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☆ Why fans say trips to Disney World are now 'incredibly complicated' to pull off
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Monica Pitrelli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

But some travelers aren't thrilled about what it takes to pull off a trip to Walt Disney World these days. He said he goes to Disney World about "once a month." They will leave thinking food at Disney World is a "cheeseburger and a hot dog … which could not be farther from the truth," he said. Walt Disney World comprises four theme parks, two water parks and dozens of themed hotels, plus a shopping and entertainment area called Disney Springs. He called Disney World an "amazing spa destination" and said Disney Springs, formerly known as Downtown Disney, has shopping, live music and fantastic restaurants.

☆ 151 years before Trump was indicted, Ulysses S. Grant was arrested for speeding on a horse-drawn carriage
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant was arrested for speeding on his horse-drawn carriage in Washington, DC. In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant was arrested for speeding on his horse-drawn carriage in Washington, DC, which was highlighted by the Washington Post back in 2018 as Trump's legal woes were growing. Grant apparently had a penchant for speeding and a love for fast horses and had more than one run-in with West. West replied, "I want to inform you, Mr. President, that you are violating the law by speeding along this street. "I cautioned you yesterday, Mr. President, about fast driving, and you said, sir, that it would not occur again," West reportedly told Grant.

☆ Newsmax Admits It Was All About Money
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Newsmax and DirecTV have settled their commercial dispute over licensing fees, and we’re happy to see Newsmax Media CEO Chris Ruddy ’s tacit admission that his political pressure campaign was really cover for a fight over money. On Wednesday Newsmax and DirecTV issued a joint press release announcing that they had reached a multi-year “mutually beneficial agreement” settling their carriage dispute. “Newsmax recognizes and appreciates that DIRECTV clearly supports diverse voices, including conservative ones,” said Mr. Ruddy.

Illustration by Gene KimAs weed becomes legal in more states, how and if travelers can bring their stash on board remains up in the air. Traveling between states where marijuana is legal in both the origin and destination may sound straight-forward, but with overlapping jurisdictions and hard-to-enforce guidelines, it gets complicated. Under federal law, the possession and sale of marijuana is illegal. Despite President Joe Biden's recent pardons for anyone convicted of a federal crime for simple possession and his directive to review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law, marijuana is still classified as a Schedule I substance. And even though airports are locally owned and operated, air travel still falls under federal law.

☆ DirecTV reaches deal to distribute right wing network Newsmax after long dispute
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

DirecTV said Wednesday it reached a deal with Newsmax Media to once again carry the right wing network in its satellite-TV and streaming packages. DirecTV had not carried Newsmax on its services since late January, when carriage negotiations broke down between the two companies. Initially, DirecTV carried the network without paying fees and Newsmax relied on advertising revenue, which is typically the case for new TV channels. Throughout the public dispute, DirecTV said such blackouts were a common occurrence in the pay-TV industry, and consumers were often "caught in the middle." Pay-TV providers like DirecTV have been bleeding customers in recent years due to the rise of streaming services.

☆ DirecTV and Newsmax end ugly dispute as the satellite carrier strikes deal to resume broadcasting the right-wing channel
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —DirecTV said Wednesday that it has reached a multi-year distribution agreement with Newsmax, putting to end a bitter carriage dispute that waded into political waters and saw the right-wing channel and satellite carrier savage one another in public. “This resolution with Newsmax, resolving an all-too-common carriage dispute, underscores our dedication to delivering a wide array of programming and perspectives to our customers,” said Bill Morrow, chief executive of DirecTV. Newsmax advanced a wholly different narrative, accusing DirecTV of working to censor conservative voices, even though the carrier offers right-wing talk channels such as Fox News and The First on its lineup. DirecTV said that it found such behavior “troubling,” calling out Newsmax for promoting “inaccurate and misleading information” about the dispute as the outlet published an endless stream of content targeting the satellite carrier. GOP Rep. Byron Donalds, a House Oversight Committee member, told Newsmax last month that Republicans were “definitely looking into” holding a hearing.

