Artificial Sweeteners Increase Food Cravings | Cool Business Ideas

November 11, 2021November 10, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Artificial sweeteners are widely promoted as safe, zero-calorie alternatives to sugar, ideal for those trying to lose weight. But a new study is indicating artificial sweeteners may increase appetite and food cravings, particularly in females and the obese.

“There is controversy surrounding the use of artificial sweeteners because a lot of people are using them for weight loss,” says corresponding author on the new study, Kathleen Page. “While some studies suggest they may be helpful, others show they may be contributing to weight gain, type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders. Our study looked at different population groups to tease out some of the reasons behind those conflicting results.”

Page hypothesizes the discordancy in the science is somewhat due to the fact that many studies investigating the effects of artificial sweeteners on metabolic activity or the brain are conducted in mostly male subjects, often with normal weight. This new research set out to investigate the influence of artificial sweeteners on these processes across a broad cohort of men and women.

YouTube will no longer show ‘dislike’ counts on videos | Mashable

November 10, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Say goodbye to “dislike mobs” on YouTube.

YouTube has announced that it’s making dislike counts private on all videos across YouTube.

The thumbs down button isn’t going away. Users can still click thumbs down to dislike a video in order to inform the YouTube recommendation algorithm about content they didn’t like.

However, when a user presses thumbs down, there will be no dislike count letting users know how many people also disliked the video.

An Apple-1 computer sold for $500,000 at auction. Here’s a look inside. | Mashable

November 10, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Little word of advice: Hang onto your Apple devices.

A working Apple-1 computer in a rare wooden case was sold at auction on Tuesday by John Moran Auctioneers, going for a cool $500,000. The original owner bought it from his professor in 1977 for a mere $650.

The first ever Apple-1 was created by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in Jobs’ parents’ hallowed garage, following the founding of the company in 1976. The Apple-1 put the company on the map as the first personal computer that came with a fully assembled motherboard. Only 200 of these computers were handcrafted by the pair and their skeleton crew.

Labor shortage 2021: companies tried these 6 solutions | Fast Company

November 5, 2021November 7, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

America is in the midst of a nationwide labor shortage—perhaps you’ve heard? In fact, data just released by the Department of Labor shows that the number of workers quitting their jobs hit an all-time high in August. Just as businesses are free to adopt whatever office design they believe is optimal, they’ve also been free since the pandemic began to resolve workplace shortages in whatever way strikes them as the most strategic. Many companies thought inside the box for sweetening the pot: Chipotle raised wages, Amazon is reimbursing college tuition costs, and there’s a Big Tech trend toward introducing free childcare.

Etsy Sellers Avoiding Supply Chain Shortages, CEO Says | Small Business Trends

November 4, 2021November 1, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

As supply chain issues continue to disrupt major retailers in the US, smaller businesses, which are less reliant on complex global supply chain procedures, are less predisposed to disruption this holiday season.

An example of small businesses avoiding supply chain issues can be found at Etsy. According to Josh Silverman, CEO of the ecommerce company, the vast majority of Etsy sellers are businesses that source raw materials locally.

As such, they are not susceptible to the supply chain issues currently hobbling larger retailers.

Etsy Sellers Avoiding Supply Chain Shortages, CEO Says

Silverman’s unveilings show the resilience and agility of small businesses. They also offer confidence to small business owners as we move into the holiday season that their business won’t be adversely affected by the widely-hyped supply chain disruption.

Amazon Acquires Exclusive U.S. Rights To TikTok Connected-TV App | Forbes

November 2, 2021November 1, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Amazon announced Monday that it has acquired the exclusive U.S. rights to a connected-TV TikTok app, allowing Amazon Fire TV users to stream videos from the popular social media app on their televisions.

IRS unemployment refunds: update on checks finally here | Fast Company

November 2, 2021November 1, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

It’s been a long time since we’ve heard anything from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) about those much-coveted tax refunds for people who received unemployment compensation, but that day is finally here.

After Fast Company reported on a wave of mysterious direct deposits last week, the IRS confirmed Monday that it has sent out another 430,000 unemployment-related refunds, with checks averaging $1,189. The refunds are part of an ongoing Herculean effort by the agency to review and correct millions of tax returns that needed to be adjusted after the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act in March. The act excluded up to $10,200 in 2020 taxable unemployment income, meaning millions of taxpayers were due refunds.

Apple’s 2018 iPhone XR Still Works Just Great In 2021 | Digital Trends

November 1, 2021October 31, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

As the iPhone 13 takes its place as the iPhone literally everyone should buy, the question still exists: Should I upgrade to the new iPhone, or should I keep my old one? To find out, I went back to a much older iPhone — the 2018 iPhone XR — for just over a week to see how well it would fare in 2021. Back when we reviewed it, we praised it as the “budget” iPhone to buy. This device was loaned to me by the folks at Backmarket, so it’s a refurb without all the dings and nicks that you’d have on an actively used phone.

A game changer with a legacy

The iPhone XR may be old now, but it’s an important iPhone that preceded the current iPhones like the iPhone 11, iPhone 12, and the most recent iPhone 13. It’s a phone that would be considered less than the “real” iPhone, but an iPhone nonetheless. Apple tried this sort of non-standard iPhone model with the SE and the iPhone 5C before. In many ways, the iPhone XR kicked off the standardization of Apple’s lineup, and it also became one of the bestselling iPhones in its day. After using it, it’s not a surprise.

YouTube warns creators it will start to demonetize low-quality kids’ videos next month | TechCrunch

October 28, 2021October 25, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

YouTube says it will soon begin to demonetize some of the channels on its platform that market themselves as “made for kids” if the content they produce is low-quality, encourages negative behavior or attitudes, or is heavily commercial. The company had previously warned this sort of content would no longer be eligible for inclusion in its dedicated YouTube Kids app, but starting next month YouTube will also begin to enforce new monetization policies as well, which may impact the creators’ eligibility for or possible removal from the YouTube Partner Program.

YouTube first announced its plans to increase its protections for minors in August, saying that some of the updates would directly address upcoming regulations, while others were going beyond what would be required by law. At the time, YouTube said it would shift the default settings on videos for users ages 13 to 17 to private, would enable “take a break” and bedtime reminders for minors, would stop leveraging “interests” data for targeting teens and kids with ads, and more.