• Lockheed Martin's CEO announced plans for an uncrewed F-35.
• The F-35 and F-22 will gain next-gen stealth, electronic warfare, and weapons improvements, he said.
• The US Air Force wants uncrewed aircraft to support piloted ones and add mass to its force.

Lockheed Martin is developing an advanced version of its F-35 stealth fighter jet that could potentially be uncrewed, the company's CEO said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Bernstein's 41st Annual Strategic Decisions Conference, CEO Jim Taiclet floated the possibility of an F-35 whose pilot could be "optional" within a "relatively modest time frame."

He outlined what he called "fifth-gen-plus" aircraft, where within two or three years both the F-35 and the older F-22 Raptor would feature several capabilities, including stealth coatings, electronic warfare improvements, and an unspecified weapons improvement, he said.

Lockheed is repurposing much of this tech from its failed bid for the F-22 Raptor replacement, advances whose capabilities could rival those of the winning jet design at a much lower cost.

Boeing secured the contract for the US Air Force's Next-Generation Air Dominance program, or NGAD, to develop the sixth-generation F-47. Lockheed Martin didn't protest the decision.

"Our target is 80% of the capability of an NGAD sixth-generation at 50% of the unit costs," Taiclet said.

These improvements would be introduced in stages, he said, with consideration to how the aircraft will be integrated with other systems. Some updates could be done in two to three years for "a meaningful increase in capacity," Taiclet said.

That includes stealth coatings on the aircraft's surface and adjustments to its shape, as well as electronic warfare and weapons capabilities upgrades. Sixth-generation are a class of aircraft whose stealth, speed, automation and extended range are expected to make them the world's premier aircraft as they enter service in the 2030s.

More than 1,200 F-35s have already been delivered to the US and 12 additional countries' militaries. The F-35 program has hit several snags over the years, including costs and goals. The lifetime F-35 program costs top $2 trillion, and sustainability costs are also rising. Last year, the US Government Accountability Office assessed that the F-35 isn't hitting mission-capable goals and hasn't for years. 

On a company earnings call in April, Taiclet said the fifth-gen plus upgrade focused on better capabilities at a lower cost but details were sparse. "We're basically going to take the [F-35] chassis and turn it into a Ferrari," he said.

AI-guided fighters

Autonomous or uncrewed capabilities in aircraft have been a top priority for the US Air Force. Its Collaborative Combat Aircraft initiative has focused on unmanned aircraft capable of operating alongside piloted aircraft or autonomously for a variety of missions.

Air Force leadership has touted these "loyal wingmen" as not only giving pilots a variety of options for how to employ them — as sensors, weapons carriers, or jamming platforms — but also offering the possibility of having enough with lower costs than crewed aircraft. That could be key in a conflict with a peer adversary, like China or Russia. A pilot could direct a CCA on missions too dangerous for crewed fighters.

At the conference, Taiclet said Lockheed Martin's interest in pilot-optional F-35s lent itself to the CCA.

"We're thinking of the F-35 not just as a standalone aircraft, but how it can interface with sixth generation and with unmanned aircraft and itself be optionally manned," he said.

Efforts for F-35 autonomy would be similar to the Air Force's AI-guided F-16 fighter jet that's been used in recent years to test AI pilots. The aircraft is part of the Air Force and Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA)'s AI fighter jet pilot program, which has been working on testing, iterating, and updating AI agents to fly the jet.

Last year, then-Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall flew in the X-62A pilot by AI, "witnessing several AI agents as they autonomously maneuvered the X-62 against a manned F-16 in dogfighting engagements," an Air Force official said at the time.

Those manned-unmanned dogfights have been ongoing and the service has said it's learning a lot of information from them, especially on how autonomous aircraft could aid or support manned pilots.

• Costco rerouted some imports and found US-made alternatives in the wake of tariffs, executives said.
• The chain also dealt with higher butter and egg costs by taking a profit-margin hit on some items.
• Costco tracks key commodity prices "daily, and if not hourly," its CEO said.

Shoppers have faced higher prices due to tariffs and bird flu this year.

Costco, meanwhile, has worked to avoid price hikes on many items thanks to a multi-pronged approach, executives said during the retailer's third-quarter earnings call on Thursday.

As the threat of tariffs became real during the quarter, which included President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day," Costco brought in some merchandise for summer earlier than usual and purchased more US-made inventory, CEO Ron Vachris said during the call.

The chain also rerouted some goods it had already purchased for its US stores to its locations abroad in order to avoid paying the tariffs.

Costco's buyers have looked at specific items to figure out whether it can source US-made alternatives to suddenly more-expensive imports, Vachris said.

"Is it something that we can replace with something domestically here, or is it something that we need to go ahead and move on quickly and bring in prior to any future tariff increases?" he said.

Higher costs for some grocery staples, namely butter and eggs, also provided a challenge for Costco over the last few months. Besides being common purchases for Costco customers, those two items have a large "halo effect" on the costs of other goods that require them as ingredients, Vachris said.

Costco's buyers talk to vendors regularly about lowering costs, the CEO said.

"We're watching pricing daily, and if not hourly, on every key commodity," Vachris said.

That doesn't mean that Costco is raising prices for those items, though. In fact, the chain's profit margins on specific products have taken a hit.

Often, when the price that a retailer pays for an item goes up, stores raise the price that consumers pay in part or in full to protect their profit. That's exactly what many retailers did earlier this year when the cost of eggs skyrocketed as bird flu killed many egg-laying chickens and drove supply down.

Costco said it avoided raising prices on eggs and butter as its costs for those things went up — leading some customers to line up early. The wholesale warehouse chain cut egg prices by 10% and butter prices by about 7% during its third quarter, CFO Gary Millerchip said on an earnings call Thursday.

The retailer also held back on price increases on items that use those ingredients, Millerchip said.

One example: The croissants in Costco's in-store bakeries.

The company "held prices lower when butter costs were elevated," he said. As butter prices have fallen, Costco's profit margin on that item has expanded, Millerchip said.

"In general, we feel margin pressure during times of inflation on these types of ingredients as we keep prices low for our members," Millerchip said. "And the opposite is often true when prices fall, as we feel the margin relief faster while also being able to lower prices more quickly than our competitors."

• The Vanderbilts, one of America's wealthiest Gilded Age families, owned multiple opulent homes.
• The Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island, was their summer escape.
• Now a museum, the Breakers features 70 rooms and spans 138,300 square feet.

During the Gilded Age, Cornelius Vanderbilt was America's richest man with an estimated net worth of $100 million, or around $200 billion in today's currency. Having amassed his fortune in the railroad business during a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization, he would be wealthier than Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Warren Buffett if he were alive today.

His grandson, Cornelius Vanderbilt II, succeeded him as the president and chairman of the New York Central Railroad in 1885. As heir to the family fortune, he built a 70-room, 138,300-square-foot mansion on the shores of Newport, Rhode Island, as a summer escape for his wife, Alice Vanderbilt, and their seven children.

The seaside residence, named "the Breakers" after the waves that break on Newport's rocky shores, was one of many opulent homes that the Vanderbilts owned as one of America's wealthiest Gilded Age families.

The mansion is now a museum open to the public. Take a look inside.

Completed in 1895, the Breakers is now a museum that preserves the extravagant wealthy lifestyle of a millionaire family in the Gilded Age.

Adult admission to the Breakers costs $32. Tickets can be purchased through The Preservation Society of Newport County.

The Breakers offers self-guided audio tours through the Newport Mansions app, which I downloaded when I visited in August 2024.

The first stop on the tour was the jaw-dropping Great Hall.

The Vanderbilts hired architect Richard Morris Hunt to design the Renaissance-style home.

Hunt modeled the Great Hall after the Opera House in Paris and the open-air courtyards of Italy in the 16th century, according to the audio tour.

The audio tour pointed out unique details in a fireplace alcove: cherubs accompanied by railroad imagery.

In a nod to the Vanderbilts' steamship and railroad business ventures, the cherub on the left held an anchor as a locomotive chugged past it. On the right, the other cherub held a sledgehammer and railroad spike.

"It's really humorous to see classical cherubs celebrating the rise of an industrial empire," architectural historian John Tschirch said in the audio tour. "But that's what the Gilded Age was all about — combining the old imagery of the classical world with the technology of the new."

The Great Hall opened out to a porch overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Outdoor spaces functioned as additional rooms in Gilded Age mansions.

In the Dining Room, the Vanderbilts entertained other wealthy members of Gilded Age society.

The room was decorated with alabaster columns and Baccarat crystal chandeliers powered by electricity, a state-of-the-art technology during the Gilded Age.

A painting on the gilded ceiling depicted Aurora, the goddess of dawn.

The Gilded Age was named for the practice of gilding, or covering surfaces with a thin, decorative layer of gold.

Mark Twain coined the name as a criticism of the inequality that existed during the period, implying that while the displays of wealth were beautiful on the surface, they also signified an underbelly of corruption.

Hunt, the architect, took inspiration from ancient Rome while designing the Billiard Room.

Marble mosaics covered the entire floor and ceiling. The wrought-iron and bronze light fixture over the billiard table was so heavy it had to be attached to the structural beams of the Breakers in order to stay up.

On an episode of the HBO show "The Gilded Age," Alderman Morris and George Russell played a round of billiards in this room after dinner.

The floor of the Billiard Room featured acorns, the symbol of the Vanderbilt family.

The acorn symbol represented strength and long life, according to the audio tour. I spotted acorn designs throughout the home on its gilded ceilings and ornate carvings.

The walls in the Billiard Room were made of Cipollino marble that the Vanderbilts imported from Switzerland.

In a technique called bookmatching, each piece of marble was cut in half to create two identical slabs for a uniform look throughout the room.

The Morning Room was designed by French decorator Jules Allard in the French and Italian Renaissance style.

Allard operated interior design branches in Paris and New York during the Gilded Age. The Preservation Society of Newport County possesses the largest collection of Allard's works.

Shining platinum panels in the walls showed the Muses, Greek goddesses of the arts.

Conservators assumed that panels on the walls were decorated with silver leaf, but when they never seemed to tarnish, tests with a portable X-ray machine revealed that they were actually made of platinum, chief conservator of the Preservation Society of Newport County, Jeff Moore, said on the audio tour.

The Vanderbilts played music and hosted concerts in their Music Room.

