🦴 A robot dog is patrolling Trump’s Mar-a-Lago: “Spot” is unarmed and has a “Do not pet” sign on each leg. The Secret Service isn’t saying what it’s being used for, but with cameras, thermal sensors and a $75,000 price tag, surveillance to protect the President-elect is obvious — he needs it.
Haven't logged into LinkedIn lately? 5 reasons you really should be using it
How much do you know about LinkedIn? Sure, you probably understand it’s a social network for professionals, but it’s so much more.
Unlike most social networks that are used to share the latest vacation pictures, LinkedIn was designed for more important reasons. It can help you make connections, share work experience and find or post jobs.
Your LinkedIn profile can be set up to look like a resume, complete with accomplishments and referrals from colleagues. If you’ve never experienced the power of LinkedIn, we can help. Here are five smart ways to use LinkedIn to network, poach employees, boast and more.
Visit LinkedIn.com/Kim and post a job for free.
1. Sales prospecting
If you’re wondering what sales prospecting is, it’s exactly what it sounds like — sorting through tons of companies and individuals to find prospects who will most likely turn into paying customers.
This can take a lot of time and effort and relies on knowing where to look. In the past, sales prospecting mainly consisted of cold calling and following up with every potential lead.
Now that we live in a digital world, those days are gone. Most buyers make decisions online. That’s where LinkedIn comes into play.
With about 1 billion members, LinkedIn is a leader in connecting buyers and sellers. One of the most important sales techniques is understanding how buyers behave, making prospecting easier with greater success.
An IDC social buying study revealed:
- 75% of B2B buyers use social media to make buying decisions.
- 50% of B2B buyers use LinkedIn to make purchasing decisions.
- 76% of B2B buyers prefer to work with recommendations from their professional network.
Those numbers prove how important LinkedIn is when it comes to sales prospecting. Information is power and LinkedIn is packed with information buyers are looking for.
Streaming costs inching up? Cheapskate secrets you need to know
The top-tier Netflix plan is now a jaw-dropping $22.99 a month. I remember being shocked when it hit $19.99, and here we are again. And Netflix isn’t alone; Disney+ and Hulu have raised their prices, and you can bet every other streaming service will soon follow suit.
65 million
Peak viewership for the Mike Tyson and Jake Paul boxing match on Netflix last Friday. Despite being the company’s biggest-ever livestreamed event, there were so many connection problems. Jake, who won the fight, admitted they crashed Netflix.
I can bearly believe this story. Four dopes used a bear suit and fake claws to ruin a Rolls-Royce and claim the insurance money.
Big Bluesky: Over a million people have joined X competitor Bluesky since the election. It’s a top free app on Apple’s App Store and Google Play now; Meta’s Threads is at No. 2, with 11 million active users. Heck, even X has grown by 5% since Election Day.
Stupid celebrity stuff: Sofia Richie, model and daughter of music legend Lionel Richie, spilled on a podcast her five-month-old daughter, Eloise, has her own smartphone and is a sassy texter. Mom and caregivers obviously do the texting for Eloise. One question: Why don’t they put the phone down, talk to the baby and enjoy the moment?
👽 Convenient cover-up? A lot of folks are mistaking Starlink Internet satellites for unexplained anomalous phenomena (UAPs), the new term for UFOs. Starlink’s 6,600 satellites move across the sky in trains and look like gleaming gems, so they’re easy to spot for the naked eye. Of course, some think the government found the ultimate excuse for — dun, dun, dun! — alien sightings!
🎄 This is soda-pressing: Coca-Cola’s new “Holidays are Coming” commercial was made entirely with AI. Gone are the real actors and trucks decked out in Christmas lights. Comments online called the ad “garbage,” “ugly,” “too niche” and “lazy.” One X user said, “I feel like I’m watching the death of art and our planet unfold in front of my eyes.” OK, that’s a little much. Watch it here and tell me what you think.
😔 Tragic accident: Four people died after their Tesla Model Y crashed into a pillar and burst into flames. A bystander smashed a window open, saving a fifth passenger. So sad. If you have a Tesla, watch this video so you know how to open the doors when there’s no power.
💧 The FDA is recalling 150,000 bottles of water: Berkeley Springs Water Purified and Berkeley Springs Water Distilled in 1- and 5-gallon formats may be contaminated with bacteria. Check for codes 090326, 090426, 090526 and 090626 on the side of the bottle. If yours is a match, throw it out.
🥊 What a sh*tshow: It wasn’t just you. Netflix crashed throughout the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul livestream. From the start of the undercard, anyone watching around the world lost sound, while the feeds buffered and image quality dropped to pixelated mush. Netflix slapped up a message to “check your internet connection.” I have serious doubts the internet would hold up in an emergency.
👽 “We are not alone”: So say some former government and military officials, who testified to Congress about UFOs in November 2024. One Navy rear admiral says he saw a video of a flying object that was more advanced than anything in our military. The Pentagon insists there’s no proof UFOs are alien spacecraft. In the words of Robin Williams, “If aliens are watching us, they probably think dogs are in charge and we’re their pets. They’re like, ‘Why else would humans pick up their poop?’”
I had a joke, but someone stole it: I thought this was interesting. Radio-emitting threads could replace metal tags to stop shoplifters. A company called Myruns is behind the tech. The threads are five times thinner than a single human hair. Special ink inside the threads would transmit signals to set off alarms.
Really like a livestreamer? On the YouTube app, you’ll soon be able to buy “jewels” for your favorite creators. Think of jewels as a virtual tip for the person making the videos you love. As far as tips go, the one profession that should get them is teaching: “Thanks, and here’s $25 for teaching my bratty kid algebra.”
Not your dentist’s advice: TikTok’s latest stupid viral trend, oil-pulling, has people swishing cooking oil around their mouths for five to 20 minutes. Why? To whiten teeth and prevent gum disease. There’s some evidence it improves gum health, but it’s nowhere near as effective as mouthwash or, ya know, brushing your teeth.
Future of hiring: Gen Z is ditching traditional resumes and recording videos on TikTok to land jobs. Take Nicole, who applied for a Barstool Sports internship with a video resume and racked up over 657,000 views. No word on how many recruiters saw it, but it sure beats having a resume get buried in an inbox or automatically trashed by an AI bot.
1 million
Frequent-flier points awarded to those who complete Scandinavian Airlines’ new promotion. The goal is to fly at least 15 SkyTeam airlines by Dec. 31. People are taking off work and pulling their kids out of school to do it. A common strat: Booking cheap short-haul flights (paywall link). Speaking of … A man lost his luggage while flying, so he took the airline to court. Apparently, he lost his case.
👁️ Eye love this news: Researchers have restored the vision of people with damaged corneas. They took blood cells from healthy donors, reprogrammed them into corneal cells and formed a thin sheet to place on the damaged eyes. Three out of four patients have better vision a year later. Clinical trials are set for March.