Author: openjargon

• Used EVs now cost less than their gas counterparts, with the gap ballooning since February.
• Only 18% of consumers said they're likely to buy an EV, a multi-year low.
• The demand pullback has "wreaked havoc" on production, a new report said.

Consumers are pumping the brakes on electric-vehicle demand as technological limitations erase the premium buyers used to be willing to pay.

For the first time, used EVs are less expensive than their traditional gas counterparts. Not only are prices lower, they're also plummeting at a much steeper clip, a recent report from iSeeCars said.

According to the study, the average used EV fell $265 below the typical gas car in February, marking the trend's start. As of May, that difference has ballooned to $2,657.

"It's clear used car shoppers will no longer pay a premium for electric vehicles and, in fact, consider electric powertrains a detractor, making them less desirable — and less valuable — than traditional models," executive analyst Karl Brauer said in the report.

By another measure, the average price of an EV fell 29.5% between May 2023 and 2024, compared to a 6.1% slide for combustion engine cars.

An example provided by the study compared the BMW 3 Series with a Tesla Model 3: while the Tesla's price was $2,635 higher in June last year, it stood $4,806 below the BMW in May 2024.

That slide is easy to explain for the broader auto industry, where improved post-pandemic supply chains have led to declining prices.

But that's just part of the story for EVs, a market battered by an extra slew of niche headwinds.

In a June AAA survey, only 18% of consumers indicated that they would be likely to purchase an EV — a multi-year low. Leading hesitations included the higher costs, limited access to charging stations, and worries about how far an EV can drive without charging.

Instead, consumer interest leaned more towards hybrid models, which offer both a gas and electric motor. In fact, one-third of respondents indicated they would purchase this type of vehicle.

For industry players that wagered on a coming wave of EV consumption, faltering demand has not done any favors for production, Bank of America said this month.

"The unprecedented EV head-fake over the last three years has wreaked havoc on product planning. The prior acceleration in EV launches is doing a U-turn in favor of extending [internal combustion engine] programs and new hybrids," analysts wrote. "However, while there is a lot of talk about hybrids, there isn't much action."

Vanishing EV consumers have tugged on the sector in other ways. For instance, below-estimate deliveries have dented the performance of Tesla and Rivian stocks, and these companies have been among many to enact workforce cuts due to strained demand.

Elsewhere, Fisker has filed for bankruptcy, citing market issues in a statement this week. And earlier this year, the rental firm Hertz sold 20,000 of its Tesla rentals. Among a handful of reasons, requests for the vehicles were not as high as expected.

While the iSeeCars report does not, in fact, yet see where EV prices will bottom out, most analysts are not too concerned about a complete rejection of the market. If consumers don't lead an industry embrace, US emissions regulation will ensure continued production, just at a tempered pace, Bank of America said.

"Despite the apparent slowdown in the powertrain transition (EVs and Hybrids), there is still a wave, albeit smaller than before, of alternative powertrain launches from almost all automakers," the note said.

Examples includes Ford products, and GM's Cadillac as a "spearhead for EVs," it added.

• Hot honey is being added to restaurant menus and grocery store shelves across the US.
• It's being paired with pepperoni pizza, chicken sandwiches, margaritas, and even ice cream.
• The founder of leading brand Mike's Hot Honey started making it in his college apartment after trying it on a pizza in Brazil.

It's being drizzled on pizzas, added to chicken sandwiches, and even mixed into cocktails.

Hot honey is one of the buzziest ingredients this summer, appearing on menus ranging from cocktail bars in Manhattan to barbecue joints in New Orleans.

The ingredient is "basically all over menus right now," Lizzy Freier, director of menu research and insights at restaurant analytics company Technomic, said during a panel at the National Restaurant Show in May.

The condiment's origins saw it being swirled on pepperoni pizza. But it's popular to pair with chicken, too: Sweetgreen has a hot honey chicken protein bowl, Cava sells harissa honey chicken, and KFC serves Sriracha honey nuggets.

You can mix it with desserts or alcohol. At Starbucks' upmarket Reserve locations, you can get hot honey in an affogato or espresso martini.

Mike's Hot Honey was inspired by a college student's travels around Brazil

Hot honey isn't a brand-new flavor, but it's only recently that it's become super popular.

Brooklyn pizzeria Roberta's started selling its famous Bee Sting pizza topped with spicy soppressata salami and honey back in 2009, according to The New York Times.

But it was Mike's Hot Honey that really brought the ingredient to the masses.

It all dates back to the year 2003, when Mike Kurtz was a college student studying Portuguese in Brazil.

"On a weekend trip to a national park, I hiked into a little valley with some friends and there I found a tiny pizzeria that had jars of honey with whole chili peppers steeping in it for drizzling on pizza," Kurtz told Business Insider in an interview at the National Restaurant Show. "I just was blown away by the flavor and I kept on thinking about it."

So Kurtz started experimenting with chili-infused honey in his college apartment, where he created Mike's Hot Honey in 2004.

"And for six years it was just a hobby," Kurtz said. "I was making it for myself, for friends and family."

Fast forward to 2010, and Kurtz introduced his concoction to Paul Giannone of Paulie Gee's while working as an apprentice at the Brooklyn pizzeria.

"He tried it, he loved it on the pizza," Kurtz told BI. Paulie Gee's began drizzling the honey on its pepperoni pizzas.

"People started asking me where they could buy bottles and I started selling it off the bar there in November 2010," Kurtz said.

Over the years, he started working with other restaurants and specialty retailers. Whole Foods was the first large grocery store to start selling the honey in 2014.

Now, Mike's Hot Honey is available in between 30,000 and 40,000 retail stores and more than 3,000 restaurants, Kurtz said. The business's revenue is roughly 60% retail and 40% food service, he said.

Hot honey has seemingly endless applications

Hot honey is "kind of like a peanut butter and jelly thing," Matt Wessel, owner of the Milwaukee Pretzel Company, which sells a hot honey mustard, told BI over the phone. "It's just one of those things that when you pair them together, it makes a lot of sense … It's a really palatable food pairing."

Hot honey feeds into the "swicy" trend for sweet and spicy food. And its versatility means it can be used in seemingly endless combinations, encouraging chefs to get creative in the kitchen.

