The IRS is paying out 4M surprise tax refunds this week — will you get one? Millions of Americans still reeling financially from the COVID crisis will be sent surprise tax refunds this week, the IRS says. Unexpected direct deposits and paper checks are scheduled to go out to people whose tax bills were reduced after they’d already paid them, thanks to a provision in President Joe Biden’s massive pandemic rescue bill from March. A windfall from the IRS might be just the cash infusion you need… Source link

Google has brought an end to its effectively “unlimited” group video calls in Meet for free Gmail accounts, according to support pages spotted by 9to5Google. Now users with free accounts logging on to Meet will have group calls capped at an hour rather than the previous 24-hour meeting duration. Google’s unlimited group meeting offer was helpful because so many traditionally in-person functions moved online due to COVID-19. Not having to worry about a call cutting out or creating… Source link

Stock futures opened near the flat line Tuesday evening as investors looked ahead to more corporate earnings results and another batch of inflation data. Contracts on the S&P 500 was little changed. During Tuesday’s regular session, the blue-chip index rose to a record intraday high before pulling back and ending lower. Each of the Dow and Nasdaq also pulled back, with cyclical areas of the market like airline stocks and financials posting some of the biggest declines.  Concerns over the pace… Source link

By Julio-Cesar Chavez and Steve Gorman    (Reuters) – Virgin Galactic Holding Inc acknowledged on Tuesday that billionaire founder Richard Branson never rode a bicycle to the launch site of his space flight on Sunday, as depicted in a highly publicized video included in the company’s webcast of the event.    The video clip showed Branson riding his bike toward New Mexico’s state-owned Spaceport America near the town of Truth or Consequences, flanked by two SUVs, and handing his safety… Source link

Reuters Smithfield Foods stops slaughtering pigs at U.S. hometown plant CHICAGO (Reuters) -Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork processor, has stopped slaughtering pigs in the United States’ so-called ham capital, where the company was founded 85 years ago. The end of slaughtering in Smithfield, Virginia, is the latest reconfiguration for the company’s namesake plant and follows a months-long internal review of its East Coast operations, Smithfield Foods said in a statement. The… Source link

Tuesday’s CPI inflation numbers made a splash. The index surged 5.4% over the last year, surpassing expectations of 4.9%. Core inflation (which excludes the volatile gas and food categories) was up 4.5% year-over-year. Both were up 0.9% over last month, the biggest jump since 2008. Here’s what analysts had to say about the report, and what it means going forward. Good news and bad news A big question surrounding inflation recently is whether it’s transitory or more likely to become more… Source link

Popeyes (QSR) is adding chicken nuggets to its menu, using the same recipe as the hotly-coveted chicken sandwich that’s been a runaway hit for the restaurant chain. The addition of the white meat chicken nuggets, with options ranging from 4 piece to 36 pieces, are set to hit menus beginning July 27 in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.  The fast food giant is hopeful this launch will match the reception that greeted its fried chicken sandwich back in August of 2019.  That menu item sparked the… Source link

Google Workspace Individual, the company’s Workspace plan designed to give one-person businesses access to some premium features in the software suite, is now available in five countries (via 9to5Google). With Workspace Individual, you’ll be able to host group meetings in Google Meet for longer than 60 minutes on a computer as well as record Meet calls and use noise cancellation. Workspace Individual also makes it easy to let others schedule time on your Google Calendar, thanks to… Source link

Google is revising how much of a cut it takes from Stadia games in a bid to try to attract more developers. Starting on October 1st, Google will take 15 percent of sales up to $3 million through the end of 2023. With the change, Google seems to be trying to make its cloud gaming platform a more enticing option for developers — a proposition that has likely become much harder since the company shut down its own in-house studios…. Source link

Amid the growing geopolitical threat of ransomware, crypto has become a stalking horse. Following a slew of high-profile exploits, there have been calls to ban or surveil blockchain networks, with the thinking that bitcoin catalyzes cybercrime.  The risks of ransomware are real: Any organization that relies on computers may be vulnerable to digital extortion. The threat isn’t always clear: Malware can be developed or deployed by individuals, state-backed groups or hacking collectives. And… Source link