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Today β€” 10 January 2025Main stream

Everything to know about Microsoft 365, formerly Microsoft Office: Programs, features, cost, and how to use it for free

10 January 2025 at 19:31
A woman types on a laptop featuring a Microsoft webpage that says "Office is now Microsoft 365."
Microsoft Office has been rebranded as Microsoft 365, and is now a cloud-based subscription service with programs like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Serene Lee/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

  • Microsoft 365 is a cloud-based software suite with programs like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
  • Microsoft 365 was formerly called Microsoft Office, and used to be a one-time purchase.
  • Microsoft 365 has a variety of subscriptions with different costs, but there are also free versions.

If you have, at any time in the past few years, worked in an office, gone to school, or generally been alive, you have probably used myriad Microsoft 365 products. And the same is true, relatively speaking, even going back several decades.

That's because Microsoft 365 is a 2010 rebranding of Microsoft Office, the suite of software that included venerable programs like Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint, among others.

Whereas you used to access that software via the Windows operating system, today Microsoft 365 is a cloud-based service accessed remotely via a paid subscription.

What programs does Microsoft 365 feature?

Microsoft 365 goes well beyond the basic word processing, spreadsheet-making, and presentation designer software that has been around since the 20th century.

Along with the aforementioned programs, 365 also features OneDrive, a cloud storage service for keeping files secure, Teams, which is a collaboration software that allows for video meetings, live chat, file sharing, and more, Skype, the video call platform, and Outlook, which is Microsoft's email service.

How much does Microsoft 365 cost?

There are different plans at different rates. You can pay $9.99 per month for a Microsoft 365 family plan which allows up to six users to share one account, with that price adding up to $119.88. Or, you can pay $99.99 one time to save on a year-long subscription.

A one-person Microsoft 365 Personal plan costs $6.99 per month, which is $83.88, or you can pay once and get a year for $69.99.

Can you get Microsoft 365 for free?

Microsoft 365 is available for free in a few ways, though most have some limitations. There is a free version of Microsoft 365 that can be used in a web browser. Users must sign up for a Microsoft account with an existing or new email address to access Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and so forth.

You can also get a free download of the Microsoft 365 Access Runtime files, but this is available only in downgraded 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

Students and teachers can get Microsoft Office 365 Education for free with a valid school email address, and all users can sign up for a one-month free trial of a Microsoft 365 subscription. Just make sure to cancel ahead of the next billing cycle.

How to cancel Microsoft 365?

Canceling Microsoft 365 takes just a few steps:

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft account you used to purchase Microsoft 365, select Services & subscriptions from the dashboard, and click Manage to cancel or modify the Microsoft 365 subscription.
A screenshot of a Microsoft 365 account page shows the "Services & subscriptions" and "Manage" buttons emphasize with red boxes and arrows.
You can cancel or upgrade your Microsoft 365 subscription from the "Services & subscriptions" section of your Microsoft account.

Michelle Mark/Business Insider

  1. Select Cancel subscription (it might say Upgrade or Cancel).
  2. Review the additional information on the page, and at the bottom select I don't want my subscription, then confirm the cancellation.

What's the difference between Microsoft 365 and Office Suite?

The real differences are the pay model and the way you access the software. The classic Office Suite was a one-time purchase that gave you programs (Word and Excel, e.g.) that you could use offline any time you wanted.

Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based service that you primarily use online (you can use 365 programs offline, but the saving may not be reliable) and that you will pay for each month or once a year.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Here's how to stop an argument with a narcissist from spinning out of control

10 January 2025 at 15:24
A woman looking doubtful while embraced by a man
There are a few ways to respond to a narcissist during an argument.

Vladimir Godnik/Getty Images

  • Narcissists struggle to have positive feelings about someone whom they're mad at.
  • For many people, the best thing to do is to cut a narcissist out of their life.
  • If this isn't possible there are some tactics you can use to stop the argument from escalating.

Arguing with a narcissist can lead to hurt feelings or worse.Β 

Narcissists tend to be incapable of "object constancy," which means they struggle with having positive and negative feelings at the same time. Once they are fired up for a fight, they can only comprehend their feelings of resentment and anger.Β 

As a result, even the smalles argument can escalate quickly and fiercely. An issue you thought was unimportant or even irrelevant may blow up into a relationship-ending showdown.Β 

Narcissists can be very delicate, depending on what sub-type they are. They are often deeply insecure underneath their bravado, so they easily mistake other people's comments and actions for "attacks on themselves," Alena Scigliano, a psychotherapist and author of "Swimming with Sharks: Surviving Narcissist-Infested Waters," told Business Insider in 2023.Β 

Here's what you can expect from an argument with a narcissist and what you can do to keep things from spiraling out of control, according to experts.