"Because honey is so versatile as a sweetener, but also as a topping … it's a great base to add the heat to," Wessel said. "It can be used in so many different applications." Across restaurants, grocery store shelves, and home kitchens, hot honey is being added to tacos, chicken waffles, potato chips, and ice cream.

"Hot honey has become the new American flavor," said Jacob Hadjigeorgis, owner of Maison Pickle, a bar and restaurant in Manhattan that started serving a hot honey chicken French toast in 2019. He told BI over email that it was the US's answer to other cuisines' sweet and spicy sauces.

At Zalat Pizza, a Dallas-based pizza chain, there's been a recent rise in sales of its pizza with salami, bacon-onion jam, and hot honey, first added to its menu in 2022, CEO Khanh Nguyen told BI via email.

Customers can also pay $2 to add a swirl of hot honey to Zalat's other pizzas, which Nguyen said was especially popular with its pepperoni and mixed meat pizzas.

UK canned and bottled cocktail company Tom Savano Cocktails has been experimenting with hot honey in the drinks department. It launched a hot honey margarita earlier this month — it also sells a spicy mezcal margarita with Scotch Bonnet chilies and agave.

Sweet cocktails are always in demand, and spicy flavors are very popular at the moment. "So you throw anything spicy and sweet together and that was always going to be a home run," founder James Kerslake told BI over the phone. The company developed two versions of the cocktail for consumer testing, and ended up deciding on the spicier version, even though Kerslake acknowledged it may polarize people with a low-spice tolerance.

Cooking magazines and TikTokers alike have been scrambling to find new ways to incorporate hot honey into dishes. But as for Kurtz, the man behind the best-known hot honey brand, his favorite ways to serve it are drizzled on a pepperoni pizza, used as a glaze for salmon, and paired with goats' cheese.

• Rudy Giuliani has delayed disclosing all of his finances even after declaring bankruptcy.
• Before he went bankrupt, lawyers accused him of hiding his finances in other civil lawsuits.
• A judge may soon appoint a trustee who would take over his entire financial life.

When Rudy Giuliani filed for bankruptcy late last year, it gave him some room to breathe.

A jury had ordered him to pay $148 million to two election workers he defamed. A sexual abuse lawsuit was creeping forward in court. And Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems — two election technology companies he falsely claimed rigged the 2020 election — were still going after him in court.

Declaring bankruptcy hit the pause button on all of those civil lawsuits. They all flowed into a federal bankruptcy court, where creditors could negotiate for whatever funds the aging former New York City mayor had left.

That relief may be about to run out. Sean H. Lane, the bankruptcy judge has expressed exasperation that Giuliani still hasn't managed to hire an accountant or bookkeeper to work for him. Lawyers for creditors seeking money from Giuliani have accused him of mismanaging his own finances, asking the judge to appoint a trustee to take over his assets.

"Throughout the bankruptcy case, the Debtor has made, at best, half-baked financial disclosures and prioritized delay over progress in his chapter 11 case," lawyers for creditors wrote in a recent court filing. "He files delinquent, inaccurate and incomplete monthly operating reports. He delayed for months the filing of an application to retain a broker to sell his New York City apartment. He continues to resist selling his Florida condominium, instead preferring to spend tens of thousands of dollars on maintenance fees."

A decision from Lane to appoint a trustee could come at any time.

Right now, the bankruptcy process allows the judge, a Justice Department trustee, and creditors to monitor Giuliani's finances closely.

But if the judge were to agree with the creditors and appoint a Chapter 11 bankruptcy trustee, Giuliani would lose control of his own financial life.

A bankruptcy trustee would control all of Giuliani's assets and would be able to sell his two homes unimpeded. His Upper East Side apartment is listed at $5.7 million and creditors value the Florida condo at $3.5 million.

The trustee would also be able to peer into Giuliani's phone and email records and may even waive attorney-client privilege between him and any of his lawyers, potentially exposing him to more criminal and civil cases.

"The trustee might conceivably try to waive the attorney-client privilege to see his interactions with his lawyers," Eric Snyder, the bankruptcy chair of Wilk Auslander LLP, told Business Insider. "To the extent that there's any concerns about fraud, that would make him very nervous as well."

Creditors have expressed frustration because, after months, they say they still don't have a full picture of Giuliani's finances.

They've accused him of "incompetence, at best, and fraud, at worst."

In recent weeks, court filings show, they were surprised to discover he struck a promotion deal with a coffee company and that a firm he owns has been receiving thousands of dollars a month from a 9/11 charity.

Giuliani's creditors have formed a supergroup to try to dig into his finances. Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the two Georgia election workers to whom he owes $148 million in a defamation judgment; Noelle Dunphy, his sexual abuse accuser; and Dominion, the election technology company he falsely accused of rigging the election, all joined forces to scrape as much money as they can in the bankruptcy court.

Their lawyers, at the pricey firm Akin Gump, say Giuliani is being deceptive. He is funneling money to his business entities, they say, where the funds then go to his girlfriend and other supporters, as opposed to creditors who are owed.

A history of lying

There remains an enormous amount of mistrust from the creditors.

Despite losing a lawsuit and getting hit with a $148 million defamation judgment that forced him into bankruptcy in the first place, Giuliani continues to lie about Freeman and Moss. The two Georgia election workers have been the subjects of conspiracy theories that they manipulated ballots in the 2020 election, which now-President Joe Biden won.

Making things worse is that Giuliani has a history of hiding his finances. During the discovery phases for Freeman and Moss's defamation lawsuit, and in another defamation case from Smartmatic, Giuliani pleaded poverty. He claimed he didn't have the money to pay TrustPoint, his electronic discovery vendor, to search his own documents — an excuse that his legal opponents found difficult to believe.

"So far, Giuliani's financial position tends to be whatever is most convenient for Giuliani," Smartmatic's lawyers wrote in a scathing filing at the time. "Whenever he is ordered to do something, he lacks the money to pay for it. But, when told he must submit a declaration showing he lacks funds, somehow the previously unavailable money appears. It's a miracle."

