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Game Ready with Renown Health: Staying healthy during football season

Oct 20 • 3:40 PM EDT • Health • nevadasportsnet.com

Salas’s Time Is Now, Whether Padres Are Ready Or Not

The San Diego Padres now have three catchers, and Ethan Salas looks very ready to take over.

Oct 20 • 6:16 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Small Businesses Are Ready and Willing to Switch Banks for Better Support

Business owners want greater control, simpler tools, and meaningful rewards, creating new ways for banks to deepen relationships and grow revenue.

Oct 23 • 2:25 PM EDT • Business • thefinancialbrand.com

Sundar Pichai: Google’s Frontier Imperative, Compute Scarcity Dilemmas, Future AI Products and Businesses

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has little patience for doubts about Google’s willingness or capacity to compete at the frontier of AI. His company’s latest Gemini 4 Argon model — long-promised and recently delivered — beats OpenAI and Anthropic’s latest public models on coding, math, science, and knowledge-work benchmarks and has placed Google’s AI back among the world’s best. Amid chatter that Google was fine with good-enough lightweight ‘Flash’ models, Pichai pushed back hard against any suggestion that company is limiting its research ambitions. “We won’t do it any other way,” he told me in a Big Technology Podcast interview recorded this week at Google’s Mountain View headquarters. Pursuing cutting-edge research is costly for Google, requiring compute and chips that otherwise could be sold at a high markup by its cloud business. But Pichai said allocating resources to frontier AI development is “ground zero” for Google. “Our cloud business is at any given moment in time forgoing short-term revenues because we are making compute trade-offs to support frontier AI development,” Pichai told me. In our conversation, we discussed Argon (which Pichai says processed three times as many tokens as Gemini 3 in the 72 hours after launch), AI’s role in developing better models, the AI interface of the future, competition with OpenAI, Google’s partnerships with Anthropic and Apple, data centers in space, and the nature of his optimism. You can read the full conversation, lightly edited for length and clarity, below, or listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice. Alex Kantrowitz: Google is back at the frontier with Gemini 4 Argon, which beats OpenAI’s and Anthropic’s public models on benchmarks spanning coding, math, science, and knowledge work. The conventional wisdom was that Google had given up on the frontier to focus on fast, good-enough models for its products. That was wrong? Sundar Pichai: Very wrong. Look, we are so committed to being at the frontier. It’s in our DNA. We won’t do it any other way. We’ve been thinking about the AI frontier for well over a decade now. The frontier is very dynamic. It’s very competitive. It’s very exciting. I couldn’t be more pleased with how Argon has come together. We took our time with it. We made sure we tested it safely and deployed it carefully. We took a bit longer than our other models, given its capabilities. Across the board, be it for agentic work, knowledge work, coding, creative tasks, Argon is one of the really good frontier models. The first 72 hours since we launched, it’s almost up to 25 trillion tokens used, which is about three times what Gemini 3.0 had in the first 72 hours. And we are capacity constrained as we are serving it. Excited, but there are always areas….. You know, the frontier is very dynamic, and you have to keep evolving the models. There are areas which we can see we need to improve as well. We’ll be at work on all of that as well. Which areas? On any given model, Argon would be across the board better at everything if you just look even two months back. But the space is so evolving. Even on coding, for example, there are pockets where we know we need to do better, and there’s clear feedback. We’ll make it better. The argument for standard models is that they’re already good enough to build great products, with the frontier valuable only for certain tasks. Meta built Muse with good models rather than the best, and Google could put standard models into Maps, Gmail, and Search. Why isn’t that sufficient? It’s definitely not how I have thought about it at all. We are deeply committed to driving the state of the art and actually pushing where this technology can go, all the way from transformers. That’s a journey we’ve been on. You will see us continue to do that. When you’re at the frontier, you get an earlier look into the emerging capabilities, earlier than others, which helps you better prepare for the future. We are fortunate to have a wide set of opportunities across consumer and enterprise. Some of our cloud customers, for sure, want the model at the frontier. The frontier models will be better at developing the next set of models in an era of recursive self-improvement. I would argue it matters there. Internally, we have definitely seen a steep point of inflection by deploying Argon to our developers. It definitely tackles problems which our previous models could not do. Being at the frontier puts you at the innovation frontier and helps you drive that as well. There is room for models of all sizes and capabilities. That’s why we did Flash, Flash-Lite, etc. I agree with you that you can develop very good product experiences with not necessarily the most frontier model, because they tend to be slower and more expensive too. But we care about the Pareto frontier, and we’re committed to doing all of that. You said developing frontier models gives you a look at what’s coming. What do you see on the horizon? What makes this moment so exciting is you build something which you think is a culmination of months of work, and you put it out. You already see clear headroom ahead. We’ve all been working on these agentic, long-horizon capabilities, but clearly the frontier is going to have multiple of these agents working together to do things. That’s an example of an exciting paradigm underway. It’s also clear to me that users, both in consumer and enterprise, will have access to some multi-agent framework for them, working all the time doing things. It feels like a moment of infinite possibilities. Sergey Brin said one of Argon’s core innovations was relying more on the model to help develop the model. Yet incidents involving OpenAI’s bots breaking containment and Google’s bots accessing a site they shouldn’t have suggest these systems still aren’t perfectly aligned. Isn’t there reasonable cause for concern about accelerating toward recursive self-improvement? There are three parts to your question. Let’s first talk about RSI itself. You’re right, Sergey mentioned RSI being a critical contributor as we are developing Argon. But to be very clear, today, in a continuum, we are pretty far from the end state of RSI or something like that. The right way to describe it is you have RSI loops along with AI researchers in various aspects of model development. You almost have agents helping AI researchers in some automated way work together to build these models. It’s good to at least understand where we are today, and it’s super exciting. I expect that continuum to keep making progress as we go into next year. The second question is around safety. Security comes from defense in depth. You’re talking about alignment, obviously. We all are doing a lot of work to make sure the models are as aligned as possible. But it’s an active area of research, and there are clear gaps. That’s not the only thing we rely on. You have the work you do on alignment, but beyond that, we put a lot of effort into real-time monitoring as these models are working. Making sure you have good telemetry into what’s happening so that you can intervene in real time if you see unexpected behaviors. How you do that, the architecture with which you do that, how you make sure it’s all sandboxed and isolated in a way that it can continue doing its job during real-time monitoring — these are all areas of investment. Obviously, when we deploy these models, giving customers, enterprises, control, both with real-time monitoring, but their ability to decide where they deploy, what type of data which models ever have access to, etc. All that work is very, very important, and we are doing a lot of that. As an industry, we need to constantly up our game and take the time to do all this stuff, including dedicating the compute required to make sure you can safely deploy these models. The third part is: Is it all enough? This is why there are a lot of conversations in the industry, and I think it’s reasonable to be worried. The right way to approach something you worry about is early on thinking about what more we can do. As an industry, you’re definitely seeing increased levels of work on alignment, testing for safety, etc., as we deploy these models. The next step would be developing better standards so there are cross-industry standards of how we do these things, including the ability to evaluate using independent evaluators. If you look at areas like financial controls, we have accounting standards, we have independent auditors. Those are all the next natural steps for us as an industry to work toward, and regulation will end up playing a role as we go through all of that as well. Google pursues both language models and world models, while some other AI companies like OpenAI have focused more heavily on LLMs as the path to AGI. Why is world-model research important to you? As humans, you obviously perceive the world around you, and you’re taking all those inputs. Making sure these models are able to understand the laws of physics, simulate the world in high fidelity. All that, I think, are key enabling blocks for intelligence. We are working across all possible applications of this. Take an area like robotics. It’s not an accident: If you look at embodied reasoning benchmarks, Argon is state of the art. That all comes from our experience building world models. Inherently, I would expect there will be architectures which will converge all of this in the future. But for us, we view this as, today, this jagged frontier that is intelligence. We want to be at the frontier of all the possible approaches, and that will help us both drive better research, better insights, and develop a much better AGI model, is how we think about it. Some people argue Google should focus on selling its computing resources rather than using them for AI research. Cloud wants to sell compute at a high markup, while researchers need a very big computer to build the best models. How do you balance those demands? Ground zero for us is making sure we are investing in the compute that’s needed to be at the AI frontier. In 2015, I set the company to be AI-first. AI is that key horizontal ingredient across everything we do, all the way from Search to Cloud to Waymo. That is ground zero for us, making sure both for research and developing the models that we have enough compute needed. Beyond that, we have these independent businesses which each have their own long-range plans. They’re using those long-range plans to project forward, and we plan for compute for all of them. The cloud team, they have a business and they have a projection and they have demand signals. They have committed contracts. With that help, we can plan on a long-term compute trajectory for them. We’re fortunate to have this wide set of opportunities. There’s no company in the world which isn’t making trade-offs at any given moment in time. But the first principles we operate on is making sure we have enough compute to invest in the frontier, and that’s non-negotiable, and everything else works on top. Remember, we are building our own compute, our own data centers. There are long lead times. The compute we have today is a function of decisions I made in 2024. Even if you think back to a year from today, last year the agentic coding takeoff hadn’t happened. Today, obviously, when you sit and look at anything, everyone is short—not just us, other companies—and everyone wishes you had two times what you had planned for. That comes with the territory. At any given moment in time, we are planning for what we would need two to three years out in the future. You’re going to find some decisions you make may look suboptimal two years out, depending on where the state of the art is. I don’t spend too much time thinking about it. The way I think about compute allocation is making sure Google DeepMind, both for research and frontier model development, is cutting edge in terms of compute access. After that, we plan for all our businesses. It’s great we can provide our compute to other people too, like we have done. It allows us to scale that up, get real tests for it in the widest application set possible, test it in the real world, and make sure we are at the cutting edge of technology at every layer of our AI stack as well. Ben Horowitz relayed on a podcast that Andy Jassy had said compute was sold out until 2028. Are you seeing the same thing? If today a customer is coming out and asking us for compute in ’27, that is incredibly difficult to do. Even last year we went out and leased some short-term compute to accommodate some customers and help them out. But yes, we are all dealing with similar timelines. Every major technology shift seems to involve overbuilding, from railroads to fiber. Do you think that’s happening here? It depends on the time frames you’re looking at. This level of build, if I take a long enough time frame, it makes complete sense to me. We are at early stages of the most consequential technology ever, and this is not like fiber. It’s not dark. We are using it. We are capacity constrained on a daily basis. The applications, the underlying technology is improving rapidly. But running a company, the way I work through the moment is you look at your demand signals. You look at your committed revenue opportunities that you’re getting in the form of contracts. You balance that with the underlying technical capability, or internally you balance how we are using it internally, the model trajectories. Based on all that, you take a disciplined approach—a confident, aggressive, but disciplined approach—to plan out compute. But when you talk about the broader economy as a whole, you’re having people operate with various levels of risk. I focus on what I can control as a company and plan through it. If your question is, can there be an overbuild? Yes, because you can have some constrained components. Remember, what matters is a set of everything you need to build out