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By HALELUYA HADERO and WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon on Wednesday unveiled a generative-AI infused Alexa that it says will allow the popular voice assistant to have more personality, check a user’s tone and even plan romantic dates.

But unlike before, when Alexa was offered for free on any Alexa-enabled devices, customers will have to pay Amazon a monthly fee of $19.99 for the revamped voice assistant, which it calls “Alexa+”. However, the generative-AI powered Alexa will be free for Prime members, who pay the company a monthly or annual fee for free delivery and other perks.

At a media event held in New York City, Amazon executives showed off the update to the ten-year old digital assistant with the new features aimed at boosting sales and interactions with Alexa-enabled devices.

The company says Alexa+ is able to have conversations with a more natural, humanlike flow and can learn more about a user — such as dietary preferences or allergies — the more it’s used. read more

By SARAH PARVINI

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nvidia on Wednesday reported a surge in fourth-quarter profit and sales as demand for its specialized Blackwell chips which power artificial intelligence systems continued to grow.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — A SpaceX launch Wednesday night sent both a lander and an orbiter on their way to the moon, both on the hunt for ice.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Intuitive Machines Nova-C lunar lander Athena on the IM-2 mission and the Lockheed Martin-built Lunar Trailblazer satellite for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory lifted off from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A at 7:16 p.m. The teams took longer than expected, but established contact with the lander about 45 minutes after liftoff.

Deployment of @Int_Machines IM-2 confirmed pic.twitter.com/67DVvpoZSS

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 27, 2025

Athena’s main payload is NASA’s PRIME-1 drill, which stands for Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 . It will burrow into the lunar south pole, pulling up lunar regolith from as deep as 3 feet, and analyze it for volatiles, which are substances that can evaporate such as carbon dioxide or frozen water.

Meanwhile, the Lunar Trailblazer is geared up to orbit the moon’s north and south poles for about 20 months taking closer looks at previously detected ice deposits. read more

By Kemberley Washington, CPA, Bankrate.com

If you sell goods or services or rent property, and get paid through Venmo, PayPal, Cash App or another payment app, you may have been surprised by a Form 1099-K this year.

By Kimberly Palmer, NerdWallet

A financially-stressed Reddit user recently asked for advice: As the primary earner in their family, which includes two children, how could they keep up with a mortgage and other expenses once severance ran out?

Reddit users offered many helpful ideas. Filing for unemployment, looking for other forms of state assistance and finding a new job — even if it’s not perfect — were among the most popular suggestions.

When we asked financial experts how someone can best survive a period of unemployment, they echoed many of those same tips. They also emphasized the importance of budgeting, even before a job loss occurs.

Here are their strategies:

Cut back on all but the essential expenses

“Focus on your essentials, and cut that budget to as bare bones as possible,” says Danielle Byrd Thompson, a financial advisor with TPS Financial in Washington, D.C.

Thompson says using an online budgeting tool or budget app, which can help you stay on top of necessary expenses and uncover where you can freeze spending for the time being. read more