Author: openjargon

• Yale isn't a huge party school, but we still know how to have fun on a night out.
• Most weekends, we go to frat parties and a local bar. 
• Being a smaller campus, we tend to bounce around from place to place since everything is so close.

Like most Yale students, I'm swamped. Classes, political union debates, moot court competitions, improv shows, meetings with advisors, dinners, and brunches all occupy my calendar.

However, I still find time to go out and have fun. Despite the Ivy League's reputation as one big ivory tower, Yale students still love to throw a good party.

As far as I'm aware, there might not be constant project X-level ragers, but weekends at Yale can be much more fun than you might think.

Yale isn't a huge party school, but we still have parties

When choosing a school, the party scene wasn't very high on my priority list. I also didn't want to attend a school where my social life would be on life support. But I didn't put much stock in attending a school known for having a vibrant nightlife or party scene.

Yale seemed like a perfect fit. While touring, I found that the students were social, and there was the requisite infrastructure for me to enjoy myself while still being devoted to my studies. This wasn't a medieval cloister; it was just what you'd expect from any college despite the Ivy League status.

When I finally enrolled as a freshman Yalie, I found that to be true.

There are several different types of parties at Yale

On any given weekend, if my friends and I are going out, odds are I will end up at a frat party at some point. Sigma Chi, AEPi, and Chi Psi are usually safe bets because they are close to campus and host parties frequently. These frat houses are small, and parties are typically in backyards but usually well-attended. They can be fun for a solid hour or two.

Even closer to campus is Toad's Place, a club that hosts Yale-only Wednesday night parties and is free on Saturdays with a Yale ID. Students over 21 can buy drinks at suspiciously low prices.

These frats and Soads (Saturday at Toads) form the backbone when trying to have a good Saturday night out. They might not be the most memorable moments of your night, but they are good places to hop between or stop in.

But some of the best parties on campus have a little more planning. While frats and Soads are reliable, the most memorable parties I've been to are those with a little more anticipation and build-up.

A tradition in the directed studies program is to throw toga parties on our less busy weeks. While usually still in a frat backyard, seeing my classmates in Roman garb makes these parties much more fun.

There are also 12 Pack parties, thrown by a special 12-person suite in Saybrook College, funded by the college. These are rarer, typically have some theme, and aren't actually full of only Saybrook students.

The key is not staying anywhere too long

With all these potential options on any given Saturday, we Yalies should be paralyzed by choice. But in reality, we usually hit up all these options on most nights out.

The key to enjoying any given Saturday is to avoid sticking. Frat parties are fun; the 12-pack is excellent, but with everything on campus only a short walk apart, why stay somewhere the entire night when you can bounce around?

Being willing to explore new venues or hang out with new groups can turn a good night into a great one. I've been introduced to places I didn't even know existed by tagging along with friends I ran into in one spot, and those discoveries make for great stories.

Admittedly, these are freshman tendencies, but that's not a bad thing

As students get older, friend groups get more solid, and students turn 21, so suite parties with drinks and going to bars become more common.

But for all students, the joy of these parties is that they represent the liberation we associate with college more than being enjoyable rituals in and of themselves.

I don't enjoy going out because I like hearing OK music at incredible volumes, standing in a frat house backyard, seeing someone and thinking, "Wow, she is attractive," just to look down at my phone and refuse to make eye contact.

It's enjoyable because it feels like something I — as an 18-year-old college student — should be doing, and I do it with friends. As we go through this ritual together, we can enjoy the fun parts and laugh about its oddities.

Is this a pretentious, intellectualizing way to look at parties? Yes. But what else would you expect from a Yalie?

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• Israel and the US expect a potential Iranian attack following a strike on Iran's embassy in Syria.
• The incident has escalated the long-standing proxy war between Israel and Iran.
• Despite threats of a direct attack on Israel, Iran won't want a war involving the US. 

Both Israel and the US are on edge about a potential Iranian attack on Israel, but it's unlikely that threats from Iran's leader will live up to the rhetoric.

Earlier this month, a strike on Iran's embassy in Damascus resulted in the death of a senior figure in the al-Quds force of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, alongside six other Iranian military officers.

