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☆ Revolut's US CEO outlined the threat Apple's new high-yield savings account poses to neobanks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Paige Hagy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The CEO of at least one digital bank is keeping an eye on Apple's new high-yield savings account. The Big Tech giant launched a savings account with a 4.15% annual percentage yield (APY) through its partnership with Goldman Sachs on April 17. In its first four days of launch, it brought in nearly $1 billion in deposits, according to reporting by Forbes. The savings account is only available to people who have Apple Card — Apple's credit card — but the account has no minimum deposit or balance requirement. Apple's savings account beats this average by tenfold.

☆ Meet the demon catshark, a new deep water dwelling species with ghostly white eyes discovered off the coast of Australia
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A new species called the demon catshark has been discovered off the coast of Australia. The first found of its kind, the shark has ghostly white eyes and is likely an opportunistic hunter. Not much is yet known about this species of catshark, White said. "In deep water it'd almost just be like this ghost-like demon thing that would just be swimming really quietly through the water," White told Insider. The identification of the demon catshark is a landmark discovery for marine taxonomists.

☆ 'Succession' fans are reading into which characters use an iPhone or an Android, and think it could hint at how the show will end
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Fans are looking for easter eggs in "Succession" protagonists' clothing and accessories. Apple has been said to not want on-screen villains using iPhones, sparking theories about Tom's Android. Fans are dissecting the tiniest details from the show for hints about how the series will end. On the HBO show "Succession," where the fortunes of protagonists can shift every episode, fans are looking everywhere — in wardrobe choices and in accessories — for clues about their favorite characters' ultimate fates. Fans have also been reading into Kendall's moments in water — in a bathtub, pool, or the open water — for signs of what's next for Logan's "number one boy."

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Cigna, Apple, DraftKings, Lyft & more
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Peter Schacknow | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Check out the companies making the biggest moves premarket:Cigna — Cigna gained 3% in premarket trading after beating top- and bottom-line estimates for its latest quarter and raising its full-year forecast. Apple — Apple rose 2.7% in premarket trading after beating quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, with particularly upbeat results for its flagship iPhone. Bumble — Bumble posted higher than expected quarterly sales, as user demand for its dating app remained strong. Expedia did see its highest-ever first quarter revenue, in addition to a 20% leap in gross bookings. Coinbase — Coinbase posted better than expected quarterly results, leading to a 8.1% premarket rally for the cryptocurrency exchange's stock.

☆ Someone needs to tell MTG that Biden can't be both a criminal mastermind and completely senile
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Greene baselessly claimed this week that Biden is the mastermind of a criminal empire. And he is the mastermind of the Biden criminal enterprise," Greene told Guilfoyle on Wednesday. The claims Greene has made about Biden are in line with those often trotted out by her fellow far-right GOP members. Other GOP figures, including Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, have also mocked Biden — who's 80 — for his age. It's also worth noting that Trump — who's 76, and who Greene staunchly supports — has been accused of sexual assault and arrested on 34 felony charges.

☆ Millions of student-loan borrowers could find out in the next 2 months if they will get Biden's debt relief. Here's what's at stake — beyond a reduction to balances.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision on Biden's student-debt relief by the end of June. They could have debt relief right now if it weren't for these lawsuits." And it looks like the Education Department is planning for those payments to resume with or without relief. The implementation of targeted debt relief reformsThe Education Department has some other things in the works, aside from broad student-debt relief. Share your student debt story with this reporter at asheffey@insider.com.

☆ Trump hugged and reassured a QAnon supporter convicted of defying police orders at the Capitol riot during NH campaign stop
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Donald Trump hugged and praised a woman convicted for defying police during the January 6 Capitol riots. During a campaign stop in New Hampshire, Trump said the woman had "been through too much" and told her to "hang in there." "President Trump, will you please sign my Trump backpack that I carried up to Jan. "Listen, you just hang in there," Trump told the woman, according to the Post. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

☆ A Chinese tech company fired an employee for taking medical 'bed rest' on a tropical island instead of recuperating at home
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A tech company fired a man who spent sick leave on a tropical island, per National Business Daily. A tech company in China fired an employee after he spent his two-week sick leave on a tropical island, according to the country's National Business Daily, or NBD, on April 16. Xu then applied for sick leave for the period from July 18 to July 31. Xu's manager called Xu on August 21 to check where he was during his sick leave. The tech company fired Xu two days later for "fraud and dishonesty" and a labor dispute between the two parties ensued.

☆ CEOs are balancing economic uncertainty with the need to innovate and invest in the future
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Josée Rose | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

About 75% of C-suite execs are worried about macro uncertainty, BCG's CEO Outlook survey found. Walter told Insider that all companies need to trim costs smartly so they can reinvest in growth, particularly in digital and in mergers. "One being, there's macro uncertainty, and we need to adjust our cost base in order to take a defensive posture against that macro uncertainty. "Two is: We need to continue to innovate and grow because if we don't, we're not going to succeed as a company. Most C-suite leaders understand that amid difficult decisions like layoffs or reorganizations, companies still need to invest in their employees.

