Author: openjargon

A passenger died and 30 other people were injured on a Singapore Airlines flight when the plane hit severe turbulence, prompting an emergency landing in Bangkok.

• Bumble wants to use AI to give you fewer matches on its app.
• But the people you do match with will be better, CEO Lidiane Jones said at a conference Tuesday.
• Bumble has floated several other ideas for using AI, such as "dating concierges." 

Some day, AI could mean you get matched with fewer people on Bumble.

But that actually wouldn't be a bad thing, according to the company's CEO.

"We really want to emphasize a smaller number of matches, but ones that truly, truly feel great to you and not just from a romantic perspective," Lidiane Jones told an audience at The Future of Everything Festival hosted by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

Until now, Bumble relied on a mostly predictive model. "You get a system to look at your previous behaviors and determine to the best of its ability what you're going to like," Jones said.

But using generative AI, Bumble wants to pick up on other cues, such as how people on dates interact with each other and even your tone of voice.

The goal, Jones said, is to figure out what people actually want in a relationship instead of relying on self-written descriptions. People often ask for help from friends when they write blurbs for their profiles, but those aren't always accurate, she said. "It's OK to start with a very optimistic view of ourselves, but we can learn with you along the way," she said.

AI could also draw on other details of your life to provide better matches, Jones said, such as whether you're new to a city.

"There's all these phases in life that are extremely vulnerable for people and we think we can play a role in helping you navigate," she added.

Bumble has been considering ways of integrating AI into its app for months. Last year, founder Whitney Wolfe Herd said AI could even help users flirt and interact with others.

Wolfe Herd has also suggested that dating on the app could one day happen through "dating concierges," or AI models that could quickly review thousands of other users to narrow your choices to a few likely candidates.

Already, AI can become your date, offering advice and companionship.

• The US economy is headed for an economic hard landing driven by a deteriorating labor market, Citigroup's chief US economist told CNBC.
• "Gradual softening has already started. That tends to snowball," Andrew Hollenhorst said about the job market.
• He's calling for four interest-rate cuts this year at a time when other forecasters are being more conservative.

A deteriorating labor market will be what causes the US economy to quickly turn sour, according to Andrew Hollenhorst, Citigroup's chief US economist. In fact, he sees an abrupt economic comeuppance later this year.

"Firms are hiring at a lower rate, firms are having workers work less hours," he told CNBC on Tuesday. "So this gradual softening has already started. That tends to snowball and end up in something that looks more like a hard landing."

While recent labor-market data doesn't necessarily point to such a dire situation, Hollenhorst says certain reports reveal a more pessimistic environment than many realize.

"Small businesses are telling us that their hiring intentions are at the lowest levels that we've seen since 2016," he said, citing survey data from the National Federation of Independent Business. "And if I look overall at the economy, the hiring rate right now is at the lowest rate that it's been at since 2014. So we're at the lowest hiring rate in a decade."

And although NFIB data has fueled bearish sentiment for a while, Hollenhorst added that it's recently seen a sharp drop compared to the past months, making it worth paying attention to.

Even when taking on a holistic perspective, there's reasons to worry. For instance, he noted that while the national unemployment rate remains contained at 3.9%, that's a big shift from its previous low of 3.5%.

If unemployment ticks up above 4%, it could trigger the Federal Reserve to start lowering interest rates as soon as July, Hollenhorst predicted. Overall, he thinks four cuts will come before the end of 2024.

Other analysts have also voiced hard-landing calls similiarly pegged to labor-market deterioration. In fact, veteran forecaster Danielle DiMartino Booth says a recession has already arrived when looking at one unemployment indicator.

Meanwhile, weaker economic activity data and an impending hard landing also support prospects of a July cut, Hollenhorst said. That's because the Fed's higher-for-longer interest rate policy is grinding down on corporate earnings, he said, at a time when consumer savings have run through.

• The first two new stores in Walmart's 150-location plan have opened in Florida and Georgia.
• The Neighborhood Markets are almost 50 percent larger than Walmart's typical grocery-focused store.
• More space means wider aisles and designated areas for pickup and delivery order fulfillment.

