Pelican Press

Star Wars: KOTOR’s Development Problems Can’t Be for Nothing Star Wars: KOTOR’s Development Problems Can’t Be for Nothing IGN: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake is one of gaming’s most elusive projects. But we finally have a real, concrete update on what’s going on. Saber Interactive is still working on it, and according to the CEO, it’s “alive and well.” Source link #Star #Wars #KOTORs #Development #Problems Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

UnitedHealth faces DOJ investigation, buyouts, stock price drop UnitedHealth faces DOJ investigation, buyouts, stock price drop FILE PHOTO: The logo of Down Jones Industrial Average stock market index listed company UnitedHealthcare is shown in Cypress, California April 13, 2016. Mike Blake | Reuters UnitedHealthcare is in hot water again as the insurance giant grapples with a reported government investigation of its Medicare billing practices, pursues employee buyouts and potential layoffs and clashes publicly with billionaire Bill Ackman. Those developments in recent days extend a tumultuous past year for its parent company, UnitedHealth Group, marked by the killing of a top executive, a costly cyberattack against its subsidiary and high medical costs in its insurance arm. UnitedHealth Group is the biggest health-care conglomerate in the U.S. based on revenue and its more than $420 billion market cap, and UnitedHealthcare is the nation’s largest private insurer. Shares of UnitedHealth Group have tumbled roughly 23% over the last three months. The stock also fell 9% on Friday following a report about the probe, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The Department of Justice has launched a civil fraud investigation in recent months into UnitedHealth’s billing practices for its Medicare Advantage plans, according to the newspaper. The probe specifically examines whether diagnoses were routinely made to trigger extra payments in those plans, including at physician groups the insurer owns, the Journal said. It comes after a series of articles from the newspaper last year, which reported that Medicare paid UnitedHealth billions of dollars for questionable diagnoses. Medicare Advantage plans are offered by private insurers who are paid a set rate by the government to manage health care for seniors looking for extra benefits not covered in traditional Medicare. Those plans have been a source of high medical costs across the broader insurance industry over the last year. In a statement, UnitedHealth called the Journal’s reporting “misinformation” and said the company consistently performs at the industry’s “highest levels” when it comes to government compliance reviews of Medicare Advantage plans “Any suggestion that our practices are fraudulent is outrageous and false,” the company said. In a research note Friday, RBC Capital Markets analyst Ben Hendrix called the reported investigation an “incremental overhang” but emphasized it will likely be a “lengthy process and unlikely in our view to result in material financial headwinds in the near term.” He pointed to a probe the DOJ launched last year on the company’s subsidiary Optum Rx for potential antitrust violations, which will similarly have an extended timeline before any resolution. Reports about the probe came two days after CNBC first reported that UnitedHealthcare is offering buyouts to employees and could pursue layoffs if resignation quotas aren’t met. The move comes as the company tries to cut costs through efforts like leveraging digital technology. And earlier this month, Ackman, one of the world’s most prominent investors, publicly pledged to cover the legal fees for a Texas doctor in a dispute with UnitedHealth Group over her claims that the company pulled her out of an operation to justify a patient’s care. Ackman, who is CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, later took down a post on X that was critical of the insurer after lawyers for UnitedHealth told him that the doctor’s claims that he had amplified on social media were untrue. Ackman said he has no position in UnitedHealth. One of his earlier posts on the dispute called on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate the company and suggested that the insurer’s “profitability is massively overstated due to its denial of medically necessary procedures.” That’s similar to the public blowback the company faced after the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December. It unleashed a wave of pent-up anger and resentment toward the insurance industry and renewed calls for reform to prevent denials of care. UnitedHealth is also still grappling with the fallout from a cyberattack on its subsidiary Change Healthcare, which processes medical claims. The cyberattack compromised the protected health information of around 190 million people, and UnitedHealth has paid out more than $3 billion to providers affected. UnitedHealth has said it became aware of the cyberattack a year ago to the day Friday. Source link #UnitedHealth #faces #DOJ #investigation #buyouts #stock #price #drop Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Teaser Explained Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Teaser Explained ****** Ops 6 recently received a fresh wave of content, with fans quickly finding an exciting tease for an upcoming Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater project. Source link #Call #Duty #****** #Ops #6039s #Tony #Hawk039s #Pro #Skater #Teaser #Explained Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Asteroid 2024 YR4 will now almost certainly miss Earth in 2032 Asteroid 2024 YR4 will now almost certainly miss Earth in 2032 Astronomers have raced to observe asteroid 2024 YR4 NASA/Magdalena Ridge 2.4m telescope/New Mexico Institute of Technology/Ryan The world’s space agencies have reduced the chances of asteroid 2024 YR4 impacting Earth to below 1 per cent, which strongly suggests that a potentially devastating collision will be avoided. However, the asteroid will still probably pass extraordinarily near to our planet, giving astronomers a rare opportunity to observe an asteroid up close. “We are not expecting the impact probability to rise back above 1 per cent for the close approach with Earth in 2032,” says Richard Moissl at the European Space Agency (ESA). “The most likely further development is a further drop in the impact probability, likely even to 0.” Alarms about asteroid 2024 YR4 were first raised in December last year, when astronomers found it might be on a collision course for Earth in 2032. It appears to be between 40 and 90 metres wide and could generate a deadly blast should it hit a city. In the following weeks, the world’s telescopes and space agencies closely tracked its trajectory, honing its future path with greater precision. It reached its highest impact risk on 17 February, with a 1-in-32 chance, but in the days after, this fell to 1-in-67, or a 1.5 per cent risk. On 20 February, new observations led to a sharp downgrade of this risk, with NASA putting it at a 0.27 per cent chance of impact, or 1-in-360, and ESA even lower, at 0.16 per cent, or 1-in-625. These ratings put it at a 1 on the 10-point Torino scale used to assess the hazard posed by such objects. That score is down from 3, meaning 2024 YR4 is now considered one of many low-risk asteroids that are discovered each year, but that ultimately miss Earth. This is good news, says Gareth Collins at Imperial College London, but the asteroid will still be useful as a dry run for our planetary defence systems and for scientific purposes. “This is still something that will make a spectacularly close approach. If the risk of hitting was as high as it was, it must be coming very close to us,” he says. NASA, ESA and space companies that were sketching out possible schemes to deflect the asteroid will probably continue planning, says Niklas Voigt at OHB, a ******* space company. Voigt and his team had begun thinking about a mission to divert 2024 YR4, and the new risk doesn’t change that, he says. “The risk decreased, but for the time being we are still proceeding with work on the topic.” The close approach could still be a good opportunity to test our ability to deflect asteroids, says Voigt – the only previous attempt to do this was NASA’s DART mission, which successfully changed the trajectory of the 160-metre-wide asteroid Dimorphos in 2022. Or we could build a satellite to send to 2024 YR4, he says, similar to ESA’s Ramses satellite – due to travel to observe the asteroid Apophis, which is set to pass close to Earth in 2029. A final decision on what to do about 2024 YR4 probably won’t be made until planned observations in March using the James Webb Space Telescope. As well as gathering trajectory data, this will better assess the size and composition of the asteroid. That information will be then fed to the United Nations-backed