Things To Do In SW Florida

By Jeff Ostrowski, Bankrate.com

For borrowers in today’s expensive housing market, getting approved for a mortgage can be a challenge. Mortgage rates have soared from pandemic-era lows, home values are near record highs and home price appreciation is outpacing wage growth.

All of that means there’s no guarantee a lender will approve your mortgage application. Here’s a look at how lenders decide to extend credit, and some common reasons why mortgage applications get rejected.

How does mortgage underwriting work?

Mortgage underwriting is the process of verifying and analyzing the financial information you provide your lender — all with the goal of giving you an answer of yes, no or maybe. As part of the application, you hand over bank statements, W-2s and other tax documents, recent pay stubs and any additional documentation the lender requires.

Dispense with any stereotypes about the old days of lending or the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life”, when a banker determined your creditworthiness by the firmness of your handshake and the crispness of your shirt. In most cases, a loan officer or mortgage broker will collect your information and submit it to an underwriting software system. Loans that will be sold to Fannie Mae, for example, use Desktop Underwriter (DU), while loans sold to Freddie Mac leverage Loan Product Advisor (LPA). read more

CORAL GABLES — When an armed shooter enters a store, there is little time to react.

But a virtual reality program that mimics actual workplaces is training employees to think quickly and save lives.

The founding director of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, Jeremy Bailenson, discussed the applications of virtual and augmented technology as keynote speaker for the University of Miami’s first Miami XR conference  last Friday.

“The (active shooter) simulation allows them to practice decision-making, hiding, escaping, or responding to threats in a safe, controlled setting,” Bailenson said. “By interacting with the scenario in real time, they develop muscle memory and situational awareness, improving their ability to react under stress.”

Bailenson co-founded the company Strivr to implement VR training in the workplace. His product Armed Attack has been used by hundreds of thousands of people at companies such as Verizon, Bank of America and Walmart. Most corporations are involved in developing a custom simulation, modeling the digital backdrops after real locations. read more

For all the ways Colorado’s cannabis industry has evolved over the decade-plus since legalization, one thing that remains largely the same is the consumer buying experience.

Typically, enthusiasts go to a dispensary in person and chat with a budtender, who helps them select the flower, edibles or concentrates that seem suitable to their needs. Many customers buy brands they are familiar with, but because inventory often rotates, price and potency tend to be the primary drivers in decision-making for new products.

This has become customary for shoppers in Colorado, but Denverite Damon Brooks thinks there are better – and more convenient – ways for customers to try new things. That was the inspiration behind GreenDoor, which he founded in 2024 with his partner Samantha Barela.

GreenDoor is an e-commerce platform that seeks to reimagine the marijuana shopping experience by acting as a conduit between dispensaries and customers. Brooks and Barela curate experiential boxes filled with marijuana products and other lifestyle items to take the legwork out of shopping and introduce new brands to local consumers. read more

Central Floridians do fancy ourselves as the center of the theme park universe. Yet there’s related activity outside the 407 area code that might merit attention, vacation or initiation of a petition on change.org.

Here are five to-dos that are coming up elsewhere.

First Fan Fest

Universal Studios Hollywood is introducing an after-hours event called Universal Fan Fest Nights with activities tied to “Back to the Future,” “Star Trek,” Wizarding World of Harry Potter, its Super Nintendo World, Dungeons & Dragons, “One Piece” anime and more.

Aside from scattered character interactions with Yoshi, Niffler and others, visitors go back in time for “Future” activities such as the Enchantment Under the Sea dance and the Clock Tower lightning strike. Then they are transported to the year 2043 in a walk-through “Trek” experience that includes the Starship Enterprise bridge and an interstellar danger.

It will be held on 12 evenings between April 25 and May 18. There are several ticket options and add-ons, but pricing for a single night ranges between $74 and $84. read more

By ZEN SOO, AP Technology Writer

HONG KONG (AP) — TikTok has returned to the app stores of Apple and Google in the U.S., after President Donald Trump delayed the enforcement of a TikTok ban.

TikTok, which is operated by Chinese technology firm ByteDance, was removed from Apple and Google’s app stores on Jan. 18 to comply with a law that requires ByteDance to divest the app or be banned in the U.S.

The popular social media app, which has over 170 million American users, previously suspended its services in the U.S. for a day before restoring service following assurances from Trump that he would postpone banning the app. The TikTok service suspension briefly prompted thousands of users to migrate to RedNote, a Chinese social media app, while calling themselves “TikTok refugees.”

The TikTok app became available to download again in the U.S. Apple App store and Google Play store after nearly a month. On Trump’s first day in office, he signed an executive order to extend the enforcement of a ban on TikTok to April 5. read more