The first two locations in Walmart's five-year, 150-store expansion plan have opened in Florida and Georgia.

The pair of grocery-focused stores are the first new openings in Walmart's Neighborhood Market segment in more than four years.

Both locations boast a 57,000 square foot floorpan — almost 50 percent bigger than the segment's typical size — which allow for wider aisles and more space for pickup and delivery order fulfillment.

They also include amenities found in larger Walmart stores, like pharmacy and financial services, a private health consultation room, and a mother's room for nursing and infant care.

While the Florida location in the panhandle seaside town of Santa Rosa Beach is an entirely new construction, the location in Atlanta is a conversion of a former Walmart discount store that was set on fire twice in 2022.

City officials made a special appeal to Walmart to remain in the Vine City neighborhood, including a $1.5 million initiative to expand fresh grocery access in low-income communities.

The location also made headlines last year, as it was set to include a workstation for on-duty law enforcement officers.

At the start of May, Walmart had over 4,600 retail locations in the US, including 3,559 Supercenters, 357 discount stores, and 673 Neighborhood Markets.

Walmart has closed at least nine locations this year so far, but the company plans to open or begin construction another dozen locations for a total of 14 new stores this year.

• Apple has addressed a "rare" issue that iPhone users complained about after a software update.
• iOS 17.5.1 fixes a "database corruption" problem that made deleted pictures reappear for some.
• Despite the fix, some Apple users said they're still concerned about privacy.

Another iOS update is available after several Apple users complained about a concerning issue with their Photos app.

On Monday, the tech giant released iOS 17.5.1 and iPadOS 17.5.1, just a week after its 17.5 updates. The change came days after iPhone owners said they noticed pictures they believed were permanently deleted reappearing in their Photos library, including some NSFW ones.

In the description, Apple said the update "addresses a rare issue where photos that experienced database corruption could reappear in the Photos library even if they were deleted."

Users experiencing the issue said they were freaking out to see content come back into their library after years of thinking they were long gone.

"I have four pics from 2010 that keep reappearing as the latest pics uploaded to iCloud. I have deleted them repeatedly," one user commented to a thread on the r/iOS subreddit.

Despite the fix, commenters on a MacRumors post about the update said they were still concerned about privacy and whether or not any of their deleted photos are actually gone.

"So they just going to ignore the photos returning as a bug? It's just an oops?! That's not good enough. So are photos deleted or not? We want details not a note on an update screen," one user commented.

Apple didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

• Greer Gagnier and Kyle Verma bought an abandoned house in a bucolic riverside town in Rhode Island. 
• Buying "worst house in the best neighborhood" helped them score a home in a tough market, they said.
• They said buying a fixer-upper was worth it even though renovating added costs and took hard work.

Buying the worst house on the best street is one of the oldest tricks in the real-estate book.

While not everyone agrees with the proverb, a millennial couple who landed a house in a bucolic Rhode Island neighborhood for half what homes in the area usually cost swears by it.

The last year has been filled with milestones for Greer Gagnier, a property manager for her family's real-estate business, and Kyle Verma, who works in finance. After years of dating, the couple, both 30, got engaged.

And, after two years of looking for a starter home in Rhode Island's Pawtuxet Village, a town near Providence where Gagnier moved after college, amid an increasingly challenging housing market, they found it — take a look.

The couple's house is a fixer-upper in every sense of the word.

Their "cozy little cottage," as Gagnier calls it, had been foreclosed.

Gagnier said neighbors told her the previous owner had abandoned it.

"He just stopped making payments on the house, moved into an RV or something, and got out of town," she added.

Gagnier and Verma had seen the home before because it's right down the street from the rental they currently live in.

But they had never ventured inside until Gagnier's sister — who had gone to scope it out as a potential investment property — called them up in the fall of 2023.

"She's like, 'You gotta take a look at this. You would love it.' So we ran right over there and fell in love with it," Gagnier said.

The decrepit house was "scary-looking," Gagnier said. The couple knew it would need a lot of love — and sweat equity.

