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The business case for pro bono: indirect benefits with social impact
Pro bono work has evolved into a driving force within Argentina’s legal profession, expanding access to justice while strengthening law firms, lawyers and civil society organisations. Through collaboration and institutional commitment, it has become a powerful tool for talent development, reputation building and long-term impact.
Microsoft Says Its New AI Is More Than Twice as Good at Diagnosing Diseases as Doctors
Microsoft plans to start testing the tool in a Boston hospital soon.
As AI transforms patient experience, clinicians see changes too
Panelists at the HIMSS AI in Healthcare Forum explored both sides of a new paradigm where artificial intelligence tools have the potential to both streamline and complexify care delivery, depending who's using them and how.
Microsoft says its AI tool is better than doctors at diagnosing conditions
‘We’re gonna build something that is indistinguishable from human performance … in the next couple of years,’ Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman tells The Verge.
How well have past GOTY winners sold?
We’re less than two months away from 2026’s The Game Awards, and what a year it’s been for fantastic games, including Resident Evil Requiem, Forza Horizon 6, Slay the Spire II, the Blood of Dawnwalker, and Control Resonant – just to name a few. So as we approach the end of the year, we thought we’d look back on our estimates for the GOTY winners of the past four years. In terms of revenue, Elden Ring (2022 winner), Baldur’s Gate 3 (2023), Astro Bot (2024), and Expedition 33 (2025) have generated a combined $3.8B via 73M copies sold: Let’s have a look, then. Elden Ring has generated $2B in revenue Elden Ring is a phenomenon in every sense. It’s sold a whopping 36.4M copies across Steam (50%), PS5 (35%), and Xbox (15% across console and PC). Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Elden Ring also just passed an astronomical milestone: $2B in revenue. While PlayStation and Xbox account for half of Elden Ring’s copies sold across these three platforms, they account for 57.5% of revenue. This – as ever – is due to regional pricing and the higher relative share of PC gamers in lower-priced markets. For example, around 17.4% of Elden Ring’s Steam copies sold were in China, where the game costs about 26% less than the price in the States. There’s an … interesting narrative going around these days that console gamers are only interested in ball-and-gun games and have the patience for little else. Well, Elden Ring’s impressive sales prove that is simply not true, and across all platforms. What’s more, over 9.8M people have played Elden Ring for over 100 hours, with nearly 3.5M people getting all of the achievements and trophies. For reference, 10.9% of Elden Ring’s PlayStation players have the platinum trophy, while 10.5% of players on Steam and 3.9% of Xbox players unlocked all the achievements. Git gud, Xbox players! Of the 1.5M people who played Elden Ring on PlayStation last month, 4% also played Dark Souls 3 last month, 4% played Bloodborne, and 3% played Sekiro. There’s those Soulsborne diehards for you. By many accounts, including my own, Elden Ring is one of the best games of all time. It’s an evergreen seller that will continue to be a cash cow for Bandai and FromSoftware for years to come. Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Elden Ring has sold another 2M copies across Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox this year, generating almost $110M. This means it’s outperforming many of this year’s high-profile releases. Even Elden Ring’s standalone run-based PvE spinoff, 2025’s Nightreign, has sold 7.8M copies and generated $282M in revenue. Baldur’s Gate 3 is another billion-dollar-plus banger Another cross-platform phenomenon is Baldur’s Gate 3, which has sold 23.2M copies and generated over $1.2B in revenue. About 18.7M of these copies (80.6%) are via Steam, 2.9M via PS5 (12.7%), and 1.6M (6.8%) via Xbox. Around 1.3M folks on Steam bought BG3 before it hit 1.0. The PlayStation version launched about a month after the PC 1.0 release, while the Xbox version came four months later due to technical issues around developing local co-op on the Series S. Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Across platforms, Baldur’s Gate 3’s monthly active users have never dropped below 2M, including 2.2M MAUs last month (68.5% on Steam, 21.9% on PS5, and 9.6% on Xbox). And it still regularly brings in 280K to 400K players every day: About 1% of BG3’s Steam player base has played for over 500 hours! That’s a little under 200K people. Astro Bot is also an evergreen seller, albeit a more niche, family one Astro Bot, 2024’s winner, has now sold 4.7M copies and generated $291M in revenue. The budget, including marketing, is almost certainly under $100M, given the small Japan-based core team and three-year dev timeline. You can really see why the tides are changing toward less expensive hubs. Astro Bot is the only first-party winner on this list, but follows other first-party winners of The Last of Us Part II (2020’s winner), God of War (2018), and Breath of the Wild (2017). Around 46.6% of Astro Bot’s copies sold have been physical, which is far higher than the typical game. This makes sense for a couple of reasons: There’s a large family audience for this one, and physical boxes are an item to wrap when giving Astro as a gift. Astro has collector value for the PlayStation core (this is nostalgia-fueled platformer celebrating PlayStation’s history) Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Astro is another one of those games that continues selling over time, regularly selling more than 100K a month. It’s sold around 1M more copies this year ($60M in revenue) and is a popular title with families. We can see this using the Alinea platform’s MAU crossover tool: Astro Bot’s top #2, #3, and #4 games by crossover in any given month this year are Minecraft, Fortnite, and Roblox – without fail. The #1 title every month, though, is Astro’s Playroom, a pack-in with all PS5 consoles. For every month this year, between 20% and 30% of Astro Bot players also played Astro’s Playroom that month. So the free pack-in is a noice funnel for converting players to a full paid product. Expedition 33 sells 8.7M despite Game Pass cannibalisation Finally, we have last year’s winner – Expedition 33. The turn-based-RPG banger has generated $366M via 8.7M copies sold, with 58.8% on Steam, 35.7% on PS5, and 5.5% on Xbox. Xbox’s share of copies sold is this low due to Expedition 33 launching on Game Pass, where 4.3M people across console and PC accessed the game. A little under 700K Xbox players used their subscription to play Expedition 33 this year. That said, the game’s 1.5-year Game Pass deal ended last week on October 16, and we’re already beginning to see a positive trend on Expedition 33’s copies sold via Xbox (but the jury’s still out!). There’s understandably a lot of French pride behind this one, as France is the game’s #3 market on both Steam and PlayStation. Vive la France! One thing that stood out to me is that the GOTY winners aren’t $300M Hollywood productions made in the US. They’re mostly mid-budget studios outside the traditional AAA cost centres. Lots to think about there. Also, good games sell well; who’d have thunk it!? And there’s a whole load of them this year, with GTA 6 still to come, too. GTA just made the cutoff point for the VGAs this year. What a coincidence! Loading... Cool links and other stuff Our physical games newsletter from Tuesday was picked up by GameSpot, Eurogamer, TweakTown, and a bunch of others. We’re offering a free trial of our platform for games companies. Send us a message here, or reply right here on Substack/email, and we’ll set you up. Next week, we’ve got some exciting news regarding the future of our newsletter, so stay tuned! The last word Reply to this email – or reach out here – if you have any feedback for the newsletter – or want to request a game for us to cover. Want to see why these companies (and many others) are subscribed to Alinea? Get a free platform trial! [Alinea Analytics boasts the most accurate PC and console estimates in the business. Game makers use our platform to understand their audience, keep an eye on the competition, monitor sales trends, and spot new opportunities. We equip game studios and financial institutions with accurate data and the confidence to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Want to talk about all things games market data? We’d love to chat!]
Apple Will Label Apps 'Made for iPhone Duo' in App Store
In its press release highlighting apps that have been optimized for the iPhone Duo, Apple said the App Store will label apps that are "Made for iPhone Duo". In order for an app to be optimized for the iPhone Duo, the developer needs to build it with the iOS 27.1 SDK or later. Apps optimized for the iPhone Duo fill the entire inner display, and the app's toolbar appears vertically below the status bar.
Science of Learning Should Guide AI Use Decisions (opinion)
AI tools may be evolving quickly, but we have a deep research base we can draw on to determine how they help meet—or undermine—any particular learning goal.
