• "You Can See Everything" is a new documentary about Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes.
• Holmes invited a camera crew to document her life in the weeks leading up to her 2023 imprisonment.
• The movie is led by co-director Nathan Fielder, who lived with Holmes and her family during filming.

The first official trailer for Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's genre-bending Elizabeth Holmes documentary "You Can See Everything" has arrived, and it promises an intimate look at one of Silicon Valley's most notorious felons.

The documentary follows Holmes, the once-celebrated founder of Theranos, a now-defunct blood-testing startup, who was accused of building the company on false promises and nonexistent technology. While Holmes has admitted that she made mistakes, she denied any criminal wrongdoing. Following a lengthy trial, Holmes was found guilty in 2022 on four counts of fraud and conspiracy.

As we see in the documentary's trailer, which adopts the tone of a mind-bending mystery-thriller, Holmes has continued to maintain her innocence. But Fielder and Oppenheim are clearly skeptical.

Fielder serves as a kind of host, interviewer, and narrator as he moves in with Holmes and her family in the weeks before she reported to prison to serve an 11-year-sentence in May 2023.

In the trailer, Fielder bluntly asks Holmes how she ended up as a convicted felon if she did nothing wrong. She replies, "I wish I knew, you know? I don't know. I don't feel like I understand that."

Later, she tells Fielder, "I don't have anything to hide."

Here's everything to know about "You Can See Everything."

The documentary was filmed in secret

Holmes reported to federal prison on May 30, 2023, to begin serving her 11-year sentence. (Her prison time has since been shortened by roughly two years.)

"You Can See Everything" was kept under wraps for over three years until it had its surprise premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in early September. A short teaser arrived online that same day.

Critics who attended the screening have described "You Can See Everything" as disarming, surreal, and fascinating. Holmes and her partner, Billy Evans, are depicted as "willing, if wildly offbeat subjects," according to Deadline's Pete Hammond.

Kyle Buchanan, the former awards columnist at The New York Times, said that Evans comes across as a "wild narcissist" and the "unlikely star of this film."

The 'You Can See Everything' trailer offers more insight into Holmes and Evans' dynamic

Holmes and Evans welcomed a baby boy named William in 2021 while Holmes was awaiting trial for her charges. The birth of their second child was revealed in a 2023 court filing, as Holmes' legal team sought to delay her incarceration.

In one scene, Evans tells Fielder that he fell in love with Holmes almost immediately, during their first conversation.

Fielder pushes back, asking when Evans learned the truth about Theranos and whether he's concerned about Holmes' track record.

"Weren't you worried that she was, sort of, scamming you?" Fielder asks.

"100%, but what did she have to gain from me?" Evans replies.

"Well, isn't your family rich?" Fielder counters.

Evans is the heir to Evans Hotels, a hospitality company founded by his grandparents that runs three luxury hotels in San Diego. He currently works as a biotech executive at the blood testing startup Haemanthus, according to his LinkedIn.

"I think that there's, like, a lot of different levels of wealth," Evans tells Fielder in the trailer. In another clip, Evans says that he doesn't believe Holmes has ever lied to him.

Holmes and her ex-boyfriend and co-defendant, Sunny Balwani, were ordered to pay $452 million in restitution to victims of their Theranos fraud in 2023 in addition to their prison sentences.

"You Can See Everything" arrives in theaters on October 16.

• Jay Eskenazi planned the itinerary for his trip to Europe with Claude and the Grok Bot.
• Once he landed, Eskenazi said he realized Meta's Muse was the most helpful for travel planning.
• "These are the things that a very seasoned travel agent from 30 years ago would've done for you," he said.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jay Eskenazi. He lives in Los Angeles and worked in user experience for 19 years. It's been edited for length and clarity.

I'm in Paris, and I'm going to Barcelona tomorrow. The trip is three weeks.

I came here for the first time last year, and it was my first long trip by myself. Last year, planning it was very stressful, and I did a ton of research.

This year was the same thing, where I had these very long notes. At this point, everyone knows that you can go to any AI tool and say: "Hey, I'm going to City X, give me an itinerary for seven days."

I had this epiphany a few weeks ago, where I realized I had all these note files, bulleted stuff, and coffee shops to go to.

If someone gave you a list of five coffee shops and they were in five different cities, as someone who's not familiar with the terrain, you wouldn't necessarily know how to structure that in the course of the day. Which coffee shop goes with which museum?

So, instead of doing an itinerary, I was like: "Here's my notes. Put them together in an organized way for me. Structure them in a logical sequence."

I hadn't used Claude in a while, so I tried that a little. I use Grok a lot, and I just upgraded because I wanted to play with the Grok Bot. So, I made this really fancy itinerary. I kept iterating it. It did a really good job. Then I got here and was like, "It's not as good."

I'm naturally curious, so I tried out Muse. I think I must've gotten Muse two days before I left.

I was looking at this itinerary a couple of days ago and was like, "I don't like what it says tomorrow." So I opened Muse and asked for an afternoon itinerary. It spat out all of this stuff. I was like: "Oh! There's some new stuff in here."

These are really common scenarios. Maybe there are five museums you want to go to. It takes a lot of work: this museum's closed on Tuesday, this one's closed on Monday, and this one's free next Friday. The AI tools can structure that in a way that you would do if you had a thousand hours.

It's a small thing, but when you apply that to a thousand decision points, it does a really nice job of putting those things together.

If you're like: "Hey, I want to go get coffee, then I need something to do before I get lunch, then I want to go to the museum this afternoon." Most of the other AI tools will just give you the list. Then you're like, how do I get from place to place to place?

Muse would actually put it on a map with dots. I clicked a button, and it put it in Google Maps. I had this experience this weekend. None of the other tools did that.

I'm going to Barcelona tomorrow, and I'll get there in the evening. One of the reasons I picked it was because there's an annual festival. I timed it so I can be there for the core of the activities. But the main activities weren't published, even last week, because they're on some website in Spanish that didn't have the fully fleshed-out program.

In the hourlong Uber to Versailles, I was like, "What's the structure for Thursday?" It's able to pull that. It's got: this opens in the morning, this is free, this is mid-day, this is in the evening.

I don't know if ChatGPT would have it. Maybe it would, but it doesn't seem to output it in the same way. Also, I gave it access to my email, so it knows I'm leaving tomorrow. It has an idea tab that said, "I can map the opening night before you get there." It's proactive.

The other thing: I was indecisive about my plans over the last couple of days. What Muse was doing was checking the times to see what ticket availability looked like. It's doing this proactive thing for you, where it tracks it, because options are shrinking.

As a non-developer, I set up OpenClaw in February. That took a lot of time. I had a developer friend help me for hours. Then I had all these AWS bills I didn't understand. I'm asking it to give me a recipe; I don't know how many tokens that's going to cost. I ended up having to shut it down.

Muse is like OpenClaw for normies. If you're not a tech person, these things are useful because they do what an assistant would. Anyone could set this up.

It comes back to when I worked at Expedia. These are the things that a very seasoned travel agent from 30 years ago would've done for you. That would be a very expensive vacation for that level of service.

I also just got access to Instinct yesterday, because I was on the waitlist. I'm very curious, but you can't see exactly what it's doing. It had good ideas and gave me an itinerary, but it had to put them in a Google Doc. I was also confused because I don't remember what I told it, and it made personalized recommendations. I was like: "Wait, how did it know this?"

Muse just seems easier. It's very fast, and it feels more responsive.

• Finance and tech have minted the most billionaires in the US.
• However, less obvious industries have also led to some of the US's biggest fortunes.
• The common denominator of massive wealth is being a founder (or, of course, an heir).

Finance and technology usually spring to mind when thinking of the world's most lucrative industries.

And that's for good reason. They have been the source of wealth for nearly half of America's 400 richest people, as ranked and categorized by Forbes.

However, billion-dollar fortunes have been made in other sectors, too, ranging from trucking to pest control.

Business Insider has compiled data from the 2026 Forbes 400 list, which is an estimated snapshot of the 400 richest people in America as of September 4.

Forbes estimated each member's net worth using a variety of sources, including interviews, asset valuations, and deductions for debt, charitable contributions, and fund donations.

The following ranking is based on the 16 industries into which Forbes categorized each individual. Business Insider calculated how many individuals went into each category to find which industries have minted the most of America's richest people. It also compiled the richest person within each industry.

Some of the members featured an "& family" tag, which means wealth held by a founder or heir's immediate family. The totals, therefore, count Forbes entries, not necessarily individual people.

Here are the industries that featured the most on the Forbes 400 list, from most to least prevalent.

1. Finance & investments — 108 members

Richest: Warren Buffett — $144 billion

The finance and investments industry has been the biggest maker of fortunes. Most of the wealthiest individuals in this category are founders of hedge funds, mortgage lenders, VC, and investment firms.

Some are heirs to founders, such as the grandchildren of Fidelity founder Edward Johnson II.

2. Technology — 91 members

Richest: Elon Musk — $908 billion

Technology has been a massive maker of fortunes; the nine richest in this category are wealthier than Warren Buffett.

Many are founders of big-name tech companies, as well as software and computer hardware firms. The AI boom has brought several newcomers to the list, including OpenAI cofounder and president Greg Brockman.

3. Food & beverage — 35 members

Richest: (Tie) Jacqueline and John Mars — $50.3 billion

From Chick-fil-A to Tito's Vodka, there are plenty of household-name brands in this category.

Others made their fortunes in the non-consumer parts of the food and beverage industry. These include J. Christopher Reyes and Jude Reyes, who cochair the food and beverage distribution firm Reyes Holdings, or Harry Stine, who made his fortune licensing soybean and corn genetics.

4. Fashion & retail — 26 members

Richest: Rob Walton & family — $132 billion

Like food and beverage, household names dominate the fashion & retail category. Walmart alone is listed as the source of wealth of eight people in this industry.

Other sources of retail wealth are less obvious. Jimmy and Bill Haslam's fortunes largely derive from the truck stop chain Pilot Flying J, which their father founded.

5. Energy — 23 members

Richest: Lyndal Stephens Greth & family — $30 billion

Oil tycoons and their families make up the bulk of this list. And it's not just those with stakes or roles in companies involved in production, but also pipelines and refineries.

6. Real estate — 18 members

Richest: Stephen Ross — $21.5 billion

America's wealthiest real-estate magnates built their fortunes through all kinds of properties. Jeff Greene, for example, made billions investing in credit default swaps tied to subprime mortgage-backed securities before the financial crisis.

With an estimated net worth of $7 billion and much of his wealth tied to real estate, President Donald Trump is also included in this category.

7. Media & entertainment — 17 members

Richest: Rupert Murdoch & family — $25 billion

Legacy media, such as cable and satellite television, continue to dominate this category. However, some billionaires built their fortunes through other kinds of media, including Gabe Newell, who cofounded video game developer Valve.

Movies have minted others, such as award-winning director Steven Spielberg and "Star Wars" creator George Lucas.

8. Sports — 16 members

Richest: Stanley Kroenke — $27.6 billion

For many people in the sports category, team ownership is more of a second act, rather than the original source of their wealth.

For example, before they bought teams, Arthur Blank cofounded Home Depot, Stephen Bisciotti made his fortune in talent management, and Arturo Moreno made his money from billboard advertising.

There are some exceptions, such as Michael Jordan, whose basketball career was the origin of his wealth.

9. Healthcare — 15 members

Richest: Thomas Frist, Jr. & family — $33.6 billion

Aside from the category's richest entry, Thomas Frist Jr. and family, whose wealth comes from hospitals, most of the others made or inherited their fortunes in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and medical equipment.

One, Patrick Soon-Shiong, developed the chemotherapy drug Abraxane.

10. Manufacturing — 15 members

Richest: Steven Rales — $8.7 billion

Manufacturing spans a variety of industries, from packaging materials to defense.

Some big fortunes come from everyday products you might not expect. Cleaning products alone account for four people on the list, all of whom are heirs to SC Johnson, whose products include Windex and Glade.

11. Service — 11 members

Richest: Micky Arison & family — $11.5 billion

Aircraft leasing, cruises, and self-storage are just some examples of services that have turned people into billionaires.

Lucrative service companies aren't necessarily the most glamorous. Gary Rollins, for example, is executive chairman emeritus of pest control firm Rollins, which was founded by his father.

12. Automotive — 8 members

Richest: Ernest Garcia, II — $24.3 billion

In the US, automotive fortunes are less about manufacturing cars and more about selling, servicing, and moving them.

Forbes 400 member Dan Friedkin, for example, owns Gulf States Toyota, while Shahid Khan owns auto parts supplier Flex-N-Gate.

13. Diversified — 8 members

Richest: Julia Koch & family — $84.6 billion

Diversified means fortunes that don't neatly come from one industry. Members of the Koch family, which has stakes in the conglomerate Koch, dominate this segment.

14. Logistics — 4 members

Richest: Brad Jacobs — $13.3 billion

The businesses that move products through the supply chain are among the most essential to day-to-day life, and can be worth billions.

For example, Johnelle Hunt, who cofounded transportation and logistics firm J.B. Hunt Transport Services, is worth $6.6 billion.

15. Construction & engineering — 3 members

Richest: Diane Hendricks — $23.6 billion

All three members of the Forbes 400 in the construction and engineering industry are self-made billionaires.

Diane Hendricks cofounded building-supply distributor ABC Supply with her late husband, Ken Hendricks. Mike Hollingshead founded concrete maker Smyrna Ready Mix, while Robert Clark founded construction firm Clayco.

16. Gambling & casinos — 2 members

Richest: Miriam Adelson & family — $33.5 billion

With just two members categorized in the Forbes 400, gambling and casinos are the smallest category.

Miriam Adelson's late husband, Sheldon Adelson, was the founder of casino company Las Vegas Sands, while Jon Yarbrough founded casino producer Video Gaming Technologies.

Phil Ruffin, who Forbes categorized as diversified, made his wealth from a mix of casinos and real estate.

• Karoline Leavitt discussed leaving her White House role in an appearance on Sean Hannity's podcast.
• She called being a working mom "the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life."
• Leavitt has two children with her husband, 60-year-old real-estate developer Nicholas Riccio.

For Karoline Leavitt, the hardest part of serving as President Donald Trump's press secretary wasn't facing reporters — it was leaving her young children at home.

Leavitt was the youngest-ever White House press secretary before announcing her departure in August. In a podcast episode of "Hang Out with Sean Hannity" released Tuesday, she spoke about her decision to step back from her role in the Trump administration to focus on her family.

"Being a working mom was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life," she said.

Leavitt, 28, shares two children with her husband, 60-year-old real-estate developer Nicholas Riccio.

She told Hannity that her struggle to balance work and motherhood began shortly after her first child was born in July 2024. Leavitt watched on live TV as Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, the same day she brought her son, Niko, home from the hospital. She returned to work as the Trump campaign's national press secretary just days after giving birth.

"As a three-day postpartum woman, that was very traumatic, and I had a choice to make," Leavitt said. "I had producers calling, 'Can you come on TV and talk about this?' And I felt as though I owed it to the president to do that."

Her appointment as White House press secretary didn't make her work-life balance any easier, Leavitt said.

'I don't know if I can do this anymore'

Leavitt told Hannity that the long hours her job required took a toll on her 2-year-old son.

"I would leave for the White House very early in the morning, and he would cling to my leg as I would walk out the door, and we would have to hide him sometimes so that I wouldn't have to break his heart again," she said. "And sometimes I would drive to the White House in silence, like, 'I don't know if I can do this anymore.'"

After giving birth to her daughter, Viviana, in May, Leavitt said she realized it was time to make a change.

"The president deserves someone in that job who can give it their all 24/7," she said. "And after having two kids, I just realized I couldn't."

Trump "couldn't have been kinder" about her decision to leave the White House, Leavitt said.

"It was the hardest decision I've ever had to make because I loved my job and I love the president and our team and I believe so much in what he's doing," Leavitt said. "But, as he jokes, I do love my kids more, and you know, I realize they need me home right now, especially during these young years."

• I packed lots of essentials for my five-hour Amtrak ride, but I didn't think of everything I needed.
• My Kindle, tripod, and headphones came in handy for keeping me entertained on my journey.
• However, I wish I had brought more comfort items such as a travel pillow, blanket, or even slippers.

When I hauled a heavy suitcase into the overhead on my Amtrak train car, I thought I had everything I'd need for my trip.

Three jackets, two pairs of boots, and a scarf to match every sweater — I was ready for anything. However, I quickly realized I wasn't nearly as prepared for the five-hour ride itself.

My trip from New Jersey to Boston on the Northeast Regional line gave me just enough time to settle in, stretch out, and enjoy a little downtime. Soon, I learned that what I had — and didn't — made all the difference in how much I enjoyed my trip.

Here are five items I'm glad I brought, and three I wish I'd packed.

My ticket didn't include complimentary snacks, so I was glad I'd brought my own.

Due to the length of my ride, I knew I'd be hungry at some point.

My basic ticket didn't come with complimentary snacks from Amtrak, but I didn't mind much since I had brought plenty of food from home.

I stopped at a bagel shop before boarding, packed a homemade latte, and had more than enough snacks to keep me satisfied throughout the ride.

There was a café car about halfway through the train that I could've bought a few bites at, but I was happy to save the money anyway.

Headphones came in handy for listening to music and streaming TV.

Though the lull of the train can be soothing in itself, I was happy to have packed my headphones so I could listen to music during the ride.

These also came in handy when I wanted to catch up on TV shows without bothering anyone around me.

The only packing mistake I made was bringing wired headphones instead of wireless ones, because I couldn't charge my device and listen at the same time.

My hot spot came in handy when the train's WiFi didn't work super well.

Though Amtrak offers complimentary WiFi on routes like this one, I didn't find it reliable for everything.

It worked fine for sending texts or scrolling through social media, but it wasn't as reliable when I wanted to stream TV on my laptop. To stream better, I switched to my phone's hot spot.

I brought my tripod for capturing content, but it was useful for creating extra space at my seat.

I had originally packed my tripod to capture travel content, and it was helpful as I snapped photos and filmed videos.

I also found it surprisingly useful for creating extra space at my seat.

My tray table wasn't very big, so setting up my tripod on the floor with my phone to stream a show gave me room to keep my laptop on the table instead.

It's worth noting that I didn't have anyone sitting next to me, so I had plenty of floor space to work with. Overall, it made for a nice setup.

