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8k8 jilibay Major stock indexes on Wall Street drifted to a mixed finish Friday, capping a rare bumpy week for the market. The S&P 500 ended essentially flat, down less than 0.1%, after wavering between tiny gains and losses most of the day. The benchmark index posted a loss for the week, its first after three straight weekly gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2%, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.1%, ending just below the record high it set on Wednesday. There were more than twice as many decliners than gainers on the New York Stock Exchange. Gains in technology stocks helped temper losses in communication services, financials and other sectors of the market. Broadcom surged 24.4% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after the semiconductor company beat Wall Street’s profit targets and gave a glowing forecast, highlighting its artificial intelligence products. The company also raised its dividend. The company's big gain helped cushion the market's broader fall. Pricey stock values for technology companies like Broadcom give the sector more weight in pushing the market higher or lower. Artificial intelligence technology has been a focal point for the technology sector and the overall stock market over the last year. Tech companies, and Wall Street, expect demand for AI to continue driving growth for semiconductor and other technology companies. Some tech stocks were a drag on the market. Nvidia fell 2.2%, Meta Platforms dropped 1.7% and Google parent Alphabet slid 1.1%. Among the market's other decliners were Airbnb, which fell 4.7% for the biggest loss in the S&P 500, and Charles Schwab, which closed 4% lower. Furniture and housewares company RH, formerly known as Restoration Hardware, surged 17% after raising its forecast for revenue growth for the year. All told, the S&P 500 lost 0.16 points to close at 6,051.09. The Dow dropped 86.06 points to 43,828.06. The Nasdaq rose 23.88 points to 19,926.72. Wall Street's rally stalled this week amid mixed economic reports and ahead of the Federal Reserve's last meeting of the year. The central bank will meet next week and is widely expected to cut interest rates for a third time since September. Expectations of a series of rate cuts has driven the S&P 500 to 57 all-time highs so far this year . The Fed has been lowering its benchmark interest rate following an aggressive rate hiking policy that was meant to tame inflation. It raised rates from near-zero in early 2022 to a two-decade high by the middle of 2023. Inflation eased under pressure from higher interest rates, nearly to the central bank's 2% target. The economy, including consumer spending and employment, held strong despite the squeeze from inflation and high borrowing costs. A slowing job market, though, has helped push a long-awaited reversal of the Fed's policy. Inflation rates have been warming up slightly over the last few months. A report on consumer prices this week showed an increase to 2.7% in November from 2.6% in October. The Fed's preferred measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures index, will be released next week. Wall Street expects it to show a 2.5% rise in November, up from 2.3% in October. The economy, though, remains solid heading into 2025 as consumers continue spending and employment remains healthy, said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY. “Still, the outlook is clouded by unusually high uncertainty surrounding regulatory, immigration, trade and tax policy,” he said. Treasury yields edged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.40% from 4.34% late Thursday. European markets slipped. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.1%. Britain’s economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.1% month-on-month in October, following a 0.1% decline in September, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. Asian markets closed mostly lower.To better provide essentials, Maine Needs finds a new home

We know teens love their Strawberry Acai Refreshers, their Caramel Frappuccinos, and their cake pops from Starbucks. But the coffee chain is so deeply integrated into the lives of teens that they don’t just use it to fuel their mornings and as a meetup spot: They also use it as currency. That’s one of the findings of a new report from Cafeteria, an app that pays teens for their brand insights. Teens don’t just pay each other back with cash, Cash App, or Venmo. Instead of actually handing over dollars, they’re swapping lattes, cold brews, and chais from Starbucks when they owe each other money, with 30.7% of teens saying they offer to pay “next time.” The coffee giant was the only brand that teens mentioned using to settle up. Starbucks is the number-one coffee spot for teens and the number-two restaurant (behind Chick-fil-A). Given how frequently teens are hitting up the coffee chain, it makes a lot of sense that they would rely on it to even out finances. Of course, teens still pay each other back in other ways: 23.9% use Venmo to send a friend money they borrowed and some still rely on the old-fashioned method, with 22.8% handing over cash. But according to the Cafeteria report, Starbucks orders are “the ultimate IOU.” The brand is so popular with teens that the demographic often knows their best friend’s Starbucks order, too. In a series of questions it called the “real friend test,” Cafeteria asked teens what their best friend’s order was. A whopping 89% knew their best friend’s exact drink, down to the size, the milk, and the drizzles. | Teens have food favorites at the chain, too. According to 13.5% of the teens in the survey, Starbucks is a favorite not just for coffee or paybacks, but for a lunchtime staple: grilled cheese. The teens called the selection their favorite menu item at the chain. “It’s literally the best thing on the menu,” one 17-year-old female said in the report. “And then I’ll get it with, like, a cake pop, obviously.” Snagging limited-time offerings is a driving factor behind teens’ spending, which Starbucks has leaned into with holiday drinks and the new Wicked-themed drinks : Glinda’s