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Spencer Jones, Founder of XO Medtech and MedtechVendors.com, shares how frontline nursing experiences led him to patent vascular access innovations and ultimately take devices from idea to FDA clearance and product launch. Spencer walks through learning business fundamentals through accelerators, raising early funding, and building sales and distribution networks, then explains why launching a digital-first, AI-native ecosystem has enabled faster, leaner execution than traditional medtech pathways. Spencer also discusses leadership, clear communication, and why AI adoption is essential to accelerate and de-risk early-stage medtech.  Guest links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/medtech-innovation/ | www.xomedtech.com | https://medtechvendors.com/  Charity supported: Polaris Project Interested in being a guest on the show or have feedback to share? Email us at theleadingdifference@velentium.com.  PRODUCTION CREDITS Host & Editor: Lindsey Dinneen Producer: Velentium Medical   EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Episode 080 - Spencer Jones [00:00:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Hi, I'm Lindsey and I'm talking with MedTech industry leaders on how they change lives for a better world. [00:00:09] Diane Bouis: The inventions and technologies are fascinating and so are the people who work with them. [00:00:15] Frank Jaskulke: There was a period of time where I realized, fundamentally, my job was to go hang out with really smart people that are saving lives and then do work that would help them save more lives. [00:00:28] Diane Bouis: I got into the business to save lives and it is incredibly motivating to work with people who are in that same business, saving or improving lives. [00:00:38] Duane Mancini: What better industry than where I get to wake up every day and just save people's lives. [00:00:42] Lindsey Dinneen: These are extraordinary people doing extraordinary work, and this is The Leading Difference. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of The Leading Difference podcast. I'm your host Lindsey, and today I'm delighted to welcome to the show Spencer Jones. Spencer is the founder at XO Medtech and MedTechvendors.com. He is an RN, MedTech entrepreneur with 12 years of med device leadership. He's a two time med device CEO with 10 plus patents under his belt and has taken devices from idea to FDA clearance and product launch. Spencer has built sales and distribution networks, led product development teams, and raised over 10 million in VC and Angel Capital. Spencer founded XO MedTech in 2024 to create a digital first medtech ecosystem, deploy AI native tools for medtech operators through medtechvendors.com and cultivate the next generation of medtech innovators. All right, Spencer, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for being here. [00:01:43] Spencer Jones: Thank you for having me, Lindsey. I'm very, very excited to be here. Like it's, it's always more fun to be a guest than it is to host the pod, so absolutely thrilled to be a guest on the pod. Thank you for having me. [00:01:54] Lindsey Dinneen: Of course. Absolutely. Well, yeah, let's just, if you won't, don't mind just sharing a little bit about yourself, your background and what led you to medtech. [00:02:04] Spencer Jones: Yeah. Born and raised in Arkansas. I've lived, I traveled a ton and lived in Memphis and whatnot, but grew up in a healthcare household. Dad did anesthesia for, what was it, 36 years or something at the same place. So I thought I was gonna be a CRNA, like actually started pre-med. Took chemistry my freshman year while I was, you know, it was just, I got a C and I was like, maybe, maybe med school's not for me. But but anyways, did the nursing school thing, got out, started working, pretty quickly, knew if you've ever spent any amount of time in frontline healthcare, you just kind of get, it's like a barrage of things that suck. It's just, especially nursing, the devices you're using are commoditized. Like just the workflows are bad. You know, people, it's, healthcare is very broken. Every, it's no secret. Everybody says that. Everybody knows that. So anyways, I noticed pretty quickly that hey, like why isn't this better? Why can't this be like this? And, you know, kind of had that mindset. And before I could even go through like critical care enough to apply to a CRNA school, ended up patenting some devices in the vascular access space. Really leveraged accelerator programs and the entrepreneurial support organizations that were in my area, in my region to, I call it that get that dirt money, which is like the before the seed, you know, your pre kind of, your pre-seed /seed you know, before the pre-seed money. And, and also like the business training, right? Like I wasn't formally trained on business stuff like that. So did that. Did the venture capital hamster wheel a little bit, took a, you know, device through class two de novo clearance. Was doing ride-alongs training, sales reps, doing marketing stuff, you know, managing our ip, managing clinical you know, 300 patient RCT that we had to do in the middle of COVID, launched the product and then past couple years, I left, left that company in 2022. Products still on the market and they got, you know, clearance in, in Europe now and et cetera, et cetera. But just been working more in laparoscopic spine or laparoscopic surgery orthopedic spine and then doing some like consulting projects and, and things like that. And then yeah, XO Medtech and Medtech Vendors that's been. You know, for the past two years, like a big focus. And I know we're gonna talk more about that, but yeah. So it's just been, it's been a great journey. Medtech is one of my --I love it and hate it at the same time, but I wouldn't wanna be doing anything else, frankly. So. [00:04:17] Lindsey Dinneen: Awesome. That's a great intro. Okay. You were, I really, I enjoyed how you sort of went straight from okay, so, so "I, you know, started the career, started in the industry, and then I, I, you know, got a bunch of patents." What were the ideas for the patents? Where did those come from? If we could just go back, how did that, what was that inspiration like? [00:04:39] Spencer Jones: Yeah. So I was night shift, med-surg, big, pretty big hospital in Little Rock. It was like one of the, one of the bigger ones in Little Rock, St. Vincent's, which is like CHI, St. Vincent, et cetera. And like one of my patients --well the, the very first one was a dual lumen peripheral IV. A patient has a peripheral IV in, I need to get a blood draw. They're like, "Go stick his other arm." I'm like, "Why can't we get it out of his, you know, IV that's in his, that's in his forearm?" And, and they were like, "Well, you, you know, you don't want to contaminate, you know, the thing." And I was like, "Oh, okay. That kind of makes sense." And I was like, well, PICC lines have two lumens. So you know, I was like, why couldn't, you know, why couldn't we just have a second lumen on, you know? And I was like, do those exist? And they didn't really exist. There was kind of one that existed, but it was more of like a longer extended dwell peripheral and you know, you kind of needed ultrasound to place it. You didn't really place, you know, normal nurses on the floor weren't gonna place it. And so I kind of, that one was just sheer-- I experienced something that I was like, "Dude, you're kidding me. There's gotta be a better way to do this." You know what I mean? And you know, kind of similar approach in that one. We, you know, that was the very first one so I was like doing these drawings on note cards and then like meeting with a patent attorney and I was like, did that provisional filing and wrote the patent myself and the claims and all this stuff. And the guy thought I was like, just " Okay, yeah, I'll, I'll file the provisional for you, bro, whatever." Filed the provisional, you know, ended up like going to a different attorney 'cause that guy was kind of just not taking me seriously. And so, ended up going to a different person, filed a non-pro provisional, started raising all this money, and that original attorney reached out later, was like, "Oh, so glad, glad to see blah, blah, blah." I was like, "Yeah, yeah, whatever." But then the second one, I, which was Safe Break Vascular, had the, it's kind of similar. Patient was like, had patients pulling out their IVs, pulling out lines, you know, and it's a million things. It's, it's walkie talkie, so like Alzheimer's, dementia, memory care type stuff. You, it's TBIs, it's agitation, sundowners. It's, you're coming off medication, you're drowsy, you forget, you're hooked up. You need to go to the bathroom. You trip on it. The nurse trips on the tubing. There's like a million reasons how, you know. Where mechanical force can get applied to an IV line. And same thing, I was just like, man, like this, it, it feels holding on for dear life is like the wrong approach because skin is only so strong. You get skin tears. Adhesives, you only want them to be so, you know, so, so strong. And it just, you know, it, wrapping it up, then you can't assess the site, you can get infiltration. So it didn't feel like any of the options we had were great. That one, I started to do patent research literally on the floor at the hospital. Like that night. I was like, I, 'cause I knew enough then found someone that had patented it. Like same exact concept. It was a nurse. And design was bad. Like the design, it had springs in it and it was just like not manufacturable and not a good design, but there were like conceptually it was like spot on. And then there were some elements of it that I was like, this would be very useful to have if I was gonna like actually do this. So me and somebody I'd met, and in accelerator program, we bought the patent from 'em for 20 grand which was a steal of a deal. It was like 10K up front, 10K after 18 months. And yeah. And then we turned around and raised a, you know, million dollar seed round within like, within nine months after acquiring the patent, got into an accelerator, ZeroTo510, shout out to them. But acquired the patent in February. Got it, or March, got into ZeroTo510, April. Went there in May, closed our seed round of a million in December, so it was like a nine month, yeah, ordeal. [00:08:03] Lindsey Dinneen: Wow. That's okay. That's awesome. I love the story. I love the fact that it was from boots on the ground going, "Okay, I see this problem. There's gotta be a better solution." That's super cool. So. All right, so you have these patents, you're going and you're working with accelerators. Can you tell us a little bit about what that experience was like, especially since you mentioned, you know, you didn't necessarily have the business background, so there was, there was probably a bit of a learning curve to that whole, you know, how do you get your idea from your, your note card drawing to commercialization. So I'd just love to hear about your experience. [00:08:35] Spencer Jones: Yeah. The, so I did one accelerator before ZeroTo510. It, I basically did two within about a year, a year of each other. It was like back to back to back. But the first one I did, it was industry agnostic. So it was just a lot of like mentorship and lean canvas startup methodology kind of business practice stuff like accounting 101, you know, building financial forecasts and models and like all of that stuff. So I really learned a ton about kind of just non device specific stuff there. Obviously I was learning a ton about device stuff along the way, but then once I got to ZeroTo510, that's when things kind of like really, you know-- and I had, I had won, I won that first accelerator. It was like a competition, and so I had 150K. And I was like, "Oh wow. So maybe, maybe this is gonna be a career path," 'cause I was still working full-time as a nurse and then I got into the second one. ZeroTo510 was amazing. Allan Daisley was running it. James Bell was like the co-director, I think, and it was like bootcamp. It was like, you know, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. It was like sessions and mentor hours and office hours and " Alright, we're done with that. You guys work on this for an hour and a half, we're gonna come back and talk about like the finished product and you better have it done." You know what I mean? And it was every day. I lived up at this building. It was amazing sponge mode. You know, it was one of those environments where you're just like constantly soaking it in