Israel has not publicly acknowledged responsibility for the strike, but Iran is clearly holding it accountable.

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said this week that Israel "must be punished and it shall be."

Khamenei's declaration that Israel should be punished, along with his saying that an "evil regime made a mistake," hinted at a raising of tensions between the countries.

A long-standing proxy war

The airstrike on April 1 marked an escalation in the long-standing proxy war between Israel and Iran.

Iran has supported anti-Israel militant groups such as Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, while Israel has conducted strikes against Iranian allies in Syria.

Israel views Iran as an existential threat, having long sought to prevent the country from building a nuclear arsenal. Iran has previously vowed to wipe Israel off the map.

The Iran embassy incident intensified those historic tensions to a fever pitch.

Indeed, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that US intelligence reports suggested an attack was coming soon.

Yet such a move would risk causing a full-out war.

The Journal said that it was unclear if Iran intended to launch missiles onto Israeli soil or use regional proxies like Hezbollah or the Houthis in Yemen.

On Thursday, it reported that Israel was preparing for a direct attack by Iran within 48 hours.

If ballistic missiles or drones do target Israel, Israel would respond, and the US has made it clear it would support it. President Joe Biden vowed "ironclad" support for Israel, emphasizing the US commitment to Israel's security.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that his country was ready to respond directly to any attack.

"Whoever harms us, we will harm them," he said. "We are prepared to meet all of the security needs of the State of Israel, both defensively and offensively."

By late Thursday, it appeared that Iranian officials were toning down some of their rhetoric.

According to Axios, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told Germany's foreign minister that Iran would respond in an "appropriate," albeit limited, way.

Reuters also reported that Iran had signaled to Washington that it wanted to act in a way that would avoid a major escalation.

Iran is facing a dilemma: It needs to maintain credibility while also exercising restraint to avoid drawing it into a conflict with the US that it would likely lose.

In the past, Tehran-backed militants have targeted US forces in response to Israel's actions, as Business Insider's Jake Epstein noted.

But experts on the region don't believe that it is prepared to go a step further, by sending rockets and drones to attack Israeli soil.

Iran has other worries, too. There's hyperinflation in the country, civil unrest, and a military that the Atlantic Council noted is not truly competitive with Israel, especially with its US backing.

"It doesn't possess the necessary power, willingness, and ability to engage in a conflict with the potential to escalate into a full-scale regional war with Israel,'" wrote Middle East analyst Saeid Jafari in an article for the Atlantic Council.

Ali Sadrzadeh, an analyst on the region, echoed these points in an interview with BBC News. He said that "Iran is not capable of a big confrontation with Israel given its military capabilities and economic and political situation."

Sadrzadeh added: "But it will have to come up with a response for domestic consumption and to protect its reputation among its regional allies."

After the US killing of Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani in January 2020, Khameini vowed "severe revenge." Iran's President Hassan Rouhani made a similar pledge.

But the actual response was missile attacks on two airfields in Iraq that were housing US troops, causing injuries but no fatalities.

Skirmishes like these, outside Israel and possibly in Lebanon, are plausible in relation to this latest incident. As history has shown, Iran may be prepared to flex its muscles, but it's unlikely to get into a fight it would probably lose.

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• Adderall supply issues, which began in October 2022, are making the medication more expensive. 
• The Biden Administration said it's focused on strengthening manufacturing supply chains for Adderall.
• Drug prices are a key economic concern for voters and could impact the 2024 election. 

It's been 18 months since the US Food and Drug Administration announced an Adderall shortage. Since then, many Americans have struggled to access their necessary medications due to supply and cost issues.

Forty-one million Americans were prescribed Adderall in 2021 to manage attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, narcolepsy, and other conditions. The shortage and increased costs could impact who many Americans vote for in the upcoming presidential election.

Fifty-five percent of US adults said they worry about being able to afford prescription drug costs, according to a survey of 1,309 people performed between January and February by KFF (formerly known as Kaiser Family Foundation).