"It was probably empty for about a year, at least. But it honestly looked like it was empty for 40 years," Gagnier said, recalling her first impressions.

Dog hair, grime, and dust coated surfaces, paint was peeling, and the wallpaper was ripping off the walls. But with a little imagination, the couple saw past what initially looked like the set of a horror movie.

They envisioned a home where they could spend at least the next five to 10 years — a home where they could start a family. A quarter of a mile from the water, the roughly 1,500-square-foot property came with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a basement, and an attic.

"The bones were really good, and it just had a really nice flow. The layout was great. The size was perfect for what we need: a starter home," Gagnier said.

Verma and Gagnier made an offer in the low $300,000s that was accepted in early 2024.

Because the house was foreclosed on, Gagnier and Verma were dealing with a bank rather than a seller, which was "frustrating," she said.

"They took days and days just to respond to emails and wouldn't answer phone calls," Gagnier said. "We were supposed to close a month or two before we actually did."

Nevertheless, they came to an agreement and had their offer in the low $300,000s accepted just after New Year's Day 2024. According to Realtor.com, the median listing house price in Pawtuxet in the Providence area is $684,500, about double what the couple paid.

The price was right in line with their budget, Gagnier added. They were willing to pay up to $525,000 for a finished house, so she said they "figured, 'OK, if we buy it for low threes, we can put maybe $75,000 to $100,000 into it and then be within our budget."

The couple also thinks that the house's value will double to the high $600,000s post-renovation.

Originally built in the 1920s, the house came with beautiful hardwood floors, an original fireplace, and a basement bar.

"You open the front door, and the living room is actually fairly big," Gagnier said.

The living room leads into the kitchen, which they have gutted and expanded into what used to be a separate dining area. French doors in the kitchen will eventually lead out onto a porch, Gagnier added.

Upstairs are three bedrooms; the couple is converting one into a study. There is also an attic with built-in cabinets that has the potential to be turned into another room if they need it down the line, she said.

One of the most exciting features is in the basement, Gagnier said. Lined with knotty pine paneling, the basement came fitted with a full bar area and gives off a "totally '60s vibe," Gagnier said.

"I really want to lean into the speakeasy-cool vibes down there," she said, adding that one day, it'll be a "party space" where friends and family can congregate.

Location was everything to the couple — they only house-hunted in a small Rhode Island enclave about five miles south of Providence.

Nestled by a river of the same name, Pawtuxet Village is known for its quaint shops and riverside restaurants. The marina and little cove make it a "classic New England coastal town," Gagnier said.

Gagnier, who grew up in Massachusetts, has ived in Pawtuxet since she graduated from Rhode Island University in 2016. Members of her family have lived there, too.

"We've been coming here since we were little just for vacationing in the summers," she said. "We never left. And now I live within a mile radius from my dad, and my brother, and my mom. Everybody's in this little bubble."

Pawtuxet Village is such a "hidden gem" that Gagnier said many people from Providence don't know it exists. Verma, she added, didn't know about it until they met after college.

Home prices in that part of Rhode Island have jumped, just like they have across the US.

When they first set out on their journey to buy a starter home, Gagnier and Verma quickly realized how much of a challenge it would be.

According to Realtor.com, the median listing price for homes in the Pawtuxet area of Providence jumped from $512,000 in August 2021 to $684,500 in May 2024.

Gagnier said that there aren't many new houses being built in Rhode Island, adding to the struggle. In January, local outlet WPRI reported that the state is lagging behind a recommendation from 2016 report commissioned by Rhode Island Housing, a quasi-public agency, to build between 34,000 to 40,000 housing units by 2026 to accommodate growing demand.

It's 2024, though, and Gagnier said it's still "slim pickings for what you can get."

"We looked around, put in an offer on probably six or seven houses, lost them all to cash buyers — or people would bid like $70,000 over asking," Gagnier said. "It was just emotionally exhausting, you fall in love with the house and then lose it."

The couple is doing many of the renovations themselves — with the help of Gagnier's dad.

