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☆ Maryland considers a bill incentivizing the 4-day workweek. Here's how the 5-day workweek became so popular in the first place.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Marguerite Ward | Shana Lebowitz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Here's a timeline of how the US adopted the five-day, 40-hour workweek. Indeed, the pandemic accelerated public discourse over whether the 40-hour workweek still makes sense for some employees. Here's a look back at the history of the 40-hour workweek and how we got to where we are today. 1906: The eight-hour workday was instituted at two major firms in the printing industry. September 25, 1926: Ford Motor Companies adopted a five-day, 40-hour workweek.

☆ Snapchat has a plan to start charging users to restore broken Snapstreaks
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Some users have hundreds, or even thousands, of consecutive days of Snaps with friends on the app. The company is planning to have Snapchat users pay a fee to restore a broken Snapstreak, according to two people familiar with the situation. Many users have Streaks going for more than 100 days and some have streaks for thousands of days. Users frequently go to the Snapchat Support website to try to get their Streaks restored, both of the people said. Snap often does restore a streak at no cost, but it's a process that can take several days, further upsetting users.

Jan 24 (Reuters) - Albemarle Corp (ALB.N) on Tuesday called for lithium prices to remain high indefinitely in order to help the mining industry develop new sources of the electric vehicle (EV) battery metal and fuel the green energy transition. Lithium prices have more than doubled in the past year and are up nearly ninefold in the past three years, according to an index tracked by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. For 2023, Albemarle expects the price it receives for its lithium to jump 40% over 2022 levels. That should dip this year, due to rising costs for lithium chloride and spodumene ore - both key feedstocks - though the company expects lithium margins to eventually stabilize around 45%. Norris, a longtime lithium industry executive, repeatedly stressed during a nearly two-hour presentation that Albemarle will produce lithium when its customers need the metal.

Yogesh Raut on "Jeopardy!" Fans of the venerable answer-and-question show were introduced to Raut on Jan. 11 when he won the first of three games, which were taped in mid-November. That true quizzing talent isn't displayed on "Jeopardy!" Raut was annoyed that word leaked that another big name in the quiz community, Troy Meyer, was on the "Jeopardy!" It is fundamentally incompatible with incentivizing the next generation of quizzers to excel, and it is fundamentally incompatible with true social justice.”A "Jeopardy!"

☆ Tesla's demand problem may turn into a key advantage — if Elon Musk's 'strategic poker move' pays off
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Nora Naughton | Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Price slashes and piled up inventory at Tesla pose a big problem for rival startups. The electric-vehicle company is grappling for the first time with a bloated inventory and softer demand for its cars. Tesla's move "represents a significant setback" for the company's EV competitors, Garrett Nelson, a vice president and senior equity analyst at the investment-research firm CFRA, said in a January 13 note. "This move from Tesla is going to have a huge impact on the EV market but especially on the startups." "Instead, we believe this likely is a bold offensive move, which secures Tesla's volume growth, puts its traditional and EV competitors in great difficulty, and showcases Tesla's considerable pricing power and cost superiority."

☆ US-China Tech War: How Money for Semiconductor Factories Costs Americans
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Taylor Dorrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

If the first Cold War was defined by the development of nuclear weapons, this Tech Cold War is defined by the computer chip. The massive Intel plant in Ohio is a key part of the race with China for the future of tech. Even before the Intel plant, the Columbus area was well acquainted with these sorts of trade-offs. But, the Ohio State study found, Columbus' residential tax-abatement programs did little to meaningfully address the housing problem, while draining the city's funds. Federal, state, and local subsidies add up to billions of dollars that Intel is saving on its new Ohio semiconductor factory.