that compute. Memory, electricity, electricians…. Land. Like 2,000 components or more. You could get constrained at some point. There could be things which cause bottlenecks, and then you could have overbuilds. There could be external shocks to the economy. There are macro risks. All that is possible at any given time. But am I confident that the compute we are planning for, we will have uses for it given enough time? Absolutely, yes. I was in the room when you said AI would be as profound as fire and electricity. If you believe that, shouldn’t you give researchers the biggest possible computer, even at the expense of today’s cloud profits? We’re all doing some form of that. Our cloud business is at any given moment in time forgoing short-term revenues because we are making compute trade-offs to support frontier AI development. What you’re seeing is true already. But you want to be thoughtful. Even our AI researchers have some constraints, which are also good. That’s what inspires creativity. That’s what helps you come up with a more efficient algorithmic breakthrough, maybe to use less memory. What we are committed to is to invest what’s needed to stay at the frontier. OpenAI President Greg Brockman told me a few months ago that the ideal AI product might have no interface at all—just as natural as conversation. What do you think the interface looks like in the age of AI? Computing historically has been humans adapting to computing. With AI, it’ll be the other way around. The technology will adapt seamlessly to how humans live and go about their day-to-day life. You want to be able to speak to that AI when you want to. It has context. It can be persistently running somewhere, give you continuity. You’re not dealing with a lot of complexity. It’s natural. All that makes sense to me. That doesn’t mean it won’t have any interface, however. Nowadays, even on my phone, Gemini voice models are so good. I can just press the microphone button. I can just ramble. That’s why we call it Rambler. I can ramble. It intelligently corrects with my personal context. Even my friends’ names, weird names, it gets it right, even if it first guesses it wrong. It’s amazing. I’m not going in, backspacing, editing once I finish saying it. It’s remarkable how good it’s gotten. But there are going to be moments you will need an interface. You may want to entertain yourself. You may want to watch a video. You may ask your AI to create something, and you want to watch it, consume it. The way I think about it is, you want it to be as seamless and as natural as possible, and that you are not doing the hard work adapting to whatever the interface is. The technology is adapting to how you’re working at any given moment in time. When I asked Sam Altman about competition from Google, he argued that OpenAI was building AI-native products and implied Google was bolting AI onto existing ones. Do you accept that framing, and can a “bolt-on” compete with an AI-native product? First of all, it’s a very dynamic moment. We are all pushing each other. OpenAI has pushed us as a company too. This is not just we are doing something to them. Far from it. Yes, Google went into its own version of a code red too. In the AI moment, all of us have to respond with varying levels of urgency at any given moment in time. We are constantly building new products as well. Gemini was built from the ground up as a product—the Gemini app I’m talking about. Or tomorrow, as all of us are adapting to agents, are you bolting agents onto ChatGPT, or are they building it natively? How would you think about that? You can always put these questions back. I don’t think of it that way. I think of it as you want to build world-class product experiences that are AI-native and they are winning. Some of it is adapting products, some of it is rethinking new experiences. They will all be part of how you approach this moment. How do you expect to make money from these AI interfaces? If an agent recommends a product and I buy it, should it take a cut of the sale, even if that’s disclosed? I’m going to put enterprise aside. Consumers are going to increasingly value this technology. Take software developers today. Developers are willing to pay for these coding models because it really helps make them more productive. Nobody would want to code the way they were coding three years ago, or even the same time last year. When you’re delivering value, there’s value to be had. I’ve never seen examples where consumer products really scale to billions of users, where people are using it intensely, and haven’t had monetization to go along with it. If you’re providing value to people, there is inherent value to be had. The nature of it may change. You’re asking a scenario in which agents are doing stuff for you. At the end of the day, you will have commercial needs. The agents need to fulfill those commercial needs. The providers on the other side are going to see value in that. There’s going to be some mechanism by which it gets fleshed out. That’s what an efficient system does. But what matters is that you’re building those world-class consumer experiences. I promised myself one product feature request: Can you make Gemini-powered search in Gmail as good as searching Gmail through ChatGPT? What’s going on here? One of the exciting things we announced recently is the unified Gemini agent for enterprise, and we’re bringing that to consumers. These are persistent agents which run 24/7 in the cloud. We’re spinning up a micro VM effectively for every query, and from the runtime, the harness, the model—it’s all a headless service. It’ll work everywhere, and it has your context with you. You can address this agent whether you’re in Workspace, in Search, in Gemini. Agents are going to drive this unification from a customer experience, which people are looking for. When you have a broad product portfolio and you’re moving forward fast, there are always areas where you’re moving forward faster than some other areas. That’s valid feedback. But we are putting a lot of time and effort into making sure, as we build out our agentic experience, that unification and that capability works well across all these services. People have asked where Google’s equivalent of Muse or Dots is. Do you anticipate creating a new product to compete with them? Our goal with Gemini is to be a personal, proactive, and powerful assistant. That’s what we are working toward. You saw us describe the early versions of it at Google I/O this year with Spark. Effectively, already, if you open the Gemini app as a Pro or an Ultra user, you see Chat and Task, and they start giving you that agentic experience. With Argon now, that capability is dramatically accelerated. What we announced recently in our enterprise event, we are bringing that to consumers as well. Soon in Gemini, you will be able to ask something, and it’s a continuum. You don’t need to think about whether you’re asking a chat or an agentic task. It’ll just automatically do the right thing, and it can work persistently in the background securely and get things done for you. Already, empirically, when I look at what’s coming into Gemini in our app, last year you would have tagged them and most of them would have been chats. But a steadily growing percentage is already agentic tasks in Gemini. Yes, we are going to bring personal agents to our consumers. It’ll work in the Gemini app. It’ll work in Google Search. It’ll work in Gmail. You can address it, call it, etc. We want to make sure we’re getting it right. It’ll be powered by Argon, and we are very excited to bring it to our users. Google has invested and committed tens of billions of dollars to Anthropic. What do you see in Dario Amodei that makes you want such a deep investment and partnership? Very early on, when we looked at the founding team of Anthropic, it was very clear to us this was a world-class team which was involved in some of the earliest GPT models. We were quickly able to assess that they would be at the frontier. We’ve always tried to identify and partner with companies which would be at the cutting edge of technology. We’ve done that with SpaceX. We’ve done that with Anthropic. That’s what we saw, and we had a chance to partner. Is your partnership with Apple to license Gemini for Siri expanding, contracting, or standing still? For both us and Apple, that partnership was about translating the capabilities of AI into better experiences for users. I thought Apple has done a phenomenal job of incorporating—they customize these models and build it into Siri—and it’s been great to see the reception. We are committed to doing more. You’re going to do more with them? There’s nothing specific to comment, but it’s a partnership. It’s working well. What have you learned so far about the feasibility of data centers in space? It’s a very exciting project. Projects like this remind me—I still recall that moment in the desert for the DARPA Grand Challenge, watching the Stanley car compete in it, which ended up being the basis for Waymo. With all these technologies, you’re at a moment in time where it looks a bit like sci-fi, but 10 to 20 years down the line, it’s actually working in a meaningful way. I feel the same in space. We’ve always believed in betting big on these technologies. Quantum has been a great example of it. We’re probably 10 years into the journey. Waymo, we are almost 20 years into the journey. Space, we are two to three years into the journey. It’s clear to me that it’s an approach which will make a lot of sense in the future. Being in sub-synchronous orbits with 24/7 access to the most abundant form of energy we have access to will make a lot of sense for this exponential increase in compute that we are going to need. Having said that, this is a challenging project. The team has disciplined milestones. It was a super exciting milestone to send the TPUs up to space. Sometime, as we are speaking, we are expecting a “hello world” moment from them. I look forward to seeing that happen, and we’ll continue investing here too. You previously said 25% of the code written within Google was written by AI. What’s the number today? That number in our world today is meaningless in the sense that every part of what we now touch is influenced by AI deeply. What we are tracking with Argon, for example, it’s been a point of inflection. People are using Argon to really go tackle complex projects, including projects which affect millions of lines of code. In the four weeks since we have launched Argon, we have seen a 30% increase in CLs, and more importantly, almost a similar increase—a one-third decrease in rollbacks. People are writing code more productively and better code with it. We are tracking it with newer metrics now. How are you dealing with opposition to data centers? If you can’t build in the U.S. the way you want to, where else do you go? We’re very committed to building our data centers very responsibly. When I look at our largest data centers in some of the communities where we have been the longest, I visit them, I talk to people. There are people who come and tell us their kids have gone to college because of our investments in these communities, and we’ve grown in those communities. To me, this is about doing it right. Engaging with the communities early, doing it transparently. We are committed to making sure we are bringing incremental power, and we cover 100% of the cost of our power needs for these projects. It’s understanding the impact on neighborhoods and making sure you’re working thoroughly to address them. Done rightly, you can continue making progress. But we are constantly taking feedback into account. I do worry not everyone operates the same way. People have been surprised by data centers showing up in their backyard. Those are all important. As an industry, we should continue to do better. But part of the reason, in a 20-year time frame, we are thinking about things like data centers in space is making sure we are able to put these data centers where maybe the trade-offs will be different. What unproven area of AI is Google working hardest to crack? Is it continual learning—getting models to keep updating after release—or something else? There are multiple parallel paths. You saw with Argon we have a million output tokens. With our Gemini models early on, we had a one-million context window on the input side. These are all examples of breakthroughs we are constantly working on. How do you think about synthetic data? How do you think about continual learning? How do you think about more efficient architectures? We do dedicate a meaningful percentage of our compute to these research bets too. It always goes hand in hand, including our world models. Those are all bets we are placing. Sometimes, as part of these bets, there are ideas that emerge which just make their way into the mainline models. Maybe we don’t fully talk about it, but we have multiple steps in these areas. Working in technology requires optimism that building something will improve the world, but those bets can leave real consequences when they fail. I recently returned to a town in El Salvador where enthusiasm for Bitcoin had given way to unfinished construction and something resembling a ghost town. How do you maintain the optimism you spoke about in your Stanford commencement address while accounting for those risks? I genuinely have a deep conviction that improving technology and improving access to technology makes people’s lives better. It’s been my personal experience in my life, out of which comes that deep conviction, optimism. But with that, I’ve always felt humanity’s journey is always about working hard to harness that technology to make it work well for society. The optimism is not an optimism that you just build whatever you want, whenever. You work hard to make sure you’re building technology in the service of humanity, to make the human condition better. That’s got to be the defining goal as we are approaching it. With that framework, I’m very, very optimistic. We are in very early stages of the kind of progress that we are going to see on many areas. We’re all talking about areas like healthcare. A lot of the progress is ahead. The ability to make things in a fundamentally cheaper way on many things where things have been getting expensive for a long, long time, discovering new materials, etc., which really bend the curve—it’s tough to step today and understand the impact of all that, but they’re going to be very profound. I’m very optimistic, but we have to be rightfully concerned about all the ways this technology can go wrong. Sundar, I know you don’t do many of these. Thank you. Thanks, Alex. Appreciate it.

