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A looming TikTok ban could affect the millions of small businesses that use the short-video social media app to help them grow their business.Desiree Hill, owner of Crowns Corner Mechanic in Conyers, Georgia, started her business solo as a mobile mechanic. Sharing videos of her work on TikTok helped spread the word and she became so popular she was able to open a 9,000 square foot brick and mortar shop with five employees 18 months ago.Every day I get at least two to three customers that have seen me on TikTok, watched my videos, and wanted to become a customer, she said.Though TikTok has been around only since 2016, small business owners use the platform in a variety of ways, from growing a customer base to advertising and marketing, as well as selling goods directly from the site.According to TikToks own estimates, small businesses on TikTok would lose more than $1 billion in revenue in a single month if the ban goes into effect.The Justice Department ordered the apps China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell TikTok or face a U.S. ban by Jan. 19, citing security concerns. The Supreme Court will take up the matter in January. President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, has asked the Supreme Court for a delay.If a ban does occur, small businesses will have to migrate to other platforms to find their customers. Instagram Reels, SnapChat, and YouTube Shorts are alternatives. The good news is brands likely already have a presence there. But it may be harder to reach teens that have made TikTok their preferred social media app.Another alternative is to build a strong database of customers that opt in to providing contact emails or phone numbers. That lets owners reach out directly to customers with promotions and other marketing messages.But Crown Corner Mechanics Hill said she is worried that other sites may not have the reach that TikTok does. She has a presence on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, but its not the same, she said.I am worried because there is no preparation for this, she said. It holds such a significant place in regards to my customer base and how I reach customers that if I lose TikTok, I will lose a large part of my business or I will lose my ability to grow anymore.Crystal Lister is the owner of Mommy and Me: The Listers, in Cypress, Texas, which offers interactive workshops about STEM education. Shes working on pivoting to YouTube for videos and Instagram Reels for teasers to direct people to YouTube, but said TikTok is easier.It is going to be a challenge if TikTok is banned because were losing kind of all the functionality you wantthe ability for a video creation, the ability to spread the word via social media, she said. So well have to use many other platforms to supplement what TikTok did in one.By Mae Anderson, AP Business Writer

Wednesday, January 1, is New Years Day 2025. Unlike New Years Eve, New Years Day is an official federal holiday, meaning most government offices and services will be closed. But what about banks, stock markets, and stores?Heres whats open and closed on New Years Day 2025.Are banks open on New Years Day?No. Most banks will be closed on New Years Day including major ones like Chase Bank and Bank of America. However, just because physical bank branches will be closed on New Years Day doesnt mean you cant access banking services. Online banking should still be available via the banks website and smartphone apps.Are ATMs open on New Years Day?Yes. Though banks will be closed, ATMs should be operarting as normal. But note that with New Years Eve celebrations and crowds last night, some ATMs could be out of cash.Is the post office open on New Years Day?No. New Years Day is a federal holiday, so the United States Postal Service (USPS) is not operating, and USPS stores will be closed.Is mail delivered on New Years Day?No. The USPS will not be making deliveries on New Years Day.Are FedEx and UPS operating on New Years Day?According to FedExs holiday schedule, most FedEx delivery services will be closed on New Years Day with the exception of its FedEx Custom Critical service.UPS says it will not be operating pickup or delivery services on New Years Day; however, its UPS Express Critical service is available.Is the stock market open on New Years Day?No. Major U.S. stock markets will be closed on New Years Day. This includes the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq.Are schools open on New Years Day?No. Public schools and nearly all private schools will be closed on New Years Day.Are restaurants open on New Years Day?Many should be. Major chains like McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, and Chipotle should be open. However, note that some franchise locations could be closed.Many sit-down restaurants will be open, but its always best to call ahead to see if your favorite eatery is operating today.Are retail stores open on New Years Day?A majority of big-box retail stores will be open. These include major chains like Walmart and Target.Are pharmacies open on New Years Day?That depends on the pharmacy. As noted by USA Today, CVS pharmacies will be operating on New Years Day, but they may have reduced hours depending on location.Despite Walgreens stores being open, many of its pharmacies may be closed with the exception of its 24-hour locations and other select locations.Rite Aid pharmacies will be closed.Before going to a pharmacy, its best to call ahead to see if its open.Are grocery stores open on New Years Day?On New Years Day, many regional grocery store chains should be open; however, they may be operating with reduced hours.But a few big-name chains will be closed. Costco says it is closed on New Years Day, and Aldi says its stores are also closed on New Years Day.

