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If you have investments in the stock market, the past several weeks have probably felt a little worrisome. (And by a little worrisome I mean just barely keeping oneself from sobbing in the bathtub with a pint of Ben & Jerrys.) U.S. and global markets have yo-yoed in reaction to the current administrations inexplicable tariff wars. And since this market volatility is a direct result of Americas foreign economic policy rather than normal economic fluctuation, its difficult to know what to expect. Theres no promise of fiscal unicorns and rainbows when we get to the other end of this trade warbut before you cash out your 401(k) and bury the money in your backyard, keep these important facts in mind. Yes, this does feel different If it feels like this market turbulence is different from others in recent memory, thats because it is. The current market instability stems from the presidents tariffs rather than a market crash (like the 2008 housing bubble collapse) or a disruptive global event (like the 2020 COVID-related market downturn). Thats significant because economists and investors know what to expect from market crashes, which are relatively common and repeat on a somewhat predictable 7-to-10-year pattern, followed by an average recovery time of 1.4 years. While the 2020 market shenanigans also felt unprecedented at the timesince none of us had ever lived through a global pandemic beforethe recovery within four months of the markets lowest point made it clear that everyone wanted to get back to business as soon as possible post-COVID. In both of those cases, it made sense to HANK TOUGH! and stay the course through the market downturns, since there was a long history of the market rebounding from similar situations. But our current heartburn-inducing market ride stems from Americas global retaliatory trade war, and we cant necessarily count on the natural rebound that has occurred after every other destabilizing market event in recent memory. Any countries angry about U.S.-imposed tariffs could make long-term financial or policy changes that will continue to affect our domestic market for years. There is simply no way of knowing what long-term effects there will be on our investments. But there is a precedent Just because we have never lived through a tariff-triggered market downturn doesnt mean our current situation is unprecedented. Almost 100 years ago, isolationist tariffs introduced by Utah Senator Reed Smoot (yes, that was really his name) and Oregon Representative Willis Hawley exacerbated an existing financial crisis. You may only remember the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of 1930 as part of the mind-numbing lecture Ferris Bueller missed on his day off, but this act raised import duties in an attempt to protect American farmers and businesses. Unfortunately, the Smoot-Hawley tariffs prompted retaliatory tariffs, and the American economy suffered for nearly a decade. Thankfully, we are in a much better situation than our ancestors were. The Great Depression started with the 1929 stock market crashbefore Smoot and Hawley teamed up, ammonia and bleach style, to impose tariffs. As of February 2025, the U.S. was enjoying a robust economy with a growing GDP, while the 1930 tariffs introduced by Smoot and Hawley kicked the wounded economy when it had already been sucker punched by the market crash. The drop in your investment portfolio over the past couple of weeks was nausea-inducing in part because it was falling from a high point. But investors in the 1930s saw their money lose value in the crash and then lose more value from the tariff wars. No one wants to hear a financial expert say, It could be worseand here are some examples of when it was! However, recognizing that the recent turbulence is rocking an economy that had otherwise been stable can help fend off the worst of the panic. Planning for the unexpected Any financial adviser worth their salt will tell you that past performance is no guarantee of future returns, but understanding how markets have reacted in the past can offer some perspective on how markets may react in the future. Since we can look back to the 1930s and see how other countries reacted to Americas isolationist financial and foreign policyand how the market responded to tariffs being flung back and forth across borders like a game of hot potatowe can make plans and predictions based on the worst-case scenario. We know from Smoot and Hawley that tariffs often lead to retaliatory tariffs, which can have a negative impact on the market. Even though there is no way of knowing what will happen, its probably a good idea for investors to buckle up for a bumpy ride. Heres how: Remember that the market will eventually recover For anyone who is 10 or more years out from retirement, you can feel confident that things will improve. Unless were in a dogs and cats living togethermass hysteria! type of extinction-level event, consider ignoring your 401(k) balance for a little while. Your investments will do better if you slowly back away from your portfolio and let the market recover. Forewarned is forearmed Just because the market will return to some semblance of normalcy without any effort on your part doesnt mean you should do nothing. Now is the time to shore up your finances by paying off high-interest debt, setting aside money in an emergency fund, finding ways to lower your expenses, and starting some secondary income streams in case of job loss or involuntary retirement. All of these actions will help your finances whether were in for a long stretch of market nastiness or things are about to come up roses. Invest conservatively as you get closer to retirement Your asset allocation is supposed to get less risky as you approach retirement, since that will protect your principal in case of a market downturn at the wrong time. If youre planning to retire in the next few years, you can make sure any new contributions you make to your retirement accounts are invested in low-risk-lower-return assets, like bonds, treasury funds, CDs, or other cash equivalents. While hese investments arent going to grow like