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With the abrupt shutdown of USAID funding, many clinics, including those serving women in remote areas, have shuttered. Midwives are reporting that mothers and babies are dying as a result.

(Image credit: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

There are still plenty of other ways to send money digitally.

Hints and answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 190, for April 1.

• YouTube demonetized two channels for sharing AI-made fake trailers
• Some Hollywood studios secretly claimed ad revenue from the misleading trailers
• The crackdown comes amid new contracts and laws limiting unauthorized AI replicas

If you've ever visited YouTube and clicked on a trailer for the next superhero film and thought it seemed too good to be true, well, you might have been right. Wishful thinking, clever editing, and a scoop of AI fakery produced clips enticing billions of clicks and earning plenty of cash through advertising. The shocking part is that a lot of that money apparently found its way to the very studios you might expect to try and shut down any such unauthorized use of their intellectual property, at least according to information uncovered recently by Deadline.

That sidehustle may now be over with YouTube removing two of the biggest homes of these AI-laced fake trailers, Screen Culture and KH Studio, from its Partner Program. That means no more ad revenue for them or the studios reportedly getting a piece of the action.

Screen Culture has made many popular trailers full of AI-generated shots for upcoming films like The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Superman. KH Studio is more famous for its imaginary casting, like Leonardo DiCaprio in the next Squid Game or Henry Cavill as the next James Bond. You would be forgiven for assuming the plotlines, characters, and visuals on display were teasing details of the films, but they were produced far from the real film development.

The fakes were good enough to sometimes come up in searches before the real trailers, and enough clicks could prompt YouTube’s recommendation algorithm to highlight the fakes above the real deal. That translates into a lot of cash for a monetized video. That's likely why, according to Deadline, studios made arrangements with YouTube to redirect the ad revenue from these fake trailers into their own accounts.

Trailer tricks

Still, YouTube has its own rules. The monetization deal may have been okay in theory, but the channels broke other rules. For instance, to earn ad revenue, a creator can't just remix someone else's content; they need to add original elements. A reviewer might show a brief clip of a film to comment on it, but most of the video is the review, not the movie. You also can't copy others' work, mislead viewers, or make content for the “sole purpose of getting views.”

Screen Culture and KH Studio can appeal the demonetization, but that might be a long shot. YouTube's decision reflects a larger ongoing debate about AI in the entertainment industry. The SAG-AFTRA strike highlighted the demands of actors for limits and control of any AI replicas of people in film and TV. The final agreement reached following the long strike set out new rules for consent by a performer before any studio can use AI to mimic their likeness.

In case that wasn't clear enough, California lawmakers passed two bills barring the use of AI to recreate a performer’s voice or image without their consent, even posthumously. That makes it harder for studios or rogue creators to conjure digital versions of famous faces just to juice a trailer, real or otherwise.

YouTube is somewhat stuck as fan-made trailers have long been a popular kind of content. Using AI, though, can make a fake trailer seem good enough to trick people, even if only by accident. And YouTube doesn't want to encourage the practice by monetizing it. For now, the message from YouTube is clear: you can imagine a world where Cavill is Bond or Galactus shows up in Fantastic Four, but you can’t cash in on that fantasy if it's built only around AI.

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NPR animator and illustrator Jackie Lay tells the story of Victoria Woodhull, who wrote a letter to the New York Herald in 1870 announcing she was running for president — 50 years before women would be allowed to vote.

During his campaign, President Trump promised to stem migration to the United States. And since taking office his administration has deported plane loads of people, some of whom were in the U.S. legally. Hundreds of deportees have been sent to prison in El Salvador. And President Trump has essentially closed the door to immigrants seeking to enter the country through the border with Mexico. These policies have provoked so-called reverse migration, where people go back to the places they once fled. And that has knock-on effects for other countries. We go to a tiny island in Panama to see the effects of U.S. immigration policy.

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The case was brought by a chapter of Catholic Charities in Wisconsin, which says that it should be able to opt out of the mandatory state unemployment compensation system.

(Image credit: Win McNamee)

The staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services was placed on administrative leave Monday morning, following a meeting between IMLS leadership and DOGE staff.

(Image credit: Shannon Finney)

Is speaker impedance, which is measured in ohms, important? Plus, do you need to match speaker and receiver ohm ratings?

• Plugable USBC-7400H4 adapter supports four HDMI outputs and 90W power delivery
• Multi-display support for Windows, macOS, and Apple M4 laptops
• Quad 4K at 60Hz plus virtual 8K monitor via USB-C

Plugable, an American brand known for USB flash devices, has introduced the USBC-7400H4, a new graphics adapter which connects up to four 4K displays at 60Hz from a single USB-C port.

