Chegg To Lay Off 22% of Workforce as AI Tools Shake Up Edtech Industry
Chegg said on Monday it would lay off about 22% of its workforce, or 248 employees, to cut costs and streamline its operations as students increasingly turn to AI-powered tools such as ChatGPT over traditional edtech platforms. From a report: The company, an online education firm that offers textbook rentals, homework help and tutoring, has been grappling with a decline in web traffic for months and warned that the trend would likely worsen before improving.
Google's expansion of AI Overviews is keeping web traffic confined within its search ecosystem while gradually shifting searches to its Gemini AI platform, Chegg said, adding that other AI companies including OpenAI and Anthropic were courting academics with free access to subscriptions. As part of the restructuring announced on Monday, Chegg will also shut its U.S. and Canada offices by the end of the year and aim to reduce its marketing, product development efforts and general and administrative expenses.
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Climate Crisis Threatens the Banana, the World's Most Popular Fruit
The climate crisis is threatening the future of the world's most popular fruit, as almost two-thirds of banana-growing areas in Latin America and the Caribbean may no longer be suitable for growing the fruit by 2080, new research has found. From a report: Rising temperatures, extreme weather and climate-related pests are pummeling banana-growing countries such as Guatemala, Costa Rica and Colombia, reducing yields and devastating rural communities across the region, according to Christian Aid's new report, Going Bananas: How Climate Change Threatens the World's Favourite Fruit.
Bananas are the world's most consumed fruit -- and the fourth most important food crop globally, after wheat, rice and maize. About 80% of bananas grown globally are for local consumption, and more than 400 million people rely on the fruit for 15% to 27% of their daily calories.
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Bill Belichick’s Girlfriend Jordon Hudson Competes in Miss Maine USA Pageant
Jordon Hudson’s relationship with Bill Belichick has caused quite a stir, and it brought a huge amount of attention to the Miss Maine USA contest this weekend.
When Getting Out of Jail Means a Deadly Walk Home
Nearly every day in Santa Fe, N.M., people released from jail trudge along a dangerous highway to get back to town. Jails often fail to offer safe transport options for prisoners.
Stardom in the Ring, but an Early Death for Wrestlers Like Sabu
The causes are varied, but many well-known wrestlers have died young.
Trump Heads to the Middle East Focused on Business Deals, Not Diplomacy
President Trump has always viewed the presidency as a worldwide hunt for deals. And there is no better place for that than the Gulf, where a few men wield absolute authority over vast wealth.
Pope Leo XIV May Be a Stern Teacher for American Catholics
Political partisanship is likely to become an even more untenable position for American Catholics than it already is.
Serbia Is Showing America What’s Possible
Serbian protesters are bravely combating a powerful autocratic government.
Videogame's Players Launch Boycott Over Bugs, Story Changes, Monetization
It's been a mobile-only game for decades. Then a little more than a week ago Infinity Nikkireleased its 1.5 update (which introduced multiplayer and customization options) and launched the game on Steam.
But it "didn't go over as planned," writes the worker-owned gaming site Aftermath, citing some very negative reactions on Reddit. (Some players say that in response the game's publisher is now even censoring the word "boycott" on its official forums and community spaces...)
Infinity Nikki players were immediately incensed by a bevy of bugs and general game instability, and made even more angry by several baffling changes to both the story and its monetization structure... Players globally are vowing to stay off the game until Infold Games addresses their concerns, including at least one Infinity Nikki creator who is part of the game's partner program... [T]he Chinese Infinity Nikki community — as well as others — has been flooding Steam with negative reviews of the game... [T]he complaints are also impacting Infinity Nikki's review score on the Google Play Store... The company said it's working to fix the patch's performance issues, which have caused game-breaking bugs for some players....
[T]he Infinity Nikki team also gave players some free currency, but there's been problems there, too: Players say Infold had a bug in this distribution, which awarded players too much free currency. Instead of letting players keep that — it was Infold's mistake, after all — they deducted the currency, some of which players had already spent, putting them in the negative. But the community is looking for more from the studio; it wants an acknowledgement of the "dumpster fire" of a situation, as one Infinity Nikki player told Aftermath, but also wants some of the biggest problems reversed... Beyond the problematic monetization strategy, players Aftermath spoke with said they're also pissed off at a major change to the start of the game... Infold Games removed the game's original start with the update; the new intro drops players into Infinity Nikki with little context and a new, unexplained character who is supposed to be a guide as Nikki is dropped into intergalactic limbo.
