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☆ COVID-19 fraudsters bought fancy cars, a Pokemon card - even a private island
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Patrick Parker Walsh is serving five and half years in federal prison for stealing nearly $8 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds that he used, in part, to buy the island. Instead, he's serving five and half years in federal prison for stealing nearly $8 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds that he used, in part, to buy Sweetheart Island. They potentially plundered more than $280 billion in federal COVID-19 aid; another $123 billion was wasted or misspent. They've created special "strike forces " to hunt down COVID-19 aid thieves and vowed not to give up the chase. A few weeks after Oudomsine applied for the pandemic aid, the government rushed him $85,000 to keep his non-existent business afloat.

Persons: Richard Lardner, Patrick Parker Walsh, Julio Aguilar, he's, fraudsters, Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, James Brady, Trump, Alex Wong, Bob Westbrooks, Westbrooks, They've, Lisa Monaco, General Merrick Garland, Garland, David Weiss, Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, Drew Angerer, Konstantinos Zarkadas, Cartier, Zarkadas, Lee E, Price III, Price, Vinath Oudomsine, Oudomsine, Mickey Mantle, Dudley H, Bowen, Patrick Walsh's, Walsh, Jamie Lovemark, Kevin Lamarque Organizations: Press, AP YANKEETOWN, Associated Press ., James, Getty, YouTube, U.S . Justice, Top Justice Department, U.S, U.S . Department of Justice, Rolex, Houston, Associated Press, National Transportation Safety Board, Bethany Locations: Yankeetown, Fla, Sweetheart, Coast, Florida's, Florida, Associated Press . WASHINGTON, DC, U.S, Washington ,, Las Vegas, Tennessee, Vermont, COVID, Washington , DC, New York, Houston, Georgia, America, Bethany Beach , Delaware

☆ Elon Musk escalates AI chatbot spat with Sam Altman: 'GPT-4? More like GPT-Snore'
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk and Sam Altman are taking swipes at each other on X.Musk fired back at Altman after the OpenAI CEO mocked his "rebellious" AI chatbot Grok. AdvertisementAdvertisementFormer colleagues Elon Musk and Sam Altman are swiping at each other's products. Musk fired back at Altman after the OpenAI CEO mocked his '"rebellious" AI chatbot Grok. The OpenAI CEO asked the system to create a bot with "cringey boomer humor in an awkward shock-to-get-laughs sort of way." Despite cofounding OpenAI together in 2015, Musk and Altman have been publically sniping at each other over the last year.

Persons: Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Musk, Grok, Altman, —, ChatGPT, Christopher Stanley, OpenAI's, cofounding OpenAI Organizations: Altman, Service, X Locations: OpenAI

Sitting beneath a palm tree on a cliff above the ocean at Mr. Benioff’s Hawaiian home in 2018, they explained both devices. “This one,” Mr. Benioff said, pointing at the Ai Pin, as dolphins breached the surf below, “is huge.”“It’s going to be a massive company,” he added. They experimented in secret with hardware components and built a virtual assistant, like Siri or Alexa, working with customized language models based, in part, on OpenAI’s offerings. The device’s most sci-fi element — the laser that projects a text menu onto a hand — started inside a box the size of a matchbook. It took three years to miniaturize it to be smaller than the size of a golf tee.

Persons: Mr, Benioff, “, ”, Siri, Altman Organizations: Apple

☆ Dating Apps Need to Rekindle Romance With Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-06 | by ( Dan Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Lidiane Jones will take over as CEO of Bumble. Photo: josh edelson/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesInvestors are swiping left on Bumble ’s new chief. The owner of the female-driven online dating app of the same name saw its share price slide about 5% on Monday morning after the company said that founder Whitney Wolfe Herd is stepping down from the chief-executive officer role. She will remain as executive chair, while Lidiane Jones will take over as CEO on Jan 2. She currently heads up Slack Technologies, where she became CEO almost a year ago under the ownership of Salesforce.

Persons: Lidiane Jones, Bumble, josh edelson, Whitney Wolfe Organizations: Agence France, Getty, Slack Technologies

If you can't pay off your credit card balance, consider a debit card while you pay down that debt. If you're more prone to impulsively swiping your credit card online or in person, stick to using your debit card. If you already have credit card debt, don't add to it by continuing to use the credit card. You can also consider a prepaid debit card, which is similar to a regular debit card but isn't connected to a checking account. Fees no monthly service fee Annual Percentage Yield (APY) None Minimum Deposit Amount $0 Pros Check mark icon A check mark.

