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The first full-color image released from the next-generation James Webb Space Telescope is the sharpest infrared image of the distant universe ever produced, according to NASA. Space Telescope Science Institut / NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERONASA released the first batch of images from the tennis court-sized observatory to much fanfare in July. The exoplanet HIP 65426 b in different bands of infrared light, as seen from the James Webb Space Telescope. Back to the moonFifty years after the final Apollo moon mission, NASA took key steps toward returning astronauts to the lunar surface. Chinese officials have also said they intend to use the space station for space tourism and commercial space initiatives.

☆ Family searching for answers in 2018 disappearance of Atlanta, Texas man Eric Alvarado
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Sarah Portney | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Thirty-two-year-old Eric Alvarado was last seen on his home security cameras in the early morning hours of November 20, 2018, in Atlanta, Texas. Eric’s father, Lorenzo Alvarado, told Dateline that Eric’s wife, Samantha, called the police to report her husband missing about 45 minutes later. He loved doing that.”Eric and Lorenzo Alvarado Lorenzo AlvaradoEric’s older brother, Matt Alvarado, also spoke with Dateline. Captain Restelle told Dateline that no one has reported anything to the Atlanta, Texas Police Department about being threatened. If anyone has any information in regards to Eric’s disappearance, please contact the Atlanta, Texas Police Department at (903) 796-7973.

Since age 8, Paula played in a kind of Little League feeder program for Hunter High School in West Valley City. And so, ever since he was tiny, Paula wore Hunter High School Wolverines sweatshirts. From the Bloomfield Tahi familyPaula was a voraciously social teenager, a cannonball of comic, kinetic energy. From the Bloomfield Tahi familyTo lessen his boredom, the family treated Paula to a road trip to see a favorite uncle in California. He’d try to run off.”On Jan. 13, Paula Tupou Bloomfield Tahi was shot during an altercation with other teenagers near his school in West Valley City, Utah.

When Tioni Theus woke up, most mornings, the first thing she did was turn on music. Tioni’s most frequent social media posts were videos of herself singing along to music, smiling and mugging for the camera. But in recent years she had begun to gravitate toward gritty, emotional rappers and singers like Rod Wave, whose songs explore the painful underside of street life. (“Daddy gone and mama couldn’t save me/So hard times made me,” he raps on his song “Thug Life.”) Read MoreTioni, right, with her family. But as with many aspects of Tioni’s life, the stakes were higher than they should have been: Both investigators and some family members have suggested that she may have been a victim of human trafficking.

So on a Saturday night in February he stood in his Aunt Brandy’s doorway, rocking on his heels, telling her he was heading out. Sincere lived with his aunt in a second-floor apartment on the city’s South Side, in a neighborhood of small single-family homes and brick two-flats. “I didn’t do anything to anybody.”Every day, Sincere went on odysseys, roaming the surrounding blocks. He rang bells and knocked on doors, asking to do odd jobs. But he and Anyah grew up together on the same block, and Sincere sometimes spent the night there.

For years, in fact, Paula clownishly put all those larger cousins on notice, warning them that he’d one day beat them up. From the Bloomfield Tahi familyComing to the plate during the kickball game, Paula was chirping at an older cousin playing first base, who’d recently torn his A.C.L. From the Bloomfield Tahi familyPaula was a voraciously social teenager, a cannonball of comic, kinetic energy. From the Bloomfield Tahi familyTo lessen his boredom, the family treated Paula to a road trip to see a favorite uncle in California. He’d try to run off.”On Jan. 13, Paula Tupou Bloomfield Tahi was shot during an altercation with other teenagers near his school in West Valley City, Utah.

The biggest event of her life — her Sweet 16 — was due to start in a few hours. “I have anxiety and today ... i didn’t get as nervous maybe cause I’m not speaking to anyone but hands are a little shaky.”Angie documenting her Sweet 16 makeup artist’s skills. As Henriquez’s sole daughter, Angie was the family’s uncontested diva, its “only queen” — a girl who seemed to have left the Bronx all but physically. As her 16th birthday approached, she resisted the idea of a Sweet 16. Angie lighting her Sweet 16 candles with, from left, her brothers, Fidel and Angel, and her stepbrother, Cameron.

From across the aisle, DJ’s mother, Bre Francis, watched the two of them as they fidgeted with excitement. When she was a girl, airplanes were fantasies and family vacations meant road trips to Galveston or Louisiana. His mother, Bre Francis, is on the far right. That first morning, DJ woke Bre early, pleading with her to shovel the snow off the hot tub’s cover. The family watched as the Texas boys simmered in the bubbling jets.