and learning and learning and like you can feel your brain expanding like every day. You know, you wake up excited. And that one was amazing. Met a ton of people that I still work with today. You know, met my co-founder at XO Medtech. Met him at that accelerator. But yeah, it was just, that one was amazing. I was like, life changing. Came back from that and I was like, "This is what I was meant to do." I felt like I you know, found my calling. And so, yeah, shout out to the people there that you know, we're a part of that. [00:10:20] Lindsey Dinneen: Love it. Excellent. So, okay, so you found your co-founder for XO Medtech, and this is great because I wanted to dive into that. So, so you've, you've now successfully taken like several products to market and of course you have a lot of other great industry experience. What was, how was it different starting XO Medtech and Medtech Vendors than perhaps other things that you'd done in the past? [00:10:47] Spencer Jones: Yeah. You know, I'm gonna say it was way easier just to be honest. I mean, I mean, you know, I think we, we were doing a lot. We started building XO Medtech in 2022, 2023, and at that time a lot of it was like, it was really focused on the community and the training platform and the resources and kind of all the videos and things that we put in there. Which I still like to this day, will stand on it, that like there, if you're an early stage innovator and you're, you wanna like kind of internally like level yourself up, right? There's no better place than like XO Medtech and the training and inside there to do that, right? But, but yeah, it was we started doing it at a time when AI was starting to become, like Chat GBT, what was it, four was coming out or whatever. So we started it kind of before the wave and then as we were continuing to build it in like 2023 which was like the meat of us building it. It was like kind of starting to become more of a thing, but we still weren't really using it that much. But then as we really went into kind of like launch and growth mode in 2024, it was just like a huge tailwind and like being able and, and it continues to be. But like not having to raise, you know, three, four, $5 million to get a business off the ground and to get to a point where you can start selling something is just incredible. I mean, like we are, we are so agile and can move so quickly and, you know, we don't have any investors. We don't want any investors. So like our speed at which we can move is unbelievable. And coming from somewhere where it's " Oh, you wanna put out something for marketing? Route it through the quality management system and like maybe it goes out in two weeks." You know, we can go from like idea to feature in a week. You know what I mean, you know, let alone like idea to like press release, right? That's 10 minutes if we want to be, right? So really it's just, it's a lot easier and this takes nothing away. There's some incredibly rewarding parts of kind of my, like my medtech journey and stuff like that, like the day we got FDA clearance and, and X, Y, and z whatever date, you know, first sale and getting our first GPO contract. But it's, it's definitely more I would say day to day, just like the exhilarating agility, excitement type stuff that you like, don't really get with with me. And I'm not, I'm not taking anything away from, I'm still a medtech person through and through and I'm sure at some at some point I'll you know, do another device. We're developing another device at Lapovations, so, in combo spine. So my hands are still in it, but I love, love, love what we do at XO Medtech. It's so much fun. [00:13:11] Lindsey Dinneen: Awesome. Well, I love hearing that. So tell us a little bit about both XO Medtech and Medtech Vendors and yeah, their, their focuses. [00:13:21] Spencer Jones: Yeah. So I think, you know, like I said, we started XO Medtech and it's, it's a online community. So think like Skool, like S-K-O-O-L School or Circle, or there's some other Mighty Networks, like one of the-- we use Circle-- but you know, it's whether you're ideation or just like curious about medtech all the way through like series A really, you know, we've got, you know, there's community feed, people are posting. I mean, we posted you know, Project Medtech, you know, event stuff, discounts a lot of exclusive stuff where, I think we added, it was like three or $4,000 worth of discounts. Like just for being like once you join XO Medtech. But then there's that primary feed people, it's like a massive exchange of value and it's it's not like LinkedIn. There's no promotion. Like we base, we will take your post down if you're like nakedly promoting your own stuff or your services, whatever. The whole point of it is to be massive exchange of value. So you know, "Hey, we did some like really cool testing, ETO sterilization testing on coil tubing to see how it retained its memory. Here's what we found, your pictures," you know what I mean? Just stuff like that where it's like kind of giving people behind the, behind the curtain peaks at your own organizations or that kind of, those, those moments of alpha, those nuggets that you've found and just sharing it so you can have you know, and they're doing the same and everybody's better for it. But then we have a training course and then some other like mini courses, probably a couple dozen downloadable resources. So these are like, you know, prebuilt, proformas, budget forecasts, you know, IP stuff, due diligence type stuff, like stuff to help you with, get your data room beef, you know, beefed up and looking good. And we do videos. There's some live events every now and then. So, so that was very focused on the founder side, you know what I mean, like the entrepreneur side. We, you know, my co-founder used to run a med device, venture studio, so like doing like business engineering, business development, engineering, you know, kind of market related stuff for like early stage, largely like clinician and inventors and stuff like that. He used to run a, a, a group that did that. And we knew we wanted to kind of start to do more offerings that kind of for that side of the table, like the CDMO contract manufacturer design and development group side of the table. So we launched, we started building MedTechVendors.com and launched it in 2025, February, 2025. And then did kinda a relaunch with adding some like agentic AI features in I think at the end of the summer last year. But it, but at its core, I always say this analogy, it's like Angie's List, right? You know, Angie's List, what do they do? Well, it connects people with local pros. Allows them to like, evaluate, engage them really easily, you know, get, get their stuff done quickly from trusted people. You know what I mean? So we have the same approach. We help device teams, and that could be device teams at large, medium, small, or startup organizations or tech transfer offices, whoever we help those device teams find, evaluate, and engage contract manufacturers, CDMOs testing facilities, design and development groups, one man band engineers, whatever through the platform. We have an an ag agentic AI chat. So like it'll ask you questions about your device. It'll start recommending, "Hey, do you need this? Do you need these types of services? Are you looking for this type of vendor? This type of vendor?" It pre-populates forms. It generates matches for you. You can review each vendor's profile, one click get email intros or request quotes, and we're adding some some really cool additional features around some different like skills that you can run. So, think like a reimbursement skill or market a, you know, different predicate device selection skill, whatever. And so those are all gonna be like linked up to the to this kind of AI agent. I don't wanna say too much 'cause we're still building it. I'm like really excited about, but there's other things that we're adding to it. The ability to do quote, visualization you know, and trying to make it kind of a, you know, a home away from home, a hub where you can track execution, get things done, engage vendors, and kind of evolve it more laterally in kind of the lifecycle journey. Not just " Hey, I'm looking for a vendor," 'cause that's a very acute point in time in a, you know, in a person's journey. But trying to expand it out to say the period of time when you're doing X and Y and Z and looking for a vendor so we can get some really was sticky, more sticky use and add more value. So, that was that. And we've started really focusing on some more like intimate, I would say, engagements with CDMOs contract manufacturers focused on giving their sales and marketing teams massive, massive leverage using AI and ai, AI native tools. [00:17:35] Lindsey Dinneen: Awesome. That's really cool. Yeah. Okay, so going back a little bit to the, to XO Medtech, I know you know you, you mentioned that there's a lot of resources available, but one of the things that I think is super cool, and I would love if you just share a little bit more about this, is you have a course that-- i don't remember the name off the top of my head-- but it's basically sort of Medtech Innovation 101. It's, I think... [00:18:00] Spencer Jones: Yeah, The Playbook. [00:18:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Call it like-- The Playbook! And you call it like the MBA for somebody who needs to learn. So can you just share the value of that and sort of what, what made you go, "Okay. I have, you know, the expertise in all these different areas enough to be able to share the journey from start to finish." [00:18:19] Spencer Jones: Yeah, absolutely. I think like the, the value there partially comes-- I mean, I think speaking about the value, you gotta speak about kind of like why there was a gap there, like how it, why it didn't exist, whatever. There's just a lot of really bad content in medtech. You know, there's a lot of stuff that reads I mean, there's guidance documents, you know, ISO and this and that. Like those are tough reads, right? And then, you know, the, the content around " "here's how you really fundamentally apply these guidance documents and here's how all this fits together." And it just felt like everything was I don't know what the opposite of like inside baseball is, right? Like that kind of " Hey, here's what you really need to know." Whatever the opposite of that is, is how medtech content felt like to me everywhere. It was just like polished press releases, really, like consulting speak. You know, "You gotta be strategic with your analysis." It's okay "You know, you know, you gotta find your champions." "How do I find them? What do I tell them? You know, how do I engage them?" So it was just, that was the big gap. So I think the value, what we tried to do with The Playbook was, you know, give, like I said, pre-seed all the way through Series A, the right information, like the right depth, on the right topics in the right order with the right assets, so resources, downloads, all that stuff along the way so that you can go cradle to grave on this, basically be a novice, or we've had people that have launched products and gone through it and they were like, "Holy crap, I wish I would've had this five years ago." But the whole idea is to basically not make you a supreme expert on any one of those topics. There's 46 different lessons, 47, and like you can get through each one in probably 20 minutes, right, 15 minutes. But not to make you an expert on each individual topic, but to give you like a dangerous level of information on any one, and then make you able to dive deeper on any of them, you know, very quickly and easily. So like when you meet with your, you know, a regulatory consultant or an IP attorney, or go down the list, you are not, they're not saying words you don't know for the most part. You're not paying them $300 an hour or $500 an hour to educate you on definitions and concepts. Right? You're, you're applying principles and evaluating strategy versus " What's that again? Like, how does this, what's the timeline for that?" 