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☆ Walmart customers and employees can now play pickleball for free at dozens of courts across the US. Here's how to sign up.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Ben Tobin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Walmart is partnering with a racket-sports booking platform to create access to pickleball courts. Walmart did not respond directly when asked who is paying for use of the pickleball courts, only reiterating that it is "offering 125,000 court reservations." And on the website link to book courts, Walmart advertises its "favorite" pickleball supplies. How to reserve a free pickleball courtTo book a pickleball court through the partnership, Walmart employees and customers can go to www.breakthelove.com/x/walmart and select a court and time in their area. Walmart employees can access the comped reservations by entering a code on the booking platform.

☆ How a 45-year-old OnlyFans star has earned over $1 million in revenue, from posting on 10 subreddits each morning to charging more to see her face
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Nhari Djan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

She now shows her face on her $30-per-month premium OnlyFans page, @nofacemom77vip. In the two years she's been posting on OnlyFans, Farrah, 45, has made a total of $1 million before the 20% cut the company takes. Although she is active on Reddit, Farrah does not typically respond to commenters there. Farrah has also grown her platform by collaborating with other content creators, from making videos together to "shoutout" promotions. Faceless OnlyFans creators often have a difficult time building their platformsFarrah has worked with other OnlyFans creators who choose not to show their faces and seen firsthand how tricky it can be to navigate on the platform.

☆ I use these 5 ChatGPT hacks to cut my workload by 8 hours a week. Here's the exact wording of my prompts.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Ashley Couto | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Here are my five most valuable hacks, with example prompts I use daily to reduce my workload. I started using AI tools in 2022 but didn't find them to be effective at capturing brand voice and tone. I think the best marketing copy reads a little below that, at a fifth- or sixth-grade level. With ChatGPT, I can write freely and then prompt the AI to change the reading level and tone for me. I interact with other marketers on Discord servers and in Facebook groups to get more ideas for using ChatGPT.

☆ How an OnlyFans creator has made $1 million in revenue by charging more to see her face
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Nhari Djan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Farrah is an OnlyFans creator who made $1 million over two years on the platform. If you want to see Farrah's face on OnlyFans, you'll have to pay for it. She now shows her face on her $30-per-month premium OnlyFans page, NoFaceMomvip. In the two years she's been posting on OnlyFans, Farrah, 45, has made a total of $1 million before the 20% cut the company takes. Faceless OnlyFans creators often have a difficult time building their platformsFarrah has worked with other OnlyFans creators who choose not to show their faces and seen first-hand how tricky it can be to navigate on the platform.

☆ I did the Disney College Program 4 times and had years of free access to the parks. Here's how I got in.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Jamie Killin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Keller participated in the Disney College program four times, working at the parks as a student. When I was 12 years old, I learned about the Disney College Program. When I got older, I learned that travel and tourism was a college degree programI went that route for my bachelor's and master's degrees while in the Disney College Program. I was there until the following August, then went back to Florida to do the Disney College Program again while I started graduate school. I had to apply for the Disney College Program each time, so I learned the process wellThe college program application just requests super basic information from you — it's not one of those long, 100-question type things.

☆ Starbucks' Howard Schultz was the gold standard for good bosses everywhere. Then Gen Z worked for him.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks at the time, then appeared with Clinton on a panel to discuss corporate responsibility. Schultz discussed his 1987 decision to offer Starbucks employees stock options and what he said was better healthcare than rivals, among other benefits. Starbucks workers participate in November's Red Cup Rebellion, a nationwide strike. Starbucks's health insurance option for part-time workers originates in a 1986 contract for unionized Seattle Starbucks workers that Schultz fought against at the time. Markey said that by unionizing, Starbucks workers are "just looking to be someone who can protect themselves in the way your father could not."

☆ Former Greylock VC Sarah Guo is betting her career on the AI boom with new fund Conviction. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Ex-Greylock GP Sarah Guo surprised the tech world when she launched her AI fund Conviction last year. In addition to her fund, Guo has gained prominence in SF's AI scene through her podcast and events. Kovalsky knew of only one person who could be behind this — Sarah Guo, then a general partner at VC firm Greylock. Within the tech community, Guo has differentiated herself from other VCs through her honesty, business savvy, and grit, they added. Although Guo launched Conviction, a $100 million fund investing up to Series A, in late 2022, her interest in artificial intelligence has been long in the making.

☆ Metaverse could drive up profits — but most businesses may not be ready to invest yet
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Sheila Chiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

70% of companies are investing less than 5% of their technology budgets in 2023 into metaverse, while 27% have not invested into metaverse at all, a KPMG report showed. The metaverse has a great potential to drive up business profits but there's a lack of proven success for companies to pour big money into it now, showed a survey by KPMG. The KPMG survey showed that 60% of TMT executives think metaverse can drive revenue and profits and lower operating expenses as transactions shift from physical to virtual. They believe it can also improve customer satisfaction through interactive experiences, the survey showed. "The majority of TMT executives taking part in our survey feel that the metaverse is several years from becoming a thriving commercial ecosystem," said the report.

