• Elon Musk is eyeing a possible X phone.
• Musk, who owns X, formerly Twitter, said Tuesday such a device is "not out of the question."
• Musk said he'd ban Apple devices from his companies if Apple integrates OpenAI's tech into its software.

Elon Musk is weighing the idea of building an X phone amid his threats to ban iPhones and other Apple devices from his companies.

On Monday, an X user tweeted his prediction that Musk would create an X phone, which Musk replied was a possibility. He owns the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

"Calling it now," the user wrote. "X will partner with Samsung to manufacture an X phone."

"It is not out of the question," Musk responded in a tweet on Tuesday.

A day prior, Musk had threatened to ban the use of Apple devices across his companies if the tech giant went through with plans it announced at WWDC to integrate OpenAI's technology into its software.

Apple had said it'd partner with OpenAI to give users the option to integrate ChatGPT into Siri, as well as iOS 18, iPad OS 18, and macOS Sequoia later this year.

Musk called the integration "an unacceptable security violation" and said if it went through, visitors to his companies "will have to check their Apple devices at the door, where they will be stored in a Faraday cage," referring to a container that blocks some electromagnetic radiation.

Though Musk cofounded OpenAI along with CEO Sam Altman and others in 2015, he's been a vocal critic of the ChatGPT maker since stepping down from its board in 2018.

• Russia opened up a new front in the northern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv last month.
• At the time, things were bleak for Ukraine. Even so, Russia's attack appears to have stalled.
• The attack, while not over, produced a major strategic misfire, experts told Business Insider.

Russia is fumbling a golden opportunity in Ukraine as its latest offensive stalls, experts told Business Insider.

A month ago, an estimated 30,000 Russian troops began pouring over Ukraine's northern border into the Kharkiv region, opening up a new front for Ukraine's already-stretched defenses.

Ukraine was in a particularly weak spot. Yet four weeks later, Russian forces have stalled, and White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby declared the offensive "all but over."

Looking back, what's remarkable is "how little so far Russia has actually achieved," Patrick Bury, a military analyst at the UK's University of Bath, told BI.

Not only that, the offensive has backfired strategically, prompting the US to allow Ukraine to strike targets on Russian soil using its weapons.

A dangerous moment

Rewind one month, things were looking grim for Ukraine.

The seeds had been sown much earlier. The monthslong Republican delay over a new tranche of US military aid had left Ukrainian forces desperately short of ammo and equipment.

Months of back-and-forth by Ukrainian parliamentarians over the terms of conscription had resulted in a backlog of fresh soldiers reaching the battlefield.

And in Russia, President Vladimir Putin was changing up his military leadership, readying to promote a technocrat to Minister of Defence, in a sign that he was getting serious about the needs of a long war, as Business Insider's Jake Epstein reported.

Russia had also begun pressuring Chasiv Yar, a strategic town in the eastern Donbas region, probing for a breach in an exhausted front line, while Ukraine was scrambling to build defensive fortifications, leaving its soldiers dangerously exposed.

When Putin's forces spilled over the border into the Kharkiv region on May 10, the defenses were so poor that one soldier told the BBC that they "just walked in."

Ukrainian soldiers also found that their Starlink-powered communications were jammed, The Washington Post reported.

Twenty miles away was Ukraine's second-largest city: Kharkiv.

A smattering of villages quickly fell, and soon Russian forces were claiming they had reached the strategic town of Vovchansk, which straddles a key highway. They didn't get much further.

Russia wouldn't reach it

Putin likely never had the means to capture Kharkiv city, RAND geopolitical strategist Ann Marie Dailey told BI, and the Russian leader himself soon claimed he had no plans to do so.

The goal of the offensive, Putin said, was to create a buffer zone on Ukrainian territory to shield the border region of Belgorod from Ukrainian attacks.

But it's likely Putin had other goals — and he may have succeeded in some of them, Bury told BI.