'Cause that you know, that's just not good for anybody. You know, so, so that, that's kinda the main, the main value prop thrust of it. And I just, I frankly didn't think it existed, but proof's in the pudding. Like we've sold it to accelerator programs, we've sold it to hospital, you know, innovation departments. We've sold it to incubators, like trade associations that have like their like kind of innovation arms. It works. Like when people do it, it works. It's funny-- we can talk about this too-- but like the, you can lead a horse to water thing. It's funny how many people say they want to be entrepreneurs and say they wanna be innovators and really they just want to just yap. And they don't actually wanna put the time in. I'm telling you, it's like crazy how many, you know, fake entrepreneurs there are out there. But it's okay. It's okay. You know, like there has to be, I think there needs to be some cleaving or weaning or calving of the herd to some degree because we've got, I don't know, and maybe we need to develop 'em more, but it's, it is frustrating seeing it firsthand when it's like "You have a really cool device, but you are so uninvestible and you have no interest in being coachable that it just hurts me." [00:21:30] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh yeah, absolutely. No, I love that you've done that resource and yes, super excited to see hopefully a lot of innovation actually happen and be successful as a result of that. So with, you know, okay, so you have, you have this community now and I'm wondering if there are any moments that kind of stand out to you, maybe as you've built the company, also Medtech Vendors that kind of enforce, "Wow, I am, I am in the right place at the right time." [00:22:00] Spencer Jones: You know, I definitely-- you know, it's, it's, it's really, there's not, I would say, any huge singular moments. I mean, we've had people like get business from coming on the XO Medtech podcast. You know, we've had people meet new clients, new strategic partners type stuff, like in the XO Medtech community. I mean, I've made a ton of friends in the XO Medtech community, people that I talk to you know, every, every week or two you know, Brad Shirley, I'll mention him. He's fantastic. And like I've learned from him, he's learned from me. We've both learned stuff from the community. I, I, I really do think it's though, it's like it's, you know, those-- whether it's a LinkedIn DM or you know, somebody messaging me in XO and they're like, "Hey, I just went through this lesson. It was like, so good. You know, blah, blah, blah." And I think those little things honestly like power me, power me up, give me juice, give me energy. You know, and, and like reading, we, we did a ton of, I mean we probably got 30 people that did kind of like a pre- and post- assessment and they gave their feedback on The Playbook so we could refine it like as we were, you know, after launch and all that stuff 'cause we're constantly trying to improve it. And have reading the testimonials and people just being like, yeah, like "This is, this is killer." People that are brand new, people that have been in the industry for 20 years that went through it. I think so, I think, I think it's kinda like a myriad of those things. I would say some of the stuff on-- and that's on the XO Medtech -- I think some of the stuff on the Medtech Vendor side and what we're doing with, you know, kind of campaigns and the tools that we're developing and the work that we're doing there, like we are fully an AI native organization. Like it, like we, it there is just not at all like a significant amount of people in medtech using AI to like actually do not in their products. I don't care about that. Like I'm talking about like in their day-to-day operations and, and whatnot and like we're trying to change that. And so like in that respect, like we will come out with things, you know, release features, release products, build custom tools for CDMOs and you know, the looks on their faces and like how amazed that they are at X, Y, and Z. And sometimes it's like stuff where it's hey, I'm like building them a just showing them how to do something with not even a tool that we built and like they're blown away. And anyways, all of that stuff, I feel like, man, like this is where I'm supposed to be because like. We, we've gotta make MedTech a more attractive investment opportunity. We've gotta compress the development cycles and the cost to develop and the time to develop and get things to market. You know, and I look at AI drug discovery for the pharma world as like a huge way that that's happening. But we have to have that similar type of like, when you to engage with this, it will be good for our ecosystem and industry as a whole, becoming more investible, becoming more cash efficient and all that stuff because you've seen other sectors, you know, software is taking money from early stage medtech, like nobody's business. You know, people are investing AI and you know, I just looked at the annual report from like HSBC, the Venture Report, and like me, early stage medtech funding continues to be down. You know what I mean? So we just gotta do something like, I, I feel like it's an existential, it's an existential issue for early stage medtech to get better at being scrappy and using AI. [00:25:03] Lindsey Dinneen: And there's so much opportunity there. Yeah, I love that you're helping to promote that. So you've gotten to lead a number of different companies now and through very challenging milestones. And so I'm curious, how has your own leadership philosophy developed over the course of your career so far? [00:25:24] Spencer Jones: Oh, what a good question. You know, I, I hate to say this, but I've almost gotten more cynical, you know. [00:25:30] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay. [00:25:31] Spencer Jones: Well, and it, it's, it's like I try to be very protective of my time and like protective of the time of the people that I work with, right. You know, and that doesn't mean I'm not willing to like go the extra mile and whatnot, but I think it's about respecting people's time. Right? And, and you know, I think honestly my leadership philosophy, I think a lot of it revolves around just like incredibly clear communication and like staying above the fray. No riff-raff, just just executing and moving fast and like keeping expectations really high, because I feel like when you've got complacency, you know, at the top, it just, it like doubles every rung of the ladder lower that you go in the org chart or whatever. You know, so I think like pace, you know, pace and hyper clear communication, like no subversive or passive aggressive or anything. It's just like straight up, like I'll just exactly tell you if I wasn't happy with something or whatever, but I just, I don't know, like I feel, I feel like you know, leadership style too, like I think, I think it, so much of it boils down to communication for me. It's just like really, really clearly communicating and like making sure that people understand what good work looks like and what a, them doing a good job looks like, and where... Yeah, I think, I think being clear about expectations, really clearly communicating those expectations around like work product, what it should look like, how fast it should get done, how many updates I need, or how many questions I expect to get as you're doing this, what resources I expect you to expend and explore before you come to me with something you could Google. Like all of that stuff, but honestly, I, it, it's kind of a tough question thinking in like the more immediate past, just because I feel like there's been such like, almost like a flattening of org charts, frankly, with the way that we're using technology and AI these days where I feel like in the companies I'm operating in right now, like it's mainly just principles and like lower level stuff, like we're either delegating to AI agents or delegating to like VAs that are in a different country or something, you know what I mean? And, and so there's just been a big flattening. You know, seven years ago, six years ago, I was managing, you know, new grads outta college, two or three at a time, and, you know, having to like, have these kind of like, you know, like brotherly, you know, like talks with, you know, these types of things, " Hey, like you really gotta do this" and like coaching and stuff like that, i, you know, there's a, we have to have that stuff. I'm just not in, in organization and honestly, the organizations I'm in right now in startup world I just feel I don't know. Like I, I feel like we're, I haven't seen that and I, I know a lot of organizations that are small and nimble and whatever, and I feel like the org charts are getting real flat in terms of like people that are getting managed, you know, it's a lot of agents getting managed, frankly. [00:28:21] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Interesting. Yeah, that, that's a really interesting insight too. But I really do think that to your point of coaching and mentorship and how much of a difference that makes, but especially, I was just on this conversation earlier today of the critical importance I feel that there is about establishing expectations across the board, whether it's your clients, your employees, your coworkers, just making sure that everybody's on the same page is such a critical aspect of, of setting yourself up for success. So yeah, I love that you touched on that 'cause like I said, literally earlier today. [00:29:00] Spencer Jones: Yeah. And, and can I, can I, quick aside here. It's, it's on topic, but before we move on, I mean, I, I'm not the first person to think this or say this, but I'll, I'll die on this hill. The more you use AI when, when you're using it the right way, right, the better leader and better specifically, the better communicator you'll become, right? Why? So much of interpersonal office drama, bad management, bad leadership is like what we talked about, right? It's poor communication. It's expecting people assumed something or had knowledge they didn't, right? It's not letting them know what you really wanted, what good work looks like, all that stuff. This is all context engineering, right, which is just a similar to prompt engineering, but context engineering is kind of the other more important piece these days with AI. What do I mean by that? Like I'm gonna give a prompt to a chat. Is it in just like a virgin chat or is it in a project? What context, what documents, skills, reference templates, et cetera, access to code bases does that project have, right? What am I telling it to do? How am I breaking that down? How am I, you know, big, high level goal? What do I want it to do? What does the output need to look like? How deep do I want it to go? Right? Like, how many questions I say, "Ask me like five or six questions" when I'm prompting, right, if I want that, right? Give, so giving the other person right in that space to say " What questions do you have?" Right? The, the, the best people at context engineering and leveraging AI in that way end up becoming more, better and better and better communicators because it's-- I mean, yes, you're talking to a machine, but at the same way, like those principles a hundred percent apply to good professional communication. So I'll die on that hill. There's a lot of people that are like brain rott using AI. It's " what's the weather today?" And you know, "how many calories does mayonnaise have?" And those people are not, you know, they're, they're not improving their leadership communication by using app, but the people actually doing it right a hundred percent are, [00:30:52] Lindsey Dinneen: Yes, I could not agree more. I think that is one of the coolest things that AI has taught me personally is-- to your point, to be a better communicator, to be clearer with the way that I communicate, to avoid assumptions that the other person, say, knows what I'm talking about or, or does have the context behind why I asked the question the way I did, or all those kinds of things. So I, I could not agree with you more. Yeah. And it's exciting to see how it continues to evolve. Okay. [00:31:22] Spencer Jones: Yeah. And why, real quick, why, like the AI models, especially with the reasoning models and stuff, Opus 4.6, all this stuff, telling them why they're doing something and why doing it, doing a certain task within that project flow is important is proving to be more effective than telling them how. And I think that's something where, you know, you tell someone what to do, they may do it, but if you tell them and make them believe why it's important, they do it that way, they're really gonna do it that way. [00:31:49] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Love that so much. Okay. All right, so pivoting the conversation a little bit, just for fun. Imagine that you were to be offered a million dollars to teach a masterclass on anything you want, could be within your industry, but doesn't have to be. What would you choose to teach? [00:32:05] Spencer