As it turned out, some of Giuliani's legal expenses may have been funded by political donors supporting Donald Trump. After Trump's Saving America PAC disbursed hundreds of thousands to Trustpoint, Giuliani's lawyers told courts that a "third party" had helped pay some of the bills.

Giuliani's bankruptcy disputes reached a tipping point in recent weeks when he struck a deal to sell Rudy's Coffee.

The creditors said they learned about the deal from social media — a month after it was signed — rather than learning about the new income stream directly from Giuliani or his lawyers.

On top of that, creditors have expressed frustration that the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a charity that supports 9/11 first responders, has sponsored Giuliani's social media videos by giving money to his communications company, rather than to Giuliani himself.

Both of those deals are structured so that money goes to Giuliani's businesses rather than to Giuliani himself, which allows the funds to flow to his girlfriend and undeserving employees rather than creditors, the lawyers say.

"At a minimum, if you enter into an agreement that brings money into the estate, and it's property of his estate — which it is — then the creditor should have been made aware of it," Snyder told Business Insider.

Maria Ryan, an employee of Giuliani who is widely reported to have been his romantic partner, recently jumped into the bankruptcy dispute herself.

In a court document earlier this month, she wrote she was filing a "motion" to have the creditors' lawyers "stop lying in their filings to the court."

She claimed payments to her often came in the form of reimbursements from Giuliani's retirement account, which he used as seed money for his media ventures and which is protected from the bankruptcy process. And she said she "personally coordinated" the Rudy's Coffee deal.

"Giuliani Communications, LLC is very proud of this quality coffee," she wrote. "In the future, the minute I do a business deal I will send to Mayor Rudy Giuliani's counsel."

Ryan couldn't be reached for comment.

Giuliani has also recently lost another major stream of income that could have gone to his creditors. In May, his show was canceled on WABC, a New York radio station owned by conservative billionaire John Catsimatidis, because he continued to lie about the 2020 election being stolen from Trump.

While in the bankruptcy process, Giuliani must file monthly financial statements. The numbers in them don't add up, the creditors' lawyers say. Account balances are inconsistent from month to month, and some statements from financial institutions appear to show the wrong dates.

A spokesperson for Giuliani directed Business Insider to his YouTube videos, where the former mayor rarely directly addresses the bankruptcy proceedings. In a recent episode of "America's Mayor Live," he said he is being targeted by President Biden.

"They want to destroy me, they want to bankrupt me, they want to take away everything I have, and they want to put me in jail for the rest of my life," Giuliani said the a recent video.

In his court filings, Giuliani has sought to lay the blame elsewhere. His longtime accountant declined to continue working for him, and his part-time bookkeeper is sick, his lawyers wrote in a recent filing. He hasn't yet been able to find new financial professionals to help him, they said. They also noted because Giuliani has had his law license suspended for lying about the 2020 election, he can't get work as a lawyer himself.

"Maybe the Committee also has a suggestion of who would employ an 80 year old disbarred attorney," they wrote in a recent filing.

The bankruptcy judge may not be convinced by Giuliani's explanations.

"There are lots of accountants out there," Snyder said. "He's a sophisticated businessman, so his inability to find accountants isn't going to work."

According to Snyder, the judge isn't supposed to consider Giuliani's history of lying about election workers or law license troubles while he considers whether Giuliani is too untrustworthy to remain in possession of his own finances. But the bankruptcy process itself has given the judge plenty to work with, Snyder said.

"He hasn't filed reports, he started a business without disclosing it, and he's paying the debts of third parties with the estate funds," he said. "Those three things are pretty big things."

While the bankruptcy has subsumed the civil lawsuits against Giuliani, he still has criminal indictments to contend with.

He is a codefendant, alongside Trump and over a dozen other allies, in Fulton County's criminal racketeering case over their efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. That litigation was halted earlier in June as an appeals court weighs whether the top prosecutor can remain on the case.

Giuliani was also indicted in Arizona over his attempts to overturn the election in the state. In that case, he was forced to post a $10,000 bond — further depriving creditors of money they say should go to them.

He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.

• I used to not care about where I sat on an airplane, but I'll pay extra for the aisle these days.
• I want the freedom to move around and the openness helps with claustrophobia on long flights.
• I've been asked before to give up a seat I paid for to accommodate other people, but I rarely do.

I've spent years traversing the world trying out different airline economy cabins, from premium carriers like Delta Air Lines and All Nippon Airways to budget ones like Norse Atlantic Airways and Spirit Airlines.

As an aviation enthusiast with an itch to just be on a plane, I rarely went out of my way to book a specific seat. Plus, my younger self was extremely frugal, so I didn't really care so long as it was cheap — even if meant sitting in the middle.

Now that I'm only a year away from 30 with a little more fun money, however, I've gotten picky about where I sit.

Many times, to the shock of friends and family who assume I'd prefer the window for the view (I used to), my preference these days is actually the aisle seat, especially on long-haul journeys.

For example, earlier this year, I paid about $100 to snag aisle seats on Finnair flights between New York and Helsinki. I also shelled out $50 to reserve an aisle seat on Air India in January and a cheaper $20 for a transatlantic flight on Norse Atlantic Airways coming up in August.

There are times when I won't pay for a seat. Review purposes for my job as an aviation reporter testing my luck with basic economy, for example, or flights shorter than two hours.

Still, it's worth it to me to splurge in most cases.

I want the freedom to move about the cabin whenever

The reason I'll pay extra for the aisle seat is two-fold. One, I don't like not having immediate access to things.

I'll admit I'm a little bit of a control freak, for better or for worse. So, being unable to get up and stretch my legs or use the bathroom whenever I want — when there isn't turbulence, of course — is not my idea of a stress-free journey.

The second issue snuck up on me in the past year.

After a decade of adventuring without fear of most things, I've developed a little bit of claustrophobia when flying. I realized this after opting for the window on a few ultra-long-haul journeys last year, thinking I'd maybe sleep easier.

However, the tightness made it more difficult. The aisle seat lets me stretch an arm or leg out when needed, giving me just enough wiggle room.

Being self-aware of all this, it just makes sense to pay extra for an aisle rather than make my personal needs anybody else's problem.

I'm also a people pleaser, so there's no way I'm disrupting my neighbors to let me out from the window seat unless it's an absolute emergency.

