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Newly named Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has emerged from behind the scenes to take over one of Silicon Valley’s highest-profile and politically volatile jobs. But his prior lack of name recognition coupled with a solid technical background appears to be what some big company backers were looking for to lead Twitter out of its current morass. A 37-year-old immigrant from India, Agrawal comes from outside the ranks of celebrity CEOs, like the man he’s replacing, Jack Dorsey, or Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg or SpaceX and Tesla’s Elon Musk. Those brand-name company founders and leaders have often been in the news — and on Twitter — for exploits beyond the day-to-day running of their companies. Having served as Twitter’s chief technology officer for the last four years, Agrawal’s appointment was seen by…

Automakers Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis announced agreements with U.S. company Factorial Energy this week to help develop solid-state battery technology that they hope could make electric cars more attractive to a mass market. Mercedes-Benz, part of Daimler AG, said it is joining forces with Factorial, based in Woburn, Massachusetts, to jointly develop batteries with the aim of testing prototype cells as early as next year. It said it is “investing a high double-digit million dollar amount in Factorial” that will give it the right to a representative on the battery company’s board of directors. Stellantis, which combined PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler, said it signed a joint development agreement with Factorial and is making a “strategic investment” in the company. It didn’t detail the size of the investment. Solid-state batteries have…

Home, as we know, has become more central to many of us during the pandemic, and that means outdoors as well as in. This holiday season, designers and retailers have suggestions for updating window, door and yard decorations. Trends include sustainability, naturalness and coziness. NATURE SHOW New York interior designer John Douglas Eason appreciates a season where “over the top” is often just what’s needed. “But that said, I like subtle holiday design, incorporating nature and keeping it tonal. I love monochromatic gourds with a gnarly tree branch tossed in for interest and fresh greens,” he says. Eason suggests luminarias to light walkways, “and I’ve been playing around with the idea of connecting them with thick garlands and woodland elements. “I really think a more natural holiday design is absolutely…

As Americans shop for the holidays, they will likely see a swarm of offers to get their gifts now but pay for them later in fixed monthly installments. Fueled by several hot Silicon Valley startups as well as a push by the big credit card companies,“buy now, pay later”is now available for purchasing a $1,500 Peloton exercise bicycle as well as a $60 floral bouquet. Thousands of retailers, big and small, often have an option on their websites to pay for a purchase in installments at checkout. In the case of credit cards, customers are being allowed to create fixed payment plans days or even a few weeks after the purchase. Americans seem to be champing at the bit to try this financial option, which has been common outside the…

30 Adele It’s been a long wait for one of the UK’s most successful musical exports, Adele, to release a follow-up to her third studio album, 2015’s 25. However, 30’s fusion of pop, jazz and soul has won strong acclaim from critics, with reviews hailing the album as“powerful”and“incredibly moving”. FIVE FACTS: 1. Rolling Stone critic Rob Sheffield has described 30 as Adele’s “toughest, most powerful album yet.” 2. Pitchfork critic Jillian Mapes called 30 “a searching, graceful and incredibly moving album”, adding that it is Adele’s “most ambitious work to date.” 3. Adele’s collaborators on this album include the Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson and producer Inflo. 4. “I got my friends to come and sing,” Adele revealed to Apple Music about the choir on one of the album’s Inflo tracks,…

It’s school picture day at a high school in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley in the opening scene of Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1970s-set “Licorice Pizza.” The photographer’s assistant, Alana (Alana Haim), strides up and down a long line of students waiting in the sunshine outside a gymnasium. She’s barely looking at any of them, but one makes himself noticed. Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) locks eyes with her and doesn’t let go, even as she does all she can to ignore him. He’s a 15-year-old actor, she’s in her 20s, but his attempted pick-up — sweetly direct, with a not entirely put-on maturity — makes her smile begrudgingly. “You’re like a little Robert Goulet or Dean Martin,” she says. Anderson’s camera circles them as they walk, and though few moments quite…

Tourism businesses that were just finding their footing after nearly two years of devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic are being rattled again as countries throw up new barriers to travel in an effort to contain the omicron variant. From shopping districts in Japan and tour guides in the Holy Land to ski resorts in the Alps and airlines the world over, a familiar dread is rising about the renewed restrictions. Meanwhile, travelers eager to get out there have been thrown back into the old routine of reading up on new requirements and postponing trips. Abby Moore, a librarian and associate professor at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, was scheduled to leave for Prague on Wednesday. But the day before her flight, she started having doubts when she saw…