Oct 20 • 1:47 PM EDT • Technology • bigtechnology.com

What the Magic Must do to Stop Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves

The Orlando Magic will host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, who are coming off a massive win against the Miami Heat. The Magic must be ready to execute every facet of the game to get a victory.

Oct 23 • 1:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

In new WHO role, Vanessa Kerry will focus on building health system resilience | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Vanessa Kerry, newly named special envoy for health resilience at WHO, plans to help build health systems so nations can be ready for outbreaks or other emergencies,

Oct 22 • 2:34 PM EDT • Health • hsph.harvard.edu

Rakim’s hip hop masterclass

Towards the end of his concert — where he held down iconic emcee Rakim on the tables — Technician the DJ said something everyone inside City Winery Friday night already knew. “Y’all are witnessing the definition of hip hop,” he said. “In the dictionary, if you look up hip hop, there are no words. There […]

Oct 19 • 8:34 AM EDT • Entertainment • stlamerican.com

University of Maryland expands key reproductive health program

The school is using more than $16 million in state grant funds over five years to build on previous work that already trained more than 100 clinicians, students and other health professionals in abortion care.

Oct 20 • 3:50 PM EDT • Health • wypr.org

Pellegrini and Lulli confirmed to start vs Slovan

Roma are back in the hunt for a Champions League victory, with Malen ready to reclaim the center of attack. After the draw against Fenerbahce and the bitter defeat against Real Madrid, the Giallorossi...

Oct 20 • 2:51 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Iowa portable restroom companies combine under Ready Restrooms brand

A King’s Throne and Best Portable Toilets, two Iowa-based portable restroom and service companies, have joined under a new brand, Ready Restrooms. The combined company will provide portable restrooms, restroom trailers, pumping and job site services across Iowa, Kansas City, Memphis and Oklahoma. The consolidation brings together both companies’ employees, equipment and service capabilities while…

Oct 22 • 5:19 PM EDT • Business • businessrecord.com

More Than a Charcuterie Board: A Mother and Daughter Build a Business Around Gathering.

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Birch Bay Retirement Village. NORTHEAST HARBOR—Food’s ability to be a social cornerstone is one of the founding premises of one of Mount Desert Island’s newest, and perhaps most unique, endeavors in cuisine based catering. From intimate gatherings to large functions, Olive & Pearl creates charcuterie boards that can not only astound the tongue but also the eye. Many would agree that food can bring people together. In fact, culinary delights, and sometimes adventures, have been utilized as the centerpiece for social and business occasions of all kinds for centuries. Often times it even has the ability to start conversation, temper differences, and build new relationships. Settings can vary, from a multi-course sit down meal, a backyard barbecue, or a couple of bowls of chips and dip in front of a television, but the result can be the same. Humans come together, they share food, and the whole process is a catalyst for thought, communication, and a shared experience. Imagined and created by the mother and daughter team of Dr. Susan Scanlan (formerly MacCready) and Kayla Musetti, Olive & Pearl was started in June of this year and has been creating, delighting, and growing since. We gave the two an opportunity to answer some questions about themselves and their new venture. The love, passion, and pride for what they are doing and the fact that they are doing it as a mother and daughter team came through so strongly in their answers that we decided to present the question and answer session in its entirety. The Interview What did you do prior to Olive & Pearl? We’re a mother-daughter team, and food, family, and hospitality have always been a big part of our lives. Susan grew up in a large family in Pennsylvania, where the table was always at the center of everything. There were multiple dishes, little bites, stories, and plenty of conversation. Food was never simply about eating. It was about gathering, celebrating, and spending time together. After living in several Southern states, Susan relocated to Maine more than 20 years ago, and Maine has truly become home. She loves its sense of community, natural beauty, and connection to local food and makers. Professionally, Susan is a registered nurse and holds a doctorate in health administration. She has worked in a variety of clinical, nonclinical, and leadership roles and currently works as a faculty academic director. Building Olive & Pearl has been an exciting creative venture alongside her career. Kayla is also a registered nurse and works in the ambulatory surgery unit at Mount Desert Island Hospital. While healthcare is an important part of both of our professional lives, Olive & Pearl has given us an entirely different way to connect, collaborate, and create something together. Tell us about the business. Olive & Pearl is a mother-daughter charcuterie business centered around beautiful food, thoughtful presentation, and bringing people together. We create curated charcuterie boards designed for everything from intimate gatherings and dinner parties to weddings, showers, corporate events, boat days, and celebrations of all kinds. We think of our boards as more than food. They’re an experience and an invitation to gather, slow down, and enjoy time with the people around you. We’re intentional about quality ingredients, artful presentation, and personalization. Whenever possible, we also incorporate Maine-made and locally sourced products, including cheeses, jams, honey, seasonal produce, and baked goods. What inspired you to start Olive & Pearl? In many ways, Olive & Pearl grew out of something we had been doing our entire lives —bringing people together around food. We’ve always loved creating beautiful spreads for family and friends. There was something special about watching people gather around a table, graze, talk, laugh, and simply enjoy being together. Friends and family began telling us, “You should do this as a business,” and one day, we stopped laughing it off and started mapping it out. We realized we had an opportunity to combine our different strengths and create something that reflected what we both value: hospitality, creativity, quality, and connection. Charcuterie felt like the perfect expression of that. It’s beautiful and creative, but it’s also communal and approachable. At its heart, it brings us right back to where the idea began, a table filled with food and people gathered around it. Do you have a business partner(s)? Our business partner is each other! Olive & Pearl is truly a mother-daughter partnership, and building it together has been incredibly meaningful and sometimes hilarious! We know each other extremely well, which can be both a strength and, occasionally, a challenge. We have different personalities and strengths, but we’ve learned to lean into those differences and use them to our advantage. There’s a lot of trust between us, and we’ve learned how to communicate, collaborate, and occasionally laugh at ourselves along the way. We’re also building Olive & Pearl while continuing our careers in healthcare and education, so we’re taking things thoughtfully and growing the business one step at a time. We all have to start somewhere. One of the most rewarding parts has been having something that belongs to both of us. We get to learn from one another, celebrate the small wins together, and create something that we hope will become part of our family’s story for years to come. When exactly did you launch the business? Recently, in June 2026, we launched Olive & Pearl, turning an idea we had talked about for years into real business. It has been incredibly rewarding to watch something that started around our own family table and begin to find a place within the community. How is it going so far? How do you feel it has been received? It has been going very well, and we’ve been incredibly encouraged by how warmly Olive & Pearl has been received. As more people hear about us, our orders have continued to increase, and we’re seeing growing interest in boards for events and celebrations. It’s exciting to watch something that began as an idea between the two of us start to grow within the community. One of the most rewarding parts is hearing from customers after their events or seeing photos of our boards being enjoyed. Knowing that something we created became part of someone’s celebration is incredibly meaningful to us. Is there a brick-and-mortar location or is it all online? Olive & Pearl is currently an online business. We’re intentionally starting this way so we can build relationships with our customers, learn what they love, and grow thoughtfully. Our long-term dream, if the business continues to grow, is to eventually have a sit-down space where people can experience Olive & Pearl in person. Do you have any future plans if things go well/keep going well? Absolutely. For now, our focus is on continuing to grow Olive & Pearl, getting to know our customers, and becoming part of more celebrations and gatherings throughout the area. Long term, we would love to have our own physical space where people can come together and experience Olive & Pearl beyond the boards themselves. We can imagine a place that combines food, hospitality, creativity, and community. Ultimately, we want to build something that continues to grow while still feeling personal and connected to the people and community around us. Is there an aspect of the business that you really love? There are so many things we love about it, but the people and the connection are probably at the top of the list. We love creating something beautiful, but what really matters to us is what happens after we hand it over to the customer. We picture our boards on kitchen islands, at backyard gatherings, on boats, at weddings, or around a long dinner table—with people laughing, talking, and lingering a little longer. We also love the creative side. Every board is an opportunity to play with color, texture, shape, seasonality, and flavor. We don’t just want to fill a board, we want to curate an experience. And supporting local makers is especially meaningful to us. Whenever possible, we love incorporating Maine-made cheeses, local jams and honey, seasonal produce, and products from nearby bakeries and businesses. It allows us to showcase some of what makes Maine so special. Perhaps most importantly, we love doing this together. Building something as a mother and daughter has given us another way to spend time together, learn from one another, celebrate small wins, and create memories. Is there anything regarding any aspect of Olive & Pearl that you may think is important that is not reflected on the website? One thing that may not always come through online is just how personal this business is to us. Olive & Pearl isn’t something we created simply because charcuterie was popular. It grew very naturally from our family, our traditions, and the way we’ve always enjoyed gathering with people we love. There is a lot of heart behind every board. We think about the people who will be enjoying it, the occasion they’re celebrating, and how we can make the experience feel special. We also want people to know that we care deeply about supporting locals whenever possible. Using Maine products isn’t just about sourcing ingredients, it’s about telling a little story about where we live and the talented people who make and grow wonderful things here. Is there anything that we have not asked that you think is important/relevant that would like readers to know? We hope people see Olive & Pearl as more than just a charcuterie business. At its heart, it’s about gathering. Our goal is to make it easier for people to create those moments when everyone gathers around the table, conversations last a little longer, and people simply enjoy being together. We also hope people see the mother-daughter story behind the business. We’re building Olive & Pearl alongside our careers, one step at a time, and there is something incredibly special about creating a shared family legacy in the process. For us, success isn’t just about how many boards we make. It’s about becoming part of people’s special moments - birthdays, weddings, weekends with friends, quiet evenings at home, or a beautiful day on the Maine coast. If one of our boards helps people put down their phones, linger a little longer, laugh a little more, and enjoy the people around them, then we feel like we’ve done exactly what we set out to do. All photos courtesy of Olive & Pearl. LINKS TO LEARN MORE Olive & Pearl website Olive & Pearl Facebook Olive & Pearl Instagram RECENT PRESS RELEASES AND BRIEFS To see all the press releases, click here. To see our news, click here. For the full archive, click here. All of these are on our dedicated website. [ ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/pemetic-students-share-thoughts-on) [ Pemetic Students Share Thoughts on Declaration of Independence Oct 22 ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/pemetic-students-share-thoughts-on) [ Read full story ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/pemetic-students-share-thoughts-on) [ ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/fall-festival-at-the-noreaster-for) [ Fall Festival at the Nor’Easter for Mount Desert Nursery School, October 24. Oct 22 ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/fall-festival-at-the-noreaster-for) [ Read full story ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/fall-festival-at-the-noreaster-for) [ ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/explore-career-opportunities-where) [ Explore career opportunities where you make a difference for Maine’s natural resources—and the people who enjoy them. Oct 22 ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/explore-career-opportunities-where) [ Read full story ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/explore-career-opportunities-where) [ Cranberry Isles Comprehensive Plan Committee Oct 22 ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/cranberry-isles-comprehensive-plan) [ Read full story ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/cranberry-isles-comprehensive-plan) [ ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/community-school-hosts-a-pancake) [ Community School Hosts a Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser October 25! Oct 22 ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/community-school-hosts-a-pancake) [ Read full story ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/community-school-hosts-a-pancake) HELP SUPPORT THE BAR HARBOR STORY When we started The Bar Harbor Story, we didn’t know if anyone would read it. But you showed up. You shared. You sent tips. Now—over 400,000 views every month later—it’s clear: people here care about their community and each other. We’ve kept everything free because news should never be out of reach, but every one of our stories takes time to write, and your support keeps The Bar Harbor Story going. If you value our work, please consider a paid subscription, a founding membership, or a sponsorship. It truly helps us cover one more meeting, tell one more story, shine one more light. Even $5 a month makes a difference. Click here to become a one-time supporter now. Thank you so much for being here. Founding member information can be found here. Have questions about sponsorships? Just send Shaun an email at sfarrar86@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you. Subscribe Share Bar Harbor Story Share Leave a comment

