Author: openjargon

• I've worked at Costco for 18 years, so I have a few favorite high-quality items I like to get there.
• In my opinion, the Kirkland Signature eyeglasses are comparable to those of designer brands.
• The Kirkland Signature hard seltzers are tasty and perfect to bring to parties or tailgates.

I've worked at Costco for 18 years and love picking up high-quality products for my family. Oftentimes, I buy items from Costco's house brand, Kirkland Signature, which makes over 350 products, from food items to home essentials.

I find that buying products from the Kirkland Signature brand, which made up about a quarter of Costco's revenue in 2021, saves my family money.

Here are eight high-quality Kirkland Signature items I grab for my family of four at Costco.

Prices may vary by location.

The Kirkland Signature cage-free liquid egg whites help me reach my protein goals.

My family and I try to maintain a protein-rich lifestyle with the help of items like the Kirkland Signature cage-free egg whites.

I eat these egg whites five times a week to reach my protein goals and feel full. If you enjoy egg whites and want a great deal, I recommend getting them at Costco.

Each box contains six cartons for $11.40.

I get the Kirkland Signature salmon-and-sweet-potato dog food for my pet.

I always want to buy high-quality food for my pet, so I choose Nature's Domain Kirkland Signature salmon-and-sweet-potato dog food. I love that it's grain-free and contains vitamin E, prebiotic fiber, and omega fatty acids.

A 35-pound bag of the salmon-and-sweet-potato dog food is $53 at my location.

The Kirkland Signature bath tissue is one of my essentials. 

The Kirkland Signature bath tissue is the only brand of toilet paper I buy. This soft tissue is much better than most brands I've purchased and is pretty affordable at Costco.

I like how the package comes with individually wrapped sets of six rolls, so I can easily store some bundles in the closet and place others in the bathroom. A pack of Kirkland Signature bath tissue with 30 rolls is $23.50 at my Costco.

We pretty much only use the brand's alkaline AA batteries.

The Kirkland Signature alkaline batteries are my go-to. We need batteries for many things nowadays, and having these on deck for toys, games, and remote controls is essential.

The Kirkland Signature batteries have a 12-year shelf life, which is comparable to other leading brands. At my store, each package of 48 batteries costs $16.

I've never regretted buying my 12-piece nonstick cookware set.

I cook every day, and finding nonstick pots and pans that I liked took me a while. Less than a year ago, I tried the Kirkland Signature nonstick hard-anodized cookware set and haven't been disappointed.

This cookware set contains 12 pieces, including saucepans, skillets, and lids. It's handwashable and oven-safe up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

I bought this cookware set for $130.

The Kirkland Signature hard-seltzer variety pack is great to bring to parties.

Kirkland Signature hard seltzers are perfect for parties and tailgates. The 12-ounce cans contain 5% alcohol and come in mango, grapefruit, black-cherry, and lime flavors.

The 24-packs of Kirkland Signature hard seltzers are $19 at my store.

I never have to worry about ripping the brand's Flex-Tech 13-gallon kitchen trash bags.

I promised myself I would never buy trash bags from anywhere else but Costco. Compared to the offerings at other stores, the Kirkland Signature Flex-Tech kitchen bags are the best price I've seen — I can get a year's supply for about $20.

These trash bags fit perfectly in my 13-gallon trash can. They have great stretch and drawstrings, so they can easily be pulled out of a trash can. Every box contains 200 bags, which means each bag is $0.10.

I think the Kirkland Signature glasses are comparable to designer ones.

Every year, my family and I have our eyes examined and pick out glasses at Costco's optical center. Costco carries designer brands, but I think the high-quality Kirkland Signature lenses are right up there with them.

These lenses are stylish, relatively affordable, and covered by Costco's 100% satisfaction guarantee policy. Glasses and sunglasses at my Costco start at $30.

Click to keep reading Costco diaries like this one.

• Earlier this year, Walmart announced a new store manager pay plan that tops out at $530,000.
• Store manager Greg Harden told Bloomberg he "almost fainted" when he learned of it.
• Walmart says better pay and benefits, plus better tech, have lowered turnover among store leadership.

Walmart made waves earlier this year when it announced it was upping pay for store managers, with some potentially able to earn up to $530,000.

"I almost fainted when I found out," said Greg Harden, a Supercenter manager in Texas told Bloomberg.

Harden currently manages over 400 workers and more than $100 million in sales at his store in Grand Prairie, Texas, one of the largest in the Dallas area, according to the report.