She was 11, about his age, and both had little sisters who sold Girl Scout cookies and were adorable sprites who also drove them batty. They were at an age when little sisters could get in the way, no matter how cute they looked in a Girl Scout sash. Sadie could unload Girl Scout cookies as if she were giving away gold — she sold 1,400 boxes in 2022. And why was Sadie selling all those Girl Scout cookies? Their moms would bring them each to New York, along with their little sisters, in June.

And whenever any of these cousins gathered to play kickball — whenever the cousins gathered at all — the name-calling and smack talk flew lovingly in all directions. For years, in fact, Paula clownishly put all those larger cousins on notice, warning them that he’d one day beat them up. “Wait until I hit 18,” he’d say. From the Bloomfield Tahi familyPaula was a voraciously social teenager, a cannonball of comic, kinetic energy. From the Bloomfield Tahi familyTo lessen his boredom, the family treated Paula to a road trip to see a favorite uncle in California.

The little white kiosk where Juan Carlos Robles-Corona Jr. worked with his mother was barely large enough to fit three or four adults. Juan Carlos, whom relatives and close friends called Junior or J.R., pestered her for months before she gave him a part-time job there. He wanted to be like his mother’s boss: an entrepreneur who owned franchise stores in several cities. Junior with his father, Juan Carlos Robles-Corona, and his siblings Mia, Dylan and Aiden. On April 4, Juan Carlos Robles-Corona Jr. was shot on a street near his public school.

☆ Golden Globe Awards 2023: See the full list of nominees
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Lisa Respers France | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —The nominees for the 80th Golden Globe Awards were announced on Monday. Mayan Lopez and Selenis Leyva, two of the stars from “Lopez vs. Lopez,” announced the range of film and television nominees as selected by members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). Favored Oscars contender “The Banshees of Inisherin” led the film categories, with nominations including best musical or comedy film. It stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. The ceremony, which was not broadcast last January over controversy surrounding the HFPA, will return to NBC on Jan. 10.

☆ How much TikTok pays for views, according to creators
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Dan Whateley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The company is also paying users directly via its Creator Fund and TikTok Pulse ad program. Instagram also pays some creators based on the number of views their Reels generate, offering "bonuses" for hitting certain short-video view thresholds. As with the Creator Fund, initial payments from TikTok Pulse have been underwhelming, creators told Insider. The creator RPMs were competitive on TikTok Pulse when compared to other ad programs like YouTube's, but the revenue-generating views were comparatively low, often dipping below 1,000 views. Read more about how much creators have earned from TikTok Pulse:

☆ Same-sex couples wary despite federal marriage rights bill
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

That prompted Democrats to act quickly to protect same-sex marriage while the party still holds the majority in both chambers of Congress. The Senate passed the Respect for Marriage Act last week with support from 12 Republicans; it’s expected to easily win approval in the House before being signed by President Joe Biden. Ten years later, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a federal appeals court ruling that declared the state ban unconstitutional. The legislation wouldn’t codify, or enshrine into law, the Supreme Court decision requiring states to issue same-sex marriage licenses. “Is the Respect for Marriage Act good enough?

☆ American Music Awards 2022: How to watch and more
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Sandra Gonzalez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —The 50th American Music Awards will take place Sunday night. The event celebrates some of the year’s best music and performances, and the winners are voted on by fans. The hostActor, producer and musician Wayne Brady will bring his talents to the stage to helm the event. PerformersViewers can tune into to watch performances by Pink, Dove Cameron, Lil Baby, Bebe Rexha, Carrie Underwood, Imagine Dragons and more. Meanwhile, Lionel Richie, a 17-time AMA winner, will be honored with the Icon Award, marking his career contributions to the music industry.

☆ How much college athletes are getting paid from NIL deals with brands, according to 4 creators
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Colin Salao | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Four student-athletes told Insider how much they've made from NIL and how they've secured deals. Deals ranged in value from free stuff to a few thousand dollars per post, depending on the athlete's reach. But there are about half a million NCAA athletes with differing skill-levels, reach and influence, and this affects the size of their NIL endorsements. Betts has since secured dozens of NIL deals and shared with Insider the email template and resume he uses to pitch to brands. He's one of four student-athletes from different NCAA divisions who shared with Insider how much they've made and how they've secured their NIL deals.