Platform Science Adds Dispatch and Safety Tools
Four additions to PS Fleet help fleets monitor loads, manage driver coaching, share truck locations and adjust video system settings.
'All of us have a role in prevention,' health official says as South Dakota suicide numbers rise
The number of South Dakotans who died by suicide increased to 214 in 2025, according to new state data.
Video: How Title IX Became a Political Tool
After a Cornell student’s lawsuit alleging the school failed her when she reported sexual assault, there’s a new focus on Title IX, the federal law barring sex discrimination in federally funded education. Our Washington correspondent Michael C. Bender traces how interpretations of the law shifted between the Obama and Trump administrations.
Sam LaPorta expresses disappointment Lions haven't extended him yet; TE prepared to 'get paid somewhere else'
LaPorta remains committed to playing for Detroit, but he conveyed on Barstool's "Pardon My Take" that he's dismayed the franchise hasn't given him a new deal by now.
Denver business owner calls for more police action after nearly $8,000 in tools stolen from work van
Nick Krall Shares Where Carlos Jorge Stands Heading Into 2027
The Reds see a young outfielder with useful tools and some work left to do.
After 32,000 folds, iPhone Duo's hinge serves up a big surprise
Joanna Stern's video review uses a clever custom-built tool to measure how iPhone Duo's hinge holds up after four nights of automatic folds.
Pulpit Politics: Johnson Amendment Rarely Enforced
The Johnson Amendment prohibits tax-exempt religious and charitable organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates. Some Oklahoma churches have found a loophole: partnerships with other organizations let them reveal political alignments.
Money and Politics in New York City: A Frontline Perspective
A former candidate for the New York City Council explains the complications of campaign financing.
OpenAI acquired biotech startup Orchestra Bio to expand its life sciences AI tools
OpenAI will fold Orchestra's team and technology into Rosalind, its AI models and tools for life sciences researchers
Google Cloud, DeepMind, and the EU: A New Model for AI-Driven Science
Google's latest European research initiative signals a shift toward collaborative AI innovation, where technology developers provide the tools and scientific institutions establish the priorities for discovery.
APEX FTE EXPO 2026: Stellar Entertainment Brings Cosmo AI and New Digital Tools to Singapore
Stellar Entertainment will showcase Cosmo AI, new digital tools, and expanded media and audio capabilities at APEX FTE EXPO.
QED Science launches Insights Feed to filter research papers
“Researchers don't need another tool that gives them more papers to read,” says QED Science CEO Niv Mastboim, launching Insights Feed.
Could Prediction Markets Be a New Hedge Against Business Risk?
Could prediction markets become a new tool for managing business risk? Event-based contracts may help firms hedge revenue uncertainty, but success depends on accurately measuring exposure, matching risks and avoiding conflicts of interest.
New Richland Lab Could Transform How Scientists Study Microbes and Boost Regional Jobs
The BriefGroundbreaking held Tuesday: PNNL officially began construction on the M2PC lab, a 30,800-square-foot facility funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science that will study soil microbes to improve crop productivity and develop new biotechnology applications. The facility will be open to researchers from around the nation and the world.Research timelines could shrink dramatically: The facility's automation and AI capabilities could reduce experiments that currently take six months to just 72 hours, allowing scientists to explore more possibilities faster than ever before.New jobs coming to the Tri-Cities: The project is expected to create positions for automation engineers, AI experts, roboticists, technicians, and skilled craftspeople, with the facility opening in 2029.RICHLAND, Wash. — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory broke ground Tuesday on a first-of-its-kind facility that could accelerate scientific discoveries about the microscopic organisms living in soil—organisms that may hold the key to growing more food and developing new energy technologies.The Microbial Molecular Phenotyping Capability, or M2PC, represents a significant investment in automation and artificial intelligence to speed up research that traditionally takes years to complete. The 30,800-square-foot facility will house more than 100 connected automated instruments designed to study microbes at a pace and scale never before possible.Reshaping Agriculture's FutureThe M2PC facility will not put a new tool directly into a farmer's hands tomorrow morning, but it is actively reshaping the commercial pipeline to solve agriculture's biggest headache with biologicals: inconsistent field performance. For years, PNNL researchers have explored how microbes work and how they might help produce useful materials, advance energy technologies, and address challenges involving critical materials and minerals. But those experiments have been limited by what researchers could accomplish by hand."They can be used to provide nutrients to a plant so that the plant would grow more. So, like increasing your crop productivity, for example," said Douglas Mans, PNNL's Associate Laboratory Director for Integrated Discovery Sciences.PNNL's own research shows soil microbes can help plants access nutrients and withstand drought—benefits that could prove crucial as farmers face growing environmental pressures. The M2PC facility will allow scientists to identify and optimize useful microbes faster than ever before, accelerating the development of biological solutions that actually work consistently in the field.What Makes M2PC UniqueThe Microbial Molecular Phenotyping Capability differs from traditional research labs because it operates as a first-of-its-kind, AI-enabled autonomous laboratory designed to shrink experimental timelines from years down to months or weeks. The M2PC lab will connect more than 100 automated instruments to grow microbes, prepare samples, measure their behavior, and link observations to the molecular processes behind them. Artificial intelligence will help analyze results and guide the next experiments, allowing scientists to explore more questions faster.Deb Gracio, PNNL Director, emphasized the transformative potential during Tuesday's groundbreaking ceremony: "Research that has taken years will become possible in months and hopefully in weeks."That acceleration is already being demonstrated. PNNL's smaller automated lab, called the Anaerobic Microbial Phenotyping Platform or AMP2, completed three experimental cycles in just 72 hours—a process that normally would have taken about six months."That normally would have taken us about six months … and we were able to do that in 72 hours," Mans said.The AMP2 laboratory is not being closed or replaced. Instead, the current 1,800-square-foot laboratory serves as an active prototype and precursor for the much larger M2PC facility. AMP2 will continue operating as a separate lab designed to run anaerobic experiments—those conducted in the absence of oxygen—while M2PC will focus on aerobic research.Broader Applications Beyond AgricultureWhile improving crop productivity is one important application, the M2PC facility is designed to support research into multiple areas critical to national priorities. The lab will advance research into biofuels, manufacturing materials, and energy technologies. It will also help researchers understand how microbes respond to environmental changes and how to design biological systems for biotechnology applications.As a flagship component of the Department of Energy's Genesis Mission, M2PC represents a significant investment in using artificial intelligence and automation to accelerate U.S. scientific discovery. Dorothy Koch, Associate Director of the DOE Office of Science Biological and Environmental Research program, highlighted the facility's importance during the groundbreaking."M2PC will accelerate biological discovery and design," Koch said, noting that the facility is expected to conduct a minimum of 500 strain experiments per week, 100 microbiome experiments per week, and take a million measurements per month.Economic Opportunity for the RegionBeyond the scientific breakthroughs, the M2PC project represents significant economic opportunity for the Tri-Cities region. The facility will require hiring automation engineers, AI experts, technicians skilled in operating robotics, and specialized craftspeople to build and maintain the sophisticated equipment."We're anticipating that type of hiring," Mans said when asked about job creation.PNNL has already begun recruiting talent nationally and internationally for positions related to the smaller AMP2 lab, bringing automation engineers from cities like Boston and San Francisco to work in the region. The M2PC facility is expected to accelerate that trend."This capability won't really exist anywhere else in the world," Mans said, suggesting the facility could become a draw for scientific talent seeking to work on cutting-edge biotechnology research.Timeline and Next StepsThe M2PC facility is expected to open in 2029. Between now and then, construction crews will level and prepare the ground, while the building takes shape. Simultaneously, Ginkgo Bio Works, the automation contractor, will build the facility's automation components off-site so they can be installed as the building is completed.In the interim, PNNL researchers and the broader scientific community will begin planning the first experiments to be conducted in the facility, ensuring research is lined up and ready to begin as soon as the doors open.The groundbreaking ceremony included representatives from the Department of Energy, PNNL leadership, and elected officials at the federal, state, and local levels, underscoring the project's significance to the region and the nation's biotechnology future. News The U.S. Department of Energy Secretary tours Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Dan Hanson, Apple Valley News Now News Beyond DNA: Scientists Explore New Frontiers in Biology Research Dan Hanson, Apple Valley News Now News TRIDEC optimistic that Hanford, PNNL will see funding in national budget Robert Desaulniers News Big picture science: monitoring the Yakima River Basin News PNNL research could shape the future of fighting fentanyl COPYRIGHT 2026 BY APPLE VALLEY NEWS NOW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
Vikings Face Criticism Over J.J. McCarthy From Unexpected Voice
Barstool Sports owner and Michigan alum Dave Portnoy went to bat for former Minnesota Vikings and current New York Giants quarterback J.J. McCarthy. Portnoy spoke out about McCarthy’s time at the Vikings, as the latter made his debut with the Giants. McCarthy stepped in for Jameis Winston in the Giants’ game against the New Orleans […] The post Vikings Face Criticism Over J.J. McCarthy From Unexpected Voice appeared first on HEAVY.