Pink Potion and Elphaba’s Cold Brew. (Such offerings also make for solid social media posts, which are a huge incentive for the demographic.) But it’s not the only brand with rotating menus that create a sense of urgency for teens. According to the report, Crumbl, the maker of giant cookies whose flavors rotate weekly, is hot right now (even if most of the cookies are, er, cold). It was the only food brand teens mentioned when asked what their “must-try” brands were. Crumbl has seen major success online as teens try out and rank their favorite cookies. Many even try them just to hate on new flavors, in scathing reviews on sites such as Reddit . Cafeteria’s report demonstrates teens’ obsession with ultra-popular brands, such as Starbucks and Crumbl. But it also highlights up-and-coming brands in what it calls “pre-trends.” In the retail industry, it names a few of those “soon-to-pop” brands, including Puma, Hey Dude, GymShark, and Princess Polly. When it comes to beauty, move over Sephora: Merit, Tarte, and Ouai are among the next big makeup brands to take over with teens. The Cafeteria app asks teens to weigh in on their favorite brands and, in exchange, it pays them for their insights. It describes itself as a “direct relationship between brands and teens, driving a unique and authentic creative economy.” It says it has onboarded startups as well as top brands, all of which want to hear from teens in their own voice, in order to better their brands for a teen audience. The extended deadline for Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards is TODAY, Friday, December 13, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.NEW YORK, Dec. 06, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Insight Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: INAQ) announced today that its stockholders have approved an extension of the time period by which the Company has to consummate an initial business combination (the "Business Combination Period”) from December 7, 2024, to March 7, 2025 (the "Extended Termination Date"). The extension was made through the adoption of the Fourth Extension Amendment to the Company's amended and restated certificate of incorporation (the "Charter”), which was filed today with the Delaware Secretary of State. Adoption of the Fourth Extension Amendment required approval by the affirmative vote of at least 65% of the Company's outstanding shares of common stock. The proposal was approved by the Company's stockholders holding 4,950,037 shares, representing approximately 75.93% of the Company's outstanding shares of common stock. About Insight Acquisition Corp. Insight Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: INAQ) is a special purpose acquisition company formed solely to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. Insight Acquisition Corp. is sponsored by Insight Acquisition Sponsor LLC. For additional information, please visit insightacqcorp.com. About Alpha Modus Alpha Modus is engaged in creating, developing and licensing data-driven technologies to enhance consumers' in-store digital experience at the point of decision. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Cornelius, North Carolina. Alpha Modus is party to a business combination agreement with Insight Acquisition Corp. ( INAQ ) whereby Alpha Modus plans to become a publicly trading company (the "Business Combination”). For additional information, please visit alphamodus.com . Contacts: Insight Acquisition Corp. Chelsea Saffran [email protected] Alpha Modus Shannon Devine MZ Group +1(203) 741-8841 [email protected]

Levis throws 2 TD passes to help Titans outlast Texans 32-27Zeekr 7X European version spied, set for European launch next year

NoneAlex Ovechkin has a broken left fibula and is expected to be out four to six weeks, an injury that pauses the Washington Capitals superstar captain’s pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record. The Capitals updated Ovechkin’s status Thursday after he was evaluated by team doctors upon returning from a three-game trip. The 39-year-old broke the leg in a shin-on-shin collision Monday night with Utah's Jack McBain, and some of his closest teammates knew it was not good news even before Ovechkin was listed as week to week and placed on injured reserve. “Everyone’s bummed out,” said winger Tom Wilson, who has played with Ovechkin since 2013. “We were sitting there saying: ‘This is weird. Like, it’s unbelievable that he’s actually hurt.’ It’s one of those things where like, he’s going to miss games? I’ve been around a long time, and it’s new to me.” Ovechkin in his first 19 seasons missed 59 games — and just 35 because of injury. Durability even while throwing his body around with his physical style is a big reason he is on track to pass Gretzky’s mark of 894 goals that once looked unapproachable. “He doesn’t go out there and just coast around,” Wilson said. “He’s played 20 years every shift running over guys and skating. He’s a power forward, the best goal-scorer ever maybe, and he’s a power forward that plays the game really hard.” Ovechkin surged to the top of the league with 15 goals in his first 18 games this season. He was on pace to break the record and score No. 895 sometime in February. “You know when goal-scorers start scoring, it’s dangerous,” said defenseman John Carlson, who has been teammates with Ovechkin since 2009-10. “There was a bit of that in the downs that everyone was feeling about it too, of course. We see him coming to the rink every day, we know what’s at stake. You never want anyone to get injured, but there’s a lot to it and certainly he was playing his best hockey in years.” ___ AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press