Under the new plan, Walmart says the average base salary for US store managers is now $128,000, up from $117,000, while the top-paid Supercenter managers will see a base salary of $170,000.

Add to that a 200% performance bonus and stock grants worth between $10,000 and $20,000 — depending on store size — and the package starts to look quite lucrative for a job that notably does not require a four-year college degree.

Still, it's a lot of work to run a Walmart, and Harden told Bloomberg he has put in lots of six-day weeks with 10-hour shifts that start at 5 a.m. each morning.

Other managers told the publication it's a bit like being in charge of a small town — to the point where they could consider a job like being mayor.

Walmart's executive vice president of store operations Cedric Clark told Bloomberg the pay increase, along with recent improvements in benefits and a slate of new tech tools, have helped to improve morale and reduce turnover among store leadership.

You can read the outlet's full interview with store manager Greg Harden here.

If you are a Walmart store manager who would like to share your perspective, please contact Dominick via email or text/call/Signal at 646.768.4750. Responses will be kept confidential, and Business Insider strongly recommends using a personal email and a non-work device when reaching out.

• Russia's casualties reached an average of 1,200 per day this month, according to UK intelligence.
• It's the highest since the start of the war, likely due to costly offensives across the front lines.
• Russia is currently prioritizing attacks in and around Kharkiv in Ukraine's northeast. 

Russia's intense attacks across the front line have been costly, with the number of casualties per day reaching a new peak this month, according to new intelligence.

The assessment attributes the elevated casualty rate to Russia's brutal ongoing offensive, noting that Russia's ability to replenish its units is stretched thin due to its consistent losses.

According to Friday's intel from the UK Ministry of Defense, the average number of Russian personnel casualties was over 1,200 a day in May, the highest number reported since the war began. The ministry also said the total number of killed or wounded Russian soldiers since the February 2022 invasion is likely at 500,000.

May's elevated casualty rate is likely due to a variety of factors, most notably Russia's ongoing offensive to try to capture more ground before Ukraine's frontline is rearmed by more ammunition sent by the US. It's likely also the result of Russia rushing relatively inexperienced and untrained soldiers into battle, often in bloody head-on assaults.

Per the ministry, "It is highly likely that most Russian forces receive only limited training, and they are unable to carry out complex offensive operations. As a result, Russia employs small-scale but costly wave attacks in an effort to weaken Ukrainian defenses."

Such attacks are seen in areas around Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city. Just Thursday, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington DC-based think tank, wrote that Russian forces look to be transferring forces to areas north of Kharkiv, citing senior Ukrainian military officials.

While the transfer "indicates that the Russian military likely continues to prioritize efforts to draw and fix Ukrainian forces from critical sectors of the frontline in eastern Ukraine," ISW wrote, as well as suggests Russia's plan is to launch the second phase of their offensive in northern Kharkiv, Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said that the Russian military doesn't have enough manpower in the area to launch a full-scale offensive that breaks Ukraine's defenses.

Russia's high losses have become one of the most striking narratives of the war, an attritional warfare strategy that depends on massive firepower and human wave attacks by inexperienced, ill-equipped troops with little care for casualties or morale.

Prior to UK intel on casualties in May, previous assessments from the ministry reported spikes in Russia's daily average loss rate, tracking from 400 in 2022, to 693 in 2023, and 913 in the first quarter of 2024.

For Russia, part of the appeal of these massive human wave attacks may be their ability to keep a consistent pressure on Ukrainian defenses, forcing Ukraine to deplete ammunition to prevent being overwhelmed. This brute force strategy plays to Russia's strengths: a much larger population and defense industry.

But Russia's high casualties also prevents it from training more capable units and keeping a majority of its troops in battle long enough to gain experience. Per the UK ministry's update on Friday, "the need to continuously replenish front line personnel will almost certainly continue to limit Russia's ability to generate higher capability units."

• Shaun Maguire announced he'd be backing Donald Trump after the former president's felony conviction.
• The Sequoia partner's support highlights a political shift among some in Silicon Valley.
• A growing number of influential voices have criticized the Biden administration.

Shaun Maguire, a partner at the prominent venture capital firm Sequoia, announced he'll be cutting a $300,000 check to Donald Trump — just minutes after the former president was found guilty of 34 felony counts. The timing, Maguire said, was not a coincidence.

