Zelle is a popular digital payment platform that allows direct access to user bank accounts, which means that it is, of course, a prime target for scammers online.

The internet is tragically filled with scammers in the modern era, with bad actors focusing on everything from Google Chat to Geek Squad in hopes of scoring an easy payday.

Unfortunately, Zelle represents a particularly attractive scam candidate, as there is little recourse for scammed individuals to get their money back. So what can you do to keep yourself safe? You can understand what kind of Zelle scams are out there, so you can spot them before it’s too late.

In this guide:

• What Are Zelle Scams?
• How to Spot and Report Zelle Scams
• Frequently Asked Questions

What Are Zelle Scams?

Zelle scams are simply scams that are perpetrated through the Zelle platform. For those that don’t know, Zelle is an online payment service that allows users to send and receive money directly to their bank accounts. Unlike platforms like Venmo and CashApp, Zelle doesn’t have an in-app wallet, but instead facilitates transfers directly into and out of bank accounts for faster payments.

While this feature is understandably quite convenient, it does lend itself to abuse from scammers. Because the funds go immediately into, or in the case of scams out of, you’re bank account, there’s little recourse for getting it back when fraudulent situations arise.

Here are some of the most common Zelle scams to look out:

• Zelle Fake Seller Scams
• Zelle Phishing Scams
• Zelle Charity Scams
• Zelle Fake Job Scams
• Zelle Property Rental Scams

Zelle Fake Purchase Scams

As you can imagine, one of the most prominent scams on Zelle is centered around purchasing and selling products on a variety of marketplace platforms. Facebook Marketplace, in particular, is primed for Zelle scams, as it’s specifically aimed at selling to, and purchasing from, strangers.

In most cases, these scams are pretty straightforward. You reach out to a user on a marketplace platform, and they demand that you pay via Zelle. Once you send over the payment, the user will disappear with no plans to send you the product in question.

Because Zelle transfers are not reversible, there’s little you can do to get your money back, and the scammer is already in the wind due to what is likely a fake name, a fake account, and even a fake product.

How to avoid this scam: Many marketplace platforms require some kind of government-issued identification card to get verified, which means you can ask for this kind of information before committing to a purchase. Otherwise, you better get buddy-buddy with your bank, as that’s the only way to reverse a charge through Zelle.

Zelle Phishing Scams

While straightforward purchase scams on Zelle are common, phishing scams impersonating the financial service company are just as problematic and a little harder to spot.

This scam typically occurs when trying to sell an item on a marketplace platform. The user will reach out to purchase the item and will ask for your email address to send over the Zelle payment.

You’ll then receive the email below, which basically states that you’re not a “business account,” so your Zelle account can’t accept a payment of that size. To remedy this, the email says that you need to send an even larger amount back to the alleged purchaser to “expand” your limit.

The problem? This is not an email from Zelle, individual accounts don’t have limits like this, and you’re going to get scammed if you send the money back to the send. They’ll keep your money, you’ll still have your unsold product, and your Zelle account won’t be expanded (because that’s not a thing).

How to avoid this scam: If you’re selling a product, there’s no reason to ever be sending someone money. If they can’t figure out how to send you the money for a product you’re selling in an easy and comprehensive way, trust us, they’re not the right buyer for you.

Zelle Charity Scams

This scam is typical across the payment service spectrum, but Zelle is a particularly popular option, because again, you don’t have much recourse for a refund.

The scam goes like this: You’re contacted, either via text message, email, or another messaging service, and are told that a particular current tragedy requires donations and that you can help with your Zelle payment. The language is typically a bit off, with spelling errors and grammatical mistakes throughout.

Obviously, the money is not going to the cause in question, but rather directly into the wallet of a potential scammer. And because it’s with Zelle, there is no way for you to get the funds back once they’re on the way.

How to avoid this scam: Always verify whether or not a charity is real before making a donation, particularly with a non-refundable option like Zelle. Even if it seems legit, a cursory glance online can help you make sure your funds are actually going to help the cause they say they are.

Zelle Fake Job Scams

This scam is a bit convoluted, but despite its complexity, it’s quite a common scam to occur, as multiple news sources have reported on first-hand accounts from those that have been scammed.

It starts with a job search, typically for a remote work position. An applicant will receive word that they’ve been granted an interview with a company, but that the interview will be conducted over messaging app, rather than through normal channels like video chat or phone call. After the messaging interview, you’ll learn that you got the job.

As with any job, you need to get set up with hardware to access the company’s database. Your interviewer will explain (see below) that the company will mail you a check, and then you’ll have to purchase a laptop and software through their “trusted vendors.” The check will arrive, you’ll deposit it, and the funds will appear to be available, leading you to believe that buying your work supplies through these Zelle-requiring vendors is all above board.

Because this is a guide to Zelle scams, you probably already know that the check from that company isn’t legitimate. Because banks make funds available to trustworthy accounts before confirming the validity of checks, the user will appear to have the funds available, but after a few days, they will be unavailable to the applicant, leaving them with a smaller bank account and no job to speak of.

How to avoid this scam: For starters, always make sure you actually see the person interviewing you for a job. Beyond that, if you’re ever buying something that is being reimbursed, confirm that the funds are actually available before committing to a purchase, particularly via Zelle.

Read more on how to avoid remote job scams.

Zelle Property Rental Scams

Scams on Zelle are often most prominent when highly priced items are in the mix, and there’s nothing more expensive than property rental. Subsequently, you have to keep your eye out for this scam when looking for a new apartment or even just talking to your “landlord.”

This scam takes advantage of rushed nature of housing with rental listings for units that are either unavailable or simply don’t exist. Supposed landlords will request payment via Zelle for deposits and first month’s rent, banking on the fact that renters won’t need to see the space in advance.

Obviously, the rental property ends up being fraudulent in some way, and the scammer in question is already off to their next target while you still need to find a place to live.

How to avoid this scam: First off, look out for listings with no pictures, that’s an immediate red flag for scams. Additionally, always ask to see a property before making a deposit or paying first month’s rent. As hectic as the housing market is right now, a sight-unseen rental has a good chance of ending up as a scam if you don’t confirm it’s actually on the market in the first place.

How to Spot and Report Zelle Scams

The first step of spotting Zelle scams is understanding how they happened. Fortunately, now that you’ve made it to the end of this guide, you’ve taken your first step to stop these scams in their tracks. The most important thing to remember is that if a stranger wants you to send money through Zelle, for any reason, make sure you have some assurances that you’ll receive what you’re paying for.

If you want to report a Zelle scam, you can always head on over to the platform’s “report a scam” page to fill out a form that will help the company track down the scammer and, hopefully, bring them to justice.

Zelle Scams FAQs

One workplace report has found that a whopping 58% of hybrid workers have “coffee badged” in the past — a term used for employees who show up at a physical office in order to make an appearance, but leave soon afterwards to work the rest of the day remotely.

The term highlights the friction between flexible work schedules and those pushing for a return to the physical office.

Interestingly, the report, out from Owl Labs, found that 62% of coffee badgers were men, compared to just 38% who were women.

Wait, What Is “Coffee Badging” Anyway?

The term coffee badging refers to the practice of showing up at your physical workplace to interact with coworkers just long enough to establish that you showed up, before leaving to get your real work done from home.

The term specifically uses the idea showing up at the office, swiping your badge as proof you’ve been on site, and grabbing a coffee. Afterwards, workers will immediately ditch the office and return home.

It’s a practice that can appeal to hybrid workers who need or wish to show up to work for a few days out of the week, but find they need or vastly prefer working remotely. And, for workplaces that require a set two or three full days out of the week are spent in the office, coffee badging is more than skirting the rules.

No matter whether you support or condemn the idea of coffee badging, there’s no denying that it’s not an ideal situation: It’s essentially working from home but still devoting time and money towards the commute to and from your office building.

Who’s Coffee Badging?

It only makes sense that coffee badging appeals the most to hybrid workers, since they’re regularly commuting anyway, yet have the option to work from home. Of these, the report from Owl Labs, State of Hybrid Work 2023, finds that 62% are men, while 38% are women.

The report doesn’t get into the reasons why men might be more likely to coffee badge than women, but it’s tough to see what the answer could be aside from gendered expectations for what office workers are allowed to get away with. This would align with previous studies of office behavior, like the fact that men have more often felt comfortable attempting to negotiate higher salaries than women have.

Millennials are more likely than other generations to coffee badge, perhaps because older generations aren’t as frequently working from home or have different workplace expectations, while the younger Gen Z isn’t as well established in the workforce.