☆ Failure of Silicon Valley Bank Mirrors the Myth of the Wild West
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

As Silicon Valley Bank went down the tubes, it wasn't surprising that the loudest mouths in Techworld started demanding that the federal government cover everyone's losses. They were pioneers on the frontier of tech and finance, and as such they acted the way pioneers always do. Myths of the frontiersIt's unfashionable for people in the tech industry to dispute the central role that government-funded infrastructure and academic projects have played in the development of Silicon Valley and the digital age. Shout down into Silicon Valley and you'll hear echoes of this same pioneer myth. They see themselves as heroes not of a Western frontier but of space — the Final one — as refracted by the legendary writers of the Golden Age of Science Fiction.

☆ The US military has 6 new air-to-air missiles in the works
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Alex Hollings | Sandboxx News | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

The US military has at least six new air-to-air missiles in active development. The US's current air-to-air missiles are effective, but they aren't designed for the newest US jets. Russia and China are fielding missiles with incredible rangeChinese-made PL-9C, left, and PL-5E air-to-air missiles at the Airshow China exhibition in November 2000. Peregrine Air-to-Air missileRaytheon's Peregine air-to-air missile has actually been around for a few years already. Modular Advanced Missile (MAM)The Modular Advanced Missile (MAM) is among the newest additions to this list.

☆ Russia is recruiting female convicts to serve in Ukraine amid growing battlefield losses, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Reports have emerged of Russian efforts to recruit female convicts to fight in Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said a carriage full of female prisoners was seen heading towards Donetsk. The report suggested that Russia was seeking to find new sources of fighters against a backdrop of heavy losses. The region borders occupied Ukraine by way of the Kerch bridge that connects Russia to Crimea. Prigozhin later announced that he was ending this policy, amid reports that inmates were put off by the mounting death toll.

Google , Netflix , Meta , Apple , Amazon and Microsoft generate nearly half of all internet traffic today. Big Tech firms say this would amount to an "internet tax" that could undermine net neutrality. They bemoaned spending billions on laying cables and installing antennas to cope with rising internet demand without corresponding investments from Big Tech. One suggestion is to require individual bargaining deals with the Big Tech firms, similar to Australian licensing models between news publishers and internet platforms. "The imbalance is not down to Big Tech, it's not down to streamers, and it's not down to telcos.

☆ Greek rescuers comb through train crash wreckage as hopes fade
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Lefteris Papadimas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Rescuers operate on the site of a crash, where two trains collided, near the city of Larissa, Greece, March 2, 2023. The high-speed passenger train with more than 350 people on board crashed head-on with a freight train near the city of Larissa late on Tuesday, and hopes of finding anyone still alive in the wreckage more than 34 hours later appeared slim. The station master of Larissa train station was arrested on Wednesday as authorities probed the circumstances that led to the passenger train, en route to the northern city of Thessaloniki, colliding with another train carrying shipping containers coming in the opposite direction on the same track. Nikos Tsouridis, a retired train driver trainer, said drivers involved in the crash had died "because there were no safety measures. The Italian operation has responsibility for passenger and freight, and the Greek state-controlled OSE for infrastructure.

☆ Fiery train collision kills 26, injures at least 85 in Greece
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A cargo train and a passenger train collided in the Evangelismos area of Larissa, Greece on March 1, 2023. A passenger train and an oncoming freight train collided in a fiery wreck in northern Greece early Wednesday, killing 26 people and injuring at least 85, Fire Service officials said. Rescuers wearing head lamps worked in thick smoke, pulling pieces of mangled metal from the rail cars to search for trapped people. ... We're getting cranes to come in and special lifting equipment clear the debris and lift the rail cars. Rail operator Hellenic Train said the northbound passenger train from Athens to Thessaloniki had about 350 passengers on board when the collision occurred.

☆ 'A bang, then chaos' - Greece train crash survivors tell of ordeal
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Rescuers operate at the site of a crash, where two trains collided, near the city of Larissa, Greece, March 1, 2023. Tuesday's crash 220 miles north of Athens killed at least 36 people when a high-speed passenger train heading to the northern city of Thessaloniki careered into a freight train from the opposite direction, flying off the track and bursting into flames. There were about 350 people on the train, which passengers described as being two-thirds full with many young people. "My child is not picking up the phone," one woman said as she waited at a train station in Thessaloniki. As morning broke, rescue crews trawled through a smouldering mangled mass of steel while cranes slowly removed pieces of the train.

