The plus-ification of subscription services continues unabated alongside Amazon becoming the latest business to prosecute lawsuit alongside a Kindle Unlimited rebrand. The subscription assistance is now known as Kindle Plus but volition continue to recommendation unlimited admission to a choose gathering of ebooks, comics, and magazines from the Kindle catalog for $11.99 per month. Thousands of those titles volition additionally motionless have admission to companion audiobooks so you can toggle rear and onward between study and listening exactly anywhere you remaining off, but Kindle Plus volition develop that admission to contain “virtual voice” audiobooks peruse by AI narrators, according to ZDNet.

“The subscription continues to recommendation the identical awesome study cognition alongside admission to millions of titles, now alongside the supplement of thousands of audiobooks in the U.S. catalog at no additional cost,” Amazon spokesman Josh Pflug told The Verge in an emailed statement.

Kindle Plus volition remain a standalone subscription that’s distinct from Amazon Prime, and users volition motionless be constricted to borrowing up to 20 titles at once, but alongside no come back dates. Amazon is now additionally allowing authors using its Kindle Direct Publishing phase to create their audiobooks accessible to Kindle Plus subscribers.

Virtual sound audiobooks volition automatically be accessible as new titles are enrolled in KDP Select, but authors can opt-in to AI narrators for former published titles, too. For authors who favor a individual narrator, audiobooks created using Audible’s Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX) market volition now additionally be accessible through Kindle Plus, but starting alongside subscribers in the US. Amazon plans to develop preparedness to another markets complete time.

The Billboard 200 has tracked the best-selling albums in the US for decades.

It's a important accomplishment to top the chart, particularly whenever an creator manages the feat alongside multiple distinct albums.

Only a fistful of artists have traversed into double-digit No. 1s, including contemporary superstars akin Taylor Swift, Drake, Jay-Z, and Future. They're listed below in ascending order.

Editor's note: Although Elvis Presley is frequently credited alongside 10 No. 1 albums, a Billboard delegate told Business Insider that most of his biggest releases predate the contemporary Billboard 200 chart, which launched in 1963.

• 2021: 936,172 (+87.2 percent twelvemonth complete year)
• 2022: 1,313,851 (+40.3 percent)
• 2023: 1,808,581 (+37.7 percent — highest volume)
• 2024: 1,789,226 (-1.1 percent — archetypal annual decline)
• 2025: 1,636,129 (-8.6 percent — second successive drop)

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• Andrew J. Hawkins

Having a job doesn't continually average you have adequate to shield regular living or funds goals.

A July study of Americans by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and the behavioral economics resolute Escalent established complete 60% of respondents have worked exterior their chief roles, mostly since they needed to. Twenty-seven percent of respondents stated activity covers their expenses, but it's durable to get ahead.

"Employment remains essential for withdrawal security, but for many Americans, it is no longer sufficient," a Goldman Sachs Asset Management withdrawal study said.

Gen Zers were most apt to say they acquire or have earned prosperity exterior their chief job; millennials followed closely behind. The study stated that's notwithstanding most Gen Z and millennial workers reporting their jobs provision financial stability.

"Younger workers may awareness stable in their chief jobs during motionless seeing additional activity as necessary," the study said.

Throughout the generations, a bulk stated they're doing gig or flank activity out of necessity or for financial security.

"The traditional full-time job may no longer be carrying the complete importance of financial security," the study said. "For many, supplementing earnings appears to have rotate into part of the baseline."

Some Americans are living paycheck to paycheck or adjusting their budgets to oversee alongside rising gas prices and another mundane expenses. It can be difficult to get onward when wage growth has been consistently falling abbreviated of inflation, and it's durable to discover a new job to try to acquire additional money.

Not emotion financially safe can guide to putting off funds goals. Eighty-three percent of Gen Z and 78% of millennials stated they put important financial goals on hold. Forty-one percent of millennials have delayed emergency funds notwithstanding being employed, and 30% stated they delayed accommodation or homebuying goals. For Gen Zers, the shares were 35% and 34%, respectively.

While several group may be operating a part-time flank job, others are "overemployed" and operating multiple full-time jobs. One millennial has worked five full-time distant IT jobs, earning complete $700,000 annually. As Business Insider's Jacob Zinkula reported, overemployed group use their additional earnings for distinct reasons, specified as retiring first or paying downward debt.

Having multiple earnings streams can additionally be considered a "portfolio career," anywhere group part together distinct kinds of work, specified as penning a newsletter, doing a flank gig, and holding an agency job. It can be one way to try "stability stacking" to awareness additional safe concerning your occupation if, for example, you were laid off and misplaced an earnings stream.

"When you decentralize everything from one 9-to-5 and build a portfolio career, you defend yourself from the affectional and financial daze if and whenever endeavor needs alter at your 9-to-5," stated occupation trainer Janel Abrahami in a TikTok video.

And sometimes, operating a flank gig can rotate into a complete occupation pivot. Harlan Rappaport, in his 20s, turned his email promotion flank hustle into a full-time occupation following operating as an funding expert at a financial institution.

"I used to get really enthusiastic concerning the numbers, but complete the final brace of years, I realized it's additional concerning the liberty I've had in my existence complete the final brace of years as a freelancer," Rappaport stated in an as-told-to essay. "I don't young female family events, can journey whenever I want, and can activity from anyplace in the world."

Tesla CEO Elon Musk famously thinks bots volition run us around.

On Wednesday, he took that long-running imagination of autonomy a stage further. During the automaker's earnings call, Musk predicted that Tesla itself would dominate how passengers get about — so lengthy as pesky regulators don't get in the way.

"I think Tesla volition end up doing a bulk of all passenger miles on Earth in any nation anywhere it is allowed to run freely," he said. "And you can arrive rear and appearance at this prediction, but I awareness assured concerning this prediction."

He stated Tesla's biggest hurdle to earth domination is abroad governments blocking autonomous tech "to defend a family industry."

That is a bolder declaration than Musk's previous autonomy predictions.

During a January earnings call, he stated the "vast bulk of miles traveled" would eventually be autonomous and guessed that group would manually run small than 5% of miles. That prediction remaining another autonomous competitors — Waymo, Zoox, Ford, GM, Rivian, etc. — in the fray.