Percentages of office workers who coffee badge, by generation. Image source: Owl Labs.

Can We Move Past Coffee Badging?

Many CEOs are hoping for a full return to a five-day in-office work week. Meanwhile, we’re still seeing huge amounts of workers remain fully remote or adapting a hybrid work balance. One thing we can all agree on? Coffee badging doesn’t seem worth the effort.

Flexible work policies offer the best of both worlds, allowing workers that find they do their best work fully remote to remain happy while also accommodating those who need to work around others all five days of the week. But rewarding people for showing up and drinking a cup of coffee doesn’t need to be in the mix at all.

Ultimately, coffee badging is a product of work policies that don’t accommodate workers to the degree that they feel works best for them, and your views on how to end the practice might hinge on whether you feel the employer or the employee has or should have the upper hand in their relationship.

Ironically, coffee itself could offer a solution of sorts: According to one study, free hot coffee was the single perk most likely to lure workers back to the office — for good.

36 plaintiffs have joined two others in an existing lawsuit against Apple that accuses the tech giant of negligence for failing to prevent stalkers from abusing its AirTag tracking product.

The lawsuit, filed last December, alleges that Apple dismissed concerns that its $29 AirTag device could increase stalking, despite the device offering ” unparalleled accuracy, ease of use, and affordability.”

The 36 new plaintiffs come from 20 US states, representing a huge increase in scope for the lawsuit.

Why the AirTag Works So Well

The Apple AirTag launched in April 2021, offering a coin-sized tracking device that Apple hoped would help people easily track luggage, laptops, or other valuables via their iPhone or laptop. It works with a Bluetooth signal that is picked up by any Apple devices in the vicinity (called the “FindMe” network).

And, since Apple is a hugely popular tech company, any reasonably populated area in the country is never more than 100 yards from an Apple device, making the AirTag a very useful tracking device compared to any competitors.

The Allegations

The lawsuit says that “immediately” after the AirTag’s release and ever since, reports “have proliferated” of people being stalked through the use of the device, whether finding it in their purses, cars, or sewn into the lining of their clothes.

The sordid stories get worse than this, however, as AirTags have been connected to victims’ deaths as well:

“The consequences have been as severe as possible: multiple murders have occurred in which the murderer used an AirTag to track the victim. Similarly, individuals have been murdered—or murdered others—when using AirTags to track down stolen property and confront the thieves.”

It’s undeniably grim news, and while it may be hard to hear, the lawsuit notes that one in three women and one in six men will be stalked at some point in their lifetime.

Can Further Mitigation Features Help?

Apple says it has taken steps to make the AirTag “stalker-proof” — every device has a unique serial number and must be attached to an Apple ID during setup, adding some measure of identification that can be tracked back to a stalker.

Plus, the company will send an alert saying “AirTag Found Moving With You” to any unfamilar iPhones that the AirTag is nearby for an extended period of time.

The lawsuit dismisses these measures as inadequate, pointing out the many stalking incidents that have still taken place. But the real question is how the lawsuit will resolve in court.

Keep your smartphone handy: Cash transactions around the world are continuing a years-long decline, while instant payment networks are seeing more and more growth.

The latest numbers come from an annual McKinsey report, which found cash use across 2022 to have dropped by nearly 4% from the year before.

Future revenue growth, the firm predicts, will be driven by innovations in instant payments, alongside the rise in digital wallets, at least in certain areas of the world.

Where Is Cash Is Less Common and Why?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the market saturation that smartphones are enjoying, instant digital payments are behind the dip in cash transactions.

Around the world, total electronic payment transaction volumes have grown 17% in the last five years, indicating a big shift in the market towards the newer technology. After all, that 17% growth outpaces the mere 6% increase that the entire payments industry grow across that same time period.

So where does cash come in? Here’s how McKinsey explains it:

“These dynamics are also evident in cash displacement. Cash usage declined by nearly four percentage points globally in 2022. Worldwide, the decline in cash usage during the pandemic shows no evidence of being reversed, led downward by the cash-reliant economies of India and Brazil, where the share of cash transactions fell by seven to ten percentage points. Brazil’s cash declines are concurrent with the rapid uptake of the country’s PIX instant-payments network.”

The trend picked up during the pandemic, particularly in India and Brazil, and it doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon.

Nigeria is seeing similar trends: Cash transactions were 95% of all payments in that country in 2019, but just 80% in 2022, all while instant payments leapt from 2% up to 8%.

US and UK Aren’t Seeing Quite as Large a Shift

By 2027, McKinsey forecasts that instant payments in Brazil will account for nearly half of all transactions.

In contrast, the US and UK will see much slower shift, perhaps because these economies were less cash-heavy to begin with. McKinsey still thinks a shift will happen, but there’s less of a trend to indicate that it will.

“Instant payments remain in a nascent stage in the US, where 2022’s cash decline was more muted following 2021’s reduction associated with pandemic restrictions. July 2023’s launch of the Federal Reserve’s FedNow real-time payment rails may prove to be an inflection point, but the effect will be gradual.”

The Winners: Banks and Instant Payment Tools

All this news represents a big opportunity for the banks trying to construct the transaction infrastructure of tomorrow, but it might be a small opportunity for retail stores as well.

Pick a POS system that handles all the most popular digital transactions, and you’ll be well positioned for the steady growth in instant payments. Particularly if you live in Brazil or India.

Tech giant Qualcomm has this week revealed plans to lay off 1,258 roles — around 2.5% of its workforce — in the San Diego and Santa Clara offices. 

According to a filing with the California Employment Development Department, multiple roles, including engineers and those within HR and legal, will be at risk of the scale-back starting on December 13th.

The news follows Google’s recent round of tech layoffs and comes a month after the microchip manufacturer announced a deal to supply Apple with 5G chips until 2026.

Layoffs Include Engineers and VPs

In the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notices submitted to the California Employment Development Department (CEDD), Qualcomm expressed it was to cut 194 jobs in the Bay Area and 1,064 in San Diego.

CEDD mandates that companies give employees 60 days’ notice before they are let go, and Qualcomm’s were filed this Wednesday.

The layoffs listed include over 150 engineering roles, as well as business analysts, product managers, and high-ranking executives. Eight vice president roles based in San Diego were also included.

A Drop in Microchip Demands is Behind the Cuts

This round of job cuts will be the second major one for the chip manufacturer this year, as back in June the company laid off around 500 workers. It’s said that shrinking revenues are behind the layoffs, and that despite Qualcomm making billions of dollars per year from the design and sale of smartphone chips, a drop in demand has hit profits.

In August, the company seemed to hint more job cuts were to come with filings that stated:

“Given the continued uncertainty in the macroeconomic and demand environment [the company was expected to take] restructuring actions to enable continued investments.”

These actions were presumed to mainly consist of workforce reductions.  The job cuts come at a particularly somber time in the Bay Area, as both tech giants and well-funded startups are making significant layoffs or closing down.

Layoffs Part of a Proactive Cost-Saving Plan

Despite being the supplier for the newly announced Meta Quest 3 and signing a deal with Apple to keep the company in chips until at least 2026, the layoffs seem to be part of a proactive plan to cut company costs.

Chief Financial Officer Akash Palkhiwala had shared with analysts that action needed to take place to mitigate shrinking revenue:

“Given our commitment to operating discipline, we will proactively implement additional cost actions. Until we see sustained signs of improving fundamentals, our operating framework does not assume an immediate recovery.”

A case involving several thousand IBM employees has come to a head this week, when the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco ruled that the company must reimburse its remote staff for their working from home (WFH) expenses.

While hybrid and home working models have boomed since the pandemic, the number of companies offering remote work has dwindled in 2023, with many scaling back their WFH offering.

IBM initially stated it wasn’t going to compensate employees as it was just following the state’s stay-at-home orders. This ruling, however, means the tech company is liable for 15 months of penalties in the form of back payments to remote working staff.

Californian Court Rejects IBM’s Appeal

When California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a stay-at-home order in March 2020, most companies (like IBM) pivoted to a remote working model.

As workforces became familiar with this new way of working, the change sparked a period of adjustment. This notably included the need to purchase equipment that allowed everyone to do their jobs just as before, so things like headsets for video calls and office chairs instead of just slumping on living room sofas with a laptop.

IBM were amongst many employers who refused to compensate workers for these expenses, arguing that they were just following the state’s orders and shouldn’t have to pay. Since then, the company has also rolled back its remote working policy, with IBM issuing a return to office mandate back in September.