Cornelius Vanderbilt played the violin, and his wife, Alice Vanderbilt, played the piano.

The Music Room also served as a set for the HBO show "The Gilded Age."

In the show, the wealthy Russell family hosted their daughter Gladys' debut ball at their mansion. The Music Room at the Breakers stood in as the Russells' ballroom.

The Library served as a private space for the Vanderbilt family to relax and take their afternoon tea.

The centerpiece of the room, the stone fireplace, came from a French chateau and dates back 500 years.

In keeping with the bookish theme, craftsmen pressed gold leaf into the wood panels to make it look like a leather book cover.

The walls in the cabinets in the room were crafted from Circassian walnut imported from Russia and Turkey.

Recessed boxes called coffers adorned the ceiling.

Every other box featured dolphin imagery, a symbol of hospitality in the Gilded Age.

The tour continued on the second floor with the Vanderbilts' daughter Gladys' room.

Rooms on the second floor featured simpler furnishings designed by interior decorator Ogden Codman.

A portrait of Gladys, who later became known as Countess Széchenyi, hung above her bed.

Cornelius Vanderbilt II slept in a bedroom down the hall.

Cornelius Vanderbilt II only spent one summer in the Breakers before he had a stroke in 1896 and died three years later.

The Breakers had a total of 20 bathrooms.

The bathroom next to Cornelius Vanderbilt II's room featured a marble tub so thick that it had to be filled and emptied several times before it stayed warm enough. Carved from a single block of marble, the tub's design emulated that of a Roman sarcophagus.

Alice Vanderbilt's room also functioned as an office where she managed household affairs.

Like most wealthy women in the Gilded Age, Alice Vanderbilt went upstairs to change her clothes several times a day depending on the activity.

She could communicate with servants through a phone on her bedside table.

The phone connected to call buttons for butlers, housekeepers, and other staff members.

The Vanderbilts' oldest daughter, Gertrude, slept in this room with pink floral wallpaper.

Gertrude Vanderbilt married Harry Payne Whitney, became a sculptor, and went on to found the Whitney Museum in New York City.

Codman decorated one of the guest bedrooms with paneled walls in a design that wouldn't have been out of place in 18th-century France.

The room featured four Neoclassical panels representing the four seasons of the year.

The top of the grand staircase featured a portrait of Alice Vanderbilt painted by Spanish artist Ricardo Federico de Madrazo y Garreta.

The steps on the grand staircase were designed to be 2 inches shorter than regular stairs. This helped women in long ball gowns descend more easily.

Out in the hallway, speaking tubes allowed servants to communicate with each other in an early intercom system.

The Breakers contained 33 bedrooms for its 40 staff members, accessible through a servant staircase.

Downstairs, a safe in the butler's pantry stored the Vanderbilts' 1,000-piece set of monogrammed silver from Tiffany & Co.

The butler's pantry also featured a warming oven to keep food warm between courses and cabinets of the family's china and crystal.

In the kitchen, an enormous cast-iron stove was powered by coal and wood as a team of cooks prepared French cuisine for the Vanderbilts.

The Breakers' kitchen appeared as part of the Russells' mansion in "The Gilded Age."

The kitchen led out into the gift shop and the exit, where visitors could explore the sprawling grounds.

The 13-acre property included colorful flower gardens and views of the Atlantic Ocean.

The grounds also featured European beech trees imported from overseas.

The trees, which can grow up to 45 feet wide, served as a status symbol on large Gilded Age estates.

While the Vanderbilts regarded the Breakers as their summer "cottage," its lavish interiors are nothing short of remarkable.

The Breakers mansion remains one of the finest examples of the extravagant displays of wealth that defined the Gilded Age. Walking through enormous rooms glittering with gold furnishings, painstaking mosaics, and painted ceilings, I felt as if I were touring a European palace — just as its millionaire owners intended.

• We asked people working in the golf industry and other pros what not to do on a golf course.
• They said leaving ball marks and setting your bag down on the green is bad etiquette.
• Arriving late for tee time or playing loud music can make the day unenjoyable for everyone.

Whether you're a first-timer at your neighborhood links or planning to visit one of the world's most prestigious golf courses, following proper etiquette is imperative.

Business Insider asked PGA pros and course employees about the biggest mistakes people make at golf courses — and how they can be more respectful players.

Here's what they said.

Don't waste time watching shots if you want to keep things moving

Justan Johnson, a PGA golf instructor at East Potomac Golf Links and the owner of Blue Golf Performance in Washington, DC, told BI that he doesn't like it when golfers waste time watching other players' shots land.

"Instead, they should be playing 'ready golf' — meaning standing at their ball quietly, without distraction, preparing for their next shot while their partner is hitting," he said. "As soon as their partner's shot lands, they should be hitting their shot in the next 20 seconds."

Johnson added that keeping things moving can save about 30 minutes a game.

Don't break the dress code — it exists for a reason

Erika Larkin, the director of instruction at Creighton Farms golf club in Virginia, told BI that players should always pay attention to a golf course's dress code.

Wearing things like jeans, tank tops, and backward hats can be seen as disrespectful.

"Golf has always been a game about class and integrity, so it's best to wear proper attire like a collared shirt with golf shorts or a skirt," she said.

Putting your golf bag on the green is also frowned upon

Larkin said players shouldn't leave their heavy bags on the green.

"It can damage the green and create a distraction for the players in the group," she told BI.

Forgetting to repair your marks on the green is bad etiquette

Another classic faux pas is leaving ball marks on the green — which can mess up other players' putts.

"A simple rule of thumb is 'make one, fix four.' When you approach a green, fix your ball mark and another three ball marks with your divot tool," Johnson said.

Arriving late for your tee time disrupts the whole day

Jason Crawford, the PGA head golf professional at Massanutten Resort in Virginia, told BI that being on time is crucial when heading to the golf course.

"Check in 20 minutes before your tee time," Crawford said. "Tee time means starting the first hole at your time. If you begin after your tee time, you throw off the rhythm of the course for everyone."

He added that beginners should choose tee times later in the day to enjoy a more relaxed pace — golfing behind veterans who hit the links early can feel rushed.

Never dangle your foot outside the golf cart

Don Rasmussen, the lead instructor at Circling Raven Golf Club's academy in Idaho, said players shouldn't misuse golf carts — especially while in motion.

"We have had a couple of golfers that dangled their legs," he told BI. "The result ended poorly as they both caught their foot on a railroad tie and caused a spiral break in their lower leg."

Avoid playing music too loud (or at all)

It might be tempting to bring a Bluetooth speaker out on the course for a fun day, but Johnson advised against it.

"In a business setting, the wrong song could destroy a relationship or even a deal," he said. "Keeping your volume to a level that doesn't distract or offend your playing partners but you can still enjoy is best."

Whatever you do, don't drive into native grass off the green

People should only drive golf carts on the paths along the links. Venturing off into native grasses to the sides of the greens isn't a good idea.

Rasmussen said driving off-path can cause the carts to shut down automatically at some courses.

"You will look pretty funny being the person pushing your cart back into the normal course of play," he told BI.

Avoid letting your frustration get the best of you

Crawford said that no matter how frustrated you are with a shot, letting your anger out in obvious ways disrupts the vibes on the course.

"Avoid letting frustration take control," he told BI. "Throwing clubs and cursing not only disrupts your game but also affects others' enjoyment."

In general, never destroy the greens, or you might not be welcome back

One of the simplest ways to get barred from a golf course is to damage the green, regardless of whether it's intentional.

"If there's any sacred ground on the golf course, it's the putting-green surfaces," Johnson told BI. "They're mowed low and rolled to be as smooth as possible for maximum enjoyment. One scrape on a green could change the direction of someone's putt, causing it to miss."

All in all, just be respectful toward your surroundings on a golf course like you would be anywhere else.

This story was originally published on August 26, 2024, and most recently updated on May 30, 2025.

• Bill Gates releases his summer reading list featuring five memoirs.
• The list includes books that he said influenced his own memoir, "Source Code."
• Gates highlighted authors Katharine Graham, Trevor Noah, Nicholas Kristof, Tara Westover, and Bono.

Bill Gates is on a memoir kick this summer after publishing his own in February.

The 69-year-old dropped his annual summer reading list on Saturday, and this year's entries were five books that Gates said helped shape his memoir, "Source Code."

"Memoirs are a good reminder that people have countless interesting stories to tell about their lives," Gates said in a blog post.

"Source Code" recounts stories from Gates' early life leading up to the founding of Microsoft. He writes about how he fell in love with computing, how he got into Harvard, and his first time doing acid.

In his blog post, he wrote that there's no "direct correlation" between his memoir and those on the list. However, he said there are similar themes.

Last year, his summer reading list was a mix of fiction and nonfiction, with novels about Army nurses and secret agents. His 2025 authors include good friends and a rockstar.

"Memoirs are a good reminder that people have countless interesting stories to tell about their lives," Gates wrote.

Here are the memoirs he recommends for summer 2025.

"Chasing Hope" by Nicholas Kristof

Gates said he's been following the work of Nicholas Kristof since 1997, when the veteran journalist published an article about children in poor countries dying from diarrhea. It changed the course of his life and helped him shape the Gates Foundation, Gates wrote in his blog post.

"In this terrific memoir, Nick writes about how he stays optimistic about the world despite everything he's seen," Gates wrote. "The world would be better off with more Nick Kristofs."

"Chasing Hope" came out in 2024 — after Gates finished writing his own memoir. However, Gates said he felt he had to include it on the list.

"Personal History" by Katharine Graham

Gates said he met renowned newspaper publisher Katharine Graham in 1991 on the same day he met Warren Buffett. Kay, as Gates affectionately called her, is best known for presiding over her family's paper, The Washington Post, during Richard Nixon's Watergate scandal.

"I loved hearing Kay talk about her remarkable life: taking over the Post at a time when few women were in leadership positions like that, standing up to President Nixon to protect the paper's reporting on Watergate and the Pentagon Papers, negotiating the end to a pressman's strike, and much more," Gates said.

"Educated" by Tara Westover

Tara Westover's "Educated" debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list after its 2018 release. The tale of her upbringing, which included an unconventional father who banned her family from going to hospitals or attending school, led Gates to leave a 5-star review on Goodreads the same year it came out.

Westover taught herself math and self-studied for the ACT despite not setting foot in a classroom until she was 17. Today, she has a Ph.D. in history.

