and again in 2005. Most Americans now live with daylight saving time for 238 days a year - nearly eight months. (Two states, Hawaii and most of Arizona, have opted out of the semiannual time changes and remain on permanent standard time, which states are allowed to do.) But states cannot adopt permanent daylight saving time unless Congress passes a bill that allows them to do so. There is a growing political movement attempting to do just that; the Senate in 2022 passed a bill that died in the House. Twenty states have also approved measures that would allow them to adopt year-round daylight saving time if Congress passed a bill making it permanent nationwide, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Other countries have ended their own clock changes, including Mexico, which moved to abolish daylight saving time in 2022. Musk was born and spent his childhood in South Africa - which does not follow daylight saving time - and has previously mocked America’s semiannual time changes. “Finally, an explanation for daylight savings that makes sense ...” the billionaire entrepreneur wrote on social media in 2017, linking to a video by the Onion, a satirical news site, that lampooned the practice. President Joe Biden’s views on time changes are unclear. The White House has not responded to questions in the past two years about whether Biden supported efforts in Congress to adopt year-round daylight saving time, which may have stifled lawmakers’ attempts to attract support for their bill. But the next president appears more receptive. “Making Daylight Saving Time permanent is O.K. with me!” Trump wrote on social media in March 2019, the Monday morning after the “spring forward” took effect that year. The Transportation Department oversees the implementation of daylight saving time, and agency officials have said DOT does not have the authority to change it without an act of Congress. It is not clear whether Musk and Ramaswamy, who have argued that recent Supreme Court decisions would allow the White House to make regulatory changes without going through Congress, see a path to doing so with daylight saving time. Their commission is supposed to make its recommendations to the president by July 4, 2026 - the date they’ve targeted to wind down their panel. Musk and Ramaswamy may have other allies in Trump’s emerging administration. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Trump’s pick to serve as secretary of state, has spent years calling to end clock changes and make daylight saving time year-round. “My Sunshine Protection Act would end this stupid practice of changing our clocks back and forth,” Rubio said in a statement in March, referencing his legislation. His office did not respond to a request for comment about whether Rubio had spoken with Musk and Ramaswamy about ending the semiannual clock changes. “Can we just stop changing our clocks twice a year?” Jim O’Neill, Trump’s pick to be deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, wrote on X in 2022. “The one industry that doesn’t need disruption is daylight.” Related ContentIt’s a supercharged start to 2025 for you Aries, with your ruler in proud Leo, your fellow Fire sign, and at a potent angle to the planet of change, Pluto. This can be a year with a lot of positive developments. As Jupiter and Mercury connect potently, your words and ideas can create an impact. And with the Solar Eclipse in your sign in late March, the arrival of Neptune, then Saturn, for their first blushes in your sign for many years, and Uranus nipping into Gemini for four months from the 7th of July, a new beginning shapes up. This may be around where you live as much as your worldly interactions. Both the start of the year and from the 9th of June can see you thinking seriously about relocating. If you do, it’s because you’re so much clearer about who you are and what you want. Once you’re settled, the things you put into action will really start to come to fruition from the start of 2026, when first Neptune then Saturn return for the longer haul. With the Point of Destiny visiting your most spiritual sector from January, your interest in healing, releasing past issues and spending time in places that can recharge you will increase. Your ruler Venus starts this year in your sector of success, along with the planet of evolution, Pluto. This combination can help you to elevate your personal charisma and talents and connect with influential people in 2025. With the planet of change Uranus with you for eight months of the year, this may require you to refocus your plans. Longer-term schemes can make progress but may require a lot of commitment due to Saturn, the planet of hard work, squaring off Jupiter the planet of growth in your sector of everyday money as the year begins and in mid-June. New ways of earning money will show up in the summer months, but the Solar Eclipse in your sister earth sign of Virgo on the 21st of September suggests, along with Saturn and Neptune’s role in your sector of deep appraisal for some of the year, that old strands are going to make way. This will free up space for you to pursue new priorities, and key to this is going to be how you share your ideas, which with Jupiter’s help, if you can express them with enthusiasm and self-belief, can bring lots of new opportunities from the 9th of June. With Mars and Pluto face to face as the year begins, you have a fantastic opportunity to be passionate about your ideas and how you share them. This can also be a year when you travel a lot, and connections with like-minded people and friends could really come to life from the end of March. Lots of positive interactions are possible, but also some people may make way as newer and fresher faces seek out your company. Your financial sector gets a huge boost from the 9th of June through to the year’s end, and with the electric energies of Uranus joining you for four months from the 7th of July, some exciting and very novel possibilities start to take shape. Where you live will take on more precedence from the Solar Eclipse of the 21st of September, when balancing