p-universe has added a photo to the pool:
"First the penny. Next, paper checks?" asks CNN:
When the U.S. Mint stopped making pennies last month for the first time in 238 years, it drew a lot of attention. But there have been quiet moves to stop using paper checks as well. The government stopped sending out most paper checks to recipients as of the end of September, part of an effort to fully modernize federal benefits payments. And on Thursday the Federal Reserve put out a notice that suggested it is considering — but only considering — the "winding down" of checking services it now provides for banks.
The central bank's statement said that as an alternative to winding down those services, it is mulling more investment in its check processing services, but noted that would come at a higher cost. But it is also considering not making any such investments, in order to keep costs roughly unchanged. That would lead to reduced reliability of those services going forward. "Over time, check use has steadily declined, digital payment methods have grown in availability and use, and check fraud has risen," said the notice from the Fed. "Also, the Reserve Banks will need to make substantial investments in their check infrastructure to continue providing the same level of check services going forward."
A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta in June found that as of last year, more than 90% of surveyed consumers said they prefer to use something other than a check for paying bills, and just 6% paid by check. That's a sharp drop from the 18% of bills paid by checks as recently as 2017. Consumers also reported they view checks as second-worst for convenience and speed of payment, ahead of only money orders. And they're ranked as the least secure form of any payment other than cash.
But even if it's true that options such as direct deposit, automatic bill paying and electronic payment systems such as Venmo, PayPal and Zelle have all reduced the need for traditional checks, paper checks are still an important part of the payment system. They make up about 5% of transactions and represent 21% of the value of all those payments, according to a statement from Michelle Bowman, the Fed's vice chair for supervision, who dissented from the Fed's Thursday statement.
When the U.S. Mint stopped making pennies last month for the first time in 238 years, it drew a lot of attention. But there have been quiet moves to stop using paper checks as well. The government stopped sending out most paper checks to recipients as of the end of September, part of an effort to fully modernize federal benefits payments. And on Thursday the Federal Reserve put out a notice that suggested it is considering — but only considering — the "winding down" of checking services it now provides for banks.
The central bank's statement said that as an alternative to winding down those services, it is mulling more investment in its check processing services, but noted that would come at a higher cost. But it is also considering not making any such investments, in order to keep costs roughly unchanged. That would lead to reduced reliability of those services going forward. "Over time, check use has steadily declined, digital payment methods have grown in availability and use, and check fraud has risen," said the notice from the Fed. "Also, the Reserve Banks will need to make substantial investments in their check infrastructure to continue providing the same level of check services going forward."
A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta in June found that as of last year, more than 90% of surveyed consumers said they prefer to use something other than a check for paying bills, and just 6% paid by check. That's a sharp drop from the 18% of bills paid by checks as recently as 2017. Consumers also reported they view checks as second-worst for convenience and speed of payment, ahead of only money orders. And they're ranked as the least secure form of any payment other than cash.
But even if it's true that options such as direct deposit, automatic bill paying and electronic payment systems such as Venmo, PayPal and Zelle have all reduced the need for traditional checks, paper checks are still an important part of the payment system. They make up about 5% of transactions and represent 21% of the value of all those payments, according to a statement from Michelle Bowman, the Fed's vice chair for supervision, who dissented from the Fed's Thursday statement.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Bloomberg reports that Google "must renegotiate any contract to make its search engine or artificial intelligence app the default for smartphones and other devices every year, a federal judge ruled."
Judge Amit Mehta in Washington sided with the US Justice Department on the one year limitation in his final ruling on what changes the search giant must make in the wake of a landmark ruling that the company illegally monopolized online search. The yearly renegotiation will give rivals — particularly those in the burgeoning generative AI field — a chance to compete for key placements.
The final judgment will still allow Google to offer its products to Apple Inc. for use in its popular iPhone and pay other electronics makers like Samsung Electronics Co. for default placement. But the judge said those contracts must be renegotiated annually. Mehta noted in his ruling that both Google and the US government said they could work with the one-year limitation on default contracts. As such, "the court holds that a hard-and-fast termination requirement after one year would best carry out the purpose of the injunctive relief."