Duck and Cover is a 1951 American civil-defense animated and live-action social guidance film, directed by Anthony Rizzo. Often mischaracterized as propaganda, it has similar themes to more adult-oriented civil-defense training films. It was widely distributed to schoolchildren in the United States in the 1950s, and teaches students what to do in the event of a nuclear explosion. The film starts with an animated sequence showing Bert, an anthropomorphic turtle, who is attacked by a monkey holding a lit firecracker or stick of dynamite on the end of a string. Bert ducks into his shell as the charge goes off; it destroys both the monkey and the tree in which he is sitting, but Bert is left unharmed. The film then switches to live footage as a narrator explains what children should do when they see the flash of an atomic bomb while in various environments. It is suggested that by ducking down low in the event of a nuclear explosion, such as crawling under desks, children would be safer than they would be standing. In 2004, Duck and Cover was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".Film credit: Anthony RizzoRecently featured: EarthShah Jahan MosqueBathymetryArchiveMore featured pictures

January 2: Feast day of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus and Saint Basil of Caesarea (Roman Rite Catholicism, Anglicanism)A. Mitchell Palmer1865 Uruguayan War: Brazilian and Colorado Party forces captured the city of Paysand from its Uruguayan defenders.1920 Under the leadership of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer (pictured), U.S. Department of Justice agents launched a series of raids against radical leftists and anarchists in more than 30 cities and towns across 23 states.1991 Sharon Pratt Dixon was sworn in as the mayor of Washington, D.C., becoming the first African-American woman to hold the position.2004 The Stardust space probe flew by the comet Wild 2 and collected particle samples from its coma, which were later returned to Earth.2016 Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia, was executed by the Saudi government along with 46 other people.Salima Sultan Begum (d.1613)Queen Emma of Hawaii (b.1836)Mily Balakirev (b.1837)Edgar Martnez (b.1963)More anniversaries: January 1January 2January 3ArchiveBy emailList of days of the yearAbout

The United States has arrested a US Army soldier and charged him with being part of a hacking scheme to sell and distribute stolen phone records. An indictment alleges that 20-year-old Cameron John Wagenius knowingly sold confidential phone records over online forums and other communications platforms last November.The indictment doesnt detail the hacked material, but KrebsOnSecurity reports that Wagenius appears to be connected to a series of high-profile data breaches linked to the online alias Kiberphant0m. Kiberphant0m claimed to have hacked 15 telecom firms and was working with the person allegedly behind the Snowflake data breach to sell the stolen information.In November, Kiberphant0m posted what they claimed were AT&T call logs for President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Its not clear if the data was genuine, but AT&T did suffer a major theft of customer data as part of the Snowflake breach last year. In 2023, the hacker is also alleged to have sold remote access credentials for a major U.S. defense contractor, according to Krebs.Krebs reports that Wagenius worked on communications at an Army base in South Korea. After the alleged leak of Trump and Harris data, Krebs did a deep dive into Kiberphant0ms online communications and identified that they were likely a US soldier. In this latest report, Krebs spoke with Wagenius mother, who confirmed his connection to the alleged Snowflake hacker.Cybersecurity experts reportedly received harassment for trying to track down Kiberphant0ms identity, leading to this incredible quote from Allison Nixon, the lead researcher at cybersecurity firm Unit 221B,who was part of the work. Anonymously extorting the President and VP as a member of the military is a bad idea, Nixon told Krebs, but its an even worse idea to harass people who specialize in de-anonymizing cybercriminals.