your home, family and work needs with your professional or worldly commitments can play a larger role. Expect to be in demand Gemini, as your skill set is going to see you very much in vogue and promotions and greater recognition are possible with the Point of Destiny so beneficial. Really driving this success through, however, will require a lot of focused effort and discipline. Your ruler, the Moon, is always very influential for you, as well as the Moon’s Nodes, and they’re suggesting new experiences and possibilities are in the celestial mix. Even if you are not a particularly materialistic person, influences from the start of the year can see you take resources more seriously. Or will it be a magnetic connection which makes your pulse race? It could be either or both. If variety is the spice of life, you may want to freshen up your daily routines or interests. Equally, you may find yourself making a change around your work. This could see you pitching into a completely new sector or redeploying hard-won skills and experiences in a new way. The planet or fortune Jupiter joins you for a year from the 9th of June, and this can feed into a sense of excitement but also a desire for fresh experiences. If you’ve long thought of working for yourself, or you already do, your enthusiasm can prove infectious. This is also a year when you may consider a new vehicle. Technology has a major role to play with many of us these days, but it could also be a way which you can liberate yourself, so working from home can appeal. The year begins with the planet of desire, Mars, in your sign, and this is going to fire up considerable determination and willpower in you. Just be conscious that despite the best-laid plans, it might not be until March that things really start to build up momentum. You may find yourself wanting to complement your existing talents with new skills and knowledge, so any kind of course you do could prove to be crucial. The Solar Eclipse of late March can certainly give your enthusiasm a big push, and when Uranus moves into a sparkling location from the 7th of July, new and unexpected chances can just seem to fall for you. Jupiter’s arrival in your sector of deep revelations for a year in the early summer can also see you beginning a journey of personal and spiritual understanding. A guide, life coach or professional could give you great encouragement this year, but ultimately it’s what you take from them and deploy in your everyday life that’s going to be crucial. If you travel this year, it can be life-changing. You may visit somewhere that really grips your senses, but do make sure all the documentation is in order before you head off. It’s a really big year for you Virgo, because of the Lunar Nodes and the Eclipse series being your sign and your opposite sign of Pisces. A major focus will be relationships, but this can be with yourself as much as anyone else, and they don’t have to be romantic, they could be with friends, colleagues or family members as much as more intimate involvements. What you’re being asked to do is become more aware of any habitual patterns that you retreat into that stop you from growing. With the planet of limitations, Saturn, moving from the end of May to the end of August in the area associated with karma, there could be some powerful transformations. Brightly, Jupiter gives you support from early June to connect to people who will be good for you. The Solar Eclipse in your sign on the 21st of September makes you more single-minded about following your muse when it comes to personal interests and spheres where you can showcase your individual needs. The delicate balance between collaboration and self-realisation is this year’s overarching theme. As you enter 2025, you’re still surfing the tailwind of your last Solar Eclipse. And with Pluto the transformer now firmly entrenched for the long haul in the most charismatic part of your solar chart and Mars applying considerable thrust, it may seem that your social and romantic realms will hold most sway. And they can. But there will be a hiatus from the 6th of January through to the 18th of April, when your leadership qualities, professional demands and innate ambitions will need engaging with. In this sense you could surprise people with just how much willpower and authority you can manifest. The big lunation of late March and the move of Neptune followed by Saturn into your relating zone brings another powerful dynamic to life: your unwillingness to budge on the boundaries you’ve worked so hard to firm up. Good for you if so! After years of being a people-pleaser you’re becoming more aware of the need to fulfil your desires. But as first Jupiter and then the Cancer Solstice clash with this duo’s fiery new home, don’t be too intransigent. Stay with your love of fairness and justice too. Your two rulers clash as you surge into the new year. You may find yourself unexpectedly determined and perhaps a tad forceful as 2025’s new dawn emerges. Any politics could give you the push to break out and do something to burn off any frustration. Whether you head off for winter sun or snow, early January can be a fine time to shake things up. As the year unfolds you might find yourself looking to juggle your social interactions, friendships and sex life with the more practical demands which develop from the end of March onwards. Delightfully, the opportunity to travel to exotic or interesting destinations will be repeated from the 9th of June to the year’s end, and for a sign that can like a certain amount of familiarity to your life patterns, excitement pulses through your veins as new vistas beckon. If you’re single, a sizzling connection can occur, ironically in the most mundane of situations and places. But in any ongoing relationship, a fair balance of who does and contributes what to everyday chores will help to create greater domestic and harmonic bliss. Once more a year begins with chatty Mercury in your sign, but the great news is that this year it’s not in Retrograde. Also, it’s in a direct opposition to your ruler, Jupiter. This combination can