Judge Amit Mehta in Washington sided with the US Justice Department on the one year limitation in his final ruling on what changes the search giant must make in the wake of a landmark ruling that the company illegally monopolized online search. The yearly renegotiation will give rivals — particularly those in the burgeoning generative AI field — a chance to compete for key placements.
The final judgment will still allow Google to offer its products to Apple Inc. for use in its popular iPhone and pay other electronics makers like Samsung Electronics Co. for default placement. But the judge said those contracts must be renegotiated annually. Mehta noted in his ruling that both Google and the US government said they could work with the one-year limitation on default contracts. As such, "the court holds that a hard-and-fast termination requirement after one year would best carry out the purpose of the injunctive relief."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
"Woman Hailed as Hero for Smashing Man's Meta Smart Glasses on Subway," reads the headline at Futurism:
As Daily Dot reports, a New York subway rider has accused a woman of breaking his Meta smart glasses. "She just broke my Meta glasses," said the TikTok user, who goes by eth8n, in a video that has since garnered millions of views.
"You're going to be famous on the internet!" he shouted at her through the window after getting off the train. The accused woman, however, peered back at him completely unfazed, as if to say that he had it coming.
"I was making a funny noise people were honestly crying laughing at," he claimed in the caption of a followup video. "She was the only person annoyed..." But instead of coming to his support, the internet wholeheartedly rallied behind the alleged perpetrator, celebrating the woman as a folk hero — and perfectly highlighting how the public feels about gadgets like Meta's smart glasses.
"Good, people are tired of being filmed by strangers," one user commented.
"The fact that no one else on the train is defending him is telling," another wrote...
Others accused the man of fabricating details of the incident. "'People were crying laughing' — I've never heard a less plausible NYC subway story," one user wrote.
In a comment on TikTok, the man acknowledges he'd filmed her on the subway — it looks like he even zoomed in. The man says then her other options were "asking nicely to not post it or blur my face".
He also warns that she could get arrested for breaking his glasses if he "felt like it". (And if he sees her again.) "I filed a claim with the police and it's a misdemeanor charge." A subsequent video's captions describe him unboxing new Meta smartglasses "and I'm about to do my thing again... no crazy lady can stop me now."
I'm imagining being mugged — and then telling the mugger "You're going to be internet famous!"
But maybe that just shows how easy it is to weaponize smartglasses and their potential for vast public exposure.
As Daily Dot reports, a New York subway rider has accused a woman of breaking his Meta smart glasses. "She just broke my Meta glasses," said the TikTok user, who goes by eth8n, in a video that has since garnered millions of views.
"You're going to be famous on the internet!" he shouted at her through the window after getting off the train. The accused woman, however, peered back at him completely unfazed, as if to say that he had it coming.
"I was making a funny noise people were honestly crying laughing at," he claimed in the caption of a followup video. "She was the only person annoyed..." But instead of coming to his support, the internet wholeheartedly rallied behind the alleged perpetrator, celebrating the woman as a folk hero — and perfectly highlighting how the public feels about gadgets like Meta's smart glasses.
"Good, people are tired of being filmed by strangers," one user commented.
"The fact that no one else on the train is defending him is telling," another wrote...
Others accused the man of fabricating details of the incident. "'People were crying laughing' — I've never heard a less plausible NYC subway story," one user wrote.
In a comment on TikTok, the man acknowledges he'd filmed her on the subway — it looks like he even zoomed in. The man says then her other options were "asking nicely to not post it or blur my face".
He also warns that she could get arrested for breaking his glasses if he "felt like it". (And if he sees her again.) "I filed a claim with the police and it's a misdemeanor charge." A subsequent video's captions describe him unboxing new Meta smartglasses "and I'm about to do my thing again... no crazy lady can stop me now."
I'm imagining being mugged — and then telling the mugger "You're going to be internet famous!"
But maybe that just shows how easy it is to weaponize smartglasses and their potential for vast public exposure.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
JERUZALEM (ANP/AFP) - Steun aan Israël is voor Duitsland "een onveranderlijk kernprincipe". Dat zei de Duitse bondskanselier Friedrich Merz na een gesprek met de Israëlische president Isaac Herzog zaterdag.
