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General Mills told investors Wednesday that it expects its sales to fall as much as 2% this year. It’s the latest consumer food company to lower its sales outlook for the year. Campbell’s and Kraft Heinz expect business to slow down, as well. All this comes as some consumers continue to pull back on grocery store spending.

Inflation over the past couple of years has made trips to the grocery store a lot harder for many Americans — and a lot of folks expect prices will keep going up.

That’s influencing the choices they make when they shop for food, according to Ed Johnson, who focuses on consumer industries at Deloitte.

“The places where we’re seeing that choice manifest is only buying essentials, right, so maybe that’s — think about categories in the grocery store that are maybe seen as simple indulgences or as nice to haves,” he said.

So things like snacks or soda — some shoppers are skipping those, he said. Or they’re trading down from name brands to generic versions.

But those store brands aren’t immune either, cautioned executive editor of Supermarket News Chloe Riley. That’s because lower-income consumers are getting pinched by rising prices for basics like coffee and eggs.

“Consumers are cutting out even many of the cheaper items as well,” she said.

All these consumer choices are trickling up to corporate offices, per Craig Rowley, who consults with retail companies at Korn Ferry. He said that his clients are starting to ask, “What do our expenses look like? If our sales are going to be a little bit slight, what can we do to reduce our expenses?”

They could cancel planned investments, leave open jobs unfilled or even lay off workers. Rowley added that his clients aren’t making any of those moves just yet, but they are exploring their options.

In long rows of booths at this week’s Seafood Expo North America in Boston, seafood producers dole out samples of oysters, caviar and fish sticks — even alligator and something called lobster oil at one booth.

Guillermo Aceves takes a bite of defrosted salmon sushi. “Oh yeah, I really like it,” he said.

Aceves distributes shrimp and octopus in the U.S. and Mexico for Arli Foods. He came to the Expo to add to his product lineup, and he thinks he could hook his customers on this frozen sushi from Japan.

“This is a very nice product, the sushi,” he said, “because you can keep it for one year frozen and it’s still fresh.”

Elsewhere on the floor, Rob Black, VP of sales with Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation, shows off his selection plucked from lakes in Canada.

“The big one at the back is an inconnu. That’s harvested really in the Arctic waters,” he noted. “Walleye, which you’ll see in the case here, is our most lucrative species.”

Black was one of many vendors I spoke to who were worried about more than just the quality of their product. “Everybody’s concerned about the tariff situation,” he said.

A selection of seafood products at the Seafood Expo North America in Boston on March 17. (Daniel Ackerman/Marketplace)

Black earns 70% of his revenue from U.S. importers, and it’s hard to tell if, when and by how much the Trump administration will tax those sales.

So, Black said, there’s not much he can do to protect himself — “because it changes. It can change daily, and there’s no sense in expending a whole lot of time or money on something that’s going to change in 24 hours.”

Other companies are taking action. Bakkafrost farms salmon in the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic, CEO Regin Jacobsen says the U.S. market accounts for nearly a third of its revenue.

“We even have our own Boeing 757, where we can fly directly from the Faroes, the fish which was alive in the morning can be all ready the next day all over the U.S.,” he said.

Even though he specializes in fresh, Jacobsen said that in an unstable trade environment, he’s leaning into shelf-stable forms of salmon.

“These days, where the tension in the world is getting higher, canned products are good because they don’t need the refrigeration or anything, and they can be stored for five years at least.”

In other words, if you can’t beat uncertainty, maybe you can outlast it.

Discord is officially launching Quest ads on mobile and will start showing users videos in exchange for rewards starting in June 2025. The messaging service has been testing its advertising experience called "Quests" on mobile for a while now after they were officially launched on desktop a year ago. But next month, video Quests will become widely available on its mobile application. Discord frames the experience as as "a way for players to discover games and new content while earning rewards for playing, streaming, or watching videos." 

For advertisers, though, it's a way to get people to watch their trailers for new games, as well as video announcements for things like DLC drops. Some Quests even ask users to stream games to unlock rewards, potentially gaining advertisers new players for their titles. Discord says companies have used the format for advertising campaigns for some of the most recognizable video game franchises out there, including Diablo, Street Fighter, World of Warcraft and Genshin Impact. Other non-video game companies have also used the format, so you can expect movie trailers and other kinds of video announcements, as well. Max, for instance, made users watch a trailer of Dune: Prophecy before it premiered. Like on desktop, users will get a notification when a Quest is available, and they can choose to accept it to perform the task that it requires. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/the-discord-app-is-getting-video-ads-in-june-130054000.html?src=rss

We call ourselves Marketplace, so part of our job is exploring how marketplaces work, in all their forms. David Brancaccio and the “Marketplace Morning Report” team are setting out to visit in-person places of commerce, in a world where so much buying and selling has gone remote and digital. None are financial markets in a formal sense, but all markets are financial markets in a way, right? The goal is to learn the right and the wrong moves with experts.

This week: “A Business Reporter Goes to the Rodeo.” Today it’s tips from the next generation of agriculture industry leaders.

