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Spotify’s terrible privacy settings just leaked Palmer Luckey’s bops and bangers

30 July 2025 at 21:16

Have you ever wondered what bops powerful figures are listening to on Spotify? You'd be amazed what you can get with a profile search - but just in case you want them all in one place, there's the Panama Playlists, a newly published collection of data on the musical listening habits of politicians, journalists, and tech figures, as curated by an anonymous figure.

The site appears to have data for a number of notables, including Open AI CEO Sam Altman, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, US Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Late Night host Seth Meyers. Five people featured on the website confirmed to The Verge that data for them is accurate: "T …

Read the full story at The Verge.

The case for memes as a new form of comics

29 July 2025 at 19:18

It's undeniable that the rise of the Internet had a profound impact on cartooning as a profession, giving cartoonists both new tools and a new publishing and/or distribution medium. Online culture also spawned the emergence of viral memes in the late 1990s. Michelle Ann Abate, an English professor at The Ohio State University, argues in a paper published in INKS: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, that memes—specifically, image macros—represent a new type of digital comic, right down to the cognitive and creative ways in which they operate.

"One of my areas of specialty has been graphic novels and comics," Abate told Ars. "I've published multiple books on various aspects of comics history and various titles: everything from Charles Schulz's Peanuts to The Far Side, to Little Lulu to Ziggy to The Family Circus. So I've been working on comics as part of the genres and texts and time periods that I look at for many years now."

Her most recent book is 2024's Singular Sensations: A Cultural History of One-Panel Comics in the United States, which Abate was researching when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. "I was reading a lot of single panel comics and sharing them with friends during the pandemic, and memes were something we were always sharing, too," Abate said. "It occurred to me one day that there isn't a whole lot of difference between the single panel comics I'm sharing and the memes. In terms of how they function, how they operate, the connection of the verbal and the visual, there's more continuity than there is difference."

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Would I want to manifest my 'dream life' using AI? Hmm …

30 July 2025 at 09:30
A woman in front of a cloudy sky.
 

Getty Images; Rebecca Zisser/BI

  • People have been using ChatGPT and other AI tools to "manifest" their ideal lives.
  • My colleague reported on this late last year, and I keep seeing the trend on TikTok still today.
  • So I thought about it: Should I give in and join the AI manifesters and visualize my dream life?

It's a TikTok trend that's been going on for some time now — people using ChatGPT and other AI tools to "manifest" their dream lives.

So far, I've avoided it, but when one of my editors noticed it trending again, I had to at least consider it: Am I the type of person who'd manifest? And then use AI to show me what my ideal life would look like?

My colleague Ana Altchek noticed the trend back in September. "Users are sharing how AI has helped them enhance their traditional manifestation practices, such as visualizations, vision boards, positive affirmations, mantras, and rewiring negative beliefs," she reported at the time.

ChatGPT shows your dream life

I decided to investigate for myself, and I found that people essentially prompt AI to create a story about their dream life, based on their goals.

Let's say your goals were to be rich, have flawless skin, snag a hunky husband and two kids, and live in a villa in Italy where you garden tomatoes. Enter those goals — manifest them, if you will — and it would whip up a story for you.

Then, you could use it to create an action plan to actually get there.

I tried this out myself, asking ChatGPT to tell me a story about a day in my life in that Italian villa. I can't deny it delivered an appealing tale:

The sun slipped gently over the Tuscan hills, casting gold across the rolling vineyards and awakening Villa Rosabella, your sun-washed estate tucked among olive trees and cypress-lined roads. The sheets were linen, cool and crisp, and the smell of blooming jasmine drifted in through open French doors. You stretched, not a wrinkle on your face, your skin dewy and flawless, like you'd just walked out of a spa in Capri (because you had — last weekend).

But when I asked it to give me steps to achieve this dream life, things got a little wonky. Although it had some decent practical advice about how to achieve flawless skin ("get a consultation with a top dermatologist,") things got slightly more complicated when it came to the "becoming rich" part of the dream. It suggested things like, "Scale income to $500K+ annual revenue," which ... OK, sure?