Network completed in partnership with Escambia River Electric Cooperative brings high-speed internet to more than 12,000 rural homes and businesses KANSAS CITY, Mo. , Nov. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Conexon Connect , the internet service provider (ISP) formed by rural fiber broadband leader Conexon , has completed its first fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) project in the state of Florida , a 2,000-mile network launched in partnership with Escambia River Electric Cooperative (EREC). The Connect, powered by Escambia River Electric Cooperative, network marks the ISP's sixth FTTH network completion. With this milestone, Conexon Connect has successfully delivered fiber internet access to 12,000 EREC members across rural Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in northern Florida , bringing world-class, high-speed internet service to homes and businesses previously lacking reliable connectivity. The newly completed network enables residents to access essential online services including telemedicine, remote education and modern work opportunities. "Completing the fiber network across EREC's service area is another major step forward in our mission to bring connectivity to underserved communities nationwide," said Randy Klindt , Conexon Founding Partner and co-CEO. "We're proud to empower these areas with digital access to help drive innovation, opportunity and growth in Florida ." The Connect, powered by Escambia River Electric Cooperative, network provides members access to multi-gigabit-speed symmetrical internet capabilities, offering the same fast download and upload speeds, as well as reliable phone service. Fiber broadband technology also enables the benefits of smart grid capabilities to the co-op's electrical infrastructure. "Over the past two years, we've worked tirelessly to bring this critical infrastructure to every EREC member in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties," said Ryan Campbell , CEO of EREC. "Today, every member of our cooperative has access to fast, reliable internet, which is not just about improving connectivity – it's about enhancing quality of life, fostering economic growth and ensuring that no one in our community is left behind in the digital age. This project represents our commitment to providing not just electricity, but the tools that empower our members to thrive in an increasingly connected world. By partnering with Connect, we've been able to make a lasting impact on our community." Conexon's current impact in Florida spans five electric cooperatives' service territories – delivering Connect high-speed internet to members of Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Glades Electric Cooperative and EREC – and partnering with Central Florida Electric Cooperative and Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative as those co-ops build FTTH networks to serve their members with broadband. Collectively the co-ops' broadband project investment totals more than $260 million , with nearly 9,000 miles of fiber built to date, reaching well over 70,000 rural Floridians. "In rural areas across the state, there is only one group of people who truly care about getting broadband to every home in every rural area – not the telephone companies that have abandoned rural Florida , not the cable companies that never built to rural Florida – it is the rural electric cooperatives that have been serving their communities for over 85 years," said Conexon co-CEO Jonathan Chambers . "We are proud of the partnership we formed with Escambia River Electric Cooperative. In just eighteen months, we built a fiber broadband network to serve every member of the cooperative, a network that will last for decades to come." About Conexon Connect Conexon Connect, the fiber-to-the-home internet service provider (ISP) formed and operated by Conexon, is an emerging local broadband leader in rural communities across the country. Connect works predominantly with electric cooperatives and communities, building networks using Conexon's proven methodology and architecture that leverage existing infrastructure to power reliable and affordable 100 percent fiber broadband service for rural homes and businesses. Connect currently operates in Colorado , Florida , Georgia , Kentucky , Louisiana , Mississippi , and Missouri . About Escambia River Electric Cooperative Founded in 1939, Escambia River Electric Cooperative (EREC) is a member-owned electric distribution cooperative serving approximately 12,000 residents in northern Escambia County and Santa Rosa County, Florida . Headquartered in Jay, Florida , with an additional location in Walnut Hill , EREC has a long-standing commitment to providing affordable, reliable electric power to its members. In recent years, the cooperative has expanded its service offerings, including the successful deployment of high-speed fiber internet to every member in its service area. EREC's mission is to provide dependable electric and broadband services at competitive rates while enhancing the region's quality of life through community-driven initiatives. These include supporting economic development, promoting safety and environmental education, and generously contributing time, energy, and resources to charitable organizations, schools, and community events. Cindy Parks 913-526-6912 [email protected] SOURCE Conexon Connect

Jonah Goldberg Among elites across the ideological spectrum, there's one point of unifying agreement: Americans are bitterly divided. What if that's wrong? What if elites are the ones who are bitterly divided while most Americans are fairly unified? History rarely lines up perfectly with the calendar (the "sixties" didn't really start until the decade was almost over). But politically, the 21st century neatly began in 2000, when the election ended in a tie and the color coding of electoral maps became enshrined as a kind of permanent tribal color war of "red vs. blue." Elite understanding of politics has been stuck in this framework ever since. Politicians and voters have leaned into this alleged political reality, making it seem all the more real in the process. I loathe the phrase "perception is reality," but in politics it has the reifying power of self-fulfilling prophecy. Like rival noble families in medieval Europe, elites have been vying for power and dominance on the arrogant assumption that their subjects share their concern for who rules rather than what the rulers can deliver. Political cartoonists from across country draw up something special for the holiday In 2018, the group More in Common published a massive report on the "hidden tribes" of American politics. The wealthiest and whitest groups were "devoted conservatives" (6%) and "progressive activists" (8%). These tribes dominate the media, the parties and higher education, and they dictate the competing narratives of red vs. blue, particularly on cable news and social media. Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of Americans resided in, or were adjacent to, the "exhausted majority." These people, however, "have no narrative," as David Brooks wrote at the time. "They have no coherent philosophic worldview to organize their thinking and compel action." Lacking a narrative might seem like a very postmodern problem, but in a postmodern elite culture, postmodern problems are real problems. It's worth noting that red vs. blue America didn't emerge ex nihilo. The 1990s were a time when the economy and government seemed to be working, at home and abroad. As a result, elites leaned into the narcissism of small differences to gain political and cultural advantage. They remain obsessed with competing, often apocalyptic, narratives. That leaves out most Americans. The gladiatorial combatants of cable news, editorial pages and academia, and their superfan spectators, can afford these fights. Members of the exhausted majority are more interested in mere competence. I think that's the hidden unity elites are missing. This is why we keep throwing incumbent parties out of power: They get elected promising competence but get derailed -- or seduced -- by fan service to, or trolling of, the elites who dominate the national conversation. There's a difference between competence and expertise. One of the most profound political changes in recent years has been the separation of notions of credentialed expertise from real-world competence. This isn't a new theme in American life, but the pandemic and the lurch toward identity politics amplified distrust of experts in unprecedented ways. This is a particular problem for the left because it is far more invested in credentialism than the right. Indeed, some progressives are suddenly realizing they invested too much in the authority of experts and too little in the ability of experts to provide what people want from government, such as affordable housing, decent education and low crime. The New York Times' Ezra Klein says he's tired of defending the authority of government institutions. Rather, "I want them to work." One of the reasons progressives find Trump so offensive is his absolute inability to speak the language of expertise -- which is full of coded elite shibboleths. But Trump veritably shouts the language of competence. I don't mean he is actually competent at governing. But he is effectively blunt about calling leaders, experts and elites -- of both parties -- stupid, ineffective, weak and incompetent. He lost in 2020 because voters didn't believe he was actually good at governing. He won in 2024 because the exhausted majority concluded the Biden administration was bad at it. Nostalgia for the low-inflation pre-pandemic economy was enough to convince voters that Trumpian drama is the tolerable price to pay for a good economy. About 3 out of 4 Americans who experienced "severe hardship" because of inflation voted for Trump. The genius of Trump's most effective ad -- "Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you" -- was that it was simultaneously culture-war red meat and an argument that Harris was more concerned about boutique elite concerns than everyday ones. If Trump can actually deliver competent government, he could make the Republican Party the majority party for a generation. For myriad reasons, that's an if so big it's visible from space. But the opportunity is there -- and has been there all along. Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch: thedispatch.com . Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly!Jacob Meyer scored 23 points, and DePaul erased a five-point halftime deficit to defeat Wichita State 91-72 on Saturday at Wintrust Arena. CJ Gunn made 4 of 6 3-pointers and scored 22 points, and Isaiah Rivera added 17 points and seven rebounds for the Blue Demons (8-2). Meyer shot 6 of 9 from the field, including 4 for 6 from 3-point range, and went 7-for-7 from the line. DePaul shot 51.6 percent (32-for-62) overall and 51.5% (17-for-33) from 3-point range. The Blue Demons trailed 47-42 at the break but used a 15-1 second-half run to take control, outscoring the Shockers 49-25 in the final 20 minutes. Harlond Beverly and Xavier Bell led Wichita State (8-2) with 14 points, and Quincy Ballard and Justin Hill scored 12 each. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

AP Trending SummaryBrief at 3:26 p.m. EST

As the end of the year approaches, the budgeted salary increases for 2025 across Southeast Asia are projected to be higher than in 2024, according to a November report by professional services firm Aon. On top of that, businesses in the region are likely to maintain or increase their overall workforce numbers, according to the study, which was conducted from July to September 2024. It analyzed data collected from more than 950 companies across Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Notably, the failure to attract and retain top talent has emerged as a key risk for organizations in the Asia-Pacific, moving from the ninth top risk in 2021 to the fourth in 2023, according to Aon's Global Risk Management Survey . "The salary increase rates are still [anticipated to be] higher [in 2025] than they were [in 2024], while we are anticipating a lower inflationary, lower interest rate environment going forward," Rahul Chawla, Aon's partner and head of talent solutions for Southeast Asia, told CNBC Make It. "So what that really means is that in spite of a softening inflationary environment, salary increases are still hardening up, which means that there is a talent supply and demand discrepancy which goes beyond inflation," he said. While inflation remains an element in the expected increases, other factors also come into play, such as the high demand for skilled talent in the region. For example, Southeast Asia has been "a sandbox environment for a lot of technology