Vehicle autonomy is center to Tesla's evaluation story. The business says its forthcoming lineup volition contain lone one conveyance that drivers can run manually: the high-priced Roadster.

In September, the business started rolling out the steering-wheel-less Cybercab for ride-hailing in Texas.

That rollout has had its fits and starts. While Tesla says it's ramping manufacturing and preparing to initiate Cybercab rides in Florida, the NHTSA issued an audit inquiry hours following the car's community publish to investigation the automaker's self-certification.

Musk, who has described his predictions as his "best guesses," has missed multiple latest timelines for Tesla's autonomy rollout — including a prediction that unsupervised autonomy would ramp throughout the US in 2025.

Now, Tesla has a new mark date for the person initiate of its complete self-driving software. On Wednesday, Ashok Elluswamy, the company's VP of AI, stated unsupervised FSD is coming "somewhere about Q2 next year."

Tesla didn't immediately react to a petition for comment from Business Insider.

Ben here. Up until recently, it was a awesome period to be the originator of a neolab, the lavishly funded, research-first AI startups founded by top endowment who defected from the likes of OpenAI or Google DeepMind.

We reported final month that Jeff Dean, Google's erstwhile chief scientist, is seeking a evaluation as elevated as $50 milliard for his new AI discipline startup. OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever's Safe Superintelligence is value $32 billion. Another OpenAI alum, Mira Murati, is raising a circular for Thinking Machines Lab at a evaluation of about $40 billion.

But lately, in conversations alongside multiple VCs about Silicon Valley, there is a expanding distinct concerning whether neolabs can create the economics activity alongside their multibillion-dollar cost tags and formidable competition from frontier labs.

One VC at a top firm, who asked that I not use his name, told me neolabs are the most hotly debated category of funding correct now.

"Some would say you shouldn't allocate in any, and others would say this is basically all you have to be investing in since software's dead, and you either have to own models or hardware, and equal if you act at a billion, the business could be value a trillion," he said.

When I lately asked Menlo Ventures partner Matt Murphy at Business Insider's Growth Mode gathering which field he idea was most overhyped, he immediately cited neolabs, which was noteworthy, given that Menlo invested in several of them.

Murphy pointed to an example from his period as an first commission adviser at Google, which he stated did so fine since it "was akin a equivalent thrown into a bonfire."

"The contrary item you desire to do is commencement a equivalent alongside a bonfire," Murphy told me. "That's the hazard of what's going on now alongside companies raising specified ample rounds."

Another Menlo partner, Deedy Das, posted final duration concerning the "difficult game" of making neolab math work.

Das seemed a bit taken aback by the reply to his article and afterward texted me: "Like all startups, many volition fail, several volition work."

Picking which ones volition activity is why VCs get paid the big bucks.

Neolabs are a power-law bet taken to an extreme, Radical Ventures' Aaron Rosenberg told me.

Investors cognize most volition apt scorch enormous sums on compute and endowment without always becoming profitable. But the rare victor could rotate into a foundational AI business value hundreds of billions or more.

"We're assured that the finest neolabs volition diagram ongoing support," Rosenberg said. "Talent continues to passage out of the incumbents and academia into originator roles, and we see no signs of that slowing."

Like Radical, New Enterprise Associates wrote a bullish perspective in June. One of the authors, Andrew Schoen, told me his views have not changed. "There are neolabs I cognize of that are finalizing billion-plus-dollar rounds of equity financing, and those processes are moving extremely smoothly and quickly," he said.

The Buzz

Katie here. Many of tech's biggest names gathered at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco on Saturday, at a black-tie event in the name of Menlo Ventures' 50th anniversary.

Hollywood titan turned project capitalist Jeffrey Katzenberg of Dreamworks fame asked the spectators to associate a prayer "for the blockbuster IPO of Anthropic," a joking citation to Menlo's first funding in the company.

I additionally spotted Morgan Stanley's storied innovation banker Michael Grimes, who is undoubtedly holding his own AI IPO prayers. Other attendees included an gathering of community business and startup CEOs, including those from Snowflake, Zscaler, Legora, and OpenRouter.

As Menlo partner Venky Ganesan quipped, there was additional AUM (assets under management) in the area than in many countries, stated the attendees' net value and the funding chief they manage.

Menlo isn't the archetypal project resolute to presenter a splashy commemoration party; Index Ventures lately went big for its 30th anniversary.

A individual at a competitor project shop expressed frustration that their resolute doesn't presenter specified celebrations.

Menlo's night ended alongside concerts from two excellent confidential Grammy Award winners trying to rake in those AI bucks!

Around the Cap Table

• We reported this week that Fireworks AI is seeking caller funding at a evaluation of between $30 milliard and $40 billion, a theatrical jump fair months following its final blockbuster circular was closed.
• "You Can See Everything" has everyone talking. Ben idea it was complete genius, if a bit long. It volition create this year's Oscars race exciting. See it in theaters before the cognition is lessened by spoilers.
• Our coworker Rya Jetha explored the excitement and pitfalls of investing in robotics startups. Like neolabs, robotics companies are commanding big valuations alongside small to display for it, yet.
• Foursquare's $0 acquisition ended alongside no payout for workforce or investors, according to originator Dennis Crowley.

Post of The Week

The VC Insider team

Ben Bergman, chief correspondent, in Los Angeles. Katie Roof, publishing company at large, in San Francisco. Pranav Dixit, elder innovation editor, in San Francisco. Leena Rao, administrator editor, in Los Angeles.

The Browser Company plans to “sunset” its Arc browser on December 22nd, according to a article on the Arc website. The business moved on to evolving its AI-focused Dia browser final year, but it had continued to keep Arc. Now, the innovative browser volition be going distant for good.

The shutdown is happening in a few stages. Starting today, you can’t create new Arc accounts. On November 23rd, on iOS and Android, the Browse for Me and “other AI features” volition be impaired and “you volition no longer be capable to sign in or sync your tabs.” On December 22nd, the Arc browser won’t be accessible on macOS or Windows, Arc accounts volition be deactivated, and Arc Search for Android volition be removed from Google Play.