To be fair, had I given it slightly more specific goals, it might have come up with a better plan. But I need to admit my bias here: I'm not really into the idea of manifesting. I'm happy for anyone who finds this useful, but it's just not for me.

A while back, I DM'ed some of the people I'd seen talking about this life hack on social media. A few of them told me they really did believe in the power of manifestation — and had clear life goals in mind. (I realized that these women were younger than I am, just starting out in their adult lives. Whereas I'm old enough that my only life goal is just to ride this thing out.)

Manifesting on video

There's also a new twist to the AI manifestations: video. The New York Times reported last week that people are using tools like Runway, Google's Veo 3, or a tool called Freepik to enter a real image of themselves that's then used to illustrate a real (fake) life. For example, I could upload a picture of myself, and then have AI create a video of me sauntering around my Tuscan tomato grove.

I wanted to give it a try, so I tried to use Freepik, which one of the women interviewed by the Times used. But there was a catch: Freepik required a paid account to create video— and there's no way I'm going to scale my income to $500,000 if I'm throwing it all away on AI tools, so I declined.

tomato plant
My one sad cherry tomato plant. I probably should've manifested more fertilizer.

Katie Notopoulos/Business Insider

Personally, I don't think I want to see a video of myself in a dream life, anyway.

I don't think it would make me feel bad per se — or jealous of my dream AI self. And I'm not afraid that the AI version of me might come to life and murder and replace me. I simply do not wish to engage with such content. It just does not appeal to me at all.

Perhaps I lack a growth mindset — the desire to truly improve my life. Perhaps I should be more open to AI manifesting! But also, I am happy to just use my imagination, and tend the one scraggly cherry tomato plant in my yard.

Read the original article on Business Insider

The frenzied, gamified chase for Labubus

20 July 2025 at 14:00

On Thursday night, I toggled endlessly between a TikTok Live stream and a shopping app in anticipation of 9:30PM. For 30 minutes, I hunted for an available listing; many expletives were uttered. I exhibited bot behavior and got iced out of the app multiple times. I tapped so many times my thumbs got sore. This is Labubu drop night.

Something that's lost in the Labubu mania is that actually buying one from the source is, in one word, maddening. There are, of course, countless fake options ("Lafufus") that some collectors have come to embrace. But if you want a guaranteed real one, you have to go to the source. Pop Mart, the Chinese toy compa …

Read the full story at The Verge.

26 cities and towns across the US that offer cash and other perks to people who move there

20 July 2025 at 09:36
Laura Landers (left), Corinne Gaston (middle), and Michael Boyink (right)
Laura Landers (left), Corinne Gaston (middle), and Michael Boyink (right) all moved to Tulsa through Tulsa Remote.

Laura Landers/Corinne Gaston/Michael Boyink

  • Some American towns and cities offer major incentives to lure people to move there.
  • The perks, often aimed at qualifying remote workers, range from cash to free land to gift cards.
  • Business Insider rounded up 26 places that compensate people in some way to move there.

Remote work and a search for affordable housing have reshaped where people live.

Cities across the US that might have previously flown under the radar are offering new residents big incentives, from cash to free land.

Lillian Griffith moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, from Alpharetta, Georgia, in August 2022 to take advantage of the Tulsa Remote program, which granted her $10,000 simply for relocating to the city.

"The Tulsa Remote program is not some elitist program that only accepts people who work in high-paying positions," Griffith, a data engineer, told Business Insider in 2023. "It's more about pulling people who can bring a good culture to the city."

New residents can boost the communities offering incentives, too.

Perry County, Indiana, located an hour west of Louisville, Kentucky, offers qualifying new residents $7,000 split into two payments: $3,500 when they arrive and $3,500 after 12 months.

It's an investment in the region's future, said Shiraz Mukarram, manager at the Perry County Development Corporation.