☆ So many Kias and Hyundais are being stolen using just a screwdriver and a USB cord that 17 state attorneys general are calling for a recall on millions of vehicles
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A group of state attorneys general is asking the federal government to recall millions of Hyundai and Kia vehicles. They cite a string of thefts in the last few years, which seem to be inspired by TikTok videos. It is unacceptable that families and communities should be forced to shoulder the cost of Kia's and Hyundai's failures." At least eight deaths and several injuries have been attributed to accidents involving stolen Kias or Hyundais, the letter states. The company also said it has shipped over 47,000 steering wheel locks to thousands of Kia owners, as well as to hundreds of local law enforcement agencies for them to distribute.

☆ Thousands of student-loan borrowers are facing 'obvious harm' if the Supreme Court agrees to halt the debt relief they already won in court, Biden's Education Department says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Education Department pushed back on a lawsuit to halt student-debt relief for borrowers who said they were defrauded. A federal judge signed off on a settlement that would give those borrowers $6 billion in debt relief. The Education Department agreed to the settlement last summer, and in November, a federal judge signed off on $6 billion in debt relief for 200,000 borrowers. On Wednesday, the Education Department responded to the schools' appeal, and as expected, it told the Supreme Court that staying the relief will cause "obvious harm" for impacted borrowers and the department itself. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case aiming to block that broader relief in February.

☆ Democrats are betting Republicans' defense of Donald Trump's criminal charges will age like milk on the 2024 campaign trail
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Republicans facing tough 2024 races are defending Donald Trump against criminal charges. Democrats are betting their defense of Trump will hurt them in competitive 2024 races. Lauren Boebert (@RepBoebert) April 4, 2023Boebert is on House Democrats' list of 31 vulnerable Republicans and two competitive open seats that they are targeting to take back control of the House in 2024. Biden hasn't commented on Trump's charges, and Democrats in Congress are treading carefully. Democrats shouldn't get ahead of the judicial process, said Rodell Mollineau, a cofounder and partner at Rokk Solutions in Washington, DC.

☆ Hungarian government official argues Sweden isn't nice enough to his country to get approval to join NATO
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Hungary is one of two countries yet to approve Sweden's bid to join NATO. Sweden — alongside neighboring Finland — requested to join NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine over a year ago, but it still needs Hungary's approval to do so. "With Finland's admission into NATO now secure, Sweden must face the music regarding its daunting attitude and former derogatory comments toward Hungary," Kovács wrote. Photo by JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty ImagesKovács wrote that another reason for the hold up on Sweden's NATO bid is Stockholm's "crumbling throne of moral superiority" and a "lack of care and respect." Sweden and Finland — both of which have historically been militarily nonaligned — applied to join NATO in May 2022 and were invited to join the military alliance the following month.

☆ Adam Driver asked NASA how it plans to save Earth from world-ending asteroids
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Don't worry about such a large asteroid — an extinction-level space rock — approaching Earth anytime soon, NASA astronomer Kelly Fast was quick to clarify. NASA is studying and tracking down near-Earth asteroidsFast added that NASA's approach to any asteroid would depend on the asteroid's size and composition. Another NASA mission, called Osiris-Rex, landed on the surface of an asteroid in 2020 and scooped up its rocky space dust. Even though Driver and Fast didn't discuss that mission, the actor seemed impressed with NASA's efforts. "Thank you for your work in keeping the planet safe from world-ending asteroids plummeting into our planet," Driver said.

☆ Russia's assault on Bakhmut is losing the limited momentum it had, says UK intel, complicating its best chance at a symbolic victory
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia's efforts to take the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut seem to be losing momentum, the UK MOD said. Bakhmut has huge symbolic importance to Russia, and failing to take it would be a big blow. The city is one of the few places Russia has made recent progress, as its latest offensive fails to grow. The UK MOD said that momentum may be slipping "partially because some Russian MoD units have been reallocated to other sectors." The UK MOD said in December that capturing Bakhmut would have "limited operational value" for Russia.

☆ I make 6 figures a year peeling people's skin for a living. I feel more fulfilled as an aesthetician than I did working in real estate.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Ryan S. Gladwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

After building her brand and creating an at-home peel kit, Barber-Raymond had a six-figure 2020. A chemical peel exfoliates the top layer of skin to shed all the dead cells, revealing smoother skin underneath. The moment I got my license, I became a full-time aesthetician focused on chemical peels for the face and body. Skin peels can be life-changing for people, and it's so fulfilling to seeMy favorite area to peel is the back. I just didn't feel fulfilled, and it didn't light me up the way chemical peels do.

☆ A Simple Trick Helped Me Cut Back on Screen Time, Break My Phone Addiction
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Shubham Agarwal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

To try and break my habit, I decided to slow down my phone experience with a new app called One Sec. Plus, studies have shown that things like app limits that merely measure your screen time won't break compulsive habits. Sandy Gould, a senior computer-science lecturer at Cardiff University, has researched ways to curb our compulsive phone tendencies. Frederik Riedel, the German-based developer of the app, told me that creating better boundaries was the motivation behind the development of the app. I can attest to that figure: One Sec has nearly halved my compulsive Twitter use.