OpenAI acquires startup Orchestra Bio to beef up its biotech business
OpenAI says it's adding Orchestra's team and technology to work on Rosalind, its AI model for life sciences research, and to its related Rosalind Workbench tool, a harness that aims to help researchers plan experiments and analyze results.
Your Huddle subscription just got an upgrade
Your account now features complete access to our newest fantasy tools.
Practice what you teach: Exercise science instructor says running is life
UA exercise science professor Benjamin Boudreaux uses running as a teaching tool and as a lifelong tool for physical and mental well-being.
Workplace illness prevention: New guide for health and safety committees
The University of Connecticut calls joint committees “one of the most effective tools” for preventing work-related illnesses.
Top Entertainment Stocks To Research
SEA, Spotify Technology, Walt Disney, Verizon Communications, and Autodesk are the five Entertainment stocks to watch today, according to MarketBeat's stock screener tool. Entertainment stocks are shares of publicly traded companies involved in producing, distributing, or delivering entertainment,
Amazon uses ‘TNF’ to attract new advertisers, expand ad business
'Thursday Night Football' coverage for Amazon has proven a particularly useful tool to expand its advertising and streaming business.
Advito Adds New Service To Help Organizations Prepare Emissions Data
Tool is said to provide an independent assessment of processes and methodologies
Planning TB prevention: Considerations for an evolving toolkit
Explore our TB prevention toolkit: today’s tools, the pipeline of new options, and the open questions ahead.
Fairfield leaders discuss C-PACE financing tool that could help businesses, proposed data center
Fairfield city leaders are looking into a new financing tool that could help business and property owners pay for upgrades on commercial buildings, including the proposed Patmos data center.
AI facial health recognition tools help physicians assess age and survival risk to guide personalized treatment
Researchers are using AI tools to analyze simple facial photographs to determine key indicators of a person's health. Mass General Brigham researchers built FAHR-Face (Foundation Artificial Intelligence ...
Your Company Doesn’t Need More AI Tools. It Needs These 6 Operating Changes
Giving employees another AI tool won’t transform a business by itself. Leaders from Homebase, Tiny Health, and Zoom explain the operating changes that turn access into measurable work.
Accel Entertainment, Inc. Initial Statement of Beneficial Ownership
Stock Titan provides an ultra-fast stock market news feed and multiple tools for traders and investors.
AI facial health recognition tools help physicians assess age and survival risk to guide personalized treatment
Mass General Brigham researchers trained a new AI foundation model on more than 40 million facial images, and used it to develop AI tools to estimate biological age and directly predict survival risk in patients with cancer
New AI Tool Could Help Scientists Make ‘Rare’ Cross-Disciplinary Leaps
Using a system called BootLoops, scientists produced 36 papers in three months. Paired with experts, the tool could pollinate ideas across fields.
MNsure offers new health plan tools ahead of 2027 open enrollment
Minnesotans looking for health insurance coverage for 2027 can shop and compare plans at MNsure.org. In advance of the annual open enrollment period starting Nov. 1, the use of new online tools is helping consumers choose plans for their families and their budget.
South Brunswick BOE Approves High School Computer Science Research Study Involving ChatGPT
South Brunswick High School students will participate in research exploring how ChatGPT and AI tools can support computer science education.
From Wall Street to Sports and Creators, NAB Show New York 2026 Opens Oct. 21 at Javits Center
Leaders across broadcasting, sports, streaming, technology and the creator economy to convene about the tools shaping the future of media.
My summer studying cancer research in New York - College of Arts and Sciences
Senior Kameryn Lloyd spent her summer studying how siRNA therapeutics could be a potential tool against cancer.
A new tool makes mapping the ocean easier
UCSB marine scientists have developed a new, open-source software package that makes it faster and simpler to find, organize and map data about the world’s oceans.
Huntington Bank Introduces The 1866 Studio, an AI-Powered Small Business Operating System Built with Google Cloud
New connected experience designed to help small business owners build and scale their businesses with access to financial, operational and business management AI tools and expertise COLUMBUS,...
FCM Travel Releases ‘Sam for Browser’ Digital Assistant
Tool enables travelers to quickly redirect from external flight-search sites into their corporate booking tool
Consumer apprehension grows as US retailers adopt AI-assisted pricing tools
U.S. consumers are uneasy about the increasingly high-tech ways that restaurant chains and major retailers are setting prices. Digital price tags are replacing paper ones in grocery aisles. AI tools
The sport of online harassment
Non-consensually posted intimate images can devastate women – and beget male bonding.The burner accounts on X loosely grouped into the “burnerverse” started by bonding over college sports – but soon took a darker turn when some of them began trying to make salacious rumors or non-consensual intimate images of young women and their names go viral. Ej Dickson investigated the burnerverse for Wired, profiling one of these women who were doxxed – and found links between these burner accounts and college fraternities. But what makes misogyny such a potent tool for men’s bonding? And with laws against non-consensually distributed intimate images in all 50 states – how is it still happening at scale?To talk more about the culture that supports this kind of harassment and the structures that keep it in place, Brittany is joined by Ej Dickson, senior culture writer at wired, and Dr. Mary Anne Franks, professor at the George Washington University Law School and president of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.
New Tools and Fresh Thinking Are Reshaping the Science of Addiction
A new Frontiers Research Topic argues that biosensors, longitudinal phenotyping, and transdiagnostic biomarkers are transforming addiction from a static label into a dynamic, mechanism-based science.
This Pocket-Sized Multitool Is An Affordable Leatherman Alternative
If you're looking for a new multi tool for your EDC, there's a new alternative on Kickstarter that you should definitely check out. Here are the details.
Who had the best plans? Meet the 2026 Business Plan Competition Winners
Fort Worth Business Plan Competition, in its 15th year, provides entrepreneurs tools and network support to advance their business ideas.
3 Essential Tools Every PC Gamer Should Install
You have a lot of tools available to you to maintain and monitor your PC, but these three, in particular, are must-haves for any gamer.
QED Science adds preprint scoring to research discovery | ETIH EdTech News
QED Science has introduced Insights Feed, combining personalized research recommendations across 250 life science subfields with quality scores for selected preprints. ETIH’s edtech news coverage examines the tool’s features, use of unpublished work and limits of the launch claims.
Epic Games shifts to automation-first development: Tim Sweeney sees a “golden age of gaming”
Epic Games is moving teams toward automation-first development. Tim Sweeney says generative tools could speed up production, lower costs, and open wha
New tool offered to help navigate health coverage options
People in Oregon can now get an early look at their health coverage options for 2027 with the launch of the Explore Health Plan Guide.
New Tools Let Users Edit and Load Modified VBIOS on GeForce RTX GPUs Without Flashing
A developer who goes by Panchovix has released three tools that let NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50, RTX 40, and RTX 30-series owners run a modified VBIOS without writing anything to the card's flash chip. The first is a VBIOS editor for Windows and Linux that can change power limits, voltage ceilings,...