While bull riders and calf ropers vie for cash in the NFL-grade stadium next door, there’s another competition happening amid more workaday grandstands and piles of hay dyed green. Young people from across the state show off in front of judges the best of the chickens, pigs, lambs, goats and cows.

Laura Cooper, a high school senior from Paris, Texas, is among them. She drove about five hours to show a Brahman heifer at the rodeo.

“You definitely look for their structure,” Cooper explained. “Are they able to walk? Will they make it out and thrive in the real world? You also check their temperament. It would be awful if I had a crazy cow, and would make it a really long day we’re showing. So thankfully, she’s super gentle.”

Cooper was showing Dally, who won several trophies at this year’s events. What makes Dally worthy of show?

“Her color, that red tinge, is just something that’s super flashy in the show world,” Cooper said. “She puts her ears forward, makes her look like a real lady.”

Cooper, left, and her mother, along with Dally. (Alex Schroeder/Marketplace)

Raising and showing livestock is an investment business.

“I had to get an ag loan through the FSA, so the Farm Service Agency, to buy my own calf to start out with in the very beginning,” Cooper said. “From then, I learned, ‘Wow, this is an awesome opportunity. I get to build credit before age of 18.’ I was able to sell their offspring. So when they had calves after their show career, I was able to sell those, make a little bit of profit. From then on, it just seems like it was just a repetitive cycle.”

Cooper herself now owns nearly 40 cattle in total. She’s finishing up both her high school degree and an associate degree in agribusiness at the same time. Her career goal is to become a loan officer, to give other farmers and ranchers the same credit opportunity she was given.

“I do have somewhat of an idea about the worth of some things and assets and appreciating value,” Cooper said. “It is something you still continually learn every day, especially with the new current market trends.”

She’s even checking interest rates these days. But it’s not just Cooper. The young business aces abound at the junior livestock show.

Baxter Whitworth, 14 years old from Henderson, Texas, has a ranch called Top Notch Cattle. He also shows Brahmans, and he’s taking home trophies, too. But meanwhile he’s building a media business. It’s a podcast: Cattle Innovation Station.

“Sometimes we’ll talk about ag policy, but mostly it’s nutrition, genetics, breeding, herd management,” Whitworth said.

Whitworth speaks with Brancaccio. (Alex Schroeder/Marketplace)

His trick of the trade for showing cattle is something that will also serve him well as a podcast host — it’s about showmanship and presence.

“Being aware of what’s going on in the ring, where the judge is at, where other cattle are at, kind of how much space you have,” he explained. “To kind of be engaging and looking where everything is, to make sure everything’s all right.”

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, has pushed for an animal-free rodeo. The group alleges “animals used in rodeos suffer from extreme stress and often sustain agonizing and even fatal injuries.”

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo says in its animal welfare policy that it’s “committed to the humane treatment of animals and works with various organizations and associations to monitor industry best practices, as well as ensure the ongoing maintenance of our competition rules to create and maintain an environment that results in the respect and care of our animals.”

Make light work of meal times and enjoy a saving of $30 to boot with this 9-in-1 Cosori TurboBlaze air fryer. It’s currently on sale for $90 in the Amazon Spring Sale, reduced from its usual price of $120. We’ve seen similar price drops for this product in the past, but this is still a great deal that’s well worth a look.

The Cosori TurboBlaze air fryer is one of the top picks in our best air fryers guide. We loved its spacious basket and easy-to-use touchscreen controls, and were impressed with its built-in safety features, like the handy basket-release button. Plus, for anybody who’s stuck for a bit of inspiration in the kitchen, it comes with a Cosori recipe book with more than 100 tasty recipes to try.

The Cosori TurboBlaze air fryer boasts nine preset cooking modes, making it a versatile kitchen companion for air frying, roasting, baking, broiling and more. With a roomy six-quart capacity, there’s ample space to easily feed the whole family or whip up an appetizer for social gatherings. It sports an efficient five-speed fan, has a top temperature of 450 degrees Fahrenheit and can deliver crisp, juicy chicken wings up to 40 percent faster than conventional ovens.

This compact air fryer is ideal for busy families or anyone who values the program-and-go convenience that it provides. It’s small enough to be stowed away when not in use, and thanks to its dishwasher-safe design, clean up is a breeze, too. The non-stick basket is built for daily use, whether you’re batch cooking or whipping up a last-minute meal, making it a reliable go-to option for people with hectic lives.

The Amazon Spring Sale ends on March 31st, so if you don’t want to miss out on this discounted rate, you should grab hold of this deal now while you can.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/one-of-our-favorite-air-fryers-is-30-off-in-the-amazon-spring-sale-123016888.html?src=rss

It has been over two years since ChatGPT exploded onto the world stage and, while OpenAI has advanced it in many ways, there's still quite a few hurdles. One of the biggest issues: hallucinations, or stating false information as factual. Now, Austrian advocacy group Noyb has filed its second complaint against OpenAI for such hallucinations, naming a specific instance in which ChatGPT reportedly — and wrongly — stated that a Norwegian man was a murderer. 