Merz werd bij aankomst op het vliegveld van Tel Aviv opgewacht door de Israëlische minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Gideon Saar, die hem "een vriend van Israël" noemde.
Eerder zaterdag ontmoette bondskanselier Merz de Jordaanse koning Abdullah II. Na deze ontmoeting zei Merz dat Jordanië "een unieke rol speelt" in de Israëlisch-Palestijnse kwestie vanwege de vele Palestijnse vluchtelingen die Jordanië huisvest en de hoeveelheid humanitaire hulp die het land levert aan de Palestijnen.
In Jordanië zei Merz dat de tweede fase van het staakt-het-vuren tussen Hamas en Israël snel moet ingaan. Dat behelst onder meer dat de Israëlische troepen zich verder moeten terugtrekken uit Gaza.
Zondag spreekt de Duitse bondskanselier in Jeruzalem de Israëlische premier Benjamin Netanyahu en staat een bezoek gepland aan het Holocaustherdenkingscentrum Yad Vashem.
FORT LAUDERDALE (ANP/AFP/RTR) - "Dit is het moment waarop ik heb gewacht en waar we als team op hebben gewacht." Dat zei Lionel Messi na de 3-1-overwinning van Inter Miami op Vancouver Whitecaps in Fort Lauderdale. Messi speelde bij alle drie de treffers een belangrijke rol.
Met de overwinning haalde Inter Miami zijn eerste Amerikaanse landstitel binnen. In Messi's eerste twee seizoenen bij Inter Miami werd de club in een vroeg stadium uitgeschakeld in de strijd om het landskampioenschap.
Onder anderen Sergio Busquets en Jordi Alba speelden ook mee bij Inter Miami. Voor deze voormalige spelers van FC Barcelona eindigt hun succesvolle carrière zo met een laatste prijs. "Ik ben blij voor ze", zei Messi. "Iets heel moois komt voor hen ten einde, iets waar ze hun hele leven aan hebben gewijd. Ik wens hun het allerbeste. Het zijn twee vrienden van wie ik veel houd en ik ben blij dat ze kunnen vertrekken met deze titel."
De Argentijnse vedette tekende bij Inter Miami dit jaar voor drie jaar bij.
STUDIO OKGO rebranded Café Ephemera by expanding the story of Coffee Boy and the Three Rabbit Knights into a unified visual identity that transforms the café into an immersive world where fleeting emotions are expressed across every touchpoint.
Het was een doelpuntrijke avond voor Feyenoord. Het elftal van Van Persie had geen kind aan PEC Zwolle, maar toch was er een smet op de avond. De trainer zag een aantal spelers met een blessure gewisseld worden, wat zorgen baart voor de komende week. Presentator Frank Stout blikt met Dennis van Eersel en Dennis Kranenburg terug op deze ruime overwinning in een nieuwe Feyenoord: de Verlenging.
Op de persconferentie na afloop van Feyenoord - PEC Zwolle (6-1) was trainer Robin van Persie openhartig over de contractsituatie van Quinten Timber en de vele blessures bij Feyenoord. "Het kan niet met fitheid of overbelasting te maken hebben."
In een interview met Oprah Winfrey in 2006 vertelde David Chapelle dat hij stopte met werken door het verlies van zijn creativiteit…
Welke creativiteit als 1/3 van zijn shows uit homo- en transfobische ‘grappen’ bestond, én 19 jaar later nog steeds diezelfde shit !
Én, zo claimde hij, door een oncomfortabele werkomgeving.
Dus het was oncomfortabel voor hém…?
Mkay….
Irene Tu is liever skateboard cool lesbisch dan een monokleurige non binair.
Regina Obedapo Iyashere aka Gina Yashere is lesbisch, heeft een witte vriendin én een traditionele moeder uit Nigeria…
Andrea Jin en haar opa vragen zich af of het ongevoelig zou zijn om oma achter te laten op een parkeerplaats. Én ze is queer.
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