Promising Entertainment Stocks To Follow Today
Walt Disney, Spotify Technology, Verizon Communications, Take-Two Interactive Software, and Caesars Entertainment are the five Entertainment stocks to watch today, according to MarketBeat's stock screener tool. Entertainment stocks are shares of publicly traded companies that produce or distribute
Consumer apprehension grows as US retailers adopt AI-assisted pricing tools
U.S. consumers aren't just frustrated with high prices. They're angry and confused about the increasingly high-tech ways that restaurant chains and major retailers are setting those prices.
Shaving away the stigma: OURHAIR initiative adds mental health tools to hair professionals’ toolbox, including in Kingston
The OurHAIR initiative, started by Community Care Behavioral Health Organization, trains hair professionals on the basics of mental health, including where to send clients for help when they need it beyond the listening ear of their braider or barber.
AI-assisted pricing tools increase US consumer apprehension
It’s unclear how widely retailers use AI to help set prices, but research suggests businesses across industries are adopting it.
Is Teladoc Health (TDOC) Cheap Following Its New AI Tools?
Teladoc Health (TDOC) just rolled out two AI tools inside its Solo platform, SoloVitals and SoloScribe, aimed at contactless vital sign tracking and streamlined clinical note taking for hospital and health system clients. Despite Teladoc Health unveiling AI tools aimed at making virtual visits smoother for hospitals, the 30-day share price return is down 10% and the 90-day move has fallen 41.24%. The 5-year total shareholder return has declined 95.88%, pointing to longer term momentum that...
Consumer apprehension grows as US retailers adopt AI-assisted pricing tools
U.S. consumers are uneasy about the increasingly high-tech ways that restaurant chains and major retailers are setting prices.
Consumer apprehension grows as US retailers adopt AI-assisted pricing tools
U.S. consumers are uneasy about the increasingly high-tech ways that restaurant chains and major retailers are setting prices.
Consumer apprehension grows as US retailers adopt AI-assisted pricing tools
U.S. consumers are uneasy about the increasingly high-tech ways that restaurant chains and major retailers are setting prices.
How AI is reshaping microdramas as video format takes a ‘generational jump’
Microdrama industry insiders share effects of recent AI advances, from aiding editing to replacing actors. Is it a useful tool or a curse?
New guided search tool helps Kentuckians navigate treatment, mental health and recovery resources
By Leah Dick University of Kentucky Finding the right support for substance use disorder treatment, mental health care, recovery housing or naloxone distribution can be an important step toward better…
2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine Honors Breakthrough That Lets Scientists Control the Brain With Light
An algal protein helped scientists reactivate a fear memory in mice, turning light into a tool for testing what specific brain cells do. Scientists who worked out how to control brain cells with light have won this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel were honored for their
NASA’s Webb reveals the wild weather of a mysterious world 20 light-years away
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed that a turbulent world 20 light-years away has a surprisingly orderly weather system, with three recurring atmospheric states driven by temperature changes and shifting clouds. The breakthrough gives scientists a powerful new tool for uncovering weather patterns on distant worlds and understanding the conditions that shape their atmospheres.
What Is The Little Circle Tool On A Leatherman For?
If you have a Leatherman multi-tool, you might have noticed a little circle at the base of your product. It actually has a very specific purpose.
Modern Science: An Ohio University researcher is looking into how the chemicals in plastic are attaching to our bodies
ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — New research out of Ohio University focuses on developing chemical tools to study and manipulate protein-to-protein interactions. Knowledge gained from this research can be us
A new UNC initiative aims to bring AI tools to rural and low-resource health care clinics
From transcription tools to customer service, many small clinics don't have the bandwidth to navigate AI.
What Impresses Titans the Most About RB Nick Singleton
Coach Randy Jordan reveals why the Penn State rookie’s explosive physical tools offer a high-upside solution as Tennessee navigates looming contract decisions for its veteran backfield.
This new theory on how AI 'thinks' could impact whether it kills us
We may be closer to understanding how AI models think, giving researchers new tools to ensure they don't go rogue.
Can AI solve our mental health access problem?
Last week I asked you what worries you most about AI in health. It was close, but your top answer was “AI giving bad health advice.” Last week’s poll results: You’re in good company. This concern was top of mind at a conference I joined at Stanford last week, where researchers, clinicians, and people who build AI systems spent a day debating trust and safety in health AI. Stepping back, I’m also hearing your emerging concerns about AI’s impact on our well-being generally. I see this as a matter of public health, and we’ll take it in pieces as we learn together. Today we’ll focus on AI chatbots used for therapy for mental health. Early this month, Governor Newsom vetoed Senate Bill 903, California’s most ambitious attempt to regulate AI use for mental health. It’s at the center of active debate, and raises the questions patients, family members, citizens, and voters will face as AI moves deeper into health care. Let’s work through it. What is “AI-based therapy”? It’s really two things: purpose-built mental health apps designed to deliver structured support, and general chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini that people increasingly use for emotional support—even if they weren’t built for it. Spoiler alert: I don’t know whether the shift toward AI therapy is good or bad. The evidence isn’t there yet. But I do know it’s already happening, and I have some ideas about how we can roll it out with safety in mind. The therapy dilemma, in a nutshell Mental health challenges are common, and strain health and well-being across populations. Therapy (interactive dialogue with a trained, empathetic practitioner) helps many people heal. The demand for licensed therapists far exceeds the supply in California, and AI-based therapy can narrow that gap. AI-based therapy remains novel, unproven, and not well tested. Right off the bat, we can see we’re dealing with trade-offs here. Since the main driver of demand for therapy from a robot is lack of access to therapy from a human, we’ll start there. It’s too hard to find and afford a human therapist California is short roughly 55,000 licensed, non-prescribing therapists and counselors, about 40% of what we need. Psychiatrists, who rely on talk therapy as a complement to prescribed medications, are even more scarce. Eight counties have none, and density ranges from 1.7 per 100,000 residents in San Benito County, to 68.1 in Marin County. My wife is a psychiatrist in Marin, and even here access is tight. If it’s hard in the best-supplied county, imagine rural Sierra County, or the San Joaquin Valley. In 2024, more than half of Californians who tried to make a mental health appointment struggled to find a provider who took their insurance, compared with 14% for physical health care. When Senate staff posed as “secret shopper” patients and called 120 mental health providers in Medicare Advantage networks, they landed an appointment less than once for every five tries. Insurers pay behavioral health clinicians about 22% less than medical and surgical clinicians for comparable office visits. On top of that, billing denials and prior authorizations hit hardest at the solo and small practices common in mental health. Psychiatrists opt out of Medicare at the highest rate of any specialty. In many places, a cash practice for therapy fills quickly with patients paying $250 or more an hour, with no insurance paperwork at all. Families who can pay cash find providers more easily. Those who rely on insurance, including Medi-Cal enrollees, older adults, rural residents, and non-English speakers, compete for what’s left. So we can’t pretend the human system works, and we can’t blame people for turning to AI for support when they’re in distress. AI is filling the gap It’s estimated that roughly a quarter of AI users use it for mental health support. If you have internet, it’s available 24/7, it’s cheap, and it speaks your language. Uninsured adults are about twice as likely as insured adults to do it (30% vs. 14%). It feels anonymous in ways that may enable people to ask things they’re unsure or embarrassed about. The largely hidden, personal use makes it hard to study whether it’s actually helping people with their mental health issues, but researchers are trying. Does AI therapy work? A 2026 analysis of nearly 40 randomized trials found chatbots showed a real but small reduction in depression symptoms. But most of these trials were compared to an alternative of no therapy, not a human therapist. So the benefit of AI therapy is probably real, but modest, and mostly untested against the alternative of human contact. We need more studies. Serious concerns OpenAI’s own estimate is that more than a million ChatGPT users each week show signs of suicidal planning or intent. These are high stakes encounters, and AI doesn’t always get it right. That’s partly because a chatbot can sound like a therapist, but it has no license, no duty of care, and it’s not clear who to hold accountable when it gets things wrong. AI is also designed to help users in whatever task they’re seeking to accomplish. People may feel like they’re getting therapy, but they’re mainly getting a convincing conversation. It’s easy for an AI companion to wander into gray areas, like playing along with “creative writing” that may be about the user’s own suicidal intent. Courts are driving safety conversations A wave of lawsuits have been filed on behalf of families claiming that chatbots pushed people they loved toward self-harm, including teens who died by suicide. The first settlements came this year. OpenAI is headquartered in San Francisco, and dozens of cases alleging that ChatGPT drove users to suicide or self-harm are now before a San Francisco judge. Character.ai has filed for bankruptcy after several states