Space Mission Planning Advisory Group, which will decide on a best course of action around the end of April. “These are incredibly useful exercises for finding out the pinch points to make decisions, in order to still have time to do something sensible in advance,” says Collins. “Absolutely, those committees will still be meeting, but they’ll probably be less stressful.” While the chances of an Earth impact have plummeted, the risk of 2024 YR4 hitting the moon have risen to 1.2 per cent, up from 0.3 per cent. There is a “distinct possibility of that number rising further,” says Moissl. “The exact effects for an impact on the moon from an object of this size are still under evaluation.” The response to this object has also been a useful rehearsal for other asteroids of concern that crop up, says Collins. “We want to avoid, in future, a cry wolf situation where the public gets so used to this threat that they think, ‘oh, it never happens’.” Topics: Source link #Asteroid #YR4 #certainly #Earth Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Senate Approves $340B Budget Blueprint to Expand Military, Fund Mass Deportations – Democracy Now! Senate Approves $340B Budget Blueprint to Expand Military, Fund Mass Deportations – Democracy Now! Senate Approves $340B Budget Blueprint to Expand Military, Fund Mass Deportations Democracy Now!Senate border budget triumphs after all-night session while Trump-backed House bill lags Fox NewsSenate G.O.P. Passes Budget Resolution, and Punts on Tough Questions The New York TimesSenate stares down an all-nighter to approve a ‘Plan B’ budget Trump spurned POLITICO Source link #Senate #Approves #340B #Budget #Blueprint #Expand #Military #Fund #Mass #Deportations #Democracy Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

How Fallout 76 Went From A Disappointment To Delight For A Former Project Lead How Fallout 76 Went From A Disappointment To Delight For A Former Project Lead It’s not exactly a secret that Fallout 76’s launch was a mess in 2018. Yet, almost seven years later, the online RPG has become a major success for Bethesda and Microsoft–and the source of pride for a former project lead on the game who witnessed first-hand the low lows. Speaking with PC Gamer, Jeff Gardiner discussed the rollercoaster ride of making and maintaining Fallout 76. “Working on a live-service game comes with a lot of stress, because it just doesn’t go away,” said Gardiner, who was at Bethesda for 15 years before founding Something Wicked Games. In fact, Gardiner faced negative feedback while out and about in his daily life at one point. “I got yelled at in an Apple Store, I’ll never forget,” he said. You need a javascript enabled browser to watch videos. Is Fallout 76 Good in 2024? Size:640 × 360480 × 270 Want us to remember this setting for all your devices? Sign up or Sign in now! Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos. This video has an invalid file format. Sorry, but you can’t access this content! Please enter your date of birth to view this video JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031Year202520242023202220212020201920182017201620152014201320122011201020092008200720062005200420032002200120001999199819971996199519941993199219911990198919881987198619851984198319821981198019791978197719761975197419731972197119701969196819671966196519641963196219611960195919581957195619551954195319521951195019491948194719461945194419431942194119401939193819371936193519341933193219311930192919281927192619251924192319221921192019191918191719161915191419131912191119101909190819071906190519041903190219011900 By clicking ‘enter’, you agree to GameSpot’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy enter Gardiner left Bethesda in 2021, seeing the release of the Wastelanders expansion before exiting the developer. While Fallout 76 became even more popular thanks to the Amazon TV series, Gardiner still saw quite the turnaround for the online RPG. “When you put a game out that’s that maligned, especially on a team that has had such success, the morale is doubly bad internally,” Gardiner said. “So it was my job to make the people who are making the game like the game.” Ultimately, Gardiner takes pride in Fallout 76, pointing out how “it’s a very unique game.” The difficult journey with the title also has placed the online RPG as one of his top career achievements. “People always ask, ‘What’s your favorite game you’ve worked on?’ Because [Fallout] 76 was such a difficult game and then it turned around to a successful game, it’s actually probably my favorite,” he said. The game continues to change and evolve. For example, Fallout 76 saw its biggest expansion yet with the Gleaming Depths update in December, which lets you **** your Bombay Cat or ******* Shepherd dog. Looking ahead, Fallout 76 will let you become a ghoul later this year. Fallout 76 is available on Game Pass. Source link #Fallout #Disappointment #Delight #Project #Lead Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, February 22 (game #356) NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, February 22 (game #356) Looking for a different day? A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Friday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, February 21 (game #355). Strands is the NYT’s latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it’s great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints. Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc’s Wordle today page for the original viral word game. SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers. NYT Strands today (game #356) – hint #1 – today’s theme What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands? • Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Here we (don’t) go again NYT Strands today (game #356) – hint #2 – clue words Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system. CONK SOCK LION CODE DRIFT ROVER NYT Strands today (game #356) – hint #3 – spangram What is a hint for today’s spangram? • Stuck on the road NYT Strands today (game #356) – hint #4 – spangram position What are two sides of the board that today’s spangram touches? First side: right, 4th row Last side: left, 4th row Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM. NYT Strands today (game #356) – the answers (Image credit: New York Times) The answers to today’s Strands, game #356, are… GRIDLOCK BLOCKAGE CONGESTION OVERCROWDING SPANGRAM: TRAFFIC JAM My rating: Easy My score: 1 hint I got the Spangram first for the second day in a row, with TRAFFIC JAM materializing in front of me as I was searching for hint words. Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Even though there were only five words in this puzzle, I still needed a Hint to set me on my way and still struggled to untangle BLOCKAGE – oh, the irony. How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below. Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Friday, 21 February, game #355) WHEEZY SLINKY TWITCH BUZZ WOODY ALIEN BULLSEYE SPANGRAM: TOY STORY What is NYT Strands? Strands is the NYT’s new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It’s now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT’s games stable and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile. I’ve got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you’re struggling to beat it each day. Source link #NYT #Strands #hints #answers #Saturday #February #game Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Paul Mansfield, Dr Jags Krishnan among the top self-funding candidates of the WA election Paul Mansfield, Dr Jags Krishnan among the top self-funding candidates of the WA election The major party candidates putting their money where their mouth is have been revealed. Source link #Paul #Mansfield #Jags #Krishnan #among #top #selffunding #candidates #election Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Astro Bot Features An Ape Escape Level Developed By Creators From The Original Ape Escape Series Astro Bot Features An Ape Escape Level Developed By Creators From The Original Ape Escape Series The 28th D.I.C.E. Awards have arrived and have celebrated the best of the best in the world of video games from 2024. While there were a lot of winners across 23 categories, Astro Bot won the night by taking home Game of the Year alongside Outstanding Achievement in Animation, Outstanding Technical Achievement, Family Game of the Year, and Outstanding Achievement in Game Design. Source link #Astro #Bot #Features #Ape #Escape #Level #Developed #Creators #Original #Ape #Escape #Series Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Elon Musk won’t be the savior Nissan is looking for Elon Musk won’t be the savior Nissan is looking for Elon Musk has pivoted Tesla toward autonomous vehicles and robotaxis in recent years.FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images Nissan’s shares jumped after a report said