☆ The problem with home-flipping giants
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Aj Latrace | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Meanwhile, the corporate scalpers of the housing market — companies that buy and relist homes by the thousands without doing much, if any, work on them to make a profit — are struggling. Last week, two of the biggest remaining corporate home-flipping companies, Opendoor and Offerpad, reported dismal earnings, another sign that their business model is incredibly risky. Kelman also said one "problem is that iBuying is a staggering amount of money and risk for a now-uncertain benefit. At its core, the main business model of home-flipping firms doesn't create a ton of immediate value. Opendoor, Offerpad, and other companies that rushed to purchase homes are now discounting the asking prices of those homes to get them off their books.

☆ Kim Jong Un may be prepping his daughter as his successor because he wants a woman in charge to modernize North Korea's image, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

But it will likely have little impact on the lives of ordinary North Korean women. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his sister Kim Yo Jong attend a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on April 27, 2018. "Kim Jong Un is a feminist — at least if judged by the incredibly low standards of North Korea," Andrei Lankov, a North Korea expert recently wrote for NK News. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un talks with his daughter Kim Ju Ae at a banquet in Pyongyang, North Korea February 7, 2023. "Discrimination against women and girls in North Korea is widespread and is accepted as a natural part of everyday life in North Korea," said Joon.

☆ Putin wanted to boast about Russia launching a nuclear-capable ICBM — but the launch failed so he couldn't, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A recent Russian test launch of its Sarmat missile appears to have failed, two US officials told CNN. But Putin didn't mention the Sarmat launch in his annual speech, his first since invading Ukraine. The Kremlin tipped off the US in advance about the planned test launch using deconfliction channels, one of the unnamed officials told the outlet. Footage from a prior Sarmat test launch. Russia's most recent notable test launch of the Sarmat missile was in April, just after its invasion of Ukraine began.

☆ A fat cat has become the top-rated tourist attraction in a Polish city with a perfect 5-star average on Google Maps
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Stephanie Stacey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A black-and-white cat named Gacek is the top-rated tourist attraction in Szczecin, Poland. The fat feline has a perfect five-star rating on Google Maps. Gacek has a perfect five-star rating on Google Maps. The rotund feline has beaten out Szczecin's other tourist hotspots, including a Pomeranian Dukes' Castle built in 1346. A local animal shelter has urged visitors not to feed Gacek, per Gazeta.pl.

☆ Childbirth is far more dangerous for women than the abortion pill, American Medical Association tells the Texas judge weighing mifepristone ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The American Medical Association is urging a Texas judge to reject an effort to ban mifepristone. This is not an opinion — it is a fact based on hundreds of medical studies and vast amounts of data amassed over the course of two decades," the brief states. But pregnant teenagers, the medical groups note, have levels of progesterone far greater than their non-pregnant peers. "There is no reason to think, nor is there evidence to show, that preventing the absorption of progesterone for a brief window would have any effects on adolescent development," the brief states. Republican attorneys general also submitted a brief arguing that the availability of the drug infringes on the right of states to regulate abortion.

☆ Google didn't think its Bard AI was 'really ready' for a product yet, says Alphabet chairman, days after the chatbot's very public mistake tanked the company's stock
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

John Hennessy, the chairman of Alphabet, said Google was hesitant to use its Bard AI in a product as it wasn't "really ready," per CNBC. Google unveiled its Bard AI last week amid intense interest in competitor ChatGPT. But a promo for Google Bard featured a factual error — which sent Alphabet's stock down 9% in a day. Google unveiled Bard amid intense interest in rival chatbot ChatGPT, and just a day before Microsoft rolled out its AI-powered Bing search engine which is built using technology from OpenAI, the parent of ChatGPT. At the conference, Hennessy declined to comment specifically on the public's reaction to Google's Bard, per CNBC.

☆ American drivers have a blinding headlight problem. It could last for years.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Drivers say they're routinely getting blinded by surrounding cars' headlights. This isn't because headlight regulations have changed — regulations on brightness haven't been altered in decades. This isn't because headlight regulations have shifted — they haven't changed in decades, according to Greg Brannon, AAA's director of automotive engineering. Adaptive driving beams automatically adjust the high beams emitted from LED car headlights in real time to avoid blinding pedestrians and other drivers. So prepare for the immediate future to be even brighter, as the blinding glare problem may get worse before it gets better.

☆ Russian state energy giant Gazprom is starting its own private security force, a move Ukraine fears will lead to a new Wagner-like mercenary army
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia's government is allowing energy giant Gazprom to start a private security outfit. Ukraine's Ministry of Defence drew comparisons with the notorious private army the Wagner Group. Experts said it's plausible that another Russian mercenary army is in the works. Russia's government gave its go-ahead for the energy giant to create a private security organization on February 4, under the pretext of securing the country's energy sector. "Ukrainians are handling Wagner, they are handling the Russian army."

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