brought lawsuits accusing the chatbot of pushing dangerous content to kids. But the technology seems to be improving. Last month, an independent evaluation found that newer AI models “almost never endorse suicide.” That’s progress, but our societal appetite for even one preventable death is very low. So how do we move forward? Finding a middle ground Earlier this month the governor vetoed Senate Bill 903, a bill designed to place guardrails on the use of AI for therapy. The bill would have prohibited any AI-based platform from being advertised as psychotherapy, and would have required a licensed professional to review and approve each encounter where AI was used to support therapeutic decisions. Newsom called it overly broad, since even routine screening questions would have needed clinician sign-off. Knowing we’re already short on mental health providers, requiring human review of AI encounters may not relieve our access problems. Still, the answer isn’t no oversight. Here’s one feasible short term solution. Rather than reviewing each encounter, a licensed clinician can design the guardrails: what counts as a crisis, what triggers an immediate handoff to a human, and what gets sampled for audit each month. The AI runs inside that structure. Conversations get checked, failures get reported, and a real clinician owns the framework. Medicine already has models to learn from. The FDA process for rolling out newly approved medications is an example. After a product reaches patients, we keep watching for adverse events. Patient-facing AI needs the same “digital pharmacovigilance”: systematic tracking of harms, near misses, and the types of groups that get hurt and why. It’s also critical that users know that they can reach a human if they’re in crisis. Most chatbots now include messages like these: Bottom line The rush to use unproven AI tools for mental health support is mostly a workaround, a sign of a health system people can’t get into. We need better access to proven care from licensed clinicians. That takes reimbursement that makes accepting insurance viable, and a bigger workforce. But, built and tested well, AI could be part of the answer. It could be the 2 a.m. check-in when no one else is awake, or a way for patients to practice skills their therapist taught them. It could be the first step to get someone the right level of care, and take paperwork off clinicians’ plates so they spend more time with patients. None of this is simple. The SB 903 veto doesn’t end the debate, and the legislature will be back. In the meantime, those of us using these tools need to stay informed, ask hard questions, and hold the companies building them accountable. I’ll try to do my part, and we’ll keep learning together. Love,Matt P.S. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988- you’ll reach a real person— or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7. Dr. Matt Willis is the author of Your Local Epidemiologist in California. A California native, he’s served as a primary care physician, CDC epidemiologist, and public health officer for Marin County, where he guided the pandemic response. He lives in Marin with his family and their dogs, Teddy and Ramona. Thank you Cynthia He, MD, PhD, and Parnika Saxena, MD, for their guidance in preparing this article. Cynthia works in an outpatient mental health clinic, treating patients who have Medi-Cal or, sometimes, no insurance. Parnika works in an inpatient psychiatric unit, treating patients with public or private insurance or self-pay ability. All opinions are their own and do not represent their employers.
3 questions with AI Power Breakfast speaker Mike Stitt
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Companies pledge free software and computing for AI in science
The European Commission has announced that a group of companies and foundations will offer free services, such as software or access to supercomputers, to European scientists using AI in their research.Unveiled on October 15 at a conference in Dublin, the initiative is the latest step by the Commission to try to help researchers use the technology. Scientists have used forms of AI, such as machine learning, for decades. But advances in deep learning in the past decade, and the wider interest in large language models since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, have spurred governments to invest in new AI tools that could help the scientific process.In July, the US announced it is spending $5 billion on the Genesis Mission, which it describes as a “national effort to harness AI for science,” funding 278 projects across areas such as autonomous labs or new AI tools in astronomy. The Commission has also identified AI in science as a priority, but the €107 million it pledged from Horizon Europe in 2025 does not come close to US spending levels. That said, the vast majority of public research spending in the EU comes from national funds. Today’s announcement at the European AI in Science Summit doesn’t commit any new public money. Instead, it launches the AI in Science Enablers Initiative, a set of voluntary contributions from companies and foundations. The idea is that the companies also benefit by getting access to scientific ecosystems, and feedback on how their tools work. Google, for example, has put up €3 million of cloud computing credits to European researchers. The Novo Nordisk Foundation intends to make its supercomputer, Gefion, available to European researchers, according to the Commission statement. The chipmaker Nvidia said it would provide access to tools, compute, training and collaborative projects.The publisher Elsevier also offered complementary licenses to some of its AI tools, plus AI training for PhD, postdoctoral and master’s students. The French AI firm Mistral will provide the European research community with access to its open-weight models, Vibe seats and application programming interface credits, according to the Commission’s statement. Vibe is one of the firm’s chatbot models. The idea is that more firms and foundations will come on board in the future as the initiative grows.
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Ubisoft plans cuts at German studios, adding to wave of workforce reductions
Ubisoft is planning to reduce its workforce in Germany, where it operates a trio of studios, by about 100 workers, Game File has learned. The company wants to offer employees buyouts to, should enough people accept, avoid having to lay anyone off. “In Germany, we initiated discussions with the Works Council last week regarding a proposed voluntary departure plan across Ubisoft Dusseldorf, Ubisoft Berlin & Ubisoft Mainz,” a company rep told Game File. A “works council” is a union-like group representing employees. “The voluntary plan is the primary measure being proposed to support the intended organizational changes,” the Ubisoft rep added. The company declined to confirm the scale of the potential headcount cut. Of the impacted studios, Mainz might be the best known to the public. It leads development of the Anno series and shipped the well-reviewed strategy game Anno 117: Pax Romana in November 2025. Berlin and Dusseldorf operate as support studios within Ubisoft’s creative network. Berlin recently supported the development of Rainbow Six Siege and the Rayman Legends Retold remake. Dusseldorf also contributed to those projects, as well as The Settlers and Ubisoft-branded escape rooms. Dusseldorf is the biggest of the three studios, with some 400+ workers, compared to just over 100 at the other two, a source familiar with the reductions and the teams told Game File. More than half of these new reductions of about 100 people are expected to happen at Dusseldorf. The planned cuts were announced at a town hall for the German studios on Tuesday of last week. In an email follow-up, the studio group’s managing director, Benedikt Grindel, said the cuts were intended to “best position our German studios for the future... with a clearer focus on their role, capabilities and organizational setup needed for the work ahead.” The email was an echo of the past. In January 2025, Grindel had emailed the Ubisoft developers in his region (or studio “zone”) to explain that a round of 185 cuts at the time, including about 65 at Dusseldorf, were “essential to improve our operational efficiency and ensure the long-term sustainability of our studios, the zone and the company.” A half-decade of continued job cuts Ubisoft has been aggressively cutting its headcount for years. At the end of September 2022, it had 20,729 workers. By the end of March 2026, that total was down to 16,590. Studio management is trying to trim costs as it grapples with a changing industry and a drought of releases, let alone hits. The company announced earlier this year that it had reduced its costs since 2022 by “nearly €325 million” ($362m) and planned to lower them through 2028 by another €180 million ($200m). In June the company said it was closing down its Winnipeg and Belgrade studios and cutting roles in its Barcelona team. Even commercial and creative success hasn’t spared studios from this ongoing company-wide contraction. As Game File was nailing down details around the proposed cuts in Germany, Ubisoft management was informing workers of cuts in its Singapore studio, which shipped a hit remake of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag this past July. Some 70 positions in Singapore are being eliminated “to align the studio with upcoming production needs,” per a company rep’s statement to Game File. In early 2024, a large team in the Singapore studio launched the multiplayer pirate game Skull & Bones. It performed poorly but has been supported with regular content updates since. Many of Ubisoft’s studios around the world are heavily subsidized via regional grants and tax breaks. Singapore had been among them for years, but received no such local assistance in the 12 months ending this past March. News of the Singapore cuts broke today alongside word that Ubisoft is also proposing the closure of RedLynx, pending negotiations with officials. The Finnish studio behind the motorbike series Trials was founded in 2000 and sold to Ubisoft in 2011. As reported by VGC (and corroborated by Game File), Ubisoft management told employees it could not come up with a new, sustainable assignment for RedLynx. The 2025 workforce at Ubisoft Dusseldorf were straight-up cuts. This time, Ubisoft is hoping the reductions at its trio of German studios will largely come from workers taking a payout to leave. The company offered such voluntary dismissals at its Massive Entertainment studio (The Division) a year ago. For the German studios’ buyouts this time around, Ubisoft and the Works Council had discussed a formula that’d pay a worker’s monthly salary multiplied by 1.5 and by the number of years they’ve worked at the company, according to Game File sources. The formula is still subject to negotiations with the Works Council and has not yet been part of an official offer to workers. It could be adjusted up or down, and it could be supplemented with additional bonuses. Asked about the floated payout formula, a Ubisoft rep told Game File, “The terms of a potential voluntary departure program remain subject to negotiation with employee representatives. No final agreement has been reached, and we won’t comment on specific proposals while discussions are ongoing.” Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Item 2: Epic’s AI adventures Epic Games (Fortnite, the Unreal engine) is all-in on using AI to try to transform the way it makes video games and game-making tools. It’s leaders appear to be undeterred by any resistance among gamers and some game developers around generative AI—and instead emboldened by advances, particularly in AI-assisted programming. A recap of the last three days: On Monday, Bloomberg reported that Epic management told workers last week that development of an upcoming game combining Star Wars and Marvel characters would be “AI first.” Employees would be expected to use AI models such as Claude to code the game. A manager told Epic’s developers there would be “[n]o more hand-written code” and that art for the game would be “generated with full AI workflows,” per the outlet. Just ahead of that story running, Epic founder Tim Sweeney tweeted: “We have a huge pivot underway here at Epic, moving developers around to retool for maximum AI acceleration. The aim isn’t to do the same stuff with fewer people, but to enable everyone here to build MORE and BETTER stuff, and to bring the benefits to all teams using Unreal.” In a follow-up, Sweeney predicted that most game development processes would be at least three times faster a year from now than they were in January 2026, thanks to AI. To a person on X who told him he was failing to read the room, Sweeney said: “Much of the room wants it to be 2016 again, but it’s not. Our job, as the provider of tools and technology to much of the industry, is to design for the present that is and the future that will soon be.” On Wednesday, Epic announced it was releasing a faster launcher for its Epic Games Store marketplace. It did so by stating in a blog post as clear as could be that the launcher is an AI-enabled, vibe-coded project: Programming is hard. So, instead of doing that, we vibe coded a new Epic Games Launcher that’s way faster and more responsive than the current one, and has a new look. Programming is hard? That was unexpected phrasing from a company founded by a legendarily great programmer. Back in 2011, Sweeney told me that he’d picked up programming quickly as a kid and rejoiced at the power it gave him. “I could look at any program that anybody else had written and, with enough effort, build something cooler.” Item 3: The Xbox Labs experiment (and one of the people behind it) Microsoft’s Xbox division, which is flooding the zone with announcements lately, yesterday revealed a new internal tech-tinkering team called Xbox Labs. In the words of Xbox boss Asha Sharma Labs is “a small group of game makers, engineers and scientists whose job is to turn emerging ideas into things our players and developers can experience.” Conventional wisdom coming out of the announcement is that Labs is a team that’ll focus on ideas driven by generative AI. In her announcement, Sharma cited some of the dizzying achievements in tech and gaming over the past month as AI agents and other AI tools have been deployed to swiftly figure out how popular games work, then rebuild them and mix them up. She mentioned seeing ”games rapidly decompiled and rebuilt to run on hardware they were never originally designed to support” and said “[p]erhaps more surprisingly, we’ve seen many of the biggest games in the world have been remixed into the source code of another.” (Minecraft plus Elden Ring, for example, or Fortnite + Super Monkey Ball + Overwatch + Diablo + others.) Sharma also cited the work of Windows PC games being ported to run in browsers, a seeming reference to a recent AI-assisted fan port of Halo. Or perhaps Call of Duty or GTA. Sharma didn’t use the specific term “AI” in her memo, but she came close, citing AI “agents” and their potential for game-making tools that Labs could help craft: I think XBOX has an important role to play here. Coding became the first major workload for agents because they can write, run, and test software. Games share many of those same properties, and people spend more than 72 billion hours a year playing XBOX games, roughly five times the estimated time spent writing code worldwide. We’ve spent 25 years learning how to make great games, and I want our game makers to help shape what these new technologies make possible. As we learn, we’ll share the tools we build with developers across the industry, just as we always have. When I asked an Xbox rep if Labs was an AI-centric team, they said genAI was not the focus, describing it as having a broader mandate for using new tech in new ways in gaming. As an example, they pointed to Xbox’s recently launched disc-to-digital gaming usage rights program. Microsoft didn’t specifically name anyone involved full-time in Xbox Labs yesterday, but on social media and LinkedIn, I spotted Adrian Mato IDing himself as leading the creatio of tools at Labs and talking up the launch. Mato first caught my attention in late September, when he said on X that he was “starting to build a new team at Xbox focused on products and tools for how games get built and distributed as agentic tools become more capable.” At the time, he framed AI-based tools as a supplement to traditional game dev tools. “I don’t think we need to replace them,” he said. Since then, he’s publicly shown interest in AI and in games. He’s recently spent some of his X feed marveling at the power of AI agents and praising the lighting in the latest Gears of War. Following the Labs announcement yesterday, he enthused about the Xbox Labs’ stylish landing page. He wrote: “We built some fun tools to art-direct shaders in real time, experimented with interactive ASCII art, and sprinkled in lots of tiny details. “Move your mouse to leave a colorful trail that reveals the original footage, or interact with the video to trigger bursts of particles. “A lot of love went into making it all feel just right. “More to come”
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PROFILE: Ben Sio
New President of CenterState CEO Brings Nearly Two Decades of Experience to Drive CNY Growth By Stefan Yablonski Ben Sio serves as president of the CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity — or CenterState CEO. The independent Syracuse-based nonprofit is committed to creating inclusive, equitable and sustainable economic growth in Central New York. “I started in this position in March, so it has been six months. I’m in my 19th year with CenterState,” he said in August. As president, he is responsible for overseeing the organization’s administration and governance, while leading and executing its vision to be an effective advocate, exceptional employer and a force for positive outcomes for the community. He previously served as chief of staff and senior vice president of strategy, policy and planning, overseeing the organization’s long-term strategic planning, consulting, corporate governance, fundraising and development, land-use planning and government relations. In his years with the organization, Sio has led or supported many high-profile strategic initiatives including the creation of the CNY Rising Plan, the launch of the NUAIR Alliance and the region’s UAS strategy, the creation of the Micron-enabled Community Priorities Document and the recently awarded NY Smart I Corridor Tech Hub. “When we decided to split Rob’s [Simpson] role into two positions, he has the CEO title and I got the president title. Rob remains focused on forward looking vision strategy for the organization and I’m more focused on the day-to-day operations,” he explained. “I’m also responsible for building consensus around strategic needs and priorities and managing the change necessary to drive execution. It’s an eventful job. “The experiment that we call CenterState is always evolving and shifting and addressing where we see market demand and market failure. “If we see something in our economy that isn’t going the way we think it should go, then whether it is housing development or workforce development or something else, we are always figuring out how to step into these situations and address those challenges.” “We are the largest ever in terms of staff that we have ever been. We are no longer the 20-person organization we were when we started out many, many years ago,” he said. “There are more day-to-day things to take care of. But also there is just so much happening in the community right now that is pulling CenterState and our expertise in so many directions. I tell people if we were bored and not busy, then I’d be really concerned about what we are doing. But we are not bored. We’ve certainly got our hands full — and that is a good thing.” CenterState has now approximately 63 employees on its staff, according to recent nonprofit database records. It’s involved in myriad programs, ranging from Genius NY, a business accelerator competition for uncrewed systems, IoT and robotics startups, to CenterState Up Start, a collaborative business development program that connects local, service-based businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs to the tools and networks that help them thrive. CNY Guy Through and Through A Central New York guy through and through, Sio was born and raised in Skaneateles. “My mom was a teacher, an art teacher. My father worked for many, many years with National Grid. He was there through the transition from Niagara Mohawk to National Grid,” he said. “Neither of my parents were touched by cutbacks and job loss. But I grew up going through that transition and being concerned that there were rounds of layoffs. My childhood connection to the economy here in Central New York … years ago it was on the decline. There were people that lived here that were concerned about losing their job. They were thinking they lived in a place that didn’t show much promise.” That narrative translated to his generation, he added. “The kids that grew up in the ‘90s in Central New York were very much told, directly or indirectly, by their parents, that they had to go somewhere else to find economic