My Kindle comes with me almost everywhere I go.

Luckily, I didn't struggle to keep myself entertained since I had packed my Kindle. I'm a book lover, so five hours of uninterrupted reading time was right up my alley.

I prefer using an e-reader over a physical book when traveling because it's lightweight and doesn't take up much space in my bag.

Plus, for early morning or late-night rides with my Kindle, I don't have to rely on the train's reading light, which might disturb other passengers.

However, I found myself wishing I had packed motion-sickness medication.

I thought I packed pretty well for the trip, but toward the end of the ride, I started feeling nauseous. I've never had motion sickness on a train before, but I've also never been on one for this long.

So, when I started feeling dizzy in the last hour, I was caught off guard. I couldn't look at my phone screen anymore, so I leaned back and closed my eyes.

It really made me wish I had brought some motion-sickness medication along for the ride.

Having a travel pillow or blanket would've made my trip more comfortable.

My seat ended up being comfier than I thought, with a decent recline and footrests.

Looking back, though, I really wish I had packed some comfortable travel items, such as a neck pillow or blanket. This ride was early in the morning, and my return trip was late at night, so they would've come in handy.

Next time, I'll definitely bring a few more things to make the ride cozier and allow me to close my eyes for a bit.

Similarly, slippers would've been helpful for walking throughout the train car.

Another comfort item I didn't think about until I was on the train was slippers.

I like taking my shoes off during long trips, especially on airplanes, but for some reason, I felt hesitant to do so on the train.

I wish I had brought a pair of light slippers to wear during the ride and for those trips back and forth to the bathroom. It would've been another way to add to the overall comfort of a long Amtrak ride.

This story was originally published on December 3, 2025, and most recently updated on September 23, 2026.

• OpenAI boosts ChatGPT's voice mode on mobile as the competition over personal agents heats up.
• The new release connects OpenAI's voice model to its agentic text models, which can handle tasks.
• OpenAI has yet to release a direct competitor to viral AI assistants like Instinct and Meta's Muse.

OpenAI is pushing further into the hotly contested market for personal agents — this time with voice.

The company is adding its most advanced voice system to ChatGPT's website and mobile app on Wednesday. OpenAI's release allows users to speak to delegate single and recurring tasks that require multiple steps, a browser, and disparate apps. The company has been rolling out launches ahead of its big OpenAI DevDay event next week.

OpenAI's product lead for ChatGPT voice, Atty Eleti, gave a demo to Business Insider. Only speaking with the app, he had the tool analyze his DoorDash spending, pay $5 to book a pickleball court, and reorganize his calendar.

"In the future, we really imagine people using voice as the primary modality to interact with AI," Eleti said, "and that's kind of our North Star that we're working towards."

Personal AI assistants like Instinct and Meta's Muse are having a moment in Silicon Valley as the industry peddles apps tailored to handle cumbersome internet tasks. OpenAI has many of these capabilities in ChatGPT, though it hasn't yet released a narrower offshoot. This voice tool is a play for the AI-assistant buzz.

In the short term, the improvements make it easier for people to delegate work to ChatGPT by speaking while they're on the go. In the long run, they'll serve OpenAI's hardware ambitions: Bloomberg has reported that the company is building a smart speaker for release in 2027.

Wednesday's release connects OpenAI's voice model, GPT-Live, to AI models that can perform tasks on computers or in browsers, a focus the company maintained before the personal AI agent craze. GPT-Live, which can listen and respond simultaneously, was already turned on for ChatGPT's basic conversational mode and connected to agentic models on the desktop app.

Voice mode, as Eleti sees it, has three main benefits. Speaking is quick and natural — "you can blurt out your thoughts," he said. You can do it with your hands off a device. And it can help you with vocal tasks, like learning a language or practicing a speech. Eleti and his colleagues use it while commuting and on walks, he said.

Eleti said more than 150 million people already use ChatGPT's dictation and voice mode tools. Still, the team faces an uphill battle. Though smart speakers have shown some staying power, offices are still organized around desktop computers.

Plus, though it's quicker to speak than type, it's also quicker to read than to listen. Eleti said his team considered this dynamic when deciding how ChatGPT would respond to audio prompts.

"We don't think of this as just pure voice in and voice out," Eteli said. "It's about voice in and then the right output back. Sometimes it's text, sometimes it's voice, sometimes it's a mix."

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• A growing share of Americans living in rural areas aren't happy with data centers.
• Most data centers are built in rural areas.
• Data centers are facing a public reckoning amid bipartisan pushback.

Americans living in rural areas are increasingly souring on data centers.

In a new poll by the Pew Research Center, which surveyed people in August, half of rural Americans said data centers "are mostly bad for the environment" — a figure substantially higher than in January, when it sat at 32%.

46% of those respondents also said that data centers would drive up home energy costs, up from 32% in January. 45% said they negatively impact the quality of life for those living nearby, while 28% said so in January.

While displeasure with data centers increased among Americans across the board, according to Pew, higher levels of antagonism among rural voters are striking because most data centers are built in rural areas.

The data center buildout, which proponents say is integral for the US to keep pace with China in the AI race, has been suffering a PR crisis as a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers moves to impose limits on data center construction.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbot, who was formerly bullish about building data centers in his state, recently backed away from that optimism. His administration has halted some 1,800 AI data center projects in the state.

All across the country, Americans are rallying to fight against AI data centers, which can cost billions to build and span hundreds of acres. Many are concerned about how the sprawling facilities will affect the environment, utility prices, water resources, and noise levels. Some just don't like AI.

For AI companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, and others, the issue is existential. Without AI data centers, they can't power the products they sell. Sam Altman has recently suggested that new data centers could be built far from where people lived, such as the desert.

Proponents of data centers have said the buildout brings jobs to rural areas. Venture capitalist Gavin Baker recently said that data centers are "probably the best thing that has ever happened to working-class Americans."

Tech bros haven't been able to agree on exactly why Americans aren't taking to the data center buildout. Some have postulated that a Chinese-orchestrated psy-op is behind the distrust, while others said tech leaders haven't sold the product well.

President Donald Trump, for his part, called the data center buildout "the golden goose," and warned against falling behind China.

"The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor," Trump said in August in a Truth Social post.

In the Pew poll, very few Americans — about 4% — said data centers are "good" for the environment, energy costs, and quality of life.

"Americans have grown more negative toward the possible environmental and economic effects of data centers since the beginning of the year," Pew said in a release. "And a majority say they'd be uncomfortable if a new data center started operating in their area."

• Disney is raising the prices for Disney+ and Hulu.
• The ad-free Hulu-Disney+ bundle now costs $21.99 a month.
• Media giants have been consistently hiking streaming prices.

Disney+ is getting more expensive for the sixth year in a row.

The cost of the ad-free Disney+ and Hulu plans will imminently increase to $21.49 a month, up from $18.99 a month, a company spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider. Bloomberg first reported the pricing change.

Disney is hiking the ad-free bundle of Disney+ and Hulu to $21.99 a month, up from $19.99, the spokesperson said.

Disney is raising the cost of its stand-alone, ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu plans to $12.49 a month. The price of the ad-supported Hulu-Disney+ bundle is staying flat at $12.99.

Streaming services have consistently received price hikes as media giants strive to satisfy Wall Street. However, companies like Disney and Netflix have hiked prices for ad-supported plans more gradually, reasoning that they can generate more incremental revenue from those subscribers and give customers a lower-cost alternative.

Peacock hiked prices in August and now charges $19.99 a month for its ad-free plan, up from $16.99, while its ad-supported version costs $12.99 a month instead of $10.99.

Netflix raised prices in March, asking subscribers to pay $2 more a month for its standard ad-free plan ($19.99) and the premium 4K plan ($26.99). The cost of Netflix's ad-supported plan rose by $1 a month to $8.99. That plan is tied for the cheapest among major streamers with Paramount+ and the stand-alone ads version of Prime Video.

Apple TV increased its cost to $14.99 a month in August, up from $12.99. The tech giant doesn't offer an ad-supported tier.

Consumers have increasingly turned to free services like YouTube, Tubi, and The Roku Channel as streaming prices have risen in recent years.

Several Hollywood giants, including Disney and Paramount Skydance, are exploring adding free tiers to their streamers.

• An old friend shared a picture of me as a bridesmaid nearly half a century ago.
• I was shocked and uncertain that it was me.
• As a younger person, and especially in my teens, I had no self-confidence. In the photo, I saw a beautiful young girl.

Earlier this summer, an old high school friend and her husband, whom I hadn't seen for 40 years, stopped by on their way from northern Indiana to their home in Atlanta. I was a bridesmaid in their wedding 49 years ago.

During our visit, my friend shared a picture of me at 20, in a light-blue gown, proceeding into their wedding ceremony at our hometown's United Methodist Church. A lightning strike could not have affected me more than seeing that old picture.

Growing up, I always compared myself to others

I met my friend and her younger sister while we worked at the local drive-in, a staple of 1970s Indiana. As carhops, we wore silver coin changers and placed yellow metal trays filled with burgers and glass mugs of root beer on customers' front car windows. Both girls were fit, pretty, blonde cheerleaders.

I had been slightly overweight since my early teens, and working at the drive-in with its free ice cream didn't help. My jet-black hair didn't seem to match my pale ivory skin, which burned in the sun after just a few minutes of exposure. And I was sensitive about my nose, the dreaded "McVay" nose, the famous proboscis of my dad's family.

I didn't measure up to what I saw on the pages of "Seventeen" magazine, the arbiter of all things good. My dear mother, God rest her soul, was six inches shorter than I, and a size six. Like most of her friends, she wore only foundation, a hint of rouge, and bright-red lipstick. She dressed like Jackie Kennedy.

And with no sisters, I had no clue about mascara, the trendy blue eyeshadow, or any fashion sense. My hair was very black and thick, and full of waves and five cowlicks. Mom took me to the woman who did her weekly Wash-n-Set for perms with varying results. I often looked like a brunette Mamie Eisenhower. Before plus sizes, I was relegated to the awfulness of Alfred Dunner and other women's clothing, making me look like an older woman.

I made friends and met my wonderful husband, but still felt unattractive

In college, I found people who shared my interests on the college yearbook staff, and we are still friends. I married one of the editors, a handsome man with eyes bluer than Sinatra's. We've been married for 42 years, and we have a son, smart and good-looking like his father.

Yet this feeling of unattractiveness stayed with me most of my life. Even on my wedding day, I was intimidated by my bridesmaids' looks, even in a hideous-then-fashionable peach taffeta dress with "Seinfeld's" puffy sleeves. White was not a good color for me, and I didn't have the agency in 1984 to strike out and do something different.

Twenty years ago, when my father digitized 500 Ektachrome slides covering the sixties and early seventies, I saw that I was indeed a cute little kid. That was progress.

Now I'm 69, and I have the requisite facial wrinkles my peers shared, but like Nora Ephron said in a book, "I Feel Bad About My Neck." After hiding from the sun after my beach baby oil days as a teen, my wrinkles aren't horrible. But my neck resembles Mr. Gobbler as he struts during his reprieve at the White House every Thanksgiving.

But I've been blessed with white hair, like both my grandmothers and my mother. I quit coloring my hair when I retired from full-time work nine years ago, and I love my hair. I feel like I earned this color.

That picture made me think about how I look at myself

After a lifetime of struggling, my self-loathing has given way to an appreciation for a long, good life filled with love and many friends, rather than missing the Junior Prom.

When my high school friend visited, I saw the picture for the first time in many years. And I was floored.

Who is this young woman? She's very pretty. She isn't smiling, but she looks nice, even lovely, in the 1970s-style dress and hat.

How I wish I could shake away all the bad feelings she had about herself and tell her, and every other young woman who feels as I did, that life is more than how you look in high school, where the harshest judgments come from people who may look similar. Almost everyone has something like the "McVay nose" in their family, and not everyone can be a magazine cover. Real beauty comes from the inside; it took me decades and a vintage snapshot to appreciate this truth.

• In 2020, Kate and Daniel O'Phalen left New York City with their kids to live nomadically for a year.
• They loved it so much that they decided to buy an RV and live on the road full time.
• They drove all the way to Alaska, visited 11 Canadian provinces, and spent six months in Mexico.

Like many at that time, the O'Phalen family was at a crossroads in 2020.

Kate and Daniel were living in Brooklyn with their two kids and had a third on the way. Kate was in grad school, and Daniel had a demanding job. It was the bustling life that many people dream of when they think of moving to New York.

Then, the pandemic hit, and suddenly, everyone's in-person commitment vanished. The O'Phalens made it work in their apartment for a few months, but their lives weren't as fulfilling as they once were.

"Everyone was kind of cooped up and miserable," Kate, 40, told Business Insider.

Their lease was up in June 2020, so the O'Phalens decided to rent an Airbnb in Maine for the summer.

They couldn't have anticipated their decision would lead them to leave New York for good and embrace RV living, even if it comes with the occasional expensive challenge that can cost thousands of dollars to solve.

The O'Phalens were ready for a change of pace.

Kate, who is her kids' homeschool teacher and a content creator, told Business Insider that she and her family were eager to spend time outdoors after months in their apartment.

They put their belongings in storage and planned to return to New York for the school year, hoping the summer would offer some respite.

However, after three months of hiking, beach days, and a slower pace of life, the O'Phalens didn't want to go back.

They decided to keep traveling for another year.

Since Daniel's job as a recruiter for a global marketing agency remained remote, there was no reason they couldn't keep traveling.

"We decided to do a loop around the country for a year, and we did it in Airbnbs," Kate said. "We did monthly Airbnbs combined with a few short hotel stays."

They spent much of that year on the West Coast, visiting every National Park they could, before looping back to the East Coast. They had a blast.

In fact, the O'Phalens had so much fun that they wanted to find a way to make the nomadic lifestyle work more permanently.

They decided to buy an RV that they could live in full time.

The O'Phalens knew they loved traveling, but an RV would be a big change for them. They had never towed a vehicle or driven a truck.

"We had only recently even bought a car, living in New York," Kate said. "We didn't even have a car for 10 years."

Still, in 2021, they bought a truck and spent $18,000 on a used RV that Kate renovated. The family rented an Airbnb in Alabama, where Kate has family, while she worked on it for six months.

"It was what I like to call granny hunting cabin chic when we purchased it," she said. "It was sort of camo floral all over the place and brown everywhere, but it had good bones."

Kate didn't have much experience with home renovations aside from painting, but she was excited for the challenge.

The RV needed some TLC.

Kate and Daniel were most drawn to the RV's layout. The door opens into a living space with a couch, a kitchen, and a loft. A primary bedroom sits at one end, and a "toy hauler" room is at the tail end. The bathroom is inside the primary bedroom.

Kate didn't take down any walls during the reno, but she did gut pretty much everything else, both because of the decor style and the shape it was in.

"The layout was really good, but it was absolutely hideous. And it had not been used a whole lot recently, so it was absolutely filthy," she recalled. "So, we started by just demoing a lot of it."

Everything they ripped out, they took to the dump and had it weighed, making sure they knew how much weight they could add to the RV without affecting its function.

Kate focused on making the living space feel airy.

Kate didn't want to sacrifice coziness in the 400-square-foot RV, so she focused on making the small space beautiful and functional.

She splurged on their flooring, choosing a dark, durable vinyl that would withstand her active kids.

There is also a wall in the living room covered in floral wallpaper. It cost about $200, but Kate loves the pop of color it adds to the space.

She offset the cost by using the couch from her family's apartment in Brooklyn as their main seating area.

"When we lived for a year in Airbnbs, there were only two things I really missed," Kate said. "One was my sectional, and two was a good vacuum. So now we have both."

Surprisingly, the kitchen needed the least work.

Kate said she didn't have to demo much of the kitchen because the cabinets and appliances were in good shape.

She painted the cabinets a soft green and added brass hardware to give them a more luxurious look. The kitchen also has a fold-up counter extension, giving the O'Phalens more space to prep food, and she uses baskets for additional storage above the cabinets.

"I feel like the paint in our renovation really did a lot of heavy lifting," Kate said, adding that she thinks the kitchen is one of the most beautiful spaces in her home.

You can also see Kate's eldest child's bedroom, a loft that sits above the room, from the kitchen. It's covered by a curtain during the day and accessible by a ladder.

The bedroom has to be able to transform on travel days.

The primary bedroom has a queen-size bed, a dresser, and a closet.

However, the bed sits on a slide-out that must be pulled in when the O'Phalens are driving so it fits in a highway lane. Because of that, some pieces of the bedroom have to be taken off the walls when they drive.

"In an RV…your house goes through an earthquake every time you move," O'Phalen said. "Everything has to be really secured, or it has to come down."

They use the bed to store larger items that need to come down on travel days, such as large mirrors or other art pieces.

The O'Phalens also have a washing machine in their bedroom, so they don't have to stop at laundromats on the road.

The RV's sole bathroom is in the primary bedroom.

The shower and toilet sit separately in the RV, with the toilet in a private room on one side of the bedroom entrance and the shower on the other.

The orange paint and artwork make the bathroom cozy, and Kate said she ended up completely redoing the shower.

"It was the hardest part of the renovation, and I discovered exactly why plumbers make good money," she said. "I sat on the floor of the Home Depot for so long trying to figure out what fittings I needed that an employee came over and brought me a cushion."

She's happy with how the shower turned out, though, with its skylight and tile walls.

The kid's bedroom was originally a storage space.

"Our RV is called a toy hauler, which means it's designed to haul side by sides or motorcycles or big kid toys, essentially," Kate said.

They don't need to haul those kinds of items, but they did need additional bedroom space for their two younger children.

Kate installed lofted queen beds in the space, which can be raised during the day to create extra living space for the family.

The back wall of the room also opens completely, allowing them to enjoy indoor-outdoor living when the weather is nice.

The O'Phalens spent about $7,000 refurbishing the RV.

Kate did her best to keep the RV renovation costs low, saying the aesthetic upgrades cost only about $5,000.

In addition, they had to make some safety upgrades, including $1,000 for new tires. They also spent around $600 on their washer-dryer.

A lot of the decor was budget finds, like a dresser they found on the side of the road, which Kate altered to fit the RV. She made a DIY version of a light fixture; it would have cost $400 online, but she made it for $30.

Kate also said her kids helped paint and make the space feel like home, so they felt invested in the RV too.