TikTok creators are receiving their first payments from its new ad-revenue sharing program Pulse. TikTok has begun sharing ad revenue with creators as part of the rollout of its Pulse program. Dvorak said he joined the Pulse program about a week ago, and expects payments to go up. Competition to build out monetization tools for short-form video creators is heating up. YouTube is also in the process of rolling out an ad-revenue share program for its TikTok competitor Shorts.

☆ Thousands of workers were laid off this week as tech companies and startups brace for an economic crash. Investors, founders, and recruiters explain why this is just the beginning.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Rob Price | Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Amid growing economic uncertainty, layoffs in the technology industry, both for public companies and for startups, have been escalating this Fall. While plenty of tech companies were still flying high in early 2022, Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February accelerated global economic turmoil. More than 17,000 tech workers lost their jobs in both May and June, while July and August saw another 29,000 cuts, according to layoff tracker Layoffs.fyi. Davis, the VC at Interplay, explained that cost-cutting and layoffs are happening across the board, not just in the tech industry. But public tech companies as well as early- and growth-stage startups will face additional challenges, he said.

TikTok creators are receiving their first payments from its new ad-revenue sharing program Pulse. TikTok has begun sharing ad revenue with creators as part of the rollout of its Pulse program. View counts and revenue for every 1,000 video views (RPM) from the program appear somewhat variable, resulting in some payouts ranging from pennies to $17, according to seven creators who shared their payment information with Insider. Dvorak said he joined the Pulse program about a week ago, and expects payments to go up. Competition to build out monetization tools for short-form video creators is heating up.

The beneficiary listed on your life insurance policy will get your benefits, not your next of kinWhen choosing your life insurance plan, you can choose one or more beneficiaries. Know the difference between term life and whole life insuranceTerm life insurance typically lasts for 10, 20, or 30 years. It's the most affordable kind of life insurance, although premiums may increase over time depending on your policy. Whole life insurance, on the other hand, is a type of permanent life insurance that covers you for your entire life. Life insurance coverage from your employer ends when you leave your jobMany people are offered life insurance as a part of their employer's benefits package, but, says Betts, it's important to understand that those types of life insurance policies end when you leave your job.

☆ No U.S.-born Black players expected on World Series rosters
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

The Houston Astros celebrate winning the American League Championship Series to advance to the World Series at Yankee Stadium on Oct. 23. In 1979 alone, Willie Stargell and Dave Parker were among 10 Black players on the “We Are Family” Pittsburgh Pirates champions. “It’s been a story that’s been ongoing since the late 1980s, the decline of Black baseball players,” he said. Hall wasn’t on the Phillies’ roster for any of the first three rounds this postseason and isn’t expected to be on the World Series roster. Many Afro Latino players embrace Black identity, yet perhaps not for the same reasons that Black U.S. players do.

Life insurance is a contract between you and an insurance company, where the insurer promises to pay a beneficiary when you die. A financial planner recommends business owners and private student loan borrowers get life insurance. Here are four types of people who should have life insurance, according to Betts. People with private student loansFederal student loans are discharged after the borrower dies, but borrowers with private student loan debt may face different circumstances. Insider's Featured Life Insurance Companies Lemonade Life InsuranceNationwide Life InsuranceGuardian Life Insurance Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options.

☆ Amazon, Meta, and other big tech firms have entered the 'Great Hesitation' — cutting hiring and other costs in fear of an economic downturn
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Rob Price | Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Leaders at large-cap tech companies are in an anxious waiting game, battening down the hatches as they prepare for the storm to hit. Some tech firms will be hurt moreAmong the biggest players in the tech industry, the impacts of a crash will not be felt evenly. "I look at these large tech companies, and over the last couple of years, obviously money's been free, everything got bloated, and all these tech companies — excluding Apple — have effectively doubled their head count over a three-year period, right? Beyond head count, tech companies are cutting back on extras, imperiling their famously lavish meal options. The largest tech companies are also signaling their anxiety by trimming budgets for their more experimental businesses and research projects.

A high-yield savings account has a higher interest rate than a typical bank savings account. For short-term goals, choose a high-yield savings account, says financial planner Spencer Betts, who sits on the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards. Here are three situations where Betts says you should definitely keep your cash in a high-yield savings account. Creating a travel budgetBetts advises his clients to use a high-yield savings account to save up for their travels. Paying down debtExperts recommend only keeping three to six months in a high-yield savings account for emergencies.

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