 |
|
|
|||||
A penny for your thoughts? Well, maybe try a nickel. Though it will remain legal tender, the last-ever one-cent coin was printed Wednesdayand not without some drama. After being in circulation for 232 years, the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia hosted a ceremonial event during which U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach struck the final circulating penny. There are an estimated 300 billion pennies currently in circulation, a number far exceeding the amount needed for commerce, the Mint said in a statement but retailers say theyve already been dealing with coin shortages and a lot of confusion about how to price goods and services. It took about nine months for the pennys final day to arrive. In February, President Donald Trump announced that he had instructed the Mint to stop making the coin, citing the rising cost of production. Indeed, the Mint said the cost of making a penny has more-than doubled during the past decade, to 3.69 cents per penny. The coin has long been a target of lawmakers: As far back as 1989, legislation has periodically been proposed to limit or eliminate penny production. But its death knell ultimately came at the hands of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year. THE PRO-PENNY GROUP Even though end days for the penny were announced in February, retailers and penny proponents are now grappling with what its elimination means. A perhaps-surprisingly vocal group has fought for years to keep the penny in our pockets. Americans for Common Cents is a pro-penny lobbying group that has an incentive to keep the coins in circulation as it is primarily funded by Artazn, the company that provides the blanks used to make pennies. Americans for Common Cents argued in February that the penny is not as problematic as it seems and eliminating this coin will actually increase minting costs if demand surges for nickels, which are even more expensive to mint. In response to Trumps announcement about the pennys end days, the group advocated instead for modernizing the currency system and, instead of eliminating the penny, focusing on making coin production more efficient. Since then, phasing out the penny has been a bit chaotic partly because theres no real plan for what retailers should do, Mark Weller, executive director of Americans for Common Cents, told CNN on Wednesday. When countries like Canada, Australia and Switzerland removed low-denomination coins from circulation there was guidance for retailersand thats not been the case in the U.S., he said. By the time we reach Christmas, the problems will be more pronounced with retailers not having pennies, Weller told CNN. PENNY PAIN FOR RETAILERS But a penny shortage has already arrived, affecting retailers like gas stations that handle a lot of these coins. And retail groups told Reuters last week that theyre frustrated by the lack of guidance theyve received from the Trump administration, which has forced them to round down transactions to avoid upsetting customers and violating laws in some states. Kwik Trip, which operates about 900 convenience stores in the midwest, announced last month that all cash purchases will be rounded down to the nearest five centsand that the policy will remain in place until a permanent legislative solution is enacted. Rounding down transactions may not seem like a big deal, but it could become a significant cost for high-volume businesses where pennies are commonplace. And to counteract the coin shortage, some stores are offering incentives to customers who pay with pennies, according to Reuters reporting. Any merchant that accepts cash is grappling with this, Dylan Jeon, senior director of government relations with the National Retail Federation, told Reuters. A spokesperson for the Treasury Department didnt immediately respond to a request for comment from Fast Company with any guidance for retailers. PENNY LEGACY The penny was first minted in 1792 and has seen many evolutions in materials over its lifetime, including during World War II when it was made from a zinc-coated steel due to a copper shortage in 1943. The image of President Abraham Lincoln first appeared on the penny in 1909 to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of his birth. While pennies for circulation will be discontinued, the Mint will continue to produce a limited quantity of the coin for historical and collector purposes. And its mostly focused on celebrating the copper-colored coin. While general production concludes today, the pennys legacy lives on, Kristie McNally, acting Mint director, said in a statement. As its usage in commerce continues to evolve, its significance in Americas story will endure.