To make matters, somehow, even worse, when this man asked ChatGPT what it knew about him, it reportedly stated that he was sentenced to 21 years in prison for killing two of his children and attempting to murder his third. The hallucination was also sprinkled with real information, including the number of children he had, their genders and the name of his home town. 

Noyb claims that this response put OpenAI in violation of GDPR. "The GDPR is clear. Personal data has to be accurate. And if it's not, users have the right to have it changed to reflect the truth," Noyb data protection lawyer Joakim Söderberg stated. "Showing ChatGPT users a tiny disclaimer that the chatbot can make mistakes clearly isn’t enough. You can’t just spread false information and in the end add a small disclaimer saying that everything you said may just not be true.." 

Other notable instances of ChatGPT's hallucinations include accusing one man of fraud and embezzlement, a court reporter of child abuse and a law professor of sexual harassment, as reported by multiple publications. 

Noyb first complaint to OpenAI about hallucinations, in April 2024, focused on a public figure's inaccurate birthdate (so not murder, but still inaccurate). OpenAI had rebuffed the complainant's request to erase or update their birthdate, claiming it couldn't change information already in the system, just block its use on certain prompts. ChatGPT replies on a disclaimer that it "can make mistakes." 

Yes, there is an adage something like, everyone makes mistakes, that's why they put erasers on pencils. But, when it comes to an incredibly popular AI-powered chatbot, does that logic really apply? We'll see if and how OpenAI responds to Noyb's latest complaint. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/chatgpt-reportedly-accused-innocent-man-of-murdering-his-children-120057654.html?src=rss

Meta is rolling out its AI assistant across 41 European countries, including to members of the European Union, starting this week. It will also extend its access to 21 overseas European territories. In its announcement, Meta said that it has taken the company longer to bring its AI technology to European users as it continues to "navigate its complex regulatory system." 

The company was planning to make its AI technology available in the region last year, but it had to put its plans on pause after the Irish Data Protection Commission asked it to delay training its Large Language Models on content posted by adult European users on Facebook and Instagram. A month after the Irish regulator's request, Meta said that it wasn't going to release its new multimodal Llama models in the region "due to the unpredictable nature of the European regulatory environment."

Meta will start its AI rollout in Europe by incorporating the technology into its messaging apps across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which will soon show a blue circle on their interface. It will be available in six languages from the region and will have limited capabilities that revolve around text queries for now, but the company says it hopes to expand its AI's offering over time until its finds "parity with the US." 

European users will be able to call Meta AI in group chats by typing @MetaAI followed by their prompt or question. Users will also be able to use the chatbot to surface relevant posts and Reels by typing in queries, such as "show me Vancouver Island content." They will be able to look up information from all over the web within the chatbot, as well. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/meta-ai-is-coming-to-europe-this-week-113019014.html?src=rss

Fujifilm has unveiled one of the wilder cameras I've seen in awhile, the 102MP medium-format GFX100RF compact camera. Yes, you read that right — this is a carrying-around street camera with a massive sensor and fixed 35mm f4 lens (28mm full-frame equivalent) that can shoot 11,648 x 8,736 photos. If that wasn't enough, it has features we've rarely seen on compact cameras, like a built-in ND filter and dedicated aspect ratio dial. 

The GFX100RF uses the same 102MP CMOS II HS medium format sensor found on the GFX100 II mirrorless camera. As Fujifilm teased last week, it can be thought of as a higher-resolution version of its popular X100 VI APS-C compact. Though smaller than any other GFX camera, it's heavier than many full-frame mirrorless cameras at 1.62 pounds (735 grams). For a premium feel, the camera is "machined from a single block of aluminum and the lens ring, dials, bottom plate, and other details are all precision-machined from aluminum as well," Fujifilm wrote in a press release.

Fujifilm

Like the X100 VI, it's designed as a street camera with the shutter speed, exposure compensation and aperture settings quickly visible and adjustable. However, the GFX100RF has a new dial on the back that lets you choose from nine aspect ratios including 7:6, 1:1, 3:4, 16:9, 17:6 and the 65:24 "XPan" widescreen ratio found on other GFX models. 

It also has a tele-converter selector/lever on the front of the camera to digitally change the focal length from the native 35mm to 45mm, 63mm and 80mm (35mm, 50mm and 65mm full-frame equivalent), with a corresponding loss of resolution. When using those modes, a new "Surround View" function can be selected that displays the area outside the image range as a semi-transparent frame.

Fujifilm says the all-important fixed lens can suppress spherical aberration and field curvature thanks to a 10-element, eight-group configuration that includes two aspherical lenses. It uses a newly developed "nano-GI" coating optimized to suppress internal reflections, even at the edges. Despite the large sensor size, it can focus as close as 7.9 inches, allowing for some interesting high-res macro possibilities. 

Fujilfilm X100VI (top) and GFX100RFFujifilm

The shutter itself is a leaf instead of focal plane type to reduce size, and the GFX100RF is Fujifilm's first GFX model with a built-in four-stop ND filter. That's a handy feature on a medium format camera for bright light shooting, as it allows for slower shutter speeds to add motion blur or wider apertures for shallower depth of field. 