The collision occurred as the passenger train, heading to the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki from the capital Athens, emerged from a tunnel near the central town of Larissa. Our thoughts today are with the relatives of the victims," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at the site of the crash, looking shattered. [1/15] The site of a crash, where two trains collided, is seen near the city of Larissa, Greece, March 1, 2023. REUTERS/Giannis Floulis 1 2 3 4 5'MUM, I'M HURT'The passenger train was carrying 342 travellers and 10 crew, while two crew were on the cargo train, according to Hellenic Train data. Greece's ageing railway system is in need of modernising, with many trains travelling on single tracks and signalling and automatic control systems still to be installed in many areas.

☆ At least 16 dead, scores injured after trains collide in Greece
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] The site of a crash, where two trains collided, is seen near the city of Larissa, Greece, March 1, 2023. REUTERS/Yiannis Floulis/File PhotoATHENS, March 1 (Reuters) - Sixteen people were killed and least 85 were injured after two trains collided head-on in Greece late on Tuesday, the fire brigade said, while the circumstances of the crash remained unclear. A passenger train travelling from Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki, and a cargo train from Thessaloniki to Larissa, collided outside the city of Larissa in central Greece, said the governor of the Thessaly region. "There was panic in the carriage, people were screaming," a young man who was evacuated to a nearby bridge told SKAI TV. "It was like an earthquake," Angelos Tsiamouras, another passenger, told ERT.

☆ Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe says he was accused of taking too many black cars, stealing 'a pregnant woman's sandwich' before his ouster as CEO of the right-wing org
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

James O'Keefe, founder of right-wing organization Project Veritas, has been removed as CEO. On Monday, O'Keefe spoke for 45 minutes, describing a 7-hour board meeting prior to his ouster. Project Veritas is a far-right group that publishes selectively edited video clips of public and corporate officials, liberal groups, and the press. In September, a jury found Project Veritas liable for fraudulently misrepresenting itself and violating federal wiretap laws. He ended his remarks with an insistence that he plans to continue the work he was doing at Project Veritas under a new name.

☆ Turkish mother tries to survive for her children in earthquake-hit Hatay
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Bulent Usta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Parlakgun family return to their tent with mother Tulay pushing baby Salih in a shopping trolly through the destroyed streets in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Hatay, Turkey February 14, 2023. "He likes the shopping trolley. We are trying to get by like this," she said as she stroked 3-year old Salih and hugged her older son. With her sister and mother in Hatay Province in southern Turkey, the 38-year-old Parlakgun sits outside and cooks soup in the street on a stove. The first time she entered her house after the earthquake she looked for blankets for her children, she said.

☆ DirecTV blasts Newsmax for pushing ‘inaccurate and misleading’ attacks after the right-wing network was dropped
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —All niceties have been thrown out the window as DirecTV finds itself ensnared in an ugly carriage dispute with Newsmax. The satellite carrier, which refuses to buckle to pressure and pay millions of dollars to broadcast the network’s low-rated programming, unleashed on the right-wing talk channel on Tuesday. At the center of the dispute: Newsmax has demanded DirecTV pay millions in carriage fees to continue including the channel in its lineup. They’ve accused DirecTV — which just added another right-wing talk channel to its lineup — of censoring conservative voices. Newsmax, led by Chris Ruddy, who is well-connected in GOP circles, has in recent weeks used its platform and political power to pressure DirecTV into paying up.

☆ I asked ChatGPT to write a viral Super Bowl commercial. Here's what an advertising pro thought of the AI script.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Aidan Pollard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The most generic beer commercial of all timeChatGPT writes a script for a beer commercial Screenshot/ChatGPTFor my first commercial, I told ChatGPT to "write me a beer commercial that would run during the Super Bowl." "This is the perfect beer for the Super Bowl," ChatGPT wrote as a line for one of the characters. The cast of 'Succession' sells a luxury SUVChatGPT writes a Lexus commercial ChatGPT/ScreenshotNext up, I asked ChatGPT to "write me a funny Super Bowl commercial for the newest Lexus SUV, starring the cast of Succession." Just like the beer commercial, Eastman told me this script seemed generic. A Skittles commercial that almost hits the markChatGPT writes a Skittles commercial ChatGPT/ScreenshotLast up, I asked ChatGPT to "write me a viral and crazy Super Bowl commercial for a candy of your choosing."

