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☆ I design sex rooms for a Netflix show. Some clients spend nearly $200,000 on a room but they aren't all as raunchy as 'Fifty Shades of Grey'.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Netflix's "How to Build a Sex Room" brings to light the business of sex rooms. Clients can spend about $200,000 on a sex room, but secondhand stores provide cheaper options. One day, a client turned around and asked her whether she had ever designed a sex room. Sex rooms aren't cheapConverting rooms into sex rooms can be an expensive project depending on the size and complexity of the space, Rose said. At the end of the day, Rose pointed out that sex rooms needn't always revolve around sex.

☆ How almost $427 million in taxpayer money is locked away in a forgotten government fund — and lawmakers won't spend it or return it
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

The intended beneficiaries of the taxpayer-fueled Presidential Election Campaign Fund — presidential candidates — don't want it, as they're soured by its restrictions on their election fundraising and spending. An accounting of the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, as of October 31, 2022. Several nonprofit leaders told Insider that Congress could use the Presidential Election Campaign Fund money to immediately ease suffering, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 2019-20 congressional session, two Republican lawmakers sponsored similar bills that attempted to kill the Presidential Election Campaign Fund. Until that or any other repurposing decision comes down, the FEC continues to spend taxpayer resources keeping the Presidential Election Campaign Fund alive.

☆ Exclusive: U.S. weighs sending 100-mile strike weapon to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Mike Stone | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

U.S. and allied military inventories are shrinking, and Ukraine faces an increasing need for more sophisticated weapons as the war drags on. GLSDB could be delivered as early as spring 2023, according to a document reviewed by Reuters and three people familiar with the plan. It combines the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) with the M26 rocket motor, both of which are common in U.S. inventories. The invasion of Ukraine drove up demand for American-made weapons and ammunition, while U.S. allies in Eastern Europe are "putting a lot of orders," in for a range of arms as they supply Ukraine, Bush added. Any arrangement would also require at least six suppliers to expedite shipments of their parts and services to produce the weapon quickly.

☆ New York governor signs first-of-its-kind law cracking down on bitcoin mining — here's everything that's in it
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Kathy Hochul signed a law Tuesday banning certain bitcoin mining operations that run on carbon-based power sources. "The bitcoin mining industry is actually leading in terms of compliance with that Act." "Our customers are being scared off from investing in New York state," said Foundry's Zhang. "Bitcoin mining operations are providing high-paying and high-grade, great jobs for local communities. "Other blue states often follow the lead of New York state and this would be giving them an easy template to replicate," said Foundry's Zhang.

☆ I reached 100,000 followers for my small business' Instagram and TikTok accounts in 6 months. Here are the 3 strategies that made all the difference.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Erin Greenawald | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

She says she was able to grow its social following so quickly by focusing first on good content. This article is part of "Marketing for Small Business," a series exploring the basics of marketing strategy for SBOs to earn new customers and grow their business. Growing a social following from zero can be intimidating for small businesses, especially when you want to do it quickly. Focus on being a good follow firstHalf of succeeding on social media is playing to the algorithm, and a lot of business owners can get too caught up in that. Courtesy of OfflinePart of being a good account to follow also means striking the right balance between quality and quantity.

☆ The housing-affordability crisis is sparking startup founders, Wall Streeters, and nonprofit leaders to try to offer new solutions
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Hana R. Alberts | Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Some innovations may help homebuyers, renters, and investors cope with the affordability crisis. 100 People Transforming Business is an annual list highlighting people across industries who are changing the way the world does business. Mortgage rates have topped 7%, the highest rate in 20 years, which means homebuyers can afford less house for their money. That's why many people and companies in the real-estate industry are trying to help homebuyers, renters, and investors cope with an affordability crisis. That's where the Washington, DC, nonprofit Grounded Solutions Network comes in: It says it helps repurpose "vacant space into vibrant space."

☆ G20 watchdog in step-by-step approach to funds sector 'vulnerabilities'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Central banks had to inject liquidity when money market funds ran into difficulties as economies went into lockdown in March 2020. The collapse of investment house Archegos also drew attention to "hidden leverage" in the vast non-bank financial intermediation (NBFI) sector, according to a report and policy proposals from the G20's Financial Stability Board on Thursday. "The policy proposals involve largely repurposing existing policy tools rather than creating new ones," the FSB report, sent to G20 leaders ahead of their meeting next week, said. FSB non-banks graphic November 2022Sharply rising interest rates and looming recession underscore the need to scrutinise non-banks, which include hedge funds, pension funds and insurers. It has no power to impose rules but its members - regulators, central banks and treasury officials from G20 economies - commit to implementing finalised policies.