Category:
E-Commerce
Six hundred employees just packed up their desks and quit their jobs at Paramount Skydance. The mass exodus happened after the company, formed by Skydance Medias takeover of Paramount Global, told employees that they were instating a five-day back-to-office mandate, set to begin on January 5. The company, led by new CEO David Ellison, let staffers know that if they didn’t plan to come back to the office, they could take a buyout deal starting on September 15. However, the media giant likely didn’t expect to be handing out quite so many severance packages. According to company disclosures filed on Monday, around 600 employees in the Los Angeles and New York offices at the vice-president level and below took the deal, which reportedly cost Paramount Skydance $185 million in “restructuring changes.” While the company may be trimming employees, it doesnt seem to be trimming spending. The company called for incremental programming investments in 2026 in excess of $1.5 billion. Paramount said it had already trimmed about 1,000 employees earlier this year and expects to cut around 1,600 more, as the company moves to divest both Televisión Federal in Argentina and Chilevision in Chile in an attempt to ensure continued focus. The restructuring comes after Ellison took charge of the company post-merger and pressed the importance of in-person work. I believe that in-person collaboration is absolutely vital to building and strengthening our culture and driving the success of our business,” Ellison wrote in a September memo. “Our people are the key to winning, and being together helps us innovate, solve problems, share ideas, create, challenge one another, and build relationships that will make this company great.” Still, an $185 million price tag seems a tad excessive for more collaboration. Either way, Paramount is not the only media giant to enforce a return-to-office mandate.NBCUniversal recently announced workers would have to return to the office at least four days a week, in a similar policy beginning in January. Comcast, the parent company of NBCU, previously did the same. While employees leaving in large numbers due to such mandates seems like a major upheaval, some research says that is the point (at least in part). According to a 2024 Bamboo HR report, back-to-office mandates can help companies avoid layoffs. Per the report, nearly 2 in 5 managers, directors, and executives (37%) say their company enacted layoffs in the last year because fewer employees than they expected quit during their RTO. Likewise, 25% of VP and C-suite executives and nearly 1 in 5 HR pros (18%) say they actually hoped employees would voluntarily leave amid mandates. Either way, back-to-office mandates are fairly unpopular, so the true cost to companies remains to be seen. However, when it comes to media giants, at least, some of the cost will trickle down to the customer. Paramount Skydance is planning to raise Paramount+ subscription prices starting January 15. Both the Essential (ad-supported) plan and Premium (ad-free) plan will go up by $1, to $8.99 and $13.99 per month, respectively. “Our ongoing investments in Paramount+ are enhancing the value we deliver to consumers,” Ellison said. “To support this continued investment, we plan to implement price increases in the U.S. early in the first quarter of 2026.”
Category:
E-Commerce
Just a week after self-described democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani made history as New York City’s first Muslim to be elected mayor, fellow Democrat Jack SchlossbergPresident John F. Kennedy’s (JFK’s) grandsonannounced he is also running for office in New York City, in the Empire States 12th Congressional district. If elected, he would represent New York in the U.S. House of Representatives. Both men are among a wave of young, progressive, charismatic candidates calling for change, amid a backlash to not only Donald Trump’s second-term agenda, but also a historically unpopular Democratic Party that many feel are doing too little, too late. That list of progressives also includes Arizona representative-elect Adelita Grijalva; Robert Peters, who is running in Illinois’ 2nd district; and Graham Platner, a democrat running for senate in Maine in a bid to unseat Republican Senator Susan Collins. But there are a number of parallels between Mamdani and Schlossberg in particular. Both are in their early 30s and grew up attending high school in New York City. They also come from political-minded families with impressive mothers. Mamdani’s mom is Indian-American activist filmmaker Mira Nair, while Schlossberg’s mom, Caroline Kennedy, is a lawyer, former U.S. Ambassador to Australia and Japan, and a civic-minded head of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. At 34 years old, Mamdani will be New York City’s youngest mayor since 1892, while Schlossberg, 32, is running to replace retiring longtime Democrat Representative Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who is 78 and has held the seat for over 30 years in the liberal district that includes the Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Midtown, and Chelsea. (That’s also where Schlossberg was born and raised, and currently lives.) Both Mamdani and Schlossberg are also wildly popular on social media, in part for their fresh-faced looks and upbeat, pragmatic-but-populist approach to making the world (or at least New York City) a better place. Old money, fresh