"We do not want Perry County to be one of those statistics of a declining population. We want to make it grow," Mukarram told BI.

Business Insider rounded up 26 places across the US that are dishing out perks to anyone who moves there, presented in alphabetical order.

Do you know of another city that pays people to move there? Did you get paid to move somewhere? We'd love to hear about it. Email reporter Jordan Pandy at [email protected] or Alcynna Lloyd at [email protected].

A lottery program in Baltimore wants to reduce the upfront costs required for prospective residents to buy a home.
Baltimore Maryland
Downtown Baltimore.

Cyndi Monaghan/Getty Images

Buying Into Baltimore is a program that awards $5,000 in down-payment and closing-cost assistance to a few lucky prospective homebuyers who enter a lottery after attending a special Trolley Tour that is held three times a year. (The next one will be in the fall.)

The prize is not limited to first-time homebuyers, but following the event, applicants have 10 business days to make an offer on a home, have the offer accepted, and obtain a contract of sale to be eligible to even enter the lottery.

A special note for remote workers considering making a move: The property must also be used as a primary residence.

This small Kansas town will pay you to build a home there.
The frame of a home under construction.
Belleville, Kansas, is offering eligible homebuyers up to $35,000 in construction grants.

miflippo/Getty Images

Building a house can be expensive, but what if someone helped foot the bill?

Belleville, a small town in north-central Kansas' Republic County, is offering up to $35,000 in grants to attract new residents willing to build homes there.

The incentive includes a $25,000 base grant for anyone constructing a single-family home. An additional $10,000 bonus is available to those whose homes are among the first five built within city limits.

To qualify, you have to apply through Republic County's economic development office or partner with a local bank prior to starting construction. After approval, construction must begin within 30 days.

Belleville, through MakeMyMove, also offers eligible remote workers perks beyond homebuying: up to $1,500 annually for five years toward student loans and up to $3,000 for movers who are employed by Republic County.

A city on a lake in Minnesota wants to reimburse you for your relocation costs.
Bedmiji, Minnesota
Bemidji sits on an idyllic lake, pictured above, in Northern Minnesota.

Dylan Kovach/Getty Images

Bemidji, a 15,000-person city in northern Minnesota, has a program offering remote workers interested in moving to the area six months of free internet service, a one-year membership to a coworking space, a one-year membership to the Bemidji Area Chamber of Commerce, and free access to community programs and events.

To qualify, movers must work primarily from home and be relocating from at least 60 miles away.

A city in Iowa will give $5,000 to remote workers who relocate to the area.
The skyline of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
The skyline of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

ferrantraite/Getty Images

Nicknamed the "City of Five Seasons," Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is located in eastern Iowa along the banks of the Cedar River. While it's the second-largest city in the state, its closest big town is Des Moines, which is about a two-hour drive northeast.

Cedar Rapids is located in one of the most prominent manufacturing regions in the US and is recognized as the largest corn-processing city in the world, according to its official website. Beyond agriculture, the city also has a strong job market, with several Fortune 500 companies, including Collins Aerospace and Nordstrom calling it home.

In partnership with MakeMyMove, the city is offering $5,000 to non-Iowa residents to relocate there. To qualify, applicants must be willing to move within six months of approval, work remotely, and earn an annual income of at least $55,000.

Columbus, Georgia, will pay remote workers $5,000 to move there.
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus, Georgia.

SeanPavonePhoto/Getty Images

Columbus, a 200,000-person city on the Georgia-Alabama border, is offering $5,000 to remote workers who move there.

Through MakeMyMove, Columbus also offers relocators other perks, including six months of time at a coworking space, coffee with the mayor, and a two-night hotel stay for a visit before your move.

The total package is worth $8,700, according to MakeMyMove.

In order to qualify for the program, you need to be employed full-time, earn at least $75,000, and live at least 75 miles outside Columbus at the time of the application.