Tesla is being courted as a potential investor. The Financial Times said that a consortium of high-profile figures in Japan are involved. Musk quickly rejected the idea, and Tesla’s focus on robotaxis means it is an unlikely savior for Nissan. Nissan is looking for a savior, but despite what some investors hope, it won’t be Elon Musk. Shares in the beleaguered Japanese carmaker surged 9.5% on Friday amid reports that Tesla was being courted as a potential investor, even though Musk quickly poured cold water over the idea. The Financial Times reported that a consortium of Japanese investors and former politicians planned to approach Tesla to discuss an investment, based on the belief that the US automaker was interested in buying Nissan’s factories in the US. While Tesla has its own extensive manufacturing operations in the US, acquiring Nissan’s factories in Tennessee and Mississippi would allow it to boost domestic production as the Trump administration proposes a new round of tariffs on imported cars. However, the suggestion that Tesla might be interested in Nissan’s factories was quickly shot down by Musk. “The Tesla factory IS the product,” he wrote on X in response to The Financial Times report. “The Cybercab production line is like nothing else in the automotive industry,” Musk added, referencing Tesla’s upcoming steering wheel-less robotaxi. Ex-Tesla board member Hiro Mizuno, one of the figures named in the FT’s article, denied being involved in a post on X. Mizuno said he doubted Tesla would be interested in Nissan’s factories as Tesla’s factory design is so “unique.” The reported attempt to get Tesla to invest is a sign of how desperate things have become for Nissan. The Japanese auto giant’s credit rating was downgraded to junk status by ratings agency Moody’s on Friday, a week after a proposed $50 billion merger with rival Honda fell through. Nissan’s sales have plunged in China and the US thanks to fierce competition from ******** EV companies and a lackluster hybrid lineup, and the automaker is in dire financial straights. The company has seen its profits ****** and projected an annual loss of 80 billion yen ($519 million) in last week’s earnings. Nissan’s disastrous financials have left it looking for investment, with iPhone manufacturer Foxconn a potential suitor. CEO Makoto Uchida, who has pledged to turn things around by cutting 9,000 jobs globally and slashing global vehicle production, said Nissan would explore all options “without taboos” to ensure the company’s future. Story Continues As it stands, Tesla seems like an unlikely savior. Tesla’s production lines make heavy use of advanced manufacturing techniques such as gigacasting, where giant presses are used to create large sections of vehicles, and converting Nissan’s factories would likely be a difficult and expensive process. Musk has also pivoted the company away from mass-produced electric vehicles and toward autonomous vehicles and robotics, such as the self-driving Cybercab and Tesla’s Optimus robots. Tesla quietly dropped its goal of building 20 million cars annually last May. The company also reportedly scrapped plans to build a $25,000 EV, though Musk has said more affordable models are still coming this year. The automaker faces its own headwinds, with Tesla recording its first-ever annual sales decline last year and facing an uncertain EV landscape in the US thanks to Trump’s rollback of federal support for electric vehicles. Nissan declined to comment when contacted by Business Insider. Tesla did not immediately respond. Read the original article on Business Insider Source link #Elon #Musk #wont #savior #Nissan Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trudeau after Canada hockey win over US: ‘You can’t take our country — and you can’t take our game’ – The Hill Trudeau after Canada hockey win over US: ‘You can’t take our country — and you can’t take our game’ – The Hill Trudeau after Canada hockey win over US: ‘You can’t take our country — and you can’t take our game’ The HillJustin Trudeau sends fiery message to US after Canada’s 4 Nations win Fox NewsCanada beats the USA, again Yahoo SportsTrudeau Thumbs Nose at Trump as Canadians Revel in Hockey Win The New York Times Source link #Trudeau #Canada #hockey #win #country #game #Hill Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

We cannot mourn until she is returned, family says We cannot mourn until she is returned, family says The sister-in-law of hostage Shiri Bibas said the family is “not seeking revenge right now” and called for her return from Gaza after Israel said ****** had released the body of an unidentified woman. Ofri Bibas Levy said in a statement that the family could not mourn Shiri’s sons, whose bodies were handed over, until their mother is returned. Israel accused ****** of violating the ceasefire after forensic testing revealed the body returned on Thursday was not Shiri. A ****** spokesman said her remains seem to have been mixed up with other bodies under rubble after an Israeli air strike. The group said it was investigating and affirmed its “full commitment to all our obligations” in the ceasefire. The three other bodies given back to Israel on Thursday have been identified as Shiri’s sons Ariel and Kfir, who would have been aged five and two, and peace activist Oded Lifschitz, 84, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. ****** previously said the mother and her two children were killed in an Israeli air strike. However, Israel said on Thursday intelligence and forensics show the boys “were brutally murdered by terrorists in captivity in November 2023”. Ms Bibas Levy, sister of Shiri’s husband Yarden Bibas, who was released by ****** on 1 February, said: “We are still waiting for Shiri and fear for her fate.” The events of recent days “emphasizes the urgent need to bring Shiri back to us, save the lives of the living hostages, and return all the fallen for burial”, she said, Her statement came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would “take revenge”. “For Ariel and Kfir’s sake, and for Yarden’s sake, we are not seeking revenge right now,” Ms Bibas Levy said. “We are asking for Shiri.” Ms Bibas Levy said it was “Israel’s responsibility and obligation” to bring her family members back alive after they were taken hostage during the ****** attacks on 7 October 2023. “There is no forgiveness for abandoning them on October 7, and no forgiveness for abandoning them in captivity,” she said. In a statement earlier on Friday, Netanyahu said: “Ariel, Kfir and Oded: I am so sorry we couldn’t save you from the monsters who did this.” The “devastating news” that Shiri’s body had not yet been returned has brought “profound grief” to the family, her sister-in-law said. To her deceased nephews, Ms Bibas Levy said: “I’m sorry I cannot yet cry for you. We are waiting for Mommy Shiri.” Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were aged 32, four and nine months when they were kidnapped during the 7 October attacks. About 1,200 people – mostly civilians – were killed in the attacks and 251 others taken back to Gaza as hostages. Israel launched a massive military campaign against ****** in response, which has killed at least 48,297 Palestinians – mainly civilians – according to the ******-run health ministry. Source link #mourn #returned #family Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Germany’s far-right party to gain ground in the west Germany’s far-right party to gain ground in the west The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is poised to make major gains in the country’s west in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, party leaders say, adding it will build on an eastern stronghold. A YouGov poll released on Thursday backs them up. The data showed that the AfD, which is classified by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency as a suspected far-right extremist group, looks set to even double the levels it reached in the west in the last national election. In 2021, the far-right party polled between a low of five per cent in Hamburg to a high of 10 per cent in the small state of Saarland. For Sunday’s vote, YouGov sees a range of 12 per cent in both Hamburg and Bremen to 21 per cent in the south-western state of Baden-Württemberg, where just four years ago the AfD stood at 9.6 per cent. “We could crack the 10 per cent mark,” said Robert Offermann, AfD spokesman in Hamburg. The party obtained 5.3 per cent of the vote in the northern city state in 2021. The rise of the AfD has many Germans worried – as seen by recent mass demonstrations against working with the party. But party leaders say they are making gains because of their focus on ******** immigration, and following a string of deadly attacks from immigrants in Magdeburg, Aschaffenburg and Munich – although in at least two of the incidents the suspects were in the country legally. Apart