Jones: Does this, assume-- I have a question. Does this assume that I'm already I'm already capable and you know, have enough expertise to actually teach this class? Or is it like I choose this topic, I'm now an expert in that and I get to teach it? [00:32:19] Lindsey Dinneen: I like, I like I like both options, but I'm gonna go with option B because you have a million dollars to play with, right, so you could build up the expertise. Yeah. [00:32:29] Spencer Jones: You know, I would still say like building AI tools, AI agent systems, you know, skills and subagents and these flows and, and really tactically executing that for medtech. And that that goes from founder, you know, innovator to service provider, reg, quality ,reimbursement, like all the way up through sales and marketing and then like CDMO teams, you know, doing contract manufacturing, doing this. Like I, I just, I'm so passionate about it and I, I just see that there's so much untapped opportunity that that is the thing I think, and, and like we, we are doing that not a masterclass, but like we are working with groups to do some of that. But, I just, it's just so, so, so, so much opportunity to do it. And I think there's like weird structural reasons why it's not being adopted the same, you know, at the same clip it is in other industries. But you know, medtech's very rules-based game. You know, you've got your guidance docs, you've got your predicate devices, you've got your clinical trial protocols, you've got your stats analysis. You got your, you know, X, Y, Z hospitals get paid a certain way. Like lots of formulas, lots of reference material, lots of guidance docs. You know, it's very kind of rules and order based system in a lot of ways. And biology has its own kind of, prescriptive way that things happen, right? So I just feel like it's so primed for it. And anyways, I, I just, I wanna see it adopted more so we can see like what's happening with software now, where, you know, the cost to build and, you know, produce and get software to market has com has almost collapsed, but compressed to, you know, from like months, maybe years to, you know, days and weeks and, you know, you got a $200, 250 bucks worth of like software subscriptions, Claude this, that, the other, you can get it done in a week if you, you know, two weeks if you put your mind to [00:34:21] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah. No, that would be an incredible masterclass. I like it. All right. And then how do you wish to be remembered after you leave this world? [00:34:30] Spencer Jones: Oof. God, what a good question, Lindsey. You know, I hope to be remembered at all. [00:34:35] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. [00:34:36] Spencer Jones: You know, 'cause I, I'm definitely one of those people that's " nobody cares, nobody's thinking about you." You know, you may have, I, I mean, I think there's like some healthy main character syndrome that people can have that gives 'em confidence, but at the end of the day, no one cares. They're just, everyone's thinking about themselves. But if I am remembered, which I hope to be I wanna be viewed as like someone that was, I'd say, loved their family was a good dad, good husband. I would say brought people joy, was like fun to be around, but like from a interested in other people sense, you know, you know, genuinely cared about people. But I would say that on the professional side, like somebody that you know, would like consistently just delivered an absurd amount of value whether it was, you know, running a business or coaching and developing people at a company or working on behalf of clients or trying to make a positive change. I would say impactful and valuable, you know, with the work that I'm doing. That's, that's, that's how I wanna be remembered. I mean, we don't have big, I don't wanna be a unicorn billion dollar company. No, we have no desire to do that. We don't even have a, a desire to get acquired at any point. We're not raising money, you know, we've, we've deliberately chosen to bootstrap it. You know, we frankly just wanna employ really awesome smart people that we work with, you know, pay everybody well. And like I said, add a absurd amount of value you know, and joy to the people and the clients that we work with and like work at the company with, you know what I mean? [00:36:05] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah, that's a absolutely wonderful legacy to aspire to. I love it. All right. And then final question. What is one thing that makes you smile every time you see or think about it? [00:36:19] Spencer Jones: Oh, I gotta be, I've got a 1-year-old kid. Banks. Banks Austin Jones. So it's gotta be him, and my wife of course. One thing that makes me smile though, every time I see it, oh... you know, I am, I'll cry at a good TikTok, so I'm so I guess that's like a form of smiling, you know? But I'm a pretty big softie, honestly. You know, this is gonna sound weird, but it's kind of those moments where you know, people usually strangers and usually people that don't look like each other, just show humanity to each other. And that could be like holding a door open for somebody. It could be small things, you know what I mean? But I really love seeing those moments and capturing them like candidly, you know? Just you know, oh, I was in a restaurant, I saw this thing happen. You know? I really love that these days. [00:37:09] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah. We all need more of that these days too, so, yeah. Love it. Alright, well, Spencer, this has been a, a fantastic conversation. I really appreciate you and your time today. I love what you're building in the medtech industry and cultivating community and resources and providing value. So just thank you for everything you're doing to change lives for a better world. [00:37:34] Spencer Jones: Thank you. Can I ask you a question? I feel like you were so good, like with the questions and kind coming on the back of like my responses, but I have a question for you like what? You know, what about the medtech space, like most excites you? It can be a specific technology, it can be a specific, you know, company doing something. It can be anything, but what's most exciting to you, kind of looking at 2026 and, you know, kind of in the realm of medtech broadly. [00:38:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Oh, I love that question. So I love this industry in general, but there, there's something really special about the energy of being around people who truly care about making a difference. Part of the reason I started The Leading Difference was because I, when I first joined, had sort of noticed this sort stigma from people from the outside who weren't very familiar with the innovation, what it takes to get from, you know, drawing to commercialization. Just didn't, just didn't know. And there was this stigma that people were here just for the money. And then I started meeting all of these incredible change makers who they had personal stories of what they were seeing, or a family member was impacted. And I just loved the fact that there were so many cool people doing such cool things and getting to play a small role in that was the coolest thing in the world. So, you know, I, I say I happily stumbled into medtech five years ago and found my people and my happy place, haven't looked back. I love it. I love being around people who are genuinely trying to do good things in the world. And I hear about new and you know, new ideas every day, and I get excited probably almost equally about most of them because it's just cool to see. So I don't know. Does that answer your question? [00:39:29] Spencer Jones: No, it, it does. I mean, it, it really the, it all comes back to the patient at the end of the day. And I definitely, I, I feel like when people think of like medical device stuff, like their minds immediately go to like Stryker sales reps or something, you know what I'm saying? And there's just so much more to it than that. And there's one of my favorite things about medtech is like the personalities, you know, like you got your wacky, you got your wacky inventors and you know, you got your straight laced regulatory people. But when you get to know 'em, they're, they're absolutely hilarious. You know, you got your attorneys, you got your like, and I, every industry, every industry has their personalities. But I think medtech, you know, you got your beef head sales reps that are like posting " What's up guys? I'm here in the locker room in my scrubs" and like "Motivation Monday." You're like, "Oh my God." But it's just like all these personalities and you go to these conferences and you just see 50 of the same person, but they're each different, they have their own dreams and conflicts and ideas and whatever, but they're still like so in the same box in some ways. I think that's one of the funnier, like funnier things about medtech that just makes it quirky, you know? [00:40:30] Lindsey Dinneen: I love it. And I also love the amount of respect that I see shared amongst people of very, very different backgrounds and areas of expertise. And that was one of the things that made me fall in love with the industry too. I was like, I, for instance, you know, I'm in, I'm in marketing and business development, so I play a very small role in, in sharing about these devices. But people, the engineers that I work with and the consultants that I work with, and everybody in the ecosystem is always just " Wow, well, I can't do what you're doing. And so I think what you're doing is fantastic." And so there's just, there's this mutual respect that I think is super cool about being here too. So yeah, I'm a fan. [00:41:08] Spencer Jones: Yeah, I agree. I agree. We could, we could keep going for, for days... [00:41:12] Lindsey Dinneen: I know. [00:41:13] Spencer Jones: ...On this. I really, I know, I know we have to wrap it, but but yeah. Well, Lindsey, thank you for having me. Seriously, this was a blast. And you know, I'll just maybe like quick sign off plug or something here. If anybody that's listening to this is like interested in, leveraging AI, leveraging AI in medtech or for you personally or whatever, follow me on LinkedIn and post a lot of content about it. You know, talk about it a lot on the podcast. But then if you're, if you're on the founder side, if you're an innovator, like join XO Medtech. If you're on the CDMO side, if you're, you know, on a sales and marketing team, contract manufacturer, CDMO, even like signed development groups, that kind of stuff like, you are like, "We know we need to be using AI to better leverage X, Y, Z, or do this thing. We have all these, we have HubSpot and this thing and that thing, and none of it works together well and we've got too many tools." Whatever. Just hit me up. Let's have a conversation. We're doing some absolutely incredible things leveraging AI, giving these sales and marketing teams like crazy leverage. So yeah, just drop a dm. I'd love to talk to you. [00:42:08] Lindsey Dinneen: Awesome. Sounds good. And we are so honored to be making a donation on your behalf as a thank you for your time today to the Polaris Project, which is a non governmental organization that works to combat and prevent sex and labor trafficking in North America. So thank you for choosing that organization to support, and we wish you continued success as you work to change lives for a better world. Looking forward to seeing the future of all the good things that you're doing. All right. Bye. [00:42:41] Dan Purvis: The Leading Difference is brought to you by Velentium Medical. Velentium Medical is a full service CDMO, serving medtech clients worldwide to securely design, manufacture, and test class two and class three medical devices. Velentium Medical's four units include research and development-- pairing electronic and mechanical design, embedded firmware, mobile app development, and cloud systems with the human factor studies and systems engineering necessary to streamline medical device regulatory approval; contract manufacturing-- building medical products at the prototype, clinical, and commercial levels in the US, as well as in low cost regions in 1345 certified and FDA registered Class VII clean rooms; cybersecurity-- generating the 12 cybersecurity design artifacts required for FDA submission; and automated test systems, assuring that every device produced is exactly the same as the device that was approved. Visit VelentiumMedical.com to explore how we can work together to change lives for a better world.