Fort Wayne, Indiana, will help you pay your down payment.
A picture of buildings in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Photo by Mike Kline (notkalvin)/Getty Images

Both first-time and repeat homebuyers moving to Fort Wayne, Indiana, can get help buying a home thanks to Hoosier Homes Plus, a down payment assistance program sponsored by the Fort Wayne Housing Authority.

The program offers buyers up to 5% of the home's purchase price to assist with down payment and closing costs.

To qualify, applicants must work with an approved lender, have a minimum credit score of 640, and have a household income at or below the county-specific limit of $126,000.

Additionally, first-time homebuyers are required to complete a homebuyer education course.

Hamilton, Ohio, assists recent graduates with their student-loan payments.
Traffic is seen in this photograph taken with a slow shutter speed in Hamilton, Ohio.
A shot of the Butler County Courthouse in Hamilton, Ohio.

Jon Gambrell/AP

Hamilton, Ohio — a city of 63,000 about 20 miles north of Cincinnati — is encouraging recent college graduates to apply for its Talent Attraction Program Scholarship.

Scholarship recipients can get up to $15,000 a year toward student loan payments. 

In order to qualify for the scholarship, you must have graduated from a STEAM (science, tech, engineering, the arts, or math) program within the last seven years. You must not already live in the city of Hamilton but have plans to move or live in what the city defines as one of its urban neighborhoods.

Applicants must demonstrate employment within Butler County or a full-time remote position. Preference is given to people "with a desire to give back to the community and become engaged in activities."

This city in Kansas is helping renters become homeowners.
Aerial View of Downtown Hutchinson, Kansas.
Hutchinson, Kansas

Jacob Boomsma/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Hutchinson — a city of about 40,000 people in south central Kansas — is helping its movers achieve the American dream of homeownership.

The city is offering renters who move into one of its qualifying neighborhoods —College Grove, Creekside, Founders, Grace Arbor, Houston Whiteside Historic District, Midtown — up to $2,500 in matching funds to purchase their first home.

Jackson, Michigan, is offering up to $25,000 to help people buy homes in the city.
An aerial view of Jackson, Michigan.
Jackson, Michigan.

DenisTangneyJr/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Jackson, Michigan, a city of about 31,000 people in south-central Michigan, is attracting residents with newly built homes and down payment assistance.

As part of its 100 Home Program, the city plans to construct 100 one-and two-bedroom homes on vacant residential lots across Jackson, each priced at $175,000.

To help buyers better afford these homes, the city is offering up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for eligible applicants earning up to 120% of the area's median income.

In addition, buyers are encouraged to apply for an extra $10,000 in assistance through the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.

A Kentucky nonprofit is trying to reverse population loss by offering $7,500 to people who move to one of 34 counties in the state.
A massive natural-forming sandstone bridge stretched across the Kentucky forest
Red River Gorge near Stanton, Kentucky.

Joshua Moore

The nonprofit Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) was founded to reverse population loss in the rural, mountainous regions of Kentucky.

It offers relocation grants to remote workers, which include $5,000 for the worker who moves, plus an additional $2,500 bonus if their partner secures a job in education or healthcare.

Interested remote workers can move to any of 34 eligible counties in the eastern part of Kentucky; the swath includes a scenic network of canyons called the Red River Gorge and the Country Music Highway Museum, dedicated to artists from the region like Billy Ray Cyrus and The Judds.

Applicants must make $70,000 and currently reside outside Kentucky.

Ketchikan, Alaska, pays up to $2,000 a year to live there and provides free internet.
Coastal village of Ketchikan, Alaska.
The coastal village of Ketchikan, Alaska.

Royce Bair/Getty Images

Ketchikan, a scenic coastal city near the southernmost tip of Alaska that is a 90-minute flight from Seattle, launched the Choose Ketchikan program in November 2021.

Applicants over 18 must be "fully employed." To be eligible, an individual or family must currently live outside Alaska while working remotely for a company that is also outside Alaska.

After relocation, all Alaska residents get an annual payment from Alaska's Permanent Fund Dividend, which can be as much as $3,000 a year or more.