Digital services have become more important than ever since the pandemic began in early 2020, and that’s meant big business for major technology companies. But there’s also a downside to the tech boom. It’s making it more difficult than ever to recruit and retain software developers and other tech workers who can demand more money and other perks amid wide competition for their talents — and who can simply leave if they don’t get them. Cognizant Technology Solutions CEO Brian Humphries is grappling with the challenge while running one of the industry’s largest outsourcing firms. The Teaneck, New Jersey, company has been hiring rapidly during the past year to increase its workforce to roughly 318,000 employees as of September 30, a 12% increase from roughly 283,000 at the same time…

In a 2019 interview with Mad Money’s Jim Cramer, Apple CEO Tim Cook said: “If you zoomed out into the future, and you look back, and you ask the question, ‘What was Apple’s greatest contribution to mankind?’” After a short pause, he answered his own question: “It will be about health.” Two years on, his vision is already becoming a reality for the company. AN INCREASING FOCUS ON HEALTH As is often the case with Apple, the company wasn’t the first technology giant to enter into the healthcare space but its contributions have so far been more important than its rivals, with Apple Health now installed on billions of users’ iPhones, offering a great deal of data on everyday health metrics like weight, allergies, COVID-19 vaccination status, and for those…

If you’ve invested with a brokerage firm in recent years, you may have noticed that your brokerage offers a product called a cash management account. These accounts are very similar to a checking or savings account and typically provide competitive interest rates, debit cards and other money management features. However, those services aren’t always standard. So what, then, would be the appeal of opening a CMA with a brokerage? Here are some things to consider when deciding whether to let your brokerage help you manage your cash. HOW ARE CASH MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTS DIFFERENT FROM BANK ACCOUNTS? Perhaps the most crucial distinction between a CMA and a bank account is that CMAs are offered by nonbank financial institutions that do not possess a bank charter. Usually, this would mean that CMAs…

NASA called off a spacewalk Tuesday because of menacing space junk that could puncture an astronaut’s suit or damage the International Space Station. Two U.S. astronauts were set to replace a bad antenna outside of the space station. But late Monday night, Mission Control learned that a piece of orbiting debris might come dangerously close. There wasn’t enough time to assess the threat so station managers delayed the spacewalk for at least a few days. It’s the first time a spacewalk has been canceled because of threat from space junk. The space station and its crew of seven have been at increased risk from space junk since Russia destroyed a satellite in a missile test two weeks ago. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the object of concern was part of…

Spencer In December 1991, while spending time with the rest of the British royal family in Norfolk over the Christmas period, Diana, Princess of Wales (Kristen Stewart) reflects sadly on her strained, decade-long marriage to Charles, Prince of Wales (Jack Farthing). FIVE FACTS: 1. Stewart spent six months training to perfect Diana’s accent. 2. Darren McGrady, who was the Royal Head Chef in December 1991, is portrayed in this film by Sean Harris. 3. The real-life McGrady watched the film and has called Stewart’s performance “incredible”, adding that her accent was “spot on”. 4. Similarly, Diana’s former bodyguard Ken Wharfe also saw the film – and said that Stewart succeeded in perfecting Diana’s mannerisms. 5. Diana was also recently portrayed by actress Emma Corrin in the Netflix series The Crown.…

The last holiday season was far from the most wonderful time of the year for the U.S. Postal Service: Sick and quarantined workers, a flood of packages from shoppers loath to set foot in stores and a last-minute dump of packages from overwhelmed private shippers. Postal workers who recall packages and letters piled up in distribution hubs are better prepared this time as they gear up for another pandemic crunch. But low product inventories, and port and supply chain disruptions are creating new uncertainty about getting gifts delivered. Already, workers are seeing a surge in holiday packages that began several weeks ago. “A lot of the workers are saying, ‘Oh no. Here we go again,’” said Scott Adams, local president of the American Postal Workers Union in Portland. The U.S.…

The United Kingdom’s antitrust watchdog has blocked Facebook’s acquisition of Giphy and ordered the social network to sell off the GIF-sharing platform, saying the deal hurts social media users and advertisers by stifling competition for animated images. The Competition and Markets Authority said that the deal would let Facebook “increase its already significant market power” by denying or limiting other platforms’ access to Giphy GIFs and driving traffic to Facebook-owned sites. It has noted previously that there’s only one other big provider of GIFs, Google’s Tenor. The regulator also was concerned that the deal removed potential competition from the U.K.’s 7 billion pound ($9.3 billion) display advertising market, of which Facebook controls half. It’s the first time the watchdog has sought to unwind a tech deal, marking an escalation by…

