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☆ Tech layoffs strip the facade of TikTok's 'day in the life' videos
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Morgan Sung | Morgan Sung Is A Trends Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Meta, Salesforce, Twitter, Snap and other tech companies have also announced layoffs in recent months. Others are using their platforms to raise awareness of labor rights in wake of recent layoffs. So yeah, I’m unemployed, but I have a hell of a lot of confidence in myself.”Educating viewers about their rights has also gained popularity after recent layoffs. TikTok user alberta.nyc, a Google software engineer and self-described “tech cynic," has made videos about the importance of unions in the tech industry. In a video, creator alejandra_n_h expressed solidarity with former Amazon employees who had been affected by recent layoffs.

If everyone in the world expertly utilized credit card rewards to travel for free, there wouldn't be such amazing travel opportunities out there. Identify your travel goalsBefore you begin collecting credit card rewards, you should first identify your travel goals. Amex Membership Rewards points Capital One miles Chase Ultimate Rewards points Choice Privileges points Citi ThankYou points Hilton Honors points Hyatt points IHG Rewards points Marriott Bonvoy points Wyndham Rewards pointsYou travel with a large family Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Recommended credit card strategies for beginnersThe best practice for anyone new to credit card rewards is to invest in flexible points. You'll need: An annual fee-incurring Hilton credit card One of the greatest deals in credit card rewards is the free night certificate that comes with select American Express Hilton credit cards.

☆ Kim Kardashian's Skims campaign with 'The White Lotus' breakout stars shows the power of pop culture in marketing
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Alexandra York | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Kim Kardashian's shapewear brand, Skims, launched a campaign with stars of "The White Lotus." Watson added that with this campaign, Skims is leveraging characters who are both relatable and aspirational to evoke that perception of the products. Here's why the latest Skims campaign works and what other business owners can learn for their brand marketing, according to Watson. For fans of 'The White Lotus,' we feel this source of pride, like 'here's our friend getting a platform.'" "You're not going to be able to emulate the reach of Kim Kardashian overnight," he said.

☆ ‘Big Oil peddled the big lie’: UN chief slams energy giants for ignoring their own climate science
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that without further action, humanity was on course for a global temperature increase of 2.8 degrees Ceslius. "Some in Big Oil peddled the big lie," Guterres said during a special address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The study, published last week in the journal Science, said that Exxon's private projections of global temperature rise were often more accurate than world-leading NASA scientists. The burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas, is the chief driver of the climate emergency. Guterres said that without further action, humanity was on course for a global temperature increase of 2.8 degrees Celsius.

☆ Rolls Royce and Porsche's gravity-defying sales numbers show the rich aren't cutting back on luxury spending just yet
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ultra-wealthy shoppers meanwhile have kept up spending, driving record sales for Rolls Royce and Porsche. But the 2022 sales of brands like Rolls Royce and Porsche appear to defy this financial gravity. Rolls Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös. Porsche 2022 Taycan GTS and Taycan GTS Sport Turismo. While most average households are balancing the math of higher-priced eggs against shifting energy bills, an exclusive few are busy making sure the Rolls Royce they buy is one-of-a-kind.

What are credit card and bank rewards points worth? One great feature of the program is that all points are equal, so any account that earns Membership Rewards points has access to transfer partners. If you're a Bank of America Preferred Rewards customer, you'll earn 25% to 75% more points, depending on how much you have on deposit, but your rewards points are still worth 1 cent apiece. You can transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, and Citi ThankYou to JetBlue, but the ratio varies depending on the rewards program. However, those miles expire after 36 months regardless of your account activity, so only transfer miles when you have immediate plans to redeem them.

How to earn Alaska Airlines milesThere are two types of Alaska miles: Elite-qualifying miles and redeemable miles. Earn Alaska miles for car rentalsYou can opt-in to earn Alaska miles when you rent cars through Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Hertz, National, or Thrifty. Redeem Alaska miles for domestic flightsOne of the most popular ways to redeem Alaska miles is for domestic award flights on Alaska and its partner American Airlines. Redeem Alaska miles for flights on partner airlinesUsing Alaska Airlines miles for award flights on partner airlines is perhaps the best way to use your Alaska miles. Donate Alaska Airlines miles to charityYou can donate your Alaska miles to over a dozen different charities, in 1,000-mile increments, and with no maximums or fees.