I know my preference is debatable. Some people complain about the aisle because of things like the galley cart hitting the seat, a lack of privacy, and difficulty sleeping because they prefer to lean against the fuselage wall.

Personally, none of this bothers me. I can sleep as long as I have a headrest, and I'm a heavy sleeper who doesn't wake up to noise or a sudden jolt.

There are times when I wish I had a window seat, like when my Air India flight was flying over the Himalayas, and I couldn't see out from the center section. Fortunately, a fellow traveler let me lean over for a photo. Win-win.

I'll almost only switch seats if it's an aisle for an aisle

There is ongoing debate about whether people should switch their seats for a party that wants to sit together on a flight, like families or couples.

I've always been in the camp that if you didn't plan ahead and got assigned separate seats and then need the one I paid for, then that isn't my problem.

I paid for my aisle seat for a reason, so I'm within my right to say no. However, I will consider switching if I'm offered another aisle or if it's an exit row seat where I can get up without disrupting anyone.

But that typically isn't the case. I recently flew Ryanair, and a couple wanted to sit together, asking me to switch my aisle for a middle seat — no thanks.

But I'm not a total monster. If it's a medical reason, then I'll switch, or an actual child scared to sit away from their parents.

For instance, I had a situation in which a woman who didn't select seats in advance was separated from her young son. It was an aisle for an aisle, but I ended up in the very back of the plane.

Another time, a plane swap changed the seating of an entire family, and I switched out my aisle for the dad's window. I wasn't thrilled in either case, but I figured it could send some good karma my way.

• Taylor Swift's economic impact boosted the US economy by billions.
• Now, she might do the same thing in Europe on the latest leg of her Eras Tour.
• In Italy, some hotel prices are up 45% during the dates of Swift's shows, one tourist company said.

"Baby, let the games begin."

The lyrics from Taylor Swift's "…Ready For It?" might be ringing through Europe's hospitality industry as "Swiftonomics" bears down on Europe.

Over the last year, Swift's Eras Tour and its affiliated film cemented her economic prowess in the United States, injecting billions into the economy.

Now, she's bringing that power to the European leg of her worldwide tour, during which she will perform in at least 18 cities.

Local businesses are seeing Swift's impact weeks ahead of her concerts. Swift doesn't perform in Italy until mid-July, but hotels are already booked and busy.

"Our analysis and data shows that hotel prices in Milan are on average 45% higher for the nights of Taylor Swift's shows in the city in July 2024, compared to the weeks before and after the show," Ben Julius, the founder of a tourism company called Tourist Italy, told Business Insider.

Julius added that the concertgoers only stay for an average of two nights, but the mass demand is "creating a wider tourism trickle-down effect" as the rising costs of travel and lodging push other tourists to find other places to stay.

European economists monitoring inflation rates in the service sector are examining Swift's tour to see what impact it will have on Europe's economy.

Officials at the European Central Bank cut interest rates this month after inflation slowed, but there are concerns that Swift's arrival in different cities could cause a new uptick.

Because when Swift comes to town, she rallies tens of thousands of fans who will spend money on a bevy of services like restaurants, lodging, and local attractions. Some Swifties will travel hours — and across countries — to attend a concert, which puts a demand on airfare and other transportation options.

Barclays' Consumer Spend research found that Swift's tour is expected to boost the UK economy by £997 million ($1.26 billion).

Central bankers told The New York Times that even small changes to data could affect their decision to continue cutting rates.

"All those tiny quirks are going to matter a lot," TD Securities strategist Lucas Krishan told the outlet.

Krishan added that the service inflation rate could rise in August when Swift returns to London. Her tour dates — August 15 to August 20 — overlap with the day Europe's statistics agency records price data.

If the data shows too much increase, the Bank of England could theoretically pause plans to lower rates in September.

Economist George Moran told the Times, however, that he thinks it's unlikely Swift will impact decision-making at the Bank of England.

"Taylor Swift is unlikely to be affecting central bank policy. She's unlikely to be affecting government policy," Moran, who works for Nomura, said. "And I don't think it's a sustainable option for growth in a country to rely on having superstar concerts."

He told the Times the impact would likely be "more local than macro."

"Taylor Swift is obviously a massive phenomenon, and the areas that she's visiting is causing a big buzz in the hospitality sector," he said.

Representatives for Swift did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• The Nissan Z is the latest in a long line of iconic sports cars that date back more than 50 years.
• I enjoyed the 2024 Nissan Z's twin-turbocharged V6, 6-speed manual gearbox, and retro looks. 
• I was let down by the Z's unsatisfying engine sound and poor backup camera. 

Every brand needs a halo product—a car that reminds customers and employees of their origins, values, and goals.

It embodies the soul of that company.

Ford has the Mustang, Mercedes the S-Class, and Porsche the 911.

For Nissan, with the GT-R supercar headed for retirement after a 17-year run, that job will be left to the Fairlady Z, known in America simply as the Z.

The current Nissan Z launched in 2023 with more power and tech than the 370Z it succeeded.

I recently spent a week driving a 2024 Nissan Z Performance around the streets of Atlanta and the winding roads of the Appalachian foothills.

I loved its potent 3.0 liter, twin-turbocharged V6 and the 6-speed manual transmission. I was also impressed by its level of tech content and overall fit and finish.

There wasn't much to complain about, but I did feel somewhat let down by the unsatisfying engine noise and one of the poorest-quality backup cameras I've ever encountered.

My Nissan Z Performance test car costs $55,110.

The base Nissan Z Sport starts at $42,970, while the top-of-the-line and more powerful Z NISMO starts at $65,750.

My mid-grade Performance trim with a manual transmission starts at $52,210. Freight fees and optional extras pushed the as-tested price past $55,000.

The Z's history in the US dates back to 1970 when the S30 Fairlady Z went on sale as the Datsun 240Z.

The iconic 240Z became the byword for stylish performance at an affordable price. Over the years, there have been a series of memorable Nissan Z-Cars, including the all-conquering Z32 300ZX Twin-Turbo, which hunted supercars for sport in the early 1990s, and the more recent 370Z NISMO Tech.