However, the state appeals court said the issue wasn’t over why there was an order to work from home, but whether the employees’ additional expenses were the result of IBM’s orders. The court then ruled that California law protects workers from “bearing the costs of business expenses that are incurred by workers doing their jobs in service of an employer.”

In a 3-0 ruling Justice Mark Simons wrote that despite following Newsom’s order to shut the office, the work was “performed for the benefit of IBM”. This ruling became final on Wednesday, when the state’s high court rejected IBM’s appeal.

IBM Footing the Bill – but State Keeping 75% of It

Despite the workers joining forces to sue the company for violation of labor laws, this may feel more like a moral victory than anything else. The employee compensation won’t be dollar for dollar, but instead they’ll receive 25% of the financial penalties, with the rest going to the state.

Lawyers working for the IBM employees have estimated that around 3,000 of them could receive as much as $100 every two weeks – broken into $25 for an employee and $75 for the state. This is likely to last the length of time spent working from home, which is 15 months.

Other Employer Suits Still Pending

Simons went on to state that the “work-from-home expenses were inherent to IBM’s business” and “allocates the risk of unexpected expenses to the employer.”

While IBM are still yet to comment on the ruling, it’s known that other suits of a similar nature are pending. However, according to Jason Harrow, a lawyer for the IBM employees, it’s clear that in California “big companies can’t force employees to pay for work expenses and then fail to reimburse them”.

Never one to be left in the dust, Google has just begun testing an AI generation tool that can create images using a text prompt. Here’s how to use Google’s new AI image generation tool.

Set to rival Microsoft’s Bing Chat, the AI-powered Search Generative Experience (SGE) is currently only available to a small number of American users. Testers must have opted into the SGE program via Google Labs and be at least 18 years old, although that’s still no guarantee you’ll be amongst the lucky few able to experiment right now.

Still, the world of AI image generation has just opened up even more beyond tools like OpenAI’s DALL-E 3. Fortunately, it’s all pretty straight forward. Here’s everything you need to know about creating AI images direct in Google.

How To Get Started with Google AI Image Generation

If you’re one of the lucky few who’s got access to Google AI image generation, then getting started couldn’t be easier.  Provided you’re already signed up for Google’s SGE testing program, as mentioned above, all you need to do is:

1. Open up a Google search and enter an image generation prompt

2. Wait a few seconds

3. Take a look at the four image options shared by the SGE 

It’s that simple. If you want to edit the images further, select one of them then amend the description to add more detail.

Google has given the surreal example of a “photorealistic image of a capybara cooking breakfast in the forest” to illustrate how it will work. The example then goes on to show an edited description that changes specific details, like asking for the breakfast to become hash browns instead of bacon, or swapping the background trees to sky. Anyone familiar with entering ChatGPT prompts will be used to the idea, but even if you’re not, you should find the process easy enough.

Are There Any Restrictions on Google AI Image Generation?

Well, it wouldn’t be AI generation without a few restrictions.

The SGE features safeguarding measures that block banned content as outlined in the company’s generative AI policy. This includes anything that creates misinformation, promotes illegal activities, and generates sexually explicit content (if it’s not labelled educational or artistic).

You’ll also find that every AI-generated image will come out with a watermark and ‘metadata labelling’ tag. This is to show everyone that content was made by AI, hopefully deterring the spread of false information.

Along those same preventative lines, Google plans to give all its AI-generated content an ‘About This Image’ description. This will aim to supply context about what a user is looking at, so hopefully nobody can claim the AI-images or text are real.

What Else Should I Know About Google AI Image Generation?

Although not yet confirmed, it’s likely that Google’s AI-image generation will become available outside of Search. As in, you’ll see an option to create an AI picture within Google Images too. This could mean one of the image search results is replaced with a button leading to the generative functionality, which will then pop up in a sub-window.

As mentioned above, the feature is currently only available to American users in English. Nothing about an international release has yet been confirmed. 

Keen to try and give it a go? You’ll have to sign up to the Search Labs waitlist first. Head over to Google Labs to get going.

UK regulators have this week approved Microsoft’s $68.7 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard. Following Microsoft’s recent revamp of the deal, which will transfer cloud gaming rights for Activision Blizzard games over to Ubisoft, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) confirmed that it is good to go.

This is sure to be positive news for the tech giant who this week have been tussling with the IRS over a giant tax bill.

CMA Welcomes “More Choice” for Gamers

The CMA was initially concerned that the proposed deal would negatively impact cloud gaming competition, so blocked it back in April. 

Microsoft appealed this decision but the whole process was paused when it began to restructure the deal instead. After addressing the CMA’s concerns and making the transfer of rights over to Ubisoft, the UK regulator has now confirmed it’s happy for the merger to go ahead.

“The CMA has decided to give Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft) consent to acquire Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Activision) (the Parties) excluding Activision’s cloud streaming rights outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) (the Merger) subject to the condition that the sale of Activision’s cloud streaming rights completes prior to completion of the Merger,” – the Competition and Market Authority’s statement

CEO of the CMA, Sarah Cardell, called the restructured deal a “gamechanger that will promote competition” in the cloud gaming market.

“With the sale of Activision’s cloud streaming rights to Ubisoft, we’ve made sure Microsoft can’t have a stranglehold over this important and rapidly developing market. As cloud gaming grows, this intervention will ensure people get more competitive prices, better services and more choice.” – Sarah Cardell, CEO of the CMA. 

In an email to all Activision Blizzard employees, CEO Bobby Kotick shared the news and stated “We’re excited for our next chapter together with Microsoft and the endless possibilities it creates for you and for our players.”

Not Smooth Sailing for Microsoft

The somewhat controversial deal was originally announced back in January 2022, catching the eye – and scrutiny – of regulators across the world. In fact, EU regulators have only just approved it following 20 months of battles resulting in a restructure from Microsoft.

Closer to home, the Federal Trade Commission is waiting on its own appeal – due this December – of its failure for a preliminary injunction to block the Activision Blizzard acquisition. Without the injunction in place, Microsoft looks set to close on the deal ahead of its December deadline. 

Microsoft Vice Chair and President, Brad Smith welcomed the CMA’s decision through a message on X (formerly Twitter) “We’re grateful for the CMA’s thorough review and decision today. We have now crossed the final regulatory hurdle to close this acquisition, which we believe will benefit players and the gaming industry worldwide.”

Gaming Industry’s Biggest-Ever Takeover

Not only does the deal confirm Microsoft’s status as a video game giant, it will no doubt be a blow to rival Sony who actively opposed the acquisition with concerns that popular games could become Xbox exclusives.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is hopeful the takeover will create a surge in demand for Xbox, allowing it to add more titles to the Xbox Game Pass streaming service – a subscription service that allows gamers to access titles from the cloud.

By joining forces with Activision, Microsoft will also now own a studio solely for the creation of mobile games. This is likely highlighting its intent to expand upon the success of titles such as Candy Crush.

The finalization of the acquisition is likely to go through by the end of today, Friday 13 October.

If you applied for a slice of Instagram’s $68.5 million settlement, you’ll have to wait a little longer to receive your payout, as the date of the final approval hearing has been postponed.

The final hearing of the class-action biometric privacy settlement has been pushed back from October 11th to November 21st, with no official explanation given. However, if you’re one of the thousands of Illinois residents who applied to Instagram’s Settlement, here’s everything you need to know.

Instagram Class-Action Settlement Has Been Delayed by a Month

While the deadline for the Instagram settlement lawsuit passed at the end of September, claimants still have plenty of time to kill before they find out the case’s results.

According to a post on the Instagram Privacy Settlement website, the case’s final approval hearing has been pushed back by just over a month from October 11th to November 21st.

The approval hearing will determine whether the settlement is fair, whether it should be approved, and its results. This means that its postponement will delay the amount of time it’ll take for claimants to receive payment information and ultimately, their cash payout.

Why Is Instagram Paying Users Back?

Instagram’s class action lawsuit — otherwise known as Parris v. Meta Platforms Inc — claims that the social media company Meta violated the Biometric Privacy Act (BIPA) in the state of Illinois, after collecting and logging the biometric data of its users.

While Meta has denied any wrongdoing, it agreed to pay a court settlement to Instagram users who were active on the platform between August 10, 2015, and August 16, 2023.

It’s uncertain how much users will receive from this claim, but experts have calculated individual payouts to be around $7. However, the amount you can expect to receive will also be influenced by legal fees, and how long you’ve been using the social media app.

When Will Instagram Users Receive Their Payout?

Originally, claimants were told to expect their payment by January 9th, 2024 — 90 days after the date of the original final hearing.