The GFX100RF has a similar autofocus system to the GFX100 II including an AF prediction function and face/eye AF that can recognize subjects like animals, vehicles, birds, and airplanes. Burst speeds are a fairly decent 6 fps with the mechanical shutter at full resolution, a bit slower than the GFX100S II. It has a 5.76-million-dot offset electronic viewfinder like the one on the X100VI and a 3.1-inch 2-axis tilting 2.1-million-dot rear display. 

Fujifilm

It can even shoot 4K 30fps 4:2:2 10-bit video (likely with some pixel binning), and Fujifilm says it'll deliver up to 13+ stops of dynamic range when using the FLog-2 setting. Other features include an SDXC UHS-II card slot, 20 built-in film simulations, SSD recording, mic and headphone ports and a microHDMI connector. One feature noticeably lacking compared to the X100VI is in-body stabilization.

The GFX100RF is likely to appeal highly to street and travel photographers considering its capabilities. It's not cheap at $4,900, but that price is less than its main competition, the $6,660 Leica Q3, while offering a larger sensor and 40 extra megapixels. It'll be available in black or silver when it arrives in late April 2025. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/fujifilms-gfx100rf-is-a-102mp-medium-format-compact-camera-110044609.html?src=rss

Portable monitors have been around for years, but their importance skyrocketed during the pandemic. And with the continuation of remote and hybrid work positions, they’re going to be staples for the foreseeable future. But picking one isn’t as simple as it seems. At this point, almost every major PC maker has its own take on travel-friendly displays, with prices ranging from as little as $100 to nearly $1,000. So to help sort through the confusion, I tested out a bunch of options to put together a short list of the best portable monitors on sale today.

Table of contents

• Best portable monitors for 2025

• Things to consider before buying a portable monitor

• What to look for in a portable monitor

Best portable monitors for 2025

Things to consider before buying a portable monitor

Before you start looking at specific products, it’s super important to think about how and where you plan on using a second monitor as a portable display. Larger panels are great for home use where you may only need to move it or put it away when you have company over. Meanwhile, smaller screens are great for travel and whipping out at a coffee shop or shared workspace. But if you go too small, you may be adding extra weight to your bag without providing a ton of extra utility, especially if it lacks a good USB-C cable or mini HDMI for connectivity. Screen size and compatibility with your existing devices should be top considerations.

It’s also important to consider your typical workload, as artists may get extra value out of monitors with higher maximum brightness, HDR, wider color accuracy and a higher contrast ratio. Those who spend all day looking at spreadsheets won’t get as much value from more vibrant displays or FHD displays with high refresh rates, but they may still benefit from having a basic plug-and-play second monitor for multitasking.

What to look for in a portable monitor

Aside from price and screen size, some of the most important specs in a portable monitor include panel type, pixels per inch, brightness, refresh rate and connectivity. Most portable monitors use IPS LCD displays, which generally offer good viewing angles, strong brightness and good power efficiency. However, some higher resolution models now feature OLED screens that support wider color gamuts, better color accuracy and contrast ratio, which can be a major benefit for artists and content creators. Some budget models may use TN panels, as that can help cut costs and reduce energy consumption. That said, we generally try to stay away from those as they often have worse image quality compared to IPS screens.

For brightness, 300 nits is the lowest we recommend — anything less can make the monitor hard to use even in some indoor environments. Ideally, we look for screens that are closer to 350 or 400 nits and above for better accuracy and visibility.

Connectivity is also important because if you can’t easily hook your phone, gaming console, or laptop to a monitor, it becomes an oversized paperweight. Most travel displays include an HDMI port or USB-C port(or both), which cover the large majority of devices. It’s rare to find a portable monitor these days with only USB-A, since the majority of devices have moved over to USB-C. However, we also like models that support passthrough power over USB-C connections, which reduces the complexity of your setup and decreases the number of cords and adapters you have to carry around.

Finally, most portable monitors feature 60Hz refresh rates, which is fine for most use cases. However, if you’re looking for a gaming monitor, there are models with 120Hz or even 240Hz refresh rates. These are excellent choices for gamers looking to maintain smooth fps while playing on the go.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-portable-monitor-120050851.html?src=rss

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he “fired” two members of the Federal Trade Commission, both the only Democrats serving on the regulatory body. We’re putting “fired” in quotation marks because a the Supreme Court ruled in 1935 that the president can’t fire commissioners of independent agencies simply because he feels like it.

Trump’s action could pave that way for an attack on the independence of other federal agencies like the Federal Reserve, and that, in turn, could have a monumental effect on the country’s rule of law and the economy.

Leah Litman, a University of Michigan law professor, spoke with “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal about what the administration’s attack on rule of law could mean for the economy.

The stock market has lost trillions of dollars in the last few weeks “because of the president’s economic erratic behavior, and if he could do that with the Federal Reserve Board, that would be catastrophic,” said Litman, who co-hosts the podcast “Strict Scrutiny,” and wrote the forthcoming book “Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes.”

The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

Kai Ryssdal: Could you give us the layman’s version, please, of the case at issue here, Humphrey’s Executor?