Persons: —, Cash Organizations: Service, Federal Reserve, Discover Bank Locations: Canada, Mexico, Caribbean

☆ Dating is hard. Have apps made it worse?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Leah Asmelash | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

“Dating on the apps, it’s ruined dating a bit,” Nguyen-Don, who works as a digital marketing manager, said. “The… design of those dating apps should definitely be held accountable for this kind of dating culture,” Zhou said. His experiences on dating apps were positive, he said, and he valued the ways they introduced him to new people and new experiences. Dating apps know this. For all their flaws, dating apps are unlikely to disappear any time soon.

Persons: Jenny Nguyen, Don, Nguyen, didn’t, WhatsApp, hadn’t, he’d, texted, ” Nguyen, “, Alexis Dougé, Tinder, ”, Dougé, who’s, Benson Zhou, Zhou, ” Zhou, Brian, they’ll, CNN he’s, Foyin Ogunrombi, Ogunrombi, she’s, —, Who’s, Silas Stein, “ It’s, ” Ogunrombi, David Argetsinger, Argetsinger, ” Alissa Wilson, ” Wilson, Maxine Simone Williams, WeMetIRL, ” Williams, Williams, Bumble Organizations: CNN, Twitter, New York University Shanghai Locations: London, TikTok, Atlanta, Johannesburg, South Africa, Everett , Washington, Arlington , Virginia, New York, cologne

☆ The Fed decision on interest rates won't offer much relief to Main Street businesses
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Mallika Mitra | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The average monthly credit card expenditure of U.S. small businesses is up by an average of 20% compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to a recent report by Intuit QuickBooks. Around 1,660 small businesses have filed for bankruptcy in 2023 so far, which is higher than in all of 2022, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute. Access to capital for small businesses is at an economic cycle low. Getting a business credit card is much easier than getting a loan from a bank, Akcigit said. Power, who leads research on small business credit cards at the firm.

Persons: Jerome Powell, Ufuk, Intuit QuickBooks, Goldman Sachs, Akcigit, John Cabell, Cabell Organizations: Fed, Federal Reserve, Bureau of Labor Statistics JOLTS, Intuit QuickBooks, University of Chicago, Intuit, American Bankruptcy Institute, Goldman Locations: ., U.S

☆ No swiping needed - film 'Fingernails' puts love to the test
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Hanna Rantala | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

But Anna wants more and secretly takes a job at a love institute, where she meets star instructor Amir (Riz Ahmed) and begins to have her doubts about the whole process. "Fingernails" is set in an unspecified period to reflect the timelessness of love, said Nikou, a former assistant director to Greece's Yorgos Lanthimos, whose film "The Lobster" also anatomises relationships. Grant turned down an offer to play the owner of the love institute in "Fingernails" said Nikou, but the film still includes a tribute to the British actor. "We wanted to create an inside joke that the owner of the love Institute is Hugh Grant, because he's always the guy who gets the girl at the end. "And then he said 'no' and now he's on the marquee of a cinema (in the film) and I love that."

Persons: Jessie Buckley, Mario Anzuoni, Christos Nikou's, Jeremy Allen White, Anna, Ryan, Amir, Riz Ahmed, Nikou, Greece's Yorgos Lanthimos, Hugh Grant, Grant, he's, Hanna Rantala, Andrew Heavens Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Apple, Thomson Locations: Hollywood, Los Angeles , California, U.S, British

☆ How I Get Eight Free Hotel Nights Every Year Without Doing Anything
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-28 | by ( Ben Luthi | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +10 min

So long as you pay the annual fee, many hotel credit cards offer one free night each year. Before discovering free night credits, I stayed at my fair share of motels with rock-hard beds and paper-thin walls. However, as my life and finances evolved, the benefit of my free night certificates has become about more than saving money. My hotel credit card collectionYou probably don’t need eight hotel cards. Key perks: Annual free night award, fourth night free on consecutive award redemptions, automatic IHG® Platinum status, $100 trusted traveler program application fee credit every four years.