☆ The next big thing in Big Tech career path is an AI-based 'bilingual' job skillset
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Microsoft unveiled new versions of its Bing internet-search engine and Edge browser powered by the newest technology from ChatGPT maker OpenAI. But the biggest one of all may be next, he says, through the combination of artificial intelligence and branches of science involved in medicine. But the opportunity won't translate into achievement without a new form of collaboration between the classic big tech talent and the medical field. One of her portfolio companies, Insitro, was founded by Stanford AI researcher Daphne Koller (Koller co-founder edtech company Coursera). "There is lots of exciting big talent opportunities coming from big tech and big cap pharma," she said.

☆ Vimeo CEO: Highly successful Gen Zers use these 3 tactics to improve their workplaces
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The definition of Gen Z is sometimes contested, but is roughly considered anyone born between 1997 and 2012. It's one example of how Gen Z, after more than three years of a global pandemic, has a heavy hand in shaping the next new normal. Here's how the most successful Gen Zers are already doing it, according to Sud. A lot of Gen Zers are used to quickly internalizing large amounts of information in short periods of time, for example, especially with the boom of short-form content on platforms like TikTok. "[The way we] communicate and interact in our personal lives is going to translate to work," Sud said.

☆ Newsletters are helping these companies save money and bring a personal touch into their marketing strategies
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Erica Sweeney | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Small-business owners say email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach an audience. These growing companies share how they saved money and were able to make more personal connections through email marketing. According to eMarketer, 67% of marketing professionals are investing in email marketing, and 48% of millennial consumers prefer to receive deals from brands via email. It gives businesses a direct pipeline to their audienceCollecting customer information is one of the most valuable aspects of email marketing, McNair said. "If you're not doing email marketing, you're leaving really important money on the table."

☆ Wall Street lines up against SEC chair Gary Gensler on one of his most controversial proposals
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Bob Pisani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +15 min

However, Gensler has claimed that pension funds and other institutional investors are not able to interact with that retail order flow. Auctions: the industry lines up against it The auction proposal has generated a large volume of comment letters to the SEC. He has said investors today need a better understanding of how well their trading orders are being executed. Theoretically, the SEC could vote on any or all of the four proposals in a shorter time period. This is just the start This is just the start of many proposals in front of the SEC.

☆ EU must cut risks in ties with 'hardening' China - EU chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Philip Blenkinsop | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Given China's economic size and global influence, the European Union's management of this relationship would be a determining factor for EU economic prosperity and security, she said. "How China continues to interact with Putin's war will be a determining factor for EU-China relations going forward," von der Leyen said in a speech in Brussels. Von der Leyen said it was not viable to decouple from China, but it was vital to focus on reducing the risks posed to Europe. The EU, von der Leyen said, already had a range of measures to counter economic distortions and protect its security interests, but the bloc should also look at the high-tech it shared with a changing China. Since 2019, the European Union has officially regarded China as a partner, economic competitor and systemic rival.

☆ Fetch.ai helps companies build and deploy autonomous smart agents. Check out the 19-slide pitch deck it used to raise $40 million.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Check out the 19-slide deck it used to raise the fresh funds. A startup that uses AI to improve the autonomy of digital agents has raised $40 million as investors continue to pile in on the breakthrough tech. Cambridge-based Fetch.ai, founded in 2017, has developed technology that can help digital agents communicate with one another. Any transactions or activities between these various agents, who work with their own independent services, are recorded on the blockchain using Fetch.ai's native token, FET. With the fresh funds, Fetch.ai will develop and build out its technology.

☆ AI 'prompt engineer' jobs can pay up to $335,000 a year and don't always require a background in tech
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The rise in generative AI tools like ChatGPT has created a hot market for "prompt engineers." Sam Altman, the CEO of ChatGPT developer OpenAI, has spoken about the need for prompt engineers. Anna Bernstein, a prompt engineer at Copy.ai, was a freelance writer and historical research assistant before she started working with AI tools. Prompt marketplace PromptBase, which launched last June, allows people to hire prompt engineers or sell their prompts. Don't dwell too much on the current state of prompt engineering.

☆ Here are the top generative-AI startups founded by ex-Googlers that are raising hundreds of millions in 2023, despite a tough funding market
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Google built much of the foundational technology behind today's generative-AI boom. Some Googlers who built key technology are raising millions to start their own AI companies. While OpenAI has garnered considerable attention for ChatGPT, much of the foundational AI technology that made the chatbot possible got its start inside Google. Excited by ChatGPT and the potential of generative AI, some employees from Google have left the company to found their own AI startups with the belief that generative AI will alter how humans and computers interact. Below are some companies that former Googlers founded that capitalize on their work in generative AI and natural-language processing.

☆ A second giant 'hole' has appeared on the sun, and it could send 1.8 million mph solar winds towards Earth
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

These 'holes' can send 1.8 million mph solar winds towards Earth. As this first 'hole' begins rotating away from us, a new giant coronal hole — about 18 to 20 Earths' across — has come into view. Coronal holes release solar winds into space which can damage satellites and reveal stunning auroras if they reach the Earth. The 'hole' is positioned close to the sun's equatorThe coronal hole came into view as the sun rotated. The solar winds can blast very fast solar winds, with speeds of more than 800 kilometers per second, Verscharen said.

