ChatGPT finally offers $100/month Pro plan | TechCrunch

April 10, 2026April 9, 2026 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

OpenAI announced on Thursday something that power users have been asking for forever: a $100/month plan. Until now, plans were priced at: free (which now includes ads), an $8/month Go plan (that also includes ads), a $20/month Plus plan (ad-free), and then all the way up to a $200 Pro plan (also ad-free).

OpenAI’s pricing plan page currently does not list a $200/month plan at all. However, that highest tier is still available, OpenAI confirmed to TechCrunch.

The model maker says Plus (which remains at $20/month) and the new $100 Pro tier are geared to support daily usage of ChatGPT’s coding tool Codex. The $100 Pro plan will offer 5x more Codex than the Plus plan.

Volkswagen drops all-electric ID.4 in the US in pivot back to gas SUVs | TechCrunch

April 10, 2026April 9, 2026 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Volkswagen will no longer produce the all-electric ID.4 at its U.S. factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as the German automaker shifts its resources into high-volume vehicles like its upcoming gas-powered Atlas SUV.

The company said Thursday that U.S. customers will be able to buy the ID.4 until the current inventory runs out. VW said it expects U.S. inventory to last into 2027.

Volkswagen, along with other legacy automakers, has pulled back on once-ambitious plans to shift their portfolios from gas-powered vehicles to battery electric cars, trucks, and SUVs. While some EVs have been hits, demand hasn’t met the lofty expectations that automakers forecasted. The removal of the $7,500 federal tax credit last year further dampened demand, especially for higher-priced models.

6 Steps to Build a Rock Solid Foundation For Your New Business | Entrepreneur

April 8, 2026April 7, 2026 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Key Takeaways

Lay the groundwork before you launch. Listen to your customers, research the market, create a business plan, and make funding decisions early to shape how you grow.
Protect your business from the start. The right legal structure, registration, and insurance stabilize what you build.
Leverage technology. Smart accounting, payroll, and HR tools automate the back office and free you to focus on customers and growth.

Starting a business always begins the same way — with a spark. You see an opportunity, you feel that pull to create something, and you want to move fast. But before you sprint ahead, take a step back. The groundwork you lay now determines how well your business will stand later.

Many owners I’ve known have learned this the hard way: Skipping the basics early on can cost you time, money, and focus down the road. Here’s how to build your business on a solid foundation.

Gen Z Grads Are Turning to This Field for a Steady Paycheck

April 8, 2026April 7, 2026 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Key Takeaways

Accounting majors are landing near-perfect job placement rates.
Most graduates secure jobs or further education within six months of finishing their degrees.
Entry-level accounting salaries are hovering around the high five figures, or around $75,000.

At a time when workers everywhere are feeling uneasy about the future of their jobs, and experts keep warning that white-collar careers could be the next casualty of AI, one unlikely field is coming out on top.

Accounting, often dismissed as dull and number-heavy, has spent years struggling to attract young talent. The profession’s aging workforce hasn’t helped, and between 2019 and 2022, more than 300,000 accountants left the field to move into other sectors, like finance and technology. That exodus forced firms to scramble to fill openings.

Now, the story is starting to change.

Apple to issue emergency patch to protect iPhones from DarkSword spyware | Mashable

April 7, 2026April 6, 2026 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

If you needed more proof of just how bad the DarkSword spyware is, Apple is about to issue a rare patch (via Wired) that addresses the issue on phones running iOS 18.

Why is this rare? Well, typically Apple will simply tell iPhone users to upgrade to the latest version of iOS (that’s iOS 26.4 right now). But this time, everyone running iOS 18 on their phones is getting a patch of their own.

DarkSword is a web-based tool that enables malicious hackers to steal data from iPhones, and it’s publicly available for everyone to use. Apple already patched iOS 26 against DarkSword, but iOS 18 remains unprotected at writing time. As for why anyone would want to run iOS 18, there are folks who are simply slow to update their phone, and then there are those who may not want to switch to Apple’s new “Liquid Glass” user interface that debuted in iOS 26.

Artemis II launches its historic moon mission: See the launch and mission details | Mashable

April 7, 2026April 6, 2026 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

For the first time, a woman and a Black astronaut are headed into deep space, breaking through the glass ceiling of low-Earth orbit as they attempt to circle the moon.

At 6:35 p.m. ET on April 1, NASA’s 32-story Space Launch System lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. With the horsepower of 160,000 Corvettes, the rocket sent up a column of fire and vapor over the Atlantic Coast. This was no April Fool’s Day gag, but a signal that the United States has returned to human-led space exploration.

Despite soaring jet fuel prices, air fares aren’t up that much. But they will be | CNN Business

April 6, 2026 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Gas prices are grabbing the headlines, but jet fuel prices have doubled in the last two months. So far, air fares are only up modestly.

But that could change in the next couple of months.

“We are seeing prices for summer increasing as a result of higher fuel prices,” said Hayley Berg, lead economist at air travel booking site Hopper. “For domestic trips, the higher fuel costs have pushed trips for summer up by about 10%.”

What a surprisingly strong March jobs report means in the face of war | CNN Business

April 6, 2026 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The latest jobs report showed that the US economy likely added 178,000 jobs in March, nearly triple expectations.

The unemployment rate dipped to 4.3%. Forecasts had it holding steady at 4.4% or even rising to 4.5%.

Health care and social assistance was once again the workhorse sector, accounting for half of the month’s gains; however, job growth was the most widespread across industries since December 2023.

Colorado River negotiations have stalled among 7 states, and water is scarce. What happens next? | Live Science

March 26, 2026March 25, 2026 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The seven U.S. states that make up the Colorado River basin are struggling to agree on how best to manage the river’s water as its supply dwindles due to climate change and a period of prolonged drought. Their negotiations, which are not open to the public, missed a Feb. 14, 2026, deadline the federal government had established, after which federal officials said they would impose their own plan.

The federal government has not yet done so, but the prospect of such an action is not good news for the nearly 40 million people who depend on the Colorado River for water, energy, agriculture, and recreation, nor for the estimated US$1.4 trillion in economic activity the river supports.

Chemistry student develops clear polish that turns your fingernail into a touch-screen stylus | Live Science

March 26, 2026March 25, 2026 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

A college student has created a prototype polish to turn a fingernail into a touch-screen stylus, after noticing that people with long nails and calloused fingertips struggled to work their smartphones.

Manasi Desai, a student at Centenary College of Louisiana with an interest in cosmetic chemistry, launched the project with her research supervisor, Joshua Lawrence, an associate professor of chemistry at Centenary. Their goal was to create a clear, nontoxic polish that would allow a nail to access a touch screen the way a human fingertip does.