Persons: Ben Luthi, I’ve, ”, you’ll, ’, we’ve, I’m, you’re, Wyndham Wyndham, Wyndham Organizations: Nintendo, Card, Marriott Marriott, Marriott, California — Marriott, Marriott Bonvoy, Business, Residence, Ritz, Carlton, Hilton Hilton Honors Aspire, Hilton, Hilton Resort, Honors, Diamond, Las, Hyatt, Hyatt Credit, Hyatt House, Hyatt Card, Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt, Wyndham Locations: Sandy , Utah, Hilton, Park City, Marriott, California, Fairfield, Vegas, Seattle, Alaska, Grand, Wyndham

☆ Your mom can now recommend matches for you on Tinder
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tinder users can now let their friends and family recommend potential matches directly in the app. Over 75% of singles Tinder surveyed discuss their dating lives with friends several times a month. A new matchmaker feature on the dating app lets users invite others to review potential matches for them, Tinder announced Monday. Users can invite up to 15 people to view profiles of potential matches on the dating app. Match Group, which owns Tinder and another dating app, Hinge, plans to roll out AI tools aimed to help users select their best profile photos and explain why matches are compatible.

Persons: —, Tinder, you've, it's, Melissa Hobley, Bumble, Whitney Wolfe Herd Organizations: Service, Match, Bloomberg Locations: Tinder

☆ A Fast and Easy Focaccia for Just a Bit of Baking
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-22 | by ( Sam Sifton | More About Sam Sifton | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

These are not easy days we’re marking. The news is relentless and largely grim, and it’s sometimes difficult to imagine a way forward, toward happiness and grace. You’re not alone, if that’s your state of mind. It’s a focaccia to make things just a little bit better. And sometimes that’s enough.

Persons: You’re, Genevieve Ko’s Locations: It’s

☆ The League was criticized as the dating app for elitists—'that was actually never the case,' founder says
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Aditi Shrikant | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

When The League first entered the emerging dating app space in 2014, it was labeled "elitist." All of this, of course, makes The League harder to join than other dating apps such as Tinder or Bumble. Eight years since that post, and one year since the app was acquired by Match Group, Bradford maintains the app isn't elitist. It's less about what you've achieved and more about where you're going. Bradford: She's a Harvard graduate and thinks people from those schools want someone that's going to match them from those communities.

Persons: Amanda Bradford, Bradford, Aditi Shrikant, it's, It's, you've, Wharton MBAs, I've, she's, She's Organizations: League, The League, LinkedIn, Match Group, Bradford, CNBC, Pew Research Center, People, Survey, Ivy League, Harvard, MTA, York's Metropolitan Transportation, Global Locations: Bradford, San Francisco

Don't think that because you can't cut your grocery bill or your utility bill is just high this time of year, you cannot save money. Here are five ways to save money in 10 minutes or less:1. Call your monthly bill providersSet aside a few minutes to call your cell phone or internet provider and see if they can reduce your monthly bill. We went through my bill and by the time I was done, my monthly bill was $185. The idea is to make your credit card almost impossible to access — not just to create a credit card popsicle.

Persons: —, It's, it's Organizations: Service

☆ Here are 2 charts that show the American consumer is still going strong
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Americans are still shelling out cash for discretionary spending, despite concerns of a weakening consumer. Total card spending is likely up 4.5% year-per-year over the past 3 months, Bank of America forecasted. Americans likely ran out of their excess savings last quarter, the San Francisco Fed previously estimated. Bank of AmericaBofA's spending data paints a promising picture of a consumer that's humming along despite an uncertain economic outlook. According to a study from the San Francisco Fed, Americans may have run out of their excess savings at the end of last quarter.

Persons: —, BofA, bode Organizations: Bank of America, San Francisco Fed, Service, Labor, San Francisco Locations: San Francisco Fed

☆ I'm a financial dominatrix. People send me $1,500 a month to be humiliated and 'owned' – here's how it works.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-11 | by ( Ryan S. Gladwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Hope Vicious is a financial dominatrix whose "owned subs" send her money. Many were time wasters who didn't end up sending money, but within my first month, I was making money. But then they get all this free attention with no real intention of sending money. AdvertisementAdvertisementHow my findomme business worksSome people send money because they want to be humiliated or ignored, or I'll do a session with them. I have up to seven owned subs at a time.