Nissan said this week it is investing 2 trillion yen ($17.6 billion) over the next five years and developing a cheaper, more powerful battery to boost its electric vehicle lineup. The Japanese automaker’s chief executive, Makoto Uchida, said 15 new electric vehicles will be available by fiscal 2030. Nissan Motor Co. is aiming for a 50% “electrification” of the company’s model lineup, under what Uchida called the “Nissan Ambition 2030” long-term plan. Electrified vehicles include hybrids and other kinds of environmentally friendly models other than just electric vehicles. The effort is focused mainly on electric vehicles to cut emissions and meet various customers’ needs, said Uchida. Nissan also will reduce carbon emissions at its factories, he added. The company has been struggling to put the scandal of its former Chairman…

Mississippi is unveiling a new app that’s designed to store someone’s driver license on their phone. The app is being billed as a safe and effective way to make sure your ID is always on you, WLOX-TV reported. However, state officials say people will still need a physical driver license to show if requested when they are stopped by law enforcement. Another exception listed on the program’s website is boarding an airplane. Still, there’s a “growing list” of businesses and state agencies that accept the Mississippi Mobile ID, state officials said. “Vendors can accept the Mobile ID with confidence, as information on the digital ID can be verified against what is on file with the Department of Public Safety and will always be accurate and up-to-date,” the program’s website states.…

Collins Dictionary has chosen the term NFT as its word of the year after surging interest in the digital tokens that can sell for millions of dollars brought it into the mainstream. NFT is short for non-fungible token. Collins defines it as “a unique digital certificate, registered in a blockchain, that is used to record ownership of an asset such as an artwork or a collectible.” Most people didn’t know what an NFT was until this year, when sales boomed, sparked in large part by artist Beeple’s March auction of a digital collage NFT for nearly $70 million. Other highlights include Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey selling an NFT of his first tweet for $2.9 million and electronic musician Grimes selling $6 million worth for her digital art. Experts at Collins,…

America needs to rethink and reduce the way it generates plastics because so much of the material is littering the oceans and other waters, the National Academy of Sciences says in a new report. The United States, the world’s top plastics waste producer, generates more than 46 million tons (42 million metric tons) a year, and about 2.2 billion pounds (1 million metric tons) ends up in the world’s oceans, according to the academy’s report. If the current rise in plastics pollution continues, the world by 2030 will be putting 58.4 million tons (53 million metric tons) into the oceans each year, or about half the weight of the fish caught in seas, the report said. Recycling and proper disposal alone aren’t enough and can’t handle the problem, so the…

Olivia Rodrigo, H.E.R and The Weeknd have all won honors at a revamped Apple Music Awards, which has grown larger to encompass global music patterns. Rodrigo was named breakthrough artist of the year, her “Sour” was named best album of the year and her “drivers license” was song of the year. The streaming service crowned H.E.R. as songwriter of the year and The Weeknd was named global artist of the year, a step up from the category last year which was mere artist of the year. “I am very honored and blessed to receive this recognition,” H.E.R. said in a statement. “As a young Black and Filipino artist, and a woman who is on the stage giving my all, there’s no doubt that representation is important.” The Weeknd thanked Apple…

Americans are spending freely and going back to store shopping, knocking out some of the momentum in online sales from last year when Americans were making many of their purchases exclusively via the internet. Shopper traffic roared back on Black Friday, but it was still below pre-pandemic levels in part because retailers spread out big deals starting in October. The early buying is expected to also take a bite out of online sales on Monday, coined Cyber Monday by the National Retail Federation in 2005. In fact, Adobe Digital Economy Index said that it was the first time online sales on Thanksgiving and Black Friday hadn’t grown, and Cyber Monday could likewise see a decline compared with a year ago. Adobe, which tracks more than one trillion visits to U.S.…

Strolling his church’s rooftop among 630 solar panels, Bishop Richard Howell Jr. acknowledged climate change isn’t the most pressing concern for his predominantly Black congregation — even though it disproportionately harms people of color and the poor. “The violence we’re having, shootings, killings, COVID-19,”Howell said wearily.“You’re trying to save families, and right now no one’s really talking about global warming.” Yet his Shiloh Temple International Ministries in north Minneapolis welcomed the opportunity to become one of many“community solar”providers popping up around the U.S. amid surging demand for renewable energy. Larger than home rooftop systems but smaller than utility-scale complexes, they’re located atop buildings, or on abandoned factory grounds and farms. Individuals or companies subscribe to portions of energy sent to the grid and get credits that reduce their electricity bills.…