companies, i.e. in Singapore, to be setting up shop, so it is attracting capital... and then that creates a demand for talent to serve this growth," Chawla said. "It's also the speed of technology evolution, right? So things like prompt engineering — probably not something that would have existed as a big skill set two years ago, but now, with ChatGPT ... it's a very new skill that now there is a demand for," said Cheng Wan Hua, director of talent analytics for Southeast Asia at Aon. Here's how much salary budgets are projected to increase in 2025 across six Southeast Asian countries, according to Aon. Actual salary increase in 2023: 7.5% Actual salary increase in 2024: 6.4% Budgeted salary increase in 2025: 6.7% Actual salary increase in 2023: 6% Actual salary increase in 2024: 5.7% Budgeted salary increase in 2025: 6.3% Actual salary increase in 2023: 5.2% Actual salary increase in 2024: 5.4% Budgeted salary increase in 2025: 5.8% Actual salary increase in 2023: 5% Actual salary increase in 2024: 4.9% Budgeted salary increase in 2025: 5% Actual salary increase in 2023: 4.7% Actual salary increase in 2024: 4.4% Budgeted salary increase in 2025: 4.7% Actual salary increase in 2023: 4% Actual salary increase in 2024: 4.2% Budgeted salary increase in 2025: 4.4% Salary increases also vary across industries in Southeast Asia, with technology and manufacturing budgeting for the highest bump at 5.8%, according to the report. Retail; consulting, business and community services; and life sciences and medical devices are set for a bump of 5.4%. On the lower end of the spectrum are the energy (4.9%), financial services (4.8%) and transportation (4.1%) industries, according to the data. Notably, the survey also found that the budgeted salary increases in Singapore and Thailand are expected to fall behind the broader region in 2025, at 4.4% and 4.7%, respectively. "Singapore salary increases typically lag other markets in Southeast Asia. Because Singapore is a developed market, inflation tends to be lower compared to other countries which are growing at a faster pace," said Chawla. In addition, gross domestic product growth rates in the city-state tend to be lower than other countries in the region, thus also contributing to the smaller budgeted salary increase, he added. Thailand, on the other hand, has had less economic growth than other countries in the region, Chawla said. In addition, as the country's talent pool is "less mobile from a language and deployment perspective," it tends to stay within its own market, he added.Huawei Launches First Hyperscale Local Cloud to Safeguard Nigeria’s Data

If you’re sitting on a pile of travel or credit card rewards with no immediate travel plans, donating them to a charity is an easy way to have a positive impact. And it's a popular way to give: In 2021, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members donated around 94 million miles to charities at an approximate cash value of $2.6 million, according to the airline. Beyond the social benefits, miles donations also qualify as activity on your loyalty account and can prevent the rest of your rewards from expiring . But if you’re in the habit of maximizing points and miles, you might also want to stretch the value of your charitable donations as far as possible. And by that measure, some methods of donating points and miles fall short. Here’s what to consider before donating your miles and points . Many loyalty programs make it easy to redeem your points and miles for a donation directly through their rewards portals. But some portals — especially those from airline and hotel programs — don’t publish the cash value a charity will receive for your miles or points. That means the charity may receive less value for your donation than you’d think, while also making it hard to compare the value of a donation with the value of other options for redeeming your points. Best Western Rewards is one of the few loyalty programs that publishes a cash value for charitable points donations. The charity will receive $2 for every 500 points you donate, for a point a value of 0.4 cent each. NerdWallet values Best Western points at 0.6 cent apiece, so you would receive 33% less value for your donation relative to using them for a hotel stay. Generally, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) doesn’t count points and miles as a source of income, so if you donate them, you can't deduct the cash value of your gift. This lack of favorable tax treatment for the consumer combined with the uncertain value you’ll often receive for miles and points donations should have you at least consider other avenues for your philanthropic endeavors. Keep in mind that this drawback only matters for taxpayers who itemize deductions on their income tax returns. If you're like most people and take the standard deduction instead of itemizing, you wouldn't be able to get a charitable tax deduction from any donation. Some rewards programs have a minimum donation amount for select charities. For example, you’d have to donate at least 2,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points for a donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. That minimum amount makes it tougher to donate points that may be collecting dust in your loyalty account. To maximize the value of your donation, consider a charity that books travel directly with your miles or points rather than donating directly through your loyalty program's portal. For example, Miles4Migrants uses donated airline miles and credit card points to directly book award travel for refugees and asylum seekers. “Instead of maximizing points and miles to book a dream trip, we do it to help refugees reach safe new beginnings,” said Patrick Stouffer, partnerships manager at Miles4Migrants, in an email. Miles4Migrants has redeemed over 775 million donated miles in pursuit of their mission, with a cash value of over $17 million. That expertise allows them to get more value out of every donation. “Our team has the specialized knowledge necessary to stretch the value of every point or mile, ensuring donations go as far as possible,” Stouffer said. “Even if you aren’t able to reap any