David Slotnick/Business InsiderAmerican Express Membership Rewards points are among the most valuable card rewards you can earn. You'll usually get the most value from Amex points by transferring them to airline and hotel partners. In fact, the Amex Membership Rewards program debuted way back in 1991 with just seven US airline partners. More Information Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $6,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. What to know about transferring Amex points to partnersAmerican Express Membership Rewards points are among the most valuable and versatile travel rewards out there.

☆ Here are 3 big luxury retail trends for 2023, according to experts
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Luxury resale will boom in 2023 as more brands take control of their second-hand markets. The personal luxury market is expected to grow 3%-8% over the next year, according to Bain & Company. This year, without those stimulus checks, and amid a possibly pending recession, there will be a shift in who is buying luxury items, according to Oliver Chen, a managing director in the retail and luxury section for investment bank Cowen. Insider chatted with four experts, from former merchandisers to retail analysts, to understand how the luxury retail market is bound to change in 2023. Next year, experts expect to see more luxury brands taking control of their own second-hand markets.

☆ American Girl makes history with its first South Asian Girl of the Year doll
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Brahmjot Kaur | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

American Girl unveiled its 2023 Girl of the Year on Thursday, and in a brand first, the title goes to a South Asian doll. Kavi Sharma, an Indian American from New Jersey, loves to sing, dance and hang out with her friends. Kavi, who takes weekly classical Indian dance classes, and her tight-knit family also celebrate their culture through holidays, food and clothing. American Girl, a subsidiary of toy company Mattel, debuted its first Girl of the Year in 2001. Although Kavi is the company’s first South Asian Girl of the Year, she is not the first South Asian doll.

☆ Non-alcoholic beer to continue growing in 2023, Athletic Brewing Company CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Ian Thomas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

But the CEO of one of the leading non-alcoholic beer companies said that the demand for non-alcoholic brews is booming well beyond a single month. "This is the moment we've been waiting for in the category," Bill Shufelt, Athletic Brewing CEO, said on CNBC's "Squawk Box "on Wednesday. Long a sleepy category within the broader industry of beer, non-alcoholic beer has seen its growth skyrocket in recent years as bigger beer giants like AB InBev and Heineken launch new products as well as the emergence of independent brewers like Athletic Brewing. The lack of quality non-alcoholic beer options was the impetus for Shufelt, a former trader at Steve Cohen's Point72 Asset Management, to start the Connecticut-based company in 2017, which solely focuses on non-alcoholic brewing. Shufelt said that non-alcoholic beers now make up more than 2% of all beer sold at U.S. grocery stores, and at some national chain retailers, it is upwards of 8% of their beer category.

☆ Pumpkin and rooibos ice cream on menu as Cape Town cafe champions African flavours
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Esa Alexander | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/6] Tapi Tapi ice cream shop owner, Zimbabwean Tapiwa Guzha, mixes the ice cream ingredients at his shop in Observatory, in Cape Town, South Africa, December 20, 2022. "At some point it became an aspirational thing to say I don't eat African food ... so I started addressing ... that problem," he said at his Tapi Tapi shop. Located in the bohemian suburb of Observatory in Cape Town, he hopes to share the different flavours in tubs and cones, and celebrate African food culture, rituals and folklore. People often bring him ingredients from other parts of the continent, he says, who get a free tub of ice cream in return. Growing up, customer Clive Sibanda knew ice cream could be vanilla, something that is not native to South Africa.

☆ Tesla under investigation by NHTSA for two more crashes that may have involved Autopilot or FSD
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Tesla offers a standard driver assistance package called Autopilot in all its new cars today. Another recent crash added to NHTSA's list involved a 2020 Tesla Model 3, the company's entry-level sedan. According to data obtained from NHTSA by CNBC, the agency is looking into at least 41 crashes involving Tesla vehicles where automated features such as automatic emergency braking, or more extensive driver assistance system features included in Autopilot, FSD, and FSD Beta were involved. The California DMV has accused Tesla of engaging in false advertising around its driver assistance systems. Amid tough economic conditions, Tesla has recently offered steep discounts on its cars in the US, Canada, Mexico and China.