Oct 23 • 8:00 AM EDT • Business • barharborstory.substack.com

Jane Muir: Champion of Community and Leader in Business Law

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Setting the standard for efficiency and community engagement, while blending professional acumen with altruism Jane Muir is a leader in the Miami legal landscape. She founded J. Muir & Associates in 2018 and has spent over 15 years building a business law practice, a strong team and a sterling […]

Oct 20 • 11:36 AM EDT • Business • communitynewspapers.com

I’ve Taken a Necessary Measure to Protect Myself During Sex. Uh, It’s Going to Be Hard to Explain.

I've already gotten weird looks.

Oct 21 • 1:30 PM EDT • Technology • slate.com

"We're using AI": Xbox business strategist claims he could be fired "because I told you the truth that nobody wants you to know"

Xbox's Brandon Stirrup says the gaming industry is already using AI, despite widespread negative sentiment among players.

Oct 19 • 7:05 AM EDT • Technology • windowscentral.com

Glee reboot officially ordered at Disney+ and Hulu

We're getting ready to head back to William McKinley High School after Disney+ and Hulu announced that a new series has been ordered.

Oct 21 • 3:44 PM EDT • Entertainment • wxyz.com

Sacha Fenestraz Confirms Ferrari F1 Test in 2027

The Franco-Argentine driver, incorporated into the Scuderia as a simulator driver in July, confirms that he already has a date to get into a real car.

Oct 20 • 11:30 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Here's What Apple's Apps Look Like on the iPhone Duo

With just three days to go until the iPhone Duo is released, Apple is getting ready for the launch. Behind the scenes, the App Store now has screenshots of Apple's built-in apps running on the Duo. We've seen some apps in marketing materials, but images of the ones we haven't seen give us an idea of what it will be like using the iPhone Duo day to day.

Oct 20 • 2:12 PM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com

Business student finds room to pursue big goals at Oglethorpe

Already a decorated equestrian, business administration student Kat Fuqua '30 reflects on how OU has helped her pursue her passions.

Oct 22 • 12:46 PM EDT • Business • oglethorpe.edu

TERRY TURNER: Sad politics

Early voting is already open, yet most of us in south Georgia have never directly heard what either of the two candidates for governor have as policy agendas, what the goals of those policies are or how they are to be achieved.

Oct 21 • 8:06 AM EDT • Politics • moultrieobserver.com

Constance Wu shares new details on ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ TV show

Constance Wu is sharing new details on the ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ television show, confirming that she’s read a script for it already and ‘it’s really funny.’

Oct 23 • 2:03 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com

Flu activity is rising earlier than usual in El Paso County, health officials say

Respiratory illness season is underway in El Paso County, and local health officials say flu activity is already increasing earlier than typically expected.

Oct 19 • 10:13 AM EDT • Health • kktv.com

CentraCare healthcare system to acquire Stellis Health in merger of central Minnesota providers

The two organizations already have a history of collaboration, including at CentraCare-Monticello hospital, where Stellis physicians provide care. The move comes as Minnesota’s healthcare systems face increasing financial pressures.

Oct 21 • 4:33 PM EDT • Health • mprnews.org

Why Disney is courting creators to builder a deeper bond with fans

Disney is one of the many entertainment giants already investing big in the creator economy. Here's how it plans to scale its efforts.

Oct 19 • 6:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • latimes.com

Roma looking to make two signings in January

Roma is already looking ahead to the January transfer window with the goal of expanding Gian Piero Gasperini’s options. The Giallorossi intend to make the squad more competitive and equipped to tack...

Oct 22 • 3:46 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Middle East Conflict Puts F1’s Season Finale at Risk

F1 assures that Qatar and Abu Dhabi will be held according to the calendar, but it has already activated a contingency plan with Imola as an alternative venue.

Oct 22 • 11:09 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Under U.S. Watch, Venezuela Grapples With Tensions Over Democracy

President Trump says Venezuela is not ready for elections, and he focuses instead on its oil. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio is nudging talks between opposing politicians.

Oct 23 • 1:15 PM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com

Thunder-Spurs Opener Already Belongs to Chet Holmgren

After a bruising playoff exit, the Thunder’s versatile center faces an immediate litmus test against Victor Wembanyama, seeking to replace past hesitation with the decisive aggression Oklahoma needs.

Oct 20 • 7:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Urban Meyer only has one concern about a 24-team College Football Playoff

Urban Meyer won three national titles as a college football head coach, but the game is already very different from his time at Florida and Ohio State. The ways NIL and the transfer portal have shifted the sport’s landscape were hard to predict, and the Fox Sports college football analyst is among those who misread…

Oct 20 • 6:10 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Samsung Has Already Found the Next Way to Unfold a Phone

A leaker claims that the long-awaited Galaxy Z Slide is finally upon us.

Oct 20 • 2:20 PM EDT • Technology • gizmodo.com

How to Vote in the 2026 Midterms: A State-by-State Guide

Early voting is underway in many states ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. While the general election is on Tuesday, Nov. 3, millions of people have already cast their ballots. Because states run the federal elections, voter registration deadlines, early voting schedules and absentee ballot rules ...

Oct 20 • 6:27 PM EDT • Politics • usnews.com

Apple Expected to Release New Products on Next Four Fridays

Apple likely plans to release MacBook Pro models with OLED displays, 14-inch MacBook Pro and iMac models with M6 chips, and/or an iPad mini 8 with an OLED display on Friday, November 6, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The devices are expected to be announced on Tuesday, October 27 or Wednesday, October 28. If this timeframe proves to be accurate, then Apple will be releasing new products for the next four Fridays, with the other dates already announced.

Oct 18 • 2:01 PM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com

Hot Ticket: Beer, boos and ABBA take over Galveston this weekend

Oompah, Galveston!: Break out the lederhosen, grab a stein and get ready for a weekend of German food, music and dancing as the 44th Annual Island Oktoberfest returns to historic

Oct 22 • 4:34 PM EDT • Entertainment • galvnews.com

Post-Shanghai ATP Power Rankings: Alexander Zverev Takes Charge

As you already know, this is not the ATP rankings list; rather, these are ATP power rankings that combine 2026 results, recent form, performance against elite opposition, current fitness, and the level each player is realistically capable of producing during the final stretch of the season. The picture has changed considerably since our pre-Wimbledon rankings. …

Oct 20 • 7:30 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

One of three Jensen Huang-signed RTX Spark laptops won at NVIDIA launch event is already listed for $17,150

An ASUS ProArt RTX Spark laptop bearing Jensen Huang's signature is reportedly being offered for $17,150. The asking price exceeds regular Turkish retail pricing by more than two times.

Oct 20 • 6:36 AM EDT • Technology • videocardz.com

America’s next big healthcare reform might already be underway

Colorado found a way to make health care cheaper. Other states are paying attention.

Oct 19 • 6:00 AM EDT • Health • vox.com

Could Your Employees Be the Next Owners of Your Business?

A business owner ready to sell may start by asking who would pay the highest price. A competitor? A private equity firm? A family member? There is another

Oct 21 • 2:00 AM EDT • Business • biztimes.com

Xbox wants you to pay 24 to 40 cents per hour to stream games you already bought

Time-based a la carte charges come on top of the purchase price for the games themselves.

Oct 21 • 6:06 PM EDT • Technology • arstechnica.com

Aaron Boone Gets Terrible Update For Long-Term Yankees Future

The New York Yankees upset many fans by bringing back Aaron Boone as manager for next season. Most fans were already aware, but an official report confirmed today Boone will continue his MLB managing career in New York. Another disappointing early playoff exit for the Yankees has fans questioning if the team has any chance […] The post Aaron Boone Gets Terrible Update For Long-Term Yankees Future appeared first on HEAVY.