In light of the shortage, the Biden administration told Business Insider it is focused on strengthening manufacturing supply chains for Adderall and similar drugs, but did not give specifics as to how to accomplish these goals.

White House is working to strengthen pharmaceutical supply chains

The FDA and Drug Enforcement Administration called on manufacturers to increase the production of ADHD medications in order to meet the quota in a letter published in August 2023.

Because of Adderall's high potential for abuse, the DEA enacts quotas on how much can be produced in the US at one time — but many manufacturers have been producing under quota, contributing to the shortage and higher prices.

"This work to strengthen pharmaceutical supply chains is a continuation of the work that began on day 1 of President Biden's Administration to ensure Americans can access the medicine they need when they need it," The White House said in a statement to BI.

The Biden administration is also working with the Department of Health and Human Services on medical manufacturing policy to prevent future shortages, and has enhanced some pharmaceutical production under the Defense Production Act.

This comes as healthcare access is a leading part of President Joe Biden's reelection campaign. The administration has taken steps to negotiate lower prices with major pharmaceutical companies, make insulin more affordable, and expand healthcare for veterans and Medicare and Medicaid recipients. However, Adderall is not currently on Biden's list of drug price negotiations.

FDA says current Adderall supply does not meet demand

In October 2022, the FDA posted that amphetamine mixed salts — which are commonly referred to as the brand-name Adderall — did not have "sufficient supply to continue to meet US market demand."

Demand for ADHD medications has also spiked since the beginning of the pandemic, per CNN, with women and people in their 20s and 30s receiving the highest increase in prescriptions.

Meanwhile, with limited amounts of Adderall available, pharmacy prices are increasing.

USA Today reported in December 2023 that retail community pharmacies are struggling to stock the medication. The cost of Adderall to pharmacies has doubled, and in some cases tripled, since the shortage began — outpacing inflation.

USA Today reported that pharmacies are then charging consumers higher prices for the prescription. Some people must switch to alternative stimulants, which may or may not be covered by insurance, or choose to forgo their prescription altogether.

The DEA recently announced a quota increase for the ADHD medication methylphenidate, and the FDA approved the use of several generic forms of Adderall in hopes of increasing the overall availability of medication.

Some Americans with ADHD aren't getting the medication they need

A study released on April 2 by Truveta, a health data platform, shows that 1 in 10 Americans who take Adderall have been impacted by the shortage.

The study calculated the monthly rate of prescription fills for 336,355 people taking prescription stimulants between 2018 and 2023. The groups were split into categories of people over 18 and under 18.

The prescription fill rate for ADHD medications fell from 44.5% in December 2022 to 40.7% in February 2023, the study found. Refill rates were also 11.4% lower in the first five months of 2023 compared to the first five months of 2022.

Individuals with ADHD told USA Today that the continued scarcity and high costs of Adderall and related medications have caused them to skip prescription refills or ration doses.

"If the insurance dictates where you get your pills, and that pharmacy doesn't have the pills or that pharmacy chain in your area doesn't have those pills, you're out of luck," Dr. David Goodman, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences also at Johns Hopkins University, told Medscape Medical News.

Like opioids, Adderall use can also lead to addiction, and the federal government is taking steps to make it more difficult to obtain the drug without an in-person doctor's visit. The proposed legislation isn't contributing to the shortage, but it could limit access for people who rely on telehealth for prescriptions if enacted.

Government agencies do not manufacture medications, nor can they require that manufacturers produce or distribute more Adderall. Still, the FDA and DEA said they continue to work with manufacturers to resolve current supply issues and prevent shortages going forward. It's not yet clear when the shortage will be resolved.

Have you been impacted by the Adderall shortage or high prescription drug costs? Are you open to sharing your story? Reach out to this reporter at allisonkelly@businessinsider.com.

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• Companies are using AI to help real people write product reviews.
• The beauty industry especially relies on product reviews to reach customers.
• But AI-powered reviews aren't necessarily good for customers trying to tell if a lipstick is any good.

I purchased the Haus Labs foundation after watching a glowing review of the product by a makeup influencer on TikTok.