☆ One of America's largest homebuilders just opened its first community in the metaverse as more homebuyers in the real world cancel their orders
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Robert Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The LA-based builder KB Home opened a first-of-its-kind community in the metaverse on January 17. KB Home's virtual community allows customers to personalize some of the company's model homes to their preferences, from changing the architectural style to customizing the interior design. Different customizable home types offered in KB Homes' metaverse community Courtesy of KB Homes"We know consumers are increasingly immersing themselves and spending more time in virtual spaces," KB Home's CEO Jeffrey Mezger said in the announcement. To combat these issues, Rob McGibney, KB Home's chief operating officer, told investors that the company is focusing on moving homes "as efficiently as possible through the construction cycle." The metaverse community can help alleviate some of these issues by allowing customers to design their new home online before KB begins building it in the real world.

Bills in some states propose ranked-choice voting only for local elections, while others offer a temporary pilot system that would test the use of ranked-choice voting for a fixed number of years. The state GOP used a ranked-choice voting system at its state convention in 2021 to select a gubernatorial nominee. Discussions are also underway among policymakers in Arizona, who are looking at ranked-choice voting as a possible way of curbing extremism. The latest raft of proposed legislation follows a year of notable and growing enthusiasm for ranked-choice voting. In 2022, lawmakers in 25 states introduced legislation advancing or expanding ranked-choice voting, with bills enacted in six states, according to FairVote.

☆ Rivian and Lucid's Q4 struggles signal an even tougher 2023 for EV startups
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Nora Naughton | Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The results from Rivian and Lucid signal a tough year ahead for EV startups, said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting for AutoForecast Solutions. "As an investor you're going to be watching for every sign of trouble because you're now expecting a larger return on your investment." Rivian and Lucid's results came just after Tesla also missed analyst expectations for its fourth-quarter delivery results — and it has investors concerned. Previously, Rivian delivered more vehicles than it built in Q2 (accounting for vehicles built before the quarter that didn't make their way to customers), but only delivered about 89% of what it built in Q3. "With newcomers like Rivian and Lucid, that is going to be a warning sign for some people to begin with."

☆ Meet the guy whose algorithm could solve the crisis of America's empty office space
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Zoe Rosenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Converting offices into apartments brings people back to downtown areas as residents, not commuters. The algorithm is able to quickly assess which office buildings are viable for conversion to apartments, which are known in industry parlance as multifamily residential. "And then, actually, the demand for the remaining office buildings goes up, because you're creating scarcity by taking some out of the market." Most urban centers lack sufficient housing, but turning office buildings into apartments helps add additional units to rent or buy. About 28% of the area's office space is vacant.

☆ Walgreens CEO Roz Brewer wants to make getting healthcare as easy as going to your neighborhood pharmacy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Marguerite Ward | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Brewer, 60, is chasing a new first of sorts in her role at Walgreens: turning the $33 billion pharmacy chain into a destination healthcare company. After stepping into power at America's second-largest pharmacy during the deadliest disease event in US history, Brewer has been pursuing a wide-ranging strategy to remake the company. The company's larger rival, CVS Health, is following a similar strategy of making healthcare a bigger part of its business. "Dispensing of pharmaceuticals is not going to be our long-term growth avenue," Brewer said at a 2022 healthcare-industry conference, according to FierceHealthcare. But healthcare is complex and even the company's long-standing pharmacy business comes with challenges.

☆ How virtual clothes could help solve fashion’s waste problem
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Tom Page | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

But the industry is finding ways to harness it and other digital tools to reduce waste and push fashion into the future. Cutting wasteThe textile and fashion industry creates roughly 92 million tons of waste annually, and digital fashion could have a role in reducing that figure. “It becomes automatically an on-demand model, which really can reduce the fashion waste,” she says. Trying on virtual clothes could also reduce the amount of clothes that are returned in the physical world, says Albrighi. He adds that staging fashion shows in virtual spaces reduces the need for the fashion world to travel.