However, now that this date has been pushed back, it’s more likely Instagram users will be receiving payouts from February 19th onwards. It’s also possible that the final hearing will be postponed again, as the case’s website mentions it’s always possible for court proceedings to move to a different date or time without additional notice.

The US Space Force has temporarily banned its personnel from using certain generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools on government computers, due to concerns over the data security of ChatGPT and similar platforms.

As ChatGPT creator OpenAI comes under fire for its shady data collection practices, the Space Force is just the latest major organization to question its safety – with Apple, Samsung, and Verizon also banning its use among employees.

The Space Force was also quick to recognize AI’s strengths, however, and announced that “strategic pause” will come to an end as soon as they figure out how it can be used in a “responsible and strategic manner”.

AI Prohibition Goes Intergalactic

As the data collection practices of generative AI applications come under increasing scrutiny from the government and private organizations, the US Space Force has decided to stamp out their use altogether until they figure out how to use them safely.

This is according to a recently released memo that was sent to Space Force employees – known within the organization as ‘guardians’ – on September 29.

“A strategic pause on the use of Generative AI and Large Language Models within the U.S. Space Force has been implemented as we determine the best path forward to integrate these capabilities into Guardians’ roles and the USSF mission”, – Air Force spokesperson Tanya Downsworth

According to Lisa Costa, Space Force’s chief technology and innovation officer, the pause will only be temporary, and the military branch has created a generative AI task force with other Pentagon offices to decide how the technology can be used in a “responsible and strategic manner”.

Costa was also quick to point out AI benefits, explaining that despite these current security concerns, artificial intelligence “will undoubtedly revolutionize our workforce and enhance Guardian’s ability to operate at speed.”

The Space Force Isn’t the Only Organization Barring AI

While companies across the US have been quick to leverage AI to their advantage, a number of big names have banned its use outright until they figure out how to work with the technology securely.

Earlier this year, Apple banned OpenAI’s ChatGPT for all its workers, over concerns of the chatbot contributing to a potential data leak. Following this, South Korean tech manufacturer Samsung made a similar crackdown after an employee leaked confidential information on ChatGPT which resulted in a leak of a classified code.

But it’s not just organizations placing restrictions on generative AI. Several countries have decided to ban the AI tool ChatGPT flat out, including Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, and Italy.

From hallucinations and encoded biases to dubious data collection policies, it’s no surprise that powerful companies, military branches, and even governments are thinking twice before trusting the technology completely.

However, if the US Space Force’s account is anything to go by, once these concerns get ironed out generative AI will still take center stage in these organization’s strategies going forward.

Microsoft currently owes the US Treasury $28.9 billion in back taxes, interest, and late payment fees, according to a recent notice from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

In what is on track to become the biggest corporate tax dispute on record, the case revolves around Microsoft’s use of ‘transfer pricing’ between 2004 and 2013 – a tax avoidance practice that other big tech companies like Amazon have also been found guilty of.

Microsoft has been fast to dispute these accusations, launching a formal appeal and claiming it would challenge the IRS in court if necessary. Here’s what we know so far.

IRS Demands Microsoft Coughs Up $28.9 in Back Taxes

Microsoft recently revealed the details of an ongoing tax audit by the IRS, which claims the software company owes the statutory body a total of $28.9 billion in unpaid taxes and fees.

According to Microsoft’s 8-K filing, these debts have been accrued over the period of 2004 to 2013 due to how the company chose to allocate its profits among countries and jurisdictions.

The practice, which is known formally as transfer pricing or ‘cost-sharing’, sees large corporations shift profits to international tax havens to avoid paying the US’s steeper corporate tax rates.

Throughout the years outlined in the filing, Microsoft had been moving billions of dollars in profits to jurisdictions with favorable tax rates, like Puerto Rico, Dublin, and Singapore. However, the company has since restructured its corporate structure to conform to increasingly strict US tax laws implimented during the Trump administration.

Microsoft is Appealing The IRS’s Demands

While Microsoft hasn’t hidden away from its history of cost-sharing – claiming that “many large multinationals” take part in the practice – the software firm flat-out disagrees with the IRS’s latest tax demand.

According to a recent Microsoft blog, the company has “always followed IRS rules” and while issues raised by the IRS are “relevant to the past” they do not reflect their current practices. It also said that $10 billion in taxes that the company has already paid have not been accounted for in the IRS’s proposed adjustments.

“We disagree with the proposed adjustments and will vigorously contest the NOPAs through the IRS’s administrative appeals office and, if necessary, judicial proceedings.” – Microsoft’s recent 8-K filing

For these reasons, Microsoft disagrees with the proposed adjustments and is planning to “work through these issues” through a formal appeal with the IRS. The company is even willing to escalate the matter in court if necessary, in a process that will likely take several years to resolve.

Big Tech’s Big Transfer Pricing Problem

Microsoft’s tussle with the IRS marks the biggest corporate tax avoidance dispute in US history. But the software retailer isn’t the only major company accused of shady transfer pricing practices.

In 2018, the global phone network Vodafone revealed that almost 40% of its profits from 2016 to 2017 were allocated to tax havens like Luxembourg, where the company was only required to pay a tax rate of 0.3%. Similarly, in 2019 Amazon was singled out by the IRS for setting the value of its IP artificially low after it was transferred to Luxembourg in 2005.

And the consequences of these frameworks extend beyond US shores. According to ActionAid International, tech companies’ exploitation of global tax loopholes cost developing nations around $2.8 billion in unpaid taxes in 2020 – with Facebook, Google, and Microsoft all found to contribute to the problem.

But while these tax policies are morally questionable, whether they’re illegal is another matter. US tax loopholes mean that massive companies can often avoid paying federal and global corporate tax without much repercussions, a benefit that Microsoft could be depending on.

Casino giant Caesars has admitted that more than 41,000 of its patrons had their personal information stolen in a major September data breach that pre-dated that month’s blockbuster MGM cyber attack.

While the total number of victims is still be counted, Caesars has now said that 41,397 folks from the state of Maine had their details pilfered by the cybercrime gang responsible for the ransomware attack. A group called Scattered Spider has been judged responsible for the breach.

Shedding further light on the incident, the chain says that its loyalty scheme specifically was compromised and that the pilfered personal data includes the names, driver’s license and ID card details of customers from The Pine Tree State. However, it insists that financial and payment details were not accessed in the attack, even though it is now offering those affected two-year’s worth of cybersecurity and identity fraud insurance on the house

Caesars Still Counting Total Number of Breach Victims

Caesars made the admission in a recent filing with the Maine Attorney General’s office, where it says that the final number of breach victims is still to be determined.

However, in good news for anyone who visited Caesars from Maine last month, Caesars adds in an attached PDF sample letter sent out to affected residents that it had “taken steps to ensure that the stolen data is deleted by the unauthorized actor, although we cannot guarantee this result.”

This could be translated as Caesars quietly copping to paying out the ransom demand of the cybercrime gang behind the attack. According to CNBC, the casino chain negotiated the figure down to $15 million from an initial price of $30 million.

Caesars Allegedly Paid Demand Days Before MGM Breach

What’s interesting here is the timeframe Caesars allegedly paid out the ransom demand. It was apparently only a matter of days after the chain apparently paid up that the same ransomware gang, Scattered Spider (also known as UNC3944 or Roasted 0ktapus), attacked MGM in another major breach of Vegas heavyweights.

This highlight something that virtually all ransomware statistics confirm: companies should never pay ransom demands to cybercriminals, as it only encourages them to execute further attacks on similar targets.

Explaining exactly what happened in the breach, Caesars notes that it was the “victim of a social engineering attack on an outsourced IT support vendor that resulted in unauthorized access (on August 18, 2023) to Caesars’ network and the exfiltration of data (beginning on or about August 23, 2023).”

Scattered Spider Ransomware Hits “Hundreds” of Companies

The casino chain adds in its letter to affected Mainers that it is providing them with two years of identity theft protection through a third-party provider, IDX. The policy includes “credit and dark web monitoring to detect any misuse of your information” as well as coverage of up to $1 million should anyone fall victim to identity theft.

While Caesars and MGM are two high-profile victims claimed recently by Scattered Spider, the actual number of organizations affected by its latest ransomware campaign could number in the hundreds.

If you know what Crunchyroll is, then you’re clearly an avid anime fan, as the streaming service is considered to be the Netflix of all things relating to Japanese animation.

However, last year the Sony-owned platform was put under the microscope, after it was accused of violating user’s privacy rights, by sharing data with third parties.

