Hopes for a quick end to the government shutdown were fading Friday as Republicans and Democrats dug in for a prolonged fight and President Donald Trump readied plans to unleash layoffs and cuts across the federal government. Senators were headed back to the Capitol for another vote on government funding on the third day of the shutdown, but there has been no sign of any real progress toward ending their standoff. Democrats are demanding that Congress extend healthcare benefits, while Republicans are trying to wear them down with day after day of voting on a House-passed bill that would reopen the government temporarily, mostly at current spending levels.…
Author: Staff Writer
The idea of meditating can be intimidating. Beginners may imagine sitting uncomfortably in silence while breathing deeply and scrubbing all thoughts from their minds. The prospect of trying those techniques at work may feel embarrassing. But there are ways to bring short, inconspicuous sessions into the workday if you want to see if meditation can help you deal with challenging customers or reduce anxiety while preparing for a presentation. And experienced practitioners say there’s no right or wrong way to do it. “Meditation is quite easy, as a matter of fact. I think there’s a stigma around it, that you have to be in complete silence, and you have…
The AI boom is driving an explosive surge in computational demands and reshaping the landscape of technology, infrastructure, and innovation. One of the biggest barriers to widespread AI deployment today is access to power. Some estimates suggest AI-driven data centers now consume more electricity than entire nations. The World Economic Forum projects a doubling of energy use by data centers from 2024 to 2027, driven by the energy-intensive nature of AI workloads. This surge in electricity demand is transforming the utilities industry and redefining how and where data centers are built—power is no longer a given. In the U.S, electricity…
With foot traffic down and Target’s stock still slumping, Taylor Swift’s new album release might be the shot in the arm the retailer needs. Target may be in the crosshairs of the culture wars, but the brand’s relationship with Taylor Swift still stands in 2025. The release of The Life of a Showgirl again brings a suite of special editions to Target as exclusives, luring Swifties to spread their cash around to pick up their favorite variants. But between the retailer’s faltering reputation and a smorgasbord of album options, will Swifties take their business elsewhere? Target’s very bad 2025 In…
Snapchat rankled some of its most loyal (and heavy) users when it announced last week it will begin charging for storage plans for Memories, its version of a digital archive for Snaps and stories. Even though the Santa Monica, California-based social media company promised that “nothing will change” for the vast majority of Snapchatters, who have less than 5 gigabytes (GB) of Memories, it will begin rolling out paid storage plans, at a yet undisclosed date. The company told TechCrunch that plans will range from $1.99 per month to $15.99 per month for storage plans, depending on the amount of…
ASIA: The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today: • NIKKEI 225 increased 832.77 points or 1.85% to 45,769.50 • Shanghai closed • Hang Seng decreased 146.20 points or -0.54% to 27,140.92 • ASX 200 increased 41.50 points or 0.46% to 8,987.40 • SENSEX increased 223.86 points or 0.28% to 81,207.17 • Nifty50 increased 57.95 points or 0.23% to 24,894.25 The major Asian currency markets had a green day today: • AUDUSD increased 0.0006 or 0.09% to 0.66018 • NZDUSD increased 0.00139 or 0.24% to 0.58315 • USDJPY increased 0.235 or 0.16% to 147.511 • USDCNY increased 0.00201…
Former Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers learned all about technology’s volatile highs and lows as a veteran of the internet’s early boom days during the late 1990s and the ensuing meltdown that followed the mania. And now he is seeing potential signs of the cycle repeating with another transformative technology as a whirlwind of investments and excitement about artificial intelligence has propelled the stock market to new highs. Chambers took a similarly meteoric ride in his early days running Cisco, which had a market value of about $15 billion in 1995, when networking equipment suddenly became must-have components for the…
Apple has taken down an app that uses crowdsourcing to flag sightings of U.S. immigration agents after coming under pressure from the Trump administration. ICEBlock, a free iPhone-only app that lets users anonymously report and monitor activity by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, was no longer available on Apple’s App Store as of Friday. The developer had confirmed its removal on Thursday evening. “We just received a message from Apple’s App Review that #ICEBlock has been removed from the App Store due to “objectionable content’,” ICEBlock said in a social media post. “The only thing we can imagine is this is due to…
On Monday evening at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York City’s last-standing mayoral candidates—Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, and Curtis Sliwa—took the stage to address their plans to meet the needs of Black women in New York should they take on the role. New York’s mayoral election has captured global attention, with an international audience deeply invested in the outcome after newcomer and current state assemblyman Mamdani beat former governor Cuomo as the Democratic nominee in June. Noticeably absent was the city’s current mayor, Eric Adams. The forum took place on the heels of Adams dropping his bid for mayoral…
A comedy festival in the capital of Saudi Arabia has provided golden material for comedians who declined the offer on principle—or would’ve done, if they’d received an invite in the first place. The debut Riyadh Comedy Festival, running Sept. 26 to Oct. 9, bills itself as “the biggest comedy festival in the world.” In the line up of more than 50 comedians, some like Bill Burr and Pete Davidson, whose firefighter father was killed in the 9/11 attacks, came as a shock and disappointment to fans. The irony is also not lost that many of these same comics, who have…