Learn to look for the signs of an argument.
narcissist
You probably know the signs of when the narcissist in your life is going to start an argument.

Noel Hendrickson/ Getty Images

Scigliano said when you're familiar with the narcissist in your life, you'll learn their patterns. But some common signs a narcissist is gearing up for an argument include "physical agitation, facial expressions becoming sinister, darkened eyes, and a change in their posture to become more imposing or intimidating. Their voice may also suddenly get deeper or sterner, she said.

"Whatever the signs may be, they will reflect the narcissist's desire to regain control of the situation or reestablish their authority," Scigliano said.

Expect name-calling or the silent treatment.
A man and woman lying on opposite sides of the bed facing away from each other.
After an argument, a narcissist might ignore you for hours.

Maria Korneeva/ Getty Images

Fights with a narcissist are very different from regular relationship spats, Elinor Greenberg, a psychologist and author of "Borderline, Narcissistic, and Schizoid Adaptations: The Pursuit of Love, Admiration, and Safety," told BI in 2023.

Some of her clients have screamed at her over minor inconveniences, such as packages arriving during their session.

"If they're going to yell at me over the UPS man, you can see just how hard it is for them to have a relationship without getting nasty," she said.

When offended, narcissists may accuse their partner of being "disrespectful" or "selfish." The world revolves around them, in their eyes, so focusing on anything else feels like a direct attack.

Narcissistic rage ranges from direct confrontation with name-calling and insults to calculated, closed-down reactions like giving their partner the silent treatment for hours.

"They give you the cold shoulder, or they walk out and they find another partner," Greenberg said. "But it's all done silently and coolly and coldly β€” you know what you did.

Know you'll find yourself going in circles.
couple arguing
Arguing with a narcissist can be frustrating.

Tetra Images/Getty Images

Expect to feel frustrated with how the argument seems to be going nowhere.

"Because narcissists are fantastic at spinning others around in their webs of manipulation, you can easily become disoriented as to how the argument even began, frustrated over their circular arguments, and hopeless with regard to resolving anything," Scigliano said.Β 

"Oftentimes, people give up and give in just for the sake of ending the argument and reestablishing a modicum of peace," she said.Β 

Don't argue about "right" and "wrong."
a couple fighting
Don't try to win an argument with a narcissist.

Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock

There's no point trying to figure out who is "to blame" for something, as narcissists will never admit fault. They're also not necessarily trying to "win" the argument.Β 

"Be aware that narcissists don't argue to prove a point," divorce attorney Derek Jacques of The Mitten Law Firm told BI in 2023. "They argue to feel a rush of satisfaction of putting you down and belittling you."Β 

Instead, try to empathize with their feelings.
A couple hugging on a dark street
Empathy might help calm a narcissist during an argument.

Dima Berlin/Getty Images

Some therapists debate whether narcissists mean to cause harm to their loved ones. Regardless of their intent, their attacks can still wound those around them.Β 

Narcissists become "visibly disappointed, frustrated, angry, and at times, violent when they don't receive the feedback, praise, and admiration they expect, especially from partners," Terrell Strayhorn, a professor of education and psychology at Virginia Union University, told BI in 2023.

"Their superiority complex compels them to lash out β€” verbally, emotionally, psychologically, and physically β€” against those who disappoint them," Strayhorn said.

One way to soothe a narcissist is to empathize with their feelings, Greenberg said.Β 

If you are in a relationship with a narcissist, you might naturally have a lot of empathy. You may be able to use that trait to help control the situation.Β Β 

Greenberg suggested saying something like, "You must have felt very hurt by what I did. I can understand why you are feeling that way."

Stay calm, and use "we" language.
a couple arguing
Stay away from "I" or "you" statements.

SimonSkafar/Getty Images

Saying "we" rather than "I" or "you" includes yourself in the behavior, Greenberg said. The narcissist is probably angry that you dared to defend yourself, so you can try and remind them you're in this together and that it would be better for everyone to stop.