In a lengthy screed on X, Maguire, who said he voted for Hilary Clinton in 2016 and did not vote in 2020, outlined his reasoning — including a take about the "double standards and lawfare against Trump."

He also acknowledged that it may not be the most shrewd move for business.

"I know that I'll lose friends for this. Some will refuse to do business with me," he wrote. "The media will probably demonize me, as they have so many others before me. But despite this, I still believe it's the right thing to do."

Maguire, who did not respond to a request to comment from Business Insider, may be less alone than he thinks.

Following his conviction, Trump's campaign reported raising a record $34.8 billion. And while that amount was mostly from small donors, per the Trump team, some big-money donors and Silicon Valley titans have signaled their support for the former president — and the guilty verdict doesn't seem to have stopped them.

Billionaire venture capitalist David Sacks, who is co-hosting a fundraiser for Trump next week, called the trial a "sham." Elon Musk replied in agreement with Maguire. Investor Keith Rabois reposted various takes that criticized the verdict.

While Silicon Valley has long been a liberal hub, Trump has been courting the big-pocketed tech executives and venture capitalists there.

Chamath Palihapitiya, another venture capital billionaire and Sacks' podcast partner, will also cohost next week's Trump fundraiser at Sacks' home, despite donating six figures to Biden in 2020. Musk has reportedly been in talks with Trump regarding an advisory role, should he win.

Others, like venture capitalist Marc Andreeson and Rabois, have not announced their support for Trump but have criticized Biden.

The current administration's stance on regulation — particularly the FTC's approach to Big Tech companies — and calls for increased taxes on the wealthy has turned some former Democrats against the party.

The members of the monied West Coast class throwing their support behind Trump are mirroring some Wall Street counterparts. Last week, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman announced he'd be backing the former president. Hedge fund giant Bill Ackman is reportedly leaning toward endorsing him, too.

Of course, the growing number of influential Silicon Valley voices supporting Trump — Sacks and Palihapitiya have their popular podcast, Musk has his an entire social media platform — are not representative of many of the area's wealthy inhabitants.

For example, earlier this month, former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla hosted fundraising events for Biden.

• The Kremlin is accused of waging a "shadow war" against the West amid Russian sabotage incidents.
• The sabotage spree has been ongoing for years but has escalated since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
• Frequent targets include weapons facilities and other infrastructure aiding Ukrainian forces.

In the wee hours of Sunday, May 12, a fire broke out at the Marywilska 44 shopping center, one of Poland's largest. The conflagration ultimately destroyed 80% of the complex, which housed 1,400 shops and outlets.

This week, Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that it is "quite likely — that the Russian services had something to do with the Marywilska fire." 

If true, the loss of a Polish shopping center by means of Russian arson would be shocking on its own. When viewed as one pixel in a larger picture of a sustained sabotage campaign against Western targets, the scale of the problem comes into focus.

After the fire, Poland arrested and indicted nine Russians alleged to have been involved in "beatings, arson, and attempted arson," including foiled plots to commit arson at a paint factory in the Polish city of Wroclaw and plans to set an Ikea in Lithuania ablaze.

Russia's shadow war against the West is no joke

Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas stated this week that likely ongoing sabotage operations are part of a Russian "shadow war" being actively waged against the West. Estonia would know having arrested 10 people believed to have committed acts of sabotage on behalf of Russia in February.

As NATO advances toward the July summit, it's become clear that more comprehensive discussions on addressing the Russian sabotage campaign must take place. The problem has been around for at least a decade; the pace of attacks, however, seems to have dramatically quickened.

Some of the earliest identified acts of Russian sabotage occurred in 2014 at ammunition depots in the Czech Republic killing two and causing $42.5 million in damage. In April, Czechia police published the results of their decadelong investigation, concluding, "The police authority considers it proven that the explosions of the two warehouses in Vrbětice were carried out by members of the Russian military intelligence."

Not long after, in 2015, Russia is believed set off explosions and fires at Bulgaria's largest armaments factory. More recently in 2022 and 2023, Russia is thought to have once again targeted the warehouses of Bulgarian defense manufacturers. Bulgaria has played a crucial role in supplying ammunition and shells to Ukrainian forces, especially in the early stages of the war.

Closer to home, last month, a fire broke out at the Scranton Army ammunition plant in Pennsylvania, which produces steel tubes for 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds, among other munitions. Just two days later, explosions occurred at a BAE Systems munitions plant in the United Kingdom.