This is the first adapter to feature the DisplayLink DL-7400 chipset, providing extensive screen space for demanding workloads, making it one of the best docking stations in the market.

It works with both Windows and macOS, including base models of M1, M2, M3, and M4 MacBooks. It can also be paired with the best monitor for MacBook Pro or the best monitor for Mac Mini.

High-resolution output with integrated power delivery

The adapter also introduces a virtual 8K monitor powered through a single USB Type-C connection, allowing even Apple M4 laptops, which have limited built-in multi-display support, to create an extended workspace.

Unlike many competing adapters that are limited to 1080p resolution or fewer displays, this device supports multiple high-resolution screens via four HDMI outputs, enabling users to expand their display setup beyond what most business laptops natively support.

With 100W pass-through Power Delivery, the adapter allows users to charge their laptops while expanding their display setup, delivering 90W to the host. If external power isn’t needed, it can operate in a bus-powered mode, drawing power directly from the host computer.

The USBC-7400H4 is available from Plugable and Amazon for $124.95, with a 10% launch discount, and is also offered for bulk and business purchases through affiliate partners

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IGN's second annual live games show comes back to Los Angeles and tickets are now on sale.

Here's the answer to April Fool's tricky Connections puzzle for April 1, #660.

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SpaceX is planning a launch as early as Monday evening. If successful, it will mark the first crewed mission to polar orbit and the first mission to cultivate mushrooms as a crop

(Image credit: SpaceX)

Last week, the White House said the National Security Council, the White House counsel office and President Trump adviser Elon Musk were all looking into the mishap. But now, that probe has wrapped

(Image credit: Andrew Harnik)

The 22nd Amendment bans a person from being elected U.S. president more than twice. But some legal experts point to plausible strategies that President Trump could try to serve a third term.

(Image credit: Brendan Smialowski)

• Storyblok says website issues cost businesses up to $101,000 in lost revenue
• High marketing budgets fail to prevent costly website inefficiencies
• Despite issues, 96% of businesses claim their website meets expectations

A new survey has revealed nearly half of businesses worldwide are dissatisfied with their websites, even after substantial financial investments.

Despite these significant investments, 36% of ecommerce businesses admitted that their website had caused embarrassment in front of customers or stakeholders.

This highlights a growing gap between spending and satisfaction, suggesting that even with the best website builder or the best web hosting for small businesses, many businesses struggle to maintain a site that meets their expectations.

The growing impact of website inefficiencies

Storyblok surveyed 300 senior business leaders across the US and Europe, finding companies spent an average of $550,688 on marketing technology over five years, with 18% exceeding $1 million.

96% of those surveyed still claimed their website met all or most of their expectations, suggesting that while companies acknowledge website shortcomings, they may underestimate their impact on customer experience and revenue.

Losses due to poor website performance have risen from $72,000 in 2023 to $94,500 per year, demonstrating the financial consequences of neglecting site optimization.

“When we conducted this research two years ago, we were surprised to find so many businesses were embarrassed by their website and believed it was losing them vast sums of money. What made it more puzzling is that the majority of businesses said they received good ROI on their marketing technology,” said Dominik Angerer, Storyblok's CEO and co-founder.

“Fast forward to today, and we are genuinely shocked to find the situation has become worse. Businesses are losing a lot more money, maintenance times are increasing, and costs are soaring. Yet, satisfaction with marketing solutions has increased.”

European businesses are seeing the largest losses, with an average estimated impact of $101,000 annually, compared to $80,500 for US companies.

Despite investing in the best web hosting solutions, many businesses continue to face website inefficiencies that contribute to these losses.

With cybersecurity threats and accessibility needs rising, maintaining a high-performing website is becoming increasingly complex.

However, Storyblok believes that “a new generation of composable architecture and solutions provides a much more cost and time-effective solution than inefficient legacy tech stacks that are increasingly unfit for their purpose.”

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Remember that time TikTok shut down and disappeared from app stores? It wasn't that long ago. For roughly 12 hours on January 19, TikTok was stripped away from roughly 175M US users only to be saved by a Presidential executive order decree that extended the ban deadline by 75 days. Don't worry; the White House promised we'll have a sale in place by then.

Guess what? While TikTok has multiple suitors, no US company, and certainly not the White House, has purchased any portion of ByteDance's popular social media content-sharing platform.

Throughout this process, ByteDance – a Chinese company – has yet to comment directly on the potential of a sale to a US firm. TikTok's US leadership and its CEO, Shou Zi Chew, have publicly praised President Donald Trump for his intervention but have been mostly silent since then.

In the meantime, TikTok has spent millions on televised ads and infomercial segments touting TikTok's positive impact on people and US businesses, specifically small businesses. The company currently says it has roughly 7.5M businesses on the platform. In a recent economic impact report, TikTok claims small businesses drove $15B in revenue in 2023.