A Tesla Cybertruck exploded just outside of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on New Years Day, law enforcement authorities have just confirmed. One person is dead inside the Cybertruck, and seven minor injuries have been reported, according to Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill. The FBI is also on the scene; authorities have evacuated the hotel and are looking for secondary devices just in case, but McMahill says there does not appear to be any further threat to our community. At around 8:40AM PT, a 2024 Cybertruck rolled up to the hotel lobby, according to authorities. We saw that smoke started showing from the vehicle and then a large explosion from the truck occurs, McMahill tells reporters. Fire crews were on scene within four minutes, and the fire was put out within an hour. Here is an alleged video of the moment of the explosion, seemingly captured via one of the hotels security cameras:A single anonymous official briefed on the probe told ABC News that the Cybertruck contained a load of fireworks-style mortars, though it wasnt clear to that official if the explosion was intentional. The video above does seem to show firework-like explosions, but we havent confirmed its source.Another video shared on X shows the truck engulfed in flames just outside the hotels lobby. Multiple eyewitnesses reported hearing at least one explosion, and weve embedded more of their videos further down this story.Its still not clear what caused the fire. Right now we just dont have a lot of answers, says FBI special agent Jeremy Schwartz, the acting agent in charge. Authorities didnt have any details about the dead person inside the Cybertruck; we dont even yet know if they were the driver. We are investigating a number of leads and Im not prepared to release any of that information to you just yet, McMahill says.Tesla CEO Elon Musk claims the explosion has nothing to do with the Cybertruck itself, saying the company was able to remotely access data from this specific Cybertruck to prove it wasnt caused by the vehicle. We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself, he posted on X. (The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) didnt respond to our requests for comment or to fact-check this.)We hadnt previously heard the Cybertruck was rented; Musk says it was rented via Turo, a company that lets people rent out their cars like Airbnb lets them rent out their homes. He also now claims that law enforcement currently believes [the explosion] was most likely intentional.The news of the fire comes amid numerous reports about Musk getting closer to President-elect Donald Trump. Musk spent New Years Eve at Mar-a-Lago and reportedly sat in during Trumps dinner with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Musk has also been staying at a cottage on Trumps Florida property since around Election Day, according to a report from The New York Times.It also comes amidst a terror attack in New Orleans, where a driver rammed a pickup truck into a crowd of people in the French Quarter, killing at least 15; authorities in Las Vegas cited the incident as one reason theyre carefully checking for possible secondary devices. Musk points out that, like the Tesla Cybertruck, the F-150 Lightning used to kill 15 people in New Orleans was also reportedly rented out via Turo.Still, while authorities say they want Las Vegas residents to stay away from the area, Sheriff McMahill suggests the Vegas incident is probably over: We believe everything is safe now.Several others on X say they witnessed an explosion and captured videos of the rising smoke. Alcides Antunes, whose image tops this story, says the car first caught fire, then there were three big pops that might have been batteries exploding. Max Radford claimed there were multiple explosions; Stephen Felando claimed the windows shook violently on the 53rd floor of the building. Ayackle, who captured the lobby video, says the vehicle lowered itself shortly after pulling up to the lobby, then went boom. It started off like colourful fireworks, they wrote on X.I and my husband were literally standing where the luggage is in the footage. I just saw it pulled up, and it lowered itself like a bus, and boom it goes. It first looked like fireworks or something but then I immediately feared our life thinking it could be a bomb and ran, they added.Donald Trump has yet to make a public statement on the incident, but Eric Trump has weighed in: Earlier today, a reported electric vehicle fire occurred in the porte cochre of Trump Las Vegas. The safety and well-being of our guests and staff remain our top priority. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Las Vegas Fire Department and local law enforcement for their swift response and professionalism.Umar Shakir contributed reporting.Update, January 1st: Added many more details, including direct from law enforcement, an alleged video of the moment of the explosion, and Musks statements about the rented vehicle.Correction, January 1st: Jeff Bezos is Amazons founder, but no longer its CEO as we originally wrote.