tax advantages of donating your points, at least you’ll know they made the largest possible impact.” Direct cash donations help avoid the downsides of donating miles and points. If you have a credit card that earns cash back , or if you earn cash rewards through a shopping portal like TopCashBack or Rakuten , consider cashing out and donating those rewards instead of your miles and points. With a cash donation, you’ll know the exact value a charity will receive from your donation and likely qualify for a potential itemized deduction on your taxes. Some rewards programs make this process simple and transparent. Travel rewards programs sometimes incentivize charitable giving by offering bonus points for your cash donations. For example, American Airlines offers 10 AAdvantage miles for every dollar members contribute to the charity Stand Up To Cancer. That extra incentive can be an individual boon for your charitable donation. Just be aware that any points or miles you receive from such promotions will reduce the tax deductibility of your contribution. American Airlines values those bonus miles you receive through donations at 3 cents each. So if you donate $100 and receive 1,000 AAdvantage miles, American values those miles at $30. You’ll receive a tax form declaring those rewards as $30 in income, giving you a qualifying tax deduction of $70. When you donate cash and receive bonus points, the charity still receives your full donation and you get a slug of points. While you'll have to pay taxes on those points, it can still be a big win for your future travel plans. More From NerdWallet Craig Joseph writes for NerdWallet. Email: cjoseph@nerdwallet.com . The article Should You Donate Your Points and Miles to Charity? originally appeared on NerdWallet.Workday Announces Fiscal 2025 Third Quarter Financial ResultsIPL 2025: RCB acquires Phil Salt for Rs 11.50cr, KKR signs de Kock

FDA cracks down on adulterated spices, condiment powdersBitcoin's past, present and future opportunitiesWelcome to AI Decoded , Fast Company ’s weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. You can sign up to receive this newsletter every week here . This week, I’m dedicating the newsletter to a conversation I had recently with the futurist Zack Kass about some of the risks and myths that will come with the advent of AI across business and society. Kass, who was head of go-to-market at OpenAI, is the author of the upcoming book, The Next Renaissance: AI and the Expansion of Human Potential . What types of risks do you think we might be facing from AI in the next decade? I give it a very low percentage, but I think there is a reasonable chance that we actually build systems that are so smart that we start to devalue critical thinking and sort of decline cognitively. This seems very unlikely because every generation is smarter than the last, but it’s worth calling out. More likely is that, at some point, a percentage of the population will be more interested in the virtual reality than the physical one, and that percentage may grow and actually become sort of dominant, which would obviously be catastrophic for population growth and quality of life. This trend you can sort of see with Gen Z, the anxious generation—the attachment to the device, the addiction to the device era. Do you think that job losses to AI and automation are more of a near-term problem that we’ll have to deal with, along with the effects on the economy? This is the thing that I would love if people spent more time talking about: The risk is not an economic one. I think in a world where we actually automate all our work, something profoundly positive will happen economically. If you can actually figure out how to automate everything and the cost of everything declines so far that you can live freely, it’s more that people may not know what their purpose is in a world where their work changes so frequently and so much. I think that the future is incredibly optional in all sorts of interesting ways, and I really do caution that the risk in all this is simply that people will lack purpose, at least for a couple generations. It will be our generation and maybe the next that bears figuring out what we do in a world where our work is just so dynamic, and maybe relatively less meaningful because the world is so much more robust. That being said, there’s also incredible new opportunities. For every job that goes away, there will probably be a new job created in some interesting new way that we just cannot imagine. And I caution people to consider how they would imagine the economy looking before the internet or before electricity, for that matter. How could you fathom the economy in 1900 or 1800? What about other things like the use of AI to flood the information space with misinformation and disinformation? I don’t even list it as one of my primary concerns because misinformation is one of these things that will have an incredible counterbalance—for every article and every photo that is generated by AI, we will have a system to actually determine its validity. And we will have much more robust truth telling in the future. This has just been true forever. And by the way, I remember going to the grocery store with my mom and looking at magazine covers of women and my mom saying, “Oh God, Cindy Crawford is so beautiful” because for a long time they were Photoshopping photos and just not telling us. Now, of course, we all know that every photo is Photoshopped. We have this lens with which we view the world. I think—and this is what I say to publicists—we will have this return to traditional media if we do it right. We need the institutions to recapture trust, otherwise it will be very hard for people to know what to believe because in a world where people are more interested in Reddit and Quora, this could go a little strangely. In a world where people don’t trust traditional media—and they don’t—the institution has just lost so much trust. And we didn’t even really need AI for that to happen. That’s exactly right. So I think now presents an opportunity for us to find ways, and there’s a lot of historical precedent. The printing press introduced all sorts of incredible