What helps is that Gagnier, who works for her family's short-term and long-term-rental company, grew up around homes under construction. Her dad, she said, loves old houses and has been renovating them as a side project for years.

Verma, on the other hand, wasn't as familiar with renovation projects and has had to get used to trusting the process, she added.

"It's been a little bit hard for him to adjust," Gagnier said. "We've learned so much along the way, but we really learned a lot from my dad because he's done it all before."

After deep-cleaning the entire house, the biggest project so far was gutting the kitchen.

The couple's "biggest project" so far is the kitchen, which dated back to the 1950s. They ultimately hired a professional construction crew.

"That's the only room we completely demoed in the whole house," Gagnier said.

The couple not only wanted to modernize it but expand it by knocking down the wall separating it from the formal dining area, which they didn't really see a need for anyway.

"We wanted to have just a big kitchen space," she said.

Gagnier has been documenting the renovation and their DIY work on Instagram.

The couple also hired professionals to handle getting the electrical and plumbing systems in working order.

But they have taken on many of the aesthetic renovations themselves. Gagnier is documenting their DIY handwork on Instagram to over 155,000 followers.

A major change they made and shared on social media is covering up bubblegum pink tiles in the upstairs bathroom.

Gagnier said she's gotten a lot of "flak" on social media for layering over the 1950s decor with waterproof plaster and temporary laminate peel-and-stick tiles in a more neutral tone, but she has no regrets.

"You just can't take it personally," said Gagnier, noting that most negative comments come from people with young-looking profile photos.

"They're like, 'Why don't you find another house?'" she said. "And I'm like, 'Do you know what the housing market is doing right now? We're in a crisis. I can't buy another house.'"

Gagnier and Verma are almost ready to move into their fixer-upper, but the renovation work will continue.

Verma and Gagnier have been living in a rental nearby while they work on the house.

On weekday evenings and on weekends, they are at the cottage, getting it livable enough to move in.

"We definitely have those days where we cannot see the light at the end of it all and want to give up, but we have to keep going," Gagnier said.

Like any fixer-upper, it's been a challenge, but one that the couple doesn't regret taking on.

Soon, they will no longer have the worst house in the best neighborhood, but a starter home they got for a "really great deal."

"We hope to be in the next three to four weeks," Gagnier said. "We're in the home stretch."

• Trump's proposed tariffs could cost Americans $500 billion annually, a think tank estimated.
• The cost of tariffs is often passed onto consumers as producers raise prices.
• A 10% tariff on imports could cost households an extra $1,500 a year, researchers say.

Donald Trump has touted plans to impose tariffs on imports in his campaign for a second presidential term, but those proposals could end up costing Americans half a trillion dollars a year, according to estimates from a Washington DC-based think-tank.

Researchers at the Peterson Institute warned Trump's planned taxes on imports could end up being a huge burden on working-class Americans. The former president's plan to impose a 10% tariff on all imports could end up costing consumers nearly 2% of US GDP, or an additional $500 billion a year, they estimated in a new paper. That's about five times the cost of Trump's tariffs in 2018, when he imposed taxes on imports of steel, aluminum, and other goods.

The plan would hit lower-income households harder, the researchers said.

"As fiscal policy, the Trump agenda amounts to regressive tax cuts, only partially paid for by regressive tax increases. A lower-bound estimate of costs to consumers indicates that the tariffs would reduce after-tax incomes by about 3.5 percent for those in the bottom half of the income distribution."

Economists generally agree that tariffs raise the cost of goods purchased domestically. That's because taxes on imported goods are often passed onto the consumer as producers raise prices – similar to a "one-time burst of inflation," the paper authors said.

"In contrast to Trumps' frequent, and mistaken, claims that foreigners bear the impact of tariffs, economists have long understood that tariffs burden domestic purchasers of imported goods," the paper said. 

Trump's tariff plan also includes a 60% tax on Chinese imports, but even a 10% across-the-board tariff would be the equivalent to an annual $1,500 consumption tax per household, according to an analysis from the Center for American Progress.