from security issues, Germany’s poor economy is also helping the far-right party. “Five years ago it was mainly retirees, but now we have a lot of younger people,” Kurt Kleinschmidt, the AfD chairman in Germany’s most northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, told dpa. “The economy is going down the drain,” he said. People “feel they have to do something,” he added, noting that AfD membership in Schleswig-Holstein rose from 743 in 2022 to 1,500 now. Conrad Ziller, a political science professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen, says the often simple solutions offered by the AfD appeal to some people in these difficult times. “People who are insecure and emotional are receptive to simple solutions,” he told dpa. The AfD’s anti-elite narrative is also appealing to people who feel they are being left behind, he says. That’s one reason why Ziller and others argue the party is so popular in the east, where the YouGov poll sees the AfD leading in all five states with vote shares ranging from 29 per cent in Brandenburg to 37 per cent in Saxony. “The AfD is the east’s revenge on the west, which is blamed for all the upheavals after 1990,” retired sociology professor Detlev Claussen told Foreign Policy magazine last year following the AfD’s resounding success in east ******* state elections in Saxony and Thuringia. He viewed the strong showing in the east as an outcome of “resentment against the West,” over the way in which unification between West and East Germany was conducted. For many East Germans, the merging of the two Germanies in 1990 was more like an expropriation than a reunification. It resulted in a major upheaval – not only of their economy but of social and private lives. “In the east the AfD has successfully capitalised on the history of the former East Germany … even among young people who have no direct experience of the former East Germany,” Ziller said. The AfD formed in February 2013 – just seven months before national elections – and its raison d’etre at the time was the euro. The party’s founders were critical of the eurozone, a 20-member common currency group, especially since the European Union was in the middle of dealing with Greece’s debt crisis. “In 2013, the AfD was therefore what some call a single-issue party,” said an analysis by the Munich-based ifo economics institute. The party failed, in that election, to achieve the five per cent needed to enter parliament – but only by 0.3 per cent. After that, the AfD’s priorities expanded, though its “fiscal focus remained,” the institute said. In 2014 it won seven seats in the European Parliament. The party’s central focus switched to an anti-immigration platform after Germany started to take in some one million asylum seekers in 2015, according to official figures. Fears, especially among working-class males, of being overrun by immigration, helped. In the 2017 general elections, the AfD won 12.6 per cent of the vote and became the the third biggest party in parliament. While it did very well in eastern Germany, it outperformed the national average in several western ******* districts, ifo noted. “The AfD’s heartland is eastern Germany,” ifo wrote, but “the AfD is not only a phenomenon of the east.” Although the party made good gains in 2017, by the time 2021 rolled around, the coronavirus and not immigration was the main focus, with the AfD campaigning on an anti-vaccine position. “That’s one of the reasons why we lost ground,” Robin Classen, spokesman for the party in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate told dpa. But for this election – a combination of anti-immigrant sentiment, the recent attacks, a poor economy and anti-establishment attitudes is expected to more than reverse the losses seen last time around. This does not mean that the AfD will join the government anytime soon. With the mainstream parties – including the conservatives who are expected to win the election – all having ruled out working with the far right, the party is set to become the biggest opposition bloc. But, as the AfD looks set to achieve the best result for a far-right party in Germany’s post-Nazi era history, it has already firmly set its eyes on 2029. Source link #Germanys #farright #party #gain #ground #west Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

A cheaper YouTube Premium Lite tier could roll out soon – and as a Spotify fan I’m ready to sign up A cheaper YouTube Premium Lite tier could roll out soon – and as a Spotify fan I’m ready to sign up A new YouTube subscription tier could come sooner than you think, as Google could be going ahead with the relaunch of YouTube Premium Lite, a budget-friendly version of its YouTube Premium tier which lived for a short two years before being axed in 2023. The tier is designed for those who want to use YouTube for ad-free video content rather than music, creating a new subscription tier that separates the YouTube Premium and YouTube Music bundling. According to Bloomberg ($/£), YouTube Premium Lite will be announced in the US, Australia, Germany, and Thailand soon, but has been testing overseas for months as reported by The Verge. Since news broke out, a YouTube spokesperson stated “as part of our commitment to provide our users with more choice and flexibility, we’ve been testing a new YouTube Premium offering with most videos ad-free in several of our markets”. At the moment subscription prices are not set in stone, however, a user on Threads posted a screenshot (see below) of a prospective price range for the US version of the tier back in October – around the time when YouTube confirmed it was in testing. It’s a no-brainer that YouTube Premium Lite will remove ads from videos, but from what has been said about its relaunch so far, that seems to be the only benefit it will bring to the table. Unlike the higher-priced YouTube Premium tier, which includes handy new tricks and additional benefits including offline downloads, background playback, and full advantage of YouTube Music, these features won’t be part of the lower-priced ‘Lite’ tier As it stands, users who subscribe to YouTube Premium have full access to the music streaming service YouTube Music which allows you to stream music and podcasts and watch music videos without ads. As described by Bloomberg, YouTube Premium Lite is designed to ‘target viewers who primarily want to watch programs other than music videos’, therefore only music videos will still include ads. Though ads won’t be completely eradicated in the ‘Lite’ tier, it’s still enough to entice new customers who currently rely on music streaming platforms that aren’t YouTube Music. A saving grace for non-YouTube Music users For many people like myself, we’ve resorted to the best music streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, and even Tidal to get the most out of our listening experiences. I don’t know of anyone close to me who uses YouTube Premium for that matter, and the only thing I can pin it down to is because its bundling with YouTube Music seems a little pointless when they use alternative services. This is why I think that YouTube Premium Lite could provide that long-needed separation between video and music streaming. YouTube Premium has always been one of those services that I’ve never seen the appeal for. That’s only because I’m a loyal Spotify user and therefore have no reason to use YouTube Music. However, after hearing the rumors that YouTube Premium Lite could be on the way, I’m prepared to surrender. You might also like Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Source link #cheaper #YouTube #Premium #Lite #tier #roll #Spotify #fan #ready #sign Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Gold on pace to clock in eighth week of gains: What to know Gold on pace to clock in eighth week of gains: What to know Gold prices (GC=F) are eyeing their eighth consecutive week of gains heading into Friday’s session, having climbed over 2% in the last five trading days and reaching its 11th record high of 2025 on Thursday. Morning Brief anchor Brad Smith outlines Wall Street’s full-year forecasts for gold. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Morning Brief here. This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan. Source link #Gold #pace #clock #eighth #week #gains Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Shock over body mix-up is latest hurdle in fragile ceasefire Shock over body mix-up is latest hurdle in fragile ceasefire Israel’s announcement that a body returned from Gaza on Thursday was not that of Shiri Bibas, as ****** had said, throws up another stumbling block in this ceasefire deal. It was thought the remains of Shiri, a mother of two, had been handed over along with those of her children. But the Israeli military said forensic testing could only confirm the bodies of Ariel and Kfir, who would have been aged five and two, and not those of their mother. Instead, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ****** had “put the body of a Gazan woman in a coffin”, with Ismail al-Thawabta, a spokesman for ******, suggesting Shiri’s remains had been mixed up with other bodies under rubble after an Israeli air strike. In a separate statement, the group said it affirmed its “seriousness and full commitment to all our obligations” under the ceasefire – and that it had “no interest in non-compliance”. It also said an investigation into the mix-up was under way, and called for the remains of the alleged ************ woman mistakenly handed over to Israel to be returned. The Bibas family were taken from the Nir Oz kibbutz during ******’s 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel, along with Shiri’s husband, Yarden, who was released earlier this month. Ariel and Kfir, the youngest of the Israeli hostages, were aged four and nine months when they were kidnapped. Their mother was 32. Netanyahu has threatened that ****** will pay the “full price” for failing to hand over Shiri’s body, calling it a “cruel and evil violation” of their agreement. No measures have yet been announced beyond Netanyahu saying Israel will act “with determination to bring Shiri home”. But a further claim from Israel that Ariel and Kfir had been “murdered” by ****** will further inflame feelings in Israel. In November 2023, ****** claimed the boys and Shiri had been killed in an IDF air strike. The BBC has not been able to independently verify this, and Israel had said it would not confirm their deaths before forensic testing. Since carrying out such tests on Thursday, Israel has said the boys “were brutally murdered by terrorists in captivity”. For Israeli politicians inside and outside Netanyahu’s government who have been demanding a resumption of the war in Gaza, these revelations will be seen as more evidence that ****** must be utterly eradicated. The ceasefire is entering a new ******* of uncertainty, with the first phase drawing to an end – while negotiations on the next stage have yet to begin in earnest. The second phase – in which all the remaining hostages, alive or dead, are due to be released – has been seen from the start as potentially more challenging than the first one. Israel is demanding the complete disarmament of ******, while ****** rejects the prospect of Israel continuing to maintain tight security control over Gaza. Any major breakdown in the deal could see a return to fighting. On the other side, though, is perhaps the majority of public opinion in Israel – that nothing should get in the way of all the remaining hostages being returned. In expressing his condemnation of the latest developments, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog made clear that Israel must remember what he called its “highest duty – to do everything in our power to bring every one of kidnapped sisters and brothers home”. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum echoed this, saying “every step” must be taken with “careful responsibility” to ensure the safe return of all hostages. A fourth body was returned to Israel, from Gaza, on Thursday – that of 84-year-old peace activist Oded Lifschitz. Just like Ariel and Kfir Bibas, the Israeli military said Oded’s remains had been confirmed by forensic testing. Source link #Shock #body #mixup #latest #hurdle #fragile #ceasefire Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Some Games Run Better On Older GPUs Than On Nvidia’s New 50-Series Cards Some Games Run Better On Older GPUs Than On Nvidia’s New 50-Series Cards Nvidia’s new 50-series graphics cards just aren’t as good at running certain older games as previous hardware generations were, some PC gamers have discovered. With its latest generation of GPUs, Nvidia has quietly removed support for PhysX, a physics simulation technology that was used in a number of popular titles in the early 2010s. In a Reddit post, as spotted by The Verge, one user questioned why PhysX was suddenly turned off by default, or when turned on was forced to run on the CPU–causing major performance issues in games designed for GPU-enhanced PhysX. Responding to a post on the Nvidia forums, the company confirmed that PhysX has effectively been discontinued, due to Nvidia ending support for 32-bit CUDA applications for 50-series graphics cards and future generations. While the end of support for 32-bit CUDA was noted in a brief support article, Nvidia never explicitly mentioned the impact to PhysX, or noted which games might be impacted with the sunsetting of this technology. PhysX’s GPU-accelerated physics tech was acquired by Nvidia in 2008, and its realistic simulation of moving cloth, liquids, smoke and fog, and shatter particle effects was implemented in a number of popular AAA games of the time–including Borderlands 2, Assassin’s Creed ****** Flag, the Batman: Arkham trilogy, and the first two Metro games. While PhysX is now mostly defunct and hasn’t been implemented in new games for some time, many gamers were still disappointed to discover it had been discontinued without warning. Users on the Resetera forums have since banded together to create a list of games that will be impacted by the end of PhysX support. The list also notes how well each game will run when using the CPU for PhysX, with users testing each game individually. The full list includes a little under 50 games, but include some popular titles from the ******* between 2007-2014. Previous Nvidia generations, including the 40-, 30-, and 20- series will continue to support 32-bit CUDA applications, meaning gamers who play a lot of older games may be better to stick to an older graphics card for the time being. As is standard for a new generation of graphics cards, the new 50-series GPUs are pretty hard to find at the moment, anyway. Source link #Games #Run #Older #GPUs #Nvidias #50Series #Cards Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Less bias, better hires: why AI could transform recruitment for SMEs | Work Redefined Less bias, better hires: why AI could transform recruitment for SMEs | Work Redefined Artificial intelligence is trained on real intelligence – in other words, content created by humans. Theoretically, if you want AI to ***** out fiction, you train it on novels and if you want AI to write job specs, you train it on job descriptions written by people. But there’s a problem here. No matter how hard humans try to be unbiased, we all have some. And an AI that has been trained on human work will take on some of these human biases. Indeed, overcoming biases is one of the biggest challenges in AI. “In recruitment, bias is everywhere and comes from a baseline of most recruitment processes being run by humans,” says Kevin Fitzgerald, *** managing director of Employment Hero, a global employment management platform that is using AI to make doing business easier for SMEs. “The underlying bias that recruitment teams have is there in the process already.” So how does AI deal with this? Fitzgerald says that recruiting tools such as Employment Hero’s SmartMatch can remove many sources of bias. “We take out gender, age, and the visual cues – and we look at the capabilities and skills the individual has. Then we make sure they’re matched properly to the business that is hiring.” This, he explains, helps eliminate many of the biases in more traditional methods of job searching – such as using LinkedIn (where profile photos can reveal details such as age and ethnicity) or using CVs (where hints of identity are often visible). AI can help businesses tackle bias when screening CVs. Photograph: Fiordaliso/Getty Images But there is another concern related to the way humans process information: namely, while people may have unconscious biases, they are really quite good with shades of meaning and subtlety. The worry is that algorithms and reductive keyword matching lack nuance and often miss out on people’s soft skills. Humans, the thinking goes, can read between the lines, AI less so. These issues are further exacerbated by candidates using AI to help them write CVs. You can wind up with an AI-written CV being screened by AI – effectively AI marking its own homework. SmartMatch deals with this by looking at a candidate’s entire profile to assess the full scope of their experience. This also gets around other problems such as job title inflation and referees giving only positive references. It provides a far more holistic view of the candidate and drills down into their career. “By the time our client [the SME] has finished writing a job description, we are serving up talent from inside our system, which has a database of a million candidates,” says Fitzgerald. “They can see profiles of people who are active jobseekers, connect with them and set up interviews. They don’t have to wait two weeks for responses and then trawl through hundreds of CVs.” This