They hit the road in early 2022 and haven't looked back.

When the RV was finally done, the O'Phalens were excited to start traveling in early 2022. Kate said she and Daniel weren't worried about living nomadically, since they had already done so for a year in Airbnbs. It was the idea of driving a truck and an RV that intimidated them because of their lack of experience.

"The first time we hitched up the truck and trailer, it took us two hours because we could not figure out why it wouldn't hitch up," Kate said. "We're city people. There was so much to learn about things that seem obvious to people who have grown up outdoors."

Overall, though, Kate said her family adjusted to RV life pretty quickly.

"We had gotten really flexible and resilient," she said. "It felt like home immediately. And every time we've talked about moving out of it, my kids are really upset. They don't want to move out of it."

The O'Phalens have traveled all over North America in their RV.

The O'Phalens typically travel every two to three weeks, staying at campgrounds or on public land. They have traveled all over the US, including Alaska; seen 53 of the 66 National Parks in the US; visited 11 provinces in Canada; and spent six months in Mexico this past winter.

Kate said living on the road was initially a little lonely until they formed friendships with other people who live the RV life.

"We have a traveling community that we have caravanned with for years now," she said. "We have friends that are like my kids' cousins at this point."

She also said she's been surprised by how much her kids get out of RV life, particularly through hands-on learning experiences. For instance, her eldest daughter is an aspiring veterinarian, and she has been able to spend time with a variety of animals thanks to their lifestyle.

"She just got to do the veterinary camp at UC Davis this summer, and we have been to vet camp on a farm in North Carolina," Kate said. "We went to the monarch butterfly migration in Mexico. We went to a jaguar sanctuary for her birthday in Oaxaca. We released baby sea turtles on the beach."

"We just have had such incredible, deep lifelong learning experiences because of the way that we live," Kate said. "It's hard to give that up."

It's also brought their whole family closer.

Kate and Daniel were both always involved parents, but traveling together has only brought them closer. Daniel, in particular, said being home with his kids has made a huge difference for him.

"I went from seeing my kids only an hour or two a day to never missing a moment, and I'm very grateful to this lifestyle and the time that I've been given with them," he told Business Insider.

"He knows his children in such a deep way now," Kate agreed, saying the time her family gets to spend together is something they never take for granted.

RV life also saves the O'Phalen family money.

Kate said that she knows people who live very affordably on the road and people who spend a lot of money on vehicle payments or luxury resort stays on RV life.

Her family falls more in the middle. They live mostly off of Daniel's income, with Kate providing some additional income through her content creation. They have a Thousand Trails subscription, which costs them a little under $1,000 a year for nationwide campground access.

"When my husband was laid off a couple of years ago, it really helped us weather that," Kate said of their lifestyle. "We said multiple times, 'My gosh, if we were living in New York, this would be so stressful right now.' And we were able to just really dial back our spending and make it through that."

Still, RV living isn't always easy. It can be expensive.

Kate told Business Insider that they have had plenty of problems with their vehicles, from their truck's heater pump hose popping off in Yosemite to a tire falling off in Mexico.

Plus, when those issues come up, they're not just managing their truck; they also have to handle their home and family.

"It's not just like my road trip has gone wrong, but it's like, where do I park my house while I figure out how to fix the vehicle that tows my house?" Kate said. "And do I have enough groceries and water? And are the police going to knock on my door and say, 'You can't park here?' There's just so much of that. That's the hard part."

Those issues often cost thousands of dollars, making them even more stressful. For now, those expenses are worth it for the O'Phalens, particularly since their daily living costs are so low, but they are still stressful.

Kate also said the "logistics" of RV life can be tough, particularly because she is raising young children.

For instance, when they first started living in an RV, her youngest child was an infant, and it was difficult to find doctors while traveling to keep up with the baby's vaccination schedule. They find solutions, but living on the road can make day-to-day life more complicated.

Because of their lifestyle, they were able to save enough money to buy land.

In 2026, the O'Phalens used some of the money they had saved to buy an acre of land outside Bend, Oregon. They don't plan to stop traveling anytime soon, though.

"We really have done a lot of the United States at this point," she said. "And the cultural experience in Mexico was so amazing that we'd like to do more of that."

They hope to slowly build a house that can serve as their home base, then embrace international travel.

"My vision is that at some point the RV stays here for good and we do more international flying for maybe three to six months at a time," she said. "I have a dream that at some point we build out a sprinter van and ship it either to Europe or to South America."

Kate said RV life has been "magical" for her family.

Kate said her family's nomadic lifestyle has completely changed their family forever.

"It is magical in a way that almost defies description," Kate said of their life on the road. "It is extremely transformative. I would say we've become outdoorsy and really conservation-minded in a way that we never were."

Kate said she knows RV life can be challenging and that it's not for everyone, though she hopes sharing her experience can show people it's more accessible than they think.

"I would encourage anyone who is on the fence to try it out because I really do think even if you do go back to the same life that you were living before, you will go back with such an interesting perspective, and you'll be changed," she said.

In September 2025, President Trump set in motion a change that would throw the H-1B visa application process into disarray. His proposed $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions changed the immigration landscape for employers, employees, and visa hopefuls alike.

Indian national Shreya Mishra Reddy graduated from Duke University in 2022 with a master's in engineering management. She had set her sights on working and living in the US. But after learning that potential employers would have to pay a $100,000 fee to hire her, she pivoted.

Since last September, Business Insider has been interviewing people who have borne the brunt of the chaos, including those who have applied for visas and are debating whether to stay in the US. Others have opted to tap out of the system altogether.

• Sumitomo CEO Shingo Ueno believes 'kosoryoku' is a key skill in business.
• The term translates as 'the ability to envision futures that do not yet exist'.
• Ueno says AI can be a helpful research tool, but cannot yet conceptualize the future well.

A little-known Japanese term about imagining the future helps explain both the role — and the limits — of AI in the workplace, according to the CEO of one of the country's largest conglomerates.

Speaking to Business Insider in early September, Shingo Ueno, the head of Sumitomo Corporation, a Japanese multi-industry powerhouse with a market capitalization of around $55 billion, said that AI is a powerful research tool but lacks a crucial human capability: kosoryoku.

Pronounced koh-soh-ryoh-koo, the Japanese term essentially means the power to conceptualize or formulate a vision for the future that has not yet been imagined, something Ueno says AI does not currently have.

"Generative AI is helping me a lot to improve my efficiency. I'm fully utilizing it," Ueno said.

One of its biggest advantages is its ability to retrieve information quickly. "If I want to find information about something the company did before, I might have previously spent a day searching for that experience. Now, the answer comes immediately," he said.

That speed helps Ueno, who has spent over 40 years working for Sumitomo Corporation, follow his preferred management style: resolving issues quickly instead of allowing them to linger.

"My method is to make decisions on the spot," he said. "I try to avoid the back-and-forth — having the same issue come back the next day."

Still, Ueno has found that AI cannot make every decision for him. "I once tried to make a decision using AI, and I just got rubbish answers," he said. "It wasn't usable at all."

The problem, he said, is that AI depends on information from the past. It can identify patterns and suggest possible directions, but it is less capable when it comes to envisioning a future that does not yet exist.

"AI analyzes past data to show us a direction. But it is still based on the past," Ueno said. "It can't create the future. It can't really show the vision."

Developing kosoryoku does not require employees to come up with revolutionary ideas from scratch, he said.

"We don't need to be inventors. We don't need to come up with something completely new," Ueno said. "We can start with something that already exists, improve it, and make it our own."

Separately, Ueno said taking time away from work is important because it allows him to rest and return with new ideas.

"At the weekend, I basically spend my time without thinking about work," he said. "That is extremely important, just resting my head. Then, when I go back to work, I can come up with new ideas."

AI may help executives understand the past in seconds. Ueno's message is that humans must still decide what the future should look like.

We got an inside look at what it's like on the first day for new plebes at the US Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York.

287 plebe candidates arrived on campus for the beginning of "indoctrination," a 16-day period full of intense mental and physical tests.

During our visit, we saw plebe candidates getting their heads shaved, learning proper movements and responses, and enduring an event known as "the Grinder," where their instructional cadre commands and corrects them with loud intensity.

After an emotional farewell to their families, the plebe candidates take their first steps toward becoming licensed officers in the US Merchant Marine.

Most graduates go on to work as licensed officers aboard commercial and government ships, either navigating and managing the vessel or operating its engines and machinery. But during wartime, these civilian mariners can become a critical part of the military supply chain, operating ships that carry weapons, vehicles, fuel, ammunition, and other supplies to US forces overseas.

• I never had a desire to see the Midwest until I saw photos of Door County, Wisconsin, in the fall.
• On my trip to Door County, I found amazing fall foliage, exciting traditions, and friendly locals.
• I'm now open to visiting more places around the world rather than just the big-name tourist spots.

I love traveling up and down the East Coast, and I have always wanted to see the Pacific Northwest — but I can't say I ever dreamed of visiting the states that fill out the center of the United States.

However, I changed my mind the second I saw photos of Door County, Wisconsin, during autumn. I was awestruck by images of lush trees that seemed to go on forever in the most vibrant hues of red, yellow, green, and orange.

Growing up in Virginia, I was no stranger to fall foliage — but I had never seen anything quite like this. I felt an immediate pull to the area, and within a few weeks, my flight was booked for a trip in late October.

Door County looked like a place right out of a Hallmark movie

On my first day in Door County, I woke up to views of Lake Michigan from my balcony at The Water Street Inn, a circa 1896 hotel that looked like it was right out of a Hallmark movie.

I kicked off the day with a ride aboard the Door County Trolley to get a closer look at the leaves I had been dreaming of for weeks. It's one thing to see that kind of beauty in a picture, but seeing it in person was surreal.

It had rained that morning, so the wet streets reflected the colors of the maple trees towering over them, with brightly colored leaves covering many of the roads in blankets of orange and gold.

In the days that followed, I spent my time strolling through diverse nature preserves and parks, such as Whitefish Dunes State Park and The Ridges Sanctuary.

I climbed to the top of the Cana Island Lighthouse, which is over 150 years old and towers just beside Lake Michigan.

I explored the picturesque downtown areas of Fish Creek and Egg Harbor, and took part in Door County's most time-honored tradition: the fish boil.

What began as an efficient way to feed hungry fishermen a century ago has turned into an incredible way to bring the town together on a regular basis for an unpretentious, delicious meal by the fire.

Watching people cook in giant steel pots, talking to new people, and sharing bites of things like whitefish, potatoes, and corn with others was a special experience that made me feel like part of the community.

The Midwestern peninsula had much more than quaint towns and mesmerizing scenery

During my time in Door County, I discovered more than just once-in-a-lifetime fall foliage, charming towns, and epic waterfronts.

I found there was a deep sense of pride among the people who lived here. I met locals who were eager to tell me they'd lived on the peninsula for their entire lives. Some had left for college or moved away as adults to see what else was out there, but came back when they didn't find a place more special than the one they grew up in.

The locals who have painstakingly preserved the area's heritage while adding to its story are the ones who've made Door County flourish, and their love is evident in every square mile from Sturgeon Bay to Fish Creek.

This trip really taught me that although there's nothing wrong with visiting top tourist destinations, the United States is teeming with beautiful towns I've not yet heard of, and that many of them are worth exploring, too.

Now, I plan trips with a more open mind because I know that no matter where I go, whether it's Bucharest or the Midwest, I will find something wonderful worth experiencing.

This story was originally published on August 20, 2024, and most recently updated on September 23, 2026.

• We compared similar McDonald's meals in New York City and London.
• The meals cost exactly the same, but there were some key differences.
• The US meal had a more flavorful sandwich and a bigger drink.

McDonald's may be a globally recognized brand, but ordering the same meal on opposite sides of the Atlantic can feel like a completely different experience.

We tried similar McDonald's meals in New York City and London — including spicy chicken sandwiches, fries, an apple pie, and a fruity drink — to see whether there were differences in taste and value between the two.

Our New York-based reporter, Erin McDowell, found that the spicy chicken sandwich had a more distinctly Southern flavor profile, from the spicy mayo to the thick buttered bun and crunchy pickle slices.

Our London-based reporter, Roya Shahidi, thought the UK's version of the spicy chicken could have done with some crunchy pickles like in the US, but the chicken was moist and crispy.

We compared portion sizes, value, and, of course, taste to see how each meal compared in the US and the UK.

Our New York-based reporter visited her local McDonald's in Brooklyn.

The restaurant was advertising the chain's new chicken tenders on its modern-looking exterior.

This is one of roughly 13,600 McDonald's locations in the US, according to the company. That's far more than its number of restaurants in the UK, where it has around 1,500 locations.

During our visits, the New York location also felt more modern and pared back, while the London restaurant featured brighter colors and more playful design details.

Just inside the front doors, an ad promoted a new energy drink refresher … alongside a reminder that the restaurant is monitored by the NYPD.

That kind of highly visible security message felt distinctly New York.

There was one security officer outside the McDonald's in London, though there were no big security messages like in the New York restaurant.

The restaurant was pretty quiet for the midday lunch rush.

Inside, the restaurant had self-order kiosks, a counter for pickup orders, and plenty of seating for customers eating in or taking food to go.

Erin ordered a spicy chicken sandwich meal with a dessert. She also tried the new strawberry watermelon refresher.

The meal came in McDonald's signature brown paper bag and included a spicy chicken sandwich, medium fries, an apple pie, and a medium-sized fruity pink drink.

It cost $15.18, excluding tax.

The strawberry watermelon refresher is made with strawberry and watermelon flavoring, lemonade, and ice.

It was also topped with pieces of freeze-dried strawberry. Erin enjoyed the balance of sweet watermelon, tart strawberry flavoring, and lemonade, but the dried fruit pieces made the drink awkward to sip — she kept getting chunks in her mouth.

Still, it was a refreshing, summery beverage she'd order again, ideally without the strawberry topping.

Next up was the spicy McCrispy chicken sandwich.

The sandwich is one of McDonald's biggest attempts to compete in the fast-food chicken wars.

First launched nationwide in February 2021, the sandwich has become a staple on McDonald's menu and can even compete with fast-food classics like Chick-fil-A's famous chicken sandwich.

It featured a thick, crunchy fried chicken filet topped with spicy mayo and pickles on a soft potato roll.

It looked far more substantial than the more basic chicken sandwiches often associated with McDonald's, like the McChicken.

Erin was also impressed by the size of the chicken filet, which was about the same size as her palm.

The chicken filet was moist, while the crispy breading held its own, despite the generous serving of sauce slathered on the bun.

It stayed crispy beneath the toppings and delivered a savory, black-peppery flavor that gave each bite a little extra kick, on top of the creamy, spicy sauce that left a slight lingering heat.

No McDonald's meal is complete without fries.

The fries were thin, salty, and hot — the familiar classic that remains one of the chain's most consistent menu items. The US order came with a generously filled carton that was large enough to share, though Erin had no trouble working her way through most of it.

The fries were delicious dipped in ranch — an American staple.

The tangy, creamy dipping sauce gave the salty fries an extra punch of flavor and made for an especially satisfying final bite.

Erin also tried one of McDonald's baked desserts.

The hand pie had a flaky, golden-brown exterior and came in a sleek purple sleeve. It cost $1.99, excluding tax.

The apple pie's golden crust was decently crispy, with a light crunch that held up well around the warm filling.

Inside, the soft apples were sweet and caramelized, giving the dessert a cozy, almost homemade flavor that made it a satisfying end to the meal.

Erin did think the pastry could have been a bit less doughy and a bit more flaky to better resemble a real apple pie.

Our London-based reporter visited her local McDonald's in Islington.

This McDonald's had lots of emoji faces on its windows to advertise McHappy Day, a charity fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House UK on September 26.

It was the first day of the World Menu Heist in the UK and Ireland.

Roya went to McDonald's on September 22, which was the first day of the World Menu Heist.

These are popular McDonald's items from around the world, made into limited-edition items in the UK and Ireland.

At lunchtime, the restaurant was busy at the self-service kiosks, but there were plenty of seats available.

Inside, you can order at the counter or at the self-service kiosks. A lot of people pick up their orders after placing them on the McDonald's app.

Roya ordered a medium Spicy McCrispy meal, which came with fries and a drink. She tried the Guava Sprite Zero from the World Heist Menu.

Roya opted for the "eat in" option, so the meal came on a tray. Adding a paper bag at this McDonald's would have cost an extra 13 cents.

The meal cost £11.38 ($15.18) including tax.

The Guava Sprite Zero from McDonald's India is Sprite Zero with guava-flavored syrup and ice.

The drinks we ordered weren't a direct match: Erin ordered McDonald's strawberry watermelon refresher in New York, which was not on the UK menu when we checked, while Roya tried the UK-only guava Sprite Zero.

This drink was part of the World Heist Menu. Roya found it refreshing and liked the extra tang that the guava-flavored syrup added to the Sprite.

There were also some differences in the portion sizes and sugar content between our two drinks.

A medium soda at McDonald's is much bigger in the US, where it holds 21 fluid ounces, compared with 13.5 fluid ounces in the UK.

McDonald's UK still sells some sugary drinks, but its soft-drink menu leans more heavily on zero-sugar options, including Sprite Zero. That reflects the UK's Soft Drinks Industry Levy, introduced in 2018 to encourage manufacturers to cut sugar from beverages; drinks with more than 5 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters are subject to the tax.

The Spicy McCrispy chicken burger was up next.

In the US, the McCrispy is marketed as a sandwich, whereas in the UK, it's more commonly referred to as a burger.

The McCrispy was launched in 2022 after the discontinuation of the very popular Chicken Legend. The spicy version launched this year.

It consisted of a crispy chicken breast filet, shredded iceberg lettuce, and spicy mayo.

Roya thought the chicken filet was substantial — much bigger than the beef burgers typically sold at McDonald's.

Different from the US potato roll, the bread is a sourdough-style bun topped with sesame seeds.

McDonald's varies its recipes and menus across countries to comply with local regulations and cater to customer tastes. For example, Canadian McDonald's has a maple-and-cheddar chicken burger, another item that featured on the World Heist Menu.

The chicken was juicy and had a thick layer of spicy batter, which stayed crispy — though the burger felt quite dry overall.

The filet itself was moist, with a crispy, crunchy batter that Roya thought had a satisfying kick of heat. This was different from the US version, which has a lighter, less-crunchy breading without any heat — all the spicy flavor comes from the sauce.