"I thought I was pretty good at teaching myself — until I read Tara Westover's memoir 'Educated.' Her ability to learn on her own blows mine right out of the water," Gates said in his review.

"Born a Crime" by Trevor Noah

Comedian Trevor Noah released "Born a Crime," a memoir about his childhood in South Africa, in 2016. As a biracial boy growing up during apartheid, Noah was the product of an illegal interracial relationship and struggled to fit in. Gates said he related to the feeling of being an outsider.

"I also grew up feeling like I didn't quite fit in at times, although Trevor has a much stronger claim to the phrase than I do," he wrote in his blog post.

"Surrender" by Bono

Gates shouted out the vulnerability in "Surrender" by musician Paul David Hewson, better known as U2 frontman Bono. The full title, "Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story," sums up the 40-chapter autobiography that has each chapter named after a U2 song.

According to Gates, Bono opens up about his upbringing with parents who "basically ignored" his passion for singing, which only made him try harder to make it as a musician.

"I went into this book knowing almost nothing about his anger at his father, the band's near-breakups, and his discovery that his cousin was actually his half-brother," Gates said.

• Brian Chesky said a rejection email from 2008 taught him a key lesson about entrepreneurship.
• The Airbnb CEO said it was one of many rejections he got while building the multi-billion dollar company.
• Chesky's comments come as the job market, especially in the tech world, remains bleak.

In 2008, Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, had an inbox full of rejections. At the time, he was trying to raise money for his fledgeling start-up, Chesky said in a recent interview on the "The Diary of a CEO" podcast.

"We've had a chance to discuss internally, and unfortunately don't think that it's right for 'fill in the blank investment firm' from an investment perspective," Chesky read during the interview, noting that the email was from August 1, 2008. "The potential market opportunity did not seem large enough for a required model."

Chesky was, to the best of his memory, trying to raise $150,000 at a $1.5 million post-money valuation. Now, nearly 17 years later, Airbnb has a market cap of nearly $80 billion.

"That's a pretty large market," Chesky said. "And our business is pretty much the same idea as the idea that we proposed to that person who said our market opportunity wasn't large enough."

Airbnb has recently implemented some changes, like launching a "services" option for booking things like private chefs and personal trainers, and a new "experiences" feature.

Chesky said that there are many lessons to be found in this early rejection email.

"It's a reminder that the world doesn't just change. Or at least it doesn't just transform towards our dreams, ideals, and ambitions," Chesky said. "That requires certain types of people — we might call them entrepreneurs, inventors, all sorts of people in different domains — that believe the world can be a little different than the one that they live in."

Most people listening to the podcast, he said, have the skills to be an entrepreneur, at least on a small scale.

Chesky said all this as the job market remains dire, including for young people in the tech sector.

• Jochen Koedijk, Expedia Group's top marketer, wants the travel brand to be a first mover in AI.
• It's forged partnerships with OpenAI and Google — and has an AI integration with Instagram Reels.
• Expedia wants customers to move more seamlessly between travel inspiration and booking a trip.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jochen Koedijk, Expedia Group's chief marketing officer. It's been edited for length and clarity.

The way consumers are using the internet to make their decisions is fundamentally changing.

I have two kids, 10 and seven years old, and I think it's very unlikely they will ever put a query into a search box, as I've grown up doing. The way people are using voice and having real conversations is going to be a long-term change in how people are using the internet.

What we're seeing today is that a lot of the inspirational travel searches are evolving rapidly with things like Copilot, ChatGPT, and even Instagram Reels.

There are a lot of moments where my wife sends me Reels, and she's like, "Where is this?" And I have no idea. So then, we were like, what if we can develop something where you send those Reels to Expedia, and then we will tell you: "It's this destination, or this hotel. Here are a couple of things to do. The best time to visit is between May and July, and here are a couple of booking options so you can get started."

Right now, it's still early access, which means it's only with Reels, but we're looking at other forms of content as well.

It's a very different journey versus going to Google.com and typing in "best hotels in Miami with pool, minus spa."

We're also focusing on the visibility of our brands in agentic search engines. It's really evolving.

We've launched with Operator for OpenAI, which I still see as a precursor to an agentic interface because you're looking at the cursor moving on your screen. Of course, true agentic, where it's going, will be more behind-the-scenes. But it's very important to be early so that we can experiment and iterate.

Another example is being a launch partner for Copilot Plus, which is the way Microsoft is evolving. There's so much development between each of these LLM providers and depending on which week of the month, there's a new model here, and things completely change.

There are a lot of AI experts popping up left, right, and center. It's important for us to make sure that we do a lot of our marketing in-house — the majority — and that we further evolve our in-house functions to be ready for the future.

Google is a very important partner of ours. A lot of our traffic is still from Google. The way they're using Gemini with AI Overviews is already impacting our existing traffic in a big way.

We look to understand which search queries are triggering AI overviews, and then we look at our traffic trends, and we triangulate. So we could, for example, see that certain keyword buckets trigger more overviews than last month, and that will have a certain impact on traffic and conversion. Traffic may go down, but conversions may go up because the traffic becomes more qualified.

I do believe the funnel — as we call it as marketers — will start to collapse more and more over time. We want to make it a lot more seamless so that there is not that kind of disconnect between the inspiration and the action.

• The war in Ukraine shows that the way Western militaries are run is outdated, a UK minister warned.
• Drones evolve so fast that "we have to fundamentally challenge our assumptions," Luke Pollard said.
• He was speaking at a summit of more than 100 drone companies, military officials, and ministers.

The war in Ukraine has shown that the way Western militaries are run is "outdated" because of how fast battlefield tech like drones evolves, a defence minister has warned.

Luke Pollard, the UK's armed forces minister, said Ukraine's fight against Russia's invasion showed "the way we have run our militaries, the way we have run our defense, is outdated. And that is the case across the NATO alliance."

Pollard said that drones had "shifted the tectonic plates of warfare," and the speed of their innovation showed how much faster procurement and innovation have to happen.

Drone tech "iterates every two to three weeks on the front line" with a "fundamentally different" model, Pollard said Wednesday, adding, "That means we have to fundamentally challenge our assumptions about how we procure."

He said that NATO militaries "build and procure really expensive high-end bits of kit. And it will take you five, 10 years: five years to run a procurement challenge, another 10 years to build it."

"If we allow ourselves to be stuck in old-world thinking, we will not be providing the tech that Ukraine needs, we will not be providing the security that we need," Pollard added.

Pollard was speaking at the Drone Summit, which brought together drone companies, military officials, and government ministers in Latvia, a NATO member bordering Russia.

Drones have played a bigger role in Russia's invasion of Ukraine than in any other conflict in history, and have upended many traditional fighting rules by taking the place of some artillery and infantry.

Cheap drones have also destroyed pieces of weaponry that are worth millions, like tanks and air defenses.

Oleksandr Yabchanka, the head of the robotic systems for Ukraine's Da Vinci Wolves Battalion, which operates ground drones, told Business Insider in March: "What was up to date and relevant half a year ago is not up to date and relevant anymore."

Pollard was echoing previous warnings that the West needs to change its approach to weaponry to fight an adversary like Russia.

Military officials and warfare experts have warned that the West must amass a larger volume of cheaper weaponry and shift its focus away from fewer pieces of more advanced and expensive kit.

In January, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte gave a similar warning, saying, "speed is of the essence, not perfection."

Officials also questioned the value of some high-value weaponry in the face of drones. US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll said earlier this month that the US can't keep developing and buying expensive weaponry that can be destroyed by far cheaper drones.

New rules

Pollard told the summit that, with drones, there must be a change "that is built into all our procurements that says what we can buy and build and scale faster than we have done before."

He said this change would be harder for larger companies, but there needs to be a startup-style culture for companies to "not go along with the guide rails and the rules of the game but to innovate based on what is working."

Pollard said that, while a coalition of 18 countries had delivered tens of thousands of drones to Ukraine, the war shows how much more needs to be done.

"Big numbers need sustainable supply chains that can scale up when wartime demand requires it. Our industrial bases across Europe, across the globe, must become as agile as the systems we seek to produce with our people as skilled as the operators who deploy them on the frontline of Ukraine," he said.

Stark warnings

The gathering saw repeated warnings that the West's work is not enough.

Ruben Brekelmans, the Netherlands' defense minister, told the summit that, in much of Europe, "We are quite fast at developing drones, but we are not producing drones on a massive scale. And I think that's a step that we need to take."

He added Ukraine's allies had to work together to achieve "mass production quite quickly, because Ukraine needs it. We need it as well."

Many European countries have warned that they could be attacked next, and supply Ukraine not only to keep Russia's war machine occupied, but to test battlefield tech.

Russia still has a large military, and it has kept some of its advanced equipment out of Ukraine and unscathed from the war. Many current and former Western military officials also warn that Russia's war machine is far more spun up than Western ones.

"Russia has surpassed us technologically. And more dangerously, it has surpassed us in terms of speed and scale," Valerii Churkin, Ukraine's deputy defense minister, said at the summit.

"The enemy moves faster than we do," he added.

Churkin urged more collaboration, telling his country's European allies, "Ukraine is not just a recipient of aid. We are your test."

• Elon Musk is leaving DOGE and Donald Trump's White House on Friday, and reactions are varied.
• The clock has run out on Musk's 130-day limit as a special government employee.
• Republicans are vowing that DOGE's work is not done as the effort effectively loses its spiritual leader.

Love him or hate him, Musk made quite the impression during his tenure at DOGE in DC.

As Musk's 130-day stint as a special government employee in Donald Trump's "Department of Government Efficiency" comes to a close, Musk watchers from politics to the business world are weighing in on his departure.

Through DOGE, Musk's focus on government spending leaned on similarly extreme cost-cutting methods he had honed at Tesla and during his Twitter takeover.

He helped fire thousands of federal employees, slash entire departments, and upend congressional negotiations, to name just a few of his moves. However, the world's richest man has distanced himself from politics in recent weeks to spend more time on his bruised companies, and has said he plans to do less political spending moving forward.

Though Musk's political tenure is officially over today, his influence in Washington may still loom large, with DOGE employees embedded in federal agencies. Trump himself said Musk isn't gone for good in a Truth Social post.

"This will be his last day, but not really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way. Elon is terrific!" Trump wrote.