“If we can help you either validate that you're already saving enough money or help you find another way to do it, then we're happy to do that.” Group purchasing organizations (GPOs) help companies save money by pooling buying power to secure better pricing and terms than the individual businesses could achieve alone, but that doesn't mean savings is the only form of benefit. GPOs also simplify supplier management, provide much-needed operational support, and help companies either validate or improve their current spending habits. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Michael Rodenberg. Michael is a Member Engagement Specialist at Una, so he regularly has the opportunity to walk members through all of the benefits associated with the GPO model. Michael talks about what he has learned, heard, and seen in his time working with the members at Una: How GPOs create savings through collective buying power Why “no cost” is not the same thing as “no value” How GPOs simplify procurement beyond just savings Links: Michael Rodenberg on LinkedIn

Why do so many great MedTech products stall after launch — even when the data is there? In this episode of Med Tech Gurus, we're joined by Amy Brouhle, Vice President of Strategic Business Development at S2N Health. A former emergency department nurse turned commercialization leader, Amy brings more than 20 years of experience spanning clinical care, GPO strategy, national accounts, and MedTech growth. Her career includes senior roles at Vizient, Hillrom, and GE Healthcare, giving her a rare, end-to-end view of how innovation actually gets adopted — or stuck. At S2N Health, Amy helps MedTech companies cut through the noise of fragmented data and turn insight into action. We explore why most organizations don't have a data problem — they have an insight problem — and how aligning sales, marketing, and strategy around the right signals can unlock utilization, accelerate adoption, and improve investor confidence. From GPO dynamics and channel strategy to AI-powered targeting, territory planning, and go-to-market execution, Amy shares practical lessons every founder and commercial leader needs to hear. If you're trying to translate innovation into revenue and scale, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.

Vercel Supply-Chain Breach via AI Tool, Meta Sued Over Scam Ads, and Ransomware Surges with "The Gentleman" David Shipley covers new details on the Vercel breach, which began when an employee used the third-party AI tool Context AI; after Context AI was breached, attackers leveraged Google OAuth access to pivot into Vercel systems and enumerate unencrypted "non-sensitive" environment variables that contained usable secrets, with a hacker claiming Vercel data and source code and demanding $2M, while Vercel says Next.js and other open-source projects are safe and shares Google OAuth indicators of compromise. The episode also discusses a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging Meta misled users about scam ads and profited from them, noting Meta's claim it removed 159M scam ads and shut down nearly 11M criminal accounts. Finally, it cites ZeroFox data showing ransomware incidents holding steady at 2,059 in Q1 2026 and highlights Check Point research indicating "The Gentleman" has a much larger victim footprint and uses tactics like disabling Defender, re-enabling SMB1, abusing GPO, and targeting VMware environments. Cybersecurity Today would like to thank Meter for their support in bringing you this podcast. Meter delivers a complete networking stack, wired, wireless and cellular in one integrated solution that's built for performance and scale.  You can find them at Meter.com/cst 00:00 Headlines and Sponsor 00:46 Vercel AI Supply Chain Breach 02:50 Meta Sued Over Scam Ads 04:55 Ransomware Numbers Q1 2026 06:46 Gentlemen Crew Exposed 08:56 Wrap Up and Thanks 09:42 Sponsor Message Meter

#128This episode starts with a practical look at one of the least understood parts of the restaurant business: group purchasing organizations. Josh, Matt, and Mike are joined by Rich Kemp, whose background in food distribution and work at Buyers Edge gives him a deep view into how operators actually buy, price, and negotiate food. Together they unpack what a GPO really is, how rebates and price deviations work, why distributors participate, and how procurement teams can use better data and manufacturer relationships to reduce costs. The conversation also pushes on a bigger question that has come up repeatedly on the show: if supply chains, AI, and purchasing systems get more efficient, will restaurants ever truly see those savings on their invoices.In the back half, the conversation shifts from economics to culture, as the hosts react to the latest reporting around Noma and René Redzepi. What follows is a candid discussion about abuse in professional kitchens, the way destructive behavior has been normalized for generations, and the difference between demanding excellence and tolerating harm. It is a sharp, emotional, and deeply personal exchange about leadership, accountability, and whether the industry is finally ready to confront the systems that allowed this behavior to thrive for so long.Links and resources

Although most procurement professionals are familiar with group purchasing organizations (GPOs), they may not have experience working with one. That can leave them wondering about adding complexity, and - most of all - what the ‘catch' is.  In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Clay Kopp. Clay is an Account Executive at Una, and this conversation is part of an ongoing series focused on the members of the Una team.  Clay's background is in the fast‑paced world of transportation and logistics sales, and he now sits on the front lines of inbound and outbound GPO conversations. Clay shares what he has learned about procurement and GPOs from buy side members and supplier partners: How he walks people through Una's “free to the member” model  Different levels of procurement maturity and how that changes the way they approach or incorporate a GPO Real life examples of how Una has been able to help procurement teams increase their impact Links: Clay Kopp on LinkedIn

Most practices spend thousands each month on supplies but still don't have a documented ordering system—so spending becomes reactive, inconsistent, and hard to control. In this episode, Kirk Behrendt talks with co-host Miranda Beeson, Director of Education at ACT Dental, about what a GPO (group purchasing organization) is, where it fits in your ordering system, and how to combine budgets, accountability, and a repeatable process to stabilize supply costs and improve profitability over time—Listen to Episode 1032 of The Best Practices Show!Main Takeaways:A GPO (group purchasing organization) leverages collective buying power to secure better pricing than a single practice can typically negotiate alone.Most offices don't have a documented ordering system, which leads to reactive ordering habits and fluctuating supply percentages month to month.A defined ordering system should clearly outline what it is, why it exists, who is accountable, who participates, when it happens, where it happens, and exactly how it's done.Supply ordering should be driven by a budget tied to collections (commonly targeting around 5%) so teams can measure performance and correct course.Accountability requires accounting, meaning practices need clear reporting and a way to review whether spending stayed on budget and why.Setting minimum/maximum inventory levels and approval guardrails reduces overstock, emergency purchases, and delays when the primary ordering person is unavailable.A centralized procurement platform can reduce decision fatigue, save time, and help teams compare options, track spend, and capture savings and rebates more consistently.Snippets:00:00 Intro01:00 Why the GPO conversation matters and where it fits in your ordering system.03:00 Why ordering must be system-driven, not habit-driven.06:00 Common “systems” that aren't systems (the whiteboard and the rep-driven order).09:00 The real dollar impact of small percentage swings in supply spend.12:00 What a complete ordering system should include (what, why, who, when, where, how).15:00 Why supply ordering must start with a collections-based budget.19:00 What a GPO is and how group buying power works.24:00 How a procurement platform can include supplies, labs, savings, and rebates.26:00 Why saving time matters as much as saving money in ordering.30:00 Final recap: intentionality, consistency, visibility, and long-term profitability.Guest Bio/Guest Resources:Miranda Beeson has over 25 years of clinical dental hygiene, front office, practice administration, and speaking experience. She is enthusiastic about communication and loves helping others find the power that words can bring to their patient interactions and practice dynamics. As a Lead Practice Coach, she is driven to create opportunities to find value in experiences and cultivate new approaches.Miranda graduated from Old Dominion University, and enjoys spending time with her husband, Chuck, and her children, Trent, Mallory, and Cassidy. Family time is the best time, and is often spent on a golf course, a volleyball court, or spending the day boating at the beach.More Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:The Exchange 2026: https://smilesource.com/exchangeThe Best Practices Show: https://www.actdental.com/podcast/Best Practices Association: https://www.actdental.com/bpaUpcoming Events & Workshops: https://www.actdental.com/events/Smile Source: https://www.smilesource.com/Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.comSubscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com

Dublin City Council has approved a monument to be placed on O'Connell Street to honour Irish women of the revolutionary period. The monument will be erected between the Spire and the James Larkin statue in front of the GPO. Donna Cooney is chair of the Commemmorations & Naming Committee of Dublin City Council and Green Party Councillor.