Leah Litman: Humphrey’s Executor is the famous case that established the constitutionality of independent agencies. Independent agencies just refer to agencies that are led by people who cannot be fired at will by the president. Basically, they can’t be fired if the president disagrees with them about policy priorities and how to implement federal law.

Ryssdal: OK, so the reason obviously that I’m interested in Humphrey’s Executor is because of what it might mean for the Federal Reserve. And here I should say that you and I are buddies on the socials, and we had an exchange, I don’t know, like a month, two months ago, about what Humphrey’s Executor might mean for the Fed. And you said, “You know, the Supreme Court could carve out a space for the Federal Reserve if they wanted to.” And that leads me to to believe that, as you lay out in this book, the Supreme Court might not understand the society at the moment, might not understand the politics of this moment, [but] they are very finally attuned to the economic challenges of this moment.

Litman: Yes, they have investments, they have billionaire friends. I don’t think any of them want a global recession, and I think endangering the independence of the Federal Reserve Board would do just that. Imagine if the president could threaten or jawbone or pressure the Federal Reserve Board to adjust interest rates or other kinds of monetary policy in order to be politically convenient. I mean, over the last, I don’t know however many weeks, the stock market has lost something like $3 billion, you know, a billion dollars a week, because of the president’s economic erratic behavior, and if he could do that with the Federal Reserve Board, that would be catastrophic.

Ryssdal: Yeah, I think it’s actually trillions of dollars lost.

Litman: Right.

Ryssdal: But you know, what’s a couple of billion between friends? The thinking about this economy and the law has been that, you know, the infrastructure that holds up this economy is the free market, right? The free market rules. I would suggest, and I have on this program suggested, that actually it’s the rule of law, right? And that’s what establishes, for example, private property rights. And I wonder if, once Wall Street figures out that maybe private property rights are at risk here, it would kind of be, “Katie, bar the door.” What do you think?

Litman: I am hoping there will be some concerted pressure to force the administration and the Supreme Court to recognize the importance of independent monetary policy. I mean, if you think about, for example, what the federal government is doing when it is defunding federal agencies, basically canceling contracts and grants that the federal government has made, they are basically reneging on the federal government’s word in honoring contracts. And that is, as you say, a threat to the rule of law, and that also very much endangers the economic stability of the country if you can’t count on the federal government to basically pay its debts and pay what it said it’s going to.

Ryssdal: Well, look, let me get it down to brass tacks. You’re a professor of law, obviously, but you’re also a consumer in this society. As you look at what’s happening with the Trump administration deliberately taking apart this economy and challenging, in the very kindest sense, the rule of law, in your spare time, what do you think about that?

Litman: It is pretty terrifying, I have to say. You know, the idea that the president and the administration can, for example, just summarily deport people without due process of law or any judicial review, is, I think, pretty definitionally authoritarian. The idea that a president can just refuse to spend money that Congress has appropriated is upending the constitutional system and, I think, antithetical to our constitutional democracy because it eliminates a key check on the president’s power and the executive branch’s authority, which is Congress’ spending power. It is, in many respects, unprecedented, just the systematic disregard for the rule of law, and I think I would be a fool and naive if that didn’t worry me.

Ryssdal: People who listen to you on [your podcast] “Strict Scrutiny” will know that you and your co-hosts have some issues, shall we say, with the Supreme Court.

Litman: Not issues in general. We don’t have issues, we have issues with the court.

Ryssdal: That’s right. Are you at all surprised at the turn that the law has taken, and since this is a program on business and the economy, how that might affect the economic future of of literally everybody living in this economy?

Litman: I think I am not surprised with the quick pace at which the Supreme Court has changed the law in pretty radical ways. Now, I don’t consider myself naive or an optimist, but I do hold out some hope, as we were talking about, that one constraint on what the court might do is the prospect of a catastrophic economic recession. But that is one of the few possible checks that remains right now in a world where the political branches, the Democratic Party have shown little appetite for challenging the authority of the court, even when the court is behaving in pretty bad ways.

Ryssdal: Not to be all doom and gloom on the way out here, but that’s a thin reed.

Litman: It is a thin reed. One other reason for optimism, just because I don’t love leaving things on notes of doom and gloom, is I have taken heart at seeing some of the protests. For example, the Tesla takedown protests. I think the evidence suggests that’s working, that one big pressure point on the administration and Elon Musk is their pocketbooks. And that’s part of why I continue to hold out hope that the administration, the Supreme Court, they don’t want an economic recession. I am hoping that they will be convinced that what they are doing is pushing us too far in that direction, and in any event, the Supreme Court won’t take the next step by undoing the independence of the Fed.

It looks like Meta’s campaign to bury a dishy, tell-all memoir from a former employee isn’t exactly working. In fact, it seems that the company’s legal maneuvers to block the book have had the exact opposite intended effect.

Careless People has debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list. It’s also spent much of the week in the number three position on Amazon’s bestseller list. That’s despite the fact that Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former policy director at Facebook, has been barred from promoting or publicly discussing the book following legal action by Meta.