sophisticated matching process works both ways. Employment Hero also builds up a very detailed picture of the SME that is doing the hiring and what it needs. “The AI tools that we’re using are also looking at your organisational chart and understanding the type of people that you’ve hired previously, and what you need in terms of skills and capabilities in this role,” says Fitzgerald. These tools can even anticipate future staffing needs based on previous hiring. By building up an understanding of an SME’s needs and hiring history, SmartMatch is able to introduce candidates with the right capabilities. Photograph: Westend61/Getty Images For jobseekers the value doesn’t end when they’re in a new role. Employment Hero also allows candidates to hold on to their Employment Bureau profile. “This is the first step in building what we’re calling an employment passport,” says Fitzgerald. “They can then use that passport and profile because it has been validated by us. They can also add to it – they can pull in ratings from performance reviews, an anonymised screenshot of where they sat in the organisational chart, promotions and passing probationary periods.” In a world where employers still struggle to identify the best candidates and jobseekers are often unaware of new roles that may be attractive to them, platforms such as Employment Hero represent a new, far more sophisticated way of bringing the two together. “This really unlocks value for both sides,” says Fitzgerald. “Employees get to validate their experience, but employers get more validation in terms of the capabilities of somebody that they’re about to hire.” Good matching is particularly important for SMEs because bad hires disproportionately affect them. If an SME is a 20-person business and it makes two hiring mistakes, that’s 10% of its workforce. Nor is the cost just the bad hire. Rather, it is the cost of letting the bad hire go, the cost of recruiting someone else, the poor work the employee does – and the negative effect that person may have on the existing workforce and even customers. Getting it right is incredibly important. In the past, SMEs could not afford sophisticated search and hiring support. “Now, they can access the kind of software solutions that previously only large corporations could pay for,” says Fitzgerald. Reimagine what’s possible. See how Employment Hero can transform the way you work Source link #bias #hires #transform #recruitment #SMEs #Work #Redefined Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Nvidia: Should You Hold Stock for the Long Haul or Trade It? Nvidia: Should You Hold Stock for the Long Haul or Trade It? High-profile stock market stories tend to carry a stigma for investors in the sense that few know whether it’s best to trade these names or just hold them for the long haul. Today, the largest share of attention and capital is centered around the technology sector in the United States, particularly in names exposed to artificial intelligence and its development. This is where NVIDIA (NASDAQ:) comes into play. Investors can definitely point to the stock’s previous success in price action as a testament to its future importance, but that doesn’t mean they have to necessarily keep it and not enjoy the short-term opportunities in the name. Because it’s become popular among investors, the stock offers tremendous volatility for traders to enjoy short-term gains. So, two camps are present regarding the future of NVIDIA stock, though they don’t necessarily have to be pinned against each other. Investors holding out to the company’s future potential valuations are set for reasons that will become clear in just a bit, but these same reasons also bring those looking for short-term price action swings into safety. The Best of Both Worlds When stocks like Apple (NASDAQ:) become so big and important in the global economy and the stock market, this long-term stability and recognition usually come at the expense of price action and volatility, leaving an entire breed of traders out of the game. This is where long-term value investors like Warren Buffett like to live, unbothered by whipsaws. However, those who employ a more active strategy, trading in and out of positions to make faster profits, could never wake up and dream of trading Apple stock since its size has driven it down to low beta status. Even on wild days for the S&P 500, stocks like Apple still don’t give traders much to be excited about. This is where NVIDIA is unique because it offers both a long-term value perspective for those who hold it and short-term volatility through its 1.6 beta measure, allowing traders to come in and grab their fair share of the action. Knowing this, here are some factors that drive opportunity for both camps, starting with the traders. Profitable Areas For NVIDIA Traders Starting with ranges to look for, a midpoint of $138.25 per share has proven to be one of the most liquid areas for NVIDIA stock over the past quarter. This means traders should consider that price a magnet, calling for the activity to be dealt with when things get slow. When liquidity is grabbed at this price level, volume (and liquidity) seems to cut off at the $130 level on the downside and the $143 level on the upside for now. These levels have acted as great support and resistance over the past quarter, as investors can see the sharp price action behind them. Overall, this represents a net move of $13 for NVIDIA, more or less a 10% move stretched out over two to four weeks. This is entirely reasonable, considering NVIDIA’s high beta. More than that, given its size as one of the largest holdings in the and indexes, it is not a name Wall Street can let out of its sights for too long. This fundamental setting gives it the volatility needed to make a profit while also providing safety for investors worried about a massive move in the wrong direction, as long as they stay within these two cutoff levels for the time being. Of course, this excludes earnings, which will be released on February 26th, 2025. That day (or even a week) might be too much of a roller coaster ride for the average stomach to handle. That being said, this is the perfect segway to talk about the future for investors holding this stock. Expectations Are High on Wall Street Wall Street analysts now forecast up to $3.28 in earnings per share (EPS) for the second quarter of 2025, which would mean a jump of 300% from today’s $0.81 in EPS for NVIDIA. Some investors may think this potential growth is already priced in after NVIDIA delivered a 92% rally over the past 12 months. However, that should be accompanied by a bet on the downside, as nonbelievers would call NVIDIA’s bluff running up to earnings. The opposite is true, given that NVIDIA’s short interest has declined over the past month. This is a sign of bearish capitulation to dismantle the belief that growth has been priced in. More than that, institutional buyers from UBS Asset Management decided to boost their holdings in NVIDIA stock by 11.4% as of February 2025, bringing their net position to a high of $26.9 billion today. Ultimately, some analysts also seem unbothered by the sharp rally ahead of earnings. Those from Tigress Financial recently reiterated a strong buy rating for NVIDIA, valuing the stock at up to $220 per share. This would mean a new 52-week high for the company and an implied rally of as much as 58% from where it trades today. Original Post Source link #Nvidia #Hold #Stock #Long #Haul #Trade Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

****** investigating possible error over hostage body ****** investigating possible error over hostage body ****** says it is investigating a possible error in identifying human remains handed to Israel under a ceasefire deal as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened retaliation for failing to release the body of hostage Shiri Bibas. ****** was due to hand over the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two sons Kfir and Ariel on Thursday, along with the remains of a fourth hostage under the ceasefire deal that has halted fighting in Gaza since last month. Four bodies were delivered and the identities of the Bibas boys and the fourth hostage, Oded Lifshitz, were confirmed. But Israeli specialists said the fourth body was that of an unidentified woman and not Bibas, who was kidnapped along with her sons and her husband, Yarden, during the ****** attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Basem Naim, a member of the ****** political bureau, said “unfortunate mistakes” could occur, especially as Israeli bombing had mingled the bodies of Israeli hostages and Palestinians, thousands of whom were still buried in the rubble. “We confirm that it is not in our values or our interest to keep any bodies or not to abide by the covenants and agreements that we sign,” he said in a statement. ****** said separately that it would