ways for people to behave as charlatans, and you don’t have to go back that far. We studied a bunch of people who sold early Ponzi schemes. There was so much financial fraud in the late 19th/early 20th century. There was an incredible amount of financial fraud because people could just print fake securities and sell them, and there was just no way to actually validate things. And obviously, there’s this incredible new way now that we can actually score things. I don’t basically ever talk about blockchain, but I do think blockchain will serve as a means to keep an official record of lots of things, a place that cannot be tampered with. What are your thoughts about longer-term AI risks, the existential risks people like Geoff Hinton and Eliezer Yudkowsky talk about? The existential risk has two parts. The first is, is this machine going to unwittingly do something untoward—are we building something that is going to do something really bad on its own? And that presents the alignment problem. The real risk in all this is not that the machine wakes up one day and says, I’m going to kill all. The theory of the alignment problem basically says we need to make sure that it cares about its unintended consequences because we [humans] may not fully appreciate what we’re doing. And then there’s the bad actor. And this I think is also misunderstood because the real concern around bad actors in my opinion is not high-resource bad actors. I don’t spend time worrying about North Korea with AI. They already have plenty of tools at their disposal to be bad actors, and the reality is we get better at managing high-resource bad actors all the time. The low-resource bad actor problem is a risk. In a world where we embolden anyone to do interesting things with this technology, we should create very punitive measures to police bad acting with it. We should make bad actors terrified to use AI to do bad things—financial crime, deepfakes, etc. And this is something that we could do really easily, like we did with mail theft. We could say, hey, we built a system that’s really fragile, and if we let people steal mail, domestic commerce will collapse. We need to make it a felony offense. What needs to be done to address these risks over the next five years? We should try to figure out how to come up with international standards by which all models are measured, and companies that use models that don’t meet these measures are penalized. We should just make sure that everyone honors alignment standards. Second is explainability standards. The expectation that a model can be perfectly explainable is inherently dangerous because there’s plenty in a model that cannot be explained. But we should set standards by which tasks that require explainability meet explainability standards. For example, if you’re going to use a model to write an insurance policy, it should meet an explainability standard. And then the third thing is bad acting: We just have to make it scary for low-resource bad actors to use this stuff. The market will figure itself out. Europe, I think, is going to have some really serious economic suffocation pretty soon here because they’ve passed a bunch of really strange policies that I don’t even know if it protects the consumers as much as it just gives the policymakers a reason to celebrate. If we can get these things right, the market will behave in a way that serves us the constituents. Was Biden’s executive order on AI constructive? It was passed at a time where basically no one working on it knew much about what they were talking about. So it’s less that it’s lip service and more that it didn’t actually change behavior. So it really is one of these things like, you know, are you just doing this to appease voters? A lot of people in Congress have the perspective that “we missed the boat on social media and we sure don’t want to miss it again on AI.” All progress has a cost . . . the cost of social media, the cost of the internet, is pretty great. The cost of social media on young children’s minds is terrible. It is also now something that we as individuals are identifying and working through. Passing policy on these things has potentially very dangerous consequences that you cannot unwind—economic consequences, massive learning and development consequences. It’s not that the government “missed the boat” on social media, so to speak. They just weren’t even paying attention. And no one went into this thing with eyes wide open because there was no one in Congress, if you recall, who knew anything about what the internet was. So you basically had Mark Zuckerberg going on stage in front of a bunch of people who were like, “I don’t know.” I’ve written about California’s AI bill that was vetoed by the governor. What are your thoughts on that approach? I fully support the regulation of AI. I’m not asking this to be the Wild West. This is the most important technology that we will build in our lifetime, maybe except for quantum. It’s really scary when people celebrate policy for the sake of policy, especially when it comes at the cost of what could be truly society-improving progress. Like massive amounts of progress are probably going to be found on the other side of this. And that’s not a hot take because that’s what technology does for the world. People spend so much time fixated on what the government will do to solve their problems that they’ve forgotten that technology is basically doing all the things that have been promised to us. You know, the utopias that we build in our mind may actually come to pass. I think they will, for what it’s worth, and not because of government intervention, but because of technological progress; because what one person can do today will pale in comparison to what one person can do [tomorrow]. More AI coverage from Fast Company: We used Google’s AI to analyze 188 predictions of what’s in store for tech in 2025 Andrew Ng is betting big on agentic AI We called 1-800-ChatGPT to see if OpenAI would ruin Christmas As Bible sales boom, so does Christian tech Want exclusive reporting and trend analysis on technology, business innovation, future of work, and design? Sign up for Fast Company Premium.