The Z's long hood and sloping rear in signature elements of the classic Z-Car look.

Nissan's design team, led by Cuban-American designer chief Alfonso Albaisa, left no doubts as to this car's lineage. Take one look at its silhouette, and you know it's a Z.

The Z's angular front facia, and slightly recessed LED headlights also harken back to the 240Z.

It's a look that debuted on the Z Proto concept car in the fall of 2020.

Out back, the sloping roofline merges into the decklid spoiler.

Aesthetically, the Nissan Z is a perfect blend of modernity and retro Z-car cool.

The styling might be fresh, but the new Z is built on an updated version of Nissan's venerable FM platform, which also underpins the 370Z and Infiniti's Q50 sedan and Q60 Coupe.

My test car came with these dark gray RAYS 19-inch lightweight forged aluminum alloy wheels.

Behind alloy wheels, Performance trim Nissan Z's get 14-inch, four-piston vented disc brakes up front and 2-piston discs out back.

One of the Z's standout features is a 6-speed manual transmission.

The manual is carried over from the 370Z, but the 6-speed has been updated with beefier synchros to facilitate better shifts. And that's exactly what I found. The shifts were crisp and quick.

The manual comes standard on the Sport and Performance trims with the automatic also available as a no-cost option.

Unlike past iterations, this Z has an electric power steering instead of the traditional hydraulic system.

The transition to electronic power steering, which usually dulls steering feel and feedback from the wheels, has not diminished the Z's handling prowess. I found the steering to be smoother than the last 370Z I drove.

The shift also allows Nissan to incorporate semi-autonomous driving and driver assistance features.

The Nissan Z has intelligent cruise control, automatic emergency braking, predictive forward collision warning, blind spot warning, land departure warning, and rear cross-traffic alert.

The Z is powered by a twin-turbocharged V6 engine.

All variants of the Nissan Z are powered by a 3.0 liter twin-turbocharged VR30DDTT V6 engine, which sends power to the rear wheels through either a 6-speed manual or a 9-speed automatic transmission.

The VR30 produces a stout 400 horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque in the Sport and Performance trims. The NISMO edition gets an extra 20 horsepower and 34 lb-ft of torque.

The VR30 is also a descendant of the handbuilt VR38DETT motors found under the hood of the GT-R supercar.

Fuel economy is probably not top of mind for most sports car buyers but for those interested, Nissan Zs (in Sport and Performance trims) with the 6-speed boast fuel economy figures at 18 mpg city, 24 mpg highway, and 20 mpg combined. Choose the automatic (please don't), and the fuel economy figures improve to 19 mpg city, 28 mpg highway, and 22 mpg in combined driving.

The Nissan Z was an absolute blast to drive.

Nissan really delivered on the driving front.

On a winding road, the Bridgestone Potenza-shod car handled the corners with the surefooted confidence expected of a world-class sports car.

Even though its heavier than its predecessors, the 350Z and 370Z, it felt far lighter on its feet and more balanced.

The Zs I've driven in the past felt more like powerful Japanese muscle cars than true sports cars. They were monsters in a straight line but felt heavy and unsure of themselves in the corners.

They also delivered a surprisingly comfortable ride, easily soaking up rough roads and small potholes, which is uncommon for a car with low-profile tires and a sport-tuned suspension.

Even though it's now more fleet of foot through the corners, it hasn't lost any straight-line performance.

The Z's VR30 engine pulls like an angry draft horse off the line, without any hint of turbo lag, quickly getting 3,500 vehicles to highway speeds.

The twin-turbo V6 boasts a torque curve that reaches its peak 350 lbs-ft at just 1,600 revs and remains on tap all the way up to 5,600 rpms. Paired with a launch control system that allows you to change gears without lifting off the throttle, gunning the throttle on the Z results in smooth, uninterrupted power and acceleration.

According to Motor Trend, the Nissan Z Performance with the manual transmission can go from 0 to 60mph in just 4.9 seconds.

Unfortunately for us sports car purists, that time will likely be a bit faster with the automatic.

My only real gripe with the driving experience was the unsatisfying engine sound, which lacked the high-pitched crescendo of a high-revving four-cylinder or the low-down rumble of a V8. It just sounded like a dull and listless drone.

Inside, the Z's cabin is cozy with room for two.

As a sports car, the front dash and center console are angled to facilitate easier use for the person in the driver's seat. The interior fit and finish were solid, although I didn't care for the bright blue seats and trim pieces.

Sitting atop the dash is a set of three analog gauges.

The gauges, which are a throwback to the original 240Z, show voltage, turbo pressure, and turbo rpms.

In front of the driver is a Z-branded steering wheel and a large 12.3-inch digital instrument display.

The display is customizable with three different layouts that cater to various driving situations from everyday use or performance driving.

The Z is equipped with a 9-inch touchscreen infotainment display.

It runs Nissan's corporate infotainment interface which was fairly intuitive to use. It's also equipped with Android Auto and wireless Apple CarPlay.

While the screen quality is excellent, the image quality of the backup camera was not.

The images from the backup camera were blurry and washed out. It's one of the worst cameras I've encountered.

Tucked away under the infotainment screen are the climate control knobs.

The dials themselves are easy to use, but their location lower down in the center console, however, made adjusting the temperature while driving more of a chore than necessary.

The ghastly blue leather and artificial suede seats were well-padded and supportive.

Power seat controls for the Z are located in an odd spot between the seat and the center console. It's a carryover from the 370Z.

Behind the passenger cabin is large but shallow cargo area.

There is space under the cargo area for a spare tire, but that area has been taken up by the subwoofer for the Z's 8-speaker Bose stereo.

You access the cargo area by opening the large rear hatch.

The button to open the hatch is inside the low part of the Nissan logo.

My Verdict: It's impossible not to like the Nissan Z.

With the new Z, Nissan has given us a modern take on the sports car that helped cement the company's place in America more than five decades earlier.

And boy, what a sports car they've given us.

It looks great, is agile and confident in the corners, has one of the finest V6 engines money can buy, and, most importantly, has a smooth-shifting manual transmission.

The Nissan Z is one of the last of a dying breed.