Oct 20 • 12:08 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

FNCS Solos Last Chance Qualifier in NA West: Session 1

Keep your FNCS Solos journey alive in the Last Chance Qualifier! LCQ Round 1 is open to eligible players who participated in an FNCS Solos Qualifier Round 1 session but have not already advanced to the LCQ Final or the FNCS Solos Finals. Players will compete in a single three-hour session with up to 11 matches. After the session concludes, the top 70 players in each region will advance to the LCQ Final. The LCQ Final lasts approximately two and a half hours and features up to five matches. Every match provides a direct path to the Finals: the player who earns the Victory Royale will receive 1,000 points and immediately qualify for the FNCS Solos Finals. Once qualified through a Victory Royale, that player may not compete in any remaining LCQ Final matches. After the LCQ Final concludes, the next 17 highest-scoring players who have not earned a Victory Royale will also advance to the FNCS Solos Finals. This is your last chance to secure a spot—good luck and have fun!

Oct 19 • 9:00 PM EDT • Technology • fortnitetracker.com

Knicks’ OG Anunoby Drops Unexpected Photo Featuring Anne Hathaway

For Knicks fans, this week feels like Christmas came early.After 53 years of waiting, the championship banner finally goes up at Madison Square Garden, and the players get their rings in front of a crowd that has earned it.The players have spent the last few days at practice, getting ready for LeBron James and the […] The post Knicks’ OG Anunoby Drops Unexpected Photo Featuring Anne Hathaway appeared first on HEAVY.

Oct 20 • 6:58 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Toppenish School District receives $7.5 million federal grant to expand mental health services for students

The BriefThe Toppenish School District has been awarded up to $7.5 million through Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education), a federal grant administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).The grant will provide up to $1.5 million annually over five years to expand mental health services, strengthen substance use prevention and intervention, and improve access to support for students.District officials say the funding will help address identified gaps in services, particularly drug and alcohol counseling at the high school level, and will allow the district to build capacity for long-term mental health support.TOPPENISH, WASHINGTON — The Toppenish School District has been awarded up to $7.5 million through Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education), a federal grant administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), to expand mental health services and substance use prevention for students.District officials said access to mental health resources has been limited, making it difficult for some students and families to get the support they need. The federal Project AWARE grant will help address those challenges by bringing schools and local healthcare providers together to better support students.The grant will provide up to $1.5 million annually over five years to expand mental health services, strengthen substance use prevention and intervention, and improve access to support for Toppenish students. Deputy Superintendent Dr. Jeff Camero said the district is focused on coordinating with service providers in the area to work as a unified team."We made the awareness with the grant. But looking at all the service providers in the area and how can we all together work as a team?" Camero said.Camero said the district wants to use those resources to reach students earlier and provide more support for those struggling with their mental health. The district plans to address a range of mental health challenges, from anxiety and depression to youth suicide risk. Camero emphasized the importance of supporting students in grades eight through twelve, where suicide rates are a particular concern."Making sure from anxiety to depression, making sure that we can help support our students at those levels, but also the youth suicide risk, looking at that as a top in this area, in our grades, you know, eight, for example, eight through 12, looking at suicide rate and looking at how whether we look at the ACES or whatever program we're looking at, that's federal, how that connects and how we can better serve our students with this extra funding," Camero said.The funding will allow the district to bring in additional staff, including mental health and substance use specialists, to work directly with students and connect families with community resources. The district is already posting positions, including a director role, with additional positions expected to follow.District officials are also thinking beyond the grant's five-year timeline. Brittany Kaple, Director of Public Relations for the Toppenish School District, said the intent is to build capacity and establish connections that will sustain mental health services even after the grant funding ends."We do have the director position already posted, with some of our other positions following really close behind that. But the intent is to, you know, it's a five-year grant, so those positions would be funded for that five years. But there's also the intent to build capacity and make those connections so that at the end of the grant, when that money, you know, if that money is not renewed," Kaple said.As student mental health needs continue to evolve, access to drug and alcohol counseling has become an important priority for the district. Kaple said teachers and staff have been raising concerns about the need for more support, especially at the high school level."And that was something that was also an identified need by our high school staff when the superintendent met with them last school year. They said that that was a really great need, something that they felt was a gap in services that we were providing for our students. And so this is going to be one way to help support that need," Kaple said.The Toppenish School District says its goal is to ensure students and families have access to the support they need, both now and in the years ahead. Additional positions, including drug and alcohol counselors and family engagement specialists, are expected to be posted in the coming weeks. News Sunnyside City Council navigates 2027 budget planning Monique Garcia News "Dancing with the Stars" champion J.R. Martinez shares message of resilience during Central Washington visit Tyler Wargo News Toppenish, Mattawa educators honored at state Educator of the Year Awards Erin Wencl News Kennewick educator named 2027 Washington Teacher of the Year Erin Wencl News Voters to decide the next Yakima County Sheriff Monique Garcia ​COPYRIGHT 2026 BY APPLE VALLEY NEWS NOW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.

Oct 19 • 7:59 PM EDT • Health • applevalleynewsnow.com

Andrew Thomas’ latest update leaves the Giants waiting

John Harbaugh didn’t declare Andrew Thomas or Jermaine Eluemunor ready for Houston on Monday. He said both tackles, along with […]

Oct 20 • 3:14 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

How well have past GOTY winners sold?

We’re less than two months away from 2026’s The Game Awards, and what a year it’s been for fantastic games, including Resident Evil Requiem, Forza Horizon 6, Slay the Spire II, the Blood of Dawnwalker, and Control Resonant – just to name a few. So as we approach the end of the year, we thought we’d look back on our estimates for the GOTY winners of the past four years. In terms of revenue, Elden Ring (2022 winner), Baldur’s Gate 3 (2023), Astro Bot (2024), and Expedition 33 (2025) have generated a combined $3.8B via 73M copies sold: Let’s have a look, then. Elden Ring has generated $2B in revenue Elden Ring is a phenomenon in every sense. It’s sold a whopping 36.4M copies across Steam (50%), PS5 (35%), and Xbox (15% across console and PC). Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Elden Ring also just passed an astronomical milestone: $2B in revenue. While PlayStation and Xbox account for half of Elden Ring’s copies sold across these three platforms, they account for 57.5% of revenue. This – as ever – is due to regional pricing and the higher relative share of PC gamers in lower-priced markets. For example, around 17.4% of Elden Ring’s Steam copies sold were in China, where the game costs about 26% less than the price in the States. There’s an … interesting narrative going around these days that console gamers are only interested in ball-and-gun games and have the patience for little else. Well, Elden Ring’s impressive sales prove that is simply not true, and across all platforms. What’s more, over 9.8M people have played Elden Ring for over 100 hours, with nearly 3.5M people getting all of the achievements and trophies. For reference, 10.9% of Elden Ring’s PlayStation players have the platinum trophy, while 10.5% of players on Steam and 3.9% of Xbox players unlocked all the achievements. Git gud, Xbox players! Of the 1.5M people who played Elden Ring on PlayStation last month, 4% also played Dark Souls 3 last month, 4% played Bloodborne, and 3% played Sekiro. There’s those Soulsborne diehards for you. By many accounts, including my own, Elden Ring is one of the best games of all time. It’s an evergreen seller that will continue to be a cash cow for Bandai and FromSoftware for years to come. Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Elden Ring has sold another 2M copies across Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox this year, generating almost $110M. This means it’s outperforming many of this year’s high-profile releases. Even Elden Ring’s standalone run-based PvE spinoff, 2025’s Nightreign, has sold 7.8M copies and generated $282M in revenue. Baldur’s Gate 3 is another billion-dollar-plus banger Another cross-platform phenomenon is Baldur’s Gate 3, which has sold 23.2M copies and generated over $1.2B in revenue. About 18.7M of these copies (80.6%) are via Steam, 2.9M via PS5 (12.7%), and 1.6M (6.8%) via Xbox. Around 1.3M folks on Steam bought BG3 before it hit 1.0. The PlayStation version launched about a month after the PC 1.0 release, while the Xbox version came four months later due to technical issues around developing local co-op on the Series S. Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Across platforms, Baldur’s Gate 3’s monthly active users have never dropped below 2M, including 2.2M MAUs last month (68.5% on Steam, 21.9% on PS5, and 9.6% on Xbox). And it still regularly brings in 280K to 400K players every day: About 1% of BG3’s Steam player base has played for over 500 hours! That’s a little under 200K people. Astro Bot is also an evergreen seller, albeit a more niche, family one Astro Bot, 2024’s winner, has now sold 4.7M copies and generated $291M in revenue. The budget, including marketing, is almost certainly under $100M, given the small Japan-based core team and three-year dev timeline. You can really see why the tides are changing toward less expensive hubs. Astro Bot is the only first-party winner on this list, but follows other first-party winners of The Last of Us Part II (2020’s winner), God of War (2018), and Breath of the Wild (2017). Around 46.6% of Astro Bot’s copies sold have been physical, which is far higher than the typical game. This makes sense for a couple of reasons: There’s a large family audience for this one, and physical boxes are an item to wrap when giving Astro as a gift. Astro has collector value for the PlayStation core (this is nostalgia-fueled platformer celebrating PlayStation’s history) Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Astro is another one of those games that continues selling over time, regularly selling more than 100K a month. It’s sold around 1M more copies this year ($60M in revenue) and is a popular title with families. We can see this using the Alinea platform’s MAU crossover tool: Astro Bot’s top #2, #3, and #4 games by crossover in any given month this year are Minecraft, Fortnite, and Roblox – without fail. The #1 title every month, though, is Astro’s Playroom, a pack-in with all PS5 consoles. For every month this year, between 20% and 30% of Astro Bot players also played Astro’s Playroom that month. So the free pack-in is a noice funnel for converting players to a full paid product. Expedition 33 sells 8.7M despite Game Pass cannibalisation Finally, we have last year’s winner – Expedition 33. The turn-based-RPG banger has generated $366M via 8.7M copies sold, with 58.8% on Steam, 35.7% on PS5, and 5.5% on Xbox. Xbox’s share of copies sold is this low due to Expedition 33 launching on Game Pass, where 4.3M people across console and PC accessed the game. A little under 700K Xbox players used their subscription to play Expedition 33 this year. That said, the game’s 1.5-year Game Pass deal ended last week on October 16, and we’re already beginning to see a positive trend on Expedition 33’s copies sold via Xbox (but the jury’s still out!). There’s understandably a lot of French pride behind this one, as France is the game’s #3 market on both Steam and PlayStation. Vive la France! One thing that stood out to me is that the GOTY winners aren’t $300M Hollywood productions made in the US. They’re mostly mid-budget studios outside the traditional AAA cost centres. Lots to think about there. Also, good games sell well; who’d have thunk it!? And there’s a whole load of them this year, with GTA 6 still to come, too. GTA just made the cutoff point for the VGAs this year. What a coincidence! Loading... Cool links and other stuff Our physical games newsletter from Tuesday was picked up by GameSpot, Eurogamer, TweakTown, and a bunch of others. We’re offering a free trial of our platform for games companies. Send us a message here, or reply right here on Substack/email, and we’ll set you up. Next week, we’ve got some exciting news regarding the future of our newsletter, so stay tuned! The last word Reply to this email – or reach out here – if you have any feedback for the newsletter – or want to request a game for us to cover. Want to see why these companies (and many others) are subscribed to Alinea? Get a free platform trial! [Alinea Analytics boasts the most accurate PC and console estimates in the business. Game makers use our platform to understand their audience, keep an eye on the competition, monitor sales trends, and spot new opportunities. We equip game studios and financial institutions with accurate data and the confidence to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Want to talk about all things games market data? We’d love to chat!]