☆ Bitcoin is poised to blow up Africa's $86 billion banking system
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +16 min

Then there's mobile money, which has been around since the early 2000s. Africa's mobile money transactions rose 39% to more than $700 billion in 2021, according to data from the GSM Association, a non-profit representing mobile network operators worldwide. That cash network was extraordinarily difficult and expensive to build, which is why there aren't a lot of direct competitors. Bitnob is SMS-based and piggybacks on the mobile money system, making it easier for people to send money directly into bank accounts and mobile money wallets in African countries. "We're able to settle into bank accounts or mobile money accounts, without the recipients having to interact with bitcoin themselves," Parah tells CNBC.

☆ An AI firm created the ChatGPT of investing, and a basket of its favorite stocks outperformed the S&P 500 over the last two years. Here are the 5 stocks it says you should buy to weather further marke
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Lisa Kailai Han | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Toggle AI trains large language models like ChatGPT to enhance investing decisions. Now, investors have been drawn to the AI industry like moths to a flame, as they try to gauge which companies will win the battle for AI market dominance. But while ChatGPT may have an early lead in the AI race, Giuseppe Sette, co-founder and president of Toggle AI, isn't worried. An example of the Toggle AI capabilities Sette is currently working on. 5 Toggle-selected stocks to buyWith macroeconomic headwinds continuing to challenge markets in 2023, Sette believes that value stocks are set to outperform, at least for the near future.

☆ TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew got his start in tech at Facebook—now his app is its biggest competitor
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Ashton Jackson | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Prior to running the most popular social media app in the world, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was an intern for one of his largest competitors. On Thursday, Chew sat before Congress to defend TikTok against spying claims as Congress and President Biden weigh a potential U.S. ban. "We are committed to [being] very transparent with our users about what we collect," Chew told the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Today, Facebook has 2.9 billion active users, according to Meta's 2022 Q4 earnings presentation. "The potential security, privacy, content manipulation concerns raised about TikTok are really not unique to us.

That caused the Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, to make a rare appearance in skies across the US. The colorful lights were seen as far south as Arizona, much further than what was forecast. They normally occur in the Arctic, but powerful eruptions on the sun caused them to stretch as far south as Phoenix, Arizona before sunrise on Friday, according to images shared by photographers and skywatchers on social media. "Most people when they're seeing that far south... they're seeing it on the horizon," Young said. NWS La CrosseAnchorage, AlaskaAuroras in Anchorage, Alaska, on March 24, 2023.

Last week, at least four major banks restricted new trades involving the Swiss bank or its securities while Credit Suisse worked to restore investor confidence and stop its shares from plummeting. A leveraged finance banker said that they were scrutinizing debt issuances that banker was an agent for to see if they are affected by Credit Suisse. Credit Suisse declined comment. Since the turmoil facing Credit Suisse and regional banks began, banks have put much of their previously planned underwriting on hold until market volatility dies down, the leveraged finance banker said. They are not the only ones treading cautiously with Credit Suisse.

☆ Y Combinator-backed headless commerce startup Vue Storefront just raised $20 million with this 14-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Y Combinator-backed Vue Storefront has developed a frontend system for e-commerce sites. Vue Storefront, a Y Combinator-backed startup that aims to improve customers' experiences with e-commerce sites, just raised $20 million in fresh funds. The Polish company, founded in 2020, has built a plug-and-play frontend system for marketplace sites. This is what customers see and interact with, rather than the behind-the-scenes backend system, and is known as "headless commerce". Vue Storefront is rooted in open-source development, having spun out from a design agency.

☆ Ex-Google employees' A.I. chatbot startup valued at $1 billion after Andreessen Horowitz funding
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Character.AI, an artificial intelligence start-up founded by two former Google employees, is capitalizing on venture capitalists' unquenchable thirst for deals in technology's hottest space. The two-year-old company said on Thursday that it raised $150 million at a $1 billion valuation in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Andreessen Horowitz has been a significant player in driving up prices in both markets. The firm announced a $4.5 billion crypto fund in mid-2022 as the digital currency market was in freefall. A year earlier, it added to its investment in audio app Clubhouse, valuing the early-stage startup at $4 billion.

☆ The sun is getting more active than it has for a decade — and it could lead to power outages, grounded flights, and stunning auroras
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

That motion, called convection, is what creates strong magnetic fields at the poles and smaller, local magnetic fields at the surface of the sun. That instability causes havoc in the magnetic fields at the surface of the sun, which become much more active. NASA/Solar Dynamics ObservatoryAs the magnetic fields become more confused, bigger sun spots can appear on the surface of the sun. As the sun's local magnetic fields get more tangled and crash into each other, they can explode. "The aurora oval that sits up over the northern and southern poles is a result of currents flowing in the Earth's atmosphere," Owens said.

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