As Musk's DOGE chapter comes to a close, BI rounded up some of the most noteworthy reactions and reflections to his return to the private sector.

Tesla investor Ross Gerber

A longtime Tesla investor and recent Tesla bear, Ross Gerber signaled his relief in a post on X.

"Best thing that could have happened was getting the heck out of DOGE," he wrote, adding a link to Tesla's stock price. Gerber previously told BI that Musk returning to Tesla more full-time won't necessarily heal the company's wounds, though, partly because his image is so damaged.

Gerber struck a similar note on CNN on Thursday, saying that he's "much happier" now, even if the brand damage runs deep, and that Tesla benefits when Musk isn't in the news.

"I feel like Elon was a little bit naive and wanted to get involved with the Trump administration, and it sort of ended up working out very poorly for him, certainly around the optics," Gerber said.

Sen. Joni Ernst

Ernst, an Iowa Republican, leads the Senate's DOGE caucus.

"In just over 100 days, Elon rooted out billions in waste, fraud, and abuse to make government more efficient," Ernst wrote on X. "This is just the start of making DOGE a lifestyle for Washington by continuing to downsize government and put taxpayers first."

Fox News columnist David Marcus

Marcus published an opinion piece in Fox News praising Musk's impact through DOGE.

"Musk has forever changed how Americans look at federal spending, and that is a wonderful thing," Marcus wrote. He acknowledged that DOGE has cut less from the budget than originally intended — Musk said DOGE has saved $160 billion, far short of the initial $2 trillion goal — but said that its current and future savings "are nothing to sneeze at."

More than anything, Marcus said that DOGE has brought the issue of federal spending into the public conversation and exposed programs he sees as "blatant and frivolous waste."

Joe Kernen

Kernen, the co-anchor of CNBC's show "Squawk Box," lamented that "The Swamp" had beaten the world's richest man.

"Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the presidency. Is there going to be any deficit reduction? Nothing ever works. Here we are," he said.

Scott Galloway

Days before Musk announced his official departure, Galloway responded to Musk's announcement that he was scaling back political spending. The New York University marketing professor said on an episode of the podcast "Pivot", which he hosts alongside journalist Kara Swisher, that Musk's links to DOGE sparked "one of the greatest brand destructions" of all time.

Galloway said that Musk's turn toward politics is to blame for Tesla's recent backlash, much of which has come from liberals.

"He is a brilliant guy, but he's alienated his core demographic," Galloway said.

Scott Jennings

Jennings, a political commentator and author, underlined that the first major fight over Musk's DOGE-related legacy is about to unfold as Congress considers making $9 billion in proposed cuts permanent.

"I'm grateful to @elonmusk for what DOGE accomplished. I'm not sure we've ever had a more efficient government employee," Jennings wrote on X. "It's now up to the GOP to CODIFY the cuts and rid the bureaucracy of the fraud and waste that Elon exposed."

Robert Reich

A former Labor Secretary, professor, and outspoken DOGE critic, Reich said in a social media post that Musk's departure might not change much.

"Elon may be on his way out, but DOGE is still gutting countless government programs and services that millions of Americans rely on," Reich wrote, along with a video about job cuts and other changes.

Wall Street analyst Dan Ives

Wall Street analyst Dan Ives is ready to lead the Tesla bulls again.

This "is music to the ears of Tesla shareholders with Musk now laser focused on Tesla and the autonomous vision ahead," Ives wrote on X. "A new chapter ahead for Tesla and Musk 🔥🏆🐂🎯"

The White House

"We thank him for his service," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday. "We thank him for getting DOGE off the ground, and the efforts to cut waste, fraud, and abuse will continue."

Other politicians across the aisle weighed in

Sen. Elizabeth Warren

Warren, a former Democratic presidential hopeful, signaled that she wasn't ready to turn a new page with Musk.

"Good riddance — but Musk isn't off the hook for his chaos and corruption," the Massachusetts senator wrote on X. "We must hold him accountable."

Sen. John Kennedy

"Elon Musk is a total baller," Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, wrote on X. "Man's got tiger blood."

Gov. Tim Walz

The former Democratic vice presidential nominee didn't waste another opportunity to troll Musk. "Finally rooting out waste and abuse," Walz wrote on X.

Sen. Ted Cruz

"I think what you said is exactly right, the American people should be saying to Elon, 'thank you, thank you, thank you,'" Cruz, a Texas Republican, said on Fox News Wednesday night.

"He came for four months and worked free of charge, didn't collect a salary, he made nothing," Cruz said. "He rooted out massive waste, fraud, and abuse, and he did so at an enormous cost to himself."

• When I earned my Ph.D., I realized I didn't want to work in that field anymore.
• I decided to pursue a role in science writing, but I couldn't get a job.
• As my bank account dwindled, I became more stressed until I finally landed my dream role.

In 2023, I finished my Ph.D. in biomedical engineering with no job lined up and, honestly, no idea what to do next.

To this day, I'm not entirely sure what went through my mind when I decided to pursue a Ph.D. Maybe I wanted to delay entering the job market a little longer. Maybe it felt like the natural course after finishing a master's, especially since many of my friends were doing the same.

It took me a while to realize the lab life wasn't for me. I was working 12 to 14 hours a day, including weekends and holidays, trying to make a groundbreaking discovery without any real idea of what I was doing. By the time I defended my thesis, the only thing I knew for sure was that I couldn't keep doing this.

I felt terrible about it because after so many years of hard work and studying, I didn't want to continue down the path I had invested so much of my life in. I just didn't know how difficult it would be to transition into something new.

I walked away from academia with no backup plan

When I decided to leave my field of study behind, I had to stop and think: What skills had I gained along the way that could be valuable in today's job market, and what had actually brought me joy during those years?

I looked back at my time in academia and tried to find where I had shone. While many of my colleagues dreaded writing, I actually enjoyed it. I was always excited to sit down and draft papers, and I loved preparing and giving conference presentations.

That's when it hit me: Maybe I could work in science communication. More specifically, science writing. I could write papers, reports, and presentations. I could help people who loved the lab work but didn't have the time or patience to write and publish their findings.

There was just one problem. Scientific writing positions barely exist in Portugal, where I graduated. I would have to look abroad or find remote work.

I threw myself into a brutal job market only to get ghosted or rejected

For six months, I consistently applied for scientific writing roles. I reshaped my CV to highlight my writing skills, attended free workshops and courses to improve my writing, and learned how to talk about myself as a writer.

I reached out to hundreds of people on LinkedIn asking for advice. A few replied with helpful messages, but most ignored me. Still, I kept going.

Despite all the effort, the rejection emails kept coming. Without a formal writing degree or certificate, I kept getting messages that started with, "We're sorry to inform you." I did land some interviews and was asked to complete several writing tests and presentations. Job searching felt like a full-time job, and I spent all day sending applications and completing assignments.

Money was running out, and so was my hope

Then, the inevitable happened. After months with no income and draining my tiny savings, I realized I only had enough money for two more months of expenses. It felt like time was running out.

I did everything I could to earn an income. I worked part-time jobs, from house cleaning to selling tickets at summer festivals. I tracked every expense in an Excel spreadsheet. I said no to vacations, weddings, dinners out, and anything that could drain my savings.

I started offering freelance editing and writing services, helping college students with their theses and reports. But the work was inconsistent, and some months, I didn't land a single client. I even applied for receptionist jobs at hospitals and cashier positions at supermarkets. I got rejected from all of them, while my bank account dwindled.

I finally landed a job

Then, completely out of the blue, a recruiter reached out. I hadn't landed the job I originally applied for at a hospital in the US, but she was hiring for a similar position in a different department and wanted me to interview. I was ecstatic. I interviewed with the hiring manager, completed the writing test, and then came the email that made my heart race: they wanted to hire me in the US. They were even covering my relocation costs, which was a relief because by that point, my bank account was nearly empty.

It was far from home, but it was exactly the job I had dreamed of. I packed my suitcases and moved to a new country, filled with relief that I had finally made it into the job market.

Being scrappy worked. Being resilient worked. Being persistent worked.

• As a professional wedding planner, there are certain details my clients typically forget about.
• Although it's one of the most important steps, clients often forget to pick up a marriage license. 
• Important reminders include taking out tips for vendors, writing vows, and planning the rehearsal.

Wedding planning involves a lot of details, so it's no surprise that some of them slip through the cracks, particularly as the big day gets closer.

As a professional wedding planner, I find my clients typically forget a few key steps in the last 30 days before their wedding.

Here are the most common things I see folks forget to do.

Obtain your legal marriage license 

The biggest detail that my clients forget is, ironically, the most important: their legal marriage license. The rules on when and how you can apply for this document will vary depending on where you're getting married. 

For example, I primarily work in Oregon, where you can apply for your license 60 days before the wedding. Ideally, this will allow you to receive the license at least three days before the wedding and save you from potentially paying a rush fee. 

Be sure to check the rules where you're getting married, and plan to bring the license with you to the rehearsal. You can then hand it over to either the person marrying you, your wedding coordinator, or wedding planner (if you have one).

If you're traveling immediately after the wedding, pay attention to when your license needs to be returned. Sometimes, this has to be done within a few days of the wedding. 

Order food and drinks to enjoy while getting ready 

It's incredibly important that you (and whoever else may be getting ready with you) stay hydrated and fed on your wedding day.

This can be a great task to assign that wedding VIP who keeps asking how they can help. Ask them to order a meal to enjoy together before you and your crew get dressed. 

Take out tips for vendors

Unfortunately, you're not done paying for your wedding just yet. Tips are an important way to thank the members of your vendor team.

Many of my clients tip me via cash or check. Venmo and other forms of electronic payment typically work well too, depending on how you've paid the vendor before. 

Keep in mind that some vendors may already include gratuity in their balance (this is almost always the case for caterers). Make sure you double-check your contract or invoice to avoid tipping twice.

If a tip isn't in the cards, writing a nice thank-you note is always appreciated. You can also set a reminder to write reviews for your vendors after the wedding. A review is one of the most helpful and meaningful ways my clients support my work.

You can use this cheat sheet to help determine who to tip and how much to give.

Plan the rehearsal

One of the few things I strongly recommend for any wedding is a rehearsal. If anything, it helps to get the wiggles out among your wedding VIPs.

Ideally, the rehearsal happens at the same location as the wedding ceremony. However, if that's not possible, don't sweat it. You can simply choose a convenient spot to run through the program of events. 