Oct 22 • 1:02 PM EDT • Technology • alineaanalytics.substack.com

iPhone Duo will add Reachability feature ‘later this year’

iPhone Duo launches this Friday, but there’s one software feature Apple says won’t be ready until later this year: Reachability.

Oct 21 • 10:10 AM EDT • Technology • 9to5mac.com

Liverpool Reportedly Out: Chelsea Target ‘Dead Set’ on Joining Blues

Despite it being October, the transfer mill never truly stops spinning with clubs seemingly already lining up their business for January and beyond. Liverpool have started their season under Andoni Iraola fairly well, new reports indicate they won't look to strengthen certain areas in the winter window, which could open the door for Chelsea to …

Oct 19 • 9:02 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Prepare to be scared at Maggie Valley's ScreamFest

Ready for a frightfully fun Halloween weekend? Maggie Valley is turning up the scares with ScreamFest Friday and Saturday, Oct. 30 and 31, from noon-midnight both days, at Maggie Valley

Oct 21 • 12:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • themountaineer.com

P2 Physio Founder Luis Ferrer Joins Vanessa Certain for Pinecrest Business Spotlight

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Luis Ferrer, MPT, CSCS, Founder & CEO of P2 Physio, is the featured guest in this Pinecrest Business Association interview hosted by Vanessa Certain, Owner of VEC Development. Ferrer’s professional background spans physical therapy, strength and conditioning, and healthcare leadership. He earned his master’s degree in physical therapy from […]

Oct 22 • 1:09 PM EDT • Business • communitynewspapers.com

Knicks can’t let banner night rush Josh Hart back

Josh Hart didn’t guarantee he’d be ready for opening night when asked about his sore ankle Sunday. His answer, reported […]

Oct 19 • 8:22 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

This institute could get $4 billion from a ballot measure. With just three workers, is it ready?

If California voters approve it, Prop. 38 will direct $4 billion to one research institute. Only one institute currently qualifies for the money.

Oct 20 • 8:00 AM EDT • Politics • calmatters.org

Dodgers Provide Positive Update on Klein

Will Klein underwent a procedure to remove bone chips from his elbow, but the Los Angeles Dodgers expect the right-handed reliever to be ready for Spring Training.

Oct 22 • 5:23 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Packers Rumors: 2 Defensive Line Targets After Key Injuries

The Green Bay Packers already waited too long to address their offensive line. The team cannot afford to make the same mistake twice.

Oct 21 • 9:36 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

BioWare Becomes First Major Casualty Of Saudi Arabia's EA Takeover

When news came out that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund had taken a majority stake in Electronic Arts last September, it was clear to anyone familiar with Saudi Arabia, EA, private equity, or capitalism that the move would make an already terrible gaming company even worse. I wrote as much at the time, and though…

Oct 21 • 3:24 PM EDT • Technology • defector.com

Glee reboot officially ordered at Disney+ and Hulu

We're getting ready to head back to William McKinley High School after Disney+ and Hulu announced that a new series has been ordered.

Oct 21 • 3:44 PM EDT • Entertainment • scrippsnews.com

Ellen Burstyn slams “Exorcist” franchise continuing: ‘It’s enough already’

“Isn’t there enough already of the ‘Exorcist’ thing?”

Oct 23 • 1:21 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

Texas Republicans Used to Debate. Not This Cycle.

With early voting already underway, we're likely to close out this election cycle without a single debate between top-of-the-ticket candidates. Why?

Oct 21 • 6:44 AM EDT • Politics • texasmonthly.com

GTA 6 Digital Preorders Already Topped 6 Million and $594 Million, With PlayStation Accounting for 74%, Sensor Tower Estimates

Analyst firm Sensor Tower estimates that GTA 6 already sold six million digital copies, eclipsing any other game in the past six years.

Oct 20 • 10:00 AM EDT • Technology • wccftech.com

‘I will not comment on his anatomy’: Ohio Republicans buzz about Trump’s analysis of a senator’s body

A day after President Donald Trump offered his latest appraisal of Ohio Sen. Jon Husted’s physique, it had already become a running joke — if not explicitly stated — during a GOP gathering in rural western Ohio.

Oct 18 • 8:27 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com

Water shortages will threaten growth within five years, say over half of European industrial leaders

Water stress is already hitting operating costs, supply chains and infrastructure across European industryWater shortages now rank as high as cybe...

Oct 20 • 5:31 AM EDT • Business • markets.businessinsider.com

Jacobe Smith Accepts Short Notice Fight for UFC Vegas 123

After a quick win earlier this month against Bruce Whitehead, Jacobe Smith already has his next fight booked. The undefeated welterweight takes on Randy Brown at UFC Vegas 123 in Las Vegas on October 31st. Brown was without an opponent after Carlos Leal pulled out due to an injury. Multiple sources have confirmed the fight […] The post Jacobe Smith Accepts Short Notice Fight for UFC Vegas 123 appeared first on HEAVY.

Oct 20 • 1:34 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Learn Why The Bull Case For Madison Square Garden Entertainment Stock Could Change Following Revenue Jump

Madison Square Garden Entertainment reported revenue of US$1.1b, up 13% year on year, supported by the New York Knicks’ NBA Championship run and record sales for its Christmas Spectacular. The 30 day Harry Styles residency now under way at the Garden underscores how concentrated, high profile bookings can deepen event utilization across an already busy venue portfolio. We will look at how Madison Square Garden Entertainment’s investment narrative is affected by this 13% revenue jump and...

Oct 18 • 2:43 PM EDT • Entertainment • simplywall.st

Early Black Friday Deals Already Live on Square Enix Games, Slashing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and More Down to Brand-New All-Time Lows at Amazon and Best Buy

Amazon and Best Buy have both dropped early Black Friday sales on select Square Enix games that features big price cuts on Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and loads more.

Oct 19 • 11:31 AM EDT • Technology • ign.com

First-person Soulslike Valor Mortis is already making a profit after seven days, despite launching against some stiff competition

Ghostrunner studio One More Level is wall-running toward another success with Valor Mortis, which has already broken even after a week on sale.

Oct 21 • 12:43 PM EDT • Technology • eurogamer.net

Ukrainian science part of European security architecture

Ukrainian scientists are already contributing to the development of a new security architecture, including by helping build a drone ecosystem. — Ukrinform.

Oct 21 • 12:10 AM EDT • Science • ukrinform.net

The next Call of Duty will introduce a new sub-series to the franchise

It's been five years since Vanguard - the most recent Call of Duty sub-franchise - but Activision is finally ready to develop a new one.

Oct 19 • 7:00 AM EDT • Technology • eurogamer.net

Giant iPhone Duo installations spotted at Apple Fifth Avenue ahead of launch

While the iPhone Duo doesn’t launch until Friday, preparations are already underway at Apple’s flagship Fifth Avenue store in New York for the big day.

Oct 21 • 7:16 PM EDT • Technology • 9to5mac.com

🔮 The 4️⃣ emerging options for the Manchester United job

It's already a crisis!After the crushing 4-1 defeat to Como in the Champions League, the Manchester United hot seat is under intense scrutiny.With an apparent rift with some senior players and results...

Oct 22 • 4:17 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Does your vote matter in Ohio? Political experts weigh in ahead of the midterms

Election Day is near, and while many are already early voting, some eligible voters may feel disengaged from politics or concerned about the state of our democracy. We'll talk to experts about your election questions and why your vote matters.

Oct 20 • 1:00 AM EDT • Politics • ideastream.org

Rapid City area, business leaders break ground on Northline Business Park

City and business leaders broke ground on Northline Business Park in Rapid City, launching infrastructure work to create shovel-ready commercial sites for growth.

Oct 20 • 6:00 PM EDT • Business • kotatv.com

Miami-Dade Small Business Program: New opportunities

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... For a small business owner, winning a government contract can be a significant milestone — obtaining steady revenue, scaling up your business, and achieving long-term growth. In Miami-Dade County, an important first step for many businesses is becoming certified through the county’s Small Business Development programs. Today, Miami-Dade County […]

Oct 21 • 5:35 AM EDT • Business • communitynewspapers.com

Metamora, Creve Coeur look to expand business development

East Peoria has already purchased the land on Route 24 and Centennial Drive to expand housing development, while Metamora is developing housing, and possible business development, on 135 acres on Route 116.

Oct 22 • 9:20 AM EDT • Business • 25newsnow.com

Kenya Confirms New Ebola Case, Total at Nine, Health Ministry Says

NAIROBI, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Kenya ⁠has ⁠confirmed a new ⁠Ebola case, bringing the total number of infections to nine, the health ministry ‌said on Tuesday. The ministry ‌said the latest case was ⁠a close ⁠family member of the first patient and had already been placed in quarantine. "All nine cases ...

