The best smartwatches in 2023: Apple, Samsung, and more | Digital Trends

January 2, 2023January 1, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The Apple Watch Series 8 is the best smartwatch you can buy right now. It is feature-rich, user-friendly, gorgeous, and extremely reliable.

However, that recommendation comes with caveats — and the biggest one is that you need to own an iPhone to use the Apple Watch. That means that if you’re using an Android smartphone, the Apple Watch simply isn’t an option. But don’t worry, there are plenty of great alternatives. Digital Trends has reviewed more than 100 smartwatches, fitness trackers, and wearables, so we have all the deep insight you need to find your ideal smartwatch.

Best practices for customer verification | The Startup Magazine

January 2, 2023January 1, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The internet is a great tool for business, transforming how companies interact with their customers and providing new channels to sell products, provide services, and make money. Unfortunately, the internet is also great for criminals looking to exploit businesses for their own gain.

Global estimates for online payment fraud in 2022 reached $41 billion (USD), more than double the figure from the previous year. With that in mind, if you’re running an online business, you need to consider implementing customer verification best practices

Deadly California earthquake leaves thousands without power | BBC News

December 21, 2022December 20, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Two people have died and tens of thousands of households were left without power after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake rocked northern California.

The tremor, 215 miles (350km) north of San Francisco, has caused widespread damage to roadways.

“Anything that was on the walls broke off the walls,” said JB Mathers, a resident of the coastal city of Eureka.

Authorities have closed several roads and warned the public to brace for aftershocks.

The quake struck at 02:34 PST (10:34 GMT) on Tuesday. It spawned up to 80 smaller quakes between magnitude 4.6 and 2.5, according to the US Geological Survey.

OpenAI releases Point-E, an AI that generates 3D models | TechCrunch

December 21, 2022December 20, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The next breakthrough to take the AI world by storm might be 3D model generators. This week, OpenAI open sourced Point-E, a machine learning system that creates a 3D object given a text prompt. According to a paper published alongside the code base, Point-E can produce 3D models in one to two minutes on a single Nvidia V100 GPU.

Point-E doesn’t create 3D objects in the traditional sense. Rather, it generates point clouds, or discrete sets of data points in space that represent a 3D shape — hence the cheeky abbreviation. (The “E” in Point-E is short for “efficiency,” because it’s ostensibly faster than previous 3D object generation approaches.) Point clouds are easier to synthesize from a computational standpoint, but they don’t capture an object’s fine-grained shape or texture — a key limitation of Point-E currently.

Tired, Filthy, and Overworked: Inside Amazon’s Holiday Rush | WIRED

December 20, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

TYLER HAMILTON HAS optimized his every waking minute. Between Black Friday and Christmas, five nights a week, he pulls himself out of bed, brushes his teeth, and rushes to his car just before sunset. On his drive to the Amazon fulfillment center in Shakopee, Minnesota, he stops at Wendy’s to buy two bourbon bacon burgers, two large chilis, fries, and a drink.

Hamilton eats the burgers as he drives and then punches in to start his shift arranging incoming product inventory just before 5 pm. In the middle of the night, he takes thirty minutes of unpaid break time and reheats the chilis. By the time he clocks out at 5:30 am, his car has frozen, so Hamilton sits huddled in the dark until it warms enough that he can drive home.

8 Real Estate Questions To Ask Potential Franchisors | Entrepreneur

December 20, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

8 Essential Real Estate Questions To Ask Potential Franchisors Before buying a franchise, find definitive answers to these questions. By Roxanne Klein December 20, 2022 Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. There are many reasons why entrepreneurs may want to buy a franchise. Making a brand successful is a tremendous amount of work in today’s world. Competition for consumer dollars is fierce. It can be challenging to elevate a brand and achieve profits. These profits will stem from a well-thought-out and strategic business plan.

The beauty of buying into a franchise is that the brand is already proven. Also, franchisees can benefit from the franchisor’s assistance in navigating the business’s challenges. As for specific profits, each franchisor should disclose sales and estimated earnings in their Franchisor Disclosure Document, often referred to as an FDD.

Before buying a franchise, here are eight essential questions to ask

3 Ways to Stay Motivated When Working From Home | Getentrepreneurial.com

December 16, 2022December 15, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Working from home has its benefits, but there is no denying that staying motivated and in a hard working mindset can be tough when you are able to work from the comfort of your own house. Whether you work in real estate or do remote work for a medical clinic like ThriveMD, finding the motivation to stay productive, finish projects, and meet deadlines without working in the confines of a traditional office can be tough. Now that working remotely or in hybrid roles is fairly normalized in the workplace, here are a few ways to stay motivated while working from home.

Pixel keyboard can be customized with Lego bricks | Cool Business Ideas

December 16, 2022December 15, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

You can build just about anything out of Lego, and now that even includes your keyboard. Pixel is a new mechanical keyboard from MelGeek that can be customized with Lego bricks around the rim, on the back or even on the keys themselves.

At its core, the Pixel looks like any old keyboard, complete with 88 keys in all the right places (here’s hoping you won’t miss a num pad). The difference is that the whole thing is dotted with the familiar bumps that stick to Lego pieces – or should we say generic “building bricks,” since Lego itself doesn’t seem to have been consulted.

Anyway, the wide open spaces around the edges of the keyboard are your playground to decorate with patterns, pictures, words, or whatever else you can think of to procrastinate when you should be working. The back of the Pixel is also a big canvas for your artistic expression, although we’re not sure how many people are going to see it under there. You can even pop off the plastic keycaps and stick a brick onto each key, with three different color schemes on offer. And no modern PC accessory is complete without some gaudy lights. On the Pixel they line the edges and sit above the directional arrows.

Apple will allow third-party app stores, because the EU mandates it | Mashable

December 15, 2022December 14, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The European Union isn’t having any of Apple’s exclusionary business practices.

First, Apple was forced to make iPhones USB-C compatible by 2024, and now the company must allow third-party app stores on its iPhones and iPads. Per Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is complying with the EU’s Digital Markets Act, a series of strict rules aimed at breaking down anti-competitive practices from Big Tech and improving interoperability for consumers.

The Fed lifts rates by half a point, acknowledging that inflation is easing | CNN Business

December 15, 2022December 14, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The Federal Reserve approved a half-point interest rate hike on Wednesday, a smaller increase than in recent months and an acknowledgment that inflation is finally easing.

The increase marks a shift for the central bank after an unprecedented year that includes seven-straight rate hikes as part of an aggressive campaign to try and bring down the highest inflation since the early 1980s.

While lower than the four consecutive three-quarter-point hikes approved at the Fed’s previous meetings, Wednesday’s rate hike is still twice the size of the central bank’s customary quarter-point increase and will likely deepen the economic pain for millions of American businesses and households by pushing up the cost of borrowing even further.