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In 2017, Cody Barbo told a room of investors that he was getting married in a month. His friend asked him this question: “Hey man, you’re getting married. Do you have a will?” Barbo froze, threw out a mild swear word and answered, “I should probably have one.”

Barbo is the CEO of Trust & Will, a San Diego company that simplifies the creation of estate planning documents by drafting documents with its lawyer-vetted software.

Eight years later, Barbo is married and his family has grown.

So has his company. Trust & Will, based in San Diego’s Bankers Hill, has helped more than 1 million families make estate plans, Barbo said in an interview from his Dallas home office.

“Normally you pay thousands of dollars up front to do this with an attorney, or hundreds to thousands of dollars for those updates, for that ongoing guidance,” he said. “This is the democratization of estate planning.”

It has raised more than $80 million from venture capital and corporate investors including Moderne Ventures, American Express, AARP and Northwestern Mutual. Last year, the company became “cash-flow positive,” startup speak for hitting profitability, and then secured a Series C round of capital this year. It employs around 110 people, up from around 80 in 2023. read more

The world’s largest cruise ship is one step closer to making its Port Canaveral debut in just over a month. Royal Caribbean officially has the keys to its new Star of the Seas, the company’s second Icon-class ship.

The handoff took place at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland, just a few weeks ahead of its August debut. The milestone follows more than two years of construction on the 248,663-gross-ton vessel, which can accommodate 5,610 passengers at double occupancy and more than 7,000 passengers at full capacity, plus 2,350 crew.

More than 1,250 crew members and partners gathered in the ship’s AquaTheater during a ceremony in Finland marking the official handoff of the ship to Royal Caribbean.

“The delivery of Star of the Seas marks another bold step forward in Royal Caribbean Group’s journey to reimagine the future of vacations. Star and the Icon Class are a symbol of what’s possible when innovation, imagination and our relentless focus on delivering exceptional experiences come together, ultimately creating unforgettable memories for millions of families and vacationers,” said Jason Liberty, president and CEO of the Royal Caribbean Group, in a news release. “We’re proud to bring this next-generation vacation experience to life with our valued partners at Meyer Turku.” read more

By JOSH BOAK, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said in a letter that he will raise taxes on many imported goods from Canada to 35%, deepening a rift between two North American countries that have suffered a debilitating blow to their decades-old alliance.

The Thursday letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is an aggressive increase to the top 25% tariff rates that Trump first imposed in March after months of threats. Trump’s tariffs were allegedly in an effort to get Canada to crack down on fentanyl smuggling despite the relatively modest trafficking in the drug from that country. Trump has also expressed frustration with a trade deficit with Canada that largely reflects oil purchases by America.

“I must mention that the flow of Fentanyl is hardly the only challenge we have with Canada, which has many Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers,” Trump wrote in the letter.

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By MICHELLE CHAPMAN and WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS, AP Business Writers

Bitcoin has reached yet another all-time high, surpassing $118,000 for the first time on Friday — as a flood of money continues to move into spot bitcoin ETFs, all while U.S. President Donald Trump’s crypto-friendly influence makes its way through Washington.

According to data from CoinMarketCap, the going price for bitcoin climbed as high as $118,856 early Friday. It’s since fallen closer to $117,300 around 12:30 p.m. ET — but that’s still over $7,400 higher than what the world’s most popular cryptocurrency was trading at a month ago, and more than double its price this time last year.

Spot bitcoin ETFs opened up cryptocurrency investing more widely after launching last year — and analysts have pointed to record inflows recently. And a soft U.S. dollar and the digital currency friendliness of Trump’s administration also has helped to lift the price of bitcoin to unprecedented levels over the past few months. read more

By MATT O’BRIEN

A secretive competition to pioneer a new way of communicating with artificial intelligence chatbots is getting a messy public airing as OpenAI fights a trademark dispute over its stealth hardware collaboration with legendary iPhone designer Jony Ive.

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In the latest twist, tech startup iyO Inc., which already sued Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for trademark infringement, is now suing one of its own former employees for allegedly leaking a confidential drawing of iyO’s unreleased product.

At the heart of this bitter legal wrangling is a big idea: we shouldn’t need to stare at computer or phone screens or talk to a box like Amazon’s Alexa to interact with our future AI assistants in a natural way. And whoever comes up with this new AI interface could profit immensely from it. read more