In Episode 175, Spencer and Tyler break down NetTools — a free, self-contained Active Directory management and troubleshooting tool that's become a go-to for their internal penetration testing engagements.They start with the backstory: years of relying on AD Explorer from Microsoft Sysinternals, and the growing need to evade EDR detections. At one point, that meant manually obfuscating binaries with a hex editor. NetTools eliminates that friction entirely — no installation, no dependencies, no signatures to fight.Topics covered include:Why NetTools replaced AD Explorer and how EDR pressure forced the shiftGroup Policy enumeration, including how to spot dangerous GPO permissions like authenticated users with write access to server OUsLDAP Search & Browser for querying AD, identifying risky data (like passwords in descriptions), and exploring object relationshipsAssigned Trustees & Permissions Reporter for fast, visual identification of misconfigurationsHow to run NetTools from non-domain-joined machines using saved credential profilesPassword checker functionality for targeted validation without spraying the environmentFor pentesters, it's a faster way to get visibility into AD risk. For IT admins, it's a practical way to audit and harden your environment.NetTools combines the functionality of multiple tools into one portable utility. Learn more at nettools.net. Credit to creator Gary Reynolds.NetTools | The Swiss army knife of AD troubleshootingBlog: https://offsec.blog/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@cyberthreatpovTwitter: https://x.com/cyberthreatpovFollow Spencer on social ⬇Spencer's Links: https://spenceralessi.comWork with Us: https://securit360.com | Find vulnerabilities that matter, learn about how we do internal pentesting here.

Was taugen die Promi-ETFs von Andreas Beck und Gerd Kommer wirklich? Und was bringen Themen-ETFs? Wir haben bei den Experten kritisch nachgefragt! Verschenkt der GPO langfristig zu viel Rendite? Rächt sich beim Kommer-ETF die niedrige USA-Anteil? Und sind Themen-ETFs am Ende nicht fast immer "zu spät dran"? Das ist der heiße Stuhl! Diese Informationen dienen ausschließlich der allgemeinen und vorläufigen Orientierung und stellen weder eine Anlageberatung noch eine Rechts- oder Steuerberatung dar. Dieser Inhalt ist Teil einer kommerziellen Zusammenarbeit zwischen VanEck und der LoKr Room GmbH. VanEck und die LoKr Room GmbH übernehmen keinerlei Haftung für Anlage-, Desinvestitions- oder Beibehaltungsentscheidungen, die auf Grundlage dieser Informationen getroffen werden. Dieser Inhalt wurde für Anleger in Deutschland erstellt. Die dargestellten Meinungen entsprechen dem Stand zum Veröffentlichungsdatum und können sich aufgrund von Marktbedingungen ändern. Informationen aus Quellen Dritter werden als zuverlässig erachtet, wurden jedoch nicht unabhängig auf ihre Richtigkeit oder Vollständigkeit überprüft und können daher nicht garantiert werden. Die MSCI-Informationen dürfen von Ihnen nur für interne Zwecke verwendet werden, dürfen in keiner Form reproduziert oder weiterverbreitet werden und dürfen nicht als Grundlage oder Bestandteil von Finanzinstrumenten, Produkten oder Indizes eingesetzt werden. Keine der MSCI-Informationen ist als Anlageberatung oder als Empfehlung gedacht, irgendeine Art von Anlageentscheidung zu treffen (oder davon abzusehen), und darf nicht als solche herangezogen werden. Historische Daten und Analysen sollten nicht als Hinweis oder Garantie für die Analyse, Prognose oder Vorhersage der künftigen Performance erachtet werden. Die MSCI-Informationen werden „wie besehen“ bereitgestellt, und der Nutzer dieser Informationen übernimmt das gesamte Risiko, das sich aus der Verwendung dieser Informationen ergibt. MSCI, jedes der mit MSCI verbundenen Unternehmen und jede andere Person, die an der Erhebung, Berechnung oder Erstellung von MSCI-Informationen beteiligt ist oder damit in einem Zusammenhang steht (zusammen die „MSCI-Parteien“), lehnen ausdrücklich jede Gewährleistung (einschließlich u. a. jeglicher Gewährleistung im Hinblick auf die Originalität, Genauigkeit, Vollständigkeit, Aktualität, Nichtverletzung von Rechten Dritter, Marktgängigkeit und Eignung für einen bestimmten Zweck) bezüglich dieser Informationen ab. Ohne die Allgemeingültigkeit des Vorstehenden einzuschränken, übernimmt keine MSCI-Partei irgendeine Haftung für direkte, indirekte, Sonder-, Neben-, Straf- und Folgeschäden (einschließlich u. a. entgangener Gewinne) oder sonstige Schäden. Es ist nicht möglich, direkt in einen Index zu investieren.

Claude Cowork came out of an accident.Felix and the Anthropic team noticed something interesting with Claude Code: many users were using it primarily for all kinds of messy knowledge work instead of coding. Even technical builders would use it for lots of non-technical work.Even more shocking, Claude cowork wrote itself. With a team of humans simply orchestrating multiple claude code instances, the tool was ready after a brief week and a half.This isn't Felix's first rodeo with impactful and playful desktop apps. He's helped ship the Slack desktop app and is a core maintainer of Electron the open-source software framework used for building cross-platform desktop applications, even putting Windows 95 into an Electron app that runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux.In this episode, Felix joins us to unpack why execution has suddenly become cheap enough that teams can “just build all the candidates” and why the real frontier in AI products is no longer better chat, but trusted task execution.He also shares why Anthropic is betting on local-first agent workflows, why skills may matter more than most people realize, and how the hardest questions ahead are about autonomy, safety, portability, and the changing shape of knowledge work itself.We discuss* Felix's path: Slack desktop app, Electron, Windows 95 in JavaScript, and now building Claude Cowork at Anthropic* What Claude Cowork actually is: a more user-friendly, VM-based version of Claude Code designed to bring agentic workflows to non-terminal-native users* Why “user-friendly” does not mean “less powerful”: Cowork as a superset product, much like how VS Code initially looked simpler than Visual Studio but became more hackable and extensible* Anthropic's prototype-first culture: why Cowork was built in 10 days using many pre-existing internal pieces, and how internal prototypes shaped the final product* Why execution is getting cheap: the shift from long memos, specs, and debate toward rapidly building multiple candidates and choosing based on reality instead of theory* The local debate: why Felix thinks Silicon Valley is undervaluing the local computer, and why putting Claude “where you work” is often more powerful* Why Claude gets its own computer: the VM as both a safety boundary and a capability unlock, letting Claude install tools, run scripts, and work more independently without constant approval* Safety through sandboxing: why “approve every command” is not a real long-term UX, and how virtual machines create a middle ground between uselessly safe and dangerously autonomous* How Cowork differs from Claude Code: coding evals vs. knowledge-work evals, different system-prompt tradeoffs, longer planning horizons, and heavier use of planning and clarification tools* Why skills matter: simple markdown-based instructions as a lightweight abstraction layer for reusable workflows, personalized automation, and portable agent behavior* Skills vs. MCPs: why Felix is increasingly interested in file-based, text-native interfaces that tell the model what to do, rather than forcing everything through rigid tool schemas* The portability problem: why personal skills should move across agent products, and the unresolved tension between public reusable workflows and private user-specific context* Real use cases already happening today: uploading videos, organizing files, handling taxes, managing calendars, debugging internal crashes, analyzing finances, and automating repetitive browser workflows* Why AI products should work with your existing stack: Anthropic's bias toward integrating with Chrome, Office, and existing workflows instead of rebuilding every app from scratch* Computer use one year later: how much better it has gotten, why vision plus browser context is such a superpower, and why letting Claude see the thing it is working on changes everything* Why many “AI verticals” may get compressed: specialized wrappers may matter in the short term, but better general models and stronger primitives could absorb a lot of narrow use cases* The future of junior work: Felix's concerns about entry-level roles, labor-market disruption, and whether AI can compress early-career learning into denser simulated experience* Why Waterloo grads stand out: internships, shipping experience, and learning how real teams build products versus purely theoretical academic preparation* The agentic future of the desktop: what it means for Claude to have its own computer, whether AI should act on your machine or a remote one, and how intimacy with personal data changes the product design space* Why Electron still mattered: shipping Chromium as a controlled rendering stack, the limits of OS-native webviews, and why browser engines remain one of the great software abstractions* Anthropic's Labs mentality: wild internal experiments, half-broken future-looking prototypes, and the broader effort to move users from asking questions to delegating increasingly long and valuable tasks* Why the endgame is not just more capability, but more independence: teaching users to trust AI with bigger scopes of work, for longer durations, with fewer interventionsFelix Rieseberg* X: https://x.com/felixrieseberg* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felixrieseberg* Website: https://felixrieseberg.com/Anthropic* Website: http://anthropic.comFull Video PodTimestamps00:00 — Cheap execution and building all the candidates00:44 — Intro in the new Kernel studio02:47 — What Claude Cowork is04:18 — Why user-friendly can be more powerful05:33 — How Anthropic built Cowork07:09 — Prototype-first product development08:00 — Why local computers still matter09:20 — Skills, primitives, and platform leverage12:13 — Cowork's architecture: VM + Chrome + system prompt15:38 — Felix's own bug-fixing Cowork workflows17:38 — Local-first agents20:16 — Evals, planning, and knowledge-work optimization23:14 — What Anthropic means by evals24:21 — Scaffolding, tools, and why skills matter27:44 — Demo: YouTube uploads and self-generated skills31:03 — Calendar automation and cleaning your desktop34:47 — Browser context and why DOM access matters37:47 — Skills portability and plugins44:36 — Which AI categories survive?46:19 — Junior jobs, simulated work, and labor disruption52:00 — Gradual takeoff vs big-bang takeoff53:42 — Finance, taxes, and enterprise verticals56:24 — Vision and the improvement in computer use57:31 — Why Claude writes its own scripts58:06 — Should Claude have its own computer?1:01:26 — Windows 95 in JavaScript1:03:19 — VM tradeoffs and sandbox design1:07:23 — Approval fatigue and safe delegation1:11:18 — The future of Cowork1:12:27 — What comes next for agentic knowledge work1:15:13 — Electron, Chromium, and desktop software lessons1:22:16 — Multiplayer agents and coworker-to-coworker workflows1:26:05 — Anthropic Labs and closing thoughtsTranscriptAlessio: Hey everyone. Welcome to the Latent Space Podcast, our first one in the new studio. This is Alessio, founder of Kernel Labs, and I'm joined by swyx, editor of Latent Space.swyx: Yeah, so nice to be here. Thanks to, uh, TJ, Alessio, Allen helping to set everything up. It looks beautiful. We even have the logo outside.Yeah, kind.Felix: It's like really nice, right? When