Shopping online, it's sometimes hard to know how a foundation or lipstick shade will look on your skin — or how to know if that $60 serum really is going to exfoliate better than a $20 one.

And beauty products are highly subjective — what feels or looks good on one person might not on another.

That's where online reviews come in: For beauty, especially, reviews from influencers and regular people are crucial. And we're talking big business here. The beauty business is expected to become a $580 billion industry by 2027. Although several large conglomerates rule, it's still an industry where new brands can break out and become huge — Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty line is valued at $2 billion, for instance.

Good reviews — and lots of them — are also important for a product to stand out on a beauty site like Sephora, Ulta, or even Amazon. The reviews are so key that companies specialize in helping brands get good ones. Influenster is one platform where regular people can sign up to receive free products in exchange for writing and posting reviews.

Now, AI is in the mix.

Business of Fashion reports that AI-generated reviews for beauty products are making it harder for some shoppers to determine whether a review comes from a real person. For example, a company called Bazaarvoice has a new AI tool called "Content Coach" that says it helps consumers write beauty product reviews:

Bazaarvoice, a platform for user-generated content which owns Influenster and works with beauty brands including L'Oréal, Pacifica, Clarins and Sephora, has recently launched three new AI-powered features, including a tool called "Content Coach." The company developed the tool based on research showing that 68 percent of its community had trouble getting started when writing a review, according to Marissa Jones, Bazaarvoice senior vice president of product.

Content Coach gives users prompts of key topics to include in their review, based on common themes in other reviews. The prompts for a review of a Chanel eyeliner might include "pigmentation," "precision" and "ease of removal," for instance. As users type their review, the topic prompts light up as they are addressed, gamifying the process.

In this case, AI is helping someone who might not have the terminology to describe what makes a concealer feel so smooth on the skin. It could help a mediocre writer create a more coherent and knowledgeable-sounding review.

That's one of the things that generative AI is great for: taking a few bullet points of text and putting them into a few paragraphs with proper grammar and acceptable style. Amazon is reportedly testing out a similar tool to help people write reviews.

Bazaarvoice seems to be aware of some of the potential issues with AI-written content. "In terms of generative AI, if people can't trust whether a product review is genuine and written by a real user, they might choose to shop elsewhere," said Marissa Jones, the company's senior vice president of product. "So we as an industry need to think carefully about how we approach this technology in a thoughtful and ethical way."

Already, without AI in the picture, there have been some unfortunate and predictable problems with online reviews. Amazon has long struggled with fake reviews for its third-party sellers. Some beauty brands, like the skincare line Sunday Reilly, have gotten in trouble with the FTC for having their own employees write glowing reviews on the Sephora site. Fakespot, a company that detects fake reviews, estimated that 31% of reviews on the big retailers' sites — Walmart, eBay, Best Buy, Amazon — were suspicious in 2021.

When we typically look at reviews, we use our judgment to guess how trustworthy a reviewer is. If someone writes, "THIS FOUDNASHUN IS AWSUM U SHOUDL BUY IT IM 9 BTW" about the Haus Labs foundation I bought, you probably wouldn't take it as seriously as a longer, more eloquently written review that mentions the packaging, long-lastingness, texture, etc.

And some reviewers might be knowledgeable and good at assessing a lipstick, but bad at putting those skills into writing. For those cases, AI is great. But the fact that AI is suggesting which attributes to focus on in describing a product suggests that it's doing more than just helping clear writing.

There's a reason that not all reviewers are equal. We make quick judgments all the time on how trustworthy a recommendation is based on clues about how it's written. Writing good reviews is hard! That's why there are professionals who do it!

AI-powered reviews will certainly be great for beauty brands that want more high-quality reviews. But they could also be bad news for the beauty buyer who relies on authentic recommendations when choosing which foundation to plunk $40 down on.

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• Foreign-born workers are leading the increase in the US labor force, Fitch Ratings said.
• But a labor demand cooldown may cause an oversupply in the market, it cautioned.
• Jobs growth in the government sector is also fueling the labor market.

US labor momentum seems stuck in high gear, after March added yet another blowout jobs report.