☆ Sen. Warren warns Tesla board that Musk may have failed to meet his legal duties due to Twitter takeover
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wrote to the chair of Tesla's board Robyn Denholm expressing concern that CEO Elon Musk has failed to meet his legal duties since buying Twitter for $44 billion. "This use of Tesla employees raises obvious questions about whether Mr. Musk is appropriating resources from a publicly traded firm, Tesla, to benefit his own private company, Twitter," Warren wrote, adding that it could violate Musk's "legal duty of loyalty to Tesla." She also suggested the arrangements could violate legal requirements to make public employment agreements with executive officers, which Warren said Tesla has not done. Warren added that the debt Musk took on to buy Twitter could also create conflicts, like incentivizing him to have Tesla overpay for Twitter advertising to infuse it with cash. WATCH: Twitter is now Elon Musk's company — Here's how experts responded to the news

☆ Taiwan Semi set to invest $40 billion in U.S. manufacturing
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailTaiwan Semi set to invest $40 billion in U.S. manufacturingCNBC's Kristina Partsinevelos joins 'Power Lunch' to discuss Taiwan Semiconductors' investment in two new Arizona based manufacturing plants, the benefits the plant will generate and the subsidies incentivizing U.S.-based manufacturing.

☆ Biden's climate plan strains trade ties with Europe
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The European Union and United States — together responsible for one third of global trade — have been at loggerheads in recent weeks over US President Joe Biden’s landmark $370 billion climate plan. While a trade war is unlikely, the plan is testing the transatlantic alliance and pushing Europe to consider mobilizing its own package of subsidies. The IRA is now law, and there is little appetite to bring it back to Congress to make substantive changes, he told CNN Business. The European Union has a couple of options at its disposal, analysts told CNN Business. On Monday, Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said that the bloc should create its own “European IRA plan,” according to a Reuters report.

☆ US leaders who want to send billions more in aid to Ukraine need to ask what kind of war they're willing to pay for
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Andrew C. Jarocki | Defense Priorities | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The final weeks of the current Congress will feature debate over another aid package for Ukraine. Before opening the checkbook again, lawmakers need to ask how they want this war to end and how more aid will bring it about. Before Washington opens the checkbook again, lawmakers need to subject aid proposals to a simple Petraeus Test. So far, the story of American support of Ukraine against Russia's terrible invasion attempt has been one of unhesitating generosity. At the very least, legislators must push advocates of more aid for Ukraine to explain exactly how America's national security would be enhanced.

☆ Retailers are starting to charge fees to return stuff you bought online. Here's why free returns may be a thing of the past — and how you can avoid getting charged.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The easiest way to avoid paying a return fee is to bring your items back to the store in person. Here's how we got here, which retailers are changing their tune, and what shoppers can do to avoid paying for returns. Which means retailers are losing, on average, millions of dollars every year by letting you return your unwanted goods for free. Some companies have taken a different approach by offering free returns only to its most loyal shoppers. Translation: Retailers are hoping something else will catch your eye when you come into the store to make your return.

Nov 17 (Reuters) - The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law on Thursday joined the law schools at Yale and Harvard in withdrawing from U.S. News & World Report's influential law school rankings. 9 in the law school rankings, made the announcement a day after Yale and Harvard, ranked No. The rankings measure law schools based on reputational surveys, student grades and Law School Admission Test (LSAT) scores, and bar pass and employment rates, among other factors. Stanford Law School and the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School - currently ranked No. "I think every school is at minimum looking at it," law school admission consultant Mike Spivey said of the growing boycott.

☆ Iran's drones are unlikely to help Russia win in Ukraine — and could backfire for Tehran
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Ukraine has blamed Iran for providing Russia with drones, which have been used to attack Kyiv in recent days. They transferred dozens just this summer & have military personnel in occupied Ukraine helping Russia use them against Ukrainian civilians." Amirabdollahian said that "if it is proven to us that Russia has used Iranian drones in the Ukraine war, we won't be indifferent to it." They've also come in handy for Moscow as Russia's military runs low on more advanced weaponry like guided missiles. "Such systems could become a big headache for the Russians and could make Iran's drones and missiles look ineffective while teaching Western militaries how better to counter them," he said.