investigate the Israeli assertions and announce the results. The failure to hand over the body and the staged public handover of the four coffins on Thursday caused outrage in Israel and drew a threat of retaliation from Netanyahu. “We will act with determination to bring Shiri home along with all our hostages – both living and dead – and ensure ****** pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement,” he said in a video statement. He accused ****** of acting “in an unspeakably cynical manner” by placing the body of a Gaza woman in the coffin instead of Bibas. ****** said in November 2023 that the children and their mother had been killed in an Israeli air strike and Thawabta said Netanyahu “bears full responsibility for killing her and her children”. But the Israeli military said intelligence assessments and forensic analysis of the bodies of the Bibas children indicated that they were deliberately killed by their captors. Netanyahu gave no details on a possible Israeli response, but the incident underscored the fragility of the ceasefire agreement reached with US backing and with the help of Qatari and Egyptian mediators last month. Six living hostages are due for release on Saturday in exchange for 602 ************ prisoners and detainees, according to ******, and the start of negotiations for a second phase of the ceasefire is expected in the coming days. “****** must return the hostages as agreed in the ceasefire- the living and the deceased,” Israeli military spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said in a statement on social media platform X. “They have to bring Shiri back, and they have to release the six living hostages expected tomorrow.” As the tension over the Gaza ceasefire rose, Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to intensify operations in another ************ territory, the occupied West Bank, after several explosions blew up buses standing empty in their depots near Tel Aviv. No casualties were reported but the explosions were a reminder of the campaign of suicide attacks on public transport that killed hundreds of Israeli civilians during the Second Intifada in the early 2000s. Both sides have repeatedly accused the other of ceasefire violations, with ****** threatening to delay the release of hostages over what it said was Israel’s refusal to allow housing materials and other aid into Gaza, a charge Israel denied. “It’s like they make a joke of us,” said 75-year-old Ilana Caspi. “We are so in grief and this is even more, it’s like you make a punch again, another one and another one, it’s really terrible.” The Red Cross told Reuters it was “concerned and unsatisfied” by the fact that the handover of the bodies had not been conducted privately and in a dignified manner. One of the main groups representing hostage families said they were “horrified and devastated” by the news that Shiri Bibas’ body had not been returned, but called for the ceasefire to continue to bring back all the 70 hostages still in Gaza. “Save them from this nightmare,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement. Despite the outrage over Shiri Bibas, there was no indication that Israel would not take part in talks over a second phase of the ceasefire deal. The Israel Hayom newspaper reported that Israeli negotiators were considering seeking an extension of the 42-day ceasefire, instead of moving to a second phase, which would involve talks over hard-to-resolve issues including an end to the war and the future of ****** in Gaza. Source link #****** #investigating #error #hostage #body Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Blue Origin NS-30 Crew Announced: Everything You Need to Know Blue Origin NS-30 Crew Announced: Everything You Need to Know The next suborbital space tourism mission by Blue Origin, known as NS-30, is set to take place at an undisclosed date. This will be the 30th launch of the company’s New Shepard rocket and its 10th crewed mission. The flight will take off from Blue Origin’s West Texas facility, carrying six individuals on a brief journey to suborbital space. The names of five crew members have been announced, while the identity of the sixth passenger remains undisclosed. Crew Members and Their Backgrounds According to the official announcement, the five confirmed passengers include Lane Bess, Jesús Calleja, Elaine Chia Hyde, Richard Scott, and Tushar Shah. Lane Bess, founder of Bess Ventures and Advisory, will be making his second journey with Blue Origin, having previously flown on the NS-19 mission in December 2021. Jesús Calleja, a Spanish television host and adventurer, has explored extreme environments across the globe, including the Seven Summits and polar regions. Elaine Chia Hyde, an entrepreneur, physicist, and pilot, was born in Singapore, raised in Australia, and currently resides in Florida. Richard Scott serves as a reproductive endocrinologist and holds an adjunct professorship at Yale University and the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. Tushar Shah is a hedge fund partner based in New York City. Mission Overview and Past Flights The NS-30 mission will provide passengers with an approximately 10 to 12-minute experience, including a brief ******* of weightlessness and a view of Earth from suborbital space. The New Shepard capsule will return to Earth via parachute. The company has not disclosed ticket prices for the flight. Blue Origin’s first crewed mission occurred on July 20, 2021, with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos among the passengers. Further details regarding NS-30’s launch schedule and the identity of the final crew member are expected to be released in due course. Source link #Blue #Origin #NS30 #Crew #Announced Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

More time, less tedium: how AI is helping SMEs to innovate and compete | Work Redefined More time, less tedium: how AI is helping SMEs to innovate and compete | Work Redefined “Admin is important,” says Kevin Fitzgerald, *** managing director of Employment Hero, a global employment management platform that uses AI to make life easier for SMEs. “But technology has progressed so far, especially in the last 10 years, that a lot of admin tasks can now be taken care of digitally.” From Fitzgerald’s point of view, AI is not some nebulous or frightening new technology, but rather a smart way to relieve staff and companies of drudgery and time-consuming tasks, freeing them up to do more valuable and interesting work. The results of an Employment Hero survey bear this thinking out. Fifty-two per cent of respondents said that adopting the company’s platform made their organisation more efficient, 42% said it made them faster and 65% said they were using less paper. The mundane parts of onboarding, such as entering people’s details on systems or sorting through hundreds of CVs, can be repetitive and feel unrewarding. But by using AI to do these tasks people can focus on more worthwhile work, such as ensuring that new hires feel welcome and are quickly integrated into the team and brought up to speed. An example of AI use, says Fitzgerald, might be organising an employment contract and getting a new hire set up on the payroll system. “Because we’ve already got their information, we can do this in 20 seconds.” Taking away hassle and uninspiring work can help people do their jobs more effectively and boost their engagement, working energy and productivity. AI assistants can be useful in the new world of hybrid working. Photograph: izusek/Getty Images Integrating AI into the workplace also chimes with broader shifts towards more flexible and hybrid working practices in response to both social and technological developments. In a sense, bosses are effectively having to manage their employees’ energy instead of just managing their time. Using AI to automate tasks such as payroll and HR is also part of a much longer term shift: companies have been using digital tech to automate routine admin tasks, such as filing, for more than 50 years. First it was done by computers the size of rooms, then desk PCs, then networked PCs and so on. Then a major shift occurred around a decade ago, with the advent of what became known as “software as a service”, which enabled SMEs to access many back office functions – such as sophisticated payroll and expenses systems – from external providers. This meant that SMEs, which had previously had to make do as best as they could, were now able to utilise tools that had once been the preserve of large corporations that had such functions in-house – thereby helping to level the playing field between SMEs and much ******* businesses. More recently, however, the proliferation of different software subscriptions can prove costly. Some SMEs, for instance, end up using different providers to manage things such as payroll, benefits, employee engagement, and recruitment processes. As