Ketchikan, which touts its clean air and drinking water, is also offering new residents three months of free high-speed internet.

This Georgia town will pay you $2,500 and give you a gym membership if you move there.
Overview of Macon, Georgia district cityscape:
A neighborhood in Macon, Georgia.

Alex Potemkin/Getty Images

Macon-Bibb, Georgia, is one of the newest cities to launch a relocation program through MakeMyMove.

The central Georgia city is offering qualifying out-of-state remote workers $2,500 to make it their home. Additionally, new residents will receive a three-month coworking membership at The Office, a local workspace, and a three-month family trial membership at One Life Fitness, a local gym.

The state of Maine offers student-loan repayment assistance to eligible college graduates.
Bangor, Maine
Bangor, Maine.

Lawrence Whittemore Photography/Getty Images

Maine has said it can reimburse residents who graduated after 2007 through its student loan repayment tax credit program.

If you live in Maine during the tax year, you are likely eligible for a tax credit that could total up to $2,500 annually, up to $25,000 lifetime, toward student-loan payments.

Additional perks are available for graduates with STEM degrees, including the possibility of refunding the entirety of their state tax payments.

Manilla, Iowa, is offering free plots of land to people who will build homes on them.
manilla, iowa
A view of Manilla, Iowa.

City of Manilla

Manilla — a small city in western Iowa — is offering free lots of land to anyone looking to build a single-family home.

Manilla is also eliminating taxes on the homes built on the "no cost lots" for the first five years.

A program in West Virginia is offering potential new residents $12,000 in cash.
morgantown west virginia
Downtown Morgantown, West Virginia.

West Virginia Tourism Department.

West Virginia launched a program named Ascend WV to attract out-of-state remote workers to Morgantown, a vibrant college town home to West Virginia University.

To be eligible, potential residents must be 18 years or older, able to verify remote employment, and willing to move to the city of 30,000 for two years.

Those accepted to the program are expected to relocate to Morgantown within six months and receive $12,000 in cash in monthly installments. If people choose to purchase a home in West Virginia, they can get the remaining cash payments in a lump sum.

Other perks of the program include a coworking-space membership and free outdoor-gear rentals.

In addition to Morgantown, Ascend WV also incentivizes moves to other parts of West Virginia: the Greenbrier Valley, the Eastern Panhandle, the New River Gorge area, and Greater Elkins community.

Newton, Iowa, is offering homebuyers more than $10,000 to buy a house priced at $240,000 or more.
The Jasper County Courthouse in Newton, Iowa.
The Jasper Country Courthouse in Newton, Iowa.

Eddie Brady/Getty Images

Newton, Iowa, about 30 miles east of Des Moines, wants to give relocators who purchase a home there cash upon closing.

The city is offering $10,000 in cash to buyers of homes valued at more than $240,000 and a five-year tax abatement for homes below that value. Eligible homes include single-family new builds that started construction in 2020 or 2021.

There's also a "Get to Know Newton Welcome Package" that includes gifts from local businesses and opportunities to attend local events, including at the Iowa Speedway.

A town outside Indianapolis is offering a $5,000 grant and other perks to new residents.
Historic Hamilton County Indiana courthouse building in Noblesville, Indiana
The Hamilton County courthouse building in Noblesville, Indiana.

Purdue9394/Getty Images

Located just 30 minutes from downtown Indianapolis, Noblesville is home to the Ruoff Music Center, the region's most significant outdoor concert venue.

The town is offering new residents a package that includes a $5,000 relocation grant, a $500 health and wellness stipend, and a one-year membership to a local coworking space, among other incentives.

Remote workers interested in the program must make at least $80,000 annually and be able to relocate within six months of applying.

A small Illinois town is offering $5,000 to movers looking for work.
Quincy, Illinois
Quincy, Illinois.

Quincy's Calling

Quincy, Illinois, a town of 40,000 on the Missouri border, has also launched a program to incentivize Americans to relocate there.