Persons: Hope Vicious, —, It's, wasters, doesn't, There's, I've, I'm Organizations: Service, Twitter, Rolex, BMW Locations: Maryland

☆ Google continues move toward future without passwords
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-10 | by ( Jake Piazza | In Jakepiazza | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The company announced Tuesday in a blog post that it is making passkeys a default option for personal Google accounts after positive feedback from users. Passkeys, which Google started using in May, are a safer and faster alternative to passwords and make it so people do not have to remember numerous passwords, Google said. The passkeys run on facial recognition, fingerprint scan or a PIN number, making phishing attacks ineffective at swiping passwords. "We'll keep you updated on where else you can start using passkeys across other online accounts," Google said in the blog. "In the meantime, we'll continue encouraging the industry to make the pivot to passkeys — making passwords a rarity, and eventually obsolete."

Persons: Sundar Pichai, we'll Organizations: Google, Shoreline, YouTube, eBay Locations: Mountain View , California

☆ Wall Street's dream scenario is dead
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-07 | by ( Matthew Fox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Wall Street's vision of a Goldilocks scenario for the stock market and economy is unraveling. AdvertisementAdvertisementWall Street's dream of a Goldilocks scenario for the stock market and economy is probably dead. Interest rates soared. As painful as inflation and higher interest rates were, the economy remained resilient as consumers held onto their jobs and kept swiping their credit cards. It has to acknowledge that interest rates are now sufficiently restrictive, and decide that it's next monetary policy move isn't an interest rate hike, but rather a pause, and then a cut.

Persons: —, it's, Jerome Powell, Powell's, Powell, Buckle, Greg Daco, Something's, Kevin O'Leary, we've, Wharton, Jeremy Siegel, Mary Daly, Raphael Bostic Organizations: Service, Treasury, Valley Bank, Bloomberg, CNBC Locations: America

Learn moreSamsung's Galaxy Watch line of wearables has long been Android's answer to the Apple Watch, offering as close to a comparable experience as there is. With the recent release of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic, that distinction is true for yet another year. It does have the largest screen of any Galaxy Watch, measuring 3mm larger than the Watch 5 Pro. If it's accurate activity tracking you're after in a Galaxy Watch, the Watch 5 Pro is a far better option with more reliable GPS. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe best experience requires the use of a Samsung phoneCompatibility has long been a weakness of the Samsung Galaxy Watch, and the Watch 6 Classic is no different.

Persons: Rick Stella, It's, durably Organizations: Galaxy, Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Watch, Samsung, Navigation, Samsung Galaxy, Samsung Health Monitor

☆ I Was Skeptical of the Apple Watch’s New Double Tap Feature—Until I Tried It
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( Nick Guy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Just “tap tap” after you’ve raised your arm to wake up the Watch and you’ll take action on the active app. And for third-party apps, double tap will do the primary action if you get a notification. It may sound like a novelty, but in my initial testing I’ve found double tap to be surprisingly useful (and it feels pretty magical, too). I can see double tap evolving to become as natural a gesture as poking at the Apple Watch’s screen or spinning its digital crown. (And I’m usually the first to say if an Apple feature is mostly hype and little function.)

Persons: Nick Guy, it’s, you’ve, haven’t, I’ve Organizations: Apple, Apple Watch

Since the pandemic began, many employees have relied on remote work to perform their jobs. But employers have applied steady and increasing pressure to do more work in the office, fueled by a belief that employees work more effectively when they’re physically present. As a result, companies continue to bludgeon their workers with return-to-office (RTO) mandates. Despite sustained efforts to get people in more often, office attendance has been flat. Yet companies continue to demand more in-office work.

Persons: they’re

☆ Insider Today: Amazon's secret search plan
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

AdvertisementAdvertisementThe retail giant is overhauling its search bar with ChatGPT-like features that'll act as a sort of concierge for customers, offering expert answers and product suggestions. Dubbed Project Nile, Amazon's top leaders, including CEO Andy Jassy, view the new search bar as a top priority. AdvertisementAdvertisementHowever, Amazon's overhauled search bar will arguably be the most impactful implementation of generative AI from Big Tech for US consumers thus far. insider intelligenceIn reading Eugene's piece, three follow-up questions immediately came to mind:How will Amazon sellers try and game the new search bar? However, Joseph Sirosh serves as VP of Amazon Search and Alexa Shopping, suggesting Alexa could get a much-needed boost from the new search bar.