The Browser Company has an FAQ concerning how to import your data into Dia, if you desire to move to that browser. Dia is now anywhere the business is focused, “including our entire safety team.”

Arc, which had a lot of big ideas concerning browsers that have popped up in another browsers since. The Zen browser, which is according to Mozilla’s Gecko engine, is a common advice for group looking for an Arc-like experience. Last year, Atlassian acquired The Browser Company for $610 million.

OpenAI has shared how its ChatGPT promotion scheme interprets conversations, selects applicable ads, and keeps ad serving distinct from integrated answers.

The technical breakdown explains how a dedicated tongue example coordinates ad choice as a user’s needs create throughout messages. It additionally describes why an ad can win an auction and motionless never appear.

OpenAI says ChatGPT Ads reached $1 milliard in annualized income run charge small than 200 days following launch. More than 100,000 advertisers have run ads since launch, although the article does not contain achievement benchmarks for those advertisers.

Ads Run Separately From Answer Generation

OpenAI says the scheme choosing ads runs separately from the one penning ChatGPT’s answers. Each uses its own models and code.

Both can use the conversation, but they do distinct jobs. As ChatGPT writes a response, the ads scheme checks whether there’s a applicable ad to display below it. Choosing that ad doesn’t nourish rear into what ChatGPT writes.

ChatGPT doesn’t delay for the ads scheme to choose an ad. If the ads scheme is dilatory or stops working, the answer motionless comes through. An ad that arrives too delayed won’t appear alongside that response.

Separate models and code provision several assistance to OpenAI’s commitment that ads won’t power answers. To be clear, this is how OpenAI describes its system, fairly than autonomous evidence that the separation holds in practice.

When an ad appears, it carries a sponsored tag below the response. The promotion scheme additionally writes a abbreviated introduction explaining how the ad connects to the discussion. That introduction stays distinct from the advertiser’s headline, description, and call to action.

To choose a applicable ad, the scheme can appearance beyond the user’s latest question. Details shared before in the conversation assistance it activity out what the individual needs.

How Conversation Context Changes Ad Matching

OpenAI uses competition training to explain how business intent can create during a conversation. Someone power commencement alongside broad training questions and ask concerning shoes multiple messages later.

Its ads scheme keeps track of applicable particulars as that conversation develops. OpenAI calls these “stateful” sessions, definition all new communication doesn’t necessitate the scheme to commencement from scratch.

Let’s use the example of person comparing project administration software. They power explain that they run a small agency, need client approvals, and desire to evade paying for visitant accounts. A afterward inquiry concerning pricing would transport additional environment than a hunt for “project administration application pricing.”

An advertiser offering liberated visitant admission could test that item against a broad communication concerning improving productivity. The landing leaf would need to assistance the offer, and results would display whether the additional particular communication attracts qualified leads or customers.

When users choose personalized ads, the scheme can additionally regard accessible nonsensitive data from former conversations. That adds environment to the conversation, but creates another challenge: recognizing which needs motionless apply.

OpenAI says the example must differentiate current intent from old data and hypothetical questions. Even a well-matched ad could attain person researching a acquisition months away, so relevance solitary won’t inform advertisers how apt that individual is to convert.

How OpenAI’s Orchestrator Finds And Evaluates Ads

OpenAI calls the example managing ad choice the “orchestrator.” It says the conversation and calls tools to discover possible ads, inspect their relevance, and present suitable options to an auction.

The procedure starts by turning applicable parts of the conversation into hunt queries. Those queries rotate into “embeddings,” numerical representations of definition that assistance the scheme discover ads without requiring the identical wording.

A conversation can create multiple queries if the individual has distinct needs. The orchestrator can additionally modify its searches as it receives additional information.

Once it finds possible ads, the scheme checks whether they’re eligible to run. These checks can contain location targeting, guideline restrictions, accessible budget, and pacing, which determines whenever a run spends its budget.

It afterward assesses how fine all ad fits the conversation, its former performance, and the likelihood of a view, click, or conversion.

The orchestrator sends candidates to a distinct auction tool, which handles final ranking, pricing, and selection. The tongue example helps decide which ads act that auction; it doesn’t immediately choose the victor or set the price.

OpenAI didn’t disclose how much importance all indication receives, so the breakdown offers constricted direction on how to enhance an ad’s ranking. And equal following the auction selects an ad, additional checks decide whether it appears.

Winning The Auction Doesn’t Guarantee An Impression

OpenAI applies another inspect following the auction to decide whether the selected ad fits the conversation. While an ad can encounter promotion policies, its scheme may motionless discover it inappropriate in a particular discussion.

An auction victor can additionally young female the shipment opening described earlier, leaving the advertiser without an impression.

This method low impressions could indicate multiple issues, including relevance checks or shipment timing. Before changing bids or creative, advertisers would need to comprehend anywhere their ads stopped progressing.

OpenAI says its inner logs assistance acknowledge those points. They document outcomes specified as searches that established no possible ads, ads that unsuccessful eligibility checks, and placements that appeared and received an interaction.

That data could assistance explain why a run has constricted delivery. For example, a run excluded by location targeting would necessitate a distinct reply from one that enters auctions but rarely wins.

The article doesn’t explain how much of this data advertisers can see in their reporting. Without that visibility, they may have to test changes without knowing which part of the procedure is limiting impressions.

Revenue Growth Still Leaves Advertiser Returns Unanswered

OpenAI’s $1 milliard annualized income run charge and 100,000+ advertisers display how quickly the promotion endeavor has grown. However, neither fig explains what advertisers earned from their spending.

The income fig projects a complete twelvemonth according to the gait of income at that point. It doesn’t average OpenAI has already collected $1 milliard from advertising.

The advertiser figure additionally leaves several gaps. It doesn’t display how many advertisers remain active, returned following an first test, or increased their spending.

Repeat spending would assistance display whether advertisers saw adequate value to continue following an first test. The article doesn’t provision CPA, ROAS, or conversion-rate benchmarks, either, including how results change by industry or run objective.

It’s sensible for an engineering article to concentration on how the scheme works. But OpenAI additionally uses income and advertiser acceptance to display its progress, without showing what advertisers received for that spending.