Investigations into both these incidents remain ongoing; either, however, would fit the Russian modus operandi.

Considering recent trends, one could also be forgiven for looking askance at the multiple fires that broke out in just one week at Denmark's Novo Nordisk. The company, better known as the maker of the diabetes and weight loss drug Ozempic, also happens to be Europe's most valuable.

Even putting these incidents aside, there are plenty of proven reasons to be suspicious. Indeed, the day after the BAE plant explosion, German authorities arrested two Russian-German would-be saboteurs, believed to be plotting attacks against bases, including Grafenwoehr, where the Ukrainian forces are trained to operate the American Abrams tanks.

Weapons and training facilities aiding Ukrainian forces are frequent targets. Norwegian authorities recently noted an increase in the threat of sabotage against arms deliveries to Ukraine, alongside a resident threat to the Norwegian energy sector.

Energy is another favored target. Russia was certainly a party to the sabotage of the Baltic Interconnector pipeline last October. This week, construction workers near Bellheim, Germany, stumbled upon a cache of explosives and detonators intentionally buried nearby pipelines that form a portion of the NATO Pipeline System.

Transportation links are also in the crosshairs. The Czech transport Minister accused Russia last month of "trying to sabotage European railways" with "thousands of attempts to weaken our systems." A series of Swedish train derailments may be one example.

Another is the October 2022 attacks on German rail operator Deutsche Bahn (DB). Investigators suspect Russia was behind the sabotage of critical cables, which brought rail traffic to a three-hour standstill. In the event of future conflict, perched atop Germany's central location in Europe, DB would be one of the most important actors, moving NATO tanks, trucks, and troops.

Russia has also sought out more prosaic but no less critical targets. Take for instance, hackers closely tied to the Kremlin who claimed credit for hacking municipal water systems in the US and Poland as well as a water mill in France.

These incidents are very likely merely the tip of the iceberg and paint a picture of a sabotage spree gaining momentum.

Russia sees itself as at war with the West and believes that it can pummel with impunity so long as its aggression stays under a certain threshold.

NATO leaders gathering this summer in Washington may want to mark the alliance's 75th anniversary and focus on bolstering additional support for Ukraine. They are quickly learning, however, that Russia's hybrid aggression, most vividly elucidated in a brazen ongoing sabotage spree, will be sharing center stage.

Daniel Kochis is a senior fellow at the Center on Europe and Eurasia at Hudson Institute. He specializes in transatlantic security issues and regularly publishes on United States policy in Europe, NATO, Baltic, and Nordic dimensions of collective defense and Arctic issues. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own. 

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Most new iPhone releases offer incremental upgrades, but after testing and using the iPhone 15 over the months since its release, its upgrades are clearly more substantial. It might not look like it from the outside, but the iPhone 15 represents one of Apple's biggest updates to the base iPhone since the iPhone 12 from 2020. 

More so than any base iPhone in recent memory, the iPhone 15 doesn't make you feel like you're missing out by not buying the Pro version. It dips its toes in the exclusive waters of Apple's iPhone Pro models with more trickle-down features than we've seen before, like a high-megapixel camera, Dynamic Island, and super-bright displays that can handle the sunniest days. And, the iPhone 15 heralds a subtly refreshed design, which we haven't seen in three generations, as well as a USB-C port that brings Apple's ecosystem of devices closer to harmony for charging. 

To be sure, the iPhone 15 Pro models are technologically superior, and Apple is keeping a clear distinction between its base and Pro models. Though the iPhone 15 comes with major upgrades, it might still not be enough for those who typically go for the iPhone Pros. The iPhone 15's display still runs at a 60Hz refresh rate that's becoming stale and outdated in 2024. And only the iPhone 15 Pro models receive Apple's latest iPhone processor, the new Action Button, and a dedicated zoom camera. 

Still, the iPhone 15 is a darn good phone for most people, and considering all its upgrades relative to its price, it's the best iPhone we've seen in years.

Performance and display: A powerful processor that's still matched with a dated screen

Whichever way you look at it, the iPhone 15, running on Apple's A16 Bionic processor, is a powerful and fast phone. Sure, it's not as powerful as the iPhone 15 Pro models running on the newer A17 Pro, but it's still a generational leap over the iPhone 14, which ran on the iPhone 13 Pro's A15 Bionic processor. 