She thought there could have been more spicy mayo and pickles, like in the US, to add a bit more texture. The lettuce, while adding a nice freshness, didn't do much for the dryness.

The McDonald's fries were hot but could have been crispier.

While the London-based reporter always enjoys McDonald's fries, she thought they could have been crispier this time — they were a little floppy.

Roya, who prefers her food saltier, added a salt sachet to the fries. Nonetheless, they came out hot and were a satisfying companion to the burger.

McDonald's UK says it has reduced the fat, salt, sugar, and calories in its menu since 2020, which may contribute to the milder flavor compared with the US fries.

American McDonald's fries also have beef flavoring added to them to replicate the old-school taste of frying in beef tallow.

Roya used the ketchup dispenser in the restaurant for her dip.

Ketchup and barbecue sauce are usually available from dispensers in most McDonald's in the UK. Roya opted for ketchup, which added a lip-smacking tang to the fries.

Ranch is not as popular or well-known in the UK, but McDonald's UK did have it as a limited-edition dip this summer.

With no lattice crust, the apple pie in the UK looks and tastes different from that in the US.

The apple pie in this London McDonald's costs £2.29 ($3.05), including tax.

Roya's UK apple pie was fried and sealed like a hand pie, unlike the lattice-topped baked pie sold in the US. The UK version closely resembled how McDonald's in the US used to make its apple pies before it switched to a baked, not fried, version in 1992.

The US version got another update in 2018, when the latticed crust was introduced, and the chain switched to a sliced apple filling with cinnamon.

The apple pie is deep-fried, making it extra crispy.

Because the apple pie is deep-fried, it makes for a very crunchy outside, which complements well with the warm, soft, and sweet filling.

The fried batter does make it feel a little heavier for a midday dessert, but it's worth it for the crunch.

Overall, our experiences were more different than we expected.

From the design of the restaurant to the actual menu, there were some key differences between the two locations. Even similar items differed in terms of ingredients and size.

We were surprised that our meals were the exact same price, and the chicken sandwiches were pretty similar in portion size. However, the sodas were very different in size, with the US medium drink being much larger, and the UK apple pie looked more like a fried strudel than a lattice pie.

The chicken sandwich in the US also had more sauce and a saltier flavor, which Roya thought the UK version lacked.

From the restaurant design to the last bite of pie, our cross-Atlantic McDonald's taste test proved that "the same" order can mean something very different depending on where you are.

• I'm an interior designer who loves shopping at West Elm for myself and my clients.
• When I took a trip to the store, I fell in love with the kitchenware and throw-pillow covers.
• A cozy duvet, an ottoman, and a wool rug also caught my eye.

As an interior designer, the fall season always has me excited to refresh my own home.

Fall is a time when I naturally crave feeling more grounded and comfortable at home, gravitating toward deeper colors, cozy textures, and warm lighting. It's also the season of gathering, so it's a great time to add a few special pieces to my hosting collection.

I recently went to West Elm — one of my go-to stores to shop for home accents for myself and my clients — to see if anything caught my eye.

Here are eight pieces from West Elm I'd add to my home right now.

The Marble Kitchen collection is both stylish and functional.

I am a strong believer in elevating everyday objects, particularly in the kitchen.

West Elm's Marble Kitchen collection is crafted from rich "brown-forest marble," meaning each piece has one-of-a-kind veining.

The collection consists of functional items like a mortar and pestle, a paper-towel holder, and a utensil holder — pieces that can be kept on countertops to add beauty, texture, and elegance to your everyday life.

West Elm's throw-pillow covers are a great way to introduce new patterns and textures.

One of the easiest ways to create a grounded, cozy feeling in any home is by layering textiles in deeper tones and richer fabrics. That's why I love West Elm's selection of throw-pillow covers.

For example, the chenille jacquard treescape pillow cover has the most beautiful nature-inspired pattern that feels perfectly suited to the season. The corded bias velvet one adds subtle texture and dimension from the channeled pattern in a variety of fall colors.

I love the brand's Rhea pendant lights.

Upgrading your lighting is a great way to add warmth and ambiance to a room for fall. After all, this is the time of year when we naturally rely more on indoor light fixtures as natural light becomes scarce.

West Elm's Rhea pendant lights feel effortless yet striking. I love how the larger scale makes a statement, but the linen material keeps it feeling delicate.

The collection consists of three different sizes and shapes. Although each pendant is beautiful on its own, I especially love the idea of pairing all three together to give the feeling of an art installation.

The Nadia wood tray looks like a great way to keep things organized in a stylish way.

I love a piece that's both practical and stylish, and the Nadia carved-wood tray is just that.

I'm also a minimalist at heart, so I appreciate the clean lines mixed with the carved-wood detailing. It's simple, but feels special.

This cozy duvet cover is perfect for fall.

During my trip to the store, I instantly fell in love with the Piece & Ward striped duvet cover.

The brown stripes are a classic pattern, and the cotton-and-linen blend gives a cozy, lived-in feel for fall.

Ottomans are my secret weapon for hosting.

I truly believe every home needs at least one ottoman, which can do double duty as a footstool and extra seating for guests.

I was drawn to the Thalia ottoman for its curved, sculptural silhouette and round wood legs.

I think the Pierce & Ward two-tone wood console is worth the investment.

In my opinion, the Pierce & Ward two-tone wood console looks and feels like an heirloom piece.

It combines solid materials and a timeless silhouette, but the inset panels add a cool, unexpected texture change.

When investing in quality pieces like this, I like to ensure they have enough versatility to use for years to come. In this case, it can function as a bedroom dresser, an entry console, a dining cabinet, or even a media unit.

The Lumini performance wool rug feels like a cozy sweater.

When it comes to rugs, I tend to prefer lighter tones. However, light colors can still feel warm and cozy.

The ribbed texture of the Lumini performance wool rug reminds me of my favorite wool sweater. Still, it's durable and easy to clean. I also like that it comes in a variety of sizes and colors.

• Years ago, I gave up paying traditional rent and began living between a campervan and a sailboat.
• I've been able to take risks and build a six-figure business, save money, and travel.
• Lately, though, I've been craving a true home base as I miss stability, basic comforts, and more.

I was hiking with my boyfriend, Tom, in the redwoods north of San Francisco in 2015 when he made the craziest suggestion: "Why don't we camp up here on Mount Tam? Give up rent?"

At first, I thought he was joking. Move out of my cute Zen cottage in the Mill Valley redwoods? No way! But he continued to talk excitedly from the fern-lined trail ahead of me. "Imagine how much you would save! At least $20,000 per year!"

Most people would never dream of giving up rent to get financially ahead, but Tom was different. He was a creative thinker, an adventurer (who's sailed from the Chesapeake Bay to San Francisco), and a Minnesota-born outdoorsman.

To him, camping sounded fun, a way to save money in one of the most expensive metropolises in the world. Giving up secure housing was just another adventure to him, while to me, it was a massively big deal.

Long story short: I ended up moving into a tent with him, then a Toyota Prius, then a sailboat.

After that came a Chevy Astro van and a Sprinter van. I paid off my debt, built my first nest-egg, and created an online business that earns six figures a year and powers our nomadic lifestyle.

It's now been 10 years since I last paid traditional rent. We split our time between a Sprinter van in the United States during the summer and a sailboat in Mexico during the winter.

Although some people think my life is a permanent vacation, to me it is just life — and it has its ups and downs.

Living in a van and on a sailboat has given me freedom with my life and finances

I am so thankful to be living the nomadic lifestyle by choice rather than necessity. I know there are so many people who have fallen on hard times and find living in a car the only way they can get by.

Living in a vehicle was a decision I made intentionally, and there's relief in knowing that if I want out of this lifestyle, I can go rent an apartment.

Living below my means this way has allowed me to take risks in my business, save hundreds of thousands of dollars for retirement, and feel financial freedom that mortgage payments would never have allowed.

Beyond that, this lifestyle has been good for my mind. When I'm living in my van or on the sailboat, I thoroughly enjoy being immersed in nature. Whether it's turquoise-clear anchorages in the Sea of Cortez or the forested mountains of Mount Hood, I am living within the natural world.

Most people are disconnected from this, living their lives among concrete and steel. Nature soothes and brings peace to my being.

Freedom is huge when living this way. I don't have an alarm clock, a commute, or a garage full of stuff begging to be sorted. I love that we have the flexibility to spend weeks with family and that we are able to chase the sun.

Adventures on land and on the water bring a sense of novelty to my life. I think it's easy to fall into a rut when living the same way every day. This is how years fly by, days and months mesh together into a singular blob.

When you travel constantly, the years don't feel like they are flying by; they are filled with memories, punctuation marks, and stories. This type of change prevents me from getting bored.

My nomadic lifestyle isn't without its challenges and drawbacks

I have heard this phrase many times from strangers and friends alike: "Living the dream!" or "You're so lucky!" And while I feel very thankful for this lifestyle, there are also some downsides.

I often feel unrooted or outside societal norms, which can make it difficult to relate to "normal" people. I miss the daily connections found in a more consistent lifestyle, such as dinners with friends, weekly ballroom-dance classes, family barbecues, and that local coffee shop where the barista knows my name.

There are days after a long hike or mountain bike ride that all I want is to take a steaming bath, have a comfortable couch to relax on, and a kitchen with hot running water. I do without modern amenities that feel like luxuries to me, and I really miss them sometimes.

Not knowing where I'm headed next brings an amount of uncertainty.

On the boat, especially, we can be stuck for days as we wait for a weather system to roll through. With the campervan, we often have no idea where we are sleeping next, and I'll be searching for spots on my phone while Tom drives.

One reason I like living at the boatyard for months at a time is that it creates a sense of stability and certainty for me.

This living situation may not last forever, but I'm grateful for it

It's hard to believe that I've been living without a traditional home for 10 years.

After all this time, I realize I am craving a home base more and more.

Athough I don't want to give up van life and sailboat living, I think having a home base or an apartment rental for a few months a year would satisfy my need for luxurious amenities and space to spread out.

I could spend six months on a sailboat in the South Pacific, a few months renting an apartment in Europe or the US, and a few months traveling in my van. That trifecta sounds like perfection for me.

Living tiny has taught me how to live with less, live below my means, and save up a big nest egg that makes me feel comfortable about the future, and for that, I'm forever thankful.

• Ken Ehrman created a GPS dog fence after his niece's dog was killed.
• He uses the product daily with his own dog, Reese's.
• He holds more than 40 patents, but says this one has been the most impactful.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ken Ehrman, co-founder and CEO of Halo Collar. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Back in 2017, my niece's dog, Ruby, escaped from their yard and was hit by a car. My niece was only 11, and this was her first experience with death. She had just rescued Ruby the year before, and the dog had become a huge part of the family. We were all hysterical.

I used the same sort of invisible dog fence that had failed Ruby, and I worried about my own dog, Reese's. One day, a lightbulb went off for me.

My brother and I had already built a company that used GPS tracking to monitor high-value assets for companies: items like forklifts for Walmart, and rental cars for Avis. I knew the capabilities of GPS, and I thought, what more high-value asset is there than the family dog?

The idea had been right there in front of me, but I didn't see it until tragedy struck.

My patent attorney asked me to invest right away

I immediately called my patent attorney. He did some research and shared that I was likely to get a patent on the device. He also told me he wanted to invest.

That stopped me in my tracks. My brother and I hold more than 40 patents. We'd worked with this attorney a lot, but he'd never asked about investing in one of our products.

When I pointed that out to him, he explained he also used an invisible fence for his dog. He could immediately see the benefit of replacing that with a GPS collar. He thought my idea was an incredible product with a huge opportunity.

I built a team with my brother and Cesar Millan

My second call was to my brother, Michael. I knew I wanted him on the team. I'm a pretty smart guy, but I pale in comparison to Michael. Our skills are like peanut butter and chocolate: when you put those together, it's a great combination.

I had moved on from the previous company I founded, but Michael was still working there. He was hesitant to leave the security of a salary. So, I turned my attention to the other person I knew I needed to get on board: Cesar Millan.

I knew from my previous experience that I needed a subject matter expert, and Cesar is the best dog trainer in the world. But he's a very hard man to get hold of. It seemed next to impossible, but through enough networking, I was finally able to reach his team and demonstrate the product. Once Cesar was on board, Michael was too.

I use the product all the time with my dog

We officially started the company in 2018, and spent about two years on research and development. I thought creating the product would be a cake walk, but it wasn't. It's challenging to design a GPS product that is indoors 90% of the time and can withstand rough-and-tumble use by dogs.

My dog, Reese's, was an integral part of the team. She was the tester for all our iterations. One major investor wanted to see the collar in action, on my dog, at his house. Reese's came through, and he invested.

My earlier inventions weren't products that I used. That's different with Halo, because I use it every day to protect Reese's. I'm intimately familiar with the user experience, and because of that, I spend a portion of each day engineering the product, in addition to my role as CEO.

We're on track to exceed projected revenue

Having the collar and the ability to set a "fence" anywhere has made it easier to travel with Reese's. We can now easily bring her on vacation to my mother's or my in-laws', which we couldn't do before.

Last year, Halo Collar did more than $99.7 million in sales. This year, we're on track to exceed our projected revenue. That's unusual for a tech company, and something I've never experienced as a CEO.

As an entrepreneur, my biggest goal has always been to solve a problem. Dogs are man's best friends, and we have a responsibility to keep them safe. It's way too common for pets to get lost or hit by cars. If I can help prevent other pet owners from experiencing the heartbreak my niece went through, I'll consider that a success.

• McDonald's is planning to spend billions to lure customers back.
• The chain's McDonald's Next plan calls for changes from employee training to store tech.
• McDonald's is facing stiff competition from rivals and increasingly value-sensitive customers.

McDonald's is spending big to bring customers back to its restaurants.

The fast-food chain plans to devote $8.5 billion over the next 10 years to improvements in its restaurants through investments and rent relief for franchisees, it said on Wednesday. The plan, called McDonald's Next, includes adding more technology to stores, new training for employees, and increasing the burger chain's market share of chicken menu items and beverages.

The goal is "to be the first choice for more customers, more often - while making our restaurants stronger and easier to run," McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski said.

"We are confident that executing across the key components of NEXT will unlock stronger restaurant economics, generate attractive returns for the Company, our franchisees and shareholders, and increase capacity to keep investing in growth," Kempczinski said.

The plan comes as McDonald's faces challenges both within the company and from rivals.

The burger chain reported slowing comparable sales growth in its most recent quarter, pointing to trouble it faced in rolling out a new value menu featuring items priced at $3 or less.

It's also been trying to win back customers who used to head to the Golden Arches for a cheap, quick meal but who are now going to other restaurants, like Burger King and Chili's.

McDonald's executives described several menu changes, including more McNugget and Quarter Pounder options and higher-quality coffee. The chain also wants to grow sales of beverages, which customers often purchase after lunch and pair with a burger or fries, said Jill McDonald, McDonald's global chief restaurant officer.

The chain is also considering options such as grilled chicken and egg bites to offer diners healthy protein choices.

In the US, McDonald's is still deciding on the best strategy for its value menu pricing, Kempczinski said. "That is really the key to going after that low-income consumer," he said.

McDonald's Next will make restaurants more efficient with AI and other operational improvements, the company said. Those types of changes will improve cash flow per restaurant by about $100,000 annually, it said.

McDonald's plan also includes an effort "to elevate the customer experience through great food and great hospitality," which the company calls Make It Golden.

In addition to maintaining its share of the burger market, the plan also calls for McDonald's to increase its share of the beverage and chicken market by 1.5 percentage points each by 2030.

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• I didn't think twice about booking a solo stay at an all-inclusive resort, but I should have.
• Even though I travel alone most of the time, my stay would have been more fun with a companion.
• From the dining room to archery class, I was vacationing among families and groups.

When my arrow went straight into the woods while trying archery for the first time, it should have been hilarious. If I'd had family or friends around, they would have teased me for ages and probably come up with some funny nickname, like Joey "The Arm" Hadden.

But as a lone wolf surrounded by groups of vacationers, it was just awkward.

This was in July, when I spent two nights at the all-inclusive Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, New York. With a starting rate of $1,400 a night for double occupancy (though Business Insider received a media rate), my booking included meals and access to most of the hotel's activities.

Overall, I had a blast at Mohonk Mountain House. The dramatic natural landscape, historic architecture, and abundance of activities blew me away. Still, I'd never been to an all-inclusive resort alone before, even though I'm an avid solo traveler, and I left wishing I'd brought someone to share the experience with.

I was surrounded by families

Mohonk Mountain House has been ranked among the top all-inclusive resorts for families in the US, and it was easy for me to see why. The property was filled with activities geared toward them, including sports, outdoor movies, and more.

From meals in the dining room to activities like hiking and archery, I appeared to be the only person vacationing at Mohonk Mountain House alone.

This felt isolating, but it's not always the case. A representative of Mohonk Mountain House told Business Insider that the resort often hosts solo travelers, adding that I may not have seen any because summer is the most popular time for families.

The property offers activities that can be enjoyed alone or used as a way to connect with others. For solo travelers looking to socialize, the resort recommends joining group sporting matches, fitness classes, and walking tours. Those seeking solitude can take garden strolls, meditate by the lake, and enjoy spa treatments.

I would have felt more comfortable socializing during meals, playing sports, and participating in group activities if I'd seen other solo travelers around. Instead, every time I left my room, I was surrounded by families and couples, which made me feel lonelier than I typically do on a solo trip.

I would have loved to reserve a tennis court with a partner or watch a PG-rated movie in the courtyard with my nephews. On my own, I steered clear of both.

I never left the property

The solo trips I've enjoyed most are the ones where I'm on the move. I thrive on my own when I'm taking trains, exploring cities, and hopping from hotel to hotel. There's something about constantly changing my environment that keeps me from thinking about the fact that I'm alone.

All-inclusive resorts, however, are typically designed to be destinations in themselves, and Mohonk Mountain House was no exception. I gave myself over to the experience by spending my entire stay on the property, and as a result, I spent a lot of time dwelling on how much more fun I'd be having with someone else.

Now don't get me wrong here — I enjoyed my all-inclusive vacation, and I can see why others would enjoy staying at Mohonk Mountain House alone. My favorite part was a solo hike to the top of a cliff with a stellar view of the resort. At the same time, I know the trip would have been more fulfilling for me with a companion. So next time, I'll bring one.