Advertisers would need to cognize who those results represent, how much they spent, and how OpenAI measured conversions. Averages solitary could additionally conceal significant differences between accounts.

There’s additionally the inquiry of how many revenue the ads added. A run can obtain credit for purchases from customers who would have bought anyway. The article doesn’t contain controlled studies showing whether ChatGPT Ads generated additional purchases.

OpenAI’s figures established that advertisers are spending on the platform. They depart unanswered how many are acquiring customers profitably, and how consistently.

What This Means For Advertisers

OpenAI’s clarification gives advertisers a logic to appearance at the client requirements their ads address. The project administration example shows how a item specified as liberated visitant admission could rotate into applicable during a conversation, equal whenever the latest inquiry lone mentions pricing.

Customer investigation and converting hunt conditions can assistance advertisers choose which requirements to emphasize. The article doesn’t propose they need a new run for all assortment of that discussion.

For advertisers already operating ChatGPT Ads, the reporting gaps deserve attention. Before responding to low impressions alongside higher bids, they need to cognize whether their ads entered auctions, unsuccessful relevance checks, or encountered another shipment issue. OpenAI describes tracking these stages internally without explaining how much advertisers can see.

The engineering item supports OpenAI’s clarification of how it protects answers and selects ads. Its income figures depart advertisers alongside small evidence concerning the come back on their spending.

As additional advertisers continue to test ChatGPT Ads, additional disclosure from OpenAI would be most useful. Whether advertisers continued following testing, what they paid to get customers, and how extensively those results varied is item the industry should keep an eye on in the coming months.

Featured image: Samuel Boivin / Shutterstock

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• Emma Roth

Like person in mourning, Sam Altman stated mathematicians went through phases following OpenAI began its blitz into the field.

First, there was disbelief. Then, there was pain.

"The day one reply was like, 'We're cooked, and our site is over,'" OpenAI's CEO said. "'We're telling our grad students to toggle majors.'"

After that, there was anger.

"The day three reply was perchance like: 'It's horrible that OpenAI did this,'" Altman stated at a latest conversation at Stanford, before hundreds of students jittery concerning the viability of their forthcoming careers.

Come day five, though, in Altman's telling, mathematicians began to arrive about to what he described as AI's now-inalienable role in the study of numbers and proofs.

"We've now seen a lot of group say, actually, I'm going to have a distinct but hopefully improved benevolent of occupation as a mathematician," Altman said.

Altman's buoyant appraisal contrasts sharply alongside what several in the math community have described as an existential transformation.

After OpenAI abruptly bankrupt into the field's prerogatives in September, announcing its models had solved the Navier-Stokes equations — a famously challenging math puzzle that stumped the industry's brightest since the 19th Century — preeminent mathematicians erupted in fury.

A brace of academics, one at New York University and another at Anthropic, accused OpenAI of using data from their conversation logs to assistance expert the problem. Mathematicians additionally complained that during an AI example power have solved the problem, it didn't display its work, leaving them alongside the small celebratory project of verifying it.

And in the awaken of all that controversy, there was additional controversy.

A collection of undergrads at Caltech, wary of how quickly AI was disrupting their site and wanting to remain relevant, advertised a "mathathon" anywhere participants were encouraged to use AI to resolve long-standing problems.

OpenAI dropped out of sponsoring the event following additional than 700 academics signed an open letter denouncing the competition for promoting AI "slop." (Organizers have since made adjustments to the rules, and the competition is set for November.)

More recently, Terence Tao, a math prodigy at UCLA who earned his doctorate at 20, stated math's "romantic era" is over, as top academics akin him modify to a workflow that involves verifying AI's activity fairly than solving problems individually.

"Some things are being lost," Tao stated following OpenAI this duration stated it solved complete 700 additional problems.

Meanwhile, Altman, sitting on the contrary flank of the debate, has adopted the optimism of the disrupter.

"I don't think there's going to be akin a job apocalypse," Altman stated of AI causing companies to restructure their workforces. In the site of math, however, Altman stated the disruptions came additional quickly than in another disciplines and industries.

"That was the fastest that I think we've all gotten to observe a site go through this cycle," he said.

Arc is sunsetting on December 22, 2026.
Scroll to read what’s happening and see what’s next.

Read more

We’ve decided to sunset Arc on December 22, 2026

That’s not an easy declaration to write. We spent years construction Arc and celebrating all and every publish alongside the way: we have so much pride and love for what we made alongside the Arc community.

Our priority is to deliver best-in-class safety for our members. Keeping a browser safe takes constant, dedicated activity that is only expanding in the age of AI. Dia was built from the ground up to meet today’s safety standards, so that’s anywhere our engineering and security teams volition concentration moving forward.

We’ve worked to make switching to Dia as easy as possible for Arc members. Here’s how:

• Your passwords, bookmarks, extensions and history arrive complete to Dia seamlessly.
• Spaces, Folders, and Tab Groups are in Dia and import complete alongside your data intact.
• Dia now surpasses Arc benchmarks in stability, speed, and security.

The browser features you use in Arc are free in Dia, and the AI is optional.

Thank you for using Arc, for pushing us to make it better, and for building alongside us. The team that made Arc is the same squad rearward Dia, and some of our most aspiring activity is just ahead. We’d affection for you to be there alongside us when it lands.

For luxury and elegance, homeowners frequently have to casing out for expert assistance finding the latest trends and big-ticket items. But what if you desire your home to appearance expensive, but you can't interrupt the bank?

According to an inner decorator to the stars, there are motionless ways to communicate luxury via your own individual taste.

"Anyone alongside prosperity can stroll into a B&B Italia and expend $1 myriad on furnishings and have it appearance akin a B&B Italia showroom," stated Julian Buckner, who founded the Los Angeles-based staging, inner design, and furnishings revenue business Vesta Homes in 2018. "Taste is knowing whenever to put in the ultra-modern leather casino couch and afterward wed it alongside several vintage nightstand that you established at the scheme mart in Texas."

Buckner, who has worked alongside clients akin LeBron James, Travis Scott, and Jonah Hill, stated the average residence he stages is value concerning $6 million. But his direction applies despite of cost point. Below, he shares his tips for how group can create their homes awareness additional luxurious without the hefty cost tag.