As a result of these allegations, the company has now agreed to pay Crunchyroll customers around $30 each. Here’s how to get your share.

Why is Crunchyroll Paying its Customers?

In September 2022, legal action was taken against Sony and Crunchyroll, alleging that it had shared personal customer data with third parties including Facebook, Google, Adobe and others. . The case is Beltran, et al. v. Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. d/b/a Crunchyroll; Case No.: 1:22-cv-04858.

Sony/Crunchyroll has denied the allegations throughout the process, stating that it has not violated any law, and while the court has not sided with either party, the streaming service has agreed to a settlement payment.

As a result, around $16 million has been earmarked for payments, with each recipient expected to receive around $30 each, provided they meet the criteria.

How to Claim Your Crunchyroll Settlement Compensation

The claims process is now open, and you can make your settlement claim here.

However, before you can make a claim, you must make sure that you fit both of the below conditions:

• You were a registered user of an online website, mobile app, or any video-on-demand service or app owned, controlled, and/or operated by Crunchyroll, and,
• You viewed videos on an online website, mobile app, or any video-on-demand service or app owned, controlled, and/or operated by Crunchyroll during the Class Period.

The important bit is the date that the settlement covers. You must have been a Crunchyroll customer between September 8, 2022, and September 20, 2023.

When Is the Deadline to Apply for the Crunchyroll Settlement?

Customers have until December 12th, 2023 to file their claim.

The process involved filling out the form on the settlement website, but your reward for that should be around $30. However, it’s worth noting that this is an estimate, and that final payments can fluctuate slightly.

As for when you’ll get your cash, the final approval date is December 19th, 2023, and successful claimants are expected to receive their money within a 90-day period after this.

Google account holders will now be prompted to create and use passkeys when they sign into their accounts, which the tech giant says is a “simpler and more secure way to sign into your accounts online” compared to regular password security.

Google initially launched support for passkeys in May 2023, and after positive feedback, it has been upgraded to the default sign-in method.

Passwords aren’t going to disappear tomorrow, nor is multi-factor authentication. However, moves like this take us further toward a passwordless future, one step at a time.

What Is a Passkey?

A Passkey allows users to harness biometric sensors like face scans and fingerprints – or a preset PIN – to log in, rather than relying on a long, complicated password. It is stored on your computer or phone.

Passkeys are made secure via “public key cryptography”. Proof that a given credential is yours is only provided when you unlock your phone with your biometric data or PIN – the passkey itself is never actually revealed to the server, rather, it just confirms that you have it.

How To Set Up and Use Google Passkeys

As previously mentioned, if you’re a Google account holder, you’ll now be prompted to use a passkey when you sign into your Gmail or Google account.

All you’ll have to do is follow the instructions and choose what kind of passkey you’d like, something that will be constrained to an extent by your device’s capabilities. If you have an iPhone, for instance, you could make your passkey your fingerprint – although you may not be able to do this on a laptop (but you could use a PIN). Either way, it only takes a couple of minutes.

You can also head over to your Google account settings and toggle on a “skip password when possible” option. If you choose to set up a passkey upon sign-in, however, this will be changed for you automatically.

Don’t worry – it’s possible to opt-out at a later time if you try out the feature and decide you’d like to revert back to using your passwords to log in.

Other Tech Giants Switch to Passkeys

Google might be the first big name to try and push passkeys as the default way to sign into accounts, but they’re not the only big tech company sold on the idea of a passwordless future.

In May 2022, Apple and Microsoft joined Google in committing to expanding support for a new standard for sing-in created by the FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) alliance. Uber and eBay now also provide passkey-based sign-in options.

“While password managers and legacy forms of two-factor authentication offer incremental improvements,” FIDO says, “industry-wide collaboration to create sign-in technology that is more convenient and more secure” is leading us into a new era of account security.

Is this the End for Passwords?

“While [passkeys are] a big step forward, we know that new technologies take time to catch on,” Google admits. “So passwords may be around for a little while.”

However, options like passkeys are certainly going to give them a run for their money sooner rather than later.

“Passkeys will replace passwords,” reads a recent post by Eben Carle on Google’s “The Keyword”. “It’s even broader than that. I’d say our vision for passkeys is to not only get rid of passwords but also eliminate all the Band-Aids the industry has designed to make up for the fact that passwords are so vulnerable.”

In 2024, only sufficiently long, complex, and unique passwords are considered secure – and even then, they can still be extracted during a data breach.

It will take cyber criminals just seconds to crack a password that doesn’t satisfy these crucial conditions, which is why it’s also important to have multi-factor authentication activated wherever you can.

The best password managers that deploy zero-trust infrastructures are, of course, still more secure than simply re-using a password across multiple accounts. However, recent high-profile cyberattacks that have hit LastPass have called the tech’s security credentials into question.

For Google, password managers are just another “Band-Aid” staving off the inevitable. Passwords becoming a thing of the past isn’t a matter of if – it’s a matter of when.

Consumers, rejoice: Mozilla Firefox is testing a feature that will detect and identify fake reviews left on products on ecommerce sites like Amazon, and automatically re-adjust scores after their exclusion.

The feature has been in the works for some time, too – Mozilla acquired the website and browser extension Fakespot, which utilizes AI to spot fraudulent and fake reviews, back in May of this year.

Now, online shoppers using Firefox will be able to purchase goods with more confidence, safe in the knowledge that they’ve been informed by product reviews from real people.

Firefox Focuses on Flushing Out Fakes

In a boon for consumers, product review lists on websites visited using the Firefox browser will soon be given an A-F grading that will signal precisely how legitimate they are.

Product pages graded A or B are considered to have reliable reviews, while a C grade denotes mixed reviews. Anything below C signals that the reviews are likely to be unreliable. The new feature will also sift out what it considers to be unreliable reviews and automatically re-adjust the star ratings of products, as seen in screenshots published by MsPowerUser.

FakeSpot – launched in 2016 and officially acquired by Mozilla several months ago – can already spot fake reviews listed on Yelp, eBay, Amazon, and Trip Advisor.

The majority of users won’t have to wait long for the new feature to be released – reports suggest it will be packaged into Firefox version 120, which is scheduled for release in November 2023.

Others won’t have to wait at all – the feature has already been rolled out to a limited audience in the United States.

How FakeSpot Spots Fakes, and Why It’s Important

Although AI tools like ChatGPT can be harnessed to generate fake product reviews with ease, FakeSpot applies similar machine learning principles to identify patterns between different reviews left by “users”.

This is crucial for online shoppers, as good product reviews will send signals to Google that it’s worth surfacing a given product for related keywords users type in. In theory, the best-reviewed product is the most “useful” result users could be looking for.

Along with actually attempting to dupe users into purchases once they reach a given product page, this fact about Google’s recommendation algorithm is why fake reviews are deployed so often.

Sometimes, it can be pretty easy to spot whether a review is fake – especially if it’s the only one left on an account with no prior activity. But shady sellers’ tactics are getting more and more sophisticated and AI is so widely used now that a little helping hand won’t go amiss.

How to Use FireFox’s Fake Review Detector

Once it’s been widely rolled out, you’ll be able to use the fake review detector by simply heading over to your favorite ecommerce platform where you’d usually make online purchases.

In Firefox 120, you’ll have a small price tag icon on the right-hand side of the address bar located at the top of your screen. If you select “yes” after Firefox asks you if you’d like to try it, the review checker will be activated.

All in all, it looks incredibly easy to use, yet it might just save your skin the next time you’re looking for something online.

Conditions like anxiety, depression, and worker burnout have been trending upward for years in the US. But while the price of traditional therapy deters many from taking action, mental health apps offer affordable and accessible ways for people to track and manage their emotional well-being.

Whether you want to meditate more, break bad habits, or talk it out with a professional – there’s an app out there that can help. The field is pretty saturated though, so we’ve compiled a list of the best solutions on the app stores based on their price point, customer reviews, and reliance on evidence-based therapies.

If you’re serious about making self-care a priority in 2023 read on to discover our top picks, or jump to a specific app using our links below:

9 Mental Health apps that are worth considering:

1. Headspace: Best for Mindfulness  
2. BetterHelp: Best for Digital Therapy
3. Calm: Best for Sleep
4. Yu Life: Best for Corporate Wellness 
5. Sanvello: Best for CBT Therapy
6. MoodKit: Best Budget Mood-Booster
7. Mindshift CBT: Best for Tackling Teen Anxiety
8. I Am Sober: Best for Quitting Alcohol
9. Happify: Best for Lowering Stress 

1. Headspace: Best for Mindfulness 

• Price: from $12.99 per month
• App Store rating: 4.8/5
• Google Play rating: 4.5/5

Headspace is an app that helps users manage their thoughts and feelings through guided meditations and mindfulness practices.