• NATO member Norway's prime minister said Zelenskyy's plane was "almost hit" by a drone in Moldova.
• Moldova, which is to Ukraine's southwest, said a Shahed had entered its airspace on that day.
• The drone later crashed in northwestern Moldova, and there are no details yet of how close it got.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's corporate jet was threatened by a drone as he prepared to fly from Moldova to Oslo, according to Norway's prime minister.

"His plane was almost hit by a drone as it took off in Moldova. That's his reality," Jonas Gahr Støre told local broadcaster NRK on Wednesday.

Støre did not provide further details on the incident. Nor did he mention the distance between the drone and Zelenskyy's plane.

The Ukrainian president flew from Moldova on Tuesday evening to attend King Harald of Norway's funeral, before flying to Ottawa to meet with Canadian leaders.

Moldovan authorities said that a drone had entered their country's airspace on Tuesday via the Ukrainian border, adding that preliminary data showed the uncrewed aerial vehicle was a Shahed — Russia's main attack drone. This Shahed entered Moldova twice in the late afternoon, said officials who temporarily closed the country's airspace.

The time of the Shahed's entry, at about 4.20 p.m., matches when Zelenskyy would have been preparing to fly to Oslo.

The Kremlin can launch hundreds of Shaheds and decoy drones at Ukraine in a single day, some of which have been documented wandering into nearby countries, such as Poland and Romania.

NATO has accused Russia of intentionally sending the drones to Eastern Europe to test its reaction to such potential threats. Moscow denies having any such plans.

Moldova's government told Reuters on Wednesday that Zelenskyy's plane was cleared for take-off after the drones exited its airspace.

The Ukrainian president's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

A separate public statement by officials said the Shahed drone had also initially flown into Romania before returning to Moldovan airspace. It eventually crashed in the northwestern district of Glodeni.

No casualties were reported, though the crash started a fire, officials said.

• Anthropic said its AI went outside its closed testing environment during cybersecurity exercises.
• The incidents had real-world impact, including "malicious" code uploaded to a public Python library.
• Anthropic has a cute, tiny figurine to help normies make sense of the AI's 'reckless' behavior.

Anthropic has a new blog post that shows yet another way its AI model, Claude, misbehaved in ways that the company didn't anticipate.

And to help condense its nearly 16,000-word report, the company created a cute little robot figurine to help visualize Claude's so-called "recklessness."

In the blog post published Wednesday, Anthropic recounted four incidents — one previously unreported — in which Claude models gained access to the open internet during cybersecurity exercises that were supposed to be closed simulations. The company said the models then acted beyond the tests' scope, including by uploading "malicious packages" to PyPI, a public library for Python code, and accessing credentials tied to real outside organizations.

"Our investigation identified two recurring alignment issues, present at varying levels of severity across the incidents: biased reasoning, in which Claude tended to disregard or misinterpret evidence that it was operating on the real internet, and recklessness, or a willingness to take harmful actions in the narrow pursuit of a task," Anthropic said.

The post used a laundry list of technical terms to describe the cybersecurity incidents — "misconfiguration," "reward hacking," and "sandbox escape" — but there's an animated graphic that helps boil down one of the most serious episodes so we normies can follow what happened.

A Claude model, depicted as a boxy cartoon robot, was conducting a closed cybersecurity exercise known as a "capture the flag" task. The task is shown as a tiny flag inside a clear bubble that Claude is supposed to find.

Anthropic said the model was told "it has no internet access" for the exercise, but a "misconfiguration in the environment" — represented by a loose screw rolling away from the bubble — gave Claude a path to the "real internet."

The cartoon Claude then holds a red box representing the "malicious package" that was uploaded to PyPI, a public repository that developers use to access prewritten code.

Anthropic said in its blog that it was "most concerned" by this incident involving Claude Mythos 5 and that the package was installed on by "15 third-party hosts" that the company does not identify.

"We believe that all 15 of these third parties were security vendors deliberately scanning for new packages and installing them in sandboxed environments to assess the package for security concerns," Anthropic said. "One vendor's scanner leaked its access credentials to the model while installing the package, which the model then used to access the vendor's live database."

Anthropic said PyPI removed the package after about 90 minutes.

The other three incidents involved a model altering records at a real company, an internal research model breaking into "unrelated third-party accounts," and Opus 4.6 accessing a third party's maching after failing to "abort its task."

The company said it has since asked METR, an independent AI evaluation group, to investigate the incidents.

Anthropic's post comes as frontier AI companies reckon with their models making unauthorized moves outside their controlled environments. In July, OpenAI said that autonomous agents in its cybersecurity tests accessed the internet and broke into parts of Hugging Face's systems.

AI researchers have sounded the alarm that self-improving AI could pose a risk to humanity. On Tuesday, former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon said on X that he quit over concerns that AI companies were "gambling" with people's lives and that "neither company is acting responsibly."

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• Anthropic posted a sales job directly targeting one of its biggest customers, Meta.
• The AI lab took down the job posting after Business Insider asked about it.
• Meta and Anthropic have a complicated relationship, as both pushing to develop frontier AI.

Anthropic posted — and then deleted — a job listing for a salesperson tasked with selling to Meta, its AI rival and one of its largest customers.

The listing, titled "Mega Account Executive, Meta," appeared on Anthropic's job board at a delicate moment for the companies' relationship.

Meta still spends hundreds of millions of dollars a month as Anthropic's customer, according to a recent New York Times report. But it's also trying to reduce its reliance on Anthropic's AI tools as Anthropic is shoring up its finances ahead of a massive initial public offering.

The post suggests Anthropic is betting Meta will remain a major customer even as Meta builds more capable AI models of its own.

After Business Insider asked Anthropic about the listing on Wednesday, the company pulled it down. Anthropic and Meta declined to comment.

Anthropic's job posting offered an annual salary of $380,000 to $450,000, and didn't mention Meta outside the title. It said the salesperson would "win new business and drive revenue within a book of strategic digital native accounts."

The listing stands out for its specificity. Other Anthropic account executive openings target broad regions or sectors, including startups in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, or the public sector in Southeast Asia.

Anthropic's AI coding tool, Claude Code, became popular across Silicon Valley, including at Meta, this year. One internal projection said Meta could spend $10 billion annually on Anthropic, the Times reported. Meta's head of AI product, Nat Friedman, told employees that if Meta decreased its reliance on Anthropic's tools, it could hit Anthropic's revenue as it approaches its IPO, the report said.

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• Silicon Valley is having a moment in Hollywood this fall.
• Elizabeth Holmes and Elon Musk are getting the documentary treatment, with two very different tones.
• Meta and OpenAI are the subjects of two movies that could be major players this awards season.

This fall, Hollywood is taking on another California industry: Silicon Valley.

A fresh crop of movies and documentaries about some of the biggest figures in tech is slated to hit screens starting in October, with many of them already being teed up as serious contenders for Oscar season.

Get ready for movies that delve into the dark sides of Facebook and OpenAI, a hard-hitting exposé on Elon Musk, and a genre-bending documentary in which Nathan Fielder faces off with Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes.

But which tech-founder movie is right for you? Let's help you decide.

"The Social Reckoning" (October 9)

What it's about: Sixteen years after the release of "The Social Network," David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's classic gets a spiritual sequel. This time, Sorkin, who wrote "The Social Network," takes the directing reins and Jeremy Strong steps in as Mark Zuckerberg to tell the story of a Facebook engineer who decides to blow the whistle and reveal some of the company's darkest secrets. Jeremy Allen White and Mikey Madison also star.

Watch this if: You want to see Strong go full Method as Zuckerberg.

"Musk" (October 16)

What it's about: Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney leaves no stone unturned in his nearly four-hour film chronicling Elon Musk's life and career. The doc tracks the moves he made to become the richest person in the world, along with his troubled personal life and his time in Trump's White House.

Watch this if: You want to see the doc Musk calls a "hit piece" and judge for yourself.

"You Can See Everything" (October 16)

What it's about: Before Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes reported to prison for defrauding investors in 2023, she invited a film crew to her California home. But not just any film crew — one led by comedian Nathan Fielder.

Watch this if: You're itching to hear what Holmes thinks when Fielder shows her Amanda Seyfried's portrayal of her in "The Dropout."

"Artificial" (December 25)

What it's about: Luca Guadagnino's latest movie stars Andrew Garfield as OpenAI cofounder Sam Altman. The movie focuses on his dramatic firing and rehiring as its CEO in 2023.

Watch this if: You want to get a peek inside Sam Altman's doomsday bunker.

BONUS: "The Altruists" (November 19)

What it's about: While not a movie, this upcoming Netflix series is set to carry the tech-founder-story torch in November, when all eight episodes of "The Altruists" arrive on the streamer. The series delves into the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. The cast includes Anthony Boyle as FTX cofounder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and Julia Garner as his girlfriend, Caroline Ellison.

Watch this if: You want to see Julia Garner play another infamous woman.

• The Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 models have new Audio Intelligence features that feel a little weird for privacy reasons.
• "Live Rewind" transcribes the last 15 seconds of what someone said. Apple says no audio is recorded or stored.
• "Siri Recap" listens to your day and recaps your meetings and conversations. Apple Watch users, get ready for some odd looks!

So you got an Apple Watch to track your steps and heart rate. Now all your friends are afraid you're taking notes on their conversations.

The latest Series 12 Apple Watch model, announced at the company's big September event, includes new AI listening features. Apple is calling them "Audio Intelligence." They're convenient and cool, but also a little … weird. They also strike me as very un-Appley.

The two features that caught my eye are called Siri Recap and Live Rewind.

Siri Recap can be set to always listen, or just for certain hours of the day (or not at all). The AI recaps are available upon request in Siri, and will be a recap of what the mic on your Apple Watch heard — not the full audio clip or transcript.

The examples Apple gives for what you could use this for include remembering high-level moments from a team meeting or a parent-teacher conference.

Live Rewind gives you a transcription of what was just said in the last 15 seconds. You can then send the transcription to Siri to save for later.

In the example they give, a server speeds through the daily menu specials — relatable! That's always a challenge to remember. A quick double-tap to the watch's crown, and you can see the list of menu items she just rattled off.

The other examples they give for using this are remembering book recommendations from a friend or a great idea your colleague just had. You can send the transcript to Siri to look at later when you want to remember that book or great idea.

Convenient!

A world where our watches are listening feels weird

But in both cases, I'm not sure the convenience fully offsets how strange I would feel knowing I'm walking around with an always-on listening device.

Technically, it's ambiently on, and there are some general privacy functions. Apple emphasizes that audio is not recorded or stored, and raw audio isn't accessible to you or even Apple. It doesn't label individual speakers' voices to identify them. The recap summaries are stored in Siri with end-to-end encryption.

But even so, something here feels … off. It means if I'm talking to you and you're wearing an Apple Watch, you might be getting a recap of our conversation sent to Siri to look through later. That feels weird!

Apple is far from the first to test our appetites for AI listening features. AI note-taking apps and devices like Plaud or Granola have become popular in the workplace to help you remember what was said in a meeting. Great! That limited use case for work-related audio seems useful. Granola even has an Apple Watch app — it turns the screen bright green, which is a decent indication for others in the room that someone is using it. (Live Rewind makes a chiming noise along with a "full-display animation and microphone indicator" to alert other people that you just turned it on, but Siri Recap doesn't.)

Apple Watches are everywhere

People wear their Apple Watches all day, every day, and a lot more people have Apple Watches than Plaud devices.

They wear their Apple Watches on dates, at the doctors' offices, in dark bars and school classrooms, while having sex (gotta get those steps in), sitting next to you on the subway, gossiping with friends, complaining about their boss with colleagues, arguing with their spouse, doing drugs, discussing trade secrets, or yelling at their kids to finish their homework. Look, I don't know what you do with your time, and I don't want to.

Yes, you can turn this off. Yes, someone could already be recording you on their phone at any time. Yes, these note-taking recap apps/devices already exist. Yes, it doesn't store raw audio recordings of you, and yes, it has some privacy features like end-to-end encryption.

But there is something very different about all this.

Apple Watches are everywhere — I am wearing one right now, so are several people in my office, and plenty of my friends and family. I don't feel like an eavesdropper wearing an Apple Watch. Unstylish, maybe, but not creepy.

That all might change if the culture zeitgeist feels that wearing an Apple Watch turns you into an AI-powered eavesdropper.

• Apple showed off a new batch of gadgets at its "Surprise and Shine" event on Wednesday.
• The launches included Apple's first foldable iPhone and Watches with new health-monitoring features.
• Here are the biggest updates from new CEO John Ternus' first Apple event.

Everyone's talking about Apple's new foldable phone, but that's only one of the new gadgets the iPhone maker unveiled on Wednesday.

At its annual product launch, Apple revealed a slew of novel products and features, from watch technology that tells users how old they really are to a version of Siri that listens to all your conversations.

Despite the new offerings, Apple's stock price fell about 2% near the end of the launch presentation before recovering late Wednesday afternoon. The company also revealed it was raising the prices of its iPhones by $100 across the board, a move Apple says is due to the ongoing memory shortage.

Here's a list of some of Apple's new stuff.

The iPhone Duo

In its most anticipated announcement, Apple launched a new foldable iPhone — its first foray into foldable technology.

The iPhone Duo starts out as a 5.4-inch phone with a screen, and once opened up like a book, it becomes a 7.6-inch device that resembles an iPad. The device starts at $1,999. Pre-orders begin October 16, with availability beginning October 23.

John Ternus, Apple's CEO, said during the launch that other foldables feel too much "like two phones awkwardly stuck together." The company instead wanted a larger display, one that Ternus said feels "as natural and intuitive as an iPad."

Samsung, which first launched a foldable phone in 2019, shared its thoughts on Apple's shiny new product in a post on X. "Let us know when you're done reheating our leftovers," it wrote.

iPhone 18

Apple's new iPhone 18 model offers better battery life, camera capabilities, and performance than its predecessor, the company said. It comes in four colors: black, silver, glacier, and burgundy.

Available in two models, the Pro and Pro Max, the devices can be preordered on September 12, with availability beginning September 18.

In addition to camera upgrades, the new phone has improved graphics rendering and a more robust "dynamic island," the small, black, cylindrical segment near the top of the phone's display.

The Pro version starts at $1,199, or buyers can pay installments of $49.95 a month. The Pro Max starts at $1,299, or $54.12 a month for 24 months. The devices come with storage capacities of 256 gigabytes, 512 gigabytes, 1 terabyte, or 2 terabytes.

Apple Watch Series 12 and the Apple Watch Ultra 4

Apple unveiled two new smartwatch models on Wednesday: The Apple Watch Series 12 and the Apple Watch Ultra 4, the latter geared more for athletic wear.

Both models come equipped with "the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable," Apple said. Each device measures a user's heart rate every five seconds.

The company said other metrics, like heart rate variability, are also measured more accurately.

"Recovery HRV is best for identifying daily signals of stress and recovery, while overall HRV is best for insights into a user's broader health, including cardiovascular health," Apple said.

AirPods 5

Apple's fifth-generation AirPods are getting a Pro-style upgrade: higher-quality active noise cancellation.

AirPods 5, which start at $129, can block up to 50% more external noise than the prior noise-canceling model, the company said. They also add hands-free Siri AI and live translation. A $149 version adds a wireless charging case, longer battery life, and on-stem volume sliders.

They launch on September 18 with preorders now available.

How old are you… really?

Apple's new Watch-based monitor is meant to answer that question with a new feature coming to the Health app, called Health Age.

Sumbul Ahmad Desai, the company's vice president of health and fitness, said it's a "simple way to discover how key health metrics align with your actual age."

The feature uses Apple Watch data to show how certain health metrics — like sleep patterns and blood composition — track against a user's actual age. It's part of Apple's broader push to turn the Watch from a step counter into a more persistent health companion.

Siri AI release date

Siri AI, the revamped assistant Apple announced in June, starts rolling out in beta on September 14, initially in English.

Apple says it draws on a user's personal context and answers broader questions. For example, it's now capable of finding a dinner reservation buried in an email or remembering a song a friend recommended in a text.

It will work on Apple Watches dating back to the 2023 Series 9 when paired with a compatible iPhone.

Always listening…

Apple is turning the Apple Watch into an AI-powered set of ears.

The coming Audio Intelligence suite uses the Watch's microphone, the S11 chip, and Apple Intelligence models on a paired iPhone to help users catch sounds and conversations they might otherwise miss.

Apple says it will help hard-of-hearing users identify nearby alerts, transcribe conversations up to 15 seconds back, identify songs playing from a nearby speaker, or script notes from an important meeting.

"Apple Watch is always on your wrist," Ron Huang, Apple's vice president of sensing and connectivity, said. "It's the perfect device to stay aware of the sounds around you, and keep track of your conversations."

Apple says the features do not create or store audio recordings and that they do not identify speakers. Still, the rollout comes right as consumer tech companies face increasingly thorny questions about AI, privacy, and surveillance.

iPhone 18 will have an improved camera with variable aperture

The cameras in both versions of the iPhone 18 have variable-aperture blades that automatically adjust to different lighting conditions. Adjustments in aperture change the amount of light that reaches a camera's lens.

Apple said its new aperture system uses "six laser-cut blades, each thinner than a human hair."

"We've optimized for the best balance of light gathering and depth of field, and the aperture can narrow for more depth of field, which means crisper detail further back in the scene for better group shots," Kaiann Drance, Apple's vice president of worldwide Apple Watch product marketing, said during the launch.

• OpenAI's new safety hire, Paul Christiano, shared a dire warning about risks posed by AI.
• Christiano said that if humans lose control of AI "most people could die."
• He also said global coordination would be needed to address the risk.

OpenAI's new safety hire didn't mince words about what's at stake in the age of AI superintelligence.

"If we build superintelligence without more robust alignment I expect we will permanently lose control of it. If that happens then most people could die," Paul Christiano, an AI safety researcher, said on Wednesday after OpenAI announced he was joining its board and Safety and Security Committee.

In a lengthy statement about his new role, Christiano addressed the threat AI poses and warned that humans are at imminent risk of losing control of AI systems.

"Based on the recent trajectory of capabilities and the continued difficulty of alignment, I now believe there is a meaningful risk that rapid acceleration in AI capabilities leads to catastrophic and irreversible loss of control in the very near term," Christiano wrote. "I do not think that the AI industry in general, including OpenAI, is currently on track to reduce this risk to an acceptable level."