The memoir details much of the inner workings of Facebook during the nearly seven years Wynn-Williams worked there. It reveals new details about the company’s relentless ambition to bring the social network to China, as well as numerous shocking stories about how Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg and other executives behaved behind closed doors. (In addition to her revelations in Careless People, Wynn-Williams has also filed a whistleblower complaint with the Securities and Exchange Committee. That complaint has not been made public, but according to NBC News, she alleges that Facebook “misled” investors.)

Meta has come out forcefully against Wynn-Williams and the book, describing it in a statement as “a mix of out-of-date and previously reported claims about the company and false accusations about our executives.” The company says Wynn-Williams was fired in 2017 “for poor performance and toxic behavior.”

Meta initiated arbitration proceedings against Wynn-Williams last week, resulting in a decision that for now prevents her from publicly discussing or promoting the work. But, as the bestseller lists show, the move has done little to kill interest in the work.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/careless-people-hits-the-top-of-the-new-york-times-bestseller-list-235008451.html?src=rss

Though proposed 25% tariffs on some Canadian products have been delayed, businesses that rely on cross-border trade have had a chaotic few weeks trying to understand the implications of President Donald Trump’s trade wars. 

“It’s a mess,” said Johanna Dominguez, owner of Put a Plant On It, a plant and gift shop in Buffalo, New York. “I try not to get too freaked out each time a new announcement comes out because it seems to be like, ‘One minute, oh, he’s implementing them, next minute he’s not,’ so it’s just, honestly, just trying to wait and see.”

The Buffalo-Niagara Falls border crossing is among the busiest in the nation. It handles roughly 15% of incoming trucks from Canada and 20% of incoming personal vehicles. However, the Canadian Broadcasting Company recently reported that the number of drivers crossing the U.S. and Canadian border dropped last month to levels not seen since the peak COVID-19 era. 

Johannah Dominguez said she and many of her neighbors in Buffalo do not see Canada as a separate country. “We’ll hop over the border and have dinner,” she said. “It’s just another town.”

For her business, Canadian trade is crucial. “When I say ‘I get plants from our local suppliers, I mean Canada because they’re only 30 minutes away,” she said. Typically, she said the shop gets one or two shipments a week from growers across the border. 

Though one supplier has communicated plans to share the cost burden if 25% tariffs on plants go into effect, others have not. “We would probably have to raise prices for like, the first time ever in order to be able to cover those costs,” Dominguez said. 

Use the audio player above to hear her story. 

There was some inflation data out this week that didn’t get a lot of attention. Not the consumer price index, not the Federal Reserve’s go-to personal consumption expenditures report, but import and export prices.

Higher energy costs sent import prices higher in February. Export prices rose too, driven mostly by agricultural products like corn, soybeans and meat.

Part of what’s going on has to do with demand, said Glynn Tonsor, an agricultural economics professor at Kansas State University.

“Each month I put out something called the export demand index. And that particular index has been increasing basically throughout calendar year ‘23 and ‘24,” he said.

Tonsor said that was mostly thanks to a decent global economy. 

But these days, he said the uncertainty around tariffs has also been pushing up demand, especially for American beef, pork and chicken.

“If you think we’re moving towards a world where there’s going to be less trade, then yes, it makes sense to kinda proactively buy some of those, get your hands on those items,” he said.

But along with demand, supply has been pushing up prices too.

Back in January, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that the fall harvest wasn’t as big as anticipated.

“That was the prompting reason why corn and soybean prices then raced higher in January and early February,” said Naomi Blohm, senior market adviser with Total Farm Marketing.

She said higher export prices can be welcome news, especially for corn growers.

“There’s not a lot of places that the world can get corn from. It’s the United States. We grow about a third of the world’s corn,” she said.

But American soybean farmers have a lot of competition from Brazil and Argentina, Blohm said.

And the concern is that if soybean prices get too high, buyers will look elsewhere, especially as the trade war continues.

“The risk going forward would be: So we lose export demand because of the trade and tariff issues potentially coming,” Blohm said.

That means a lot of farmers wouldn’t benefit from today’s higher prices, said Aleks Schaefer, a professor of agricultural economics at Oklahoma State University.

“We have to make decisions today about how many animals we’re raising, how much meat we’re going to produce in six months, based on what prices are going to be tomorrow,” he said.

If those tariffs reduce demand for products like soybeans, which have a lot of competition, farmers might cut back on production.

Tonsor at Kansas State said that could also happen to pork or chicken producers, who also have a lot of global competitors.

“That’s the concern on when you disrupt trade: You encourage somebody to build a new business relationship, and if and when they do, they may not come back,” he said.

When corporations need money, they sometimes turn to the bond market — issuing corporate bonds and selling them to raise some cash. It has been getting more expensive for them to do that. Investors have gotten a little more reluctant to hand over their money. That’s not an alarm bell, but it’s not a great sign either.

Out of all the different nooks and crannies in this whole wide economy where you could put your money, one of the safest places is in a government bond.

“Because the U.S. Treasury in theory will always pay its bills,” said Eric Jacobson, a senior principal with Morningstar. 

Corporations also sell bonds — corporate bonds — to raise money. But they don’t, in theory, always pay their bills. Companies come and they go. Companies default.