In everyday use, during the iPhone 15's first year and perhaps its second, you're not going to notice much of a difference whether you're comparing it to the iPhone 15 Pro models or the iPhone 14 (and the iPhone 13 series, for that matter). The iPhone 15's performance gap between the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 14 will perceivably widen over the years when iOS and apps become more advanced.

Benchmark test results suggest the iPhone 15 Pro could last a year longer than the iPhone 15 before apps start to take longer than you'd like to open and run. The same is true for the iPhone 15, which should last a year longer than the iPhone 14. 

It's a shame the iPhone 15's power isn't mated with a 120Hz display — it would accentuate the phone's performance with smoother animations. It's not a dealbreaker by any means, and it doesn't hold you back, but my eyebrows raise higher and higher with every new iPhone release that still has a 60Hz display. 

I could argue that a smooth 120Hz refresh rate is a standard expectation on phones these days, especially those starting at $800. Android phones have had 120Hz displays since 2020, starting with the Samsung Galaxy S20 series. And thinking about the $500 Pixel 8a with a 120Hz display, I'd even expect high refresh rates at lower price ranges. With that in mind, the iPhone 15's 60Hz display makes it feel dated.

The iPhone 15's simple 60Hz display also means it doesn't support an always-on display, which is another convenient feature reserved for the iPhone 15 Pro series. 

Still, the iPhone 15's brighter display is an unmistakable improvement, as it's noticeably brighter than previous generation base iPhones for better outdoor viewing on sunny days. Colors, especially, pop   

Design: A subtle leap

The iPhone 15 is slightly more comfortable and forgiving in the hand thanks to subtly softer edges compared to the harsher and sharper edges introduced with the iPhone 12 series through to the iPhone 14 series. It still looks like a modern iPhone with its flat edges, and not like the iPhone 11 and earlier generations with the fully rounded sides.

The rear glass on the iPhone 15 has a smooth, frosted matte texture compared to the clear glass from previous base iPhone generations. Whether you like the aesthetics is up to you (I personally prefer it), but it's undeniably less grippy than clear glass. As a result, it's easier to adjust the iPhone 15 in your hand, especially one-handed. Despite less grip, I never felt like the phone was more likely to stumble out of my hands.

Having said all this, none of it will matter much if you typically use a case. 

Colors are subjective, and Apple went with a pastel variety of blue, pink, yellow, green, and black.

'Pro' features: Dynamic Island, but no Action Button

Apple's Dynamic Island, a feature introduced with the iPhone 14 series and reserved for the iPhone 14 Pro models, has trickled down to the base iPhone 15. Dynamic Island delivers a nice boost in functionality — it's a clever way to view and interact with notifications, alerts, and app shortcuts without covering the entire screen, and it's proven useful whether you're actively doing something on the phone or not. 

Apple's latest functional convenience upgrade, the Action Button, didn't make it to the base iPhone 15 and is reserved for the iPhone 15 Pro models. For reference, the Action Button replaces the signature silent switch and offers customizable functions, like toggling the flashlight, opening the camera app, switching focus modes, and, yes, enabling silent mode. 

Cameras: 'Pro' quality trickles down

Since Apple released the iPhone 6s in 2015, most standard iPhones have had 12MP main cameras. The iPhone 15 introduced the biggest upgrade to the base iPhone camera since then with a 48MP camera, which was first introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro models. It's not exactly the same camera as the iPhone 14 Pro, but it's still a nice trickle-down feature that comes with some benefits.

One of those benefits is capturing more detail. It's not perceivable when you're casually flicking through photos, but it does let you zoom farther into a photo after it's been taken to reveal clearer details.

Here's a 12MP photo compared to a 48MP when fully zoomed out, showing the entire photo's contents on a screen. Apart from the cat in the 12MP, the photos are basically identical in quality:

Here's the same 12MP and 48MP photos zoomed in to show the cherub's details:

To save your iPhone's storage space, the iPhone 15 takes 24MP photos by default, which is a happy medium between 12MP and 48MP. It captures visibly more detail than a 12MP photo while using up significantly less storage:

Another benefit of the iPhone 15's 48MP camera is that it enables 2x zoom shots at 12MP with optical quality, and without the quality degradation from digital zooming. Essentially, it crops a quarter of the camera's sensor from the center, resulting in a photo that appears to be 2x zoomed when expanded on a screen.

