Consumer Spending Rebounds

As Amazon prepared for its workers to be back in the office five days a week, Christian Carron decided to quit. Carron thought virtual work was here to stay. In 2022, when Amazon was still allowing employees to work entirely from home, he moved into a van, hoping to live out his dream of a nomadic lifestyle. He said he was more productive, even as he traveled the country, parking at ski resorts to get some runs in after work.

A looming TikTok ban could affect the millions of small businesses that use the short-video social media app to help them grow their business. Desiree Hill, owner of Crown’s Corner Mechanic in Conyers, Georgia, started her business solo as a mobile mechanic. Sharing videos of her work on TikTok helped spread the word and she became so popular she was able to open a 9,000 square foot brick and mortar shop with five employees 18 months ago. “Every day I get at least two to three customers that have seen me on TikTok, watched my videos and wanted to become a customer,” she said. Though TikTok has been around only since 2016, small business owners use the platform in a variety of ways, from growing a customer base to advertising and marketing, as well as selling goods directly from the site. According to TikTok’s own estimates, small businesses on TikTok would lose more than $1 billion in revenue in a single month if the ban goes into effect. The Justice Department ordered the app’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell TikTok or face a U.

Wearables are going to get better at connecting the dots between your wellness metrics, possibly making them even better health assistants.

We run down all the video game rumors and leaks we know about coming next year.

Manta rays are elegantly shaped. They swim by flapping their fins like enormous wings, and their gills filter for plankton with the utmost precision. These creatures have now inspired human innovations that take soft robots and water filters to the next level. With fins that borrow their shape and motion from mantas, a soft robot created by a team of researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of Virginia improves on a previous model by reaching speeds of 6.8 body lengths per second, nearly double what its predecessor was capable of.

Address: 312 Sterling Road, Kenilworth Listed: Dec. 2, 2024 Price: $1,925,000 This six-bedroom, 5½-bath home features a living room with 10-foot ceilings, a stone fireplace and a dining area framed by three walls of windows. The family room, adjacent to the kitchen, opens to a screened porch and a landscaped yard. The renovated eat-in kitchen has a Sub-Zero refrigerator, a Viking range with six burners, a griddle, double ovens, a warming drawer and a KitchenAid dishwasher.