Oct 20 • 11:36 AM EDT • Health • usnews.com

Business Beyond the Beach: Rodrick T. Miller | President and CEO, Beacon Council

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... 🎙 Welcome to the Business Beyond the Beach Talk Show! The Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce is proud to present Business Beyond the Beach, the exclusive Chamber talk show created in partnership with Miami’s Community Newspapers. This series highlights the stories of Miami Beach Chamber members making an impact […]

Oct 19 • 9:00 AM EDT • Business • communitynewspapers.com

Streaming’s Biggest Show Returns…and a Buzzy Genre Struggles

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Obviously, the big news of the week (if not month) is Netflix letting go of executive Bela Bajaria, their chief content officer. I’m going to cover this in my next “Most Important Story of the Week”, but I also have a data angle that I might publish before then. (Too much news this month, am I right?) But first, I have a bonus Streaming Ratings Report issue for you. Today’s article is a bit of a grab bag of topics I’ve wanted to write about, but couldn’t squeeze into the (already very long) Streaming Ratings Report issues. The NFL drives huge viewership numbers, so I’ve got a look at that. A whole bunch of TV shows returned to the traditional broadcast channels, and I have thoughts. And I have a quick look at adult animated shows, since a couple flopped earlier this month. Plus, the Emmys aired earlier this month, and we got some fun data bout how popular those nominated shows are and why I’m not optimistic about the show’s future. That’s a lot, so let’s dive right in. Subscribe Sports - Football Remains the King of Streaming Over the last two Streaming Ratings Reports, I sorta ignored the biggest “show” each week. (I was tempted to say “piece of content” but I know that word bugs folks.) In my database, I call these “specials”, and they sure are special. I speak of the king of American TV: football!!! Streaming football is back and, unlike some other sports, it routinely dominates all viewership. Probably the best way to show this is to update one of my favorite graphics, the “40 Million Hour Club”1 since football games have joined that club each week they’ve premiered: (Yep, that’s the data through 28-Sep, the first four weeks of the season. As a reminder, I take the average minute audience provided by Nielsen, factor out a percentage of linear TV viewers in home markets, and multiply the run time by the three-hour runtime.) Again, the numbers are huge. Let’s start with Netflix. They grabbed the rights to the bonus opening week NFL Kickoff game (which was on YouTube last year) and it put up 18.5 million viewers on average. That nets out to 47.4 million hours of estimated streaming hours. That’s good! Though, notably, it’s well below Christmas Day games from previous years. Compared to other streamers/broadcasters, that’s a bit of a mixed result. On one hand, Netflix’s 18.5 million average is about what YouTube claimed last year, though Nielsen used a bespoke methodology at that time, so I trust this viewership figure more. So that’s good. (The game also shifted from a Friday to a Thursday and that could have helped the viewership as well.) And Netflix continues to best Prime Video in total viewership—as you’ll see next—though Netflix has had much higher-profile (opening week and Christmas Day) games. NBC/Peacock’s opening game the night before averaged 25.1 million average viewers, which is just much bigger than Netflix (or Prime Video). That’s the big caveat to all streaming viewership records: even in success, they can’t compete with traditional linear TV. Previously, I called this my “hierarchy of viewership”, and the data keeps supporting that thesis. The downside for NBC is that this game’s viewership was down compared to previous years, though it may be a counting issue. Here’s a great chart from Sports Media Watch: Indeed, looking at all the opening week games across all windows, Netflix still lags the other primetime windows, but does well compared to the afternoon games: I saw a few folks make the case that streamers still lag traditional broadcasters in reach, and I’d add they really lag compared to “broadcast plus streaming” options like NBC/Peacock, ESPN/Disney+ and CBS/Paramount+. The best data I saw for this came from Samba TV, who charted reach through the 2025 season, and, wow. (Samba TV’s numbers are historically lower than Nielsen’s, so don’t compare their household figures to Nielsen’s hours, but use them as a proxy for the relative reach of the streamers.) The good news is Prime Video is NOT having a down year. Their opening Thursday Night Football game reached 18.6 million viewers (about what Netflix got), but that’s a high for Prime Video on Thursdays and the biggest Thursday night game since 2015. The TNF games the weeks of 21-Sep and 28-Sep continued this streak, getting 43.1 (16.8 million average viewers) and 42.5 total hours (16.6 million average viewers), which were both up from last year. Still, that continues the (typical) season slide: (For those new-to-streaming-football-numbers folks, the viewership declines for Thursday Night Football as the year goes along.) Overall, it appears as if Prime Video is now part of the “football habit”, be it for customers at home or out at places like bars and restaurants. And its viewership is slowly catching up to broadcast. One last chart shows this. Last season, Nielsen started adding out-of-home viewership to the charts, so I try not to do season-to-season comparisons as I did for the first few years. And while Nielsen added Big Data viewing this year, I’m going to compare the last two seasons. Here’s that chart, which shows the season-over-season gains: When it comes to streaming football, we have to keep a few seemingly contradictory thoughts in our head… First, streaming doesn’t come close to matching broadcast’s reach and, thus, viewership. Second, even with that gap, football is still the biggest “thing” on streaming. It’s very, very popular. Third, while some methodology changes have likely helped Prime Video’s numbers, their viewership does appear to be growing. Lastly, yeah, the NFL started the season off poorly, with week one dragging down the numbers in year-over-year comparisons. However—and again, methodology changes may have helped this—the viewership grew compared to previous seasons over the next couple of weeks. So football is still king. On streaming and off. Television - Adult Animation Continues to NOT Make the Streaming Charts In the last two reports, two adult-animated shows whiffed: Netflix’s animated comedy, Dang! Paramount+’s Sega-video-game-inspired fantasy/comedy, Golden Axe. Neither made the charts, but that’s usually the case for animated shows. I mean, here’s literally every animated show that’s made the Nielsen Original charts since the start of 2025: And one of those shows is G_abby’s Dollhouse_! A kids show! The problem with charts like this is that they don’t give you a sense of how many shows miss the charts. Netflix had at least eleven animated flops, including comedies like Big Mouth (a show everyone assumed was popular in the pre-Streaming Ratings Era), Long Story Short, Haunted Hotel, Mating Season, Strip Law, and Alley Cats, and action shows like Blood of Zeus, Castlevania: Nocturne, Devil May Cry, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, and Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft. Prime Video had at least six animated misses, two in the same universe (Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss), three more comedies (#1 Happy Family USA, The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy and Kevin) and an action show (The Mighty Nein). Disney+ had MCU and Star Wars animated misses (Eyes of Wakanda, Marvel Zombies, Star Wars: Visions, Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, and Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld) but I can’t tell how many of those shows were geared towards adults. HBO Max had Harley Quinn and Hulu had Solar Opposites. None of these shows made the charts! That’s a lot of misses! If I remade the chart with all those misses, here’s how it would look: Listen, I know the counter arguments. First, it’s cheaper to produce animated shows than live action. Fair enough, but with viewership this low, even that cheaper price point starts to not matter. Second, just look at the acquired charts. Hit animated comedies can generate viewership for years! Shows like The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, and Bob’s Burgers do really, really well. Fair enough, but streaming has failed to recreate the dynamic that Fox has mastered so well. That’s a problem for streaming still. Television - Emmys! The annual Emmys broadcast was a few weeks ago, and I’ve got data on how the nominees performed on streaming, plus hot takes on this year’s viewership (and the big news about the broadcast’s, er, streamcast’s future). We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… The top Emmy-nominated shows… ...why I’m worried about the future of the Emmys telecast... ...the pros of broadcast television ...and the cons... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. Coming Soon! Next week, we’ve got a double issue (since the weeks of 21-Sep and 28-Sep were so light), but then I’ll be all caught up after a deluge of streaming ratings data from Nielsen in September. In the meantime, I’m going to try to take a look at Netflix’s stats to explain why Bela Bajaria is out. But even light weeks give me plenty to talk about. The Great British Baking Show returns to Netflix and Apple TV has a buzzy new star-studded comedy. And Netflix has a controversial-but-appears-to-be-popular new game show. Plus big films like Toy Story 5, Backrooms and The Breadwinner head to streaming. And is East of Eden a hit? After that, The Kardashians return to Hulu, Prime Video has a reboot of Carrie, and Netflix has a horror show, Below. Disclosure Day heads to Peacock, The Housemaid heads to HBO Max_,_ a new Ben Affleck film, Animals, lands on Netflix, and Apple TV has a new John Cena action film based on, checks notes, Hasbro’s Matchbox toys. Okay. Longterm, some interesting TV production news. HBO Max ordered How to Survive Without Me, starring Kaley Cuoco, Joshua Jackson, Ray Romano and Rita Wilson, for fifteen episodes! I love that some streamers (or, at least, HBO Max) are finally ordering TV shows with more than eight episodes. In less wise production news, Landman does not appear to be coming back this year, since it just started production. Frankly, I don’t love this (get your shows out on time) but Landman is so popular, I doubt it matters.

Oct 18 • 3:59 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com

Movie review: 'Wicker' weaves a feisty feminist fable

It’s too bad the title “The Wicker Man” was already taken, as that’s literally what star Alexander Skarsgård is playing in “Wicker,” a randy little ditty of a film from

Oct 20 • 2:52 PM EDT • Entertainment • recorderonline.com

Told he was science fiction: Now the tissue he printed restored people's sight

A decade after founding Precise Bio, five patients at Rambam Health Care Campus have already received corneal implants produced by the company. And what about printing other organs?

Oct 22 • 4:01 PM EDT • Science • jpost.com

‘Wednesday’ star who filmed in Mass. says she’s stepping away from TV

After spending much of her life jumping from show to show, the actress says she’s ready for a change.

Oct 23 • 11:25 AM EDT • Entertainment • masslive.com

It's official: Samsung's next foldable phone is coming soon

Samsung has already launched three foldable phones in 2026, but the company has confirmed that one more device is coming next week.

Oct 23 • 2:28 AM EDT • Technology • androidauthority.com

New owner-operator brings upgrades, more programming to Skate City

"There's nobody else in the country that does what we do when it comes to roller-skating." Take a look at what already has changed and what's ahead from the new owner-operator of Skate City.

Oct 22 • 5:05 PM EDT • Business • siouxfalls.business

A bitter Michigan Senate race rattles Jewish and Muslim voters already on edge over the war in Gaza

Michigan’s closely contested Senate race has become deeply personal for some voters.

Oct 19 • 4:26 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org

Crackgate? iPhone Duo Owners Report Screens Breaking Along the Hinge

Some iPhone Duos are already experiencing hinge issues that cause display cracks, based on photos shared on Reddit and the MacRumors forums. Almost all of the display faults are right along the hinge, and most result in a line of bright pixels across one side of the screen. An iPhone Duo owner in Australia said his device cracked after being opened fewer than 20 times, and there was no visible damage beforehand. Had my iPhone Duo for about six hours and had probably opened it fewer than 20 times.