Here's a photo taken with the iPhone 15's main camera with no zoom:

And here's a photo taken with the iPhone 15's main camera at 2x zoom: 

iPhone 15 photos follow Apple's signature safe and solid approach, which produces reliably excellent photos with well-balanced lighting, contrast, and colors. But, as with most phones, generational camera improvements only become apparent the older your current model is.

In low light, the iPhone 15 takes noticeably sharper photos than the iPhone 14, despite the fact that the iPhone 15's photos were taken at the same 12MP resolution as the iPhone 14. Improved sharpness was expected thanks to the iPhone 15's larger sensor that can capture more light. However, it didn't result in faster night shots — both phones prompted us to stay still for three seconds to take the test shots. 

The iPhone 15 records video up to 4K resolution at 60 frames per second, and video quality is reliably excellent, so there's no major upgrade here. However, the iPhone 15's larger 48MP sensor affords up to 6x digital zooming compared to the iPhone 14's 3x, and zoomed footage at any range looks significantly better as a result. 

Battery life and charging: USB-C brings harmony, but not faster charging speeds

The iPhone 15's battery life is comparable with that of the iPhone 14 and the iPhone 15 Pro, which is to say, it's very good and expected for a phone with a 6.1-inch display. If you already have experience with phones that have a similar display size, you'll find the iPhone 15 will provide similar battery life relative to your typical daily usage. Compared to an older phone with a battery that's degraded over time, the iPhone 15's battery life will be refreshing.

It won't change any daily charging habits you've built up over time based on your typical usage — only the iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 15 Pro Max have the potential to do that with their larger batteries and stunning battery lives.   

So, nothing new with battery life, but the way you charge the iPhone 15's battery, at least with a cable, has dramatically changed with the new USB-C port that replaced the Lightning port. 

The move is a triumph for some, as it standardizes the cables you'd need for electronics. USB-C is the common standard for nearly everything with a rechargeable battery these days, from laptops, tablets, and wireless headphones to kids' toys. It also opens up a wider variety of accessories to the iPhone 15 that were previously more limited or unavailable due to the Lightning port. And a nice little party trick — you can charge another iPhone, or your own, with another iPhone with a USB-C-to-USB-C cable.

The iPhone 15 doesn't come with a charger, but it does come with a USB-C cable. Those celebrating the move to USB-C likely already have chargers they can use, even if they're not specifically designed for the iPhone — any USB-C charger that supports at least 25W will fully support the iPhone 15's charging speeds.

For others who are fully entrenched in the Lightning ecosystem, this change potentially means buying new cables, chargers, and adapters. And unless you already own USB-C accessories, the new port will be more of an inconvenience for those who have been living in a Lightning-only world.

Either way, iPhones moving to USB-C or perhaps a different standard altogether was only a matter of time, even if Apple was forced to do so. The inconvenience is also only temporary, just as it was when Apple introduced Lightning to replace the 30-pin connector with the iPhone 5. 

Technologically, the base iPhone 15's move to USB-C offers little advantage over Lightning. Charging speeds aren't notably faster, and it handles the same USB 2 speeds as Lightning. Only the iPhone 15 Pro models support USB 3 for significantly faster data transfers. It's a shame, as the USB-C port has more to offer than what's given in the base iPhone 15. 

Should you buy the iPhone 15?

The iPhone 15 is a clear choice for anyone looking for a solid, simple phone that easily and effectively covers the basics that most people need, whether they're entrenched in the Apple ecosystem or not. Anyone who consistently picks base iPhone models instead of Pro models should be very happy with the iPhone 15.

While the base iPhone 15 has inherited several iPhone Pro features, the 60Hz display, dual-lens camera, and previous-generation processor won't lure iPhone Pro users to the base model. However, they should still satisfy most people's daily needs. And, iPhone Pro users looking to spend less will find more value than ever in the iPhone 15. 

As an upgrade option, the iPhone 15 and its considerable array of new features especially reward those with older iPhones, like the iPhone 12 and older. Those who recently spent good money on a more recent model, like the iPhone 13 or iPhone 14, may also feel the iPhone 15's pull — with a good trade-in deal, the justification to upgrade is there, especially considering trade-in deals tend to be more favorable if your current model is more recent. 

With that said, I'm not saying you need to update to the iPhone 15, even if you have an older iPhone. The iPhone 15 still delivers a very familiar everyday experience, and you shouldn't expect a major change in how you use your phone. Rather, the iPhone 15 gives you more reason to upgrade than the last two generations. 