☆ Security Gets Blended With Corporate Networks in New Cloud Platforms
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

As everything moves to the cloud, a new generation of cybersecurity platforms has emerged, combining corporate networks with security tools such as malware protection into a single system that tech leaders can manage centrally. Older technology can be upgraded to lay the groundwork for implementing a new platform, Mr. Franch said, but it needs to happen without disrupting the existing corporate network. PREVIEWAt Carriage Services, Mr. Franch wants to undertake a network modernization similar to one he oversaw as chief technology officer of commercial real-estate services company Cushman & Wakefield. Modernization tends to reduce complexity and increase visibility of what’s on the network, which can benefit security, according to Mr. Franch. Goya Foods Inc. CIO Suvajit Basu said the Jersey City, N.J.-based company uses cybersecurity services from about seven vendors and a total of about 12 cybersecurity tools, many purchased and implemented over time.

☆ How Netflix leaders, including its new co-CEO, are thinking about a fast streaming service that could supercharge its ads business
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Netflix said it's open to adding a free, ad-supported streaming service. A FAST offering could help Netflix scale its nascent ads business, which has been slow to take off. Could Netflix launch a free, ad-supported service? A FAST channel — free, ad-supported television — is a linear stream, a model media companies are increasingly using to complement traditional TV and paid streaming services. For Netflix, a FAST could be a quick way to scale its ads business.

☆ Republicans are lashing out at DirecTV for supposedly ‘censoring’ conservative voices. Here’s what’s really going on
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Several Republican senators unleashed on the satellite carrier Wednesday over its move to drop the right-wing channel Newsmax from its lineup, adding to mounting pressure DirecTV has faced over the matter. The senators suggested DirecTV’s move was all part of a nefarious plot to “censor” conservative viewpoints. DirecTV also balked at paying for the same content that streams to users for free on other platforms, such as Roku. But the right-wing channel, led by Chris Ruddy, who is well-connected in GOP circles, has sought to leverage its political power to pressure DirecTV into paying up. Last week, it added to its lineup the right-wing channel The First, which features hosts such as Bill O’Reilly, Dana Loesch, Liz Wheeler, and Jesse Kelly.

☆ DirecTV drops Newsmax
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —DirecTV has dropped Newsmax, a right-wing TV network, from its channel lineup over a carriage fee dispute. “We continually evaluate the most relevant programming to provide our customers and expect to fill this available channel with new content,” DirecTV said. Newsmax noted it offers its feed for free on its website, on YouTube and on multiple streaming platforms such as Roku, so viewers with DirecTV service will still be able to watch. Newsmax responded to getting the boot by accusing DirecTV of bias and censorship. “This is a blatant act of political discrimination and censorship against Newsmax,” CEO Christopher Ruddy said in a statement that was posted on Newsmax’s website.

☆ Netflix is thinking about a free streaming service to boost its ads business, insiders say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

☆ Here are Tuesday's biggest analyst calls: Apple, Disney, Target, AMD, Tesla, Coinbase, Amazon & more
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Michael Bloom | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Here are Tuesday's biggest calls on Wall Street: Morgan Stanley reiterates Apple as overweight Morgan Stanley said it's standing by it's overweight rating on Apple shares heading into earnings on Feb. 2. Bernstein reiterates Apple as market perform Bernstein said it's "ambivalent" about Apple shares heading into earnings next month. Bernstein downgrades Advanced Micro to market perform from outperform Bernstein said it's concerned about a deteriorating PC market. Morgan Stanley upgrades Marathon Oil to overweight from neutral Morgan Stanley said Marathon Oil has "peer-leading FCF and shareholder returns." Morgan Stanley reiterates Ford as overweight Morgan Stanley said it sees opportunity for Ford to "to exercise its self-help muscle."

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