“The bond market uses the U.S. Treasury market as a baseline,” Jacobson said. “Everything else in the bond market pretty much is compared to the Treasury bond.”

So whatever interest rate the U.S. Treasury is offering people to invest in the government, McDonald’s or John Deere or Walmart have to beat it to convince anyone to lend them money.

“So a bond trader might say Treasurys plus 1%,” Jacobson said.

And the shakier the company, the more interest it has to promise compared to the government. That difference is called a spread.

“And that gives you an idea of the market’s estimation of how much more credit risk there is,” Jacobson said.

The spread is kind of a measuring stick for shakiness. Which brings us to now. The spreads are the widest they’ve been in six months, especially for riskier companies. The level of general shakiness has increased just a tad.

“There’s a lot more uncertainty that the market is having to confront,” said David Hamilton, head of research for asset management at Moody’s. “Not the least of which are the uncertainty around the impact of tariffs and trade wars breaking out all over the place.”

Bottom line, more vulnerable companies, medium-sized companies, companies with floating interest rates — they are having to pay more interest on their debt. That means more stress for already stressed companies.

“For these middle-size and small-size borrowers, economic growth has been positive, but the burden of the cost of their debt has sort of swamped that positive effect,” said Hamilton.

The good news is that the moves in corporate bond spreads so far have been small by historical standards, and many larger companies are prepared.

“They’ve had very low leverage, balance sheets are in a very good spot, they’ve been cautious,” said Leslie Falconio, head of strategic taxable fixed income at UBS. “The word recession has come back into the picture. It’s not our view that we go into a recession, but we do think growth slows.”

The odds of recession, though, did get bumped up to about 30%, Falconio said. 

Hasbro's Wizards of the Coast has laid off 30 people who built Sigil, its recently released virtual tabletop experience, Polygon reports. The app allows Dungeons & Dragons players to build virtual, 3D game boards, complete with miniatures and dice, so they can play the classic tabletop roleplaying game remotely.

News of the layoffs were first shared on March 18 in a LinkedIn post from Andy Collins, the design lead on Sigil. "Today, approximately 30 talented developers (90 percent of the team) were laid off from the Sigil (virtual tabletop) team at Wizards of the Coast, including yours truly," Collins wrote. "I wish my former colleagues success in their future endeavors. I'll also be pulling for the crew left behind who'll do their best to keep improving and iterating the experience we shipped last month."

The layoffs leave Sigil with a skeleton crew of three people to support the app, Rascal reports. Sigil launched in early access on February 28, 2025 as a perk for subscribers to D&D Beyond, and early reviews found it to be both limited and a little broken.

The problems may have started even earlier, though, according to at least one Wizards of the Coast employee Rascal spoke to. Management at Hasbro, the parent company of Wizards of the Coast, were reportedly uninterested and "constantly moving goalposts." There may have also been a fundamental misunderstanding over what Sigil was: Hasbro didn't know the difference between a video game and the VTT (virtual tabletop) app it ultimately got.

Sigil remains live and will continue to be a perk of paying for a D&D Beyond subscription, Wizards of the Coast's tool for playing Dungeons & Dragons virtually.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/hasbro-laid-off-the-team-behind-its-virtual-tabletop-app-only-weeks-after-it-was-released-214024876.html?src=rss

Boston Dynamics has treated us to a lot of impressive videos over the years and the company is back today with the latest example of its robotics mastery. In the clip above, its Atlas robot demonstrates several types of full-body movement, starting with a walk and advancing to a cartwheel and even a spot of break dancing. The different actions were developed using reinforcement learning that used motion capture and animation as source materials. At this rate, our future robot overlords will be able to out-dance and out-tumble us humans as well as out-think us one day.

The video is part of Boston Dynamics' research with the Robotics and AI Institute, but it has multiple partners aiding its work. For instance, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang touched on the company's GR00T model for robotics during the GTC 2025 keynote earlier this week. Yesterday, Boston Dynamics announced that it is deepening its collaboration with the company focused on AI in robotics. It is using NVIDIA's Jetson Thor computing platform to run "complex, multimodal AI models that work seamlessly with Boston Dynamics’ whole-body and manipulation controllers."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/watch-the-atlas-robot-bust-a-move-in-boston-dynamics-latest-video-211329951.html?src=rss

We are in a different economic environment than the one the Federal Reserve thought we’d be in less than a year ago. Back in September, the Fed projected four interest rate cuts in 2025. Then in December, it changed rate cut projections to two.

On Wednesday, the Fed kept rates as-is. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said policymakers still project two cuts this year, but tariffs could delay overall progress on lowering inflation.

That means we’re likely to see the federal funds rate hold at or around where it currently is for some time. And that would impact businesses, the housing market and consumers.

The future of interest rates feels fuzzy, because the future of the economy feels fuzzy. David Wilcox, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and Bloomberg Economics, and a former staff member of the Federal Reserve Board, said all the fuzziness may stick around for a while.

“My own guess is that we won’t get clarity on the direction of the economy before the middle of the year. I think the earliest we could see another interest rate move is in June,” he said.