The Quincy Workforce Relocation Assistance Program, also called Quincy's Calling, offers movers who can get a job within the county a property-tax rebate of up to $5,000 after one year of living and working in the area.

If you would prefer to rent, you can get a rental rebate of up to $3,500 after six months of residency and employment.

Remote workers aren't eligible for the program. New residents must work in Adams County, where Quincy is.

A small county in Indiana is paying qualified remote workers $7,000.
Two small brick buildings on a quiet rural street.
Tell City, Indiana, is located in Perry County.

larrybraunphotography.com/Getty Images

Since 2023, Perry County has offered a cash incentive of $7,000 to qualifying remote workers and their families who move to the rural community. Located between Evansville, Illinois, and Louisville, Kentucky, along the Ohio River, Perry County has fewer than 20,000 residents, according to the most recent census data.

The $7,000 payment is split into two installments — one when families first move and another after 12 months. Families also receive a welcome basket that includes freebies from local fudge to discounted WiFi.

Eligible applicants must make $50,000 at a job they can retain when they move and be able to relocate within 6 months.

Shiraz Mukarram, manager at the Perry County Development Corporation, told BI that families have moved to the county from states including Florida, Georgia, California, and Massachusetts with great success.

Remote workers could earn $5,000 if they move to Switzerland County, Indiana.
A sign that reads "Welcome to Indiana, Crossroads of America."
A welcome to Indiana sign.

fotoguy22/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Switzerland County, Indiana, about an hour southeast of Cincinnati, is home to the towns of Patriot and Vevay.

The latter was once home to the first successful wine vineyard in the US, though wine production has since ceased.

Still, each year, people from across the country gather to celebrate the county's wine heritage and sample wines at its annual Swiss Wine Festival.

To encourage relocation to the area, the city has partnered with MakeMyMove to offer $5,000 to eligible out-of-state remote workers who relocate there.

A handful of cities in Alabama are offering remote workers who move to the area $10,000 cash, paid out over a year.
the shoals florence alabama
The view from a bridge in Florence, Alabama.

JasmineImage/Getty Images

The Shoals in Alabama — a cluster of municipalities including Florence, Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia that straddles the banks of the Tennessee River — is offering remote workers $10,000 to move to the area.

Near the border with Tennessee and Mississippi, the four cities are just a few hours from hubs including Memphis, Nashville, and Birmingham. 

The program offers $2,500 upfront for relocation costs, an additional $2,500 six months after moving there, and $5,000 at the end of the first year of residency.

Eligible applicants must be over 18 and able to move to the region within six months. They must also be employed outside the area and have a minimum annual income of $52,000.

Texarkana, which straddles Texas and Arkansas, offers a $5,000 relocation bonus to new residents.
A sign saying "Texarkana State Line" with an image of Texas on the left and Arkansas on the right.
The Texarkana state line divides the twin cities.

Visions of America/Joe Sohm/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Texarkana is a pair of neighboring twin cities with the same name in both states it straddles: Texas and Arkansas.

The cities have separate municipal governments but often operate as one metropolitan region. It has a joint offer for remote workers moving to either city.

Texarkana is offering a $5,000 relocation bonus along with other incentives, including free tickets to the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra and a 25% tuition discount at Texas A&M at Texarkana, the local four-year public university.

Eligible applicants must make at least $75,000 a year. They must reside outside the state of Arkansas or, if a Texas resident, at least 75 miles from Texarkana.

Topeka, Kansas, is offering potential new residents up to $15,000 to move there.
topeka
Topeka, Kansas.

Bajillion Agency/Choose Topeka

Kansas' state capital has teamed up with employers to offer cash to those willing to move there.

Participants of the program, called Choose Topeka, can receive up to $15,000 if they purchase a home in Topeka and secure a job in the area. Remote workers with employment outside the area can earn up to $5,000 toward rental costs or $10,000 toward a home purchase.