I'm a seasoned traveler who has booked additional long-haul flights than I can count. But before this year, I made a extremely costly rookie mistake.

While preparedness a trip, I came throughout a agreement I couldn't continue up: a $317 one-way escape on Icelandair to Ireland alongside a multi-day layover in Reykjavik. It was basically a way to obtain a trip inside a trip without paying additional airfare.

The catch? The escape departed from New York, not our residence airfield in Florida. I'd be in New York a few days early, but my family would need to fly up to encounter me. Booking distinct itineraries was far from ideal, but I figured a five-hour buffer would be enough.

It wasn't.

A storm in New York canceled my family's JetBlue escape from Florida, and their replacement escape afterward couldn't district and was diverted to Virginia. Their Icelandair escape to Europe was automatically canceled following they were marked as no-shows.

On the night we were expected to fly together to Iceland, my family was stuck states away, and I was scrambling to discover a solution.

With my family's first escape gone, we had to expend nearly $3,000 to get them rear on track and navigate the complex credit cardstock trip coverage process. Here are 4 lessons I learned the difficult way.

Booking distinct itineraries comes alongside a pricey risk

Arriving in the city of your next escape at smallest 24 hours before may awareness a bit extreme, but it's the minimum safety net you need.

Being already in the correct location for your escape can be a huge importance off your shoulders. It additionally allows adequate period for rebooking should something go wrong alongside your flight.

My last-minute whim to sojourn a few allies upstate turned out to be key. Those additional two nights in New York meant I was capable to create the escape to Iceland. If I had booked my family of three on a escape the day before our long-haul flight, they would have made it too.

My family made it to New York the next dawn and ended up taking a replacement escape to Iceland that evening, getting in concerning 24 hours afterward than initially planned. I bought two basic economics tickets for $734 each, and one norm economics ticket alongside additional baggage allowance for $1,105. In total, I spent $2,573 on new tickets.

The costly error made me acknowledge that although an additional inn night is an added disbursal and may average using additional PTO, it's a cheap funding compared to the disbursal of new global flights — and the disbursal of missed events — if things don't go to plan.

This is particularly value it if you have certain plans correct following your arrival, specified as a cruise or a concert.

Neither transporter has to assistance in my scenario

When you publish connecting flights on a sole itinerary, the transporter is liable for getting you to your destination. If you young female that association through no error of your own, afterward the transporter volition put you on another accessible escape at no additional cost.

When you publish flights separately, you're liable for making all association — or purchasing new tickets if you young female one. And generally, despite of reason, the transporter functioning your next escape isn't obligated to modify you if you young female it since of a issue alongside your former airline.

Our tickets to New York and Iceland were separate, so notwithstanding many calls to all airline, none were liable for the missed connection. If you do young female a association on a sole booking, appearance up alternatives yourself and conversation them alongside the agent. It's not guaranteed, but they may be capable to modify you on a partner transporter at a additional convenient time.

And remember, it's not the staff's error for the disruption. You get additional bees alongside honey.

I should have peruse the fine print

I didn't publish the cheapest fare, but I didn't peruse the fine imprint either.

When things started to go wrong, I was shocked to see there was a $250 alter fee per individual on my first escape and no refunds. Changing the tickets would have disbursal nearly as much as the first flight, affirmative the diet difference.

At the time, it was uncertain whenever my family would really attain in New York and feasibly be capable to capture the next escape to Iceland, so we didn't alter the tickets. Missing the archetypal escape on this stopover itinerary meant my family was marked a no-show and their onward leg to Dublin was canceled, which is norm transporter policy.

While there were another ways to get to Iceland, there were few nonstop flights from Iceland to Ireland — a one-stop meant at smallest four additional hours of journey — so the finest choice was to publish a new stopover ticket alongside Icelandair.

When I started booking the new tickets, I noticed that nearly all diet category had punitive cancellation and alter policies — and this period I was certain to be acquainted alongside the conditions of my booking.

I need to improved comprehend my credit card's trip protections

Premium credit cards can have your rear whenever escape plans go wrong, but they don't shield everything.

We used the Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business' trip cancellation and break safety for the first Icelandair tickets and were reimbursed $952. The safety typically reimburses covered unused, prepaid expenses — but not the disbursal of purchasing new transporter tickets.

Trip postpone safety doesn't either, but it can shield another expenses for covered trips. However, credit cardstock policies change — and this is anywhere I went wrong.

We booked the flights to New York on an American Express Business Platinum Card but used a distinct cardstock for the come back flights. That meant the Amex trip-delay safety did not apply: its conditions necessitate the complete round-trip diet to be charged to the eligible card.

I had divided the flights throughout cards to maintain Chase's bag-delay protection, but I didn't acknowledge I was giving up the Amex safety in the process, so the $103 spent on meal following the amusement wasn't covered. For forthcoming trips, I'll use lone one credit cardstock alongside fine journey protections for all my trip expenses to decrease complications.

Airlines may additionally provision several compensation for escape disruptions. In our case, my family was reimbursed for a inn remain ($185) on the night they were diverted. When delayed, I continually keep receipts of all my added expenses to present to the suitable parties.

Overall, although our holiday had a rocky commencement and disbursal additional than we planned, we had a awesome trip and are glad we pushed through it.

Missing a escape continually seems avoidable in hindsight, and several things are beyond anyone's control, but alongside a few precautions, we can journey additional confidently. Next time, I'm booking the additional inn night.

I've visited complete 50 cities in Europe, and although I affection earth tourist hubs akin London and Paris, I additionally try to search out smaller cities and towns.

Here are five lesser-known destinations in Europe I propose visiting.

After renaming Lake Ontario and the Gulf of Mexico on Google Maps following Trump’s executive orders, Google CEO Sundar Pichai power be example the row at the Atlantic Ocean. As reported before by The Washington Post, Trump stated at a Wednesday night rally that he would “probably pass” on renaming the Atlantic following he contacted Pichai concerning it, to which Pichai allegedly replied, “Please don’t ask us to do that.”

Trump claimed Pichai said, “No, no, no. This time, I’m not doing it,” adding “Oceans are different, sir.” The Verge reached out to Google for comment, but didn’t immediately get a response. Apple has joined Google in making Trump’s name changes on its maps, but several another map apps, like MapQuest, have refused to prosecute their lead.

