Audoo, a tech company founded by musician-turned-entrepreneur Ryan Edwards, is tackling one of the music industry’s long-standing challenges — ensuring artists receive accurate royalties for their music played in commercial locations.The idea was born when Edwards heard his own music being played in a London department store, and he became curious about how royalties were being tracked and paid.He said he uncovered a “huge problem with inaccuracy” and set about creating a solution in the shape of a small plug-in device which recognizes and registers music.The old method consisted of manual surveys and radio data sampling, leaving much to be…
Author: usaeverydaylife
Russian President Vladimir Putin during a joint press conference with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018.Jussi Nukari | Lehtikuva | ReutersSince invading Ukraine three years ago, Russia has spent a significant amount of energy demonizing the U.S. and denigrating its leadership, economy and culture — and what it saw as Washington’s “hegemony” in the global world order.U.S.-led international sanctions prompted more vitriol from Moscow, with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other senior officials slamming the almost continuous slew of punitive restrictions on key sectors of the Russian economy and its elite,…
For years, European leaders have fretted about reducing their dependence on a wayward United States. On Monday, at a hastily arranged meeting in Paris, the hand-wringing gave way to harried acceptance of a new world in which Europe’s most powerful ally has begun acting more like an adversary.President Trump’s plan to negotiate a peace settlement in Ukraine with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, with neither the Ukrainians nor Europeans invited to take part, has forced dazed leaders in capitals like Berlin, London and Paris to confront a series of hard choices, painful trade-offs and costly new burdens.Already on the…
Gold’s 2025 rally has further to run according to strategists, as factors including geopolitical volatility, continued central bank demand and perceptions of a shortage drive the precious metal higher. The spot gold price has been on a tear since late December, rising from $2,587.6 on Dec. 18 to $2,941.1 on Feb. 19, smashing through all-time highs and consecutive weekly gains this year. This year’s gains come after global gold demand hit a record high in 2024, according to the World Gold Council. A fresh assessment of market conditions has led UBS to revise its gold price forecast for the year…
Friedrich Merz, Union candidate for chancellor and CDU federal chairman, joins the “Quadrell” TV round in the Bundestag election campaign.Michael Kappeler | Picture Alliance | Getty ImagesFriedrich Merz, migration hardliner and longtime rival of Angela Merkel, is expected to become Germany’s next chancellor. His party the Christian Democratic Union is leading polls alongside its affiliate the Christian Social Union just days before the election.Back in September, Merz was elected as the CDU’s party’s designated candidate for chancellor in this year’s federal elections, after leading the organization and heading the opposition CDU-CSU parliamentary group since 2022. The CSU is a regional…
The Walmart logo is seen outside of one of its stores in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.Paul Weaver | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesWalmart will report its latest quarterly earnings before the bell on Thursday, as investors try to parse whether softer retail sales in January were a blip or a bigger warning sign.As Walmart is the top grocer in the U.S., investors often view it as a barometer of consumer health. The company will report its holiday-season results and is expected to give a forecast for the year ahead. Its leaders may also preview how they see the economic backdrop in the U.S.…
President Donald Trump is branding himself a monarch.The president of the United States made an unprecedented declaration on Wednesday while applauding his administration’s decision to terminate federal approval of New York’s congestion pricing program.”CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED,” Trump wrote on his social platform Truth Social. “LONG LIVE THE KING!”The official White House social media accounts on X, Instagram and Facebook soon quoted his post, all sharing a fake magazine cover depicting an illustration of Trump smiling in a suit — and wearing a bejeweled golden crown. In the corner of the magazine cover appears the text: “LONG…
Chinese government workers have a lot to worry about these days. Cash-strapped local governments are struggling to pay their salaries. Political controls are tightening in the name of national security. A yearslong anti-corruption purge shows no sign of ending.Now, the workers also have to make sure not to get slapped with a “Snail Award” — a designation that more localities are rolling out to shame their lowest-performing employees.“Through this sarcastic ‘encouragement,’ the awardees can blush and sweat and refresh their minds,” read one commentary on a Communist Party-affiliated website, noting that they had hurt the party and the government’s credibility…
A general view of the Tesla gigafactory in Austin, Texas, Feb. 28, 2023.Go Nakamura | ReutersFederal regulators have cited Tesla for violating workplace safety rules in connection with the electrocution of a worker last summer at its Austin, Texas, auto-manufacturing plant.The U.S. Department of Labor confirmed the findings in a statement to Reuters.”The investigation is closed and citations have been issued,” said the department, which oversees the agency that conducted the Tesla probe, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.The Labor Department said the matter was concluded in late January. The department declined to disclose the nature of Tesla’s workplace-safety failures or whether any penalties were imposed.The case has been closely…
Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump.Dan Kitwoodnicholas Kamm | Afp | Getty ImagesU.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit the United States without giving a timeline for his trip.Trump made the remarks to reporters on Air Force One and said “it’s possible” for the U.S. and China to have a new trade deal. A conversation or interaction between Xi and Trump is seen as crucial to a potential easing or delay of trade tariffs.”We’ll have, ultimately, President Xi, we will have everybody coming (to the U.S.),” Trump said while also speaking about others leaders visiting the United States.Xi last travelled to the U.S. in November 2023, in his fifth visit to the country as Chinese president, for a summit…