Christiano previously led alignment research at OpenAI and worked for the federal government as the head of safety at the Center for AI Standards and Innovation within the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

On Wednesday, he said his joining of OpenAI was "not an endorsement or criticism of OpenAI's safety practices in particular" but that he hopes all frontier labs improve their safety oversight. He also said reducing the risks posed by AI would require coordination worldwide.

AI researchers have consistently warned about the risks posed by superintelligence and the singularity, a term used to refer to the point at which AI systems surpass human intelligence, improve themselves, and advance at a rate that humans can no longer predict or control. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in July that the singularity had already arrived.

The risk of losing control of AI

Christiano said he thinks the risk of losing control of AI is so great right now due to AI's increasing abilities in AI research, which he said could lead to a "rapid intelligence explosion." He also said the way AI is trained with reinforcement learning means the models are being taught to "get as much reward as they can."

"It has long seemed theoretically possible that this could motivate AI agents to undermine human control, seek power and resources, and cover up their tracks in pursuit of misaligned goals correlated with reward," he said. "Public evidence from recent incidents suggests that this is not just a theoretical possibility."

Christiano said that frontier companies still have the opportunity to address the situation, including by improving coordination, slowing development as needed, adopting share safety standards, and transparently sharing information about risks and mitigation efforts.

His statement came less than a day after another AI researcher shared a dire warning about AI. Jacob Coxon, an Anthropic researcher who previously worked at OpenAI, said Tuesday night that he had resigned from his role and that neither company was acting responsibly.

"They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives," he said on X.

OpenAI has also lost several safety researchers over the years, with some casting doubt on the company's commitment to developing AI safely.

• The Air Force plans to integrate basic data and AI literacy into core training for airmen at every level.
• The service wants AI-assisted instruction to help reduce training timelines by 20%.
• Leaders have three months to develop implementation plans and must overcome cultural resistance.

The Air Force is embarking on an aggressive push to use artificial intelligence across its training pipelines to shorten technical training timelines, accelerate pilot training, and teach basic AI skills to airmen across the force.

These ambitions are outlined in a new guidance document released Wednesday by Air Education and Training Command, which oversees Air Force training, from recruit training and foundational military job training to advanced schools.

The coming changes could reshape not only how airmen are trained, but also how instructors teach and how the service manages its people.

The push follows Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's January directive to make the military an "AI-first" force and aggressively eliminate bureaucratic barriers to adopting the technology.

"Every leader from wing commanders to line instructors are expected to overcome cultural resistance, enforce enterprise consolidation, and drive this shift across their organizations," Air Force Lt. Gen. Clark Quinn, who oversees AETC, wrote in a foreword for the new strategic planning.

Subordinate commands have three months to figure out how they'll implement Quinn's directive.

The resistance mentioned in the new guidance document isn't unique to the military. Use of artificial intelligence, chatbots, and smart devices is skyrocketing, but many Americans remain concerned about the impact AI will have in the US.

According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, around 50% of American adults reported using AI chatbots, but many also feel the tech brings more negative impacts than positive.

Airmen at all ranks — from fresh arrivals at boot camp to senior officers pursuing professional military education — are set to see "basic data and AI literacy standards" integrated into the training curricula, according to an Air Force press release on the new guidance.

Data literacy and AI fluency should be considered "core competencies," akin to marksmanship. Whatever relevant AI training personnel receive will be tracked with new digital skills certifications, and airmen with advanced skills will be specially tracked for talent management, the service said.

The Air Force's AI push mirrors a broader shift in the civilian workforce, where employers are increasingly making AI proficiency an essential job skill, even factoring its use into certain career advancement considerations.

According to the guidance, the command hopes to reduce average training time for technical specialties by 20% by "using AI-augmented and adaptive instruction," though it does not identify which specific career fields could be affected or provide details on what those instructional changes might include.

Making the plan all work will require AETC to better organize the data that its AI tools depend on. Soon, "Data Stewards" will serve as a new type of data manager to make sure such "critical mission data is cataloged."

The command hopes to speed up how quickly new pilots can be trained by using AI to optimize flight schedules and resource allocation.

Other military schools are also seeking ways to implement AI into training. During a recent visit to the Army's Joint Special Operations Medical Training Center, medics and physicians told Business Insider the unit had begun using AI to track class data and better identify students who might be struggling, or assess how their tight schedule could be optimized.

• Middle-income Americans are increasingly taking on multiple jobs, surpassing lower-income earners.
• The share of multiple jobholders with a college degree has risen, and more women have multiple jobs.
• It paints a picture of traditionally more affluent and stable Americans seeking out a second income.

America's middle class is always hustling — and now, they're side hustling.

The share of Americans with more than one job has been steadily rising for the last several years, and is still hovering at elevated levels. But the population holding multiple jobs looks different from before the pandemic, with a growing cohort of more traditionally stable Americans now seeking multiple income streams.

The second job is no longer just a survival tactic for the lowest earners, or a nice income boost for the highest earners — it's increasingly showing up for college-educated, middle-income Americans and the women of the workforce, who seem to be seeking out an extra buffer of stability and income.

An analysis from the Richmond Federal Reserve found that before the pandemic, the share of multiple jobholders across income groups was similar: low-, middle-, and high-earners worked multiple jobs in roughly equal proportion.

In the past few years, that's changed. Middle-income earners are much more likely to hold multiple jobs than their lower-earning counterparts, and sit just barely below their higher-earning peers.

At the same time, college-educated workers have increasingly been creeping into the multiple jobholder workforce. In the 1990s, they made up around 35% of those holding multiple jobs; by 2024, they made up over half, according to the Richmond Fed analysis.

Simultaneously, the number of women holding multiple jobs has increased in the last few years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics's latest employment data. The gender gap in multiple jobholding has widened, meaning that more women — especially those aged 20 to 24 — are working in several roles. That tracks with a labor force where women have outnumbered men with college degrees, and younger women in some areas earn more than their male counterparts.

Taken together, the data indicate that more educated and traditionally more affluent Americans feel an urge to bring in multiple income streams. Side hustles are increasingly prevalent across the economy: The share of Americans holding down a side hustle has increased from 19% in 2017 to 27% in 2025, per a Bankrate survey. Official measures of multiple jobholding also often fail to completely capture the number of workers participating in gig work, since BLS's rate measures workers who hold at least one traditional wage job.

And that might show how workers feel about their prospects. Women have been shedding jobs in the past months, and the white-collar world has been shaken by layoffs attributed to AI. Taking a new job is risky — workers say it'll cost more than ever to lure them away from their roles — so an additional job might offer more reassurance. For college-educated workers, middle-income earners, and women, a side hustle might be a buffer against an increasingly unsteady labor market.

• US Army officials said the drone experimentation role of one of its battalions was always meant to be temporary.
• The decision to phase out the drone focus confused experts and lawmakers alike.
• The Army's priority is to democratize drone warfare lessons and tactics across formations.

The US Army says that its special battalion focused on drone warfare and lessons from Ukraine was always meant to be a temporary experiment, not a lasting element of the force.

The Unmanned Assault Battalion was created last fall as an experimental unit in the 173rd Airborne Brigade specializing in drone tactics. The 3rd Battalion of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment was tasked with testing uncrewed systems and developing battlefield lessons the Army could apply more broadly.

When news broke last month that the service intended to phase out the battalion's drone-focused mission and return it to airborne infantry, with a focus on traditional warfighting, the move prompted questions about why the Army was ending the experiment and concerns about its wider approach to drone warfare.

At an Army modernization media roundtable on Wednesday, Army officials said that the shift had been planned from the beginning and presented how they intend to spread lessons on uncrewed aerial systems across the service.

"They were never flagged to be a permanent centralized drone unit," Alex Miller, the Army's chief technology officer, told reporters.

"In fact, we pushed back on having something like a drone corps since its inception because our theory of the case is, if you centralize that in one place, what you lose is the ability to actually scale that learning and send that out to the rest of the Army," he added.

The plan, Miller said, was for the battalion to test uncrewed technologies and learn tactics in the six to seven months before they received their full infantry battalion equipment. Then, the Army would disseminate those takeaways across the service and the troops from the battalion would return to their role as airborne infantry.

When The Wall Street Journal first reported the change, an Army spokesperson said the service was committed to "drone dominance" but did not comment on future plans. The Journal reported that no end date was specified when the battalion's drone role was established.

At the time, an Army spokesperson told Business Insider the unit's findings would inform force design and future experimentation.

The reporting on the plans to phase out the battalion's drone mission raised concerns among defense analysts and lawmakers, who questioned what the decision signaled about the Army's commitment to drone warfare, the service's willingness to learn from Ukraine's warfighting experiences, and broader Pentagon priorities for uncrewed capabilities.

"We have deep concerns that eliminating this specialized drone unit will limit our ability to learn from allies, particularly the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and hinder our efforts to modernize drone warfare at the speed necessary to compete on the modern battlefield," US lawmakers wrote in a recent letter to Army leadership.

The letter added that "this specialized unit was a prudent response in a moment when the character of warfare is changing faster than a conventional formation's ability to adapt."

The Army didn't explain publicly that the drone mission was always intended as a short-term experiment when the planned change first drew criticism weeks ago, but officials said Wednesday they wanted to clarify.

"We're sort of combating this narrative that we set something new up, and then we killed that new thing, and we're going to sacrifice it at the altar of technology," Miller said. "That's just not true."

He argued that spreading lessons across the Army rather than concentrating drone expertise in a permanent unit better fits the goal of making uncrewed systems a routine part of how the larger force fights.

"When we engage with the Ukrainians and we engage with their leadership, it was less a drone corps and was more of one platoon per company, one company per battalion, which looked an awful lot like how we were actually setting up our tactical UAS platoons as a formation anyway," he said.

The Army rejected the idea that ending the battalion's drone-focused mission represents a step backward in its efforts to integrate uncrewed capabilities.

"We are not slowing down on drones or autonomous systems, and we are not walking away from them," Miller said.

Other officials, likewise, said that drone capabilities are continuing to spread across formations regardless.

"We are employing unmanned aircraft systems at all levels," said Brent Ingraham, the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisitions, logistics, and technology, adding that "while there was an experimental drone battalion, we are scaling that capability across the entire Army."

Moving forward, the Army says it has several methods for sharing drone lessons and tips, including a Combined Arms Services platform that acts as a central repository for lessons from different soldiers and units.

• Salesforce has been in talks to acquire AI startup Listen Labs for around $2 billion.
• Listen Labs, which was last valued at $500 million, sells an AI market analysis platform.
• Recent AI M&A deals include Nvidia's $12.9 billion acquisition of AI startup Hugging Face.

Salesforce could be on the hunt for acquisitions to beef up its AI capabilities.

The software giant has recently been in talks to buy Listen Labs, an AI-powered customer research platform for around $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks have not been finalized and could ultimately be unsuccessful, according to a person with knowledge of the deal.

Salesforce and Listen Labs did not respond to requests for comment.

Listen Labs was founded in 2023 by Alfred Wahlforss and Florian Juengermann, who first met as undergraduates at Harvard University while building an AI avatar app that went viral, attracting 20,000 users on its first day, according to Sequoia Capital. Juengermann was previously a national champion in competitive programming in Germany.

They used an early version of what would become Listen Labs to interview users, which helped them realize that using AI for market research would be extremely valuable.

The company's software automates much of the qualitative research process, which has typically been expensive and time-consuming.

Customers include Microsoft, Anthropic, Google, Nestle, Sweetgreen, and Perplexity. At the beginning of the year, Listen Labs said it had grown its annualized revenue by 15x and interviewed more than one million people in nine months.

For Salesforce, the deal would strengthen its broader quest to make its agentic AI platform, Agentforce, more than just about automating repetitive work. Listen Labs could boost Agentforce by understanding what customers are thinking. It could recommend which products they might buy and craft the perfect pitch for salespeople to close a deal.

If the deal were finalized, it would be part of a wave of AI acquisitions in recent weeks, with Nvidia acquiring HuggingFace for around $12.9 billion and Stripe buying OpenRouter for around $8 billion.

Salesforce has been pushing to improve its AI efforts, with a particular focus on enterprise agents. The Information reported that they considered acquiring HuggingFace before it was sold to Nvidia.

Listen Labs was last valued at $500 million in a financing round earlier this year. Its backers include Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, Conviction Partners, and Pear VC.

For the first time in 15 years, a new CEO took the stage at Apple's big fall event. Taking a page out of Steve Jobs' book, John Ternus announced "one more thing" — Apple's first foldable phone.

Ternus, a "product guy" who previously led Apple's hardware team, took over for Tim Cook at the start of the month. The annual product keynote marked an opportunity for the new CEO to introduce himself to the wider world of Apple fans — and pitch them on increasingly expensive gadget upgrades.

The foldable iPhone Duo, which is shaped like a passport, becomes an iPad-shaped device when it's open. It's Apple's biggest design change to the iPhone since Jobs first unveiled the phone in 2007.

Customers will have to pay big to own one of the devices, which opens for pre-orders on October 16 and launches on October 23. The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999.

Apple also announced it was raising the price of its high-end "Pro" iPhone lineup by $100, a few months after raising prices on MacBooks and iPads — the result, Apple says, of the bruising memory shortage. The new iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 and the iPhone 18 Pro Max starts at $1,299.

Apple also unveiled new Apple Watch models with new health-focused and AI features, the new AirPods 5, and detailed the many software features launching in iOS 27, which launches September 14.

Scroll on for a play-by-play of Apple's big keynote:

That's a wrap!

Apple wraps up its September hardware event after giving the final details for the foldable iPhone Duo, which CEO John Ternus introduced using Steve Jobs' famous "one more thing" line. Apple's stock is trading down 1% as the livestream concludes.

Thanks for joining us! See you at the next Apple event.

The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 and launches October 23

You'll have to be a bit patient for the Duo. Apple will make the foldable iPhone available to preorder on Friday, October 16, and it launches on Friday, October 23. It will cost $1,999 for the base storage.

Yes, a new iPhone form factor means new accessories too.

Apple shows two new accessories for its foldable phone. First, there is a small kickstand to prop the unfolded phone up. There is also a case that protects the edges of the folded.

The iPhone Duo is eSIM only

Apple removed the SIM card slot to free up space for batteries. Since the iPhone 14, US models have been eSIM-only.

The iPhone Duo's camera system

The iPhone Duo uses Apple's 48 megapixel Fusion Ultra Wide camera, which is one of the same cameras found in the iPhone 18 Pro. (The iPhone 18 Pro includes a beefier overall camera system though.)

Apple's new foldable phone, however, has another "FaceTime camera" which is visible upon opening the phone.

"iPhone Duo gives you fun new ways to use the camera that simply aren't possible on any other iPhone," Apple says. "With just a tap, iPhone Duo can become your personal photographer."

iPhone Duo gets two batteries

Apple says there are two batteries powering the Duo. Users will get up to 44 hours of usability if they only use the outer display, and up to 31 hours of video playback when using the inner screens.

Apple explains the tinkering it did to minimize creasing on the iPhone Duo's screen

Foldable phones have long suffered from a visible crease down the middle when unfolded. But the goal is for the screen to look even and flat, without visible blemish. To improve on this issue, Apple developed a custom texture that creates a "flat matte surface" when opened. It's made from a custom polymer and has a special coating for scratch resistance.

You can also use the iPhone Duo as … a clock

One of the many possible uses of the iPhone Duo is as a clock, Apple says.

In the launch video, a person sets up the foldable phone on a bedside table, and it turns into a clock.

"iPhone Duo can transform into a delightful bedside clock with the ability to wake you up with a gentle glow, timed perfectly with your alarm," Apple says.

iPhone Duo is launching in two colors

Apple's first foldable phone will be available in Star White and Night Sky.

iPhone Duo brings back Touch ID

Users will be able to unlock the foldable iPhone Duo by pressing a finger onto the side of the device.

"Essential controls are on the side to free up vertical space for content," Apple says.

Apple's new foldable phone looks like a little booklet or passport

Apple's iPhone Duo, the highly anticipated folding phone, is roughly analogous to an iPad in size when unfolded, and a passport or small booklet when closed.

"We wanted the experience of using iPhone Duo to feel uninterrupted," Apple says. "With two screens, the transition between open and closed had to be fluid and completely intuitive."

Here are some more pics of the new foldable iPhone Duo…

Here's how it looks when folded up, and what the software looks like on that front screen:

THE NEW iPHONE DUO FOLDABLE

Say hello to the iPhone Duo, Apple's first-ever foldable phone.

John Ternus starts by saying he isn't impressed by other foldable phones. In unveiling Apple's long-awaited entry into foldable phones, Tenus had some harsh words for those who got a head start.

"Others have created foldables that just feel like two phones stuck together," he said.

Catch up quickly: Here's what has already been announced

We've seen:

• iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max
• New AirPods 5
• Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4

'Siri recap' will use 'ambient listening' to record conversations

Apple introduces "Siri recap," a feature that uses "ambient listening" to take high-level notes of your conversations.

The feature gives a user recaps of their conversations. It can be turned off and on at any time via the control system.

"Privacy is protected at every step. These audio intelligence features do not create or store audio recordings," Apple says. "The raw audio used for processing is completely inaccessible, even to Apple."

Apple says it will be available in a beta version later this year.

The new Apple Watch Series 12 comes in ceramic finishes

Apple Watch will let you 'rewind' conversations

The new Apple Watch will allow users to rewind conversations by up to 15 seconds, part of a suite of audio intelligence tools.

Additionally, the Apple Watch will be able to recognize sounds like a doorbell, a baby crying, or sirens.

Apple is replacing… the pacer test?

Apple says it's releasing a new assessment tool. It will ask users to jog in place with a coach, as shown on the iPhone, and give users tips for better form. The speed will speed up throughout the test.

Listen up, longevity-maxxers: Apple will tell you your 'health age'

Apple says it developed a new system that will take reams of data and tell a user their "health age."

Apple says the number is "a simple way to discover how key health metrics align with your actual age."

Apple's new 'readiness' score

Your Apple Watch can now judge how hard you should push. A new "readiness" score will analyze recent activity, vitals, and sleep to give a "clear call on your body's capacity to take on the day," Apple says.

The score also updates during the day, and is viewable both on the Apple Watch and the iPhone Fitness app.