Its Headspace Library is home to 500+ podcasts, short videos, and exercise tutorial videos, and its content is broken down into useful categories too – providing targeted support for those looking to improve their general well-being, sleep, focus, energy, and more.

Headspace caters excellently to beginners and advanced users, and its daily courses are a useful way to make mindfulness a part of your routine. Headspace even offers a ‘Headspace for Work’ platform, which offers employees and their families access to coaching within 2 minutes and therapy and psychiatry services within 2 days.

The platform doesn’t offer a free version, however, making it less suitable for users on a tight budget. But there is a free seven-day trial.

Headspace app screenshots. Source: headspace.com

Headspace features

• Over 40 themed meditation topics
• Dozens of one-off mindfulness exercises
• Headspace for Work package for employees
• Headspace For Kids package for younger users
• The Wake Up for starting your day
• Focus Mode to help you stay focused throughout the day
• Mindfulness videos
• Hundreds of mindfulness articles

Headspace pricing

The app costs $12.99 per month when paid monthly, with a seven day free trial, or $69.99 per year for an annual subscription, with a 14-day free trial.

2. BetterHelp: Best for Digital Therapy

• Price: from $240 per month
• App Store rating: 4.8/5
• Google Play rating: 4.6/5

You probably already recognize the service from your favorite YouTuber’s ad reads, but for those of you who aren’t familiar, BetterHelp is an online therapy platform that connects users to over 30,000 licensed therapists throughout the US.

Users that opt for its monthly subscription are able to send an unlimited number of messages to their counselor, and schedule a 30-minute weekly chat through whichever channel they’re most comfortable with: be it live message, phone, or video call. The app lets you choose your own therapist too, depending on your location, personal preferences, and which type of therapy you’d like to pursue.

Better Help app screenshots. Source: betterhelp.com

Costs for BetterHelp range anywhere between $60 to $90 a week, making its price point a lot steeper than other mental health apps in this list. However, with in-person therapy which can cost anywhere between $100 to $200 a session, the service is still heaps more affordable than traditional options.

BetterHelp features

• Instant messaging with a professional therapist
• Live phone sessions
• Live video sessions
• 20 live interactive weekly group seminars
• Online journaling tools

BetterHelp pricing

BetterHelp’s standard package costs anywhere from $240 to $360 a month, depending on the user’s needs. However, if you’re eligible for financial aid you can receive the service at a discounted price.

3. Calm: Best for Sleep

• Price: from $14.99 per month
• App Store rating: 4.8/5
• Google Play rating: 4.5/5

Calm is a meditation and mindfulness app designed to help users stress less and sleep more. Through its library of over a hundred calming meditations, soundscapes, stories, breathing exercises, and more, Calm offers versatile ways to relax the mind.

Just like Headspace, mindfulness lies at the heart of its practices. But contrary to our frontrunner, Calm is generally more geared toward relaxation and sleep than general meditation.

Calm app screenshots. Source: calm.com

Calm relies on evidence-based solutions, and all of its practices are informed by research from its very own Calm Science team. And aside from its evidence-based practices, the app also offers a raft of unique features, like sleep stories narrated by big names like Matthew McConaughey and LeBron James.

If you’re after a corporate wellness solution for your business, the app also has a business offering, Calm Business, which has been designed to improve the general well-being, workplace engagement, and productivity of employees.

Calm features

• Mindfulness lessons
• Guided meditations
• Sleep stories
• Breathing exercises
• Movement practices
• Ambient soundscapes
• Calm for Business package for employees

Calm pricing

Calm’s Premium plan costs $69.99 per year or $14.99 per month. Both options include access to a 7-day free trial.

4. YuLife: Best for Corporate Wellness

• Price: from $14.99 per month
• App Store rating: 4.8/5

If you’re looking for a corporate wellness app that’s been designed with employees in mind – YuLife is for you. YuLife is primarily a group insurance application, but also offers a range of health and well-being benefits with the ultimate aim of helping workers ‘live their best lives’.

For instance, YuLife’s employee-focused app encourages healthy habits by rewarding workers for taking walks and practicing meditation. Aside from these wellness rewards the app also provides health benefits to workers through its ‘YuDoctor’ and a confidential EAP service called ‘YuMatter’.

The YuLife app also clearly displays employee insurance benefits, including types of coverage and policy IDs for full transparency.

YuLife features

• 24/7 GP access to employees
• EAP service for employees
• Wellbeing rewards
• Life insurance options
• Group income protection
• Group critical illness support

YuLife pricing

Businesses need to reach out to YuLife for pricing information.

5. Sanvello: Best for CBT Therapy

• Price: from $14.99 per month
• App Store rating: 4.9/5
• Google Play rating: 4.5/5

Sanvello is a versatile mental health app designed to aid a range of conditions including anxiety, depression, and stress. Guided by the principles of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), the app self-care package offers a wide variety of resources including guided meditations, journals, goal trackers, and community boards.

Sanvello app screenshots. Source: sanvello.com

Aside from its self-care toolkit, Sanvello also connects its Premium users to mental health coaches experienced in the fields of healthcare, wellness, or mental health. The app also offers appointments with licensed therapists, but these services are charged on a per-meeting basis.

Sanvello features

• Guided meditations
• Journaling prompts
• Community boards and peer support
• Goal trackers
• Coaching and therapy

Sanvello pricing

Sanvello’s self-care and peer support package costs $8.99 per month or $53.99 per year. If you opt for coaching services on top, this will cost you $50 per month.

Therapy sessions with licensed professionals are priced at $140 for initial appointments and $85 for follow-up appointments.

6. MoodKit: Best Budget Mood-Booster

• Price: $4.99
• App Store rating: 4/5

MoodKit is an app that harnesses CBT principles to improve the mood and overall well-being of its users. The app was developed by two clinical psychologists and offers more than 200 activities tailored to the specific goals of its users.

MoodKit app screenshots. Source: apps.apple.com

The app is broken down into four main sections: Activities, Thoughts, Mood, and Journal. Each section has a number of different tasks users can complete to further their goals, on a timeline that suits them.

Applications of MoodKit are diverse: the app can be used to work on a wide range of practices including physical fitness, time management, mindfulness, social skills, and nutrition. The app is user-friendly and intuitive to use, and at $4.99 is a great wallet-friendly alternative to other general mental health apps like Calm and Sanvello.

Unfortunately, MoodKit is only available as an iOS app making it inaccessible to Android users.

MoodKit features

• Mood tracker
• Thought checker
• Journaling
• Sharable notes
• Guided meditations
• Productivity tools

MoodKit pricing

MoodKit costs $4.99 for lifelong support and doesn’t charge extra for in-app purchases. This makes it much more reasonably priced than other mental health apps on our list.

7. MindShift CBT: Best for Tackling Teen Anxiety

• Price: Free
• Google Play Rating: 3.8/5 

MindShift is a free mental health app targeted at tackling specific types of anxiety. Developed by The Anxiety Disorders Association of British Columbia, MindShift is primarily targeted towards adolescents and uses CBT in a similar way to Sanvello and Moodkit.

The app lets you track your mood with Daily Check-Ins, encourages healthy thought behaviors with its Journal feature, and lets you access positive affirmations with its Coping Cards. MindShift offers nine different meditation recordings too, helping users combat fears around specific situations like public speaking and text anxiety.

Screenshots of Mindshift app. Source: Mindshift.com

Mental health awareness is also at the heart of MindShift’s strategy. The app offers a wealth of educational articles about common anxiety triggers and coping mechanisms. MindShift doesn’t include any video or audio content like Headspace, but given it’s free price tag this shouldn’t come as a major surprise.

MindShift CBT features

• Guided meditations
• Educational articles and resources
• Daily affirmations
• Thought journal
• Daily check-ins
• Anxiety questionnaire to pinpoint problem areas

MindShift CBT pricing

MindShift is completely free to use.

8. I Am Sober: Best for Quitting Alcohol

• Price from: Free
• App Store rating: 4.9/5
• Google Play Rating: 4.8/5 

I Am Sober is an addiction support app designed to help users build new habits. The app caters to a wide range of addictions – including sex, drugs, and alcohol – and is able to be customized to fit each users personal sobriety journey.

I Am Sober lets users track their sobriety down to the minute, stay inspired with personalized motivation packs, and track progress with customizable metrics like calories or money saved. The app also lets users connect to other members through its “Community” tab – providing them with additional avenues of support.