"It had a whole dynamic of panic, a new front close to Kharkiv. Could it rattle the Ukrainians?" he said.

The approach might have been one of "suck it and see," he added. "If there is some sort of collapse, if there is a success, we'll reinforce it," he said, describing the likely thinking.

Putin also likely wanted to draw off Ukrainian forces from elsewhere.

Ukraine had to move badly needed units from Chasiv Yar to repel the attack, Foreign Policy Research Institute Senior Fellow Rob Lee told the Chain Reaction podcast soon after the offensive was launched.

"They have to use their most elite units to plug holes," he said.

Even so, it looks like Russian forces were quickly overextended and poorly protected, The Telegraph reported.

Nick Reynolds, a land warfare research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told BI that if Russia had waited until it was able to bring better-trained units to the fore, its forces might have been able to at least begin to encircle Kharkiv and control key highways.

But the Institute for the Study of War said that Putin may have rushed the offensive in an attempt to get ahead of incoming Western aid — fielding "an understrength force" in the process.

A strategic misstep

By mid-May, renewed Western aid appeared to be filtering through to Ukraine — with an influx of Howitzer shells starting to ease desperate ammunition shortages, the Kyiv Post reported.

On May 25, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that his forces were killing eight Russians for every Ukrainian lost in Kharkiv — a figure that both Bury and Dailey told BI was plausible given the advantages of defensive action, as well as Russia's notoriously cavalier attitude to its own soldiers.

As for Putin's stated goal of creating a buffer zone protecting Belgorod from Ukraine — in effect, he achieved the exact opposite.

Belgorod has long been vulnerable to cross-border attacks and had seen an increase in drone and rocket attacks throughout the spring, which Russia blamed Ukraine for.

But in gaining a small amount of cover for Belgorod, Putin has opened up a far more significant set of possibilities for Ukraine.

"The problem was strategically, it helped increase the Western understanding of how perilous the situation was getting," Bury said.

On May 30, Politico reported that President Joe Biden — prompted by the alarming news of the Kharkiv offensive — had quietly shifted on one of his long-held red lines.

The White House was now open to allowing Ukraine to strike inside Russian territory using US-made weapons, according to unnamed sources.

While Politico said this is only allowed to protect Kharkiv, Dailey said that as far as US red lines go, it's one of the most significant ones crossed so far.

Reynolds believes that ultimately, this step was coming anyway. "All the conditions were set for this," he said.

But as it stands, the primary goal of Russia's Kharkiv offensive has backfired, Bury added. "The US response has now put Belgorod under fire of better artillery."

The attack is far from over

While Russia is not banking on a dramatic breakthrough, it still has the initiative, Bury said — especially with its tendency to simply "grind it out" until something gives.

"That window of opportunity will not close for a while," he added.

Ukraine is likely to remain vulnerable for some time, as further military aid slowly arrives.

"I think that there's a broader offensive effort that you'll see from Russia later in this summer," Dailey told BI. "And so it is very possible that this was a probing attack — theater-setting operations for a larger push later in the year."

On Sunday, Russia's forces attacked border towns in Ukraine's northern Sumy region, some 100 miles west of Kharkiv, the Kyiv Post reported, in a sign that more attacks are to come.

"The Kharkiv offensive, even if it wasn't what the Russians have hoped for, ultimately in many ways it served its purpose," said Reynolds. "It placed increasing pressure on Ukrainians."

He added: "The Ukrainian situation is very worrying."

• Hunter Biden was doomed to lose his criminal gun trial.
• He's laid the groundwork for appeals, arguing he's charged only because he's the president's son.
• Experts told Business Insider before the verdict that he may have a point. 

For all the drama, the trial against Hunter Biden was always pretty simple.

When the president's son bought a .38 mm Colt Cobra handgun on October 12, 2018, he was required to fill out a government form that asked whether he was "an unlawful user of, or addicted to" a "controlled substance."

He marked "no" on the form and then paid $900 in cash.

