Category: Uncategorized

2025 Guide to Business Investment: Get the Best Investor Offer | Business.com

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Every business needs funding to launch and grow. Often, that funding comes directly from the founder or a good business loan. For some businesses, though, getting to that next level requires the help of a business investor. That avenue can be rewarding but carries unique challenges, such as finding the right investors and successfully courting them. Whether you court venture capitalists, angel investors or crowdfund your investments, you must recognize a good deal from a bad one to avoid getting burned.

What makes a good investment deal?

Not all investment deals are created equal. But how can you tell the good from the bad? Don’t just jump at the money. Stop to think about where the deal in question can get you down the line and how it might influence the overall growth of your business in the long term.

While creating a detailed investor persona and a compelling pitch is necessary to obtain financing, you also want to consider who you want for a partner and how much control the deal gives them. Follow our best business tips below to help find a good investment deal.

Read More

Google enables free sharing of custom Gemini AI bots and it’s a huge deal | Digital Trends

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The big news from Google earlier today was the arrival of Gemini within the Chrome browser, with a promise of tab awareness and a sidebar assistant that can take steps on users’ behalf. But another important news that flew under the radar was the ability to share custom versions of the Gemini chatbot with other users.

What’s the big picture?

Imagine creating an AI agent that performs a specific task for you. I’ve created a custom version of Gemini called Email Assistant. It helps me with answering emails. All I have to do is copy-paste the contents of an email, type “Yes” or “No,” and it accordingly creates a polite response for those emails.

Read More

2025 Guide to Business Investment: Get the Best Investor Offer | Business

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Every business needs funding to launch and grow. Often, that funding comes directly from the founder or a good business loan. For some businesses, though, getting to that next level requires the help of a business investor. That avenue can be rewarding but carries unique challenges, such as finding the right investors and successfully courting them. Whether you court venture capitalists, angel investors or crowdfund your investments, you must recognize a good deal from a bad one to avoid getting burned.

Read More

Google Enhances Gmail Search With Smarter AI-Powered Results | Small Biz Trend

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Google has announced the rollout of a new AI-powered search enhancement for Gmail, designed to help users find emails more quickly and efficiently. The update introduces a smarter sorting feature that surfaces the most relevant results first, rather than simply displaying emails in chronological order. According to Google, the upgraded search experience considers several factors such as the recency of emails, user engagement like most-clicked emails, and frequent contacts. The goal is to make it easier for users to locate important information in cluttered inboxes.

Read More

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

~ 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.

Read More

NASA’s daredevil solar spacecraft survives 2nd close flyby of our sun | Live Science

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has successfully completed its second close flyby of the sun, the space agency announced earlier this week.

The car-sized spacecraft swooped within 3.8 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) of the sun’s surface at a whopping 430,000 miles per hour (692,000 kilometers per hour), matching the historic record it set during its encounter on Christmas Eve last year.

Read More

Best Jobs for Flexibility | Business News Daily

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

On the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic and the “great resignation,” finding a flexible job has become a top priority for many job seekers. In fact, some employees would swap pay for a flexible workplace.

With a higher demand for flexible jobs while many companies are pushing workers to return to the office, it can be challenging for job seekers to find positions that offer varying degrees of flexibility. We’ve compiled a list of roles worth considering, along with a few tips on how to score one.

The best jobs for flexibility

In a 2022 McKinsey & Company study, 40 percent of the 13,382 global workers polled stated that workplace flexibility was the No. 1 priority for them. An NIH study found that the ability to work remotely increased perceived happiness.

Read More

Poppi just sold for $1.6 billion | CNN Business

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

PepsiCo is buying Poppi, the popular prebiotic soda brand, in a $1.65 billion deal.

The move marks PepsiCo’s further shift into the “better for you” category as consumers shy away from sugar-filled drinks and unhealthy snacks. In January, the company bought Siete Foods, which makes gluten-free chips for $1.2 billion, and PepsiCo bought the remaining half of the Sabra hummus brand it didn’t own late last year. “We’ve been evolving our food and beverage portfolio over many years, including by innovating with our brands in new spaces and through disciplined, strategic acquisitions that enable us to offer more positive choices to our consumers,” said Ramon Laguarta, CEO of PepsiCo, in a statement Monday.

Source: Poppi just sold for $1.6 billion | CNN Business

Samsung promises not to remove S Pen from future Galaxy S Ultras | Digital Trends

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The S Pen has become the top-tier accessory for people who like to draw and take notes on their phone, especially on the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. However, the future of the stylus has become a topic of debate lately, as it wasn’t included in the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition package. Fortunately, the company promised not to leave out the S Pen from future Galaxy S Ultra models.

Annika Bizon, VP of Product and Marketing at Samsung’s Mobile Experience in the UK, recently told TechRadar at MWC 2025 that Samsung Galaxy users don’t need to worry about whether or not the S Pen will be included in future models. The stylus was left out of Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event showcasing the Galaxy S25 series back in January, but just because it was absent from recent marketing campaigns for the latest model doesn’t mean it won’t be a part of the upcoming Galaxy S Ultra phones.

“Multimodality is really important to us,” Bizon said. “So [that’s] how people use their phone – whether they’re speaking, whether they’re writing, whether they’re in a meeting. People do use their S Pens in meetings to write notes. So, I don’t see a space where the S Pen is not a key part of our portfolio.”

Read More

Florida Man Pleads Guilty to Odometer Tampering Scheme Involving Over 140 Vehicles | Small Business Trends

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Drew Mitchell Schreiber, a resident of Orlando, Florida, pleaded guilty in federal court to three counts of odometer tampering. The charges stem from his role in a scheme that involved rolling back the odometers of more than 140 high-mileage vehicles and selling them to unsuspecting buyers across the United States.

The plea was entered in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Schreiber owned Central Florida Automotive Group, now operating as Southeastern Credit Union Solutions, in Winter Garden, Florida. According to court documents, he purchased high-mileage used vehicles from wholesale auto auctions across Florida and manipulated their odometers, rolling them back by as much as 428,000 miles.

Fraudulent Sales Across the U.S.

After altering the odometers, Schreiber resold the vehicles through auto auctions or online direct sales, targeting used-car dealers who then unknowingly sold the vehicles to individual buyers. These fraudulent transactions enriched Schreiber with significant profits. Many of the vehicles involved in the scheme were over 10 years old, enabling Schreiber to obtain “exempt” titles that did not require mileage disclosure, further concealing the fraudulent activity.

Source: Florida Man Pleads Guilty to Odometer Tampering Scheme Involving Over 140 Vehicles – Small Business Trends