I Am Sober app screenshots. Source: iamsober.com

I Am Sober even boasts an integration with the digital therapy platform Better Help, although this service does come at a premium.

I Am Sober features

• Granular sobriety tracker
• Community message boards
• Progress tracker
• Motivational packs
• Integration with Better Help

I Am Sober pricing

I Am Sober offers a generous ad-free plan that doesn’t cost a dime. However, if you want to unlock additional workbook activities, motivational packages, and challenges you’ll have to pay extra for I Am Sober’s Plus Subscription, at $9.99 per month or $119.88 per annum.

9. Happify: Best for Lowering Stress

• Price from: Free
• App Store rating: 4.5/5
• Google Play Rating: 3.5/5 

Happify is a user-friendly mental health app that lets users improve their general wellbeing through the applications of CBT and positive psychology.

After asking you to complete a self assessment, Happify works out which areas of life you most require support. The app then administers exercises based on these goals, relating to a range of different categories including health, relationships, work and money, mindfulness and personal growth.

Screenshots of Happify app. Source happify.com

The app offers three to four activities each day, which take around ten minutes each to complete. These activities are fun and engaging, but lack a clear overarching structure, making it hard for users to gauge their process.

All in all, Happify is an user-friendly and visually stimulating app for people new to CBT. However, if you’re looking for a versatile mental health solution with clear practical applications, we’d recommend choosing an app like Sanvello instead.

Happify features

• Guided meditations
• Focused self-development activities
• Thought journals
• Educational tracks
• Mental health webinars

Happify pricing

Happify offers a quality free version with access to 18 of the 100+ learning “Tracks”, limited guided meditations, and a variety of in-app games and activities.

Happify also offers a Plus plan with unlimited access to learning “Tracks”, guided meditations and findings from your “Happiness Index”, costing $14.99 per month or $139.99 per annum. Happiness Plus can also be purchased for life for a one time fee of $449.95.

If it seems like the number of companies ending fully remote work in 2023 is constantly rising, it’s not an illusion — it’s because CEOs everywhere clearly favor going back to pre-pandemic ways of working five days in the office.

According to the latest CEO Outlook study from KPMG, a clear majority of CEOs want a return to the traditional five-day office week, with an overwhelming number admitting they see a future where in-office attendance is linked to financial reward.

The data just doesn’t lie; most CEOs surveyed predict a full return to the five day office week within the next few years, and an even more overwhelming majority say they were likely to start linking pay rises and promotion opportunities to in-office attendance in future.

CEOs Want to Go Back to the Future

KPMG’s CEO Outlook report is an annual survey currently in its ninth year. The 2023 edition is based on the responses of more than 1,300 CEOs in 2023, with all respondents working for companies with an annual revenue over $500 million and a third boasting annual revenue of over $10 billion.

It shows that, while there are still plenty of companies offering remote working jobs in 2023, that might not always be the. CEOs expressed a clear desire to get staff not only back in the office, but back in the office a full five days a week.

For those who may value the kind of work-life balance enabled by more flexible and hybrid styles of working, the numbers are actually quite shocking. The report reveals that 64% of CEOs are on the record as imagining their employees back in the office every day, while 87% want to start rewarding those who attend the office more with better pay and career prospects.

KPMG Sounds Warning To Short-Sighted CEOs

Despite the resounding data, KPMG itself suggested that a blanket return to office approach would likely be detrimental to companies, noting that the evidence shows hybrid working has had a “largely positive impact on productivity” as well as enjoying “strong employee support.”

“The evidence suggests a one-size-fits-all approach to return-to-office could be detrimental. It’s crucial that leaders take a long-term view that embraces the employee value proposition and encompasses the considerations and needs of everyone.” – Nhlamu Dlomo, KPMG Global Head of People.

The CEOs surveyed were drawn from 11 major international markets including the US, Canada, UK, Australia, China, India and Japan. It’s therefore worth approaching the statistics with an appreciation of cultural workplace differences, as they may skew some of the data. In total, 11 sectors were covered by the CEO Outlook 2023 report: asset management, automotive, banking, consumer and retail, energy, infrastructure, insurance, life sciences, manufacturing, technology, and telecommunications.

The Future of Remote Work in Doubt?

With big name companies like Meta, Amazon and, yes, even Zoom among the organizations sounding the klaxon for a return to physical offices, it’s no wonder many employees are worried.

As we’ve said, there are still plenty of remote-first firms out there, but more than that, there are companies hiring for remote job requiring no qualifications. This means that in an absolute worse case scenario, you could start a new career path if remote working is an absolute must for you.

The future of work is still taking shape in the post-pandemic world, with the new study from KPMG showing once again the important of employees enshrining any rights they want to protect in their contract.

Cyber criminals operating on social media is nothing new, with even LinkedIn scams now alarmingly common. What does seem to be changing is the cost of social media scams to victims — and the trend isn’t heading in the right direction.

According to new data released by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), social media scammers have netted more than $2.7 billion since 2021. Worse still, that’s only the amount of fraud that has been reported to the agency, the fear is that the actual figure is much higher.

In fact, the FTC’s findings show that one in four instances of online fraud occurs via social media, revealing that social media scamming is far more rife than traditional methods such as email phishing scams, which has a value of under $1 billion in the same timeframe.

What Does Social Media Scamming Look Like?

The FTC’s new report not only points to the eye-watering cost of social media scams, it also usefully highlights some of the most common types of fraud taking place on popular networks.

The single biggest type of social media scamming out there right now is undelivered goods based on fraudulent advertising, which accounts for 44% of what’s reported to the FTC. Instagram and Facebook are apparently where this typically takes place, which makes sense given the number of Facebook Marketplace scams we’ve pointed out in the past.

Electronics and clothing are the most common items involved, which again adds up as they’re also among the most coveted on legit sites like Temu. After that, investment related scams are the next largest category with a 20% “market share” of the social media fraud landscape. These are also the most costly in terms of the average dollar loss involved.

Romance Isn’t Dead — To Cyber Criminals

A final category of note when it comes to social media scams is romance related fraud. This is only the third most prevalent specific type of scam on social, amounting to just 6% of instances reported to the FTC, but the second most expensive for victims after investment scams.

Romance scams typically start with a simple friend request from a stranger, after which the person posing as a potential love interest turns on the charm and – sooner or later – asks for money. It’s a tried and tested method that’s similar to some of the WhatsApp scams operating in 2023.

As well as taking root on Instagram and Facebook, the FTC notes that Snapchat is also a popular social media platform for romance scams. As a general rule of thumb, therefore, it’s advisable to never send money to someone you haven’t met in person.

Who Gets Scammed on Social Media?

Probably the most interesting part of the FTC’s data relates to who is getting scammed on social media these days. According to the agency and echoing another recent report, it’s not just older people who may be less tech savvy, but actually younger generations who are digital natives getting scammed the most.

Looking at the first six months of 2023, social media was the initial contact method in 38% of instances of fraud reported by the people aged 20-20, with the number rising to a whopping 47% for 18 and 19 years old.

In fact, the FTC notes that numbers “decrease with age, consistent with generational differences in social media use.” To stay safe online, there are a number of simple things you can do that stop short of just deleting your Facebook account.

The golden rule? If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. It applies to all of the worst offenders, from electronics deals and investment opportunities to surprise romantic interests, so if you about your social media usage with that front of mind, you shouldn’t go too far wrong.

By now, you’ve probably heard of Temu. The Chinese retailer has taken the world of online shopping by storm, combining super cheap goods with an eye-watering marketing budget to catapult itself into the ecommerce mainstream practically overnight. Its rock bottom prices regularly beat the best deals Amazon can offer — even on Prime Day. Here are some items that you can get on Temu cheaper than Amazon right now – and one thing you can’t.

Of course, there’s a few caveats to shopping on Temu compared to Amazon. As I learned by shopping on Temu, its delivery timeframes are quite clearly inferior to those of Amazon, where Prime members get unlimited free next-day or even same-day delivery on a huge amount of the online superstore’s wares. Plus, as you can try Prime free for 30-days, there’s very little stopping you taking advantage of its latest deals.

However, on some things like phone accessories, generic electronics and clothing basics, Temu’s so cheap it just can’t be beat so long as you’re prepared to wait. Brand name goods are a different matter and I made some interesting discoveries when comparing cell phones. Let’s take a look at how the two retail rivals stack up on October Prime Day 2023.

Are Smartphone Accessories Cheaper on Temu or Amazon?