the market normally would, the market also may not grow like it normally would. Stashing your contributions into these kinds of investments will offer you more peace of mind that the money will be waiting for your retirement. You still have time for market recovery Once youre no longer in the flush of youth, you may assume you dont have the luxury of investing for the long term. Its not like a 60-year-old can afford to wait out the market like a 30-year-old can. But you can invest like you have decades ahead of you. Because you do! As you approach retirement and even during your retirement, you will keep a portion of your portfolio invested for the long haul. When you retire, you dont need all of your money right away. Youll keep a significant chunk invested for a longer time horizon, which helps ensure that your money will last your entire life. How to respond if youre already retired By far, retirees are the most vulnerable to a protracted market plunge. Going back to work and/or waiting out the market weirdness is generally off the table for retirees, so it can feel like there are no good choices. But that doesnt mean retirees are helpless in the face of larger economic forces. As with current workers and near-retirees, retirees can make plans now for the worst-case scenario. This might include: Reducing expenses: This is easier said than done, considering the price of eggs and everything else, but start thinking about ways to downsize your costs. Selling items: If you have a lifetimes worth of home goods, collectibles, or Precious Moments figurines sitting around, you may want to start selling some off. This could be a good way to increase your retirement income without having to take money from your investments. Considering a reverse mortgage: Since your home is likely your most valuable asset, a reverse mortgage could be a decent way to access cash from something other than your investments. Dont panicplan Panic is the leading cause of selling at the markets low point. Instead of selling off your investments to staunch the flow of tariff-induced anxiety, make a plan instead. If you assume the market may be bumpy for the foreseeable future, how will that change your financial decisions? Making investment choices based on that assumption will serve you well no matter what happens. In the best-case scenario, things will recover sooner than expected and this will be a footnote in your investing career. But even in the worst-case scenario, planning for volatility will help you make more rational decisionsand protect you from making your paper losses real by getting out of the market. It may be a bit of a grim sounding win-win, but its a heck of a lot better than crying into a pint of Chunky Monkey in the bathtub.
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With music streaming, users have gotten used to being at the mercy of algorithms. But French music streamer Deezer is making it easier for its subscribers to make the algorithm work for them. The company unveiled an update to its mobile experience that doubles down on its emphasis on personalization and sharing to set it apart from larger competitors like Spotify and Apple Music. The new features were introducing today give users more control over their algorithm, greater flexibility to personalize their experience, and easy ways to share content with their friends, even beyond Deezer, CEO Alexis Lanternier said in a press release. Rolling out over the next two months, the update includes enhancements to Deezers Flow feature, more options for interface personalization, a monthly Spotify Wrapped-style listening roundup called My Deezer Month, and a universal sharing function to share songs with users on other music platforms. With Flow, listeners can set certain songs as favorites and ban others, effectively steering the algorithm in the direction they choose. From there, they can even tune in to specific moods, like chill, sad, or party. The apps interface can be personalized as well. Deezer had previously rolled out a personalized homepage to a subset of users, but now all subscribers will have the ability to decide what they see featured on their Favorites page, making it easier to navigate to their preferred tracks, playlists, and albums. Users can further customize the way the app looks with photos and stickers for their playlist covers. For fans of Spotifys annual Wrapped feature, My Deezer Month ups the ante with more frequency, providing a monthly breakdown of users listening habits delivered in highly shareable form. This feature builds on the strong engagement growth the platform said it saw in 2024 for its annual wrap-up, My Deezer Year. Alongside its full-year earnings in March, Deezer said engagement and social media shares of the feature were up 27% and 75% year over year, respectively, in 2024. But what fun would these features be if you couldnt share them? The apps Shaker feature has long allowed users to make playlists with users across platforms; now they can also share tracks with users on different platforms thanks to Deezers unique universal sharing link. The company has stepped up efforts to stand out in a competitive streaming landscape with both users and artists. In 2023, Deezer was one of the first platforms to adopt what it calls an artist-centric payment model that set a minimum number of monthly streams a song needs before it can start earning royalties (Spotify followed suit with a similar policy later that year). It has also invested in AI tools, including AI-powered playlists and a tool for identifying AI-generated songs, which Deezer says make up roughly 18% of all songs submitted to streaming platforms. So far Deezer is also the only music streaming service to sign the Statement on AI Training that promises not to allow its music data to train AI models. Generative AI has the potential to positively impact music creation and consumption, Aurélien Hérault, Deezers chief innovation officer, said in a press release. But we need to approach the development with responsibility and care in order to safeguard the rights and revenues of artists and songwriters while maintaining transparency for the fans.