Scigliano also recommended remaining calm, not sharing your feelings, and sticking only to the facts.

"Expressing emotions makes it easier for the narcissist to twist the conversation around and work you into a tizzy," she said.

Redirect them by asking about a topic that interests them.
A couple hold hands
Try to divert their attention to a new topic.

Fiordaliso/Getty Images

Narcissists love talking about themselves and can be know-it-alls.

Dangle a new topic in front of their face to steer the conversation away from conflict. This might not be that effective in the midst of a fierce debate, but after some time has passed, the narcissist will probably take the bait.

Another tactic is to ask for advice. It's a slightly less transparent way of changing the subject that also makes the narcissist feel superior.Β 

Avoid taking the bait yourself.
couple after argument
Ignore their insults.

irinamunteanu/Getty Images

As retaliation for whatever hurt they feel you've caused them, narcissists will bring up past slights or accuse you of being selfish at that moment.Β 

One way to deal with a narcissist is to "avoid engaging with them on their level," Jacques said. That could mean biting your tongue, even as they're spewing insults at you.Β Β 

Even an innocuous statement might provide a narcissist with ammo, Jacques said. "Take those opportunities away from them and you remove their power."

Greenberg also said that by ignoring the name-calling, you can often avoid the fight. If you respond to it, things are likely to escalate, and you're giving the narcissist exactly what they want β€” your pain.

Remember to put yourself first.
A couple look forlorn while sitting on a bed
You might need to break things off with the narcissist in your life.

Delmaine Donson/Getty Images

Being in a romantic relationship with a narcissist can be an emotionally draining, damaging process. Using these methods to deal with a narcissist may help deescalate upsetting and potentially dangerous, situations.

For most people, though, breaking up with a narcissist is the better, safer option. The very nature of being a narcissist means they don't see anything wrong with themselves, so they are unlikely to ever change or seek help. Ultimately, your energy is better off being used elsewhere.

If you suspect you might be in an abusive relationship, or you know someone who is, there are services you can reach out to. The MyPlan App from One Love and the National Domestic Abuse Hotline are resources that can help.

This article was first published in February 2018 and was last updated on January 10, 2025.

Read the original article on Business Insider

These startups are making smarter canes for people with visual impairments

10 January 2025 at 14:58

The white cane for the 21st century. While many tech companies have increasingly worked to make technology more accessible for the blind and visually impaired, canes haven’t benefited much from these advances. London-born WeWalk takes a more traditional approach to the white cane. Beyond the bulkier handle, not much sets the company’s product apart visually […]

Β© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Meta's Chief Diversity Officer says the company's employee resource groups survive DEI cull: memo

10 January 2025 at 14:47
maxine williams
Meta Chief Diversity Officer Maxine Williams.

Meta

  • Former DEI lead Maxine Williams tried to cushion the blow of Meta's plan to rollback DEI programs.
  • The company has several employee-resource groups, known as MRGs.
  • After more than a decade as Meta's Chief Diversity Officer, Williams is taking on a new role.

Meta Chief Diversity Officer Maxine Williams told staff in a memo on Friday that the company's decision to back off DEI efforts won't impact employee-resource groups, according to an internal post viewed by Business Insider.

Employee-resource groups, or ERGs, are worker-led communities that create a sense of belonging at a company. Meta has several of these groups. MRGs are Meta employee resource groups, and BRGs are Black employee resource groups.

In a post to an internal forum, Williams tried to cushion the blow of Meta's decision on Friday to rollback its diversity, equity, and inclusion program. Some staff criticized the move, while at least one worker called itΒ "pretty reasonable."

"I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge that these changes may be difficult to understand and process since they represent a significant shift in our strategies for achieving the cognitive diversity we value," Williams wrote.

She stressed that the changes won't impact Meta's support for MRGs and BRGs.

"You play a critical role in creating a place for community and connection β€” among us and with the company," she added.

"I have watched you show support, share resources, and bond through learning, understanding, and appreciating our various backgrounds. Our Global Communities contribute to the richness of our experiences as we learn from each other and leverage our different backgrounds, working together to build products for the world."

Williams has been Meta's chief diversity officer for more than a decade. On Friday, she told staff that she's taking on a new role focused onΒ Accessibility and Engagement.