bring a sense of lighter energy and possibility. Further, potent Mars stirs your love of change and variety, or does it? For soon enough Mars is asking you to think of a very deep bond, shared finances, business matters or what you would like to break down and transform in your life. As the year unfolds, the Aries Solar Eclipse can sure help you to create a greater sense of possibility. But whatever choices and directions you take, do be guided by your inner voice, Archer. For this is the lesson that Saturn has been asking of you over the last couple of years, and the Point of Destiny will guide you towards this year. If you’re unfulfilled in a close romantic relationship, you may have some big decisions to make. Again, be guided by your instincts. Any energetic space you do create could prime you in readiness to go for a major prize in the last four months of the year, one you can seize. Wherever your guide planet Saturn is located is a big deal for all of us, but an even bigger deal for Capricorns, and particularly so this year. Why? Well, for just over three months he makes an expeditionary journey into Aries. And for you, that’s the part of your situation to do with how you feel, where you live, your family life and emotional sphere. With Neptune entering this arena for nearly eight months, and a Solar Eclipse in March, it’s fair to say that where you live, with whom and how, is going to be part of this year’s story. But equally, how you express yourself, how you think about things, your belief systems, your level of knowledge and expertise are all at the heart of this celestial equation too. Now with Jupiter, the planet of fortune, lighting up your relationship sector from June, and Mars asserting himself in it from the 6th of January to the 18th of April, there could be a link. Essentially, relationships with those closest to you can be most gratifying or perhaps the most challenging. Yet if you do want to break out and be a free spirit, you’ll be able to do this in the last four months. Your two co-rulers, Saturn and Uranus, are right at the heart of the year 2025’s action Aquarius, but in a seriously positive way for your zodiac sign in particular. And with Pluto with you now for many years to come, this is a year when celestial cycles will start to turn in your direction. The action begins with assertive Mars helping you to establish your relationship needs loud and clear. If you’re solo but would like to meet someone this is significant. But so will the four months from the 7th of July onwards, as Uranus absolutely lights up the most exciting and riveting part of your solar chart. The Golden Triangle that this creates back to Saturn and Neptune in your 3rd House of expressive ideas, and Pluto in Aquarius, could see people finally start to be drawn to your magical and innovative ideas. But the exciting conversations you hold won’t be without a sense of purpose. Oh no, people will sense your gravitas and know that what you say is what you mean. True, shared finances, everyday income, business costs and investment will be areas that will require a juggle. The Point of Destiny enters your sign on the 11th of January. It hasn’t visited for just over eighteen years and can be seminal. This, and a series of Eclipses going between your sign and your sector of relating in Virgo, gives you some serious opportunities to find that fine balance between what you want from situations, what you’re prepared to give, and what other people require from you, but most of all work hard on your creative talents and individual flair. Saturn has possibly limited your energy in the last couple of years, and that can be a factor still now, but you could counter this by not scattering your energies too thinly. He suggests from the 27th of May to the end of August that you might take on a diet challenge or look to squeeze more from your resources, and you can! However, as Jupiter helps you to get more playful from the 9th of June, you may find yourself surprising loved ones and playing host over the four months from the 7th of July onwards. The Solar Eclipse in your relationship sector on the 21st of September can trigger some important connections in the last months of the year, be they professionally or personally.
NoneBy JAMIE STENGLE, Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — More than 60 years after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated , conspiracy theories still swirl and any new glimpse into the fateful day of Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas continues to fascinate . President-elect Donald Trump promised during his reelection campaign that he would declassify all of the remaining government records surrounding the assassination if he returned to office. He made a similar pledge during his first term, but ultimately bended to appeals from the CIA and FBI to keep some documents withheld. At this point, only a few thousand of the millions of governmental records related to the assassination have yet to be fully released, and those who have studied the records released so far say that even if the remaining files are declassified, the public shouldn’t anticipate any earth-shattering revelations. “Anybody waiting for a smoking gun that’s going to turn this case upside down will be sorely disappointed,” said Gerald Posner, author of “Case Closed,” which concludes that assassin Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Friday’s 61st anniversary is expected to be marked with a moment of silence at 12:30 p.m. in Dealey Plaza, where Kennedy’s motorcade was passing through when he was fatally shot. And throughout this week there have been events marking the anniversary. Nov. 22, 1963 When Air Force One carrying Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy touched down in Dallas , they were greeted by a clear sky and enthusiastic crowds. With a reelection campaign on the horizon the next year, they had gone to Texas on political fence-mending trip. But as the motorcade was finishing its parade route downtown, shots rang out from the Texas School Book Depository building. Police