Given the mountain of publicly known evidence that Biden did use cocaine in that time period, federal prosecutors brought an indictment against him. They accused him of lying on the form and unlawfully owning a firearm.

In his opening statement at the trial, Biden's lawyer Abbe Lowell urged jurors in the Wilmington, Delaware, federal court to acquit his client. He argued that terms such as "user of" and "addicted to" were open to interpretation.

Prosecutors got straight to the point once opening arguments concluded. One of the first pieces of evidence they presented to the jury was a section of Biden's memoir. They played portions of the audiobook — narrated by Biden himself — where he described struggling with addiction over a four-year period that overlapped with the gun purchase.

"These are the bread and butter of the US attorney's office," Sarah Krissoff, a former Manhattan federal prosecutor and former top lawyer at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, told Business Insider before jurors began deliberating. "They know how to put on a tight gun case."

Biden's trial was not necessarily a lost cause. His lawyers tried to convince jurors that he was seeking treatment and didn't consider himself addicted to drugs on the day he filled out that form, nor in the 11 days in October 2018 when he owned the gun. The jury — in his father's home state of Delaware — could have still ended up deadlocked or acquitted him.

That didn't happen.

On Tuesday, the jury convicted Biden on all three felony gun charges.

But Biden's legal team already had their eyes set on higher courts.

The politicization defense

Decisions from US District Judge Maryellen Noreika, whom Donald Trump appointed when he was president, made Biden's uphill climb steeper.

In a series of rulings before the case went to trial, she dismissed arguments from Biden's lawyers that would have allowed him to put on a stronger defense. Some of those motions argued that the case was fundamentally unfair and should never have been brought.

Biden's team — led by Lowell, who has previously represented politicians including Jared Kushner, Sen. Robert Menendez, and former Sen. John Edwards — has aggressively appealed the decisions.

None of the appeals stopped the case from going to trial before higher courts could consider their merits. But they can still be taken up at a later date.

Biden's primary arguments revolve around the notion that he's the victim of "selective and vindictive prosecution."

The criminal investigation originated under the authority of David Weiss, who was appointed as the US attorney for Delaware by Trump. He brought the indictment during the administration of President Joe Biden, who promised not to interfere with the case. US Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss as a Justice Department special counsel to keep him insulated from outside influences.

Hunter Biden's lawyers have argued this arrangement has perversely allowed Weiss to politicize the proceedings unchecked.

Last summer, Weiss and Biden's lawyers reached a deal that would result in a diversion agreement for the gun charges and a guilty plea for a separate set of tax charges, with Biden accused of failing to pay at least $1.4 million to the IRS. But that fell apart in a court hearing when Noreika questioned the deal's technical mechanisms.

Amid the chaos, Trump and Republicans in Congress enthusiastically pressured Weiss to charge Biden in the gun case, as well as in the separate criminal tax case in California. When Weiss brought the indictments instead of continuing to negotiate a plea deal, those same Republicans gloated.

"They made it clear that they wanted Mr. Weiss to keep this litigation alive through the presidential election (regardless of merit) and for him to bring more serious charges as a foil for the investigations and prosecutions of former President Trump," Biden's lawyers wrote in a December filing.

Everyone wanted a plea deal — except Republicans

Legal commentators — and even some Republican politicians — have said the application of the criminal gun charges is highly unusual.

One of them, for falsely filling out the government's gun sales form, is typically slapped on as an additional charge in a larger gun-related case, like a gun-trafficking prosecution, experts told BI. There's no evidence that Biden even loaded or used the gun before his brother's widow, Hallie Biden, threw it out.

Another charge, for possessing a firearm by a person who has used or is addicted to a controlled substance, is even rarer. And according to Krissoff, federal prosecutors in Manhattan had a rule not to bring the charge at all.

"Absent this individual's status as Hunter Biden, it would be very unlikely that this case would've been brought," Krissoff, now a defense attorney at Cozen O'Connor, said last week.