The holiday season may be winding down, but that doesn't mean the deals are gone. One of our favorite smart displays is currently discounted by 43% at Amazon right now. This means you can get the latest model of the Echo Show 8 for just $85. At just $5 more than its all-time low price over Black Friday, you don't want to miss out. See at AmazonIn certain areas of your home, a smart display makes more sense than a traditional smart speaker. While you'll still get all the voice-based Alexa commands, the built-in touchscreen is ideal for following a recipe, checking home security cameras, streaming video or seeing the week's weather forecast. There's also a built-in camera for video calls, and when you're not actively using the device, it can function as a digital photo frame.Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.We've compiled a list of thebest smart home deals around so that you can start saving more in the new year. Should the Echo Show 8 not strike your fancy exactly, its sibling, the Echo Show 5, is also on sale for 50% off. Why this deal mattersIt's not uncommon for the Echo Show 8 to receive price drops throughout the year, especially as new models become available, but this is one of the biggest discounts to date and only $5 more than it's all-time low a month ago around Black Friday. If you're looking to upgrade your smart home display, there's no better time than the present. CNET is always covering a wide array of deals on tech products and much more. Start with the hottest sales and discounts on theCNET Deals page, and sign up for theCNET Deals Textto get daily deals sent straight to your phone. Add the freeCNET Shopping extensionto your browser for real-time price comparisons and cash-back offers. And peruse ourgift guide, which includes a full range of ideas for birthdays, anniversaries and more. See at CNET

We've all got a lot of devices and electronics hanging about these days. It makes it hard to have everything plugged in, which is why a good power strip can be so handy. It's even better if it also has built-in surge protection. Well, Amazon has a great deal on this Kasa smart plug power strip, which has both of those things and more, and it's down to just $40 right now. The deal won't last long though, so if you're interested, don't take too long to buy it. See at AmazonThe Kasa smart plug outlet includes nine ports that can be controlled separately. This allows you to monitor the energy usage of each device you're charging and turn one off if it's using too much electricity. To control these devices, you can download the Kasa Smart app, which also lets you turn on devices through a few taps on your phone, so you won't have to worry about your home being dark when you arrive. Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.There are also voice control options for folks who want to sync this smart plug to Google Home or Alexa. Surge protection keeps your devices safe in case of power outages or fluctuations. Why this deal mattersThe discount is modest, but the current $40 price is the lowest-ever for this Kasa smart plug. And it's a bargain for a smart plug that works with voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Also, thanks to its total of nine ports, this plug is able to power multiple outlets safely. Our Favorite Tech Gifts Under $100 We're Giving for the Holidays See all photos CNET is always covering a wide array of deals on tech products and much more. Start with the hottest sales and discounts on theCNET Deals page, and sign up for theCNET Deals Textto get daily deals sent straight to your phone. Add the freeCNET Shopping extensionto your browser for real-time price comparisons and cash-back offers. And peruse ourgift guide, which includes a full range of ideas for birthdays, anniversaries and more. See at CNET

Image: Damien McFerran / Nintendo LifeAhead of the Switch "successor" reveal, a bunch of video game accessory companies have reportedly been sharing all sorts of details about this next-generation hardware.With this in mind, accessory maker Genki (which has released multiple products during the Switch generation) has announced it's apparently happy to discuss "any Switch 2 info" at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show, including the products it's making for the new system.This information comes from a schedule for the event (via Universe Nintendo editor-in-chief Necro Felipe on X):Introducing Genki Accessories and Switch 2 Info:"We'll be featured at the entrance to Eureka Park for four hours, get to meet the team at Genki, the most crowdfunded game hardware brand at Kickstarter, ever. We'll be sharing the products we've just finished crowdfunding as well as a peek of what's next. Happy to discuss any Switch 2 info we may have as well as the stuff we're making for it."This event begins in Las Vegas next week on 7th January 2025 between 10 am and 2 pm.Nintendo has previously mentioned how the official announcement for the Switch "successor" will take place at some point during the current fiscal year (ending March 2025). Everything about the "Switch successor"Update: Reportedly best described as "Switch next model"World's smallest capture card gets a spec bump for 2023If we hear any significant updates, we'll let you know.[source x.com, via gonintendo.com]See AlsoShare:00 Liam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He's been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related ArticlesBest Nintendo Switch Games Of 2024The finest Switch games of 2024Feature: 15 Best-Looking Switch Games Of 2024Hello, my prettiesFeature: The Best Hidden Gems And Underrated Switch Games Of 2024Some shinies that may have slipped through your fingersFeature: Nintendo Life's Alternative Game Awards 2024Biggest surprise! Most long-winded title! Crappiest Switch publisher!Nintendo Reveals Japan's "Top 30" Most Downloaded Switch eShop Games Of 2024Suika Game takes out the top spot