But a simple explanation could lie in US immigration trends, as a surge of foreign-born workers is propelling labor expansion, Fitch Ratings reported on Thursday.

"Increases in the U.S. labor force post-pandemic have been led by foreign-born workers, which represented 19% of the U.S. labor force at YE 2023, higher than 17% as of YE19," the ratings agency wrote. "The foreign-born labor participation rate is 66%, more than the native-born participation rate of 62%."

These figures come as net immigration averaged 0.9% of the US population for the past two years, surpassing estimates of 0.3%. 

But while higher immigration flows should keep labor momentum going through this year, Fitch also cautioned that it risks an oversupply. 

That's as weakness is starting to show in labor demand. According to Wall Street analysts, that includes rising layoff announcements, lack of full-time job opportunities, and a plunge in business hirings.

Still, migrants' contribution to labor has significantly boosted economic growth, Fitch said, a point shared by previous research.

For instance, Goldman Sachs lifted its 2024 GDP outlook due to this labor surge, while JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley highlighted immigration's positive impacts on US output.

In a separate report published Thursday, Fitch also named a secondary source fueling the impressive labor market: government hiring.

Job growth in this sector averaged 2.7% on an annual basis in 2023, the highest year-over-year rate since 1990, the ratings firm reported. It's unlikely to slow for now, as government employment is still lagging behind the private sector.

"The post-pandemic recovery for government payroll did not begin until much later in 2021 because most government educational institutions maintained a remote only system with minimal staff throughout 2020," Olu Sonola said in the report, head of U.S. economic research.

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• The US economy may have already stuck the soft landing, according to Evercore founder Roger Altman.
• The investing veteran pointed to resilient growth, which has crushed expectations over the last year.
• It's the big reason the stock market remains strong, despite concerns over Fed rate cuts, Altman said.

The US economy may have successfully avoided a recession and is already gliding toward a soft landing, according to Evercore founder Roger Altman.

The investment banking chief pointed to rising fear of an economic downturn, especially as interest rates in the economy look poised to remain higher for longer.

But the US economy has been "amazing" in its resilience, Altman told CNBC on Thursday. Growth has surpassed economists' expectations, with real GDP expected to have surged 2.4% over the first quarter, according to the Atlanta Fed. 

The job market also looks to be on rock-solid footing despite firms battling tighter financial conditions. The unemployment rate was at a record low of 3.8% in March—around a full percentage point lower than what the Fed previously predicted, Altman said. Labor productivity also remains strong, rising 2.6% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Those are big reasons stocks remain buoyant despite a sell-off this week as markets repriced expectations for Fed rate cuts. Inflation came in hotter than expected for the third month in a row in March, which led most investors to take the prospect of a June rate cut off the table. 

"Everything by and large is going right in the US economy," Altman said, noting that inflation is usually sticky as it falls from a peak. "The economy is outpacing every single forecast one could have put up from six months ago or nine months ago. Arguably, the soft landing already has happened."

Some Wall Street bears have warned a recession still looms for the US economy, with signs of weakness beginning to surface in the job market. According to top economist David Rosenberg, 22 US states have met the criteria for the Sahm Rule, a notoriously accurate recession indicator that's triggered when the three-month moving average of the unemployment rate rises 50 basis points above its 12-month low. 

The New York Fed is pricing in a 58% chance the US could tip into recession by March of next year. Most experts also saw a recession as unlikely at the start of the year, with 91% of economists assigning a less-than-50% chance of a recession in January, according to the National Association for Business Economics' latest survey. 

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• Leaders from JPMorgan, Microsoft, and Apple attended a White House state dinner on Wednesday.
• The dinner was hosted by Biden for the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida.
• Take a look at the business leaders and tech moguls who attended the lavish event.

On Wednesday top business and tech figures mingled with celebrities and lawmakers at the White House for a state dinner hosted by President Joe Biden.

The event was in honor of the prime minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida. It was a celebration of the relationship between the countries, as the leaders reaffirmed military and economic partnerships alongside new technology initiatives to strengthen cybersecurity and AI.

