Dec 27 Social media companies made $11 billion in U.S. ad revenue from minors, Harvard study finds By Barbara Ortutay, Haleluya Hadero, Associated Press The researchers say the findings show a need for government regulation of social media since the companies that stand to make money from children who use their platforms have failed to meaningfully self-regulate. Continue reading
Dec 27 The New York Times sues OpenAI and Microsoft over the use of its stories to train chatbots By Associated Press The New York Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft, trying to end the practice of using its stories to train chatbots. Continue reading
Dec 26 Watch 7:09 How planning for long-term care is burdening middle-class Americans By William Brangham, Karina Cuevas Long-term care is already a huge problem in the United States, one that's growing as the baby boom population ages, and one with big financial costs. William Brangham explores the impact this is having on middle-class Americans and how they… Continue watching
Dec 26 Holiday sales rose in U.S. during despite some financial anxiety and higher costs By Anne D'Innocenzio, Haleluya Hadero, Associated Press Mastercard SpendingPulse said Tuesday that holiday sales rose this year. The indicator, which tracks all kinds of payments including cash and debit cards, found sales from the beginning of November through Christmas Eve climbed 3.1%, a slower pace than the… Continue reading
Dec 25 Forget to spend an old gift card? Here's what happens to that money By Dee-Ann Durbin, Associated Press In a July survey, Bankrate found that 47% of U.S. adults had at least one unused gift card worth an average of $187. That's a total of $23 billion in unspent money. Continue reading
Dec 24 Watch 5:53 The business of Christmas music and why some songs become classics By John Yang, Claire Mufson Christmas music is a big part of the music industry. John Yang speaks with Nate Sloan, an assistant professor of musicology at the USC Thornton School of Music and co-host of the podcast Switched On Pop, about what makes Christmas… Continue watching
Dec 23 Watch 7:21 As communities test basic income programs, here's how one California city fared By John Yang, Kaisha Young, Lana Green Guaranteed basic income, the concept of no-strings-attached payments to provide people with a financial floor, is being tested in dozens of pilot programs across the country. Stockton, California was one of the first cities to launch a pilot program in… Continue watching
Dec 21 Homebuilders step up construction of single-family homes as 30-year mortgage rate eases below 7 percent By Alex Veiga, Associated Press Homebuilders are stepping up construction of single-family homes following a steady decline in mortgage rates and broad expectation among economists that home loan borrowing costs will ease further next year. Continue reading
Dec 20 Right-wing social media platform Parler plans to relaunch early 2024 By Associated Press The right-wing friendly app, which was temporarily booted offline following the Jan. 6 insurrection, has been offline since April after it was purchased by the digital media conglomerate Starboard. Continue reading
Dec 20 Study shows AI image-generators are being trained on explicit photos of children By Matt O'Brien, Haleluya Hadero, Associated Press The Stanford Internet Observatory found more than 3,200 images of suspected child sexual abuse in a database used to train leading AI image-makers. Continue reading