you walk in here as a guest, you're like, ah, this is a serious production. You're like, feel it immediately.swyx: Yeah. Felix, you've been, you're, you're currently a product manager of Cowork or,Felix: uh, really Technicswyx: Eng. Yeah. The, the identities are kind of vague member technical staff.Felix: I know member staff is like, the official title will carry around forever.swyx: Yeah. I basically kind of wanted, like we've been. Kinda obsessed. I, I've been using it a lot, even for managing latent space. Like, uh, cowork helps me upload videos and like title things and like edit and everything. It's, it's like really amazing.Alessio: Cool. He said multiple times Cowork has said gi in the group track.swyx: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so we have a second, uh, we have a second channel, uh, for latent space tv. Uh, and I, uh, and uh, we basically, this is our Discord meetup. Um, and I I, we have like Claude Coworks, it might be a GI, I don't know if we, we have, uh, uploaded it yet, but one of the sessions was like a, like a Claude cowork thing.Felix: I, you have to see, I would love to see it. Like, I'm so curious, like one of the most fun parts of my job is like constantly see the weird things people use Cowork for because it's obviously like very hard for us to actually design for specific use cases we do. But like every single person who's like most amazed is usually amazed about a thing that I didn't even expect cowork would be good at.Um, we have a new designer and it's one of the first small tasks. I was like, Hey, we need like a new emoji for cowork for our internal stock. It's like a pretty small thing. I like, can you please do it? And he drew an SVG and just gave it to coworker was like, can you animate this emoji? And now it has like this beautiful loopy animation.Um, and I mean, I think obviously this goes down to like, it turns out you can do more things with code than you expected, but it, it's like that kind of stuff that is really fun to me. So, long story short, I would love to see like, the kind of things you're doing.swyx: I'll pull it up. I'll pull it up.Felix: Yeah. Yeah.swyx: Uh, but before we get into it, I, I think always wanna start with like a top level. What is Claude Cowork for people who haven't heard of it? Haven't tried it out.Felix: Okay. Uh, real quick, Claude Cowork is a user friendly version of Claude Code. So the way it basically works is we have Claude Code and for us, fairly impressive agent harness that over December we noticed more and more people are using either, even though they're not technical, they, they're not at home in the terminal or they are at home in the terminal, but they started using Claude Code for non-coding workloads, right?Like managing expenses or like filling out receipts or organizing a knowledge base. Like there was a big obsidian moment that a lot of people liked and we wanted to capitalize on that, but also bring, bring this capability to people who are not terminal native and who might not know how to like brew and store something.So cowork is Claude Code running in original machine with a little bit of padding, a little bit more guardrails, making it a little safer and a little bit more convenient for people who don't wanna first open up the terminal when they go to work.swyx: It's interesting, uh, that is kind of. Pitch that way as a more user friendly thing because I always feel like it, it, to me, I I treat it as like why I'm familiar with Claude Code.Like we, we did a Claude Code episode Yeah. A year ago. But this one is like even more power user tools ‘cause it, uh, it kind of integrates much better with like clotting Chrome and, uh, in all the, all the other tooling. But like, maybe, maybe that's like a perception thing, right? LikeFelix: No, honestly, I don't think you're wrong.This is like a, a thing I've been thinking a lot about for like the last two weeks. So,swyx: but when they say user friendly, it's like, oh, it's the dumb down version. But no, actually this is the superset.Felix: Yeah. Like, I think a similar thing happened, A similar thing happened to me about 10 years ago, like maybe 12 years ago when I was at Microsoft and we started working on, on Electron and like browser-based technologies and cross-platform stuff.And one of the first use cases was Visual Studio Code, which used to be a website. And the initial narrative was, or Visual Studio Code is, is like a more user-friendly version of Visual Studio. But in a similar vein, I think there was some voices saying, oh, this is. For serious developers, like, we're not gonna use this.Right? For like anything. And I think in the end what happened is people have different stories about why Visual Studio Code became such a big thing. But my personal, my personal belief is that the Hackability and the extendability has like played a pretty big role, right? You can hook in Visual Studio Code that like almost any workload, it's so easy to hack on, so easy to put extensions for it.And I think cowork might be hitting a similar thing where it's very easy to extend and it's very easy to bring into your workflows. Uh, so the convenience I think is a bit of a, it's obviously the thing we strive for as developers, but I think the way people find value in it then is by probably mapping it onto whatever they actually have to do in their job.Alessio: So end of last year, you see the spike of like non-technical usage and clock code. What's the design process to say we should make clock code work? Because I mean, you built it in only 10 days. Um, I'm sure there was some discussion before on whether it's easier to use mean. You know, like making, making like a desktop GUI is obviously one way to do it, but like there's a lot of nuance in the product.Like maybe talk people through what was like the trigger of like, we should build a separate thing. We should not build like a different plot code thing. And then maybe some of the more interesting design decisions that maybe you didn't take.Felix: Yeah, I think philanthropic, we've been thinking about ways to move people who are comfortable with using Claude to answer questions and bring more of the power of like this thing to now like, execute tasks for you.I can like solve problems for you can like build things for you. How do we bring that capability to people who are currently mostly comfortable with like a like question answer paradigm within the chat. And we've had a lot of prototypes around that. Just going back as far as like easily a year and a half.Like we had a lot of people working on that. Um, and internally philanthropic is a very prototype demo, first culture. We have a lot of like internal prototypes that don't reach the public. What Cowork actually became is like we sort of picked the right pieces out of the many prototypes that we had.Right. And that's, that's maybe also like, I think an important qualifier whenever people mention this like 10 day number. I do think it's important to me to mention that within Double Scratch there was like a lot of stuff already happening, right? Like, and I think it's important for people to remember that when you build a website, you use React, you use like a bunch of other things.And this is like a similar scenario with like a lot of pieces we already had. Um, and in terms of decision path, I think we live in like an interesting new world where execution is actually quite cheap.swyx: Mm-hmm.Felix: So maybe, maybe what you would do That's so crazy. The year. I know it's wild.swyx: You should be, ideas are cheap.Execution is the hard part. IFelix: know. And like the, we, we used to live in this world maybe where you would take a product manager and the product manager would go to a number of potential customers and in this like very low bandwidth way, would try to. Try to like tease out what are the problems they're having, what are they willing to buy?Um, and then maybe what can you build to like drive out that need and then you go back and you like draft a spec and you think about it and then like you make a design and you execute it. We internally philanthropic app, not pretty much closer to the point where we're like, don't even write a memo, just like build, like let's build all the candidates very quickly.Let's just build all of them and then pick the best ones. I think the, the decision that is most impactful both for the product as well for the users right now is like the way we put value on your local computer. I think that's a big decision point a lot of people have thought about. Should this thing, whatever it is, should it ultimately run into computer or should it run in the cloud?‘cause they're big trade offs, right?Alessio: I guess like if we solve auth, it would be easy to do in the cloud. But I think like the fact that I can just download any file from anywhere and then put it and cowork there, it's like a big unlock. Um, I mean it's interesting you mentioned reusing certain pieces. I think this is something I've been thinking about even with Claude Code, right?The price of like writing code is going to zero, blah, blah, blah. But it actually seems like the value of having some sort of platform substrate is like increasing because as you build these new things, you can kind of plug them together.Felix: Yeah.Alessio: So I almost feel like when people are saying, oh, the value of a lot of software is gonna zero because you can recreate it, to me it's almost like the opposite.It's like having an existing platform to build on top of. It's like even more valuable because you can kind of bolt things on.Felix: Yeah.Alessio: You have obviously mcps, you have skills, you have like obviously the models, which is a big part. All these things kind of come together. Do you feel like that's a valid way to think about it, where people should invest even more in kind of like primitives.To rebuild on or are you like recreating a lot of it each time because like things change and it's easier to rewrite than reuse?Felix: You know, I think, I think you're right. I think you're right that the holistic platform is really useful. And this is maybe a whole like a somewhat contrarian view to a lot of people in ai.I actually don't think that the future is going to be hyper personalized software down to the point where everyone is running their own version. Like, I actually think it's going to be quite hard for all of us to have our own internal chat tool and like, if I wanna talk to you, likeswyx: howFelix: is that gonna work, right?In the, in the context of cowork and how we build it, I think it's a bit of a combination. Like what the, the execution that gets cheap is not necessarily rebuilding all the primitives. I think our priori, there's also not a lot of value in it. So for instance, my team did not think about rebuilding clock code.We're like very much started with the. The core thesis of this should be Claude Code.Mm-hmm.Felix: And then we'll like build things on top of it. The part of the execution that gets a little cheaper is like, how do you take all of these Lego pieces and put them together in a way that makes sense for users?It's like actually valuable. You have so many different approaches now in terms of what kind of, what kind of things do you actually elevate to a primitive, do you strongly believe that all your products should be built by just combining primitive that the public also has available? Do you keep some things internal?Um, and I think that's still evolving, but I think what's probably gonna go away is like, I'm not sure if it's gonna fully go away, but I'm gonna say, I think for me personally, I will probably no longer try to come up with a really good product without testing up with people. This is not a new concept, but wherever you used