In addition, the next iPhone release (iPhone 16) is cresting over the horizon at the time of writing, with a likely announcement in September. If you haven't picked up the iPhone 15 yet or don't need a new phone immediately, you can easily justify waiting less than half a year for the next release. It's possible Apple could add more trickled-down features to the iPhone 16 — the Action Button and faster USB-C, for example — and the iPhone 15 will get a predictable price cut, so it may be worth waiting if you can. But you won't go wrong getting the iPhone 15 now. 

If the iPhone 15 suits your needs, check our guides to the best iPhone 15 cases and best iPhone 15 screen protectors to guard the phone from damage and ensure its longevity. 

• Google is scaling back its AI answers after bad answers went viral.
• Last week, I made a pizza with glue  — and ate it — because Google AI search told me to.
• Am I the hero? Who can say.  

I'm not one to casually toss around the H-word, but, sure, you can say it: I'm a hero.

On Thursday, Google accounted in a blog post that it would be scaling back the AI search results it had rolled out the week prior to somewhat disastrous and hilarious ends. For example, its Google AI Overviews results suggested that it was good to eat one rock per day (which was presented seriously but was actually based on an article from The Onion), that Barack Obama was the first gay president, and that the way to keep the cheese from sliding off your pizza was to add 1/8 of a cup of glue to the sauce.

The glue pizza search result was traced back to a comment from a Redditor who went by "fucksmith" making an obvious joke on the subreddit r/Pizza.

Because I'm both brave and a genius, naturally, I had to try to make the glue pizza myself.

Now, Liz Reid, the head of search at Google, wrote in Thursday's blog post that Google will limit the use of satirical content in its AI-generated search results (no more answers from The Onion, for instance). It will also limit its use of user-generated content for AI-generated advice (being more careful with answers from Reddit, whose content Google is paying $60 million a year for, according to reports).

There was a whole lot of attention paid in the past week about how bad many of these AI-generated search results were — particularly because they were wacky and funny. Was Google's response to tamp down its big AI search ambitions just because a few jokesters on X made silly queries? Maybe.

Could it be because Google took the feedback seriously and realized that there were use cases they hadn't expected and they needed to retool based on this new information? Maybe.

Could it be a combination of those two things — that a small minority of trolls abusing the system for laughs revealed some serious flaws and dangers of putting AI in search results? That it wasn't just a PR disaster for a week but made Google seriously rethink the safety of the AI Overviews product and what it would actually be used for? Most likely.

But let's not overlook one crucial factor here: ME! I actually ate the glue pizza. (It did not taste good, and please do not do this at home).

In my dreams, I like to believe that Google CEO Sundar Pichai saw a picture of my gaping maw ingesting polyvinyl acetate and cheese, fell to his knees, and cried out, "What have I done?!?" Sacrificing my palate and the equilibrium of microplastics in my bloodstream was not in vain or merely for clicks; it slowed the steamroller of AI that is destroying all that we loved about the old internet.

The ridiculousness of those AI answers does call into question the entire concept of using AI for Google search results.

What is the point of it — these AI-generated results, the idea that you should "let Google do the Googling for you" — instead of using your own judgment to pick the link that looks like it has the best answer? As Max Read writes, "It is possible I am in a minority here, but speaking for myself I want to see a selection of different possible results and use the brain my ancestors spent hundreds of millions of years evolving to determine the context, tone, and intent."

Similarly, for New York Magazine, John Herrman points out that humans have become pretty good at parsing Google results on their own: "Understanding that you'll encounter some nonsense, scams, jokes, and ads on the way to finding what you're looking for, or realizing that you won't, is part of the job of using Google. By attempting to automate this job, Google has revealed — and maybe discovered — just how hard it is and how alien its understanding of its own users has become."

I don't necessarily think that AI search results are a terrible idea and will never be good. I believe Google when it says that most people, most of the time, have enjoyed AI search results. That's mostly been my experience, too.

The fact that Google rolled this out with such easily exploitable flaws? That was bad. But fixing it? That's good. And I like to convince myself that my eating glue pizza was part of the noise that prompted Google to act.

Please, please … I don't need your thanks. I'm just doing my job! As they say, not all heroes wear capes. Some just eat glue.

• America's shrinking birthrate is a problem.
• Millennials not having enough babies could crimp growth by 1-2 percentage points a year.
• At the current trajectory, that's set to weigh on the economy for the next decade or more.