Duncan Levin, a former New York federal prosecutor said the rarity of this application of the charges demonstrated the whole prosecution was political.

"I have never heard of a case that is brought as a stand-alone false claim on an application — ever," Levin told BI during the trial. "Lying to a gun dealer? I think there are fewer than 300 brought a year, of 25 million background checks. I think it speaks for itself."

A separate federal appeals court in Texas ruled last year that the application of the statute in a different criminal case violated the Second Amendment.

"Obviously, the conduct that the government ought to be addressing is whether somebody is on drugs and high while they're shooting a gun," Levin said, "not whether somebody used cocaine two weeks ago and then picks up a gun at some point, and goes to a range. It's incredibly vague what the statute even means."

Levin said the constitutional flimsiness of such a case was why it made more sense for everyone to agree to some kind of nonprosecution deal. The same applies to the tax charges in California, which were brought after Biden had already paid back the taxes and was prepared to plead guilty, Levin said.

And, in fact, that's what was supposed to happen. Everyone wanted a plea deal except for Republican politicians.

"Hunter Biden was never the president. He's not running for office. He's not a public official. He is a private person," Levin said. "And these charges are at very most de minimis. They're the type of charges that not only would typically result in a pretrial diversion, they were supposed to result in a pretrial diversion. The fact that this is on trial is due to politics, clear and simple."

According to Krissoff, plea deals fall apart under a judge's scrutiny all the time. When that happens, the prosecutors and defense lawyers usually pick up the pieces and try to craft a new agreement, she said. It's usually much easier than going to trial.

"Pleas go south all the time while you're in the courtroom, or when you're walking into the courtroom, and it can be unclear whether or not the plea is going to get through for various reasons," she said. "The judge asked a lot of hard questions, and the plea didn't make it through. That has happened many times to me in my life, so I'm sure it will happen more."

Biden's attorneys have argued that the diversion agreement on the drug charges was still binding even without the judge's approval and that the charges should be tossed.

Noreika denied the motion, as well as Biden's requests to dig deeper into the Justice Department to look for evidence of political pressure.

But forcing prosecutors to uphold the diversion agreement on the gun charges — which would not cover the tax charges — may have the strongest chance on appeal, said Neama Rahmani, the president of West Coast Trial Lawyers and a former federal prosecutor in California.

"It was idiotic to blow up the deal," Rahmani told BI during the trial. "I'm sure they regret it."

Before Biden and his lawyers could get an appeals court to listen to them, though, they had to finish the trial.

Biden did have some defenses to muster, Levin said, days before the verdict.

"Hunter Biden had just gotten out of an 11-day program and was living with somebody who was sober at the time," he said. "I think it's a pretty crabbed way of looking at it, to say he was an addict at that time — he was clearly committed to his recovery and had just finished a rehab program."

Given how many arguments the judge has already rejected, however, the felony conviction was expected.

"By the time they get to this point, the prosecution usually has a very strong hand," Krissoff said last week. "Creative defense attorneys can do some damage and be very effective, so we'll see. But I doubt even Hunter Biden is optimistic."

This story was updated following the jury verdict in Hunter Biden's gun trial.

• My twin sister and I have been coworkers twice. 
• The first time we worked together was for a family business, which was stressful. 
• Years later, we worked together at a local mall, where customers often got us mixed up.

When I started working at my local shopping mall in 2016, I brought a swirl of confusion to my coworkers — and customers.

My identical twin sister, Aimee, had already worked there for around a year while balancing her studies at dance college. I was also a student and needed a job, so Aimee put in a good word with her manager.

I was hired as a part-time general operative shortly after an interview. My role involved working alongside my sister in the food court, cleaning tables, assisting customers, and cleaning the restrooms and the managers' offices.

But when my first day rolled around, it became clear that Aimee and my new manager had failed to mention that I was a twin to our coworkers.

When I arrived at the food court, ready to start my first shift, another worker approached me with a confused grin. She started chatting as if she knew me and asked why I was in the food court when I was supposed to be working at a different station.