While the spend-to-upgrade-your-character model has always been inherently predatory, as one player put it, the new update pushed the system "much too far for a lot of players," according to the article — "something made more egregious by the numerous bugs and strange gameplay changes." The article now describes some players as "upset that the trust they've given Infold Games thus far has been broken."
"Infold Games has not responded to a request for comment."
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Rodrigo Duterte Is Expected to Again Become Mayor of Davao City
Former President Rodrigo Duterte, who faces international court charges of crimes against humanity, remains very popular at home.
Can More Military Spending Revive an Economy? This British Town Hopes So.
Britain is spending billions of pounds more on defense, but wants the money to go beyond nuclear submarines to improve local jobs and prosperity. Barrow-in-Furness may be the model.
How a Quiet American Cardinal Became Pope
At a conclave with many new members, a swift, stunning consensus built around an unknown to many outside of the church.
Johnny Rodriguez, Country Music Star, Dies at 73
He was best known for the 1970s hits “I Just Can’t Get Her Out of My Mind” and “Ridin’ My Thumb to Mexico,” and as the first popular Mexican American country artist.
Asia Stocks Rise on Hope for Lower Tariffs After U.S.-China Talks
Investors were optimistic after American officials touted progress in trade negotiations over the weekend, though details had yet to be released.
Apple's iPhone Plans for 2027: Foldable, or Glass and Curved. (Plus Smart Glasses, Tabletop Robot)
An anonymous reader shared this report from the Verge:
This morning, while summarizing an Apple "product blitz" he expects for 2027, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman writes in his Power On newsletter that Apple is planning a "mostly glass, curved iPhone" with no display cutouts for that year, which happens to be the iPhone's 20th anniversary... [T]he closest hints are probably in Apple patents revealed over the years, like one from 2019 that describes a phone encased in glass that "forms a continuous loop" around the device.
Apart from a changing iPhone, Gurman describes what sounds like a big year for Apple. He reiterates past reports that the first foldable iPhone should be out by 2027, and that the company's first smart glasses competitor to Meta Ray-Bans will be along that year. So will those rumored camera-equipped AirPods and Apple Watches, he says. Gurman also suggests that Apple's home robot — a tabletop robot that features "an AI assistant with its own personality" — will come in 2027...
Finally, Gurman writes that by 2027 Apple could finally ship an LLM-powered Siri and may have created new chips for its server-side AI processing.
Earlier this week Bloomberg reported that Apple is also "actively looking at" revamping the Safari web browser on its devices "to focus on AI-powered search engines." (Apple's senior VP of services "noted that searches on Safari dipped for the first time last month, which he attributed to people using AI.")
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Trump Is Poised to Accept a Luxury 747 From Qatar for Use as Air Force One
The plan raises substantial ethical issues, given the immense value of the lavishly appointed plane and that Mr. Trump intends to take ownership of it after he leaves office.
Trump Plan Would Tie Some Drug Prices to What Peer Nations Pay
The president announced an executive order aimed at lowering U.S. drug costs, revisiting an idea that was blocked in court during his first term.
Why Patients Are Being Forced to Switch to a 2nd-Choice Obesity Drug
CVS Caremark decided to stop offering Zepbound in favor of Wegovy for weight loss. It’s the latest example of limits imposed by insurance that disrupt treatments for patients.
Families of Sept. 11 Victims Urge Lutnick to Help Extradite Saudi National
The letter comes as the commerce secretary plans to accompany President Trump to Saudi Arabia as part of an upcoming trip to the Middle East.
‘Viva Papa Leo!’ At U.S. Masses, Dawn of Homegrown Pope Brings an Air of Electricity.
In Chicago, New Orleans and beyond, elated worshipers and priests celebrated their immediate sense of connection with Pope Leo.