CEOs and founders, including Jamie Dimon, Tim Cook, and Jeff Bezos, attended the lavish event. The guest list also included BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son.

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, and his wife, Judy Dimon

Earlier this week, Jamie Dimon released his annual shareholder letter which outlined some of the biggest problems facing JPMorgan Chase and the world. He touched on topics from AI to geopolitics and called for the US to bring the West together during times of global turbulence.

Apple CEO Tim Cook took a seat at the table

Tim Cook was among several tech moguls who attended the event, which had a cherry blossom theme. Cook also attended last year's White House state dinner honoring the prime minister of India Narendra Modi, alongside guests like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Lisa Jackson, another key Apple figure, joined Cook

Lisa Jackson, vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives at Apple, is no stranger to the White House. She served as administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency under President Barack Obama.

Jeff Bezos and his fiancée Lauren Sánchez were in attendance

The former Amazon CEO was invited to the event alongside his fiancée Lauren Sánchez, a former news anchor. Their relationship became public in 2019, following Bezos' split from MacKenzie Scott.

Microsoft president Brad Smith secured an invite

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Microsoft plans to invest $2.9 billion in AI data centers in Japan by 2025.

President and COO of Blackstone, Jon Gray, and his wife Mindy, cofounder of the Gray Foundation

Gray has worked at the private equity giant Blackstone since he was 22 years old and rose to prominence in the company's real estate investment group, before taking on the role of president and COO under Stephen Schwarzman.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell also got in on the action

Jerome Powell was appointed to his role as Fed chair by former President Trump and then reappointed by Biden. He has repeatedly emphasized the importance of the central bank staying above the political fray when it comes to decision-making on monetary policy.

President Biden hosted the event in honor of the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida

The grand event was designed recognize to the "flourishing" friendship between Japan and the US, First Lady Jill Biden said at a media preview of the event on Tuesday.

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• The latest attempt to dethrone the smartphone arrived this week.
• Humane, a startup founded in 2018, released an AI pin that aims to offer an alternative.
• Reviews suggest it's far from a smartphone-killer, however.

Silicon Valley is having a hard time figuring out what a post-smartphone future might look like.

Ever since Steve Jobs introduced the world to the iPhone almost two decades ago, back in 2007, no product has come close to having a stranglehold on people's attention quite the way the pocketable device has.

Sales for smartphones continue to grow, as data from Counterpoint Research shows: shipments rose 7% year on year in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 323.2 million units, showing appetite remains strong for devices that people operate their lives with.

But for all their advantages, there has been some incentive to figure out life beyond smartphones.

Not only has their development stagnated with each new release, but the impact they can have on people's sleep, the risk posed to children's mental health from excessive use, and the ease with which users rack up screen time raise valid concerns.

It's why companies have made plenty of attempts to offer an alternative.

Google tried to make $1,500 smart glasses a thing in the 2010s but miserably failed. Meta is trying to offer a more refined take with its Ray-Ban partnership. And now, in the AI era, a newer company is trying to make wearable pins the future.

Unfortunately, this looks like a dead-end on the road toward a post-smartphone future too.

Humane, a startup founded in 2018 by husband and wife duo Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno — both former managers at Apple — has been busy working on an AI-enabled wearable pin that offers smartphone capabilities while doing away with unending screentime.

As Humane puts it, "whether you're making calls, sending messages, seeking answers, capturing moments, taking notes, or managing your digital world," its pin should have you sorted.

But after reviews of the first-gen version of its AI pin dropped this week, it's clear smartphone users will continue to be glued to their screens for a while.

The pin, launched in the US for $699 and deemed the start of "ambient computing" by its founders, was described by The Verge as "an interesting idea that is so thoroughly unfinished and so totally broken in so many unacceptable ways" that it's tough to recommend.

In its review of the pin, a device that requires a $24 monthly subscription to work, the publication acknowledged it looked pretty neat but was unsparing about almost everything else: it lacks basic functions like an alarm, struggled to make calls half the time, music streaming falters.

Others had trouble uploading high-resolution images they took with the pin to Humane's cloud storage service, and the AI meant to make the pin feel like a "second brain" felt "brain-dead half the time." Overheating also appeared to be an issue for many reviewers.

For Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, a veteran reporter who has covered Apple and the smartphone market for years, the verdict appears that "the phone will stick around far longer than some expected."

Humane's Bongiorno seems to have conceded this too. Responding to Gurman on X, she said "the smartphone is not going anywhere for a bit," as "no computer replaces the one before it."

Even Apple, which entered a new hardware market this year with the launch of its $3,500 Vision Pro, is positioning its mixed-reality headset as a product to work in tandem with iPhones for Apple devotees.

Don't expect your pockets to become lighter anytime soon.

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• Hatsune Miku, the vocaloid singer, kicked off her new tour on a giant LED screen.
• Some fans are fuming, 404 Media reports, given she's appeared as a hologram in the past.
• Miku is set to grace the Coachella stage this weekend.

Virtual popstar Hatsune Miku had the nerve to appear in 2D — not 3D — while kicking off her latest North American tour. And some fans on social media are fuming.

On the first two stops of her Miku Expo 2024 North America outing — in Vancouver and Portland — the turquoise-pigtailed starlet did not appear as a hologram as she has in the past, 404 Media reports, but instead via a big LED screen accented by decorations and a light show.

The same setup appeared to be employed at Miku's Monday show in San Jose.

On X and TikTok, the #MikuExpo2024 hashtag surfaced mixed reviews, according to 404 Media. Some cheered the energy and community of the show, while others were underwhelmed by the screen in light of what they paid to attend.

"I'm sorry, but there is absolutely no excuse for that LED Wall at #MIKUEXPO2024," one X user wrote. "Especially with how much more expensive the tickets were this year. It's a damn shame."

"I'd want my money back," one TikToker concurred. "Where are the holograms?"

A spokesperson for Miku's creator, Crypton Future Media, told Business Insider that the LED screen technology will continue to be featured at shows across North America and Europe.

"We appreciate the fan feedback regarding Miku Expo's North America tour and will continue to refine our show experience with our audience in mind," the spokesperson said.

Hatsune Miku, which translates to "the first sound from the future," is a Vocaloid — or software that allows fans to compose their own songs using Miku's voice, which she then performs live. Miku was initially released almost two decades ago and even opened for Lady Gaga in 2014.

Tickets for the next available show in Phoenix Sunday start at $55.

Miku is also set to perform at Coachella this weekend. The star was initially slated to appear in 2020, but the event was scrapped due to the pandemic.

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• This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Happy Friday! Tax day is Monday, but don't sweat it. Here's a rundown on how to file for an extension. We've also got resources on how to do your taxes.

By the way, we're wrapping up voting for the championship matchup in our business, tech, and innovation bracket. You can vote here.

In today's big story, we're looking at Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's letter to shareholders, which details the tech giant's plan in the age of generative AI.

What's on deck:

• Markets: These 11 startups are IPO-ready.

• Tech: The reviews are in for a hot new wearable AI device, but don't get excited.

• Business: Big corporations are gobbling up medical practices.

But first, Amazon, AI, and a letter.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here.

The big story

Amazon in the AI age

The generative AI revolution is coming, and Amazon wants in on the ground floor.

Andy Jassy, Amazon's CEO, identified the tech as the company's next big focus in his annual letter to shareholders, writes Business Insider's Ana Altchek.

Jassy described gen AI as Amazon's "next set of primitives," which is corporate jargon for saying Amazon wants companies getting into gen AI to build stuff using their tools.

It's a strategy that's worked well for Amazon in the past. AWS, Amazon's public cloud business that Jassy helped create, has been incredibly profitable and upended how companies think about their tech strategy.

But there's a new kid on the block. The AI cloud includes Nvidia's GPUs and large-language models, which power the AI services and tools that are all the rage now. Meanwhile, the cloud 1.0 business, which AWS has long dominated, is no longer cool.

Jassy's letter details how Amazon plans to reposition itself at the forefront of this new era.

The three-layer approach includes Amazon powering companies that build and train models (Anthropic, Snap), helping companies use these models with their data (Bridgewater Associates, Pfizer), and creating customer-facing AI applications themselves.