"If executed, Trump's latest tariff proposals would increase manifold the distortions and burdens created by the rounds of tariffs levied during the Trump administration (and sustained during the Biden administration) while inflicting significant collateral damage on the US economy," the researchers said.

Other economists have slammed Trump's proposed tariffs as a drag on the economy. The plan could cause inflation to spike and could spark a recession, economic experts have warned.

• The US Army upgraded its nearly 500,000 M4 carbines to more lethal and higher-tech M4A1 rifles.
• The M4 became controversial due to costly manufacturing and reliability issues like weapon jamming.
• The M4A1 has a heavier barrel, improved accuracy, and compatibility with better-performing ammo.

Meet the M4 Carbine: Over the course of many years, the US produced hundreds of thousands of battle-tested, upgraded M4A1 rifles engineered to more quickly identify, attack, and destroy enemy targets with full auto-capability, consistent trigger-pull, and a slightly heavier barrel. 

The M4A1 was the product of an extensive M4 Product Improvement Program, called PIP. The PIP for the M4 was a far-reaching initiative to upgrade the Army's entire current inventory of M4 rifles into higher-tech, durable, and more lethal M4A1 weapons.

An Army weapons developer involved in the PIP project said "the heavier barrel is more durable and has greater capacity to maintain accuracy and zero while withstanding the heat produced by high volumes of fire. New and upgraded M4A1s will also receive ambidextrous fire control," an Army statement said.

Refining the M4

The Army spent many years converting its fielded M4 carbines to M4A1 carbines; approximately 483,000, Army officials explained.

"Most of the enhancements resulted from soldier surveys conducted over time," an Army official told Warrior Maven for 19FortyFive. 

Over the years, the Army has made more than 90 performance "Engineering Change Proposals" to the M4 Carbine since its introduction.

"Improvements have been made to the trigger assembly, extractor spring, recoil buffer, barrel chamber, magazine and bolt, as well as ergonomic changes to allow soldiers to tailor the system to meet their needs," an Army statement said.

Today's M4 is quite different "under the hood" than its predecessors and the upgraded M4A1 was further refined to provide soldiers with an even more effective and reliable weapon system, Army statements said. 

The M4A1 is also engineered to fire the emerging M885A1 Enhanced Performance Round, .556 ammunition designed with new, better penetrating, and more lethal contours to exact more damage upon enemy targets.

"The M4A1 has improvements which take advantage of the M885A1. The round is better performing and is effective against light armor," an Army official told 19FortyFive.

Prior to the emergence of the M4A1 program, the Army had planned to acquire a new M4. Numerous tests, industry demonstrations, and requirements development exercises informed this effort, including a "shoot-off" among potential suppliers. Before its conversion into the M4A1, the M4 — a battle-tested weapon, and known for many successes — had become controversial due to combat soldier complaints, such as reports of the weapon "jamming."

Continuous Upgrades for the M4

For many years, the Army upgraded and improved its M4, with some plans never passing the conceptual phase. All of the progress, however, has informed the Army's current weapons. There has continued to be ongoing work to ensure the weapon is upgraded and maintained to the maximum extent. 

As many as four to five years ago, the Army did conduct a "market survey" with which to explore a host of additional upgrades to the M4A1. These previous considerations, which were performed under a program called the M4A1+ effort, were analyzed by Army developers and then shelved. Among the options explored by the Army and industry included the use of a "flash suppressor," camouflage, removable iron sights, and a single-stage trigger, according to numerous news reports and a formal government solicitation.

The M4A1+ effort was designed to look for add-on components that will "seamlessly integrate with the current M4A1 Carbine … without negatively impacting or affecting the performance or operation of the M4A1 weapon," a previous solicitation states. This kind of approach suggests the Army's ongoing effort to look both in a conceptual and technological sense at ways to sustain upgrades and improvements to the weapon in coming years. 

• A Ukrainian unit uses drones to drop mines inside Russia at night, per CNN.
• Ukraine's Code 9.2 drone unit claims it flew 24 Vampire drones in just one evening.
• Their drone dropped two explosives inside Russia that later hit two vehicles, per the outlet.