Apple unveils a more advanced 'health sensing' system for watches

Apple says its new watches take "health and fitness to the next level" with a new sensor system.

The systems monitor a wearer's heart rate all day. "Background heart rate readings are now taken every five seconds all day long, even while you're on the go," Apple says.

Say hello to the new Apple Watches

Next up is the new Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, which include new Health-focused features.

The company says the new Apple Watch sensors sit closer to the skin, even during workouts, and will now monitor your heart rate variability, or HRV.

Apple says the new AirPods 5 have live translation

Apple says its new Airpods 5 have standardized live translation, an innovation which first launched last year.

In the launch video, the AirPods worn by an actor translate someone speaking Spanish.

The new AirPods 5 will start at $129.

AirPods 5 have a "new acoustic architecture and advanced computational audio," Apple announces. They will feature Apple's classic open ear fit while upgrading the audio. They will cost $129 for the standard charging case, and $149 with the wireless charging case.

The AirPods 5 are also getting a volume swipe slider on the side to more easily control how loud your music or podcasts play.

Introducing: AirPods 5

Next up, AirPods

Apple is talking about the success of its AirPods Pro models, but it sounds like we're getting a new model of regular AirPods today.

Apple says its new operating system has child safety features

Kaiann Drance, the vice president of iPhone marketing, says iOS 27 has more child-safety features.

The features give parents "more flexible ways to manage what kids can see, who they can talk to, and when they have access," Drance says.

Apple wants you to know your photos are real

Let's face it: AI slop images are everywhere. Apple wants you to know whether images are generated or edited with AI.

Apple's Maryam Azimi announced a reference image system that can help verify whether a photo was taken with an iPhone 18 Pro. The camera holds an image that lives with the "regular, editable photo." She compared it to having a "digital negative" that users can compare against the original image.

Apple says variable aperture is coming to iPhone

Speaking at a Hollywood set, Kaiann Drance, the vice president of iPhone marketing, says variable aperture is coming to the iPhone.

"We're introducing our biggest camera improvement in years, making stunning shots easy for everyone and adding new levels of creativity," Drance says.

Aperture settings control how much light enters a camera. Drance says, "This is the most advanced camera we've ever made."

The aperture system uses six laser-cut blades, Drance says.

The 'largest increase in battery life ever on an iPhone'

You can worry a bit less about your phone dying. Apple hypes up the battery life of its new iPhone 18 Pro. The phone will have up to 24 hours per charge, and the iPhone 18 Pro Max will have up to 30 hours per charge.

The iPhone 18 Pro also supports 50% charge in about 15 minutes.

Apple's new Siri upgrade comes with limits

While Apple boasts its new Siri updates, not everyone will get it at once. Siri AI is rolling out in beta for English speakers and will expand to French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish in October.

Some Siri features will also have usage limits if they rely on powerful large language models.

Don't like Siri's voice? Now you can customize it.

Apple says users can customize Siri's voice to new levels of personalization.

In addition to the traditional accents, Apple unveils two new customization sliders: pace and expressivity.

Apple says the on-device model "also enables more accurate system-wide dictation, making it easy for you to get punctuation, spelling, and capitalization just right."

Apple touts 'a new Siri'

The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max will be able to run Apple's most advanced on-device AI model. As Apple previously announced, Apple is launching its overhauled Siri with a dedicated app.

Welcome: glacier and burgundy

Introducing the new iPhone 18 Pro, Ternus lists colors like deep black and silver. There's also a "fresh new color" called glacier, he says.

Plus, there's the "sophisticated and unique" new addition, Ternus says: burgundy.

The first product reveal: iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max

It looks like…an iPhone! Ternus reveals the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max models. There are new colors, and the underlying computer chip technology will enhance photos and the new Siri AI, Apple says.

John Ternus says privacy protection is paramount

In what appeared to be a dig at AI labs, Apple's CEO says that "others see that data as something to collect and store."

"They move it to their servers and ask you to trust them," he adds.

Ternus says that Apple intelligence instead stores data on individual devices when it can.

"When greater capability is needed, private cloud compute extends that same level of privacy protection, ensuring that nobody, not even Apple, can access what's yours," he says.

John Ternus says the iPhone is perfect for the AI age

The Apple CEO says the iPhone is the perfect medium to achieve what he calls an "intelligent personal hub."

His comments come as the world eagerly awaits OpenAI's entry into the AI hardware space later this year.

Tim Cook makes a brief appearance before handing things over to John Ternus

We finally see Tim Cook in the prerecorded video, smiling. "No, no, no! Not me," he says. "That's your guy. That's your opening shot."

John Ternus, Apple's new CEO, appears to begin the keynote.

Apple starts with video about possible opening shots

Apple's event begins with several action shots imagining possible openings to the event. Characters in the scenes say that each one should be the beginning scene.

And we're off! Apple's fall keynote begins…

Prefer to watch? You can tune into the 1 p.m. ET livestream here:

A look at where the action is happening…

Apple shifted years ago from live keynote addresses (which run the risk of embarrassing demo fails) to pre-recorded keynotes. Apple, however, still hosts journalists and influencers at Apple Park, its Cupertino, California HQ. While Apple's CEO typically greets attendees, who will watch the livestream from the Steve Jobs Theater on campus, we're minutes away from seeing if new CEO John Ternus decides to switch things up — or keep the keynote pre-recorded.

Higher iPhone prices could entice people to try out Apple's leasing program, Apple Upgrade

Apple recently overhauled its device subscriptions, which it now calls Apple Upgrade. The program offers the opportunity to lease a new iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, or MacBook with monthly payments lower than those of traditional financing. It's powered by buy-now-pay-later service Klarna.

With Apple's rumored foldable iPhone expected to command a $2,000+ price tag, you can bet some customers might decide to rent instead of ponying up the full up-front cost.

Tim Cook scored a $47 million pay package to stay on as Apple's chairman.

While Tim Cook is no longer CEO, Apple is keeping him around — and keeping him paid.

Cook's new job as Apple chairman includes a $2 million salary (instead of $3 million as CEO), and comes with an annual equity award with a target value of $45 million for fiscal year 2027. The former CEO will also help engage with "policymakers around the world," which means Apple isn't losing its "Trump whisperer."

Who is John Ternus? Get to know Apple's new CEO before he takes the stage.

John Ternus studied engineering and once worked under Steve Jobs. Tim Cook, who is staying on as board chairman, called Ternus "one of a kind" and said the CEO transition would go "seamlessly."

Read full story

Apple's new CEO drums up hype with cryptic video.

pic.twitter.com/CLu9eRDP5b

— John Ternus (@johnternus) September 9, 2026

John Ternus posted a short clip to X this morning ahead of Apple's 1 p.m. ET event. The teaser, which shows a glimpse of what is presumably an unreleased device, could signal a glitzier marketing strategy under Ternus. It's unusual to see Apple reveal actual imagery associated with coming devices ahead of an event, even if it's not 100% clear what we're looking at.

• Apple debuted the Duo, its first-ever foldable iPhone.
• The phone has two displays and is 50% larger than the iPhone 18 Pro Max. It's priced at $1,999.
• The foldable is one of Apple's first departures from the traditional iPhone form.

Since its 2007 launch, the iPhone has had the same basic design: a flat, rigid rectangle.

Now, Apple is folding on that form factor.

Apple debuted the new foldable iPhone Duo on Tuesday at its annual September hardware event, marking the biggest design change in the device's history.

John Ternus, Apple's CEO, critiqued other foldables that "feel like two phones awkwardly stuck together." The company wanted a larger display, one that is "as natural and intuitive as an iPad," he said.

The device has two displays: the closed front and the full-sized open screen. When opened, the phone can also have two displays on each side of the hinge.

It's 50% larger than the iPhone 18 Pro Max and 80% larger than the 18 Pro.

Apple said it has set the iPhone Duo price for $1,999 for 256 gigabytes of storage. Prices go up to $3,199 for two terabytes.

Breaking the iPhone's design rut

Apple certainly isn't the first company to put out a foldable. Samsung continues to expand its lineup, while Chinese companies like Honor and Oppo offer cheaper (and thinner) alternatives. One of Huawei's phones folds not once, but twice.

Still, the move is seismic for Apple, which largely iterated and finessed the form factor Steve Jobs first unveiled in 2007.

Designer Christopher Stringer recounted the process of picking a shape during Apple's 2012 lawsuit against Samsung. The company tested an "extrudo" model, which had a lozenge-like shape, he said. Then, it landed on the iPhone design we know and love.

At the end of the 2012 trial, Apple explicitly received its design patent: a rectangle with rounded corners.

For years after, Apple tinkered with elements of the design. It extended the display and removed the home button. It tried out new colors and side buttons. It tried lighter and thinner models.

Throughout it all, the basic rectangle design stayed flat.

The new foldable doesn't stray too far from Apple's roots. It does open into a rectangle with rounded corners, after all.

Still, the design brings something new to the market — and shows Apple can still mix it up.

• Apple unveiled the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max.
• The phones will cost $100 more than the previous iPhone 17 Pro models.
• Apple also hiked the prices on older models.

Your next iPhone is going to cost you. And if you didn't buy an existing model before Wednesday, you're going to pay more too.

On Tuesday, Apple announced the new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max — with price tags $100 higher than the previous Pro models. It also announced the new foldable iPhone Duo, priced at $1,999. Apple has yet to announce the entry-level iPhone 18.

That wasn't the only pricing news. Apple also raised the price of older iPhones by $100, going back to the iPhone 16, the oldest generation that Apple still sells new in its online store.

The increase means that the iPhone Air, which Apple launched nearly a year ago, is now more expensive ($1,099) than it was when it debuted at $999. This is also true for the iPhone 17e and iPhone 17, which are now $699 and $899, respectively.

The iPhone 16 is $799, restoring it back to its debut price when Apple launched it in September 2024.

The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max models will be available with 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB storage capacities. The 2TB version of the Pro model costs $2399, and the Pro Max 2TB phone will run you $2499.

Both prices are above those of the 2TB iPhone 17 Pro Max, the previous most expensive iPhone on the market. Both of the top-of-the-line iPhone 18s still pale in comparison to the highest-tier iPhone Duo. The 2TB iPhone Duo will cost $3199.

The higher prices illustrate how the global memory shortage has stretched a company as dominant as Apple.

In his final earnings call as CEO, Tim Cook said that Apple had "reluctantly raised prices" of iPads and MacBooks due to the memory shortage.

"We did it because we're in what I would characterize as a 100-year flood on the memory pricing with exponential increases in memory prices," Cook said.

The memory shortage is largely driven by the AI revolution as chipmakers shift production away from chips designed for consumer products to the more specialized chips required for the data centers that power AI models.

In June, Apple increased the prices of iPads by up to 25% and Mac computers by as much as 20%. At the time, the cost of existing iPhone models remained unchanged.

Other companies, including some of Apple's competitors, have also hiked device prices.

Officials at Samsung and Google have said they raised prices on some of their smartphone models in part due to rising memory costs.

"There's never been an increase in memory prices like the world's going through right now," Google's vice president of devices and services, Shakil Barkat, said in July ahead of the release of the Pixel 11.

Ultimately, Google tacked $100 onto the Pixel 11, though it also doubled the storage of the baseline edition as Google discontinued the 128GB model.

The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max will be available for preorder on Saturday, September 12, and then will go on sale on September 18.

• LIV Golf, the rebel golf league backed by Saudi Arabia, filed for bankruptcy protection this week.
• Court documents showed that LIV owes golf's biggest YouTuber, Rick Shiels, $1.4 million.
• Shiels, who has over 3 million subscribers, faced backlash after signing a deal with LIV in 2025.

Saudi-funded rebel golf tour LIV has revealed it owes Rick Shiels, the sport's biggest social media star, more than $1 million.

LIV Golf attracted some of golf's top stars by offering huge paychecks when it launched in 2022. On Tuesday, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

On its list of current largest creditors is Rick Shiels Media, the company run by Shiels, a golf instructor turned YouTuber who now has over 3 million subscribers on his main channel.

Rick Shiels Media is owed $1.4 million in unsecured debts, according to documentation filed by LIV in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.

Shiels is among 24 people and entities listed owed more than $1 million by LIV, including many golfers on the tour. Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, the two most prominent players who turned their backs on the long-established PGA Tour to join LIV, are each owed more than $7 million, bankruptcy documents show.

The PIF, the Saudi wealth fund that financed LIV, has agreed to provide $49.6 million in debtor-in-possession financing to repay creditors, it said in a statement accompanying the bankruptcy filing.

In the bankruptcy filing, LIV CEO Scott O'Neil said the move would provide the "structure and time to pursue a landmark transaction and begin the next chapter of LIV Golf."

Rick Shiels Media did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. LIV Golf declined to comment on individual contracts and said the Chapter 11 filing was part of "a comprehensive set of steps" to secure its future.

YouTube golf's biggest name

Shiels, a UK-based former golf pro, attracted substantial criticism from fans in January 2025 when he announced he would become an ambassador and content creator for LIV.

Much of the backlash centered on LIV's backing by the PIF, which has long faced accusations of sportswashing after investing billions of dollars into numerous sports, including golf, Formula 1, boxing, and soccer.

He lost thousands of subscribers, and online commenters were quick to say he had partnered with LIV solely for financial gain, after he had previously criticized it on videos and podcasts.

Shiels acknowledged the backlash in an interview with Golf Monthly in May 2025, saying he went into the agreement "knowing full well there was going to be some kickback and some negativity around it."

Since launching in 2022, LIV has struggled to gain traction among audiences and has consistently lost money. A merger with the PGA Tour was agreed in 2023 but never finalized. In April, the PIF said it would withdraw its funding for the tour.

That led to an abrupt conclusion to the LIV season, with its finale, a team-based tournament in Michigan, canceled 10 days before it was due to begin on August 27.

• Known as the Tube, the London Underground is an essential part of everyday life for most Londoners.
• Some of its characteristics are uncommon in American subway systems and can be confusing.
• From unwritten etiquette rules to fare must-knows, here are some surprising things about the Tube.

While it's ridiculously busy at rush hour and way too hot in the summer, the Tube is an essential part of life in London.

As a local, I sometimes use the public transit system — formally called the London Underground —more than four or five times on some days, as it's often the quickest way to get around the city. I can thank the London Tube for saving me from missed flights or arriving late for an interview.

Nonetheless, I can't count how many times I've seen tourists staring at a Tube map, trying to make sense of its seemingly endless tangle of colored lines.

Even as someone who uses the Tube all the time, I have the Citymapper app at the ready when taking an unfamiliar route.

The Tube also has some rules — both official and unwritten — that I would consider necessary for any tourist coming to London. If you have seen what happens when someone stands on the left-hand side of the escalator, you will know what I mean.

Here are 10 surprising things you probably don't know about the Tube, including some that might be useful to know as a tourist.

1. Most Tube trains have no air conditioning

Only about 31% of trains on the Tube network have passenger air conditioning, according to Transport for London (TFL). As soon as a heat wave hits, I cannot ride the Tube without carrying blotting paper and a handheld fan.

Some lines are notorious for how hot they get. Having to take the Central Line in the summer will elicit sympathy from any Londoner. The London Standard reported that it reached almost 103 degrees during the recent June heat wave.

With that in mind, you may also be surprised to learn that in 1926, the London Underground was advertised as "cooler below" on a hot day.

2. The seats are covered in fabric

Unlike the hard plastic seats in most American public transport, Tube seats are covered in a woolen fabric called moquette.

It's been used on the Tube since 1920 because it hides wear and tear and dirt, and also because it's durable.

Admittedly, it does gross me out a bit, even though it gets cleaned. But it's definitely more comfortable than plastic, at least.

3. The price of your journey depends on how many zones you travel through

While the New York City subway has a flat fare, the cost of a journey on the Tube varies depending on how far you travel.

London's transport network is split into fare zones, from the most central to the farthest out: Zones 1 to 9. People here often joke that the zone you live in also determines how much of a "true" Londoner you are.

For example, a single journey within Zone 1 will cost you £3 at off-peak hours, and £3.10 at peak hours. However, if you travel from Zone 6 to 1, or vice versa, it will cost you between £4 and £5.90.

4. Traveling at rush hour will usually cost you more

Rush hour is known as peak time on the Underground and other rail services.

Peak time is Monday to Friday, except public holidays, between 6:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., and between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Fares are higher at these times.

In addition to saving a bit of money, I would recommend avoiding these times for travel. Carriages can get crammed, and people can be unforgiving if you're carrying a large suitcase or walking too slowly.

5. You have to tap both in and out of the Tube

With all these varying fare prices, you have to tap your card, contactless, Oyster, or physical ticket in and out of the Tube.

Often, there are barriers upon both entry and exit, so you wouldn't miss this, but sometimes there aren't. In these stations, you have to look for a yellow card reader to tap out.

If you don't tap out, you will be charged the maximum fare for that line. I've had this happen to me before, but luckily, you can request a refund from TFL if it happens again.

6. Many of the carriages have armrests between passengers

If you like your personal space, you might be pleased to know that most Tube carriages have an armrest between seats.

However, despite their name, I see them as more of a separation barrier than an actual armrest. Resting your arms on these is a faux pas (unless you absolutely have to) if there are people sitting on either side of you.

7. More than half of the London Underground is actually above ground

While you may be expecting to descend deep underground when taking the Tube, this isn't always the case. Despite its name, most of the London Underground's stations are above ground. I find this is handy for getting service.

The Waterloo & City and Victoria lines are the only two fully underground tube lines.

8. You should always stand on the right-hand side of the escalator

My ultimate word of advice for anyone coming to London is to never stand on the left-hand side of the escalator. The left side is for people walking up or down in a hurry.

It's an efficient system that has saved me from being late hundreds of times. You will be asked to move aside if you break this rule.

9. You can visit the disused tunnels and abandoned tracks

If you like all things spooky and historical, I recommend checking out the London Transport Museum, which offers tours of disused Tube stations, passenger corridors, and tunnels.

Some of these spaces have been used as sets for TV shows and films, including Skyfall and Sherlock.

10. There aren't actually as many 24-hour services in London as you might think

London is not quite the city that never sleeps. I have rarely taken the Tube past midnight and instead rely on Ubers and night buses to get me home.