"But I, and my team, will continue to support you as contribute to our global community at Meta," she wrote.Β 

Do you work at Meta? Contact BI reporters from a nonwork email and device at [email protected]Β and [email protected].

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Bench customers are now being forced to hand over their data or risk losing it, they say

10 January 2025 at 13:58

After accounting startup Bench abruptly shut down on December 27 and was bought in a fire-sale by Employer.com, Bench customers are now learning they can’t easily just take their financial data and leave.Β  And some are very unhappy about it, three customers told TechCrunch. To recap: When Bench, a startup based in Canada that raised […]

Β© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Meta's chief marketing officer warns 'too much censorship is actually harmful' for LGBTQ+ community in internal forum

10 January 2025 at 13:21
Meta CMO Alex Schultz
Alex Schultz Meta Chief Marketing Officer

Courtesy of Business Insider

  • Meta's chief marketing officer Alex Schultz is concerned that "too much censorship" is harmful.
  • Schultz's comments come after Meta updated several policies, including content moderation.
  • The new guidelines change what is permissible to be said about LGBTQ+ people.

Meta's chief marketing officer warned that greater censorship on its platforms could "harm speech" from the LGBTQ+ community aiming to push back against hate.

Alex Schultz posted his feelings on Meta's decision to change its policy on hateful conduct earlier this week in a post on its internal forum.

"My perspective is we've done well as a community when the debate has happened and I was shocked with how far we've gone with censorship of the debate," Schultz wrote in the post, seen by Business Insider.

He added that his friends and family were shocked to see him receive abuse as a gay man in the past, but that it helped them to realize hatred exists.

"Most of our progress on rights happened during periods without mass censorship like this and pushing it underground, I think, has coincided with reversals," he said.

"Obviously, I don't like people saying things that I consider awful but I worry that the solution of censoring that doesn't work as well as you might hope. So I don't know the answer, this stuff is really complicated, but I am worried that too much censorship is actually harmful and that's may have been where we ended up."

Earlier this week, the company adjusted its moderation guidelines to allow statements on its platforms claiming that LGBTQ+ people are "mentally ill" and removed trans and nonbinary-themed chat options from its Messenger app, features that had previously been showcased as part of the company's support for Pride Month.

Schultz also said that he does not think that censorship and cancel culture have helped the LGBTQ+ movement.

He wrote, "We don't enforce these things perfectly," and cited an example of a mistake of taking down images of two men kissing and removing a slur word toward gay people rather than a deliberate move by a "bigoted person in operations."

Schultz added, "So the more rules we have, the more mistakes we make…Moderation is hard and we'll always get it wrong somewhat. The more rules, the more censorship, the more we'll harm speech from our own community pushing back on hatred."

The company's latest decision to roll back its DEI programs has sparked intense internal debate and public scrutiny. The announcement, delivered via an internal memo by VP of HR Janelle Gale, said that the company would dismantle its dedicated DEI team and eliminate diversity programs in its hiring process.

The company said Tuesday it will replace third-party fact-checkers on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads with a community notes system, mirroring the approach used on Elon Musk's platform, X.

Schulz told BI in an interview earlier this week that the election of Donald Trump and a broader shift in public sentiment around free speech played significant roles in these decisions.

He acknowledged that internal and external pressures had led Meta to adopt more restrictive policies in recent years, but the company is now taking steps to regain control over its approach to content moderation.

Meta's internal forum, Workplace, saw reactions ranging from anger and disappointment to cautious optimism about the company's direction.

One employee lamented the rollback as "another step backward" for Meta, while others raised concerns about the message it sends to marginalized communities that rely on Meta's platforms.

At Meta's offices in Silicon Valley, Texas, and New York, facilities managers were instructed to remove tampons from men's bathrooms, which the company had provided for nonbinary and transgender employees who use the men's room and may require sanitary products, The New York Times reported on Friday.

Meta didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

You can email Jyoti Mann at [email protected], send her a secure message on Signal @jyotimann.11 or DM her via X @jyoti_mann1

If you're a current or former Meta employee, contact this reporter from a nonwork device securely on Signal at +1-408-905-9124 or email him at [email protected].

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Public health emergency declared amid LA’s devastating wildfires

By: Beth Mole
10 January 2025 at 13:14

The US health department on Friday declared a public health emergency for California in response to devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area that have so far killed 10 people and destroyed more than 10,000 structures.