It wasn't all AI talk in Jassy's letter.

I asked our resident Amazon expert, Eugene Kim, about what stood out to him beyond the mentions of AI. He highlighted two points:

A lower cost to serve. Jassy emphasized the company would continue to find cheaper ways to deliver items faster. That's a nod to the threat Amazon feels from fast-fashion retailer Shein. It also enables Amazon to increase its market share among customers looking for cheap, daily items that might have previously been costly for Amazon to ship.

Prime Video gets some love. Amazon's streaming business has been on a rocky road recently, with layoffs hitting the unit earlier this year. But Jassy's hopes remain high. He said in the letter he believes Prime Video could "be a large and profitable business on its own."

Exclusive content on the streamer has been a mixed bag. Its latest big bet is "Fallout," an adaptation of the popular video game set in a post-apocalyptic world. (Hmmm, what a novel concept.) Meanwhile, Prime Video's pursuit of sports remains a question mark.

3 things in markets

1. These companies will be first in line when the IPO market finally opens up. With the help of Pitchbook data, BI identified 11 startups ready to go public this year. Among those ready for an exit: Databricks, Epic Games, and Zocdoc. Here's who else made the list.

2. Junior bankers could be the latest casualty of AI. The New York Times reported banks are considering pulling back on hiring new analysts thanks to AI handling a chunk of their workload. But it's not all bad news on the Street, as Morgan Stanley is betting AI can free up advisors' time to be "more human."

3. The best-case scenario for interest rate cuts is up in smoke. Wall Street strategists are readjusting expectations for when the Fed will lower rates. Expert predictions include only one cut this year and even a rate hike.

3 things in tech

1. Adam Neumann opens up about Flow, his secretive billion-dollar startup. Neumann wants to turn apartment living into a utopian fantasy. But despite having been in the works for more than a year, little is known about Flow. In an exclusive interview, Neumann spoke to BI about his newest venture.

2. Humane's AI Pin reviews are decidedly mixed. The pin, which came out yesterday, aspires to one day replace our smartphones. But early users said it's not worth the $699 price tag, and just isn't that good yet.

3. Meet adtech's rising stars. Digital advertising is facing a wave of new challenges, like the death of third-party cookies. BI identified 33 up-and-coming professionals who are finding solutions and developing new products.

3 things in business

1. Bon Appétit plans to cut about 25% of its union staff. In 2020, many of the brand's best-known staff left amid a racial reckoning. Now, insiders are worried planned layoffs will undermine the work the outlet has done to get back on track.

2. Hiring managers share résumé clichés to avoid. Don't just list your responsibilities — instead, highlight the impact you've had at work. And don't use too many buzzwords, like saying that you're "detail-oriented."

3. Big corporations are quietly taking over your medical practice. Businesses like hospital systems, insurers, and PE firms are gobbling up medical clinics, and some doctors and industry experts say it's ruining healthcare.

In other news

• Short-seller sends Globe Life shares plunging 53% as insurance giant calls report 'defamatory,' threatens legal action.

• O.J. Simpson dead at 76, family announces.

• 277,000 student-loan borrowers who have 'paid what they can afford' for at least a decade are getting $7.4 billion in debt wiped out.

• Some Amazon employees are complaining about projected pay cuts, internal messages show.

• Trump is now out of options to delay Monday's start of jury selection in his hush money trial: legal experts.

• O.J. Simpson's TV moment is never going to be replicated.

• It looks like In-N-Out Burger really won't come to the East Coast any time soon.

• 3 top personal trainers explain why they stopped taking pre-workout supplements that boost energy.

• Mark Cuban says there is one thing that he wishes Americans understood better about the economy in an election year.

• 3 takeaways from new data on how much money creators are making in 2024, including why affiliate marketing is having a 'glow up.'

• Soccer's biggest league is rolling out AI-powered tech to make crucial calls.

• More CEOs expect hybrid work is here to stay.

What's happening today

• Today's earnings: JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and other companies are reporting.

• Coachella starts today.

The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. George Glover, reporter, in London.

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