arrested 24-year-old Oswald and, two days later, nightclub owner Jack Ruby fatally shot Oswald during a jail transfer. A year after the assassination, the Warren Commission, which President Lyndon B. Johnson established to investigate the assassination, concluded that Oswald acted alone and there was no evidence of a conspiracy. But that hasn’t quelled a web of alternative theories over the decades. The collection In the early 1990s, the federal government mandated that all assassination-related documents be housed in a single collection in the National Archives and Records Administration. The collection of over 5 million records was required to be opened by 2017, barring any exemptions designated by the president. Trump, who took office for his first term in 2017, had boasted that he’d allow the release of all of the remaining records but ended up holding some back because of what he called the potential harm to national security. And while files have continued to be released during President Joe Biden’s administration, some still remain unseen. The documents released over the last few years offer details on the way intelligence services operated at the time, and include CIA cables and memos discussing visits by Oswald to the Soviet and Cuban embassies during a trip to Mexico City just weeks before the assassination. The former Marine had previously defected to the Soviet Union before returning home to Texas. Mark S. Zaid, a national security attorney in Washington, said what’s been released so far has contributed to the understanding of the time period, giving “a great picture” of what was happening during the Cold War and the activities of the CIA. Withheld files Posner estimates that there are still about 3,000 to 4,000 documents in the collection that haven’t yet been fully released. Of those documents, some are still completely redacted while others just have small redactions, like someone’s Social Security number. There are about 500 documents where all the information is redacted, Posner said, and those include Oswald’s and Ruby’s tax returns. “If you have been following it, as I have and others have, you sort of are zeroed in on the pages you think might provide some additional information for history,” Posner said. Trump’s transition team hasn’t responded to questions this week about his plans when he takes office. A continued fascination From the start, there were those who believed there had to be more to the story than just Oswald acting alone, said Stephen Fagin, curator of the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, which tells the story of the assassination from the building where Oswald made his sniper’s perch. “People want to make sense of this and they want to find the solution that fits the crime,” said Fagin, who said that while there are lingering questions, law enforcement made “a pretty compelling case” against Oswald. Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said his interest in the assassination dates back to the event itself, when he was a child. “It just seemed so fantastical that one very disturbed individual could end up pulling off the crime of the century,” Sabato said. “But the more I studied it, the more I realized that is a very possible, maybe even probable in my view, hypothesis.”Some investors focus on growth; others seek out stocks that can deliver passive income. Today, let's focus on two well-known passive income stocks from the telecom sector: Verizon Communications ( VZ -0.10% ) and AT&T ( T -0.44% ) . Which is the better passive income stock right now? Here's what I think. Verizon Communications The company's stock enjoyed a 2024 that's been solid but not all that spectacular, with shares up about 5% year to date. Add to that the hefty $2.71 annual dividend -- representing a yield of roughly 6.8% -- and investors in Verizon banked a total return of nearly 13%. While that is a solid year-to-date return, it still lags behind what the S&P 500 generated. And as we will see, it pales in comparison to Verizon's key competitor. Nevertheless, the company is making headway in its key areas of focus. For a value stock like Verizon, that means improving margins, generating plenty of free cash flow , and reducing debt. All told, its gross margins increased from 56.8% to 60.3%, while net debt shrunk from $151 billion to $146 billion. AT&T As of this writing, shares of AT&T increased by 36% year to date, making 2024 one of the best years the telecom giant has seen in several years. On top of that, the stock pays a generous $1.11 dividend per share, which works out to a yield of roughly 4.9%. Taken together, that means shareholders enjoyed a year-to-date total return of around 45% in 2024. The company's fast-improving fundamentals are the reason for its excellent stock performance. Take its gross margin, for example: Over the last year, it has jumped from 56.6% to 61.5%. Meanwhile, net debt has been reduced from $133 billion to $128 billion. Which is the better passive income stock right now? For income-seeking investors, Verizon and AT&T are both solid stocks. However, there are key differences between these two. Verizon has a fat dividend yield of 6.8%. That means a $50,000 investment should generate about $3,400 in annual dividend income. Compare that to AT&T, which has a yield of 4.8%. That's nothing to sneeze at, but it's about 200 basis points (or 2 percentage points) lower than Verizon's. That means a $50,000 investment in AT&T shares should generate about $2,400 per year in dividend income -- about $1,000 less than Verizon. But this year, the performance of AT&T's stock bolstered its total return to more than three times what its competitor generated. Looking ahead, Verizon is embarking on an acquisition of Frontier Communications . That will serve a strategic purpose, helping it compete in the bundling of various services. However, it may act as a drag on the stock due to uncertainties around the deal and the added debt the company will take on as part of the agreement. For that reason, investors who value total returns over simply dividend income may prefer AT&T.