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E-Commerce
If real Easter eggs arent your thing this weekend, you may find hunting for digital ones more enjoyable. And there are some cool ones to find at your fingertips, provided you have an iPhone or Mac. Apple has packed the iOS and macOS operating systems with several fun little references, many harking back to the legacy of the company or other companies in the tech industry. Microsofts Blue Screen of Death This one’s been around for a while, and it’s a fan favorite. The Finder on your Mac can show other computers connected to the same network. These computers are represented by icons. If the connected computers are other Macs, youll see icons that accurately represent the shape of the computer, such as a modern MacBook Pro or even an old G4 iMac from the early 2000s. But if the connected computers are Windows PCs, youll see the same icon for them all: an ugly beige CRT monitor with the infamous Windows Blue Screen of Deaththe screen PC users see when something has gone seriously wrong with the Windows operating system. The icon choice is Apples subtle dig at its once archnemesis, and it has been an Easter egg in the Macs operating systems for a few decades now. iPhone Voice Memo app icon In this case, the Easter egg is an iPhone app icon itself. The waveform in the Voice Memos app icon may not be just a random glyph. Instead, SiliconRepublic says, the waveform’s shape is the one you get when you use Voice Memos to record the word Apple. In my tests, its pretty accurate, but your mileage may vary depending on how you enunciate words. Safari Reading List icon Apple has snuck a few direct references to Steve Jobs in its operating systems. The first can be found in the Safari app on iPhone. Open up Safari and then tap the bookmarks icon at the bottom of the screen. See the Reading List icon in the center of the pop-up? Those are a pair of eyeglassesbut not just any. They look remarkably identical to the round spectacles Steve Jobs made iconic. Record label with Steve Jobs’s phrases Theres another reported Steve Jobs reference in Apples software. This one is in macOS. If you open the System Settings app, click Users & Groups, and then click on your profile picture to edit it, youll notice that under the Suggestions folder full of icons, you can select an icon of a record turntable. Well, if you go to where the icon image file is actually stored in macOS (Macintosh HD>Library>User Pictures>Instruments) and open the Turntable.heic file, youll see the record on the turntable lists four tracks on its label: 1. Magic 2. Revolution 3. Boom! 4. Unbelievable. These were all words Jobs frequently exclamed during his keynote speeches and demos, notes iDropNews. Heres to the crazy ones Next to its seminal “1984” ad, Apples most iconic campaign was probably Think Different, from the late 1990s. That campaign features a poem called Heres to the crazy ones. Apple has commemorated that poem in two places in its operating systems. The first is in the System Settings app in macOS. Click on the Display preferences panel, and you’ll notice the text size adjustment icons display the opening text from the poem. Heres to the crazy ones can also be found printed on the pages of the open book emoji found in iOS and macOS. Let It Snow (in the Apple Store app) Finally, back in 2021, Apple snuck a little Easter egg into its Apple Store app for iPhone, noted AppleInsider. If you type in let it snow in the search field of the Apple Store app, the app will then display digital falling snow across your screen. While this Easter egg isn’t a direct reference to Apple, it’s a fun one to trigger during the winter holidays. A history of Apple Easter eggs During my research for this story, I consulted several older Apple Easter egg roundupssuch as the ones published by iDropNews, MacRumors, and Mental Flossto make sure that I had forgotten any big ones. I discovered that Apple has actually removed a fair amount of them from its operating systems. These removals include former Easter eggs that allowed you to play Tetris in the Terminal app or watch Star Wars reenacted in ASCII. There also used to be a Bitcoin Easter egg in macOS, but Apple has now removed that, too. I also remember from back in the day that when you typed evil empire into the OS X Dictionary app, you would find the entry for Microsoft. But that seems to be gone from macOS now, too. In other words, it seems like Apple has been cracking down on Easter eggs in recent years, so enjoy the above while you can.
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E-Commerce
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