☆ Twitter battles wave of impersonators after launching new paid verification system
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN Business —Twitter appears to be battling a wave of celebrity and corporate impersonators on its platform who have quickly gamed the company’s new paid verification system, hours after its launch. CNN has confirmed multiple verified Twitter accounts have been suspended by the platform after other users posted screenshots showing misleading content from the accounts. The fake verified accounts had posed as former President Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Nintendo of America, the basketball player LeBron James, the software company Valve and others. Before being suspended, the impostor Nintendo account tweeted an image of the video game character Mario giving the viewer the middle finger. In an interview with CNN, Whelan said he managed to impersonate Trump by repurposing an old, spare account.

☆ Battery startup salaries revealed: How much Redwood, QuantumScape, and more pay the engineers they're desperate to hire
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Alexa St. John | Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The EV battery space will need to fill 10 million jobs globally by 2030. Firms like Redwood Materials, QuantumScape, and more, are searching for hundreds of workers. Battery companies are desperate for talent to meet the demand they're seeing from electric vehicle automakers — and some are paying big bucks to attract workers. Battery companies are racing to get critical materials like lithium and nickel. This need means that firms innovating all aspects of the battery value chain — including battery chemistry, materials, battery health, repurposing and more — are competing with one another to fill what the World Economic Forum expects will be 10 million jobs globally by 2030.

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☆ Walmart is laying off 1,500 workers, transforming a warehouse as it tries to compete with Amazon's marketplace
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Ben Tobin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Walmart is letting go of nearly 1,500 workers at one of its fulfillment centers in the Atlanta area, with the company repurposing the e-commerce facility to support third-party sellers. A Walmart blog post published on Monday said the company will turn the fulfillment center into "a dedicated facility supporting our growing Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) business." The company launched Walmart Fulfillment Services in 2020 to allow third-party-marketplace sellers to ship and store products using the retailer's warehouses. For comparison, Amazon said it has nearly 2 million third-party sellers on its marketplace. Yarbrough said Walmart may convert more fulfillment centers to focus on WFS as the company attracts more third-party sellers to its marketplace.

☆ Here's how the $360 billion electric car battery market will impact the future of EVs — and how affordable they are for car-buyers.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

There's also money to be made: The EV battery market could hit $360 billion by 2030, according to McKinsey. At Insider, we've looked at white-hot EV battery technologies that give automakers the EV performance they need at the price their customers want. It just led a $400 million investment into the little-known EV battery startup that could make it work. Giants like Tesla, GM, and Ford are going to be desperate for EV materials in the next decade. The soon-to-be $339 billion battery industry is on a hiring tear to power the shift to electric cars.

☆ Automakers' need for EV tech has flipped a long-standing power dynamic — and these 18 battery outfits are reaping the benefits
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-05 | by ( Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The battery business is booming amid massive electric-vehicle plans across the auto industry. Car companies need more battery makers, chemistry firms, recyclers, and more. Once car companies started making their more-than $515 billion electrification plans, they began scrambling to secure battery technology and supplies. To start with, today's battery makers are struggling to churn out enough supply to power all those promised EVs. Because automakers new to the EV business lack the in-house expertise to make and manage their own batteries, talent is in short supply, too.

☆ A musician raised an AI 'baby' to harmonize with — and her newest experiment could usher in a brave, new world of art
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Drew Austin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

In the world of art, misgivings about AI have been particularly acute. Despite this widespread apprehension, Holly Herndon — an experimental musician and artist — doesn't think AI is nefarious or will ruin art. In her blog post announcing Holly+, Herndon said she envisioned a future where digitally created voices "soon become standard practice for artists and other creatives." While the project has yielded an ever-growing array of fascinating art, Holly+ also raises questions about the future of that art. (Anyone can use the Holly+ voice tool itself without submitting the output to the DAO, however.)