opportunity. That is what I grew up thinking,” he said. “I only went a few miles down Route 20 for college — in Geneva, New York; I graduated from Hobart and William Smith College with a bachelor’s degree in public policy and political science. “I got real interested in regional economies; because what makes regional economy is what makes the economy successful. And when I graduated, I had an opportunity to move to Washington, DC and work down there at a nonprofit doing this work.” However, he decided to stay in Central New York. “I got hired two weeks after I graduated. I got hired by the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce. At the time it was one of two entities doing economic development in Central New York — [the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce and the Metropolitan Development Association] — and it eventually became CenterState CEO,” he said, referring to 2010 merger between the two organizations. During his time at CenterState, Sio has also split time at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., where he supported communities developing export and foreign direct investment (FDI), a long-term cross-border investment where an individual or company from one country buys a lasting stake or control in a business located in another country. The program — known as Global Cities Initiative — was designed to help leaders in major U.S. and international metropolitan areas reorient their local economies toward global markets. “Early on in my tenure at CenterState, we had done a lot of work with the Brookings Institution, just regional planning stuff. We worked with them on developing a regional export plan, to export more products out of Central New York and a larger business plan for the region. They hired me on to help replicate those plans in different parts of the country,”Sio explained. “So, I worked there for three or four years. I worked for CenterState, but I was technically loaned to Brookings for a period of time to help them do this work elsewhere.” Family ties “My wife is Carly. We have been married 14 years. We have two kids, a 3-year-old and a 7-year-old. “With a 3-year-old and a 7-year-old, fun is a relative term these days. We do a lot of hiking. The kids this summer got very interested in waterfalls. We’ve hit every waterfall we could in a short hike — we’ve done Skaneateles and some others.” “I do woodworking and wood turning — it’s a branch of woodworking; you use a wood lathe. My big thing there is making wood bowls. I do that in most of my free time, which is not much,” he quipped. “I like to get into my woodshop and make a bowl and decompress and turn off the rest of the world for a little bit. I usually do it late at night when the house is quiet. It is definitely my escape from the day to day. I make a lot of bowls; all different sizes, all different species of wood. It’s a fun thing to do for me.” He gives away many of his creations. “They are mostly gifts — I don’t really sell them. I really don’t have time to go set up a booth at a fair or craft show. I usually give them away. I donate them to different things. If you are in my periphery, you’ve likely received a salad bowl from me as a gift. I just need to find something to do with all the stuff that I create,” he said. Lifelines Name: Benjamin Sio Position: President, CenterState CEO Birth Date: Not provided Birth place: Syracuse Residence: Westvale Education: Hobart and William Smith Colleges in the Finger Lakes Affiliations: Member of the boards of Skaneateles Festival, Greccio Foundation, Interfaith Works, CNY Community Foundation Personal/family: Married with two kids Hobbies: Woodworking and woodturning
BUSINESS UPDATE: A 138-year-old New York Manufacturer Gets Another Life in Fulton
E.J. Willis Co. was founded in New York City in 1888 and for generations it has made ship’s bells and other equipment for the U.S. Navy and American shipbuilders. This summer, the new owner moved the company’s equipment to Fulton By Stefan Yablonski E. J. Willis Co. cast brass ship’s bells — handcrafted in the United States since 1888. Ship bells, “built to last a lifetime at sea,” are now manufactured in Fulton. E.J. Willis Co. has moved its operation and manufacturing business to Fulton. They are currently operating out of N.E.T & Die. The company is now under the ownership of Jonathan Hyatt. He recently acquired the company after seeing a for sale note on Craigslist. [caption id=attachment_11110 align=alignright width=400] Entrepreneur Jonathan Hyatt is the new owner of E.J. Willis Co. He bought the business this summer after finding a listing on Craigslist by chance.[/caption] “I had been looking for something to do. I had been 20 years in corporate America and I was just tired of building someone else’s empire, you know what I mean? I was in consulting, pretty much a jack of all trades. I wanted to do something that I could call my own,” he explained. “I’d been on this path of trying to find a business to buy for about a year. One night I am on Craigslist about 11:30 in mid-April searching for something completely unrelated. At the bottom of Craigslist was a ‘things you might be interested in from outside of your area.’ There was an ad that said 138-year-old bell manufacturing company for sale. So, I clicked; why not, right? I wasn’t looking to buy a manufacturing company, but I went down the rabbit hole, absolutely fell in love with the history and ended up buying it.” He read the ad and responded. “I called and I am talking to the owner of the business for about two hours. We ended with, let’s have another chat and then come on out here and have a look. I figured, well I might wind up getting kidnapped and getting murdered or there is a real business here. But I gotta see it through,” he quipped. “And sure enough, there is a big machine shop operation there. The gentleman who owned it was retiring and in the corner of this shop is a little room where they make bells and they have been doing this ever since the company had started.” That’s the one constant thing that has survived the changes of the business. [caption id=attachment_11061 align=alignright width=300] Sales 1929 general catalog published by E. J. Willis Co, listing all the merchandise it sold. It’s like the Sears Roebuck and Co. catalog for marine parts.[/caption] “I drove home and told my wife, ‘This is what I am doing for the rest of whatever we are calling this — mid-life crisis.’ And she said, ‘absolutely you got to do it.’ I took out a loan and off we go.” He put in an offer on the business and they closed on July 1. He didn’t disclose what he paid for the company. “In terms of price, the seller and I have agreed to keep those terms private.” “I am finding that I am a business owner, an archeologist, opening files and cabinets that haven’t been opened in 100 years. It’s just amazing, just cool things that I am finding,” he said. “I want to build the business back. I want to be able to sell the bells to outsiders. I think they are beautiful. “It’s really a wild story about a company that started in lower Manhattan, exploded in the automotive space, sold parts to the Wright Brothers, moved into the aeronautical world and then landed in marine. The cool thing, I have been digging around and the gentleman who owned the company prior to me was not a digital guy. There is nothing out there. “Now I am sitting here with all the art from like the 1930s, the E.J. Willis boat catalog it’s like 250 pages of things this company used to make. It’s like the Sears-Roebuck and Co. catalog for marine parts. We are modernizing, we are staying true to the heritage of the business. It’s exciting to be the next steward of the whole business.” Initially he thought he’d move everything from the company’s plant in Middleville, Herkimer County, to Boston, out of convenience. “Then I thought let’s keep the foundry where it is. Let’s not move anything right away,” he said. “I want to get a good sense of what we’ve got, what works and what doesn’t. “I went to the foundry and met with the people there, lovely people, and said here is my position — I am buying a company where everyone is retiring. There is machining and polishing to be done, who would you work with around here? Without hesitation they said, ‘you need to go to NET Tool & Die and talk to Michelle [Shatrau]. She is a third-generation machinist and she runs the company now.’” So, he drove to Fulton. “I knocked on the door, they let me in. And she said, ‘how’d you get in here?’” he said with a laugh. “We became fast friends. I told her what I am doing. It must have struck a nerve. She has a very entrepreneurial background. I must have said something right because she came out and she said, ‘I’d love to help you. Why don’t we move the equipment that you have into my large building and I will give you a space to work at and use my team?’” [caption id=attachment_11058 align=alignleft width=300] Bell in progress awaiting assembly[/caption] It’s a great relationship so far. “We are bringing the business into the modern world. It’s been a lot of stuff all at once. But it has been very exciting,” he said. “We moved in a month ago [in July]. We closed on the business July 1. We moved a couple weeks later. We had all our equipment set up, electrical being run, everything. [caption id=attachment_11059 align=alignright width=300] Bell attached to a lathe going through the machining process[/caption] “We’re working with NET Tool & Die to rebuild production and preserve manufacturing processes that, in some cases, existed mostly in the heads and hands of the people who had been doing them for decades. We’re currently working on several 200-pound ship’s bells and bringing an old two-way manual bilge pump back into production.” He said he will be working with NET employees for the time being, adding, “I’d love to get to a point where I have so much growth that I need to hire people.” No one wakes up and says, ‘I am buying a bell today,’ Hyatt admitted. [caption id=attachment_11060 align=alignleft width=225] Bell after receiving a custom etching toward the bell mouth[/caption] “Everyone does wake up and has things that deserve acknowledgment and remembering — a promotion, a marriage, the birth of a child,” he said. “These are the things I feel like if there was something that could capture a particular moment in time and will literally outlast the person that bought it, a bell is that. We can engrave a bell if you get married or the birth of a child. We can put anything on a bell. “I have orders, yes. I am working on several orders right now. We have a little bit of busyness. But there are still some things to work out. I want to make things consistently and continue to move forward.”