In an age of 1,000 horsepower EVs and semi-autonomous driving, the market for gas-powered, manual-transmission sports cars is growing ever smaller.

If you have the chance, buy it while it's still here. Or you may regret it later.

• Some of the biggest Supreme Court cases this term remain outstanding.
• A case concerning Donald Trump could become one of the nation's most important rulings.
• There's also a pending case about administrative law that could potentially affect billions of dollars.

The Supreme Court has yet to address cases that could affect former President Donald Trump's criminal prosecutions and the future of the presidency itself, the power of federal agencies that have existed for decades, and abortion rights in a post-Roe world.

The nation's highest court typically wraps up its business by the end of June, but court watchers count roughly a dozen major pending decisions. Some of those expected rulings, particularly those applying to Trump, could upend the 2024 election.

With that in mind, here are five major cases that we're looking out for.

Trump v. United States: The Trump immunity case

The implications for Trump alone made this the most closely-watched case this term. But the high court's ruling will likely stretch far beyond him, potentially making this one of the most important cases in the nation's history. As Justice Neil Gorsuch said during oral arguments, the court may write "a rule for the ages."

The former president has requested sweeping immunity from criminal prosecutions that touch the outermost reaches of a president's job. Oral arguments illustrated that while Trump is unlikely to get everything he desires, some justices were receptive to his fear that leaving the door open to prosecution could hamstring presidents.

In contrast, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson warned that the Oval Office could become "the seat of criminal activity in this country" if justices go too far in protecting former presidents from criminal prosecution.

Trump has already likely won, no matter what the justices decide. The immunity question has delayed Special Counsel Jack Smith's January 6-related prosecution against him. It's difficult to see how Smith will get a trial before Election Day.

Fischer v. United States: A potential lifeline for January 6 rioters

Justices could disrupt Trump's prosecution and hundreds of others connected to January 6, depending on how they rule in the case brought by a former Pennsylvania police officer.

Joseph Fischer's lawyers argue that federal prosecutors have stretched a post-Enron collapse law too far in using it to charge Fischer and over 350 others in connection with the Capitol riot. At issue is whether prosecutors adequately applied the law when they charged rioters with obstructing an official proceeding due to the fact that Congress was forced to halt its constitutionally mandated certification of the Electoral College results on January 6, 2021.

During oral arguments, Chief Justice John Roberts joined some of the court's other conservatives in expressing skepticism about the Biden administration's defense that the provision of the 2002 law in question could be considered a catch-all.

Smith's team has separately argued that their case against Trump should be unaffected even if justices narrow what prosecutors can charge as obstruction of an official proceeding. As The Washington Post pointed out, some already convicted of January 6-related offenses have been released early ahead of a ruling in the case.

Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo: A tiny fish could change American life as we know it

The federal government has for decades regulated everything from the environment to consumer safety based on the Supreme Court's precedent that judges must defer to agencies like the EPA and FDA regarding their reasonable interpretations of vague laws.

This administrative law principle, known as Chevron deference, is rooted in the Supreme Court's 1984 landmark decision in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., which could be overturned or curtailed. Business groups have fought to kill the ruling for decades. There are potentially billions at stake depending on the outcome of the case.

Justices heard oral arguments in a case brought by commercial fishermen about a rule requiring them to pay for monitors that track potential overfishing. A lower court upheld the rule for Atlantic herring based on Chevron deference.

The Biden administration has warned that gutting Chevron deference entirely could spark a major shock. Justice Elena Kagan said during oral arguments that 70 Supreme Court rulings and more than 17,000 lower-court decisions have relied on Chevron.

Moyle v. United States: A major abortion rights dispute in a post-Roe world

Justices are weighing whether decades-old law governing hospitals that receive federal funds supersede Idaho's near-total abortion ban. The two cases at issue mark the first time the high court has considered a single-state ban passed in the wake of the Supreme Court's landmark 2022 ruling, the overturned Roe.

Lawyers for Idaho argued that if the Biden administration has its way, the federal government will find ways to undermine state laws restricting abortion access.

"There are 22 states with abortion laws on the books," Joshua Turner, who argued in defense of Idaho's law, said at the end of his oral argument. "This isn't going to end with Idaho. This question is going to come up in state after state."

The Biden administration has argued that The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, the law in question, should override Idaho's ban by allowing doctors to perform emergency abortions still. The state law only allows for abortions unless the mother's life is in jeopardy.

Justice Elena Kagan highlighted how some patients have been airlifted to states where abortion remains legal as a result of the state's ban.

NetChoice LLC v. Paxton: Red-state social media moderation

Republican-led states, including Texas and Florida, have sought to restrict social media platforms from moderating political content. Industry groups sued to block the laws, arguing that tech giants have a First Amendment right to determine what to allow on their platforms.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Florida's law, which is targeted in a related case, which would fine companies if they banned active candidates for office from their platforms. Florida also made it easier for users to sue social media platforms if they feel they have been targeted for moderation, according to The Washington Post.

Court watchers left oral arguments predicting that justices across the ideological spectrum would strike down the laws, but the exact future of the GOP-led effort to punish tech companies on the belief that they are biased against conservatives remains uncertain.

• We've lived in our house for 19 years and have had the same dishwasher. 
• It's so loud but still works perfectly and I'm convinced it's because of how I load it. 
• I actually enjoy figuring out how to get the most out of each load. 

Maybe it's the long line of engineers in my family that molecularly imprinted my desire to load dishes with the precision of an Olympic decathlete.

If dishwasher loading were an Olympic sport, I'd be on my way to Paris this summer.

We've had our dishwasher for almost 2 decades

This year will mark my family's 19th year in our New Jersey home. I am surely about to awaken the appliance gods by announcing that the originally installed Maytag Performance dishwasher has been working without incident since the day we moved in with our 2-year-old and 6-week-old babes.

It's so loud. I once answered the phone while it was running, and my friend asked where I was going because it sounded like I was on the turnpike.

I'm convinced ol' May has lasted this long because we are a household of well-trained rinsers. An occasional re-rinse is necessary in the case of, say, traces of dried oatmeal, which are stronger than cement and impenetrable by any inside dishwasher forces. There's no scraping and then depositing directly into the dishwasher with spaghetti sauce or other stray blobs of food over here. I am ready to acknowledge and embrace my kitchen control freak status.