As an added bonus, Jimmy John's, the sandwich franchise, throws in an extra $1,000 for anyone who moves within delivery range of one of its shops.

Tucson, Arizona, is offering remote workers perks and services worth about $7,500.
Tucson Arizona
Tucson, Arizona.

Nick Fox/Shutterstock

A local economic-development organization launched Remote Tucson during the COVID-19 pandemic to lure remote workers to the area.

The program offers relocators $1,500 toward moving costs, one year of free internet, free trials at local coworking spaces, membership to a local cultural institution, networking opportunities, and more.

Eligible applicants must be over 18 years old, have full-time remote employment outside the area, and be able to move to Tucson within six months.

Tulsa Remote, one of the country's most well-known incentive programs, offers remote workers $10,000 grants.
Laura Landers (left), Corinne Gaston (middle), and Michael Boyink (right)
Laura Landers (left), Corinne Gaston (middle), and Michael Boyink (right) all moved to Tulsa through Tulsa Remote.

Laura Landers/Corinne Gaston/Michael Boyink

Tulsa Remote, a program that started in 2018, is designed to draw new residents to Oklahoma. Since 2018, the program has helped more than 1,400 people relocate to Tulsa.

The program offers $10,000, which people can put toward purchasing or renting a home in Tulsa. It also offers $500 travel reimbursements and a $150 Airbnb credit for applicants to familiarize themselves with the area.

BI previously interviewed four people who hailed from major cities on both US coasts and made the move to Tulsa — most said it was a fantastic decision.

To qualify for the program, applicants must be over 18 and live outside Oklahoma. They must also prove a consistent stream of income and the ability to work remotely. Applicants must also promise to commit to moving to and living in Tulsa for at least one year.

This Arkansas town will pay you to move and even treat you to dinner with the mayor.
A towboat on the Mississippi River.
A towboat on the Mississippi River.

DenisTangneyJr/Getty Images

Sitting just across the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tennessee, is West Memphis, Arkansas, which is working to attract more residents.

The city is offering housing incentives for movers. Homebuyers can receive up to $10,000 in cash, while renters may qualify for up to $5,000.

Through MakeMyMove, new residents also receive a two-night stay at West Memphis' Southland Casino Hotel and an opportunity to have dinner with the mayor.

Taylor Borden, Libertina Brandt, and Leanna Garfield contributed to previous versions of this story.

Read the original article on Business Insider

After 5 years in development, the Assassin’s Creed TV series is happening

18 July 2025 at 17:40

The long-running video game series Assassin's Creed will get a live-action TV series adaptation. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter report that Netflix has greenlit the series after years of development hell; the intention to produce the series was announced in 2020.

The series had been through multiple creative teams even before it was greenlit, but Netflix settled on two co-showrunners. Roberto Patino, a writer on FX's Sons of Anarchy and HBO's Westworld, will join David Wiener, who led Paramount+'s Halo TV series as well as Fear the Walking Dead.

The two released a joint statement with the news that the show is moving forward:

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Samsung chairman cleared of fraud by South Korea's top court

17 July 2025 at 11:30

South Korea's top court has upheld an appeals court ruling to dismiss all charges in a long-running fraud case against Samsung chairman Jay Y. Lee. The accounting fraud and stock manipulation charges stemmed from a merger of two Samsung subsidiaries in 2015. Prosecutors had accused Lee of manipulating share prices to help clear the way for the merger in an attempt to consolidate his power.

In 2024, a court ruled that the prosecutors failed to prove their claims. The case has worked through the appeals process since then. In a statement to Reuters, Samsung's lawyers said the latest ruling confirmed that the merger had been completed legally and added they were "sincerely grateful" to the Supreme Court.

Back in 2017, Lee was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of bribing public officials with regards to the merger. However, the Supreme Court overturned the decision and ordered a re-trial. As a result of that, Lee was handed a 30-month prison sentence and served 18 months before being paroled. Then-South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol (who was removed from office this year and recently rearrested over a failed martial law attempt in 2024) later pardoned Lee.