well as costing more, having different systems means different functions are disconnected from each other. “This introduces a whole new spectrum of problems – systems don’t sync, there are errors, it’s a clunky user experience. Plus there are eight different passwords and eight different software contracts to deal with,” says Fitzgerald. By contrast, Employment Hero’s Employment Operating System brings everything under one platform, with one login and one fee. By incorporating AI, the system is particularly well suited to tasks that involve large amounts of data and routine work – but also to work such as CV screening, which is both complex and demanding. By removing distractions, staff are able to be more productive, improving their engagement and job satisfaction. Photograph: Morsa Images/Getty Images For staff, giving people back time and removing admin and distractions allows them to work in different, often far better, ways. To take just one example, recurring tasks tend to cut up your day. If AI deals with many of these, you have longer, less interrupted stretches of time, which allow you to engage in “deep work”. This was a term coined by Cal Newport, a computer science professor at Georgetown University. It means a state of distraction-free concentration when your brain works at its full potential. This is something we can all relate to: those glorious, hour long stretches where we enter the flow state and write a report or solve a knotty problem often in a kind of productive trance. AI has the potential to create a virtuous circle. It allows people to do more worthwhile work and means they’re more productive, which feeds into job satisfaction and engagement. All this can be viewed as a form of digital empowerment. And, if there’s one thing that comes up time and time again in management research, it’s that empowering people and leaving them to get on with their work results in greater workplace satisfaction. Finally, most of this AI is not difficult-to-use technology. Rather, it is embedded in platforms such as Employment Hero and means staff have more powerful tools at their disposal. Fitzgerald says that this helps demystify the technology and is a great introduction to it. “Many SMEs are unsure about AI and ask: ‘Should I adopt AI?’ But once they see that it is something we use to help people work faster and smarter, it helps them get over the bridge.” Reimagine what’s possible. See how Employment Hero can transform the way you work Source link #time #tedium #helping #SMEs #innovate #compete #Work #Redefined Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

As the Magnificent 7 Stalls, These 3 Stocks Are Gaining Momentum As the Magnificent 7 Stalls, These 3 Stocks Are Gaining Momentum In 2023 and 2024, investors didn’t have to look very far to find the biggest market gains. In fact, investing in one or more of a small group of seven stocks, known as the Magnificent Seven, would have delivered gains of over 160% during that time. In 2025, technology stocks are doing well enough. The , largely viewed as the technology index, is up about 8% through February 20. The same can’t be said for the Magnificent Seven stocks, which are up just 1% in that time. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. If you remove Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:) from the list, the group’s performance would be significantly worse. The reasons are becoming familiar to investors: stretched valuations, concerns over how capital expenditures on AI will impact earnings, and the impact of higher interest rates on current borrowing. But until now, there hasn’t been a clear rotation trade. That may be changing, and it’s time for names that growth investors can buy if you want to move some money out of the Magnificent Seven. Here are three names to consider. 1. Increased AI Demand Gives This Cloud Stock Room to Grow F5 Networks (NASDAQ:) provides distributed cloud services, unified security, networking, and application management solutions, as well as application security and delivery solutions. The company’s products allow customers to simplify app development, security, connectivity, and operations. In the company’s first quarter of 2025, it delivered revenue of $747 million, which was 7% higher year-over-year. The company raised its guidance for both the second quarter and the full year. At the midpoint of its second-quarter guidance, the company expects to deliver revenue growth of 5% and between 6% and 7% for the full year. Analysts note that artificial intelligence (AI) is not a significant part of the company’s revenue for now. However, that’s expected to change as AI creates a need to move massive amounts of data in an optimal and secure manner. FFIV stock is up 20.2% in 2025 and 65.1% in the last 12 months. As of February 20, 2025, the stock was trading above its consensus price target and near the top of its 52-week range. Several analysts have given the stock a much higher price target since the earnings report, including Needham & Co., which raised its price target from $285 to $360. 2. Tapestry Is a Luxury Your Portfolio Can Afford Retail stocks have performed unevenly as consumers have had to navigate both sticky inflation and higher interest rates. Luxury goods makers such as Tapestry (NYSE:) are bucking this trend. Tapestry, which is the home of iconic global brands Coach, Kate Spade New York, and Stuart Weitzman, reported first-quarter earnings with revenue up 5% year-over-year. And the company also delivered a record $2.00 in earnings per share, which was also a 23% year-over-year increase. Millennial and Gen-Z consumers are leaning into themes like ethical craftsmanship, sustainable manufacturing, and transparency. These are areas that complement Tapestry’s mission. TPR stock is up 32% in 2025 and 84% for the year. And while the stock is trading above its consensus price, analysts have been moving the stock higher since its earnings report with multiple price targets of over $100. Some of that growth was due to excitement over the company’s potential deal to buy Capri Holdings (NYSE:). The $8.5 billion deal was nixed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). While the potential of the merger may leave some fashion fans disappointed, it appears that it will work out well for shareholders. 3. Constellation Energy Is a Long-Term Nuclear Energy Story Constellation Energy (NASDAQ:) is up a whopping 144% in the last 12 months, with a 68% increase in the six months ending February 20. Since when did this boring utility company become so exciting? The answer is the news that Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:) is partnering with Constellation to reopen the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. This is part of the nuclear renaissance that’s sweeping through the world as companies look for cost-effective clean energy sources to power the demand that will be needed for AI applications. There’s good news and bad news for investors. The bad news is that with the price over $300 per share, CEG stock may be overextended. That leaves it susceptible to events like the launch of DeepSeek, which caused shares to plummet approximately 20%. That news also reminded investors that it will take years to reopen Three Mile Island. However, investors can also see that the dip in CEG stock is getting bought up, which signals underlying conviction in the company. That’s supported by analysts that are raising their price targets above the consensus target. Original Post Source link #Magnificent #Stalls #Stocks #Gaining #Momentum Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Global markets, consumer sentiment, Buffett letter: 3 Things Global markets, consumer sentiment, Buffett letter: 3 Things US stock futures (ES=F, NQ=F, YM=F) are mixed Friday morning after the S&P 500 (^GSPC) hit a fresh record high this week. Global markets, especially in China, are undergoing their own rally this morning. The University of Michigan’s final consumer sentiment reading for February is due out later this morning. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B, BRK-A) CEO Warren Buffett will be releasing his annual letter to shareholders over this weekend, ahead of the firm’s latest earnings report due out next Friday, February 28. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Morning Brief here. This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan. Source link #Global #markets #consumer #sentiment #Buffett #letter Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

NYT Crossword: answers for Friday, February 21 NYT Crossword: answers for Friday, February 21 The New York Times crossword puzzle can be tough, even if it isn’t the Sunday issue! If you’re stuck, we’re here to help you out with today’s clues and answers. Source link #NYT #Crossword #answers #Friday #February Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]