Anyone who's discovered cheese dried onto a fork or spoon after the dishwasher cycle has ended when it's been jackhammer-proofed onto the surface knows what I'm talking about. The commercials for today's dishwashers featuring smiling users cavalierly placing food-covered pots and plates in and letting the machine do the rest trigger me and raise the question, do people really do this?

Does the appliance come with teams of tiny scrubbing hands that magically appear when turned on? And where does all of that gunk go? While I am aware that many of today's dishwashers come equipped with hard food disposer systems that miraculously disintegrate and remove food particles, it seems almost too good to be true.

I will reload after family members have tried to load the dishwasher

Once items have been properly rinsed (anticipating comments about water waste), it's time to load. This is where Olympic competitors in my imaginary dishwasher loading event will put their spatial awareness skills to the ultimate test. My dear and helpful husband, a former fighter pilot who could land a F/A-18 Super Hornet on an aircraft carrier, which has been likened to landing on a postage stamp, does not possess this skill in domestic life.

With regard to the now viral meme which likens partners in dishwasher loading to either a Scandinavian architect or a raccoon on meth, I am, literally, the Scandinavian minus the degree in architecture. My husband is more raccoon-leaning.

I see the prongs of different heights and instinctively understand that the short ones are meant for smaller pieces. The engineers at Maytag designed them this way for a reason, right? I like to load the dishes from back to front. The bottom rack is reserved for large glasses, mugs, plates, and silverware. Small glasses, bowls, cooking utensils too big for the silverware section, and anything plastic go on the top rack.

I enjoy figuring out how to get the most out of each load. My husband takes a much simpler, pile them in with no rhyme or reason approach. I've tried to explain that if you pile things on top of each other, they won't get clean. This logic typically opens me up for a good family roasting. The running joke in our house is that if Dad loads the dishwasher, Mom will inevitably rearrange it.

I marvel at the hundreds of times I've plonked the dishwashing pod under the bottom rack, raised the door, and turned the knob to the "Normal" wash setting before firmly pressing the door closed and hearing her faithfully roar to life.

It's one of life's small luxuries I'm thankful for daily, along with being married to a helpful guy who does his own laundry. I may not be headed to Paris for the games this year, but I will continue to train with vigilance just in case domestic sporting events involving packing skills become a thing.

• Humanoid robots appear to be the next big bet for Big Tech — and the market could be worth billions.
• Tesla, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Nvidia are piling cash into the futuristic technology. 
• BI met Ameca, the robot with realistic facial expressions, to see what all the hype is about. 

Interest in humanoid robots has surged in Silicon Valley this year, with one Nvidia research manager even declaring 2024 as the year of the humanoid.

Major tech firms are investing heavily in the futuristic machines, with Microsoft, OpenAI, and Nvidia all backing the $2.6 billion robotics startup Figure AI, while Tesla already has its Optimus robot working on its factory floor.

Goldman Sachs has estimated that the global market for humanoid robots could reach $38 billion by 2035, although it notes that "the viability of such machines hasn't been proven yet."

Curious about the hype, I visited Engineered Arts' lab — the company behind the viral robot Ameca.

The company's headquarters are in the town of Falmouth, Cornwall, but it also has offices in Silicon Valley and London.

As I entered the reception, I could see Ameca in a conference room with its head moving around.

I was taken aback by how cool it was to interact with in real life. It has cameras built into its eyes, which can recognize objects in a room, and it's powered by a chatbot that lets it "speak," enabling it to answer questions.

When I asked how old Ameca was, it responded: "Age is a bit tricky for me. I was activated not that long ago, but my experiences are timeless."

I told Ameca I was curious about it, and it instantly responded that it was flattered and asked what I wanted to know.

Ameca is, so far, mostly used for entertainment purposes. For example, one of the robots greets visitors at The Sphere in Las Vegas.

But Jackson said that he could see them being used in the care industry and in some customer service roles in the next few years thanks to the speed at which AI is developing.

He predicted that robots would be in grocery stores and airports within three years and relatively commonplace in cities within five years.

"There are all these practical problems that people are glossing over, but there are some really compelling use cases for humanoids and I think care is one of them, and social interaction is doable now," Jackson said.

But the robotics boss doesn't see them being used to help with chores around the house anytime soon — or at least for another decade — as there's still a way to go to ensure the machines are completely safe around people.

So while investors seem confident that humanoid robots have a big future, significant challenges remain before that vision has a chance of becoming reality.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Daria Rose, a 27-year-old lawyer who interned at Ray Dalio's hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, in 2017 and 2018. Her employment has been verified and the following has been edited for length and clarity.

The first time I ever watched the "Black Mirror" episode "Nosedive" — about a world in which people constantly rate one another — I thought, wait, I've worked for a place like this before.

The summer after my sophomore and junior years at Harvard University, I interned at Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund. Its intense culture is not for everybody. Founder Ray Dalio once said around 30% of employees quit within the first 18 months.

And while I definitely see parallels between my time at Bridgewater and that "Black Mirror" episode, I look back fondly on my time there. If I hadn't gone to law school, I 100% would've returned to work there full-time.

I was drawn to Bridgewater's tenet of meaningful work

In my sophomore year, I heard about Bridgewater from another student in a social club I was in at Harvard. She'd been recruited as an investment associate and was looking for other people interested in working there.

I did some research and was drawn to the fact that one of Bridgewater's main tenets is about meaningful work and meaningful relationships. She told me about a management associate position and helped forward my résumé.

After applying, I had to take a Myers-Briggs Personality Type test and several other screening tests. Next, we had a full-day interview at the Bridgewater campus in Westport, Connecticut.

Authenticity is a big thing at Bridgewater, so I went into the interview wanting to be completely myself.

I was first put in a room with other applicants for a moderated debate-style interview. The rest of the day was spent in multiple rounds of interviews with managers. Some were case studies — kind of similar to consulting — and others involved deep intensive questions about who I was as a person. How did you grow up? Are you an only child? How do you think this affected you? How do you think this impacts your working style on a team? What wakes you up in the morning? How do you deal with criticism?