In this guide, we'll give you a crash course on how to quickly earn credit card rewards and book free travel. If everyone in the world expertly utilized credit card rewards to travel for free, there wouldn't be such amazing travel opportunities out there. Identify your travel goalsBefore you begin collecting credit card rewards, you should first identify your travel goals. Recommended credit card strategies for beginnersThe best practice for anyone new to credit card rewards is to invest in flexible points. You'll need: An annual fee-incurring Hilton credit card One of the greatest deals in credit card rewards is the free night certificate that comes with select American Express Hilton credit cards.

The Bank of England also raised its key interest rate by a further half-percentage point on Thursday and indicated more hikes were likely. "Both the Fed and ECB delivering more hawkish rate steers are compounding recession fears," said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Convera in Washington. Powell was also particularly hawkish in his comments, noting that ongoing rate hikes are appropriate to get sufficiently restrictive. In afternoon trading, the dollar rose to two-week highs against the yen, and last traded up 1.6% at 137.665 . Sterling also fell sharply as investors believe the BOE is nearing the end of its rate hikes.

☆ Premarket stocks: How the Fed could do a smaller rate hike and still upset markets
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

That will mark its seventh and final painful hike of the year, albeit a smaller one than the last four historically high three-quarter point increases. Investors will be paying close attention to these forecasts for clues about the path of rate hikes in the new year and beyond. Now the opposite is true, the dots have become a signal that interest rates will remain elevated into the future — spooking investors and Fed watchers alike. Back in December 2021, the Fed was only expecting rates to finish this year at about 0.9%. What else: Wednesday will also bring the Fed’s latest forecasts for the unemployment rate and gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

☆ Struggling sneaker brand Vans is trying to lure millennials away from Nike and other brands with nostalgia, high heat collabs, and better arch support
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Danni Santana | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

But Harrer, who joined Vans from Dollar Shave Club in April 2021, noted that Vans wasn't reminding people about those classic shoes. Vans stopped marketing its classic sneakers for some time before resuming earlier this year with the "Classic Since Forever" campaign. "Our top-tier limited-distribution footwear, which you may know as Vans Vault, has previously met the needs of influential footwear-trend accounts in the past," he said. With Vans Vault, the company takes classic shoes and collaborates with popular designers and boutiques on new colorways. Vans Vault releases compete with Nike, Adidas, Converse, and others for the general sneaker lover.

☆ Tesla: Our ‘failure’ to make actual self-driving cars ‘is not fraud’
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said numerous times since 2015 that Tesla cars would be entirely self-driving in two years, or less. Even when equipped with a $15,000 technology package that is literally called “Full Self Driving Capability,” a Tesla car can’t actually drive by itself. The lawsuit cited numerous times when Musk and others at Tesla had stated that, within a year or two, the cars would be fully self-driving thanks to software updates. For instance, in a 2016 Tweet, Musk stated that a Tesla car would be able to drive itself across the United States “by next year,” the suit said. Later that year, Tesla published a video, also cited in the lawsuit, which the automaker said showed one of its cars driving itself.

☆ 'Sort Of' is about a nonbinary millennial. Its star hopes to change how we see each other
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Harmeet Kaur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Sabi, who is nonbinary, not only navigates love and dating in Toronto but also hopes to be understood by their Pakistani immigrant family. Baig spoke to CNN about what it means to feel seen and how “Sort Of” might help some viewers achieve that feeling. Wanting to feel seen is another thread that runs through the show. When we feel seen, when we feel understood, we feel a lot less lonely in the world. We work with writers and directors who are trans, nonbinary, South Asian, people of color.