Millennials aren't having as many kids as previous generations, and that fact could end up dragging down economic growth for more than a decade.

That may not faze some child-free millennials, who are using the money that would have been spent on childcare to splurge on lavish vacations, flashy boats, and other luxuries popular among DINKs — couples who live on double-income, with no kids.

But that kind of spending won't be enough to offset the drag of a shrinking population on the economy over the long run, especially considering that the US birthrate has collapsed over the last half-century, economists told Business Insider.

In 2022, there were just 11.1 births per every 1,000 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's a 53% plunge from what was recorded in 1960, when there were 23.7 births per every 1,000 people.

The shortage of babies has been particularly acute since the pandemic, according to James Pomeroy, HSBC's global economist. The national birthrate is now dropping around 2% each year, he estimated — and it didn't pick up in 2023, like experts originally expected.

That puts the US at risk of seeing "extremely low" population levels over the long run, not unlike countries like China, where the population decline is so dire the government is doling out cash to convince people to have more kids. 

"What you're talking about is these birth rates dropping very, very low levels, which over the course of time has huge impacts on the economy," Pomeroy said. "And then by the time you get to 2030, you're talking about a birth rate that is wildly different to what was in the assumptions made at the beginning of the decade."

The impact of millennials having fewer kids will likely be worse than the impact of aging boomers — and the most dire consequences could come 10-15 years from now, Pomeroy estimated. He pointed to Japan, which had a similar birth rate in the 1990s as the US does now. Its economy saw the "worst bit" of growth around a decade later, when its workforce dwindled and the nation posted several years of negative GDP growth.

The shrinking birthrate in the US could drag down GDP by 1-2 percentage points each year, according to Todd Buchholz, a former White House economist. Over several decades, that's the equivalent of slashing the US growth rate by a third, he estimated, or wiping out the estimated productivity increases stemming from artificial intelligence. In the worst-case scenario, GDP growth could nosedive 3-4 percentage points, Pomeroy warned. 

Fewer Americans being born means fewer workers in the economy. 

"You find it more difficult to find somebody to cut your hair, do your nails work on, set up the x-ray machines at the hospital," he said. "So the sheer decrease in the number of people … becomes a problem."

Declining fertility rates also mean it will be harder to bear the brunt of Social Security payments, particularly as boomers age into retirement. Baby boomers are estimated to exert "peak burden" on the US economy in 2029, which is when all boomers will be 65 or older.

"We will have a great deal of trouble … figuring out how to pay the retirements. The promised retirement payments for senior citizens — Medicare and Social Security — are going to go in vast deficits," Buchholz added.

If the birthrate doesn't increase soon, he estimates there will eventually be two full-time workers for every retiree, down from around 20 workers per retiree in the 1930s. 

"That is simply not sustainable," he said.

Downward spiral

It's hard to convince people to have kids. 

Once the birthrate in an advanced economy starts to decline, it generally continues to do so, Pomeroy and Buchholz both noted. That's been the case for China and Russia, two countries that dealt with low birth rates for decades, and are now hobbled by demographic issues. 

Government policies that support those who have children could be one way to boost the birthrate — or at least, prevent it from falling further. Boosting the supply of available homes, which can push down sky-high housing costs, will also help, Pomeroy said, though that will likely take decades to build enough inventory to meet demand. 

The most important thing to encourage people to have more kids might be a cultural shift in how we talk about children, Buchholz says. He pointed to the chatter among millennials about how much money you can save by going child-free — around half a million dollars, according to one CNBC analysis.

In the US, mounting costs for everything from shelter to healthcare to education weigh on younger generations' decision to have kids. On top of that, existential uncertainties stemming from things like the climate crisis to technological upheavals like artificial intelligence don't make the decision any easier. 

"I think it's a net negative to have fewer children when the choice is between having a child and investing in a new Sony PlayStation," Buchholz told Business Insider. "Now it seems crude, vulgar, and inhumane to admit that people do, but people will openly say, having a child is expensive."

Many DINK couples say they don't regret their lifestyle choices — much to the vexation of their critics – but that blasé attitude could be the very problem itself, Buchholz speculated.

"'At the end of my life, I was surrounded by a machine tethering me to oxygen, a nurse, and a lawyer.' That seems like a very dreary way to end life," Buchholz said. "And so I think the narrative has to change. So it's not about the fear of missing out and only being able to live once. People who have children feel that they live more than once."

This story was originally published in February 2024.