I realized she had mistaken me for Aimee, who was working on the floor above us.

I told the worker that Aimee was my twin, and her grin morphed into a laugh. She couldn't believe it.

Many customers had the same reaction. Some would stop to ask me if I had a twin after seeing Aimee and I work together or in different parts of the mall on the same day.

Others assumed I had super speed, going from one part of the mall to the other in record time, when they were actually just seeing my sister and I at different work stations.

Of course, I should have prepared for these reactions. It wasn't the first time my sister and I had worked together.

We worked together at our family business as teenagers

The shopping mall was our second attempt to be coworkers.

When we were in high school, Aimee and I worked at our parents' fish and chip shop in our hometown.

As Aimee was more outgoing, she worked out front with the customers, while I usually stayed in the back, cleaning the dishes and doing other chores.

It was a great experience, and it made sense that my parents wanted us to work at the shop. It helped instill a work ethic in both of us, and it was inspiring to see my mom and dad work hard at something they were passionate about.

However, as you can probably imagine, working with family had some drawbacks. I remember countless family arguments and moments of tension caused by the stress of running a business.

Even when we weren't working, all my family seemed to talk about was the shop. It wasn't healthy for my relationship with my sister or my parents.

My parents decided to close the shop around four years after it first opened. It was a bittersweet decision, but we all knew it was the right thing for our family.

Things were different when Aimee and I worked at the mall. We weren't emotionally attached to our work this time because the stakes weren't as high.

If we made a mistake at work or got frustrated with a coworker, we could leave it at the door.

As a result, our relationship flourished. We genuinely enjoyed working together, and to this day, we still share inside jokes and funny stories about our time at the mall.

The experience taught me that there are benefits to working with siblings, and I'd definitely encourage it — but a family business isn't always the best place to do it.

• Apple unveiled Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2024.
• An iPhone 15 Pro or newer is required for compatibility with the new AI features.
• Apple's iPhone sales have faced headwinds in the last year, so the company is hoping it can convince people to upgrade.

Apple finally threw its hat into the AI ring during its WWDC keynote on Monday, revealing a suite of generative AI features it calls Apple Intelligence.

But most iPhone users will need to upgrade in order to use them.

The Apple Intelligence features, which will be coming to iPhone, iPad, and Mac, will be free for users and start rolling out to US users later this year. There's also a revamped Siri, powered by Apple Intelligence, that promises to be more useful by accessing specific actions within apps.

The AI tasks — which range from helping draft emails to generating custom images and emojis to figuring out when you should the house to catch your flight — will be mostly handled entirely on the Apple devices themselves, powered by the chips within the iPhone, iPad or Mac. That means you'll need one of the very latest iPhones, or a fairly modern iPad or Mac, to access Apple Intelligence.

An entry-level iPhone 15 isn't even enough. You'll need at least the iPhone 15 Pro or an iPhone 15 Pro Max. Apple Intelligence is also only compatible with iPads and Macs that have the M1 chip — thankfully those have been around for years.

You'll also have the choice of letting Apple Intelligence and the new Siri tap into ChatGPT for some tasks. The integration will make accessing ChatGPT more seamless, but those with older iPhones can always simply download the ChatGPT iOS app.

Apple Intelligence's launch comes after recent declines in iPhone sales, which dropped by 10% year-over-year in the first quarter. There's also data indicating that people are holding onto their iPhones for longer. As groundbreaking upgrades plateau and prices increase, people likely see less of a need to trade out their current iPhones for the latest models.

AI represents an opportunity for Apple to buck that trend.

Now, iPhone owners will have to decide if Apple Intelligence is enough of a reason to upgrade.

Apple certainly hopes so.

• BeReal is acquired by Voodoo Games for 500 million euros.
• The once-popular social media app struggled to grow and had limited runway left.
• Co-founder and CEO Alexis Barreyat will leave BeReal after a transition period.

BeReal is being acquired.