Trump additionally fielded the idea of renaming the Pacific Ocean to the American Ocean alternatively and said, “We have a lake and we have a gulf, now we need a stream and we need an ocean.”

You can peruse Trump’s complete remarks on the circumstance below:

• Microsoft employee causes an Xbox AI stir. Microsoft employee Brandon Stirrup posted multiple times on X this week to get everyone talking concerning AI use in gaming. “Gaming is the lone industry anywhere leaders are fearful to conversation concerning AI,” said Stirrup. “Users desire the truth. We’re using AI.” Stirrup’s posts elicited the customary reply from gamers against AI, but he stated he’s “happy to obtain the hit if it method hundreds at Xbox can halt pretending that they’re not using AI.” Hours following Stirrup’s posts, he impaired his X account.
• Microsoft’s new Photos app combines your PC, OneDrive, and iCloud galleries. Microsoft has redesigned its Photos app for Windows 11, combining images and videos from your PC, OneDrive, and iCloud into a sole space. The new app includes a redesigned viewer, a native editor, and a new exhibition view. The new publishing company is the most engaging aspect to me personally, merely since it loads a lot faster now and lets you quickly crop and edit photos. You can additionally edit HDR, HEIC, and WebP photos. The spectator has additionally been sped up, alongside improved HDR viewing and improved document category support.
• Microsoft says Windows 11 is now “more responsive” and runs improved on 8GB of RAM. Microsoft’s fixes for Windows 11 have made it “up to 20 percent additional responsive,” according to the company. Microsoft has made improvements to Start, File Explorer, Search, Edge, and another parts of Windows 11 to make the OS awareness faster. A big part of the improvements comes downward to improved recollection management, to the item anywhere there is now a “meaningful difference” on PCs alongside fair 8GB of RAM. I motionless think there is motionless a way to go to completely enhance Windows 11, but these are awesome archetypal steps compared to a twelvemonth ago.
• Ikea’s Xbox gathering is now accessible online. The new nine-piece “Yxstaby” gathering from Ikea was designed in collaboration alongside Microsoft. It debuted archetypal at Ikea’s bodily stores before this month, and it’s now accessible to command online. The row includes accessories and furnishings inspired by Xbox controllers.
• Nvidia’s latest GPU controller brings a new way to speed up PC games. Nvidia has rolled out a new GPU controller (621.01) this week that enables Microsoft’s new Advanced Shader Delivery technology to speed up equivalent launches. The innovation additionally removes mid-game “just-in-time” shader compilation, reducing stuttering and CPU spikes. Microsoft’s Advanced Shader Delivery plant by offloading shader compilation for distinct hardware combinations to the cloud. Gears of War: E-Day and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 now the two assistance Advanced Shader Delivery, as lengthy as you download the games via the Xbox PC app. “This scheme is storefront-agnostic, definition you advantage equal whenever playing games purchased on Steam, as lengthy as the Xbox PC app is installed on your PC,” says Nvidia’s Andrew Burnes.
• Microsoft donated $10 myriad to Trump’s ballroom. The Washington Post has obtained a list of all the important donors to Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project, including earlier undisclosed contributors. Microsoft donated $10 million, which puts it approximately in the center set of tech donations from the likes of Apple ($25 million), Amazon ($5 million), Nvidia ($25 million), Google ($22 million), and Meta ($5 million).
• Xbox mandates a four-day come back to office. Microsoft asked its workforce to come back to the agency three days per week final year, and it’s now upping this necessity to four days a week for most Xbox employees. An inner memo, seen by The Verge, describes the alter as a “need to create additional opportunities for group to activity together” following feedback from Xbox employees. “Starting February 1st, 2027, Xbox workforce in Puget Sound who live inside 50 commuting miles of Studio D are required to activity from the agency a minimum of four days a week,” says Jacinda Chislum Pearson, Xbox chief group officer, in the inner memo. Some Xbox workforce I’ve spoken to perspective this as a stealth layoff, during others have noted that the existing three-day regulation was lone lightly enforced.
• Microsoft says it’s operating on making Edge updates small of a hassle. Microsoft has shared a prototype demo for “seamless updates” to Edge that would evade you needing to restart the browser. The characteristic is motionless in development, but it could certainly assistance alongside things akin insecure TLS certificates and another issues anywhere a browser needs to be patched.
• Surface Laptop Ultra review: a distinct benevolent of MacBook Pro. I spent a week reviewing Microsoft’s latest Surface laptop, and I’m impressed alongside the hardware. The MacBook Pro-esque scheme is dissimilar any another Windows laptop, gratitude to a ample haptic trackpad and USB-C magnetic charging. The application that the Surface Laptop Ultra is trying to push, in particular local AI, feels a lot small polished, though. Overall, the Laptop Ultra is targeted at a extremely niche spectators of AI developers.
• Microsoft reportedly plans Xbox handheld in 2027, next-gen console in 2028. Microsoft is reportedly preparedness to initiate an Xbox “next-generation handheld device” for the holiday period of 2027. The Xbox next-gen console, codenamed Project Helix, would afterward initiate in the holidays of 2028, according to a new report from Fortune. It’s not apparent if the rumored handheld is an genuine first-party Xbox device, or one from an OEM akin Asus. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has earlier described Project Helix as a “family of devices,” suggesting that Microsoft’s next Xbox console may not be fair one part of hardware. The study additionally suggests that Sharma is preparedness a caller circular of Xbox layoffs this month, followed by additional in November and January.
• Microsoft abandons the UK’s largest data center project. Microsoft is strolling distant from a agreement alongside Nscale for a new data center in Loughton, Essex. Nscale has faced delays getting the data center online, alongside UK National Grid officials not capable to provision power to the location until the 2030s, according to Reuters. The agreement was initially announced onward of Trump’s second province sojourn to the UK final year, alongside Microsoft boasting of its $30 milliard funding in the UK.
• AMD is bringing FSR 4.1 to Xbox consoles and handhelds. AMD has revealed that it’s bringing its latest upscaling technology, FSR 4.1, to the Xbox Series S and X consoles, as fine as laptops, 6000-series GPUs, and the two the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X handhelds. It’s coming to Xbox developers “very soon,” but Xbox console owners volition have to delay a small longer. The example rate-boosting innovation should have a noticeable effect on the Xbox Series S, and it plant alongside additional than 300 games, including Cyberpunk 2077, Battlefield 6, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
• Microsoft: Frontier models cannot be trusted. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated before this duration that we should assume that all AI models are “compromised,” and now Microsoft is going one stage further. “Unfortunately, frontier models, despite of their origin, cannot be trusted,” says Hayete Gallot, administrator vice chairman of Microsoft Security. Microsoft is naturally positioning its new Project Perception as a resolution to securing AI models. It’s an agentic safety scheme designed to assistance cybersecurity professionals safe and authority AI agents.
• Xbox is experimenting alongside a blades dashboard. Xbox CTO Scott Van Vliet has been “cooking up retro vibes” as part of Microsoft’s new Xbox Labs effort. The outcome is what looks akin a vibe-coded choice to choice your dashboard on an Xbox console. This is merely an test correct now and it’s not apparent if we’ll always see specified an option, but Xbox CEO Asha Sharma asks “blades on the web. Do we akin this experiment?”
• Microsoft’s headcount is downward year-over-year. Microsoft’s annual report reveals the business employed about 223,000 group as of June 30th. That’s 5,000 small than the 228,000 group employed in 2025. It’s the archetypal period Microsoft has had a headcount decrease in 10 years, following the gutting of the Nokia phone endeavor in 2015 and 2016. The decrease comes as Microsoft has laid off additional than 9,000 workforce complete the former year.
• Xbox Cloud Gaming’s pay-as-you-go choice starts at $3.99 for 10 hours. Microsoft announced final duration that it volition let anyone admission Xbox Cloud Gaming in November, without the need to subscribe to Xbox Game Pass. The new pay-as-you-go model volition necessitate players to acquisition bundles of haze hours, and now Microsoft is revealing that bundles volition commencement at $3.99 for 10 hours of haze playtime. If you desire 25 hours it’ll disbursal $7.99, and 50 hours is $11.99. All of these haze hours volition contain ad-free haze gaming, shorter delay times, and higher-quality streaming.