Smartphone accessories are Amazon’s bread and butter. You need a new iPhone case, USB charger, or SD card and you’ll have one on your front door the next day, if not sooner. They’re pretty cheap, too – just not as cheap as on Temu.

To compare Temu vs Amazon’s prices on Prime Day for phone accessories, I used an iPhone case as my baseline. I searched for generic products only, filtering on both sites sites from “Low to High” to get a fair comparison. I also used the caveat of ticking the free shipping box, as Temu offers free delivery as standard on many of its products, and some of Amazon’s less reputable sellers advertise products for a couple of cents, but then charge you for delivery.

On Amazon, the cheapest iPhone cases are all around $3. Prime members will get them within a day or two, depending on the exact item that’s ordered.

On Temu, the cheapest iPhone cases are all under $1, but what you’re getting for that is pretty basic.

As you’d expect, the Amazon cases have a few more bells and whistles. For example, I found you get this shockproof and MagSafe compatible case for the all-new iPhone 15 for just $2.99. It honestly looks better than anything for sale on Temu, but it’s a couple of bucks more. At this price level, many people will likely pay the extra buck or two to get the case delivered quickly, from a retailer they know and trust.

However, Temu is still cheaper and there’s no getting away from it.

Temu is Much Cheaper for Clothing Essentials

Temu has made its name partly by capitalizing on the current trend for fast fashion. TikTok influencers in particular seem to have taken to the idea of getting a whole new season wardrobe for less than you might pay for an item or two at a bargain bin retailer like Marshalls or TJ Maxx.

First, I used the simplest comparison possible: socks.

On Amazon, the best Prime Day deal I could find had six pairs of plain white women’s ankle socks available for $8.49, which works out at just over $1.40 a pair.

That’s cheap, really cheap even. It’s just not Temu cheap, as on the Chinese retailer you can get 10 pairs of plain white socks for just under $4, or 40 cents a pair!

OK, but what about something slightly more “in” right now? Grandma has a racket on socks at Christmas and we don’t want to risk her wrath, so another good comparison was this season’s new must-have Halloween essential for Swifties: a Travis Kelce jersey.

I mean a generic one, and on Amazon it costs about $20 for a Chiefs-style jersey. You’ll have to wait longer than for a lot of other stuff, too, with shipping times being quoted 1+ week. You do get to customize what’s on the back, though, so you can badge it up as Traylor, Swelce, or whatever your favorite nickname for the year’s biggest “are they or aren’t they?” power couple.

On Temu, you’ll save about five bucks and can get one ready-to-go for around $15.

Amazon Bests Temu in Battle of the Brands

One area where Amazon enjoys a clear advantage over Temu is in its availability of brand names. At present, Temu only has access to two Chinese manufacturers, Lenovo and Xiaomi, meaning for many things it’s still Amazon or bust – or at the very least, it’s not a fair comparison.

What’s interesting is that where they do offer the same item, Amazon is roughly equivalent. For this comparison, I looked at the Xiaomi Redmi Note 12, using the same 4G LTE model with 128GB of on-board storage and 6GB of RAM, as phone specs have a real impact on pricing.

On Amazon, the device in Ice Blue is currently available for $171.70, though it’s worth noting in the US it’s locked to T-Mobile, Mint or Tello.

On Temu, the same spec and Ice Blue flavor was priced at $170 but it sold out as I was writing this article. The Mint Green flavor is pricier at $190 and was advertising its last available unit.

This one is too close to call, but on balance I’d actually give Amazon the nod given it seems to have better availability of the Xiaomi phone. This isn’t really a surprise and reinforces the fact that for big name brands, Amazon is head and shoulders above Temu.

Amazon vs Temu: Which is Cheaper on Prime Day?

The examples above show that Temu is generally cheaper than Amazon, even when Amazon is running a major deals event like Prime Day.

However, cheaper doesn’t necessarily mean better. Amazon has a better selection of goods than Temu, especially from named brands, its quality is often going to be superior, and its delivery (and returns) policies are more favorable to shoppers.

The only thing I would actively buy at Temu over Amazon was the white socks I looked at. Being such an generic purchase, I wouldn’t think twice about taking advantage of the frankly ludicrous offer of 40 cents a pair. Then again, I would want to cramp Grandma’s style at Christmas.

Amazon is getting in on alien fever this year by offering Ring camera users $1 million if they are able to capture proof of extraterrestrials on their devices.

Aliens have been all over the news lately, with governments and military officials admitting that some of the wild conspiracy theories over the last few years are actually true.

Subsequently, Ring cameras could end up being a source of truth when it comes to extraterrestrials, and Amazon wants to make sure they reward those at the front lines of discovering life on other planets.

Amazon Offers Reward for Ring Camera Footage of Aliens

Announced in a press release, Amazon is legitimately offering $1 million for “unaltered scientific evidence” of extraterrestrial life captured on Ring cameras from around the US.

“With new sightings and further evidence that life forms might exist beyond Earth’s atmosphere, there’s a possibility that Extraterrestrial activity could be happening right outside your front door.” – Ring spokesperson

Ring, an Amazon-owned security company, is also offering a $500 gift card to the most elaborate fake image of aliens that they receive, so if you’re keen to experiment with Photoshop, you could get a little extra off your Prime Day haul.

Why Is Amazon Offering a Reward for Proof of Aliens?

As one of the most successful ecommerce businesses in the world, Amazon obviously has the resources to cover a $1 million reward in the event a Ring camera user somehow claims the prize.

There’s not much to worry about on Amazon’s side, though, as even the most advanced cameras on military planes haven’t caught images that could be considered undeniable proof.

It’s safe to assume that Amazon is merely looking for a bit of good will to go alongside its Prime Day celebration, which kicks off this week.  After all, the press release announcing the reward was titled Halloween Mission Engaged and made mention of a “mothership.”

Considering Ring is still shaking off the PR nightmare of settling with the FTC over a lack of proper privacy protections for users, a little alien fun is likely a welcomed departure from planet Amazon.

A new study has found that businesses offering remote and hybrid work are growing faster than those requiring employees to come into the office, dealing a serious blow to the return-to-office movement.

The pandemic made way for a new way of working. Employees were given professional freedom to get work done on their own pace, allowing for work-life balance to flourish and employee well-being to increase substantially.

However, despite study after study showing the benefits of remote and hybrid work, companies are still pushing to get employees back in the office, and it’s having a noticeably negative impact on their recruitment efforts.

Study: Remote and Hybrid Businesses Are Growing Faster Than In-Office Businesses

The study from Flex Index noted that, across basically every company size and time period, companies offering remote and hybrid work policies are growing faster than their in-office counterparts. And in some cases, the numbers are staggeringly in favor of remote and hybrid work.

For example, over the last twelve months, companies with between 500 and 5,000 employees that offer remote or hybrid work have grown twice as fast as in-office business. Over the last three months, they’ve grown three times as fast.

The Flex Report Job Edition 2023 from Scoop Technologies takes data from more than 6,700 companies covering over 100 million employees.

It’s Not Just Tech Either

You might be thinking that this is a unique problem for the tech industry. After all, these businesses drove the adoption of remote work during the pandemic, so surely they’re the only ones impacted in this kind of study.

However, that does not appear to be the case. In fact, the numbers found that, even without the tech industry, remote and hybrid businesses were still outgrowing in-office companies at a staggering rate across all business sizes by at least a full percentage point.

Again, companies between 500 and 5,000 employees remained the starkest of comparisons, with remote work and hybrid work businesses growing their headcount at a rate of 1.5% each, while in-office companies are only growing at a rate of 0.6% over the last three months.

Should Your Business Offer Remote Work?

It ain’t 2019 anymore. Flexible work has become one of the most sought-after perks for top talent in virtually any industry, and if you want to recruit the best of the best, you’re going to need to meet them where they live.

“In some ways, it’s almost like a new frontier of the way that we think about freedom. Flexibility is the new frontier of freedom, and it’s very American. And I think people are very unwilling to give that up.” – Rob Sadow, CEO and co-founder of Scoop Technologies to FOX News Digital

Fortunately, there are plenty of studies that show remote work not only provides work-life balance for employees, but it also improves productivity and even increases revenue. In fact, one study showed that companies offering remote and hybrid work boosted performance by 22%.

The benefits of remote work don’t stop there either. If you’re at all concerned with climate change, remote work is a no-brainer, allowing businesses to reduce their carbon footprint substantially, particularly compared to fully in-office businesses.

All that to say, if you care about employee wellbeing, productivity, revenue, and the planet Earth, your best bet is to keep your employees remote or hybrid for as long as possible.