A good rule of thumb is that the people getting married, the person marrying them, and at least 50% of the people involved in the ceremony should attend the rehearsal.

Don't forget to include anyone walking down the aisle, doing a reading, or performing a song.

Obtain event insurance, if required by your venue(s) 

Increasingly, I find wedding venues are requiring what's known as "event insurance," which will protect you from any unexpected incidents on the day of the wedding.

Often, a venue requires proof of insurance at least 30 days before the wedding. Although it's one of the easier and more affordable items to mark off your checklist, it's something my clients tend to forget about. 

Write your vows

One of the most stressful situations I've ever witnessed on a wedding day was a bride frantically jotting down her vows five minutes before walking down the aisle. Don't do this to yourself.

Ideally, you should start working on your vows four to six weeks before the wedding. This gives you plenty of time and space to revisit them and/or share notes with your partner(s).

Starting early also allows you to pour your heart into one of the most important aspects of your ceremony.

My ceremony-script template can help you decide what to include in your vows. 

Pack for your honeymoon 

Many people choose to travel immediately after their wedding. If this is the case, remember to pack ahead of time. This is a good chore to get done before the rehearsal or any other pre-wedding events.

It's also important to remember to arrange for pet and/or plant care while you're away.

Make time for each other

At the end of the day, your wedding is about you and your partner(s).

To stay calm and connected, plan a date night the week of your wedding. The point is to make time with the person or people you're about to marry. 

Most importantly, take a moment to recognize all of the work you've done and reflect on what this major life transition means for each of you.

This story was originally published on September 5, 2023 and most recently updated on May 30, 2025.

• My 85-year-old grandmother lost her house to a tragic house fire.
• Since we didn't have an extra room, I slept with my mom so my grandmother could take my room.
• I learned it's important to make sacrifices for the ones you love.

When it comes to sleeping, I'm rather picky.

There needs to be complete darkness with no noise. Even the dim light of the television and the quiet laughter from the iconic television series "Friends" will turn the wheels in my brain, keeping me awake for hours.

I was that kid at sleepovers who would call my mom in the middle of the night with a fake stomach ache, but not because I wasn't having fun or actually felt ill; I just wanted to sleep in my own bed.

At 23 years old, living in my childhood home, I found comfort coming home to my room after a long day. Little did I know, after sleeping in the same room almost every night of my life, besides college and the few sleepovers I actually made it through, that I would be sleeping next to my mom for four months because of a tragic fire.

My grandmother's house burned down

The heavy rainfall sparked a flame under the electricity panel and shot up three stories through my grandmother's home of 61 years. Luckily, my 85-year-old grandmother — who we call Mammy — goes to bed later than her teenage grandchildren and had just finished watching the last episode of "Family Feud" at 2 AM. As she closed her eyes, she smelled smoke and called for help.

While I sped across town to get my dad from work, my mom and sister watched a policeman evacuate her from the house in her nightgown and slippers.

Tears and rain soaked our clothes as we watched a billowing fire rip through a house that had been in the family for generations. When the rain finally stopped, the house was unrecognizable.

You could see the charred bed frame in the bedroom my grandparents shared years ago, with only rubble surrounding it. What wasn't ablaze was ruined by water damage seeping through the ceilings. Luckily, a few possessions remained intact, covered in black ash.

A house filled with memories of blowing out birthday candles, passing the carved turkey, and making homemade banana pancakes on Sunday mornings was gone. My Mammy no longer had a home.

She moved in with us

Without hesitation or a timeline, my family took my Mammy in.

Our house is comfortable for four people, but five is quite tight. We have three bedrooms and one and a half bathrooms. My father set up a twin bed in our unfinished basement, saying it was his new apartment. My sister's bed was too high for my Mammy to climb into, but my full-sized bed was the perfect height.

So, I took up living quarters with my mom and let my Mammy sleep in my room — Harry Styles posters lining the wall and all.

If you had told me that I'd be sleeping next to my mother at the age of 23, I would have laughed.

She likes the television on; I do not. She keeps the door open a crack, exposing the slightest hint of light; I do not. It was often a battle for the remote, the covers, or the right side of the bed.

I felt like a kid having a nightmare, going into their mom's room to sleep with her. And at the time, I did think this new reality was a nightmare. Now, it has become my biggest lesson.

I got to spend time with her

Every day, my parents remained as calm as one can be in such a situation. They navigated how to break the news to my confused Mammy that her house and many beloved possessions were gone. My parents served as an example of the daughter I strive to be as they get older.

The pieces of our new life fell into place like the puzzles my family and I completed daily with my Mammy. We searched for words in crossword puzzles and watched hopeful contestants say "Deal or No Deal." My sister blew my Mammy's mind when she showed her that a burger and fries from McDonald's could arrive on our doorstep within minutes. Tucking her into my bed with a goodnight kiss is one of many moments I'll carry with me when the house fire fades as a distant flicker in my memory.

Mammy now lives in an apartment across town, waiting for her house to be rebuilt. This has its own challenges, as she can't walk down the basement stairs to do laundry, and she didn't know how to use the new microwave for a while. However, despite the small bumps, we ensure her new environment feels just as her home once did.

Over the four months, we laughed, joked, fought, and cried. When everything in the life of someone you love crumbles to ash, sharing a bed with your mom suddenly doesn't matter.

• Grocery shopping has changed dramatically over the last century.
• Supermarkets first started emerging in the 1920s, forever altering how people shop for food.
• Photos show the shift from small stores to supermarkets in the US.

For most Americans who don't use Instacart, grocery shopping today probably doesn't look all that different from their childhoods — they may mourn the discontinued Dino Pebbles cereal or be grateful for the option to self-checkout, but the fundamentals aren't all that different.

Go back over 100 years, though, and many familiar features wouldn't be found. Many US city-dwellers relied on markets, peddlers, and small shops to get most of their goods. If they did pop into a grocery store, a clerk would wait on them, selecting each item from a shelf or back room.

Throughout the 1920s and '30s, food shopping started to change. Larger grocery stores started popping up around the country. At these new supermarkets, customers would pick out their own groceries, place them in their shopping cart, and haul them out to the parking lot. A decade earlier, all of that would have been unheard of.

Photos show how the US transitioned from small grocery stores to massive supermarkets.

Before grocery stores, US families went to a variety of shops to buy food.

Purchased food, as opposed to home-grown or homemade, was an increasing part of Americans' diet, especially for those who lived in cities during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Stocking up on groceries "was — and was understood to be — difficult, time-consuming, and important work," historian Tracey Deutsch wrote in "Building a Housewife's Paradise: Gender, Politics, and American Grocery Stores in the Twentieth Century."

Shoppers, often women, would have to haggle over price. Availability could be inconsistent, so a seller might run out of a necessary ingredient, making meal planning difficult. Traipsing from one store to another could take up a substantial part of the day.

Differences in race, ethnicity, and language among shoppers and sellers could add difficulty or friction to these tasks as well.

Early grocery stores relied on clerks to give shoppers personal attention.

In the 1920s, grocery stores were tiny hubs of local activity. They were typically around 500 square feet, the size of some present-day apartments.

Most products were behind counters or in storerooms, and clerks would fetch the items and tell the customer the price. Shoppers had to trust that they were getting quality goods and a fair deal.

These stores usually operated on credit. Customers could put purchases on their tab and settle their accounts when their wages came in.

Shoppers might still need to buy produce and meat from separate shops or peddlers because grocery stores didn't offer them.

Chain stores started growing in the 1910s and '20s.

Unlike small, independent stores, chains could buy lots of goods at lower prices, passing savings on to customers. This was especially attractive during the inflationary period that followed World War I, when potatoes cost 147% more in 1923 than they had a decade earlier.

Since smaller grocery stores often didn't list their prices, chain stores seemed to offer more transparency. Some contemporary estimates found chains selling branded items for roughly 9% and 11.5% less than independent retailers.

Chain stores that started to gain success and recognition throughout this period included A&P and Kroger.

Opening economy stores helped A&P achieve explosive growth.

One of the first grocery chains in the US began as Gilman & Company in the 1850s and later became the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P. After the Chicago Fire in 1871, the company expanded outside of New York. Five years later, it had 100 stores.

By the 1930s, over 15,000 A&Ps were located throughout the country, making it the US' largest grocery store chain.

One reason the company was able to expand so quickly was the introduction of its cash-and-carry economy stores in 1912. Instead of customers buying items on credit, they paid right away. Free delivery wasn't offered at these stores, and they all had the same products and layouts. Most of the products were canned or shelf-stable, like flour, but small iceboxes held perishables including butter and eggs.

Economy A&Ps didn't have to keep track of customer accounts, track down late payments, or spend time traveling around the city dropping off groceries. They were more efficient to open and run, leading to substantial growth.

"Although discounting was not a new idea, the economy store was an important building block on the way to the supermarket," historian Benjamin Davison wrote in a 2016 journal article. A large number of customers wanted low prices over perks like personal attention and free delivery.

In the 1930s, some states started passing anti-chain bills over concerns they'd force mom-and-pop shops out of business. The more stores a company owned, the more they were taxed. A&P's growth model was suddenly a lot less attractive.

Kroger helped usher in the era of one-stop shopping.

In the 1920s, some independent retailers started embracing what was known as combination stores. They expanded into existing butcheries to sell meat to customers. Meanwhile, many chains relied on prepackaged food and couldn't sell fresh produce or meat.

Kroger stores were an exception. Bernard H. Kroger started the Great Western Tea Company in 1883 in Cincinnati. As the chain expanded, so did its services. In 1901, some of its stores started baking their own bread. Three years later, the company purchased a meat packer to supply in-store meat departments.

Cutting out suppliers helped Kroger have more control over pricing. He told the New York Times in 1901 that he could sell bread for 2 cents, half the price of everyone else in the city. "He buys coffee by the ship load and browns it himself," a man who had spoken with the grocery store founder told an Ohio newspaper the same year.

By 1925, the Kroger Grocery & Baking Co., as it was then known, was making over $116 million (over $2 billion today) in sales, the Wall Street Journal reported in 1926. It operated 2,858 stores and several bakeries for bread, crackers, and cakes.

Piggly Wiggly started a trend as the first self-service grocery store.