The startup social media app, which soared in popularity during the height of the pandemic and struggled to find long-term footing with users, has been purchased by Voodoo Games.

Voodoo, a French gaming company, said it valued BeReal at 500 million euros.

Business Insider first reported that BeReal was looking to be acquired. The company was struggling to grow user numbers and had less than a year of runway left from previous rounds of funding.

As part of the sale to Voodoo, BeReal co-founder and CEO Alexis Barreyat is leaving the company after a transition period.

Are you a tech employee or someone else with a tip or insight to share? Contact Kali Hays at khays@businessinsider.com or on secure messaging app Signal at 949-280-0267. Reach out using a non-work device.

• Scientists have known about Mars holes for years but an old image has reignited interest. 
• These holes could contain evidence of alien life on Mars and be a shelter for future astronauts.
• But there are still many questions about how deep these holes are and where they lead.

In case you hadn't heard, there's a hole on Mars — multiple holes, actually. These holes, or pits, aren't news. Here's a photo of one from 2007:

However, an image taken by the HiRISE camera in 2022 recently resurfaced on the University of Arizona HiRISE's Picture of the Day, reigniting the conversation around these fascinating features.

Any excuse to talk about these holes is a good one because they remain largely mysterious and full of promise for future scientific missions.

What are those mysterious holes on Mars?

The holes, aka pits, are located on the flanks of ancient volcanoes in Mars's Tharsis region, the largest volcanic region on the red planet and home to some of the biggest volcanoes in our solar system.

As far as scientists can tell, Mars is no longer volcanically active. So there's no risk of these giant volcanoes erupting. But there is a possibility that residual underground lava tubes may still exist.

Scientists think these holes are "skylights," or places where the ground above the lava tubes has caved in and created a gaping hole in the surface, Brandon Johnson, a geophysicist at Purdue University who studies impact craters throughout the solar system, told Business Insider.

If these lava tubes are anything like Earth's, they could be the perfect place for astronauts to hunker down during their stay on Mars.

"There's more than one of these [pits] on Mars that we've seen," Johnson said. "But they're really interesting because they're places where astronauts might be able to go and be safe from radiation."

That said, it's unclear how deep these holes go or where they lead. We can only speculate from what we see on other planets, like our own.

"On the Earth, these lava tubes can be large enough to walk around in, but they can also be small or the voids can be discrete or discontinuous," Ross Beyer, a planetary scientist with the SETI Institute, told Business Insider over email. "So these pits we see could open into larger caves, or they could just be isolated pits."

Beyer added, "There's no way to know what's in them until we explore them in more detail."

Besides hypothetical human missions that may, or may not, happen anytime soon, there's a far more important reason to explore these holes further.

Is there life on Mars?

These holes could be one of the best places to search for evidence of extraterrestrial life on Mars because they may offer a protective, warm sanctuary from the planet's unforgiving surface.

For example, lava tubes on the moon can be as warm as 63 °F. That's plenty warm enough for life to arise inside. It's unclear if lava tubes on Mars would also be this warm — it's not a stretch to imagine, just a challenge to confirm.

Right now, the only information scientists know about these holes is what they can see from orbiting cameras in space. When it launched onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft in 2005, the HiRISE camera was the most powerful telescope to ever leave Earth's orbit and has since transformed our understanding of the red planet, snapping over 80,000 images. But it's still limited.

"Unfortunately, there is a limit to the 'angle' that we can get from orbit to look 'into' these pits. So sometimes we can see 'walls' and sometimes we can't," Beyer told BI.

The best way to explore below the surface would be to physically go inside by dispatching a rover to investigate the pit, Johnson said.

"There are missions proposed to essentially have a robot go on a line and drop down into one of these skylights and be able to explore what's inside of them," he said.

But to be clear, just because there could be life in these pits, doesn't mean Mars definitely hosts extraterrestrials.

"This is a good place to look, but we don't know if there's life on Mars at all," Johnson said.