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• Tom Warren

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• Lauren Feiner

This as-told-to composition is according to a conversation alongside May Lee, a 60-year-old broadcast engineer alongside GreyHawk Global at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. She earlier worked there as a provision technician for Amentum following spending decades at HP, most lately as a promotion and communications manager. The conversation has been edited for dimension and clarity.

I was laid off from HP following 30 years, so I decided to appearance beyond tech jobs and prosecute item distinct at 60.

I had visited Antarctica twice for holiday and cut in affection alongside it. At the time, I didn't cognize that you could activity there. When I looked into it, I knew I had to apply.

It's so difficult to depict how amazing it is to activity at McMurdo Station. If you always get a chance to cognition it, I extremely propose it.

Here's what the job use procedure was like.

I applied for 3 roles, but didn't acknowledge how rivalrous it is

The US National Science Foundation manages the US Antarctic Program. The build contracts out operational assistance to multiple companies, all alongside a particular focus. For example, Gana A'Yoo is liable for areas akin food services and discarded management.

In mid-April, I applied for three roles: rooms coordinator at Gana A'Yoo, assistance array assistance technician at Grey Hawk Global, and a provision aide supervisor at Amentum.

I applied using my HP résumé, which lists my assorted roles at the company.

I was turned downward for the rooms coordinator function inside a week or two, alongside an email stating that I did "not encounter the minimum requirements."

This came as a astonishment to me. So, I started researching additional concerning operating in Antarctica — item I should have done in advance — and learned that it's extremely rivalrous to get a job there. I peruse on blogs that if you don't make your résumé equivalent the job clarification exactly, you get weeded out. So, I think that's what happened.

A recruiter reached out to me anyway

I afterward benevolent of wrote off my chase of a job in Antarctica. I idea perchance this fair wasn't meant to be.

Then, in May, a recruiter from Amentum, which offers roles in logistics and skilled trades, reached out to me, saying that my résumé appeared to be a equivalent for what they were looking for. The job I got was a provision technician at Amentum.

When asked to dispatch my résumé by email, I updated it to create certain it matched the job description.

I additionally received a pre-screening questionnaire concerning my availability, credentials, and whether I could activity in the US without sponsorship.

I got hired as an alternate

A week later, I had a 30-minute video call alongside the recruiter concerning what the hiring procedure entails and additional particulars concerning the job environment.

This was followed a few days afterward by an 80-minute phone call alongside the hiring manager, during which they asked behavioral, situational, and competency-based questions.

I received an recommendation agreement for an substitute position. An substitute is the backup for a chief who can't go for any reason. I was told that the quicker I get through the backdrop and physical qualification (PQ) checks, the quicker I could get to the top of the substitute list.

The health inspect is extensive

Because Antarctica is so remote, they desire to create certain that you're healthy. Because if you go downward there and item happens, there are no medicinal accommodation that can obtain attention of you.

In June, I received a 17-page PQ form that requested thorough medicinal and dental information.

There were eight required lifeblood tests, a bodily exam, imagination screening, and a dental exam, among others. Depending on your age, sex, and deployment location and term, there may be additional tests. The expenses of these were reimbursable by the company.

There is additionally a extremely thorough backdrop check

In supplement to the PQ, I underwent a thorough authorities backdrop check.

I was cleared to onboard in June and was notified that I was changed to a chief in July.

Often, this is since a chief has dropped out; they might've unsuccessful the PQ, equal if they passed it the twelvemonth before, or item in their existence might've happened that requires them to remain home.

There was several back-and-forth alongside my PQ, which I had to resubmit following getting an updated Tdap vaccine.

In September, I received the current-season influenza vaccine, and my PQ was approved.

I made it to Antarctica in October

I flew from San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand, and afterward to Christchurch. There were a brace of days of training, and I additionally got outfitted alongside extreme-cold-weather gear.

Then, following seven months of preparation, I was eventually deployed to McMurdo on a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III.

