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AI-powered marketing automation startup Conversion, founded five years ago by two UC Berkeley dropouts, has raised a $28 million Series A led by Abstract, with participation from True Ventures and HOF Capital. The company’s founding story sounds like it could have been an episode of the HBO show “Silicon Valley.” The story begins all the way back when co-founder and CEO Neil Tewari, now 24, was in high school. He got busted one day watching a TechCrunch Disrupt livestream during class, was sent to the principal’s office, and had to stay late. Afraid to call his parents and tell them…

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina legislators gave final approval Wednesday to a stopgap spending measure to boost state government spending to prepare for fall classes, cover Medicaid expenses and continue construction projects while a Republican agreement on a comprehensive budget still remains distant.The GOP-controlled General Assembly took a break five weeks ago with House and Senate negotiators far apart on working out a two-year, $66 billion budget for the ninth-largest state that should have been in place by July 1. North Carolina is one of a few states that have not yet enacted a budget this fiscal year. Teacher…

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. fashion retailer American Eagle Outfitters wanted to make a splash with its new advertising campaign starring 27-year-old actor Sydney Sweeney. The ad blitz included “clever, even provocative language” and was “definitely going to push buttons,” the company’s chief marketing officer told trade media outlets.It has. The question now is whether some of the public reactions the fall denim campaign produced is what American Eagle intended.Titled “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,” the campaign sparked a debate about race, Western beauty standards, and the backlash to “woke” American politics and culture. Most of the negative reception focused…

Facebook Tweet Email Link For older adults who may otherwise be food-insecure, participating in food assistance benefits may be associated with a slower cognitive decline as they age, according to new research. Compared with eligible people who were not participating in the US Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, SNAP participants showed a slower decline in cognitive function during a 10-year period, essentially maintaining up to three additional years of cognitive health, according to the study presented Wednesday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Toronto. “We expected that SNAP might be protective for cognitive health based on prior research linking food…

Quick-thinking pilots saved the day after a United Airlines flight heading to Munich was forced to return to Washington Dulles Airport for an emergency landing on July 25.The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft suffered a single engine failure shortly after takeoff. United Airlines flight 108 took off just after 6 p.m. on July 25, according to data from FlightAware. After the aircraft reached 5,000 feet, the flight crew declared a Mayday, reporting a malfunction in the engine to air traffic controllers.Pilots and air traffic controllers worked together to land the plane safely. The cockpit crew requested to remain at an altitude…

Skechers introduced a line of kids’ sneakers that contain a hidden compartment where parents can slip in an Apple AirTag. Inside the heel of the shoe, a small insert can be lifted to reveal the compartment. Then, parents can track the location of their child — or, at least their child’s shoes. These shoes don’t come with an AirTag, and they don’t appear to be an actual collaboration with Apple, but rather, a third-party product that Skechers has developed on its own. The shoes were announced in mid-July to little press, but AppleInsider reported on the product on Wednesday. Apple…

NEW YORK (AP) — The Secretary of the Army on Wednesday directed the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to review its hiring practices, bar outside groups from choosing employees and remove a newly announced hire who led the nation’s cybersecurity agency under President Joe Biden.The directive, shared on the social platform X by Secretary Dan Driscoll, came just a day after Jen Easterly was announced as the Robert F. McDermott Distinguished Chair in West Point’s social sciences department. It demonstrated how vigorously President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to wield control over the ideology and leadership of higher education…

Facebook Tweet Email Link EDITOR’S NOTE:  Samson Inocencio Jr. is national director for International Justice Mission (IJM) in the Philippines and the regional Vice President of IJM’s OSEC Hub, working against the online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC). The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. On this World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, I find myself holding two truths in tension: deep despair and profound hope. After more than two decades fighting human trafficking in the Philippines, I have witnessed both the unthinkable harm inflicted on children `– and the extraordinary progress made to stop…

The good news for fans of “The Bad Guys” is the new sequel is stellar. But that’s because a good portion is actually set in — are you kidding us? — outer space. “The Bad Guys 2” has clearly lost its moorings.Returning director Pierre Perifel, writers Yoni Brenner and Etan Cohen and the same voice cast have done what all sequels do these days — amp it all up like everyone is on molly, try to hit the same emotional notes and layer an insane plot with the fate of the world at stake. It’s hard to watch a franchise…

ScreenX is the world’s first multi-projection cinema with an immersive 270 degree field of view.CJ 4DPLEXSinging witches and blue aliens are set to hit the big screen before the end of the year and bring in droves of moviegoers. Cinemark is preparing for the high demand by adding more unique premium screens to its U.S.- and Latin America-based locations.On Wednesday, the third-largest U.S. cinema chain announced it’s adding 20 new ScreenX theaters to its portfolio, expanding its partnership with the South Korea-based CJ 4DPlex. Eighteen of those screens will be built in the U.S.The expansion marks ScreenX’s first foray into…