More likely toward the end of the year, he said. By then, tariffs’ effects on inflation may be clearer, and trade policy itself may be clearer. Regardless, one thing is clear to Wilcox right now: “We’re not going back to the situation that we had immediately pre-Covid.”

The situation being around a decade of low interest rates. Problem is, that period of affordable borrowing makes today’s federal funds rate feel sky high, even though it’s currently lower than the historical average.

“I would anticipate that consumers and businesses will be stuck in that mode for the near future,” said  Linda Hooks, an economist at Washington and Lee University.

That mode — or mindset — affects how businesses and consumers spend.

“Businesses are less likely to get financing that they need to expand their business or invest in new technology or train employees,” Hooks said.

Consumers might put off big purchases, too, like buying a house.

Many would-be buyers have been holding their breath for lower mortgage rates. Laura Veldkamp, an economist at Columbia University, said if there’s a clear signal to buyers that interest rates won’t budge, it could convince them to stop waiting.

Which could jumpstart the housing market again. Though it would likely be a housing market that looks different.

“It may be that we have to reset expectations for what a normal house looks like,” Veldkamp said. 

Something smaller, with more basic finishes. In other words, homebuyers might need to compromise.

Spry Fox announced its next game, which is "a cooperative village life sim designed to foster friendship, kindness, and community" titled Spirit Crossing. It has an art style that makes me think of a pastel-hued Spirited Away, especially given the presence of moody spectres hanging out in the quaint town setting. The teaser trailer also shows players engaged in classic cozy game activities such as giving gifts, fishing, coasting on hang gliders and riding very floofy critters. In other words: I'll be playing a lot of Spirit Crossing when it launches. There's no definite timeline yet, but Netflix said at GDC that the game is part of its 2025 mobile release slate.

Spry Fox dabbled in several different genres, including several mobile puzzle games with a signature style such as Alphabear and Triple Town, before settling into a groove creating cozy games. Spirit Crossing will be the studio's second project since joining the Netflix Games roster; Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit came out last summer. Players who want in on the ground floor of the devs' latest game can sign up now for closed alpha testing.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/spry-foxs-next-netflix-games-title-is-spirit-crossing-200643116.html?src=rss

Verizon has announced that it will now support sending text messages via satellite on phones from the Pixel 9 and Galaxy S25 lineup. Both Google and Samsung's current phones support satellite connectivity, but neither has really leveraged the skill outside of the Satellite SOS feature that was added to Android 15.

Sending texts via satellite will be available when Pixel 9 and Galaxy S25 phones are "outside the reach of terrestrial cellular networks," Verizon says, and should come with same limitations as other satellite tools, like the need to position yourself so that there's no large structures or tree cover getting between your phone and the sky. It's also worth noting: the necessary changes "enabling this service start today and will continue over the next two weeks," so you might want to wait a bit longer before you start your next off-grid adventure.

Apple introduced Messages via Satellite alongside iOS 18, which doesn't rely on carriers for support, but should offer a good illustration of how Verizon's satellite messaging will work when it's fully available on the Pixel 9 and Galaxy S25. 

The carrier is partnered with satellite provider AST SpaceMobile for its expanding list of satellite-connected services, and the companies have experimented with even more demanding communication options, like video calls. Competitors like T-Mobile already offer satellite messaging through a partnership with SpaceX's Starlink.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/verizon-now-supports-texting-via-satellite-on-the-pixel-9-and-galaxy-s25-193348606.html?src=rss

Streaming service Plex is raising its prices for the first time in ten years. The company just announced an increase for its premium subscription service Plex Pass, which offers a number of additional features like offline access and themes. The standard service is still free, if you’re looking to set up a simple media server to stream some movies or shows.

Plex Pass will soon cost $7 per month, which is an increase of $2 per month. A yearly subscription will come in at $70, a fairly substantial lift from $40. Finally, the coveted lifetime pass is shooting up to $250 from $120. These are some serious upticks, but I guess that’s what happens when you don’t raise prices for a decade.

The changes go into effect on April 29, so the Plex-curious still have more than a month to pick up a lifetime pass at the original $120 asking price. The monthly and yearly price impacts both new and pre-existing customers. The company says it's doing this to keep up with rising industry costs. Remote streaming is also set to fall under a subscription, albeit a cheaper one at $2 per month. 

"These changes weren’t made lightly, and we’ve spent a lot of time weighing the best path forward to ensure we can continue to balance value with a best-in-class personal media experience for years to come," a blog post from the company says. 

However, there are some new tools coming to accompany these price increases. It’s integrating with Common Sense Media to bring ratings and reviews aimed at parents to Plex Pass holders. It’s also working on a new server management app that will launch in the near(ish) future. The primary playback is also getting a much-needed refresh.

The platform is eliminating the mobile unlock fee, which is a one-time activation fee that was required to remove the one-minute playback limitation when streaming content from a media server to a mobile device. Recently, Plex added public reviews and profiles.

The Plex Pass price increase comes as the entire streaming industry begins tightening its belt. Just about every platform has gotten more expensive in the last couple of years.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/plex-raises-subscription-prices-for-the-first-time-in-a-decade-182622032.html?src=rss