Things To Do In SW Florida

By KELVIN CHAN, Business Writer

LONDON (AP) — Looking for a new social media platform because X, Threads and Mastodon just aren’t cutting it? You could try Bluesky.

People seeking to avoid chaos, noise and political bluster in the aftermath of the U.S. elections are noticing a different mood on the Bluesky social platform, where the vibe is seemingly welcoming and there are noticeably fewer trolls.

The site announced it had rapidly added more than a million new users in the week after Election Day, and has emerged as one of the fastest growing rivals to Elon Musk’s X and similar platforms.

If you’re tempted to check out the new space, here’s a guide on how Bluesky works:

Getting started

Maybe you’re not ready to commit to adding yet another social media account. No problem — you can still look around on Bluesky without signing up because all posts and profiles are public.

You might get a sense of deja vu because the platform’s look and feel are very similar to X. That should be no surprise because Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey was an early Bluesky champion. (Dorsey’s no longer involved with Bluesky, which is owned and run by its executive team as a public benefit corporation.) read more

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — Zoey Romero is only 12 years old, but in her new job as space reporter this week, she got to do something most reporters have yet to do. She was able to tour Blue Origin’s New Glenn factory.

“We got to see where all the rockets and the stages are made,” said the student who attends Cornerstone Charter Academy in Orlando. “They were actually huge, and it was really exciting to see.”

Romero was standing in the rocket garden at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, one of eight children from across the United States who won a contest to become members of the SpaceKids Press Squad, the brainchild of Central Florida nonprofit SpaceKids Global.

When asked to compare them to the likes of the Gemini- and Mercury-era rockets at KSC, Zoey used her new descriptive skills of reporting.

“These are tiny little models compared to the ones in the factory,” she said.

It’s been a whirlwind week for Zoey and her fellow student press members, who range from ages 8-12. They were able to tour United Launch Alliance’s facility on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and actually watch Thursday morning’s launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket only a couple miles from the pad. read more

By Elizabeth Ayoola, NerdWallet

When you think about some of the biggest sales of the year, Cyber Monday probably makes the cut. Whether you’re getting ready to snag major deals on items you’ve been eyeing all year, or want to get holiday gifts for less, here’s what you need to know about the upcoming sales.

When is Cyber Monday?

Cyber Monday is a major retail event that takes place on the Monday after Thanksgiving. In 2024, Cyber Monday is Dec. 2. The online shopping event can be traced to 2005 when the National Retail Federation gave the day an official name.

What is Cyber Monday?

In some ways, it’s a byproduct of Black Friday, which was once primarily a brick-and-mortar shopping event.

“Black Friday started out as one day. And then with the rise of the internet and online shopping, they’ve kind of realized, ‘Oh, we can capitalize on this. We can have an in-store day, and we can have an online day,’” says Samantha Gordon, a deals editor at Consumer Reports.

Cyber Monday trends over the years

Cyber Monday has grown in popularity over the years, so much so that it surpassed Black Friday sales in 2023. read more

The Legends Panel held during this year’s IAAPA Expo featured a trio of writers with attractions experience. Attendees heard from Bob Weis, former president of Walt Disney Imagineering; Margaret Kerrison, author of “Reimagined Worlds: Narrative Place-Making for People, Play and Purpose” and member of the team who created Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge for Disney parks; and Joe Pine, author of “The Experience Economy” and co-founder of Strategic Horizons.

The panel, moderated and organized by Bob Roberts of BRC Imagination Arts, covered several topics in the 90-minute session, including authenticity in attractions, the role of technology, what has (and hasn’t changed) in the business and their future works, including Weis’ novel “Ghost Dog,” which spins off his favorite attraction, the Haunted Mansion.

It was a blend of war stories and inspirational tales. Here are three topics about which the threesome shared thoughts and observations.

On what theme parks can learn from video games

KERRISON: “I grew up in the ’80s. I played a ton of Nintendo, and I tell the story how, as a kid, as a 7-year-old or 8-year-old, playing Oregon Trail and feeling like I have such power and agency to help guide my team to death or survival. As a kid, that’s very empowering. So, to think about immersive experiences that give that sense of power and agency and personalization and customization and giving it my perspective and my point of view of where I want to go, what I want to do, the things that the people that I want to meet and talk to … it just opens up a world of possibilities that gaming has given us for decades. So how we create, like, physical worlds – both digital and physical worlds – that can help to capture a lot of that excitement we feel when we explore these worlds and get lost in it. And how do we feel that sense of urgency?” read more

By DAVID KOENIG, AP Airlines Writer

DALLAS (AP) — Delta and United have become the most profitable U.S. airlines by targeting premium customers while also winning back a significant share of travelers on a tight budget.

That is squeezing smaller low-fare carriers like Spirit Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday. Some travel-industry experts think Spirit’s troubles indicate that travelers on a budget will be left with fewer choices and higher prices.

Other discount airlines are on much better financial footing than Spirit, but they too are lagging far behind the full-service airlines when it comes to recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Most industry experts think Frontier Airlines and other so-called ultra-low-cost carriers will fill the vacuum if Spirit shrinks, and that there is still plenty of competition to prevent prices from spiking.

Spirit Airlines has lost more than $2.2 billion since the start of 2020. Frontier has not reported a full-year profit since 2019, although that slump might end this year. And Allegiant Air’s parent company is still profitable, but less so than before the pandemic. read more