In the meantime, to understand these mysterious holes as much as we can, "HiRISE and other Mars-orbiting spacecraft will certainly continue to take images of volcanic areas from orbit to try and characterize them better," Beyer said.

Peacock is NBCUniversal's streaming service, so it's home to popular TV shows like "The Office" and Universal movies like the "Jurassic Park" franchise. It's one of our picks for the best streaming services you can subscribe to, especially if you're a fan of NBC's programs. But before you can start watching TV and movies, you must log into the app or website.

Here's how to navigate through the Peacock login process on your computer or mobile device, even if you have lost your account credentials. 

How to log into Peacock on a computer

1. Go to peacocktv.com in a web browser. 

2. At the top right of the page, click Sign In. 

3. Type your email address and then click Continue.

4. Enter your password and then click Sign In. 

How to log into Peacock on a mobile device

1. Open the Peacock app on your Android or iOS device.

2. Tap Sign In.

3. Type your email address and password, and then click Sign In.

What to do if you can't log into Peacock

If you're having trouble logging into your Peacock account, there are generally just a few potential issues. 

• You are using the wrong email address or password. Make sure you're using the email address you used to create your Peacock account.
• You are a cable TV customer and you haven't linked your account. If you're an Xfinity, Cox, or Spectrum customer, you may need to link your Peacock account to your cable TV account. Go to PeacockTV.com/account and sign into your account. In the Link Provider section, click your cable provider and use your cable TV provider's credentials to sign in and link your account to your Peacock subscription.

• You've forgotten your Peacock password. If you don't remember your password, go to the Peacock sign-in page and click I don't know my password. Enter your email address and follow the instructions to perform a password reset. 
• You've forgotten your Peacock email address. If in doubt, use the same email address that Peacock uses to send you account updates and information about the newest TV shows and movies. You can also check your inbox, deleted mail, and spam folders to find the welcome email from Peacock.

• We asked three interior designers to share which living-room items are worth splurging on.
• They said that you should invest in a quality sofa, as it's the main piece of furniture in the room.
• The experts also said window treatments deserve a splurge because they pull a room together.

Though we all love to save money when it comes to decorating our homes, there are some pieces that are worth spending a little more on, according to professionals. 

Business Insider asked three interior designers which living-room items are deserving of a splurge.

A sofa is a central piece of living-room furniture, so it's worth the investment

The sofa is the most important piece of furniture in the living room, according to Rachel Street, an interior designer who hosted DIY Network's "Philly Revival."

"This is a good place to spend your budget," Street told BI. "The ideal sofa will provide a comfortable place to sit as well as add to the overall design of the room." 

For a modern space, choose a leather sofa with clean, square shapes. If you prefer an eclectic look, look for a bright color or fun pattern.

A bar is great when you're entertaining guests

Whether it be a wet bar or a wine cabinet, having a little bar area in the living room is convenient for when you have guests over. And it can really add to the design, according to Street.

Samantha Orley, an interior designer at Orley Interiors, shared tips on keeping your bar stocked.

"Everyone should have a well-stocked bar with fine scotch, whiskey, vodka, and tequila, along with an assortment of aperitifs, to appeal to any guests' tastes," she told BI.

The designer also suggested investing in some crystal glassware.

Investing in original artwork is a great way to add character to your home

Street told BI that original artwork adds both character and interest to a design. According to Robbie Maynard, interior designer of Robbie Interiors, you can also instantly elevate a space with quality artwork.

"This is a good place to invest," Maynard told BI. "It is very visible and will make a significant statement and set the tone for the room."

Accent chairs can add color and uniqueness to a room

"I love hunting for and investing in unique accent chairs, oftentimes recovering in a custom fabric," Orley told BI. 

Depending on the room's layout and the style, you may opt for two matching chairs or chairs of different sizes and colors, according to Street.

Make a statement with a beautiful area rug

Area rugs are an important statement piece that set the style and tone for the room, so they're worth spending a little more on, according to Maynard.