A $42 million grant from the California Energy Commission will help construct a long-duration battery storage facility at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton to provide backup power at the base and enhance the resiliency of the state’s electric grid. Expected to be operational in summer 2027, the facility will be installed at the base’s Haybarn Energy Reliability Center. It will initially provide 6 megawatts and 48 megawatt-hours of battery storage that emits no greenhouse gases. Eventually, the facility plans to expand to provide 50 megawatts and 400 megawatt-hours of electricity. The project plans to use zinc-based liquid batteries produced by Eos Energy Enterprises that are considered safer than lithium-ion batteries that in some cases have led to fires and thermal runaway — a condition in which batteries overheat, ignite and spread from one battery to another. “These projects are more than just an investment, they’re a shared commitment to a stronger, cleaner future,” Meredith Berger, assistant secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations and Environment , said in a statement. “By integrating these advanced storage systems, the Marine Corps can more efficiently manage energy demand, ensure continuity of operations during grid outages and reduce dependency on traditional fuels.” The $42 million grant is the largest ever awarded by the energy commission’s Long-Duration Energy Storage Program that invests in demonstrations of technologies that don’t use lithium-ion and also promotes batteries that can send electricity to the grid for eight hours or more. Typical battery storage has an industry standard discharge of just two to four hours. So far, the energy commission has dispersed $170 million to seven projects via its Long-Duration Energy Storage Program. “Long-duration and multi-day energy storage technologies will help California achieve its clean energy goals by enhancing how we store power generated by renewable resources,” said CEC Chair David Hochschild . The Camp Pendleton facility will bolster the statewide power grid when it’s not providing backup power to the base, while also replacing much of the fossil-fuel energy used now. The grant was awarded to International Electric Power , an independent power company based in Pittsburgh. “This project is cutting edge and innovative,” the company’s CEO, Peter Dailey , said in a statement. California policymakers have set a target to produce 100% of the state’s electricity from carbon-free sources by 2045, if not sooner , and energy storage is considered a key piece to meet that goal. Within the past five years, the state has grown its battery storage capacity by more than 15 times — up from just 770 megawatts in 2019 to more than 13,300 megawatts today . Storage systems typically take solar power generated during the day and discharge the electricity later, especially from 4 to 9 p.m. when the state’s grid is under the most stress. Batteries can help reduce the risk of rotating power outages and replace natural gas “peaker plants” used during those critical hours when customers crank up their air conditioners. The CEC estimates that more than 48,000 megawatts (or 48 gigawatts) of traditional battery storage and 4,000 megawatts (or 4 gigawatts) of long-duration energy storage will be needed to meet the state’s 2045 goals. In a statement, Gov. Gavin Newsom said California “has been on the front lines of the global battery revolution” and projects “like this one at Camp Pendleton are vital to building a reliable and resilient electric grid in the face of climate extremes.” Covering more than 125,000 acres in San Diego County, Camp Pendleton is the Marine Corps’ largest West Coast expeditionary training facility. The base is one of the U.S. Department of Defense’s busiest installations, offering training facilities for active and reserve Marine, Army and Navy units as well as national, state and local agencies. It supports more than 70,000 military and civilian personnel and their families.You know the frustration of finding the right audio gear. Maybe your current earbuds fail to block out background noise, or your headphones feel uncomfortable after long hours. The latest lineup of earbuds and headphones from Nothing can help. Each option is designed to cater to different listening preferences and needs. 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When she's not busy writing insightful pieces on Windows and the latest tech trends, you'll find her with her nose buried in a productivity book, always on the lookout for ways to optimize her workflow and stay ahead of the curve.None