☆ Bitcoin mining struggles to go green, research shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Tom Wilson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Edgar SuLONDON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Bitcoin is struggling to go green, with the cryptocurrency making only slim gains in its usage of sustainable energy in the year to January, research by Cambridge university showed on Tuesday. Processing bitcoin transactions and "mining" new tokens is done by powerful computers, hooked up to a global network, that compete against others to solve complex mathematical puzzles. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterProjects have sought ways to shift bitcoin mining towards cleaner energy, such as repurposing heat byproducts from oil extraction for crypto mining. Bitcoin mining is mostly unregulated and opaque, with few centralised bodies gathering data. The Cambridge study was based on data on the geographical spread of mining across the world and the energy mix of individual countries.

☆ How more than $424 million in taxpayer money is locked away in a forgotten government fund — and lawmakers won't spend it or return it
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

The intended beneficiaries of the taxpayer-fueled Presidential Election Campaign Fund — presidential candidates — don't want it, as they're soured by its restrictions on their election fundraising and spending. A US Treasury document detailing the finances of the Presidential Election Campaign Fund. Several nonprofit leaders told Insider that Congress could use the Presidential Election Campaign Fund money to immediately ease suffering, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 2019-20 congressional session, two Republican lawmakers sponsored similar bills that attempted to kill the Presidential Election Campaign Fund. Until that or any other repurposing decision comes down, the FEC continues to spend taxpayer resources keeping the Presidential Election Campaign Fund alive.

☆ Costco and Albertsons are using this tech startup to reduce waste and lower carbon emissions
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Diana Olick | In Dianaolick | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

And much of that waste could be repurposed or recycled, if only it were better identified and sorted. That's where a startup called Smarter Sorting comes in. Using the Smarter Sorting data to determine exactly what is in the product, and especially if any ingredients are toxic, retailers and manufacturers can make more informed decisions on how best to handle its inevitable disposal. "Albertsons, one of our customers today, just released a sustainability goal report with four main pillars in it, and one of the main pillars for them is the reduction of food waste," said Claudia. Smarter Sorting's backers include Regeneration VC and G2 Venture Partners, with total funding to date of just over $55 million.

☆ US Air Force special operators turned cargo planes into bombers. Now they're showing other militaries how it's done.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-13 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

One effort involving Air Force Special Operations Command is modifying cargo planes to drop bombs. Other air forces could easily deploy those weapons from their cargo planes, the head of AFSOC said. A major part of that effort has been repurposing its largest aircraft, cargo planes and tankers, for other missions. Brandon EsauThe Air Force has been contemplating how to deploy more firepower with its existing fleet for nearly a decade. US Air Force Special Operations CommandAFSOC is looking to add other capabilities to its MC-130s as well.

☆ After Instagram rolled back changes due to use backlash, 4 entrepreneurs share their strategies for finding customers on social media
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-02 | by ( Alexandra York | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Social media can help small businesses find customers, but the platforms regularly change. Four entrepreneurs shared their strategies for social media, including cross-platform promotion. Despite the perplexity among small-business owners, many have launched comprehensive social-media marketing campaigns in the hopes of converting users into paying customers. Four founders shared their experiences with social media and best practices for turning followers into customers to keep in line with the platform changes. Use influencers to expand your audienceInfluencer marketing is a continually growing sector of social-media marketing.

☆ My husband and I made $200,000 in revenue last year on Poshmark. Here's how I went from working at Bath & Body Works to reselling full time.
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-13 | by ( Perri Ormont Blumberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

I resell shoes on Poshmark full time under the closet name "RNZY," which is my husband, Ryan's, and my name combined. From 2013 to 2015, I worked as a Bath & Body Works store manager in Burlington, Vermont. We sold shoes and clothing, but we quickly niched down to exclusively shoes. We both realized that we enjoyed the entire process of selling shoes — sourcing, cleaning, photographing, listing, and shipping. (We search for the pair of shoes on Poshmark and select "sold items."

☆ See the exact monthly budget of a founder who says investing in social media and real estate saved the relaunch of her business
▼ + stars: | 2022-06-24 | by ( Alexandra York | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

One of the most difficult parts of running a business is securing financing so it can grow, she said. While she's taken out some small loans, the majority of business costs come from her own pocket. Brown breaks down her budget for April and explains how to invest in visibility and prepare for uncertain times. After the physical storefront, Brown said social media was another necessary expense to relaunch her brand. Today, many of CheeseCaked's 39,000 Instagram followers turn into paying customers, Brown said.

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