There's no question that TikTok has had a significant impact on US business and, especially, culture (remember the pivotal role it played during COVID?). However, the US climate and appetite for a last-minute save of the social media platform may have shifted since January.

After all, that was the literal dawn of President Trump's second term. Since then, there have been dozens of Executive Orders touching almost every part of American life (including technology; see this AI-related order), and there's a chance consumers may have bigger fish to fry.

Even so, the fate of one of the world's most popular social media platforms does hang in the balance. Here's what we know about what comes next:

I did reach out to the White House, Apple, Google, and TikTok about the current state of negotiations and what might happen if the ban does not get another extension. As of this writing, only Google responded, but it had nothing new to share.

While there have been no public indications of any real progress or movement in the TikTok sale negotiation process, we do know that multiple suitors include:

• Mr Beast
• Perplexity AI
• Oracle
• A consortium that includes Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary
• The White House

Oracle is already managing TikTok's US data, so it might be the leading prospective buyer.

The White House has often been mentioned as acquiring a partial stake in the US-owned version of the company. here are already legal hurdles involved with a sitting President also running a private or non-public-sector business.

Perplexity AI is the most interesting suitor. In a lengthy blog post, the AI search company made an impassioned case for "Rebuilding TikTok in America."

While ByteDance and the White House remain mum on deal details or progress, multiple US senators are still urging the White House to extend the ban postponement to October of this year.

The White House stated this week that a deal would be done before the April 5 deadline but has yet to offer any further details beyond reiterating that there are "lots of potential buyers" and they have "tremendous interest."

What's next?

(Image credit: Future)

If the deal does not happen by then, TikTok could face a new ban, and that might mean the removal not only of TikTok but all of ByteDance's US apps, including Lemon8 and the popular video-editing app CapCut.

Apple and Google removed the apps, and even after the US president extended the ban, they remained unavailable on the app stores for weeks.

Apple did not respond to my request for comment. As I noted above, Google told me it had nothing new to share at this time.

So, the current state of play is that while there's a lot of sale chatter from some major US business players and investors, there is nothing solid. There are not even leaks of a deal being close. All we have is Trump's promises and mostly silence from TikTok and ByteDance.

What this boils down to is that you can't buy something that isn't for sale. ByteDance has never publicly stated that it is open to a sale. TikTok in the US, which has publicly appreciated the extension, may not have control of the situation without a sale agreement from its parent company. TikTok might be out of options.

With five days left, anything could happen, but realistically, it's been almost a year since Former President Joe Biden signed the bill that triggered the ban countdown.

Nothing material has changed, and time is running out.

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• Google's latest feature drop might be a big win for summer travel
• As with flights, you can now track prices and set alerts for hotels
• Google Maps can also now pull potential places to visit from screenshots

If you’re a fan of Google Flights, especially for the price tracking data and how the current prices you’re seeing rank against other days, you’re in for a treat. As part of a drop of features fit for upcoming summer travel, Google aims to do for hotels what it’s done for flights.

And yes, it’s as good as it sounds. Now, when you search for hotels on Google, you’ll have the option to ask the search giant to track prices. Essentially, you turn on the feature and then get an alert if there is a price drop.

Similar to flights, you can be a bit descriptive, setting a price range or a 'don’t bother me if it doesn’t fall' here. It will even factor in a star rating if you have one selected and the general area where you were searching for a hotel.

(Image credit: Google)

Google is rolling out this new hotel price tracking feature globally on desktop and mobile. Once it’s available, you’ll find it right in search, complementing the historical knowledge of hotel pricing history.

This hotel-focused feature is launching alongside some other new functionality from Google, all billed under getting ready for summer travel. The ability to set up price alerts for hotels is undoubtedly the most user-friendly feature and could have the most significant impact. It could potentially help you save on a stay.

Another new feature that could help you better prepare for a trip is screenshot support within Google Maps. If you enable it, Google Maps will look through photos and deliver a list of places you've screenshotted.

So, if you've been screenshotting TikToks about the best places to eat in New York City or maybe a list of the best ice cream spots in Boston, you won't need to dig through all of them to find every place mentioned.

Instead, with some AI help, Google Maps will look through your screenshots, find those spots, and list them well in a handy list for you. It'll live in the app in a list titled "Screenshots," and this feature is entirely optional.

(Image credit: Google)

This feature could prove helpful, but considering that screenshots aren’t just used for travel or remembering specific spots, this could also be a bit of a privacy concern.

It is opt-in only and not on by default, but it is rolling out now to mobile devices with U.S. English on iOS first, with Android following shortly.

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