Prada buying rival fashion brand Versace in $1.36bn deal | BBC News

April 11, 2025April 10, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Prada has agreed to buy its smaller rival Versace in a billion-dollar deal to unite two of the biggest designer fashion labels.

The deal to unite the two Italian brands has an estimated value of $1.36bn (£1.06bn), the Prada Group said on Thursday.

“We aim to continue Versace’s legacy, celebrating and re-interpreting its bold and timeless aesthetic,” said Prada chairman Patrizio Bertelli.

The Prada Group already owns several other designer labels, including Miu Miu and luxury footwear brand Church’s.

Two American Airlines jets clipped wings on the ground at Reagan airport | BBC News

April 11, 2025April 10, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Two American Airlines jets have had a minor collision on the ground at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport – just three months after a deadly crash near there.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the wingtip of one aircraft struck another on the taxiway on Thursday afternoon. Six members of Congress were aboard one of the jets.

Nick LaLota, a New York Republican, said no-one was hurt when the wing of their stationary plane was “bumped” by another jet.

States Are Banning Forever Chemicals. Industry Is Fighting Back | WIRED

April 10, 2025April 9, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

IN 2021, JAMES Kenney and his husband were at a big box store buying a piece of furniture when the sales associate asked if they’d like to add fabric protectant. Kenney, the cabinet secretary of New Mexico’s Environment Department, asked to see the product data sheet.

Both he and his husband were shocked to see forever chemicals listed as ingredients in the protectant. “I think about your normal, everyday New Mexican who is trying to get by, make their furniture last a little longer, and they think, ‘Oh, it’s safe, great!’ It’s not safe,” he says. “It just so happens that they tried to sell it to the environment secretary.”

The AI Race Has Gotten Crowded—and China Is Closing In on the US | WIRED

April 10, 2025April 9, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

THE YEAR THAT ChatGPT went viral, only two US companies—OpenAI and Google—could boast truly cutting-edge artificial intelligence. Three years on, AI is no longer a two-horse race, nor is it purely an American one. A new report published today by Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI) highlights just how crowded the field has become.

The institute’s 2025 AI index, which collates data and trends on the state of the AI industry, paints a picture of an increasingly competitive, global, and unrestrained race toward artificial general intelligence—AI that surpasses human abilities.

OpenAI and Google are still neck and neck in the race to build bleeding-edge AI, the report shows. But several other companies are closing in. In the US, the fiercest competition comes from Meta’s open-weight Llama models; Anthropic, a company founded by former OpenAI employees; and Elon Musk’s xAI.

AI Is Most Likely to Replace These 3 Professions: AI Experts | Entrepreneur

April 9, 2025April 8, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Since ChatGPT came on the scene in November 2022, employees have been using the AI chatbot and other variations from Google, Microsoft, Apple, and others, to take notes, write emails, and translate meetings.

But could the tools you’re using to help your work actually take your job instead?

Goldman Sachs estimated in a 2023 report that AI could automate 300 million full-time jobs, while McKinsey wrote in the same year that up to 375 million workers may be displaced by AI by 2030.

While AI could take over jobs on Wall Street or software developer roles at Big Tech firms, a recent Pew Research survey found that AI experts deem three professions most at risk of vanishing in the next 20 years due to AI: cashiers, journalists, and factory workers.

7 Telltale Signs of a Weak Leader | Entrepreneur

April 9, 2025April 8, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Most people associate a weak leader with being docile, deferential, timid, or meek. While that may have some merit, weak leaders can also be bombastic, egocentric, domineering, dictatorial, and imperious. Even if you are successful at adding to the bottom line, bringing in new clients, or developing new products and services, if people are not seeking you out or jockeying to be on your team, you are a weak leader.

Here are seven behaviors that beset a weak leader:

1. Your team routinely suffers from burnout.

Being driven and ambitious are important traits for successful leaders. However, if you are excessively working your people or churning through staff, than you are not effectively using your resources. You may take pride in your productivity by doing more with less, but today’s success may undermine long-term organizational health.

The end of remote work will undo years of change for workers with disabilities | Mashable

April 8, 2025April 7, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

On Jan. 20, wasting little time during his first 24 hours in office, President Donald Trump issued a memorandum terminating federal remote work arrangements for millions of government employees. It was a pleasing move to many Republican lawmakers, the authors of a fistful of bills seeking to monitor or cull remote workforces, and to Trump’s corporate supporters, many of whom have rolled out their own in-person work requirements over the last year. Return-to-office (RTO) mandates — eschewing the opinions of experts who have found numerous positive benefits to telework — followed, as the new leader established a hardline on telework.

Such moves, paired with slashes to the federal workforce, have been praised by RTO’s proponents as wins for productivity and reduced spending, with portions of the employees forced to choose between in-person work or leaving their position. But few have acknowledged that the brunt of these decisions will be shouldered by already at-risk workers.

Apple planning massive redesign for iPhone 19 Pro, reports say | Mashable

April 8, 2025April 7, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Although the iPhone’s 20th anniversary is still a few years away, Apple is already planning a “bold” design change.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is “preparing a major shake-up” for the iPhone 19 series, slated for release in 2027. That includes a foldable iPhone and an iPhone 19 Pro “that makes more extensive use of glass.”

Not much else is known beyond that, apart from ever-persistent rumors about Apple’s development of a foldable iPhone, which have recently become more substantial. But Gurman also said this year’s iPhone 17 points toward a sleeker, glassier model. Apple will reportedly release a slimmer iPhone 17 “Air.” This model is rumored to have the same screen size as current models, will be two millimeters thinner, but will have similar battery life. This, of course, requires some compromises, like featuring only one rear-facing 48MP camera and an A19 chip instead of the A19 Pro chip.

What the new 401(k) limits and other changes mean for your retirement | CNN Business

April 7, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Come next year, you will be allowed to save a little more in your 401(k) on a tax-deferred basis than you can this year, unless you’re in your early 60s, in which case for the first time you’ll be allowed to save a lot more.

The new contribution limit for 401(k)s and other workplace retirement plans in 2025 will be $23,500, up from $23,000 currently, the Internal Revenue Service said Friday.

The IRS did not, however, increase the limit on catch-up contributions — that’s the extra amount of money people 50 and older can contribute annually in tax-advantaged plans like 401(k)s, 403(b)s, 457 plans and the federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan. The catch-up contribution limit will remain the same at $7,500.

Source: What the new 401(k) limits and other changes mean for your retirement | CNN Business

Wondering if you should convert your tax-deferred retirement savings to a Roth? Here’s what to consider | CNN Business

April 7, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Having financial flexibility in retirement — especially in being able to maximize your spending while minimizing your taxes — is an optimal situation.

And it’s one you can arrange by keeping at least some of your retirement savings in a tax-free account.

“You’re giving yourself more options in the future,” said Brian Kearns, an Illinois-based certified public accountant and certified financial planner.

One way to do that is to convert at least some of your tax-deferred savings in your 401(k) or traditional IRA into a Roth account. Money rolled into Roth 401(k)s and Roth IRAs grow tax free and may be withdrawn tax-free so long as you leave it in the account for at least five years after the rollover.