face To that end, Schlossberg’s newly minted campaign website, which bears the URL “Jackfornewyork,” introduces the candidate as a “A New Generation for New York” and features pictures of “Jack” (JFK’s nickname, and Schlossberg’s namesake) riding his bike in Manhattan with a backpack, not unlike his famous uncle, to whom he bears an uncanny resemblance. (At 6’2 and with signature Kennedy looks, Schlossberg also has a large female following on social media.) Like Mamdani’s campaign, Schlossberg’s website emphasizes his practical-but-populist approach to leadership. “Jack wants to take his fight to Congress to make sure New Yorkers have a voice that represents their values and amplifies their fight,” it reads. “Hes focused on rooting out corruption, defending civil rights and personal freedoms, making housing affordable, protecting public health, and rebuilding trust in government.” (Sounds a lot like Mamdani, no?) Where “Jack” might get into trouble, however, is his political inexperience. While he is a Kennedy, and has been in the family business for a whilewhich includes various duties, including presenting the Profile in Courage Award at the JFK Library in Bostonthis is his first run for office. Mamdani also was criticized for lacking experience, but he at least ran for mayor after he was first elected to the New York State Assembly. What Schlossberg does have going for him: He enters the race with the political clout of the Kennedy name and a large, established social media following across platforms, including Instagram, where he goes by “jackuno” and has 739,000 followers. Online, he is part influencer, part instigator, often challenging political opponents whether his own uncle, Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr.; Trump; or Vice President Vance, who he has trolled incessantly, making what some have criticized as inappropriate jokes about his wife, Usha (including jokes about having a child with her). In that sense, Schlossberg’s informal approach, his tell-it-like-it-is political commentary, and his sense of humor could be what New Yorkers want in a candidate to help turn the city aroundor it could be the very thing that undoes him in his race for Congress in 2026. Only time will tell.
Category:
E-Commerce
If youve ever been hit with a sketchy text warning you of an overdue toll road payment or mysterious U.S. Postal Service fees, youve likely been targeted by one of the largest cyber scams sweeping the globe. Now, Google is suing an international cybercrime group it believes is responsible for the ubiquitous text-based phishing scheme, which may have raked in as much as $1 billion over the last three years. In the lawsuit filed Wednesday, Google alleges that 25 people are part of a sprawling scam operation known as Lighthouse that was designed to swipe the logins and passwords of victims caught in its web. The Lighthouse scam hinges on tricking people with bogus texts, prompting them to click a link and share their credentials on fake websites. The sites display legitimate-looking logos of brands such as Google, Gmail, and YouTube in hopes of convincing potential victims that their fake web pages are real, hence the companys involvement. Google says that it found 107 website templates misusing Google branding on their sign-in screens in order to fool people into thinking those sites are safe and actually connected to Googles products. According to the lawsuit, almost 200 fake web templates connected to the Lighthouse network imitate U.S. websites like those belonging to the New York City government and USPS. Beyond Googles own logos, the fake sites display official-looking logos of payment companies and social media platforms. Google and other security researchers believe that the text-phishing scam network is based in China, well beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement. Bad actors built Lighthouse as a phishing-as-a-service kit to generate and deploy massive smishing (SMS phishing) attacks, Google general counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado wrote on the companys blog. These attacks exploit established brands like E-ZPass to steal peoples financial information. Google notes that this family of cybercrime is causing immense financial harm around the globe, and that the company intends to disrupt the schemes core infrastructure with the lawsuit. In it, Google alleges that the unnamed individuals connected to the Lighthouse scam have run afoul of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act; the Lanham Act, which protects trademarks; and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Because the operation is seemingly based in China, Googles suit likely wont be dragging anyone to court overnight, but the suit could still disrupt the groups web hosting and other aspects of its infrastructure. Because Google doesnt know the names of the 25 individuals connected to the scam, the suit includes their Telegram handles when they are known. To fight cyber scams on U.S. soil, Google also announced Wednesday that it will back a handful of bipartisan bills designed to disrupt fraud, counter scams, and block robocalls that originate overseas. Legal action can address a single operation; robust public policy can address the broader threat of scams, DeLaine Prado said. We encourage Congress to enact these crucial bills and help bring a decisive end to the financial harm and damage wrought by foreign cybercriminals.