Customers who entered a Piggly Wiggly went through a turnstile into an aisle lined with packaged foods. Unable to leave through the door they entered, they wound through the aisles, browsing goods with their prices prominently displayed. Employees might be restocking shelves, but they weren't there to sell shoppers on the latest detergent or entice them with a bargain on bacon.

While that doesn't strike today's shopper as odd, to a reporter for the Boston Daily Globe in 1918, "the whole place is absolutely novel."

Clarence Saunders had designed the first self-service Piggly Wiggly two years earlier in Memphis, Tennessee. Instead of having a clerk gather everyone's items, the shoppers could pick and choose the brand of soap or type of soup they wanted themselves.

Flour, pickles, and other items were pre-weighed, so customers didn't have to guess the final price or wait for an employee to help measure the right amount. That also meant there was no meat counter with a butcher slicing ham or packing up pork chops.

Piggly Wiggly was novel but not totally unique.

California and Montana had self-service stores pre-dating Piggly Wiggly. However, Saunders gained attention for his opening-day stunts, like handing out roses to redheaded women, and for patenting some of his stores' designs, like the one-way layout that ended at the checkout station.

The unique name, which one trade magazine described as having a "Mother Goosey sound," may have helped, too. Saunders seemed to purposefully shy away from explaining its origins.

Franchising the name and design helped expand the store's reach quickly. By 1923, the US had over 1,200 Piggly Wigglys, most independently owned. That year, Saunders resigned after trying to raise the company's stock price by buying shares.

Some historians have crowned King Kullen as the first true supermarket.

In 1944, the Wall Street Journal reported that even industry experts couldn't settle on a definition for supermarkets. Most agreed the stores had several departments — including produce, meat, and dairy — and the grocery areas were self-service. The Super Market Institute put the minimum sales volume at $200,000 a year (about $3.6 million today).

For some historians, all the pieces come together in Michael Cullen's King Kullen. In 1929, he was managing a Kroger in Illinois when he wrote to the company's president, William Albers, with an idea to create "monstrous" stores where goods would move quickly because they were priced with little markup. Thanks to the volume of items, they would still make a profit, he said. He predicted he'd sell $10,000 worth of groceries a week.

By saving the public $1 to $3 on their food bills, he wrote, "I would be the 'miracle man' of the grocery business."

Albers never saw the letter, and Cullen instead opened his own store in Queens, New York, in 1930. He took out ads calling King Kullen the "world's greatest price wrecker." The warehouse's 6,000 square feet held 1,000 items. Customers quickly started lining up.

In 1936, Cullen died after complications from an appendectomy. His wife took over the company, which had opened more than a dozen stores, which together made more than $6 million a year (more than $139 million today).

Three years after King Kullen announced itself as a price wrecker, Albers left Kroger to open his own eponymous stores, the first to use the term "super market" in its name.

Ralphs is also a contender for the title.

Like A&P and Kroger, Ralphs started in the 19th century. In 1873, brothers George and Walter Ralphs started selling local produce and grains in Los Angeles. The business grew, and in 1926, it had over 40 stores. Many catered to Los Angeles' commuters instead of relying on foot traffic.

Car ownership in the US grew by over 4,000% between 1910 and 1930, especially in areas with little public transportation.

When Ralphs opened its 10,000-square-foot self-service store in West Hollywood, it was the company's largest. It had a large parking lot for the shoppers' vehicles.

Inside, the high-ceilinged, spacious store didn't seem like a typical grocery store. One columnist compared it to a "marketplace of Rome, where Phoenicians came to peddle their bright silks and bits of treasure from afar."

"Some of these early Ralph buildings are almost as modern today as when they were built 25 and 30 years ago," supermarket analyst M. M. Zimmerman wrote in 1955.

Taking advantage of its location, Ralphs prominently displayed its California produce. Its prices were higher than A&P's, but its business model proved popular enough that other LA-area grocers had created 30 similar stores by the time King Kullen opened in 1930.

Big Bear was a bit like the Costco of its day.

Many supermarket histories include New Jersey's Big Bear, which opened in 1932. Transforming a 50,000-square-foot auto plant into a cavernous, boisterous market, Robert Otis and Roy Dawson tipped their hats to King Kullen by calling their store a "price crusher."

Only 15,000 square feet were devoted to grocery items, mostly in cans and packages. To get there, shoppers first had to pass by meat, produce, and bakery counters.

A soda fountain, electronics, tools, cosmetics, drugs, and other departments made up the rest. Customers crowded around tables piled with merchandise. Some traveled 40 miles to take advantage of the store's low prices.

It took Big Bear three days to rake in $31,000, one historian estimated. It might take a small chain store months to sell as much.

People began referring to Big Bear and its many imitators as "barney stores." Some industry analysts dismissed the cheap fixtures and overwhelming layouts of these "wild animal" stores, which often had leopard, tiger, or other beasts in their names.

Early supermarkets were large and operated by self-service.

Other commonalities included free parking, a high volume of products, a certain amount of annual sales, and a variety of departments. By combining butcheries, bakeries, produce, and packaged goods under one roof, they offered one-stop food shopping. Sometimes these were independent contractors leasing space in a building with a big commercial footprint.

These stores also differed from earlier grocers in other ways. Customers paid in cash, and the stores often didn't offer delivery services. The unofficial motto was "pile it high, and sell it cheap," one supermarket owner told Zimmerman in 1955.

"What made supermarkets novel was not their low prices or self-service cash-and-carry approach, however, but the extraordinary array of goods and services they provided under one roof: fresh produce, dairy, meats, baked goods, and canned and packaged foods were to be had, but so were a stunning variety of other items and services," Shane Hamilton wrote in "Supermarket USA: Food and Power in the Cold War Farms Race."

While some businesses, including Ralphs, incorporated attractive design into their layouts, others, like the barney stores, opted for affordability over aesthetics.

Many early supermarkets were independent. It took large chains like A&P and Kroger longer to catch on to the new business model.

Major grocery chains didn't open supermarkets right away.

A few months after Big Bear opened in New Jersey, a grocery industry analyst told The New York Times it was a novelty that would wear off.

"When that time comes, the verdict will be much the same as in Syracuse and Detroit, where 'warehouses' or supermarkets enjoyed a brief period of outstanding success and then experienced a decided drop in sales volume," he said.

A&P's president, John Hartford, also said later that his company didn't take supermarkets seriously. Then it realized King Kullen was crushing its regional shops. By 1936, Safeway, A&P, and Kroger started opening bigger stores.

Adapting to larger, high-volume stores proved successful for these chains. They closed smaller shops to focus on more lucrative supermarkets.

The Depression, an increasing number of cars, and several other factors led to supermarkets' growth.

Many customers were lured in by supermarkets' promise of low prices and a large selection. Shoppers with jobs also appreciated supermarkets' evening hours, as many chains closed at 6 p.m. Owners who had previously run smaller grocery stores saw their operating costs cut in half.

Historians cite a variety of factors, from taxes on chain stores to improved refrigeration technology to regulations on food prices, to explain why the number of supermarkets exploded in the late 1930s and '40s.

Mounds of products required new layouts and inventions.

During this era, owners started figuring out how to better manage an influx of customers at busy times. They tried out new ways of displaying merchandise to attract buyers' attention. Placed at eye-level, the products would sell themselves.

"Silent salesmanship prevailed in the subtlety of aisle displays that halted the progress of shoppers, at which point they might observe other shoppers and be influenced by their purchases," historian Lisa C. Tolbert wrote in "Beyond Piggly Wiggly: Inventing the American Self-Service Store."

Navigating these spacious supermarkets packed with goods also prompted the spread of the shopping cart in the late 1930s.

Owners wanted to attract wealthy customers.

While some businesses had bargain prices that brought in a variety of shoppers, some chains that were closing stores in low-income neighborhoods opened their new supermarkets in wealthy areas, Deutsch wrote. They worried that cheap products weren't enough to bring in the middle-class women they wanted as customers.

To distinguish themselves from barney stores, some supermarkets invested more in decor and offered perks like employees who carried groceries to shoppers' cars.

"Upscale supermarkets were welcomed into postwar suburban housing developments in and around Chicago and quickly began emphasizing the quality and convenience of goods they sold, continuing to move away from an emphasis on price," Deutsch wrote in a 1999 journal article.

Similarly, in Southern California, business owners strategically placed their supermarkets and mostly had all-white clientele.

"In part, this was because a new supermarket had the potential to transform the demographics and economic life of an area, but it was also because operators carefully built stores adjacent to the most desirable clientele," Davison wrote.

Supermarkets had a huge impact on how Americans ate.

More types of prepackaged foods, the advent of frozen food, improved freezer technology, and other changes began impacting Americans' diets as supermarkets continued to grow.

Farming methods were becoming more industrialized, and A&P and other sellers used new advances to their advantage to tap into a network of producers to find the most appealing potatoes, peaches, and peas from around the country. Customers in northern states got used to having certain fresh fruits and vegetables year-round instead of just seasonally.

While they didn't have complete control of the supply chain, stores like A&P bought produce in large quantities, and "farmers who did not comply with the firm's demands for high-volume, standardized production were sure to be left outside the marketplace," Hamilton wrote.

Supermarkets continued to expand in the 1950s.

While some contemporary analysts had predicted that supermarkets would die out after the Depression ended, there were more stores than ever in the years following World War II. Many were stocking six times as many items as the earliest supermarkets.

Most adopted the more sedate design of chains like A&P. "The older chaotic supermarkets were quickly replaced by the ordered, and overtly-feminized, space of the postwar super-market," Deutsch wrote.

Many of these chains have since melded together or completely disappeared. Yet in just a few decades, they completely changed the way many Americans shopped for groceries, and we're still feeling those influences today.

Sources: "Supermarket USA: Food and Power in the Cold War Farms Race" by Shane Hamilton; "Building a Housewife's Paradise: Gender, Politics, and American Grocery Stores in the Twentieth Century" by Tracey Deutsch; "Beyond Piggly Wiggly: Inventing the American Self-Service Store" by Lisa C. Tolbert; "Carried Away: The Invention of Modern Shopping" by Rachel Bowlby; "The American Grocery Store: The Business Evolution of an Architectural Space" by James M. Mayo; "The Super Market: A Revolution in Distribution" by M. M. Zimmerman; "From 'Wild Animal Stores' to Women's Sphere: Supermarkets and the Politics of Mass Consumption, 1930-1950" by Tracey Deutsch; "Super City: Los Angeles and the Birth of the Supermarket, 1914—1941" by Benjamin Davison; "The Rise of the Supermarket" by Tevere Macfadyen; International Directory of Company Histories; and Smithsonian Magazine.