The caput of Google, Sundar Pichai, stated that he expects there to be two methods in how AI agents admission website content; the archetypal is through a method akin to how humans browse the Internet and the second through protocols specifically created for use by agents. Pichai believes the two browsing and using protocols are going to grow, nevertheless he additionally feels that protocols volition ultimately measure much improved than browser-based methods but obtain longer to develop.

The complete comments were made by Pichai during an interview he gave to Alex Heath of the Sources podcast. Google has been assistance a protocol to allow agents to shop online called the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP). Additionally, Google lists Google-Agent as the person delegate it uses whenever hosted agents browse the web.

After making the complete statements, Pichai discussed how he expects agents to authorize users to have one unified cognition throughout Search and Gemini. Roger Montti covered this part of their conversation.

How Pichai Sees Agents Reaching Websites

Alex Heath wondered whether the web needs to develop for AI agents that use browsers much akin group do to get things done, noting that the current setup can awareness “like trying to fit a triangle into a square.”

Pichai called it “a complex moment” and said:

“When we say agents operating at scale, that method many, many distinct parts of the economics interoperating alongside all another in several way, in a way that has to create awareness for all the players involved.”

He added that he thinks the innovation volition get onward of the ecosystem in how those parts arrive to activity together.

Pichai pointed to “a lot of momentum rearward MCP or delegate protocols or fee protocols,” citing UCP. He stated “there’s going to be a disorderly development there,” hopefully “working towards additional interoperable standards.”

He described browser-based device use as “a extremely elegant way to activity too, since that’s what you as a person would do,” adding that it allows controls that keep users in the loop.

“I think you have the two ways and they’re going to develop,” Pichai said.

He called improved protocols “a far additional scalable approach” that would activity anyplace and instantly, but stated he expects them to obtain longer to develop.

What Pichai Said When Asked About Ads

Heath additionally asked Pichai how Google protects its own interfaces whenever AI agents do the browsing. He noted that Google has “a extremely ample ads endeavor that requires engagement” and cited Amazon blocking Muse.

Amazon cut off Meta’s Muse from buying on Amazon.com in September, saying the delegate doesn’t acknowledge itself whenever it browses. Muse is a personal agent that can open a browser and inhabit out forms.

Pichai answered:

“The correct answer longer term is you put users archetypal and say what would users want.”

He added that ultimately it has to activity for all the businesses providing value. He stated the market volition attain an balance and “that balance volition shift.”

He described this duration as being akin to the Internet’s infancy; that is whenever individuals believed purchasing and marketing homes would alter nearly instantly. Today most of these identical methods have remained the identical for about 20 years, he added, citing “real constraints in the genuine world.” He stated additional he believes “micro equilibriums” volition appear from AI agents, which he expects to be “even additional disruptive.”

He described putting himself in users’ shoes, adding, “That’s how I would method our merchandise development.” His answer didn’t location how Google’s ads would activity whenever an delegate does the browsing.

Google’s Protocol And Browsing Agent

UCP, among the protocols Pichai named, is an open norm for delegate commerce that Google built alongside a collection of companies. Google’s UCP page says merchants can clasp it to allow agentic actions in AI Mode and Gemini, starting alongside straightforward buying.

When I covered UCP in September, Google had added a Merchant Center choice for merchants to rotate on cart transfer, which sends a shopper’s items from Google to the merchant’s site.

On the browsing flank of things, Google includes Google-Agent as among the person triggered fetchers in Google’s list. According to Google, agents that are located on Google’s servers use this method “to navigate the web and execute actions upon person request.” Since an end-user requested the fetch, according to Google, these fetchers normally do not prosecute robots.txt directives. Also, Google notes that user-agent strings may be spoofed, and it publishes the IP location range(s) these fetchers run out of.

Why This Matters

Pichai expects that evolving protocols volition be additional time-consuming, therefore, the agents that sojourn pages akin to how an idiosyncratic would, are going to remain apparent during average standards are established, specified as UCP. The agents operating from Google’s server admission the web alongside a Google-Agent person agent. This user-agent is classified by Google as a person triggered fetcher, hence a robots.txt blockage mostly won’t forestall these agents.

Looking Ahead

Pichai stated Google plans to create Gemini’s delegate features, currently accessible chiefly to Ultra and Pro subscribers, additional extensively accessible complete the next few months. Google’s UCP overview page additionally highlights lodging, alongside booking in AI Mode, and food features marked as coming soon, alongside a waitlist for each.

Featured Image: Tetiana Yurchenko/Shutterstock

Source: Google.

Dolly Parton's legacy sparkled complete Nashville this week

The Country Music Association (CMA) hosted "I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton" at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday night.

Some of the genre's biggest stars made appearances, the two performing Parton's songs onstage and strolling the red carpet in outfits inspired by the music legend.

These are the best-dressed stars we saw.

You can outfit your iPad Air or iPad Pro alongside one of Apple’s slick Magic Keyboards for considerably small than the accessory normally expenses at Woot. I won’t inter the capture I teased in the headline; These cases have a 90-day warranty via Woot, and aren’t eligible for AppleCare. That said, Woot says they’re in “pristine condition, alongside basically no apparent signs of use.” If you’re motionless interested, the funds have to be value it.

The most affordable choice is the Magic Keyboard for the 13-inch iPad Air (M2, M3, M4 versions supported). Originally $319, and marketing for that cost at most retailers, you can nab one in pale for fair $129.

Woot additionally has the Magic Keyboard in dreary for the 11-inch iPad Pro (M4 and M5 editions) and the 13-inch Pro supporting the identical configurations. Those disbursal $159 and $199, respectively, which is fine complete $100 off.

Each Magic Keyboard basically turns your iPad into a MacBook, of sorts, complete alongside a trackpad, aluminum design, and a function row of keys. It magnetically attaches to the rear of your iPad, and gets power via its pogo pins, keeping the tablet’s USB-C harbor liberated for you to plug in accessories. The keyboard accessory features a USB-C harbor in its cantilevered double-hinged scheme for charging your iPad (this harbor doesn’t authorize data passthrough, fair power). The remain lets you create uncomplicated adjustments to the viewing viewpoint of your iPad, which is awesome if you’re trying to evade glare.