The interviewers I had were incredibly empathetic, and our conversation felt real and vulnerable.

About a week or two later, I got a call that I got the job. When I saw my offer package — I was like, whoa, this is a lot of money — and the great perks like housing, transportation, and a signing bonus, it was really a no-brainer. I thought, I'm 100% working there.

The internship was incredibly fun

Most of the interns lived together in dorms for the summer, which was really cool and special. To help us bond, we did fun activities like group dinners, our own version of Tough Mudder, and a scavenger hunt.

Every day, we would arrive at the campus by around 8 a.m. and leave around 7 p.m. I was a management associate intern in the office of the CEO, and we did basically any special project the CEO needed. I worked on a lot of diversity initiatives, figuring out how to make Bridgewater more streamlined and accessible to employees.

At the time, Dalio's book "Principles: Life and Work" wasn't out yet, so one of our tasks was to read the manuscript and give feedback on it.

Ranking each other was a big part of Bridgewater's culture

We ranked people daily using numbered "dots," a real-time check-in of how everyone was doing.

In each meeting, we'd each have an iPad in front of us, showing a list of everyone else present. Throughout the meeting, we'd give people dots for things like humility, composure, willingness to touch a nerve, openmindedness, and assertiveness. By the end of the meeting, our whole screen would just be filled with dots — some red, some green. It could get distracting sometimes — like, who gave me a three? — but we'd try to ignore it and stay in the moment.

Because we were constantly being evaluated on what we said, people were way more conscious when speaking. Instead of talking just to talk, people tried to make their points succinct and easily understandable, or they'd get a negative dot.

This criticism wasn't just limited to peers or supervisees. We were also encouraged to give dots to our bosses, managers, and even CEOs.

Dot outcomes went onto our "baseball cards," which had information about each employee's role and their strengths and weaknesses, to create a more vivid picture of what each of us was like.

Everything was recorded

Radical truth and radical transparency were very important at Bridgewater. Everything was recorded. If I wanted to go back and see why I got a certain dot, I could go back to the recording and listen to what I'd said. I could even look up my friends' dots and see how they were doing each day, even if I wasn't in the meeting.

One time, my friend threw her water bottle in the trash rather than recycling it. I don't know who saw her, but someone gave her a negative dot. It made me realize, wow, people really do care on a microscopic level and they're paying attention to you.

Pain + reflection = progress

Getting so much constant feedback was difficult at first. At times I was like, oh, that's harsh. It's never great to hear that you didn't do something right or that someone didn't like something you said. We had a button on our iPads that we could press whenever we felt pain, and then we'd write a reflection about the situation. The idea was that pain plus reflection equals progress.

Depending on the severity of the pain or what had happened, sometimes we'd have a diagnostic session to get to the root of the problem, such as if someone's ego got in the way of them asking for help. These sessions could sometimes be uncomfortable, but ultimately were really helpful and led to growth and better day-to-day operations.

I was really good at receiving constructive feedback and was always really high on the humility scale. I like to improve and have a growth mindset rather than taking things personally. On the days when I felt a little bit more sensitive or more emotional, I didn't want to hear the more critical feedback. But when I was able to look back at it from a less emotional standpoint, I was like, oh, okay, they had a point here.

Dalio wanted us to try to take our egos out of our work as much as possible and really look toward a higher self. From time to time, we'd have to do something called "force rankings," where we ranked our team members based on who was the most and least helpful. It never felt good to be at the bottom of that scale, which happened to me multiple times.

A lot of smart people who go to elite schools are used to being the best at everything and being on top all of the time, but that's not realistic. There are going to be days where you're super on it, and then there are days that you might not be.

At Bridgewater, there was no hiding that fact.

Gossip was not allowed

It was a no-gossip environment. We weren't allowed to talk about other people behind their backs — a huge principle was that you speak up, say it to the other person's face, dot them, and be transparent.

If you were talking about someone in the context of work, you'd have to send that tape to them afterward. When I got my full-time offer to join Bridgewater, my manager sent me the tape of them deliberating and I got to hear what they genuinely thought about me while I wasn't in the room.

I think that's really valuable, especially these days when some corporate environments involve fakeness and niceties to your face and people aren't upfront about what they actually think about you and your work.

At Bridgewater, there was none of that. It sounds counterintuitive, but the constant recordings did encourage us to be more open and put everything on the table — there's no incentive not to.

I really appreciated the candidness. Now working in law, we have so much going on sometimes that we don't necessarily get direct feedback all the time. As with most companies, feedback usually happens during an annual or semi-annual review, and sometimes by that time, it's become a bigger problem.

With the dot system at Bridgewater, if there was an issue, we'd know that day, and it'd be diagnosed that week. I miss that part about it.

The best ideas won

We were really encouraged to push back on supervisors and superiors, because one of the tenets was that we were an idea meritocracy and the best idea will rise to the top, not based on the seniority of the person who put it forth.

Because debating and disagreeing with each other was encouraged, I learned so much from my colleagues. I had my viewpoints challenged and I challenged theirs. I can't imagine another workplace like that that allows for that type of growth and honest feedback.

My experience made me who I am today

I think Bridgewater's culture might be a little bit different now, especially because Ray Dalio isn't there anymore. But I can't emphasize enough how transformative and eye-opening my experience was. It helped shape who I am today, especially how I think about feedback, work, and the relationships I have at work.

I've never worked with a more brilliant group of unique people. There were poker stars, musicians, and people who wrote comedy. We all did so many different things but were united under this Bridgewater umbrella and really brought our full selves to work and gave it our all.

The experience prepared me for life, even more than just for a corporate career. It helped me grow a thicker skin; not a lot fazes me now.

A few years after working at Bridgewater, I was on "The Bachelor." People scrutinized me and said so many mean, horrible things.

My Bridgewater experience prepared me to understand that everyone will have judgments or perceptions about you, but you don't have to take them all in. We'd always say, "It's just one dot."

One dot doesn't make up the whole picture. You're going to get thousands and thousands of dots; take that criticism for what it is.

A representative for Bridgewater Associates declined to comment.

If you experienced a uniquely demanding workplace culture and would like to share your story, email Jane Zhang at janezhang@businessinsider.com.