As of Friday morning, 153,000 residents are under evacuation orders, and an additional 166,800 are under evacuation warnings, according to local reports.

Wildfires pose numerous health risks, including exposure to extreme heat, burns, harmful air pollution, and emotional distress.

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Β© Getty | Apu Gomes

Mark Zuckerberg tells Joe Rogan that he thinks Trump will protect American companies' 'strategic advantage'

10 January 2025 at 12:19
Mark Zuckerberg attends the UFC 300 event at T-Mobile Arena on April 13, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Mark Zuckerberg said that he thinks Trump will defend American tech companies abroad.

Jeff Bottari/Getty Images

  • Mark Zuckerberg told Joe Rogan he's "optimistic" about how Trump will impact American businesses.
  • On the nearly 3-hour podcast episode, Zuck said he thinks Trump will defend American tech abroad.
  • The conversation comes days after Meta got rid of third-party fact-checkers.

Mark Zuckerberg told Joe Rogan in a podcast episode on Friday that he thinks President-elect Donald Trump will help American businesses, calling technology companies in particular a "bright spot" in the economy.

"I think it's a strategic advantage for the United States that we have a lot of the strongest companies in the world, and I think it should be part of the US' strategy going forward to defend that," Zuckerberg said during the nearly three-hour episode of 'The Joe Rogan Experience.' "And it's one of the things that I'm optimistic about with President Trump is, I think he just wants America to win."

Zuckerberg told Rogan the government should defend America's tech industry abroad to ensure it remains strong, and that he is "optimistic" Trump will do so.

The episode dropped just days after Meta significantly altered its content moderation policies, replacing third-party fact checkers with a community-notes system similar to that on Elon Musk's X. Trump praised the change earlier this week and said it was "probably" a response to threats he's made against the Meta CEO.

Zuckerberg, clad in a black tee and gold necklace emblematic of his new style, told Rogan that the change reflects the nation's "cultural pulse" as it was reflected in the presidential election results. At the beginning of the episode, Zuckerberg bashed how President Joe Biden's administration handled content moderation, especially during the pandemic.

A representative for Biden didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The episode and Meta's flurry of changes are part of efforts from Zuckerberg to improve his relationship with Trump. Meta has confirmed to BI that it's donating $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund, along with other tech companies like Microsoft and Google.

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Meta kills diversity programs, claiming DEI has become β€œtoo charged”

Meta has reportedly ended diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs that influenced staff hiring and training, as well as vendor decisions, effective immediately.

According to an internal memo viewed by Axios and verified by Ars, Meta's vice president of human resources, Janelle Gale, told Meta employees that the shift was due to "legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing."

It's another move by Meta that some view as part of the company's larger effort to align with the incoming Trump administration's politics. In December, Donald Trump promised to crack down on DEI initiatives at companies and on college campuses, The Guardian reported.

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Strange, unique, and otherwise noteworthy PCs and PC accessories from CES 2025

The Consumer Electronics Show is a reliable source of announcements about iterative updates to PCs and PC components. A few of those announcements are significant enough in some way that they break through all that noiseβ€”Nvidia's RTX 50-series GPUs and their lofty promises about AI-generated frames did that this year, as did Dell's decision to kill multiple decades-old PC brands and replace them with a bland series of "Pro/Premium/Plus" tiers.

But CES is also a place where PC companies and accessory makers get a little weird, taking some bigger (and occasionally questionable) swings alongside a big batch of more predictable incremental refreshes. As we've covered the show from afar this year, here are some of the more notable things we've seen.

Put an E-Ink screen on it: Asus NUC 14 Pro AI+

The NUC 14 Pro AI+ finds a way to combine E-Ink, AI, and turn-of-the-millennium translucent plastic into a single device. Credit: Asus

The strangest CES PCs are usually the ones that try to pull away from "a single screen attached to a keyboard" in some way. Sometimes, those PCs have a second screen stashed somewhere; sometimes, they have a screen that stretches; sometimes, they get rid of the keyboard part and extend the screen down where you expect that keyboard to be.

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The new Model Y has a Cybertruck-like light bar. The noticeable change could help convince car buyers to upgrade.

10 January 2025 at 11:36
New Tesla Model Y
The new Model Y has a noticeable change that could be just what Tesla needs as it faces slumping vehicle deliveries.

