Category: Business News

Why Meta is slashing prices for its VR headsets

META’s VR headsets are getting a big, but inevitable, price cut because consumers aren’t buying as much as expected.

The company today declared It drops the prices of its still-new Meta Quest Pro from $1,499.99 to $999.99, while its Meta Quest 2 drops from $499.99 to $429.99. That’s roughly a 33% drop when MetaQuest Pro was introduced to businesses — and that’s a significant drop from the fanfare it launched with support from Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Accenture ( ACN ). )

Declining consumer interest isn’t a meta-specific problem — the VR market, the games industry at large, saw

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Twitter for Business to Cost $1,000 Monthly for Verified Check-Mark

Elon Musk’s Twitter needs cash — and now the mega-billionaire wants companies and brands to fork over $1,000 monthly to get verified check-marks on his social network.

Twitter is asking organizations to pay $1,000 per month, plus an additional $50 monthly for each affiliated sub-account, to maintain the gold check-mark verification badges the company introduced in December, replacing the blue check-marks for businesses, according to social media consultant Matt Navarra, who tweeted the details Friday (see below). Tech news site The Information confirmed the details, adding that the pricing “is being finalized and could still change.”

Twitter reps

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3 Things You Should Know About Irrevocable Trusts

A trust is an estate planning tool that allows a person to control their assets during their lifetime and make provisions for incapacity and death.

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One thing you should know about irrevocable trusts is that, unlike revocable or living trusts, irrevocable trusts cannot be changed or amended. They are set in stone.

A second thing that you should know about irrevocable trusts is that they have significant advantages, and

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Why Google is blocking some Canadians from seeing online news

Google is blocking some Canadian users from viewing news content in what the company says is a test run of a potential response to the Liberal government’s online news bill.

Also known as Bill C-18, the Online News Act would require digital giants such as Google and Meta, which owns Facebook, to negotiate deals that would compensate Canadian media companies for republishing their content on their platforms.

The company said Wednesday that it is temporarily limiting access to news content for under four per cent of its Canadian users as it assesses possible responses to the bill. The change applies

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Soaring rents in Toronto, Vancouver force residents on modest incomes into ‘deplorable’ conditions

With Vancouver and Toronto vacancy rates at 0.9 and 1.7 per cent respectively, and rental prices surging, seniors, students, new immigrants, single parents and people with disabilities — those on modest or fixed incomes — are being priced out of their communities.

Ren Thomas, associate professor of planning at Dalhousie University in Halifax, warns it’s a real loss for our biggest cities.

“You need that diversity – and that’s what makes our big cities great is we have there, you know, different people in different jobs,” said Thomas.

Canada’s national housing agency, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), says

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The fight to tame inflation has only just begun

Inflation is decelerating quickly. It peaked at 8.1 per cent last summer. It fell to 5.9 per cent in January, and the Bank of Canada predicts it will fall to three per cent by the end of this year.

But economists say that’s the easy part.

The Bank of Canada has repeatedly said it’s committed to getting price growth all the way down to two per cent. One of the bank’s deputy governors delivered a speech in Calgary on Feb. 16 titled No Two Ways About it: Why the Bank is Committed to Getting Back to 2%.

“If inflation stays

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Here’s what to know about Hartman’s Bakery reopening, and other Manitowoc business news

A North 11th St. view of Hartman's Bakery, LLC as seen, Wednesday, August 24, 2022, in Manitowoc, Wis.

A North 11th St. view of Hartman’s Bakery, LLC as seen, Wednesday, August 24, 2022, in Manitowoc, Wis.

MANITOWOC – Can’t you almost smell the deliciousness of bread-baking and cake-making wafting from North 11th Street in Manitowoc?

After months of waiting, the iconic Hartman’s Bakery will reopen on March 10.

Perhaps you want to get in line now for what is sure to be a crazy weekend for the bakery, closed after a kitchen fire.

But read Streetwise before you head out the door, of course! Here’s the latest business news from around Manitowoc County.

The long-awaited reopening of Hartman’s

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No more clumpy lip gloss: How TikTok’s ‘deinfluencing’ trend became a marketing tactic

Just a few weeks ago, Lauren Rutherglen’s 10,000 TikTok followers would have expected advice on what beauty products to buy.

But as she rummaged through the creamy Glossier eyeshadows, Ilia serums and Charlotte Tilbury liquid bronzers in her drawer, the Calgary-based content creator was reminded of the expensive but disappointing products that the Internet had convinced her she needed.

So she made a “deinfluencing” video — a TikTok-coined term that describes the rejection of viral, cult-favorite beauty or lifestyle products (typically associated with cultural influencers) in favor of more affordable choices.

“I just wanted to share my opinion on things

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