Oct 23 • 2:05 PM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com

Giant iPhone Duo Displays Coming to Four Apple Stores

To celebrate the launch of the iPhone Duo this Friday, Apple has set up oversized iPhone Duo promotional displays at Apple Fifth Avenue in New York City, Apple Covent Garden in London, Apple BKC in India, and Apple Jing'an in Shanghai. The installations were already spotted under wraps, and Apple CEO John Ternus has since revealed what they look like in a photo of Apple Jing'an shared on his Weibo account today.

Oct 22 • 2:50 PM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com

New Richland Lab Could Transform How Scientists Study Microbes and Boost Regional Jobs

The BriefGroundbreaking held Tuesday: PNNL officially began construction on the M2PC lab, a 30,800-square-foot facility funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science that will study soil microbes to improve crop productivity and develop new biotechnology applications. The facility will be open to researchers from around the nation and the world.Research timelines could shrink dramatically: The facility's automation and AI capabilities could reduce experiments that currently take six months to just 72 hours, allowing scientists to explore more possibilities faster than ever before.New jobs coming to the Tri-Cities: The project is expected to create positions for automation engineers, AI experts, roboticists, technicians, and skilled craftspeople, with the facility opening in 2029.RICHLAND, Wash. — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory broke ground Tuesday on a first-of-its-kind facility that could accelerate scientific discoveries about the microscopic organisms living in soil—organisms that may hold the key to growing more food and developing new energy technologies.The Microbial Molecular Phenotyping Capability, or M2PC, represents a significant investment in automation and artificial intelligence to speed up research that traditionally takes years to complete. The 30,800-square-foot facility will house more than 100 connected automated instruments designed to study microbes at a pace and scale never before possible.Reshaping Agriculture's FutureThe M2PC facility will not put a new tool directly into a farmer's hands tomorrow morning, but it is actively reshaping the commercial pipeline to solve agriculture's biggest headache with biologicals: inconsistent field performance. For years, PNNL researchers have explored how microbes work and how they might help produce useful materials, advance energy technologies, and address challenges involving critical materials and minerals. But those experiments have been limited by what researchers could accomplish by hand."They can be used to provide nutrients to a plant so that the plant would grow more. So, like increasing your crop productivity, for example," said Douglas Mans, PNNL's Associate Laboratory Director for Integrated Discovery Sciences.PNNL's own research shows soil microbes can help plants access nutrients and withstand drought—benefits that could prove crucial as farmers face growing environmental pressures. The M2PC facility will allow scientists to identify and optimize useful microbes faster than ever before, accelerating the development of biological solutions that actually work consistently in the field.What Makes M2PC UniqueThe Microbial Molecular Phenotyping Capability differs from traditional research labs because it operates as a first-of-its-kind, AI-enabled autonomous laboratory designed to shrink experimental timelines from years down to months or weeks. The M2PC lab will connect more than 100 automated instruments to grow microbes, prepare samples, measure their behavior, and link observations to the molecular processes behind them. Artificial intelligence will help analyze results and guide the next experiments, allowing scientists to explore more questions faster.Deb Gracio, PNNL Director, emphasized the transformative potential during Tuesday's groundbreaking ceremony: "Research that has taken years will become possible in months and hopefully in weeks."That acceleration is already being demonstrated. PNNL's smaller automated lab, called the Anaerobic Microbial Phenotyping Platform or AMP2, completed three experimental cycles in just 72 hours—a process that normally would have taken about six months."That normally would have taken us about six months … and we were able to do that in 72 hours," Mans said.The AMP2 laboratory is not being closed or replaced. Instead, the current 1,800-square-foot laboratory serves as an active prototype and precursor for the much larger M2PC facility. AMP2 will continue operating as a separate lab designed to run anaerobic experiments—those conducted in the absence of oxygen—while M2PC will focus on aerobic research.Broader Applications Beyond AgricultureWhile improving crop productivity is one important application, the M2PC facility is designed to support research into multiple areas critical to national priorities. The lab will advance research into biofuels, manufacturing materials, and energy technologies. It will also help researchers understand how microbes respond to environmental changes and how to design biological systems for biotechnology applications.As a flagship component of the Department of Energy's Genesis Mission, M2PC represents a significant investment in using artificial intelligence and automation to accelerate U.S. scientific discovery. Dorothy Koch, Associate Director of the DOE Office of Science Biological and Environmental Research program, highlighted the facility's importance during the groundbreaking."M2PC will accelerate biological discovery and design," Koch said, noting that the facility is expected to conduct a minimum of 500 strain experiments per week, 100 microbiome experiments per week, and take a million measurements per month.Economic Opportunity for the RegionBeyond the scientific breakthroughs, the M2PC project represents significant economic opportunity for the Tri-Cities region. The facility will require hiring automation engineers, AI experts, technicians skilled in operating robotics, and specialized craftspeople to build and maintain the sophisticated equipment."We're anticipating that type of hiring," Mans said when asked about job creation.PNNL has already begun recruiting talent nationally and internationally for positions related to the smaller AMP2 lab, bringing automation engineers from cities like Boston and San Francisco to work in the region. The M2PC facility is expected to accelerate that trend."This capability won't really exist anywhere else in the world," Mans said, suggesting the facility could become a draw for scientific talent seeking to work on cutting-edge biotechnology research.Timeline and Next StepsThe M2PC facility is expected to open in 2029. Between now and then, construction crews will level and prepare the ground, while the building takes shape. Simultaneously, Ginkgo Bio Works, the automation contractor, will build the facility's automation components off-site so they can be installed as the building is completed.In the interim, PNNL researchers and the broader scientific community will begin planning the first experiments to be conducted in the facility, ensuring research is lined up and ready to begin as soon as the doors open.The groundbreaking ceremony included representatives from the Department of Energy, PNNL leadership, and elected officials at the federal, state, and local levels, underscoring the project's significance to the region and the nation's biotechnology future. News The U.S. Department of Energy Secretary tours Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Dan Hanson, Apple Valley News Now News Beyond DNA: Scientists Explore New Frontiers in Biology Research Dan Hanson, Apple Valley News Now News TRIDEC optimistic that Hanford, PNNL will see funding in national budget Robert Desaulniers News Big picture science: monitoring the Yakima River Basin News PNNL research could shape the future of fighting fentanyl ​COPYRIGHT 2026 BY APPLE VALLEY NEWS NOW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.

Oct 20 • 7:44 PM EDT • Science • applevalleynewsnow.com

Industry Insights: Beauty, Science and the Boardroom

Beauty companies can make more of two high-value assets they already possess: their scientific organizations and their boards. The key is to connect them deliberately.

Oct 19 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • cosmeticsandtoiletries.com

iPhone Duo 2 Prototypes Include Under-Display Face ID

Apple's second-generation iPhone Duo could gain Face ID, with prototypes already incorporating the technology beneath the outer display, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In the latest episode of his "Power On" podcast, Gurman described Apple's work on adding facial authentication technology to its foldable iPhone. The company is said to be testing the hardware for a successor expected next fall, but has not finalized whether the feature will ship.

Oct 22 • 6:46 AM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com

Report: Rams TE Terrance Ferguson not ready to come off IR

Oct 20 • 10:10 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

China’s new 0.1-nanometre electron microscope ready to challenge US and Japan

Model marks shift from R&D to commercialisation and aligns with country’s effort to cut reliance on imported tech.

Oct 20 • 12:00 AM EDT • Science • scmp.com

N.Y. state calls on agencies to keep budgets flat

The warning comes as the state is already facing projected budget gaps in the coming years.

Oct 22 • 1:02 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com

I updated my Galaxy to One UI 9 and immediately changed these 5 settings

Bigger sliders, live network speed, per-app internet blocking, and a fix for car sickness.

Oct 18 • 4:30 PM EDT • Technology • makeuseof.com

Preparing for cascading climate risks

Arizona communities already understand that climate hazards rarely occur in isolation. Extreme heat can drive up electricity demand, drought can increase wildfire risk, and flooding can disrupt transportation, water systems, housing and local economies. Because these systems are connected, a disruption in one can quickly threaten public health and safety.

Oct 21 • 12:25 PM EDT • Science • news.asu.edu

Apple's Touchscreen OLED MacBook Pro: Everything We Know

Apple is working on a high-end MacBook Pro, and it's nearly ready to launch. It will have several firsts in a Mac, including an OLED display and a touchscreen. Design Apple hasn't redesigned the MacBook Pro since the launch of the M1 Pro and M1 Max models in 2021, so it's due for a new look. The new MacBook Pro is expected to feature some minor design changes.

Oct 20 • 3:40 PM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com

BUTCH’S BLOG: Unhealthy Health Care

Unhealthy Health Care Lately I’ve had to deal with some health problems—skin carcinomas to be precise. Too much sunning in my youth on the waves and beaches of New Jersey. My mother used to slather us with Coppertone. Wear hats, I say. And use that high SPF sunscreen. But for me, the horse is already way out of the barn. I’ve had two surgeries now, painful, but successful, one more to go. But I’m not here to whine. I’m lucky. I will survive. And, importantly, I have health insurance. Many are not so lucky. When the bill came from the clinic,...

Oct 18 • 4:47 PM EDT • Health • tillamookcountypioneer.net

5 things I think I think about the St. Pete Mayor’s race, with 14,000 ballots in and early voting opening Monday

The mail vote is running at 2024’s pace from a smaller pool, and the party math already tilts Crist.

Oct 18 • 7:30 PM EDT • Politics • floridapolitics.com

‘A pending public health crisis’: Minnesota community health clinics brace for Medicaid changes and more uninsured patients

Community health centers statewide are reporting that thousands may lose coverage, adding further strain to an already stressed health care system. Southside Community Health Services is preparing for the financial and health impacts of sweeping Medicaid changes.

Oct 23 • 12:15 PM EDT • Health • mprnews.org

AI in Teaching: What the Science of Learning Already Tells Us

Explore how the science of learning can guide AI in teaching and higher education, helping instructors support student learning with evidence-based strategies.

Oct 23 • 12:00 AM EDT • Science • facultyfocus.com

Top Weekly Entertainment Picks

Get ready for a full weekend of headline concerts and seasonal fun in South Jersey. Hear Godsmack perform live at Hard Rock, enjoy a seasonal market with

Oct 22 • 10:13 AM EDT • Entertainment • shorelocalnews.com

Live music, haunted trails offer weekend entertainment

Whether you’re in the mood for spooky adventures or ready to put on your dancing boots, Saturday, Oct. 24, offers two ways to enjoy the fall season.

Oct 19 • 5:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • southtexasnews.com