Tesla Hong Kong

  • Tesla launched a redesigned Model Y in China with a revamped Cybertruck-like look.
  • Tesla recently reported a year-over-year sales decline amid EV-market challenges.
  • Tesla is taking an Apple-like approach by iterating on a product rather than creating a new one.

Tesla's new Model Y in China has a Cybertruck-like design, a noticeable change that could be just what Tesla needs to refresh its aging car lineup.

Tesla Model Y refresh
The new Tesla Model Y.

Tesla Hong Kong

Tesla's new Model Y has a redesigned exterior along with updated suspension, wheels, and tires. The company says it's also quieter and more efficient, and it has an 8-inch rear touchscreen.

The company says the car includes "soft-touch textiles" to give passengers the feeling that they're "floating in space," drawing inspiration from other futuristic Tesla designs.

Tesla Hong Kong new Model Y interior
Tesla says the interior is meant to give passengers the feeling of "floating in space."

Tesla Hong Kong

It's not far off from Tesla's Model 3 redesign in 2023, which introduced a more luxurious and minimalist aesthetic. It similarly featured a quieter cabin and a rear screen.

The front end was made sleeker with slimmer headlights and a new wheel design. The dashboard and steering wheel were also redesigned.

Tesla's revamped Model 3
Tesla's revamped Model 3.

Tesla

While the new Model Y's design isn't nearly as radical as the Cybercab's or the Cybertruck's, that might be intentional. Sometimes drastically changing the look of a vehicle can be polarizing.

One Cybertruck driver told BI that he'd owned all Tesla models but faced negative reactions on the road only with his Cybertruck. The driver, a YouTuber, also said a sponsor declined to be featured in a video with his truck because of its polarizing nature.

The refreshed model is still likely to generate conversation about Tesla's most popular vehicle, one of the best-selling cars. It could stick out on the road and broadcast that drivers are in the latest Tesla, which may help boost sales or convince existing Model Y owners to upgrade.

It's similar to Apple's approach with the iPhone, in which the company has opted to enhance its models rather than build a new product line. Like Apple, Tesla offers frequent over-the-air software updates. When it comes to hardware updates, Tesla often offers a revamped design and features rather than a new vehicle.

Last week, Tesla reported its first year-over-year sales decline. The car giant said it sold about 1.79 million cars in 2024, slightly fewer than the 1.8 million it sold in 2023. While Tesla's fourth-quarter deliveries increased by more than 11,000 from the prior year, they fell short of analysts' expectations.

It's been a challenging time for the EV industry, which has slowed in the past couple of years because of factors including limited charging infrastructure and a lack of affordable options. President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration adds uncertainty to the landscape, as he has vowed to eliminate EV tax credits.

The Model Y refresh in China comes at a pivotal moment for Tesla. It's facing increasing pressure from competitors like BYD, which has experienced surging demand and is challenging Tesla's dominance in the country.

While the new model hasn't launched in the US, it's giving investors something to look forward to in 2025, in addition to a lineup of cheaper EVs.

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Meta employees react after the rollback of DEI programs — both for and against

10 January 2025 at 11:24
Mark Zuckerberg attends Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in January 2024.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The Washington Post/The Washington Post via Getty Images

  • On Meta's internal forum, its employees criticized its decision to roll back DEI initiatives.
  • It follows changes to Meta's content-moderation policies, which got rid of third-party fact-checkers.
  • Meta's VP of HR said the term DEI had "become charged" and "suggests preferential treatment."

Meta employees spoke out on its internal forum against the tech giant's decision Friday to roll back its diversity, equity, and inclusion program.

Staffers criticized the move in comments on the post announcing the changes on the internal platform Workplace. More than 390 employees reacted with a teary-eyed emoji to the post, which was seen by Business Insider and written by the company's vice president of human resources, Janelle Gale.

Gale said Meta would "no longer have a team focused on DEI." Over 200 workers reacted with a shocked emoji, 195 with an angry emoji, while 139 people liked the post, and 57 people used a heart emoji.

"This is unfortunate disheartening upsetting to read," an employee wrote in a comment that had more than 200 likes.

Another person wrote, "Wow, we really capitulated on a lot of our supposed values this week."

A different employee wrote, "What happened to the company I joined all those years ago."

Reactions were mixed, though. One employee wrote, "Treating everyone the same, no more, no less, sounds pretty reasonable to me." The comment had 45 likes and heart reactions.