A Ukrainian unit fighting on a key battlefront is flying drones at night to drop mines inside Russia, CNN reported.

Soldiers from Ukraine's 92nd Brigade's Code 9.2 drone unit operated about four miles from the border with Russia's Belgorod region, in an undisclosed location in Kharkiv, according to the outlet.

CNN accompanied the unit into the field. It did not specify when the operation it witnessed took place.

Ukraine has often looked to unconventional means to fight back against Russia, using drones and other weaponry to target Russia's navy, front-line units, and oil industry.

In recent months, Ukrainian forces have faced increased pressure, as Russia has ramped up its attacks before new supplies reach Ukraine from its allies, including the US.

Russia has launched a renewed offensive in the Kharkiv region — where the unit CNN shadowed was located — creating what looks like a buffer zone along its border, the Institute for the Study of War said last week.

It is unclear if the nighttime mission was part of a larger battle plan for Ukraine, but the unit told CNN it holds the record for 24 sorties with Vampire drones in just one night.

CNN reported that the unit set up its equipment at dusk, limiting the risk of Russian drones flying over it before darkness made its tasks impossible.

As soon as darkness settled and the sky was clear, they were able to fly a Vampire drone carrying explosives toward Russia.

From a bunker, using a PlayStation-like control, pilot Sasha watched the drone fly across the border, despite Russia jamming, CNN reported.

Ten minutes later, it dropped two explosive payloads on a target stretch of road.

The unit said the mines hit an armored car and a soft skin vehicle the following day, CNN reported.

Throughout the war, Ukrainian forces have used drones to devastating effect, launching ongoing attacks on Russia's Black Sea Fleet, inflicting damage to its oil industry, and using them in attacks that were responsible for two-thirds of Russian tank losses.

Russia has also used drones alongside missiles to exploit shortages in Ukraine's air defenses and to target Ukrainian positions at night.

• A new line of frozen foods will cater to users of weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy.
• Nestlé's Vital Pursuit brand will include sandwiches and bowls.
• It's the latest example of consumer brands flexing for the rising use of Semaglutide. 

Frozen meals are one of the latest ways that big consumer brands are trying to cater to users of weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy.

Food giant Nestlé will start selling 12 items under its new Vital Pursuit brand by the fourth quarter of this year, the company said Tuesday. The lineup is designed for GLP-1 weight loss medication users and will include items like sandwich melts and grain bowls with chicken.

Each item will have a suggested retail price of $4.99 or less, Nestlé said, though prices can vary by store.

The meals are "portion-aligned to a weight loss medication user's appetite" and contain high amounts of fiber, protein, and essential nutrients, Nestlé said. They're also "well-suited to support a balanced diet for anyone on a weight management journey," the company said.

"As the use of medications to support weight loss continues to rise, we see an opportunity to serve those consumers," Nestlé North America CEO Steve Presley said in a statement announcing the meals.

GLP-1 drugs have become more popular over the past year. According to the American Pharmacists Association, about one in 60 adults got a prescription for one in 2023.

Vital Pursuit shows how the food industry is adapting to the rise of GLP-1 drugs. Last year, some industry analysts questioned what major food makers would do if the drugs became widespread. Semaglutide, the generic name for drugs like Ozempic, works by reducing users' appetite, an effect that the analysts said would hurt sales of packaged foods and snacks.

However, the smaller portion sizes of Nestlé's new line show one way forward for the companies.

"Let's say they go to smaller portions, then we evolve the innovations, and we design smaller portions," Conagra CEO Sean Connolly said in response to a question about the drugs during an earnings call last fall.

Nestlé is just the latest consumer brand to try to cash in on the popularity of GLP-1 drugs.

Online pharmacy Hims & Hers said Monday that it would start selling its own version of Semaglutide for as little as $200 a month. That price would undercut other forms of the weight loss drug.

Costco also unveiled a program that allows customers to get a prescription for a GLP-1 drug and a consultation on how to use it earlier this year.