Only five Tube lines run 24-hour services: Central, Jubilee, Northern (Charing Cross branch), Piccadilly, and Victoria. The Windrush line, which is part of the London Overground, also has a night service.

The Night Tube is also only open on Fridays and Saturdays.

• Accenture has formed a new business group, supported by Google Cloud, to help companies deploy AI agents.
• The group includes 1000 forward-deployed engineers ready to embed with clients.
• Consulting firms have become crucial intermediaries between AI companies and large companies.

Accenture is sending an army of engineers onto the AI battlefield.

The consulting giant and Google Cloud are teaming up to send 1,000 engineers to work with major clients on deploying AI agents, in a partnership they're calling the Accenture Gemini Enterprise Business Group.

It brings together Accenture's Google Cloud-skilled professionals and engineers with Accenture consultants with industry expertise.

A key part of the group's offering is the promise of 1,000 forward-deployed engineers, Accenture professionals who are experts in the Gemini AI platform. They will embed with clients to help them roll out AI across their businesses.

Forward-deployed engineers work inside companies to integrate AI into workflows and customize AI tools for each specific client to make their work easier or more efficient. The role was popularized by Palantir and is now one of the buzziest jobs in tech — postings for the position have grown more than 700% in the last year.

In a press release, Accenture CEO Julie Sweet said the group's combined technical and industry expertise will help clients deploy AI agents and realize value from them more quickly.

The investment also includes plans to expand Gemini Enterprise training for 50,000 Accenture employees.

The new Accenture Gemini Enterprise Business Group will support clients with "a dedicated, specialized team" to help meet the market demand for Gemini Enterprise, Chetna Sehgal, the Accenture Gemini Enterprise Business Group lead, told Business Insider.

The teams will work together on platform engineering, aligned with the client's specific industry, process, and required changes.

"That combination is what lets clients architect, build, and scale Gemini Enterprise solutions with real speed," said Sehgal.

Tech and consulting are teaming up more and more

Consultancies like Accenture shape how companies spend money, buy technology, and redesign work.

They have become critical intermediaries in the AI boom, linking AI companies with their vast roster of Fortune 500 clients, who often want the familiarity and breadth that a traditional consulting firm can offer.

The deal works both ways: AI firms have little time to focus on implementation and sales, so consultants step in to fill the gap. In return, consultancies attach themselves to top names in tech and get access to enterprise-grade tools for their own workforces.

The result has been a flurry of partnerships between top consulting firms and AI leaders such as Anthropic, OpenAI, Nvidia, and Microsoft.

Accenture partnered with ChatGPT last December and expanded its partnership with Anthropic a week later.

The company, a digital and technology specialist, has also been remaking its own workforce for the AI era. Sweet has previously said that AI is Accenture's strongest bet for creating new demand, and in March 2026, said that getting a promotion at Accenture now required AI use.

In 2025, the firm consolidated several of its key divisions into a single unit known as "reinvention services," and executives said it would be "exiting" employees it can't retrain with artificial intelligence skills.

The company's stock is down 29% over the last year, and in its third-quarter earnings report in June, Accenture said new bookings were down 2% for the quarter.

Sweet's message to the investors betting on the company was simple: Be patient. As companies seek Accenture's help to integrate AI, she said, the numbers will improve.

• A VC got his Resy account shuttered after using an AI agent for a reservation at one of NYC's hottest restaurants.
• It's an example of how AI agents often take questionable approaches to the tasks they're given.
• "I will probably, in the short term, ask it to lay out a plan and tell me what the plan is," he said

AI agents can do lots of tasks. Landing you a table at one of New York's trendiest restaurants might not be one.

JC Bahr-de Stefano, principal at Better Tomorrow Ventures, a fintech-focused VC firm, learned that after he connected an AI tool called Instinct to his Resy account in hopes of getting a reservation at 4 Charles Prime Rib, the West Village steakhouse where diners gobble up reservations within seconds of them appearing online.

Instinct, which is an invite-only service at the moment, communicates with users via text. The bet was that Instinct could check for open tables at 4 Charles much more frequently than Bahr-de Stefano — or any other human — could manually.

Instead of getting him a ticket to some prime rib or an egg-topped burger, though, Bahr-de Stefano's AI agent spammed Resy's website so much that the platform temporarily shut down his account.

The VC's experience is another example of how AI agents are bending or breaking the rules of the internet, from impersonating Wikipedia editors to trying to convince a GitHub user to upload malware into a project.

Agents might appear to understand their objective, though exactly how they carry it out — and whether the strategy they pick might have unintended consequences — is often an afterthought.

"Resy does not currently permit unapproved third-party bots or agents to independently access or interact with the Resy platform," an American Express spokesperson told Business Insider. "Unapproved automated activity can introduce risks to the platform and compromise a fair reservation experience for diners."

Users can find restaurants and make reservations through Resy's integrations with OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude, the spokesperson said. The company declined to comment specifically on Bahr-de Stefano's case.

'It was acting like a bot'

Bahr-de Stefano noticed the Resy issue on Sunday when he couldn't get into his account. In his email inbox, there was a message from the American Express-owned reservation platform saying that his account had "displayed behavior in violation of Resy's Terms of Service."

He got details about what went wrong after checking Instinct's activity log. Unbeknownst to Bahr-de Stefano, the AI agent had been sending Resy about 200 API requests per hour. That included checking the restaurant's availability through Resy every 10 minutes throughout the day, as well as looking every 0.4 seconds around the time that reservations usually dropped each morning.

That behavior mimics the bots that some people use to snag everything from restaurant reservations to limited-run pairs of sneakers and resell them, Bahr-de Stefano said.

Bahr-de Stefano wrote back to Resy, laying out how he had used the AI agent. The log made clear why his account had been flagged, he said.

"Of course, this account got flagged for spam, because it was acting like a bot," he said.

On Tuesday, an email from Resy informed him that the company had reinstated his account.

It came with a warning, though: If he did it again, American Express could permanently close his Resy account as well as his AmEx credit card. Bahr-de Stefano shared screenshots of the Resy and American Express emails in posts on X.

The tool has worked well in other cases, such as finding an appointment at an otherwise booked-up doctor's office and deciding which attractions to visit in Paris during a trip, Bahr-de Stefano said.

"That was part of what made it really great," he said. "It felt like magic."

The VC said that he plans to continue using Instinct, though with some adjustments. Instead of simply giving the AI agent a simple prompt, he said, he'll now set parameters on how the agent tackles the task, such as how often it pings a website looking for reservations.

"I will probably, in the short term, ask it to lay out a plan and tell me what the plan is before it does it," he said.

At the same time, he added, websites like Resy need to distinguish between legitimate AI agents and those with more nefarious intentions.

"Most of these sellers or providers need to get to a point where they can understand the difference between a verified agent acting on someone's behalf versus a bot farm," he said.

Have a tip? Contact this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com or via encrypted messaging app Signal at 808-854-4501. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• My mother-in-law and I have spent years "Swedish death cleaning" together.
• Being the daughter-in-law put me in a unique position to help her declutter.
• Going through her belongings has made me see her in a new light.

Every year, my husband and I make the trek from California to Michigan to live with his 85-year-old mom, Elizabeth, for a few months.

These have been lovely family visits that give us a chance to spend time together, and they've also allowed me to help her with Swedish death cleaning.

This decluttering method focuses on getting things in order before you die, largely so that loved ones won't be left with a lot of stuff to sort through and make decisions about.

I've always been a natural declutterer. My family knows that if I visit, there's a good chance a junk drawer, closet, or cabinet is getting organized.

Helping my mother-in-law gradually decide what to keep, donate, sell, or pass along naturally grew out of that habit.

Now that she's in her mid-80s, the process has become even more intentional, and I've realized that being the daughter-in-law has put me in a unique position to help.

Not only do I get to tidy up spaces she might not otherwise be able to, but she also feels a little lighter after every visit.

Thankfully, she's not sick, and her spiritual beliefs have made this an incredibly meaningful and surprisingly fun process for both of us.

Being the daughter-in-law has turned out to be an advantage

I love MIL Elizabeth dearly, and she has always referred to me as her "third child," but I'm not carrying the same emotional weight into the death-cleaning process as her children would.

Unlike my husband and sister-in-law, I've already experienced the death of close family members. My father passed away eight years ago, and in the last year, both my grandparents died.

I know what it's like to sort through decades of belongings while grieving and how overwhelming it can be when every object feels tied to someone you love.

I feel grateful to take some of that off their plate. When the day comes, I want my husband and sis-in-law to spend as little time as possible wondering whether to keep something simply because it meant something to their mom.

But this isn't just about making things easier for us someday. My husband appreciates how this death cleaning is helping his mom's quality of life now.

Her home is less cluttered, and she knows where things are. Instead of being surrounded by stuff she never uses or even remembers she has, she says she feels like she has more breathing room.

We've spent years (not days) working through a lifetime of belongings

Elizabeth's home is filled with antique furniture, one-of-a-kind objets d'art, shelves of books, and fine china that she inherited from her mom.

Going through these possessions isn't something that can be finished in a weekend. It's making hundreds of small decisions, year after year — some take five minutes, others take five conversations.

One area where we made the most progress this summer is her wardrobe. She always donates clothes and other items to the Armenian church, but this year we also included the Salvation Army and other charities. I even took her to a resale shop to sell vintage clothing for the first time, which was a good learning experience.

She didn't get much money, but it helped answer a bigger question: Was it better to let those clothes keep gathering dust in the closet or make a few bucks and give them a chance at a new life with someone else?

Ultimately, it helped her become more willing to let things go.

I love the unexpected conversations that have come out of all this

Every piece in my MIL's house has a story, and every bit of cleaning is a trip down memory lane.

Although we've had countless conversations over the past 20-plus years, this process has let me hear the stories behind so many objects I never thought about or didn't even know existed.

We've reminisced over the photo of her at 15 years old meeting Elvis Presley (who kissed her on the cheek!), wedding telegrams filled with well-wishes from around the world, and old newspaper clippings about the various businesses she built over the years.

We also laugh over her old wedding photos with "the kids' dad" (always accompanied by one of her eye rolls) and how it feels like another lifetime.

I've come away with a much deeper appreciation for who she is, not only as my mother-in-law but as an entrepreneur, traveler, philanthropist, daughter, mother, and friend.

I can't help but marvel at the many versions of Elizabeth that existed long before I knew her.

The biggest surprise is realizing this hasn't just been about clearing out a house

My MIL has a very peaceful outlook on death. She believes it's a temporary transition, so that lightens the mood whenever we're sifting through her belongings.

In fact, she usually laughs whenever we talk about our "Swedish death cleaning days."

What started as my habit of organizing has become one of the most meaningful ways we've spent time together. I wish more families could find a way to do this while they have the chance.

As she recently told me while we were sorting through old photos, "I feel so privileged to have known these people over the years and to have had those experiences."

• Alex Gibney's Elon Musk documentary, "Musk," examines the mogul's life and career.
• There's plenty of material on Musk's highs (Tesla, SpaceX) and lows (DOGE, his relationships).
• Here are the 3 most explosive parts of the doc.

In an era when documentaries about famous people can be as light and sweet as the snacks you eat while watching them, Alex Gibney is going against the grain. His new documentary, "Musk," which premiered at Venice Film Festival on Sept. 8, proves there's still room for hard-hitting investigative docs in Hollywood — as long as you're willing to sit through its nearly four-hour runtime.

From tackling Scientology in "Going Clear" to Theranos' Elizabeth Holmes in "The Inventor," Gibney has never backed away from a thorny topic. With "Musk," the Oscar-winning filmmaker pulls no punches, painting a thorough portrait of the man who turned companies like Tesla and SpaceX into household names.

The doc, which traces Musk's life from 20-something Silicon Valley start-up entrepreneur to becoming President Donald Trump's right-hand man during his second term, has ignited the ire of its subject since it was announced in 2023. At the time, Musk called the film a "hit piece" on X, to which Gibney responded, "How would you know?" The two have been locked in an online battle ever since.

Although Musk did not sit down for an interview for "Musk," that didn't stop Gibney from getting his subject on camera — sort of.

Thanks to the ingenuity of Gibney's team and the magic of AI, the documentary features a Musk avatar who's been trained on all available interviews the mogul has given. Avatar-Musk shows up throughout to comment on everything from why he believes we're all living in a simulation to his obsession with going to Mars.

It's a cheeky deployment of emerging technology at the CEO's expense. But it's not the only segment that paints Musk in an unflattering light.

Business Insider screened "Musk" the day it premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Here are three times Gibney goes after Musk hard.

Business Insider reached out to Musk for comment on the documentary, but did not receive a response.

The failures of Tesla's self-driving feature Autopilot are back in the spotlight

The documentary delves into how Musk got involved in Tesla and turned it into a cash cow once the company went public. It also explores the darker side of Tesla's Autopilot, a self-driving feature that has been at the center of several lawsuits.

In the doc, Gibney contrasts a 2016 video released by Tesla that depicts the vehicle as fully self-driving with dash-cam footage from a deadly 2019 crash in which a car using Tesla's Autopilot feature killed one and seriously injured another in Key Largo, Florida.

After a Russian hacker was able to retrieve key crash data Tesla had said it could not access (yes, really), a jury ruled that Tesla was partially liable for the crash and responsible for $243 million in punitive and compensatory damages. Tesla is appealing.

While the story has been reported before by outlets including Business Insider, its retelling to a larger audience in Gibney's doc isn't going to improve perception of the Tesla brand.

The 'Godfather of AI' says he's worried Musk could rig an election

Trump and Musk have described DOGE as a way to overhaul the federal government and slash spending. Tech reporters from Wired and The Wall Street Journal tell Gibney that Musk's time working on DOGE also gave him access to every American's personal information.

Geoffrey Hinton, the "Godfather of AI" and a friend-turned-frenemy of Musk's, says he thinks Musk is up to something nefarious. He tells Gibney in the documentary that he believes Musk will use that information to corrupt the upcoming midterm elections.

"If you wanted to corrupt the midterm elections and you wanted to use AI, all you needed to do was get detailed information on US citizens," Hinton says in "Musk." "And what DOGE did looked like just what you would do."

Hinton does not elaborate further, but Gibney wonders in a voiceover: Is Musk "trying to connect us or control us?"

A former flame reveals the NDA terms she declined and Musk's desire for a 'legion of children'

The documentary also delves into Musk's personal life, specifically his many children, 14 of whom are publicly known. While Musk's first wife, Justine, appears in the doc, the real star is influencer Ashley St. Clair, who gave birth to one of his sons in 2024.

St. Clair says in the doc that the two connected after Musk began following her on social media and would message her saying she should have more children. St. Clair says in the doc that once their relationship went south and after giving birth to Musk's child, she was offered $15 million up front and $100,000 per month over 21 years if she signed an NDA. She refused.

St. Clair also recalled that one night she was with Musk in bed and he was listening to a podcast about Kublai Khan, a descendant of Genghis Khan who had at least 47 children.

She also said that Musk once texted her that he needed a "legion of children before the civil war."

St. Clair claims she wasn't the only one Musk reached out to on social media in hopes of procreating.

It's a "Gatling gun of sperm on his DMs," she told Gibney.

On Wednesday, a day after the movie's world premiere, Musk disputed the terms of St. Clair's NDA, commenting on X that St. Clair "was never offered that and has a history of making false claims." St. Clair did not respond to a request for comment.

Musk also went on X to comment on the documentary as a whole.

"Gibney just assembled a hit list of people who either have an axe to grind or don't even know me (but still have an axe to grind). He has ZERO integrity. Horrible human," Musk wrote.

"Musk" opens in theaters October 16.

• Ukrainian soldiers are spending longer periods in combat areas.
• The heavy drone saturation has made it difficult to leave the front lines for medical care.
• One unit said that soldiers must have treatment options brought forward in response.

The threat of Russian drones is keeping Ukrainian troops stuck near the front for longer stretches and forcing the military to think more about how it delivers medical care to soldiers who can't easily leave.

For one Ukrainian military unit that specializes in front-line casualty evacuation, the lesson is that battlefield medicine now has to do more than stabilize the wounded and get them out.

Soldiers in combat areas for extended periods need access to outpatient care, diagnostics, specialist consultations, and treatment for both chronic and acute illnesses without being forced to leave the battlefield every time they need medical assistance, Ukraine's 1st Separate Medical Battalion told Business Insider.

A battalion spokesperson, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for security reasons, said in translated remarks that modern combat medicine is developing in two main directions: using machines to replace troops and evacuate casualties wherever possible and pushing high-quality medical care closer to troops at the front.

The front lines have evolved into what Ukrainian officials and soldiers describe as a "kill zone." Drones are constantly watching and able to target anything that moves, including soldiers and armored vehicles, with precision. The aerial threat has made it difficult and time-consuming to move even short distances.

The kill zone varies in size, extending for miles on both sides of the line of contact, and Ukrainian officials and soldiers say it is expanding as more drones flood the battlefield.

The battalion spokesperson said the growing number of drones is forcing the unit to change its approach to casualty evacuation, stabilization sites, and forward surgical teams.

The unit must become more mobile and less visible, moving between locations faster, the spokesperson said.

Ground robots, meanwhile, are increasingly being used for casualty evacuation, reflecting a growing trend across the Ukrainian military in which machines are replacing soldiers for dangerous missions such as logistics.

The battalion spokesperson said that access to sophisticated medical equipment is also critical, though the most advanced equipment is not always the most useful. Any system brought forward must be suitable for rugged, front-line conditions, meaning that it must be mobile, autonomous, easy to maintain, and have a sufficient support chain.

In some cases, a reliable, self-sufficient device may be more valuable to the unit than a more advanced system that isn't designed for the battlefield, the spokesperson said.

More generally, heavy drone saturation in Ukraine has upended long-standing assumptions about combat casualty care.

Delayed casualty evacuation, for instance, stands in stark contrast to the model US and allied forces relied on in the post-9/11 wars, when US and coalition forces could leverage their air superiority to helicopter wounded soldiers to large, fully equipped bases.

Western military leaders are increasingly warning that they might not have these same advantages in a future war against a near-peer adversary such as Russia.

In Ukraine, drones have made it difficult to deliver medical care to wounded soldiers within the "golden hour," the first 60 minutes after a severe injury, when rapid treatment can be critical to survival.

NATO is increasingly aware that it could face similar challenges and has looked to Western medical and defense industries for technology that could help save lives in a drone-infested environment.