Chase Ultimate Rewards® points are one of the highest regarded rewards currencies in the world of points and miles. Cards that earn Ultimate Rewards pointsBefore jumping in, let's start with a rundown of credit cards that earn transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards® points:Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card Learn More On Chase’s secure site Rewards $50 annual Ultimate Rewards Hotel Credit, 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 3X points on dining, 2X points on all other travel purchases, and 1X points on all other purchasesWelcome bonus Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. Transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Marriott with a 40% bonusAt the time, I hardly had any Marriott points to my name. Bottom lineMarriott Bonvoy probably isn't the first transfer partner for which folks collect Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

☆ A Warren Buffet-backed Tesla competitor is making a dent in Elon Musk's EV empire
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

China's BYD is quickly gaining on Tesla, the world leader in electric car sales. This year, it kicked combustion-engine cars to the curb and has grown its EV business at an explosive pace. In 2021, the Warren Buffet-backed carmaker shipped some 320,000 pure electric vehicles (not including the plug-in hybrid vehicles that still make up much of BYD's sales). BYD's epic rise comes amid signs that Tesla is losing steam in China, the world's biggest market for electric cars. Some industry watchers like Michael Dunne, founder of the EV industry consultancy ZoZoGo, think BYD is primed to become the EV sales leader and dethrone Tesla.

☆ How Big Tech Shakeup, Layoffs Leave Social-Media Creators Scrambling
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Brooke Erin Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Meanwhile, laborers who rely on social-media platforms for visibility, reputation burnishing, and income have been left reeling — from journalists and academics to freelancers and adult performers. Last month, a plus-size creator told me how self-censorship becomes a risk-reduction strategy for marginalized creators. As the journalist Paul Gallant argued, queer content creators face a continuous struggle to avoid "the wrath that comes from violating ever-changing and poorly explained terms of service." Even coverage of the influence on social-media creators has been more tuned in to those with the biggest followings. But the real pain from this tug-of-war for the future of social media will be felt by those who have long faced the greatest hurdles: marginalized creators.

☆ Mauna Loa Eruption Threatens a Famous Climate Record
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Elena Shao | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +9 min

420 410 400 The Keeling Curve 390 Measurements of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere from the Mauna Loa Observatory, in parts per million CO2. In the meantime, officials are contemplating flying in a generator via helicopter to the Mauna Loa observatory, which is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. ISLAND OF HAWAI‘I Mauna Loa Observatory Lava flow Eruption began at Moku‘āweoweo caldera Mauna Loa Honolulu Hawai‘i Hawaiian Islands Area of detail Honolulu Hawai‘i Hawaiian Islands Area of detail ISLAND OF HAWAI‘I Mauna Loa Observatory Lava flow Eruption began at Moku‘āweoweo caldera Mauna Loa Source: Copernicus Notes: Image captured by satellite on Nov. 28, 2022. But none hold quite the same symbolism as Mauna Loa, which is home to the first and most frequently cited data. Even now, when scientists want to test new carbon dioxide monitoring equipment, “they go to Mauna Loa,” Dr. Sweeney said.

☆ The exec behind Adidas' partnership with Kanye West just released a biodegradable sneaker expected to be a 'game changer' for the industry
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The Unless shoe, which will retail for $139, was made in partnership with Natural Fiber Welding, which makes various materials from natural products, including plants and minerals. While other brands, including Allbirds and Camper, have worked with Natural Fiber Welding, Unless is the first to build a shoe from top to bottom with its materials. "What's unique about what Eric has done in the footwear industry is paid attention to every single component of the shoe," Natural Fiber Welding President Steve Zika told Insider. In April, Natural Fiber Welding announced an $85 million Series B investment round. Its investors include industry giants such as Ralph Lauren and Allbirds.

☆ How to play the beaten-up EV stocks from here — Evercore ISI sees one doubling next year
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Electric vehicle stocks have had a tough year, but don't count them out just yet, according to Evercore ISI. Analyst Chris McNally said the past year has been a much-needed expectation reset for nascent EV players, such as Fisker , Rivian Automotive , and Lucid Group . Each has separate, premium "go-to-market" niches within the growing EV market, he said. "Then we would begin to see vertical integration & branding advantages take charge," McNally wrote. Lucid Lucid epitomizes an aspirational EV, McNally said.

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