• Meagan Drllinger is an American living in Mexico who says it's a humbling and complex lifestyle.
• She loves her surroundings and work-life balance, and doesn't miss the hustle culture of the US.
• She's noticed a shift in how people talk to her since the second Trump presidency began.

As a travel writer, I've always been up for an adventure. People know that I don't shy away from taking a risk.

So when I told my friends and family that I was moving to Mexico full-time after years of doing the digital nomad thing, their first question was, "Is it safe?" (Sidebar: It is.) But following the November 2024 election, their reaction is now more along the lines of, "I want to do that, too."

Call it burnout, inflation, politics — whatever it is, it seems like everyone I talk to is at least flirting with the idea of relocating south of the border, perhaps exhausted by US news and the uncertainty of what's going to happen over the next few years.

Around 1.6 million Americans live in Mexico. As someone who's lived here for several years — first as a frequent traveler, now as a legal resident in the Costalegre, a remote area south of Puerto Vallarta — I can say that living in Mexico as an American is complex, humbling, and full of lessons, especially when you're trying to maintain a full-time remote career.

What it's really like to work remotely from rural Mexico

Working from a small coastal town in Mexico comes with challenges. The wifi is a constant source of stress — video calls drop, power goes out, and upload speeds fluctuate wildly depending on the weather. I've learned to have a backup plan, like making friends who have Starlink or using my phone as a hot spot.

Then there's the bureaucracy. I'm a legal resident of Mexico (a process with many hoops in itself), which you'd think would make things like buying a car or getting license plates easier. It doesn't. I've stood in government offices for hours, paperwork in hand, only to find out I needed a copy of something else, and that the copy shop closed an hour ago.

Bureaucracy is frustrating in any country, but navigating it in a different language and culture is its own special form of character-building.

The shift in how people talk to me about America

I've traveled around the world for years, and being American has always come with some baggage. Sometimes it's a joke about our portion sizes; sometimes it's a polite, probing question about our gun laws or healthcare system.

Since the November election, though, the tone has shifted. As an American in Mexico, I feel quite welcome; nothing has changed about how I'm treated by my Mexican friends or the people I interact with daily. What I do notice is more curiosity and even confusion.

Both fellow travelers and locals want to know what's going on with US immigration, tariffs, and the rising cost of living. I've met many Canadian snowbirds who are feeling the direct effects of Trump's immigration and tariff policies.

People balk when I tell them about the cost of eggs, New York rent, or gas in California. (They balked at those costs before Trump was president, too.) My Mexican friends joke about Greenland and Canada, asking me why Trump doesn't want to also make Mexico part of his "empire" — always said with a laugh and an eye roll.

Maybe they feel comfortable joking with me because I'm never shy about making it known that I didn't vote for Trump. That tends to diffuse any tension and opens the door to a broader, more honest conversation about the world in general — women's rights, healthcare, LGBTQ+ policies, and whether we love or hate ChatGPT.

Most of the people I meet share a similar mindset: We're all just trying to live peacefully, expand our horizons, and (for many) work remotely while doing so.

What I gain from living and working in Mexico

I start my morning with yoga or a walk along the ocean and take a midday break to practice my Spanish with my neighbors. I've traded after-work drinks for beach margaritas and community music night in town.

Work — deadlines, meetings, and the occasional late-night scramble — is the same, but my surroundings make the day more meaningful. My work-life balance often comes directly from inconveniences like WiFi outages — when there's nothing you can do about the situation, why not take a leisure walk on the beach until things are up and running again?

Living abroad also immerses me in a different way of thinking. In Mexico, people don't seem to live to work — they'd rather collect their paycheck as a means to enjoy time with family or to travel. That attitude is contagious, and I've become more intentional about how I spend my time.

I've also become more patient, flexible, and creative — skills I've found to be incredibly valuable in my professional life. Rejection letters don't sting quite as badly these days; I've come to believe that when one door closes, it means another is about to open.

Financially, it goes without saying that the US dollar stretches much further in Mexico. I pay $2,000 a month for a four-bedroom house with a yard and a pool. Monthly grocery bills cost what weekly grocery bills do in the US. Working as a freelancer, I don't have to hustle quite as hard.

I miss some things about the States and may go back someday

It's not perfect. There are days when I miss takeout, the efficiency of public transportation, or being able to call customer service and speak to someone in my native language. I miss the simplicity of online purchases and definitely certain foods (hello, New York pizza).

I've also had to adjust to a general approach to time that is much more flexible than I'm used to — which feels liberating, until you're trying to figure out when your water and gas are delivered and how to flag down the truck that brings them.

I accept those tradeoffs as part of the deal. You can't move to another country and expect it to bend to your way of doing things. The longer I live here, the more comfortable I get.

I haven't ruled out returning to the US. There are parts of the country I love, and I wouldn't mind being closer to family. But it would have to be on my terms; I won't go back to a cubicle. And I certainly don't want to go back full-time before 2028.

• Bath & Body Works reported a strong quarter after a difficult year.
• New CEO Daniel Heaf, who took the reins 10 days ago, plans to expand the retailer's international presence.
• Stock is down 40% since May 2024, and the company was removed from the S&P 500.

Bath & Body Works' new CEO is only 10 days into the job, but is already planning a major strategy shakeup.

The home fragrance retailer reported a strong start to 2025, with net sales up 2.9% to $1.4 billion in the first quarter of 2025. Earnings per diluted share jumped 29% to $0.49, surpassing the firm's own projections.

A new Disney collaboration leading to the launch of six Disney Princesses fragrances helped to boost earnings from the most recent period, Bath & Body Works said.

In its statement, the company also introduced its new CEO, Daniel Heaf, who was previously Nike's chief strategy and transformation officer and senior vice president at different departments in Burberry.

Speaking about his plans for the Columbus-headquartered retailer just 10 days into the job, Heaf said the firm would be listening to customers to gather insights, using those insights to create products, sharing brand and product stories, and bringing all of that together in an integrated global marketplace.

"Today, international represents about 5% of our business, but from my experience at both Nike and Burberry, I know that international growth is incremental," he told investors in the earnings call on Thursday. "It can define an era."

"In the coming weeks, I'll be on the ground with our partners and customers internationally to explore how we scale effectively," Heaf said.

Bath & Body Works has suffered a bruising year. Stock is down over 40% since the end of May 2024.

Earlier this year, it forecast annual sales generally below predictions, citing uncertainty about President Donald Trump's tariffs.

Before that, when the company's market capitalization fell to about $6.6 billion in September, it was removed from the S&P 500, which at the time required a market cap of at least $18 billion.

It was instead moved to the S&P SmallCap 600.

"Bath & Body Works is no longer representative of the large-cap market space," the stock market index provider said in a statement.

The beauty chain operates 1,900 stores in the US and Canada, and 524 international franchised locations. 14 new stores internationally were opened during the last quarter. 19 stores were closed, predominantly in the United States.

"Our international expansion plans for 2025 remain on track with at least 30 planned net new store openings," Heaf said in the call.

Eva Boratto, chief financial officer, said Bath & Body Works' guidance for this fiscal year includes the anticipated impact of tariffs and the predicted financial effects of the CEO transition.

The company has maintained its guidance for 2025 of 1% to 3% growth in net sales.

• Business Insider asked an etiquette coach what things passengers should avoid doing on airplanes.
• She said reclining your seat is OK as long as you're being mindful of the person sitting behind you.
• Avoid bringing smelly foods on board and giving parents dirty looks when their kids are crying.

From holding up the bathroom line with your skincare routine to playing music without headphones, there are numerous etiquette mistakes people make when flying on airplanes.

That's why Business Insider asked etiquette coach Mariah Grumet about the things passengers should avoid doing while on a flight.

Here's what she had to say.

Reclining your seat without regard for others

When — or whether — to recline your seat on a flight is a hot topic when it comes to plane etiquette.

Grumet told BI that even though some may find it rude, she thinks passengers should be able to recline since they paid for their seats.

However, she said passengers should still be mindful of the person sitting behind them when deciding when to recline.

For example, Grumet advises against reclining if the person behind you has things on their tray.

Stinking up the plane with food or grooming products

Grumet said it's really important to be mindful of anything with a strong scent.

For example, if a passenger brings a tuna sandwich onto the plane, the smell can be disturbing to those around them.

Grooming can come with extra smells, too. Items like nail polish or perfume could be distracting or irritating to fellow passengers, so Grumet advised leaving those at home.

Being rude to parents

Young children may act out if they're hungry or exhausted from a long day. Even if the crying is annoying and disruptive, Grumet said it's important to be respectful to the parent.

"It's likely that the parent is already super embarrassed as is, and you don't want to add fuel to the fire by whispering or giving dirty looks," she said.

This also applies to children who are a bit older. Grumet added that even if they're running down the aisle or doing something you think can be controlled, it's still important to be kind.

Rushing to the front at the end of the flight

"The most polite way to deboard a plane is to let the people in the front go first," Grumet told BI.

However, she pointed out that many passengers try to rush to the front as quickly as possible.

Even if you had a difficult flight, Grumet said you should allow those ahead of you to go first. The exception to this is if you're running to make a connecting flight.

In that case, she advised notifying an airline staff member to help you get off the plane as quickly as possible.

This story was originally published on August 22, 2024 and most recently updated on May 30, 2025.

• Health AI Superpower is digging into nutrition care with a new acquisition.
• The startup has acquired at-home lab testing company Base on the heels of its $30 million Series A.
• It's Superpower's second deal of the year as it rapidly builds an all-in-one health "super app."

Consumers increasingly want to take control of their health — including by taking control of what they eat. Buzzy AI startup Superpower just made its second acquisition of the year to capitalize on that interest.

Superpower is building a health AI "super app" that combines biannual lab tests with users' health histories to create personalized lifestyle recommendations. The startup announced $30 million in Series A funding, led by Forerunner, just last month.

Now, Superpower is buying at-home lab testing company Base, Business Insider has learned exclusively.

Base, started by former Amazon engineer Lola Priego, provides at-home blood and saliva tests to help consumers improve habits like their sleep and diet with personalized lifestyle recommendations.