Category:
E-Commerce
World Labs, the AI model developer cofounded by AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, has released its 3D-space generating model, Marble. At the World Labs website, creators can now input text prompts, images, or videos of pieces of a real-world environment. Marble uses them to create full 3D environments, which can include interior spaces or expansive exterior ones. Marble can reconstruct, generate, and simulate 3D worldsthink of it as a type of world model. In an interview with Fast Company, Li describes world models as a “significant” evolution of the generative AI era. The large world model is really a significant step towards unlocking AI’s capability,” a category she calls “spatial.” Spatial intelligence refers to a systems ability to perceive, model, reason about, and take actions within physical or geometric spacesimilar to how humans or animals choose their actions based on their understanding of their surroundings. World Labs launched in September of 2024, when it began working on the Marble model. Two months ago it released a preview of the model to a group of creatives, who began buliding worlds and giving feedback.This week, Li posted a sort of manifesto on Substack arguing that spatial intelligence is the next frontier in AI. For humans, she says, spatial intelligence of the physical world around us provides the scaffolding upon which we build our cognition. Spatial intelligence will transform how we create and interact with real and virtual worldsrevolutionizing storytelling, creativity, robotics, scientific discovery, and beyond, she writes. World Labs believes that endowing machines (including robots) with such spatial intelligence could be transformative for a number of industries in the coming years. Using a web interface, users can feed Marble a scene description, images or videos, or coarse 3D layouts and the model will generate a realistic 3D environment. A user might input a set of images from the bedroom where they grew up, then upload the images to Marble, which will then intelligently sew them together to create an immersive digital 3D version of the room. The user can then use a set of tools to refine or expand their bedroom recreation, making small touchups like adding a clock. Or, they might make larger changes: adding a desk and chair or rendering the whole room with a different kind of light. More advanced users can create (or import) a rough 3D scene including the major fixtures of an environment, then use text prompts to control the overall style. The editing tools let you iterate with the model and go back and forth and edit what the world looks like in various ways to help you [get] that vision out of your head and making that perfect world, says World Labs cofounder Justin Johnson. World Labs is also hosting a hub where people can share their 3D creations. Marble can output 3D worlds so that other creators, perhaps using other tools, can build on or enhance them. It can generate worlds as Gaussian splats, meshes, or videosformats familiar to graphics pros. That’s really cool because it lets you take those 3D assets and then compose them with all kinds of other traditional workflows, Johnson says. You could take your triangle mesh and drop it into a game. You could take your gaussian splat and then use it for a VFX shot and composite and other things. In generative AI, a Gaussian splat is the highest quality way of rendering 3D objects and spaces. The model generates millions or billions of tiny splatssemi-transparent particles occupying different points within a 3D space. They are small, smooth blobs whose brightness, opacity, color, or density is greatest at their center, with those values falling smoothly off in a bell-curve shape down to zero at their edges. The blobs then interconnect with their neighbors, which increases the smooth, consistent feel. When billions of these splats overlap, they can approximate the smooth surfaces, colors, and lighting of a 3D scene. While anyone can now experiment with Marble, professionals such as artists, engineers, and VFX designers might find it useful in their work. Li and her cofounders, Ben Mildenhall, Johnson, and Christoph Lassner, say that this spatial intelligence could transform a variety of industries, including gaming, film production, and robotics. Li, who also codirects the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, was recently awarded the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering at a ceremony with King Charles in London. Her cofounders have impressive bona fides, too. Lassner developed Pulsar, a sphere-based renderer that paved the way for 3D Gaussian Splatting. Johnson, who worked with Li as a graduate student at Stanford, created real-time style transfer (in which the visual style of one image is applied to another), which was deployed by Meta, Snap, and Prisma. Ben Mildenhall cocreated the neural radiance field (NeRF) method, which revolutionized 3D scene reconstruction. World Labs is offering a tiered subscription plan, starting with a free tier that includes enough credits to generate four worlds. The higher tiers add more credits and more tools, with the top plan priced at $95 per month.
Category:
E-Commerce
Sites : [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] next »