Persons: —, Mike Blake, Alyssa Powell, Amazon's, Andy Jassy, Eugene Kim, Joseph Sirosh, Alexa, TikTok, Ben Sun, Anu Duggal, Susan Lyne, Josh Wolfe, Matt Harris, Jillian Williams, Melissa Kwan, Sergey Brin, Brin, Hugo Herrera, Sam Bankman, Fried, Dan DeFrancesco, Naga Siu, Hallam Bullock, Lisa Ryan Organizations: Service, Reuters, Nile, Microsoft, Big Tech, Alexa, Amazon Search, Getty, Wall Street, BBG Ventures, Lux Capital, Apple, Bain Capital Ventures, Cowboy Ventures, Prosecutors, BET, MLB, American League and National League, Houston Astros Locations: Atlanta, Sonoma , California, New York City, San Diego, London, New York

☆ Apple Watch review: New gesture control feature involves tapping the air
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Over the past few days, I’ve been taking phone calls, playing music and scrolling through widgets on the new Apple Watch Series 9 without ever touching the device. The feature isn’t entirely new; the previous generation of Apple Watch Ultra was capable of similar pinch-and-clench gestures via its Assistive Touch accessibility tool. The future of hands-free devicesThe new Apple Watch Series 9 can be controlled by tapping two fingers together. The Apple Watch Series 9 will start at $399 and the Ultra is priced at $799. Although they start shipping on Friday, September 22, the Double Tap feature will launch via a software update next month.

Persons: I’ve, Cupertino , California Justin Sullivan, Apple, it’s, ”, Annette Zimmerman, they’ve, It’s, Sachin Mehta, Mehta, there’s Organizations: CNN, Apple, Apple Watch, smartwatches, Vision, Gartner Research, Apple Apple, Samsung, ABI Research Locations: Cupertino , California

☆ 8 CEO lessons Elon Musk tried to teach his bother Kimbal, based on a mobile game Musk was obsessed with
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Here are the eight CEO lessons that Elon handed down to his brother through the game, per Isaacson's conversations with Elon, Kimbal, Grimes, and Zilis. When you get used to losing, you will play each game with less emotion," Elon told Isaacson. If we let a few of them slide, we will never get to Mars," Elon told Isaacson. Elon told Isaacson, "I had to take Polytopia off my phone because it was taking up too many brain cycles. Elon Musk and Kimbal Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider, sent outside regular business hours.

Persons: Musk, Grimes, Kimbal, Elon Musk, —, Douglas Adams, Walter Isaacson's, Isaacson's, Grimes —, Elon, Shivon, Isaacson, Polytopia, Zilis, he's, you'll, Unplug Organizations: Service, Google Locations: Polytopia, Wall, Silicon, Tesla's, Kimbal

You can connect your iPhone to a TV using an AV cable, AirPlay, or screen mirroring. To AirPlay or screen mirror your iPhone, you also need to have an Apple TV or AirPlay 2-compatible smart TV. Connect an iPhone to any TV with an AV cable To connect your iPhone to a TV, you'll need an adapter cable that matches the style of input on your TV or monitor. Be sure your TV is on and displaying your Apple TV screen. Be sure your TV is on and displaying your Apple TV screen.

Persons: HBO Max, Dave Johnson, you've, Grace Eliza Goodwin Organizations: Apple, Hulu, HBO, Control, iPhone's, Amazon Prime, Netflix Locations: Hulu

So I'll admit I got The Platinum Card® from American Express for the clout. Getting an Amex didn't change my finances or my life, and I knew it wouldn'tI held my Amex Platinum card as I did with my driver's license when I was 16. Financial therapist Aja Evans says my Amex credit card is one way of coping with self-esteem issues, but it's a bandage. Apply and select your preferred metal Card design: classic Platinum Card®, Platinum x Kehinde Wiley, or Platinum x Julie Mehretu. Products in this post: The Platinum Card® from American Express, American Express® Gold Card

Persons: Achilles, I've, wouldn't, I'm, Aja Evans, Evans, it's, Uber, Wiley, Julie Mehretu, Peacock, Uber Cash Organizations: Service, American Express, Yorker, Express, Hilton, Marriott, Saks, Entertainment, Disney, ESPN, The New York Times, Street, Walmart, TSA, Global, Saks Fifth, Shipping, American, Products Locations: Wall, Silicon, Hulu

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