If statement rugs aren't your thing, Street recommended opting for a basic one that provides a neutral backdrop for other design elements.

A sound system doesn't have to take away from the design if it's done right

"One of my favorite upgrades to make to a living space is to add a built-in sound system," Street told BI.  

Hidden ceiling speakers are great for parties and don't detract from the room's design. 

Window treatments are often overlooked but are well worth the investment

From custom curtains to electronically controlled blinds, window treatments really help to pull a room together

Street told BI you should choose a fabric and design that will complement the other items in the room.

A coffee table can set the tone for the living room, making it a splurge-worthy item

If you're looking for one statement piece to splurge on, Orley recommended a coffee table. 

"I usually suggest splurging on something that will give the space a lot of character, like a split bi-level Travertine table or a more contemporary marble table," she told BI. 

Lighting fixtures can elevate your entire living room

Adequate lighting is a very important element of any room, so it's not something to skimp on.

"When designing a living room, I pay special attention to all the light fixtures, including recessed fixtures and decorative table lamps," Maynard told BI. 

For frequent travelers, spending money on high-quality faux plants is ideal

For frequent fliers or those who just don't have time to take care of real plants, it may be worth it to invest in quality faux plants.

"If you spend the money on good, quality faux plants, you can't tell they are not real and they never need to be watered," Maynard told BI. 

Beautiful coffee-table books provide insight into a person's life

Books add personality and insight into a person's home.

According to Orley, there's nothing more telling than an assortment of coffee-table books from various travels around the world.

Throw pillows are an easy way to transform your space

"I like to have a few sets of throw pillows for my living room because this allows me to switch them out and give a different look and feel to the room depending on the season or mood," Street told BI. 

For winter, you can opt for more fluffy pillows and a cozy throw, and for summer, lighter and brighter fabrics are a great choice.

Candles and incense create a warm and welcoming environment

Candles and incense are worth spending a little extra on because they really help to create a warm and welcoming ambiance.

"I encourage clients to find a few scents they love that become their signature," Orley said. "I often travel with incense to bring a little bit of home and coziness to wherever I might be."

This story was originally published in June 2022 and most recently updated on June 11, 2024. 

• Elon Musk, who has a … complicated relationship with advertisers, is going to appear at a big ad conference.
• It's pretty standard for tech companies to court advertisers at the Cannes Lions event in France.
• But Musk and his company skipped last year's event.

Last fall Elon Musk told advertisers to go fuck themselves.

Maybe he has a different message now: The man who bought Twitter, turned it into "X," and saw his advertising revenue plummet, is heading to the Cannes Lions ad summit in France next week.

WPP, one of the world's biggest ad companies, said Musk will appear at an event with WPP CEO Mark Read on June 18.

This one won't be a grilling. From the release: "The interview will cover the transformative power of technological innovation, how AI is reshaping creativity, business and society, and the future of X." No word on whether Musk will be there in person or will be beaming in, like he did most recently at a Paris tech conference.

Cannes is the ad industry's biggest event of the year, and it's quite standard for Big Tech companies to show up there and try to woo advertisers.

Musk's appearance is primarily newsworthy because he didn't go last year and has mostly avoided ad gatherings in general. (Linda Yaccarino, the former NBC sales boss who became Musk's CEO a year ago, is also scheduled to appear in Cannes this month.)

Related: Many advertisers have avoided Twitter/X since he bought the company in the fall of 2022, and Musk's relationships with ad buyers remain pretty … strained. Last fall, Musk famously told advertisers that had stopped working with his company to "go fuck yourself" and accused them of trying to "blackmail" him.

Musk routinely predicts a future for Twitter/X where the company won't be dependent on advertising dollars because he'll also be making lots of money from subscriptions and other revenue streams.

But those alternative dollars haven't shown up in meaningful amounts, and advertisers are still quite wary of Musk. So off to France he goes. (I'll also be there along with some of my Business Insider colleagues. Come say hi!)