It was Base's diet analysis business that sold Superpower on the deal. Superpower CEO Jacob Peters told BI that the startup bought Base primarily for its wealth of nutritional data, which he said "would save us a lot of clinical R&D" as Superpower digs deeper into food-as-medicine care.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Priego launched Base in 2019, and the company last raised a $3.4 million seed round in 2021 led by Female Founders Fund.

Superpower is far from the only player interested in the nutrition market. Investors are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into nutrition care startups like Nourish and Fay Nutrition, while movements like Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" are taking hold.

Those trends, too, are picking up steam with the explosion of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and a growing consumer fascination with longevity, as some look to hack their health and extend their lifespans.

Superpower hits on that longevity care demand, with scores provided on its app measuring users' "biological age" and overall health. The startup even hired its own "chief longevity officer" in September.

Still, Peters said Superpower isn't a longevity startup, adding that he thinks most consumers simply want to get a better hold on their health — "If you superpower your health, you superpower your life."

Superpower is making M&A central to its strategy, an unusual approach for an early-stage startup. Base is its second acquisition of the year; Superpower bought women's health startup Feminade in January.

Peters said he expects to see more consolidation across digital health to combine point solutions tackling small slices of the market. And Superpower itself wants to connect a broad range of offerings into its app so patients can get all of their health needs met in one place.

"This probably won't be our last M&A," Peters laughed.

Reimagining concierge care with AI

Peters launched Superpower in 2023 alongside cofounders Max Marchione and Kevin Unkrich, CTO, born from their personal experiences with a broken healthcare system. Peters, for one, was diagnosed with the autoimmune disorder Crohn's disease a few years ago and spent four months in the hospital, undergoing multiple surgeries and racking up seven-figure bills.

"It was a big light bulb moment for me: as a person with health challenges, no one's really coming to save you," he said.

He and the Superpower team set out to create an AI-powered experience inspired by concierge medicine, which typically offers more attentive healthcare at a higher price tag, and making that style of care more widely accessible with technology. Its approach has attracted investors from Susa Ventures to Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

Superpower's members take biannual lab tests, either at home or at one of Superpower's partner labs, to assess more than 100 blood biomarkers. The Superpower app then pulls in user data from patient medical records, the lab tests, and wearables, and surfaces AI-driven insights based on that data to help its members optimize their health across their nutrition, sleep, and hormones.

Superpower's AI-generated action plans are reviewed by human care teams behind the scenes. Users can message their care teams to get further combined guidance from those human providers and AI.

Many consumer health startups launch to focus on one or a few problems, as Ro and Hims and Hers did with conditions like erectile dysfunction and hair loss. Superpower wants to take a different approach, aiming to be comprehensive from day one, so the startup can be known for its platform rather than for any single offering, Peters said.

That ambition comes with a cost: Superpower's memberships run $500 a year. While lower than what most Americans spend on healthcare in a year, that price point could put the app out of reach for many consumers.

Peters said the Superpower team is thinking hard about how to make its services available to the largest group possible. Superpower launched to sell directly to consumers, but in the future, Peters said the startup may consider contracting with employers to cover the costs of its memberships for employees.

"We want to build a platform that makes it easy to get the world's best healthcare to everyone at very low and accessible costs. That's the north star for us, to put a healthcare super app and AI doctor on everyone's phone," he said.

• Gale just raised $2.7 million to automate parts of US work visa applications with AI.
• The startup's immigrant founders say they experienced challenges navigating the US visa system.
• Gale's platform aims to speed up the process for applicants and free up lawyers' time.

Gale, a startup that uses AI to streamline the US visa application process for employers and workers, has raised $2.7 million in seed funding.

Its cofounders, who are all immigrants, launched the startup out of Y Combinator's 2025 winter cohort following their own frustrations navigating the US visa system.

The trio — Rahul Gudise, Rishabh Sambare, and Haokun Qin — told Business Insider they found the process confusing, full of delays, and bureaucratic.

"If I wanted a question answered about my visa status, it would take the attorneys like four business days to get back to me, minimum," said Gudise, who previously worked at Tesla and Nvidia.

He added that the traditional approach of using law firms means cases can drag on for weeks unless clients are willing to pay premium fees. "Simple questions can take multiple steps to resolve because they have to be relayed up and down a chain of staff and attorneys," Gudise said.

Gale's web-based platform automates much of the administrative work involved in visa applications. Instead of manually filling out lengthy forms, users can upload their résumés and passports for processing by the Gale platform. A licensed immigration lawyer conducts a final review before submission. Right now, the startup is focused on H-1B visas.

Gudise said the goal is to make onboarding "as fast as possible" for applicants, and to free up time for lawyers by automating repetitive tasks.

"Lawyers don't have to spend time on busywork or rely on paralegals for document prep," Gudise said. The team aims to answer client questions within hours, rather than days.

Compliance is another key focus for Gale. Gudise said most law firms hand off the process once the visa is approved, leaving employers to handle ongoing requirements on their own.

Gale is building out its platform to monitor changes like job titles or promotions that might impact a worker's visa status. The team is also developing integrations with company HR systems to help employers stay compliant as requirements change.

Gale plans to use the new funding to boost its compliance tools and grow the team. Building new partnerships with employers and immigration lawyers is also a key focus as the company scales, Qin told BI.

"At the end of the day, we want to promote legal immigration to the States and help employers stay compliant. This is the way to do it sustainably," Gudise added.

The startup's seed round was led by Axiom Partners, with participation from Pioneer Fund, 468 Capital, Elevation Capital, and Y Combinator.

Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck Gale used to raise $2.7 million.

• Southwest Airlines is overhauling its business model, getting rid of its signature "Two bags fly free."
• The host of changes is expected to generate $4.3 billion, said CEO Bob Jordan.
• Wall Street is encouraged by the moves, with Deutsche Bank analysts upgrading their rating.

Southwest Airlines expects to make over $4 billion from the array of changes it's introducing.

That includes scrapping its signature policies of unassigned seating and the trademarked "Two bags fly free."

At the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference on Thursday, CEO Bob Jordan said the airline expects an incremental EBIT contribution of $4.3 billion in 2026.

"It's hugely impactful to the business and to our margins," he added.

On Wednesday, Southwest started charging $35 for a first checked bag and $45 for a second one, although all loyalty members and credit card holders can get one for free.

"Bag fees, credit exploration, [and] changes to the loyalty program" are expected to contribute $800 million, Jordan said.

While changing the seating system is still "months away," it is expected to generate another $1.5 billion in 2026.

Introducing assigned seating is designed to encourage passengers to pay to choose their seat and for premium options like extra legroom.

"85% of the customers who won't choose us want assigned seating," Jordan said, adding it is also the biggest reason they don't fly with Southwest.

The other $2 billion is split between cost-cutting measures and "base business changes," such as improving the airline's revenue management system.

Budget airlines like Southwest have seen their profits tumble since the pandemic.

Increased fuel and labor costs, plus domestic overcapacity, have made it harder to fill planes, while fliers are more interested in paying for premium options.

As Jordan said on Thursday: "Let's answer the question of what do customers want? And they want segmentation of the cabin. They want a variety of product offerings. They want access to premium."

Southwest has also faced pressure from the activist firm Elliott Investment Management.

The new changes seem to be encouraging Wall Street. Southwest's share price has risen over 20% in the past month.

Deutsche Bank analysts upgraded the stock from a Hold rating to a Buy on Thursday.

"Southwest is in the middle of the largest transformation in company history and we are confident that its new board and management team will execute its transformation plan with considerable success," they wrote in a report.

• Tesla sales in Québec plunged 85% in the first quarter, mirroring sharp declines seen in Europe.
• Canada has frozen $43 million in Tesla EV rebates due to Trump's tariffs and fraud concerns.
• Musk's DOGE work sparked backlash, boycotts, and dealership vandalism across the US and Europe.

Tesla's sales woes have reached Canada.

Data from the vehicle registration authority in the province of Québec shows a dramatic decline in Tesla registrations in the first quarter of 2025.

Only 524 new Tesla vehicles were registered in Québec between January and March 2025, down over 85% from the 5,097 units logged in the final months of 2024.

The company's top-selling Model Y saw the steepest drop in terms of pure numbers, falling from 3,274 units in the final quarter of 2024 to 360 in the first quarter of 2025. The Model 3, Tesla's cheapest car, plunged from 1,786 to just 96 units over the same period, a fall of 94%.

While the drop is precipitous, it should be noted that auto sales are generally lower in the first quarter of the year than later in the year.

Though confined to one region of Canada, the collapse mirrors similar issues in Europe, where Tesla sales fell by nearly 50% in April despite overall EV demand continuing to grow.

In Québec, as in Europe, demand for electric vehicles remains strong, suggesting that Tesla's slump is less about market conditions and more about the brand itself.

Rebate freeze and trade tensions

Several factors appear to be converging.

Tesla has been excluded from Canada's federal EV rebate program, with $43 million in rebates frozen and each individual claim now under review.

Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland ordered the freeze in March following a last-minute surge in Tesla rebate applications — from 300 a day to nearly 5,800 — which triggered a probe into possible abuse.

Freeland also said that Tesla would remain ineligible for future incentives as long as President Donald Trump's 25% tariffs on Canadian goods are in place.

In parallel, provinces, including British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, and Manitoba, have removed Tesla from their rebate programs.

Political backlash

Tesla's registration drop in Québec also comes amid a broader global backlash, especially in Europe, against CEO Elon Musk, who has endorsed a number of European political parties, including Germany's far-right AfD party and Britain's populist Reform UK party.

In North America, Musk's role leading the Department of Government Efficiency has led to protests, boycotts, and vandalism of Tesla dealerships across at least a dozen states.

Musk said this week he was stepping away from DOGE after months of involvement as a "special government employee." Federal law stipulates that those with this title cannot serve for more than 130 days in a 365-day period.

Tesla's shares, which had come under pressure during Musk's DOGE stint, began rebounding in April after he announced he would step back from government work and "spend 24/7 at work" on his companies.

In a Q&A published by Ars Technica on Tuesday, he said he'd been too involved in politics since wading into the 2024 presidential race last year — a campaign he heavily financed to the tune of nearly $300 million.

In a sit-down with Bloomberg at the Qatar Economic Forum last week, he said he's no longer going to be spending big on politics, like he did in the 2024 election.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.