The decision follows sweeping changes made to Meta's content-moderation policies, which Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday. The changes include eliminating third-party fact-checkers in favor of a community-notes model similar to that on Elon Musk's X.

As part of the changes to Meta's policy on hateful conduct, the company said it would allow users to say people in LGBTQ+ communities are mentally ill for being gay or transgender.

"We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like 'weird,'" Meta said in the updated guidelines.

One employee wrote in response to the DEI changes that, in addition to the updated hate-speech guidelines, "this is another step backward for Meta."

They added: "I am ashamed to work for a company which so readily drops its apparent morals because of the political landscape in the US."

In the post announcing the decision to drop many of its DEI initiatives, Gale said the term DEI had "become charged," partly because it's "understood by some as a practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others."

"Having goals can create the impression that decisions are being made based on race or gender," she said, adding: "While this has never been our practice, we want to eliminate any impression of it."

One employee told BI the moves "go against what we as a company have tried to do to protect people who use our platforms, and I have found all of this really hard to read."

Meta did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

Do you work at Meta? Contact the reporters from a nonwork email and device at [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected].

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Rocket Report: China launches refueling demo; DoD’s big appetite for hypersonics

Welcome to Edition 7.26 of the Rocket Report! Let's pause and reflect on how far the rocket business has come in the last 10 years. On this date in 2015, SpaceX made the first attempt to land a Falcon 9 booster on a drone ship positioned in the Atlantic Ocean. Not surprisingly, the rocket crash-landed. In less than a year and a half, though, SpaceX successfully landed reusable Falcon 9 boosters onshore and offshore, and now has done it nearly 400 times. That was remarkable enough, but we're in a new era now. Within a few days, we could see SpaceX catch its second Super Heavy booster and Blue Origin land its first New Glenn rocket on an offshore platform. Extraordinary.

As always, we welcome reader submissions. If you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Our annual ranking of the top 10 US launch companies. You can easily guess who made the top of the list: the company that launched Falcon rockets 134 times in 2024 and launched the most powerful and largest rocket ever built on four test flights, each accomplishing more than the last. The combined 138 launches is more than NASA flew the Space Shuttle over three decades. SpaceX will aim to launch even more often in 2025. These missions have far-reaching impacts, supporting Internet coverage for consumers worldwide, launching payloads for NASA and the US military, and testing technology that will take humans back to the Moon and, someday, Mars.

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German router maker is latest company to inadvertently clarify the LGPL license

10 January 2025 at 10:58

The GNU General Public License (GPL) and its "Lesser" version (LGPL) are widely known and used. Still, every so often, a networking hardware maker has to get sued to make sure everyone knows how it works.

The latest such router company to face legal repercussions is AVM, the Berlin-based maker of the most popular home networking products in Germany. Sebastian Steck, a German software developer, bought an AVM Fritz!Box 4020 (PDF) and, being a certain type, requested the source code that had been used to generate certain versions of the firmware on it.

According to Steck's complaint (translated to English and provided in PDF by the Software Freedom Conservancy, or SFC), he needed this code to recompile a networking library and add some logging to "determine which programs on the Fritz!Box establish connections to servers on the Internet and which data they send." But Steck was also concerned about AVM's adherence to GPL 2.0 and LGPL 2.1 licenses, under which its FRITZ!OS and various libraries were licensed. The SFC states that it provided a grant to Steck to pursue the matter.

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Man turns irreversibly gray from an unidentified silver exposure

By: Beth Mole
10 January 2025 at 10:47

When an 84-year-old man in Hong Kong was admitted to a hospital for a condition related to an enlarged prostate, doctors noticed something else about himβ€”he was oddly gray, according to a case report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

His skin, particularly his face, had an ashen appearance. His fingernails and the whites of his eyes had become silvery. When doctors took a skin biopsy, they could see tiny, dark granules sitting in the fibers of his skin, in his blood vessels, in the membranes of his sweat glands, and in his hair follicles.

A blood test made clear what the problem was: the concentration of silver in his serum was 423 nmol/L, over 40 times the reference level for a normal result, which is less than 10 nmol/L. The man was diagnosed with a rare case of generalized argyria, a buildup of silver in the body's tissue that causes a blueish-gray discolorationβ€”which is generally permanent.

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