While the Supreme Court's ruling had been widely expected, it clears "a layer of legal uncertainty" related to Samsung, one analyst said. It will allow Lee to focus more of his attention on Samsung, which earlier this month projected a 56 percent drop in operating profit for the April-June quarter compared with the same period in 2024. That is due, in large part, to sluggish sales of its AI chips.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/samsung-chairman-cleared-of-fraud-by-south-koreas-top-court-113043402.html?src=rss

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© ASSOCIATED PRESS

FILE - Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong arrives at the Seoul High Court in Seoul, South Korea, on Feb. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

I regret seeing that Coldplay 'kiss cam' video

17 July 2025 at 22:25
chris martin singing
Chris Martin of Coldplay performs at a concert where you should feel free to canoodle in peace.

Robert Okine/Getty Images

  • You've probably seen the Coldplay "kiss cam" moment that has ricocheted around the internet.
  • A tech CEO and his head of HR appear to embrace, then look mortified after seeing themselves on cam.
  • I wish I didn't know anything about any of this — I wish none of us did.

I don't want to know what you did at a Coldplay concert. I don't want to know who you were there with, what the track list was. I don't even want to know you went!

And if it turns out that you were caught on camera in a passionate embrace with a coworker? I mean, sure, I'm curious. I love gossip! But I'm not sure I should know about that. And that goes double if I don't know you in real life.

On Thursday, as I'm sure you know by now, a "kiss cam" video went viral from a Coldplay concert outside Boston on Wednesday night. In the clip, two audience members stand against a railing, the man with his arms around the woman. They look to be in their late 40s or early 50s, fit and attractive, enjoying the musical stylings of arguably Britain's greatest rock act of the 21st century.

As soon as they realize they're on the Jumbotron, the woman turns to hide her face, and the man ducks. You overhear front-man Chris Martin say into the microphone, "Either they're having an affair, or they're just very shy."

Yikes!

The clip appeared to show Astronomer CEO Andy Byron embracing the company's head of HR, Kristin Cabot. Neither has commented on the clip.

I'm not sure how people online figured out who these people were. Was it by using a controversial facial-recognition tool like PimEyes? Or was it from someone who knows them in real life who identified them?

The thing is, I don't know these people. (Neither, probably, do you.) I don't know their lives. I have no idea what was really going on. Astronomer execs, board members, and founders haven't returned BI's requests for comment, as my colleagues Madeline Berg and Tim Paradis report.

I can say that the online attention they've received is certainly distressing to them — on top of a situation that may also already be very distressing in other ways.

The issue might have some legs from an HR standpoint: If a company CEO is embracing his head of personnel at a concert, could that raise some issues? Sure! That's for the company and its execs to figure out. But otherwise, who cares? I don't.

I just spent almost every day of the last six weeks watching some of the most depraved people on Earth frolic around in swimwear and occasionally hump under thick duvets on "Love Island." I'm not going to suddenly go morality police to say that two Coldplay-loving consenting adults is the biggest scandal I can imagine.

And, to me, there's a potentially unsettling element of potential surveillance. As 404 Media wrote:

The same technologies used to dox and research this CEO are routinely deployed against the partners of random people who have had messy breakups, attractive security guards, people who look "suspicious" and are caught on Ring cameras by people on Nextdoor, people who dance funny in public, and so on. There has been endless debate about the ethics of doxing cops and ICE agents and Nazis, and there are many times where it makes sense to research people doing harm on behalf of the state or who are doing violent, scary things in to innocent people.

It is another to deploy these technologies against random people you saw on an airplane or who had a messy breakup with an influencer.

Again, we're not sure what happened here or how these people were apparently identified. But I don't think it's any of our business — barring something illegal — what happens at a concert. Could it violate a company's rules? Yes, but then the company can deal with it.

By the way: Why the heck does Coldplay have a kiss cam, anyway?

Read the original article on Business Insider

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