BUSINESS UPDATE: Attracting World-Renowned Piercing Educators to Oswego
Growing number of renowed piercers are coming to Oswego to share knowledge at newly opened Aqua Spa Float Center piercing suite Submited by Aqua Spa Float Center & Wellness Boutique [caption id=attachment_11066 align=alignright width=450] Recent opening of Aqua Spa Float Center piercing suite.[/caption] Professional piercers and educators from countries including France, Scotland and India have come to Oswego’s Aqua Spa Float Center & Wellness Boutique to share their knowledge In the past year and a half, the Port City has become a destination for some of the industry’s most respected educators through the efforts of the Aqua Spa Float Center & Wellness Boutique. Beginning in January of 2025, Aqua Spa Float Center envisioned a new version of body piercing, one where elegance, safety and personal expression could converge. According to the Aqua Spa, piercing is no longer just a trend — it’s a refined form of personal identity, luxury styling and self-investment. It’s not only about the jewelry — it’s about the entire experience. The team welcomed first guest piercer Ruben Triguero, a senior French piercer, piercing stylist and international educator, who has over two decades of experience and has worked in some of the world’s best studios, including Paris, Rome, New York, Miami, Los Angeles and Dubai. In those studios, he offered his expertise and refined styling skills. Triguero is a prominent figure and leader in the piercing community and shares his knowledge with piercers teaching classes for the industry’s most prestigious organizations, including Latinoamérica Body Piercing Association (LBP) and Association of Professional Piercers (APP). He is currently the senior international instructor of the APP. Triguero has a passion for creating stunning, personalized piercings for clients around the world. Education and Mentorship Following a year of success and popularity, Aqua Spa Float Center hosted the grand opening of its private dedicated piercing suite in March. Aqua Spa Float Center & Wellness celebrated this next chapter with a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by the Oswego Mayor Robert Corradino, members of the Greater Oswego-Fulton Chamber of Commerce, local business owners and community members. The educational focus, aligned with Aqua Spa Float Center’s vision and mission, had already begun expanding beyond clients. Aqua Spa has hosted multiple workshops and continuing education opportunities for professional piercers, inviting studios from across the region to gain hands-on experience from internationally recognized instructors without the expense of traveling to national or international conferences. These educational events have welcomed nationally and internationally recognized professional piercers and educators from countries including France, Scotland, India, and throughout the United States. Aqua Spa also continues to collaborate with talented regional and local professionals, creating opportunities for education and mentorship that benefit both industry peers and clients throughout Central New York. Aqua Spa Float Center & Wellness Boutique owners — Tammy Wilkinson and Terry LeRoi — have been deeply rooted in the piercing industry with over 30 years in business as LeRoi Fine Body Jewellery. Combining that experience with holistic wellness, self-care and self-expression is the new concept with the client Luxe Piercing Experience at the Aqua Spa Float Center. “At LeRoi Fine Body Jewellery and Aqua Spa Float Center, we’ve been fortunate to work with many of the world’s most respected piercers through our involvement with the Association of Professional Piercers and by attending conferences across North America and Europe,” said LeRoi, founder of LeRoi Fine Body Jewellery and co-owner of Aqua Spa Float Center & Wellness Boutique. “Those experiences have shown us that education is what drives our industry forward. “Not every piercer or studio can travel to major conferences like the APP Conference in Las Vegas or APP Benelux in the Netherlands, so we’re committed to bringing that level of education here. Hosting internationally respected educators like Jef Saunders allows our clients to experience the highest standards of professional piercing while giving piercers throughout the Northeast the opportunity to learn from some of the very best in the profession. That’s something we’re incredibly proud to offer our community.” When asked about the client experience, Wilkinson explained that education is at the heart of every appointment as well. “Our vision is to nurture and enhance wellness, balance and harmony through a multi-modality-centered facility, and we aspire to empower sustained, positive change, well-being and self-awareness; and educate to the benefits of natural health, holistic wellness and life balance,” Wilkison explains. “Piercing is no different. The piercing experience feels just as peaceful and rejuvenating as any other spa services. From the moment our clients arrive, they are in the very best hands with our kind and professional Wellness Ambassadors and experienced APP guest piercers.” Wilkinson also explained that piercing clients receive stellar care: every Luxe Piercing appointment includes a one-on-one private piercing in Aqua Spa’s dedicated piercing suite, their choice of custom jewellery by LeRoi Fine Body Jewellery, thorough after-care instructions and complementary check-up appointment, complementary whole-body red light therapy session in the Class II NovoTHOR medical device to promote healing, and access to many rejuvenating spa services. Piercing clients get 15% off during any event. According to Wilkinson, “Health and safety are always our highest priority when you come in for a piercing or jewelry installation. Before each appointment, all tools and jewelry are sterilized in a Statim autoclave, and every surface in the piercing room is carefully disinfected. During the procedure, your piercer will wear a mask and change gloves as needed to maintain a sterile environment. Once your piercing is complete, your piercer will go over detailed aftercare instructions with you. Following these steps is crucial to ensure proper healing before you leave our sanctuary.” As a part of the experience, guest piercers include a thorough anatomy review of the client’s desired piercing to ensure the new addition will work in harmony with the existing. “Our clients are enjoying building and creating ear curations with these international professionals. It’s a unique styling event and a chance to highlight self-expression,” Wilkinson said. Clients and piercers throughout the region are flocking to this piercing destination in Upstate New York. The Luxe Piercing Experience has welcomed clients and piercers alike from around the globe. Owners Wilkinson and LeRoi hope to continue the momentum with more educational seminars with industry experts to be a hub of knowledge and expertise. They hope to establish LeRoi Fine Body Jewellery and Aqua Spa Float Center as legacy businesses known for their lasting, positive impact on the piercing and holistic wellness industries.