☆ A social-media coach booking 6 figures in annual revenue shares 5 ways entrepreneurs can organically grow their followiners and increase income
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Alexandra York | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Entrepreneurs should focus on sharing a media mix including static, carousel, and video content. When the firm went under, Brulhart sought a new job that combined her passions for social media, public relations, and global growth. Her company offers services like one-on-one coaching calls and courses that help small-business owners grow their social-media followings organically, without using any paid advertisements. As social media continues to be a lucrative business opportunity, Brulhart has no shortage of clients looking to build their profiles. Small-business owners that lack large budgets for marketing can still emerge successful by focusing on engaging social media campaigns, Brulhart added.

☆ California's incentive proposal for rooftop solar targets low-income households
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

OAKLAND, Nov 10 (Reuters) - California regulators on Thursday made a new proposal for incentivizing rooftop solar systems, a contentious matter as the state tries to expand renewable energy and respond to critics who want more equitable distribution of incentives. Shares of rooftop solar system providers, including Sunrun Inc (RUN.O), SunPower Corp (SPWR.O) and Solaredge Technologies Inc (SEDG.O), were up between 12% and 26% in afternoon trading. The new policy proposals outlined by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) include an additional $900 million to support battery and solar systems, mostly for low-income customers. The proposal will not affect current home solar owners and will maintain their current compensation, the CPUC said. Reporting by Peter Henderson, Nichola Groom and Ruhi Soni; Editing by Anil D'SilvaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. must make much deeper emissions cuts to meet climate goals -government report
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 7 (Reuters) - The United States needs to make far faster and deeper cuts to greenhouse gas emissions over the next three decades to meet international goals to rein in the worst effects of climate change, according to a government report issued on Monday. The United States is the world's second biggest emitter after China. The United States reduced emissions by 12% between 2007 and 2019, the report said, thanks to the adoption of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar and improved efficiency. The report laid out the harms climate change is already exacting in every part of the country in the form of drought, wildfires, heatwaves and other extreme events. It also cast climate change as a risk to "the things Americans most value" such as safe homes, healthy families, reliable public services and a sustainable economy.

☆ Crocs CEO Andrew Rees on stock surging after record earnings
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailCrocs CEO Andrew Rees on stock surging after record earningsAndrew Rees, CEO of crocs, joins 'Power Lunch' to discuss Croc shares surging on the back of an earnings beat, how consumer spending trends are shifting as pandemic demand eases, and incentivizing customers ahead of the holiday season.

☆ $1 billion lottery jackpots are more common than ever—and it’s actually making them harder to win
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

It's the fifth time a U.S. lottery prize has reached 10 digits since 2016, when the first billion-dollar prize jackpot was announced. Make that lottery harder to win and you can almost guarantee higher jackpots on a regular basis, incentivizing even more people to buy lottery tickets. Powerball's organizers have gradually made their lottery harder to win for decades, says Victor Matheson, an economics professor at the College of the Holy Cross who studies lotteries. Before then, your odds of winning a Powerball lottery were around 1 in 175 million, Matheson says. "They've been running Powerball or its predecessor for [34 years], and they've gradually been making it harder and harder to win," Matheson tells CNBC Make It.

☆ Gulf states use new oil riches to gain regional influence
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Nadeen Ebrahim | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

“Money talks,” Michael Maduell, president of the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute in Las Vegas, told CNN. Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, last week announced that the nation’s wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), is establishing five regional companies worth $24 billion across the Middle East. One of the key regional investment destinations for both Abu Dhabi and Riyadh has been Egypt. Once a regional rival, Turkey is now an economic ally of Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Despite a political thaw, Gulf investments in Iran and Syria are unlikely for the time being, say analysts.

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