to have to make costly decisions around, do we pick technology A or technology B, or do we like, um, build it this way, build it the other way.I really strongly believe now you just build all of them and try them out with a small focus group and then whatever, whatever is better is what you go with. Right. And that, that is probably quite different even from how we maybe worked a year ago. Right. Like, I think, I think this happened very recently.Alessio: Yeah. I started building something in on Electron since you're here. Coincidence. Uh, but then Electron and like SQL Light are like, there's like some issues that like between development and like, uh, building anyway. And I was like, let's just rebuild the whole thing in Swift and just recreated the whole thing in Swift.And it's like, I. It's done.swyx: You know, I didn't take any effort. I, I, I don't even know Swift.Alessio: Yeah, exactly. I was like, I'm the, I'm not reviewing it anyway, whatever. You can write in whatever language you pick, but the important stuff that I did was not write the electron bindings. Yeah. It was like the logic of what happens in the app, you know, and then the model is like, yeah, I can just recreate the same thing as withswyx: Yeah.I, I think you still want, especially for people who are doing like high performance software or like very complex software, uh, you still want like, some view of the architecture. Uh, but you can use markdown for that,Felix: right? Yeah.swyx: Uh, you don't actually have to read the code again. I, I'm still like on a sort of like a definitional thing.Um, can we build a good mental model of Claude Cowork? Um, this is what I have, right? Like you you said it's like fundamentally cloud co. We don't wanna touch it. There's the cloud app, there's clouding Chrome. I think you guys do something different in planning, but, uh, I've been talking with Tariq who is on the cloud co team, and you guys are, he's like, no, we just exposed planning.Maybe we can clarify like, what are the major pieces. That people should be aware. It goes into cowork, like,Felix: okay, I think you basically have them. So really, um, you can, you can take planning more or less out. I think there's a few things that are really valuable in cowork. Um, the virtual machine is probably the most powerful thing.So we currently run like a, we currently run like a lightweight VM and we put clocked out into the vm and we do that for, for, um, a number of reasons. Safety and security is a big one, but even if you, even if you ignore for a second safety and security and you're just like, okay, Yolo, I want this thing to do whatever.It is quite powerful to give Claus on computer that is like generally a good idea. And in terms of architecture and UX and everything else that we've been working on, philanthropic, it often is quite useful for you to like anthropomorphize, um, clot aggressively and just be like, this is a person. What will you do if you give a, if you had a person, right?Yeah. And the analogy I've given my dad this morning who is still like quite insistent on using chat even for like coding things, is if you were a developer and your employer told you that you don't need a computer, they're just gonna like, send you emails with a code and you send emails with code back like that, maybe work for Patrick Miles in the back, but that it's not very effective.Um, so what we can do with the VM is because it's a, it's a Linux system, Claude Code has more or less free reign to install whatever needs to install. It can install Python, it can install no js. We do have strict network ingress and egress controls. So you can still, as, as a user in like plain human language, make it clear to, to the entire system what you're okay with and what you're not okay with.But at no point do we have to ask a real person, like a, like a person who might be in marketing or a lawyer. I'd have to go to a lawyer and be like, are you okay with me installing Homebrew?Alessio: Yeah, yeah.Felix: Right. Because the implications of the question and the answer are complex and nuanced and like, not, not easy to reason about.This gives us a lot of distraction that makes Cloud very powerful. Now then around it, we, we do probably have a number of things that also keeps growing almost every single week that you're probably noticing that make cowork maybe better for certain tasks than just cloud. Cloud on its own. Yeah. But most of those actually live in the system prompt.They're about like, what can we infer about the work that you do? What can we, what can we intru in the system prompt to make that more effective? It's of course the like very tight integration with Cloud and Chrome. You're noticing that a lot of people, especially as the models get better, a lot of people throw up their hands when it comes to MCP connectors in this area.I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna go through like 25 M CCP connectors, click off everywhere and then like half of them don't let me do the things anyway. So Cloud and Chrome is quite powerful because we can just talk to the cloud and Chrome sub agent and that will just do things for you.swyx: Yeah, so, so one example right in MCPI, honestly, I think that the state of MCP is kind of, kind of.Really hard to integrate. Um, I need to, I needed to add, uh, Figma MCP to the coding agent that I use.Felix: Yeah.swyx: Uh, and, but I didn't wanna read the docs, so I just had caught to it. And it's, it's great at reading docs and the same, same way I had to set up like a Google Cloud, um, account for some project I was working on and get some API keys somewhere.And Google Cloud is famously super hard to navigate, so I just didn't wanna deal with any of it. I just used Claude CoworkFelix: within the first week of developing on Core. This happened very, very quickly. Um, I caught myself by starting to use cowork for coding tasks, which is not ostensibly what we built it for, right?We don't need to. But I found myself, um, I found myself like on our internal, internal tool that we have for, to collect crashes and just like debugging information and I found myself sort like picking out the ones that I think we can easily fix versus the ones that might be like kernel corruption or something else on the operating system.And I found myself sort of picking these out and then just telling Clark, go fix this bug. I was like, what am I doing here? Go one level up, tell a cowork, I want you to go to all these crash tools. I want you to find all the bugs that you think are fixable and not like an operating system crash. And then I want you to tell another cloud to like fix all of that.Um, and that's, that's, that's sort of another cloud,swyx: just so it can spin up another instance or,Felix: uh, it, currently what I do is, um, and this is a bit of a hack, but I tell it to use clockwork remote to which website itself? Yeah, that's interesting. So you basically take, if you, if you imagine like a dashboard with like 20 bucks, you, this is remote control or clock or remote, or, sorry, I just wanted to confirm what, the way I'm using it is.I have cowork running and I'm telling cowork, here's where I normally go every morning to find the latest bugs. Go read the entire bug list, separate out which ones are fixable, which ones are, are fixable, and then for the fixable ones, four is this almost loop. For each bug, write a markdown file with a prompt.And then for each markdown v, that is a prompt. Start of a cloud set. So natively Claude Code hasswyx: this concept of subagents. Mm-hmm. And this is basically a subagent, but you're not using the subagent functionality.Felix: I'm not using the subagent functionality. And the reason I'm not is because I'm firing that off as a Claude Code remoteswyx: task.Felix: Yes. That's kind of nice. ‘cause then I can just fire it off. I can go to my next meeting and in Claude Code remote. Now the work is happening.swyx: Mm-hmm. Yeah. You, you see like you're already starting to use the cloud over your local machine. And I think this is one of those things where like. Shouldn't just everything just be cloud first, right?Felix: Ah, this is such a good group. I'm like solely bad about this. I have so many thoughts about that. Okay. So I generally believe that Silicon Valley overall is undervaluing the local computer. And my default argument for that is always how come we're all using MacBooks and not like an iPad or a Chromebook?Um, that there is like still value in, in having a local machine. And now when I think about Clot, it's this entity that is supposed to be very useful to you, like it tremendously useful to you. I think that entity needs to have access to all the same tools you have access to. Otherwise it's gonna be hamstrung in like all these complex ways.And there's, there's sort of two approaches we could take. We could say, okay, we're gonna like one by one chip away at everything that is at your computer and move it into the cloud. That's, that's one way to do it. Um, and I think other products have taken that path. I personally, this is a very personal opinion, but I personally, for the amount of tools that I use.Just don't have the patience to give another tool like permissions to every single thing and keep those permissions up to date. The second thing that I'm still grappling with, and I don't have a good answer for anyone just yet, but the second thing I'm still grappling with is what does it look like for someone to slurp up your entire work and put that in the cloud?Like if I, just as an example, like if you could click a button and it just clone your entire computer into the cloud, is that something that you would want? I'm not totally convinced yet that all everyone will. Mm-hmm. And that is sort of like upstream of all the technical issues we're gonna have. ‘cause like in general, I think the world is not ready for this kind of stuff.Like, I'll give you one quick example that would probably be very easy for us. So as a desktop app, we in theory with your permission, can do a lot of things on your computer, including reading your Chrome cookies. If we really want to do right, we could take your Chrome cookies, you would have to decrypt them for us.We could put those on the cloud if we really felt like it. Pretty easy solution. That would be super cool. We could just be like, oh, we can do all your tasks in the cloud now. Um, a lot of websites, thanks, include it. If, if they see the same authentication from like two different locations, we'll just lock down your account and now you have to go to the branch and be like, okay, I, I'm here with my passport.You actually know that. Wow. Yeah. As tired as well are of the term agent for the age agent future, I think there's a lot of stuff that sort of slowly needs to catch up and until that's the case, the way I, as someone's working on clock and make Cloud most effective is to like put it where you are working.swyx: Anything else? I thought with our mental model, so like, basically like, uh, part of me also just want, like the more I understand how it works, the more I can use it to its full potential. Right?Felix: Yeah.swyx: And so what I'm get hearing from you is you told me to delete the planning thing. You're not doing anything special on, on the, that's only exclusive to Qua cowork.Felix: We have some tricks for this sort of like change week over week. We eval cowork maybe against different use cases than he would evil clock code, right? If you think about it this way. Okay, so like clock code is our eval clock cowork. Yeah. So clock code is like quite optimized for coding tasks and we mostly value it whether or not we're getting better or worse depending on how good it is at like a typical suite job.And Clark Cowork on the other hand, we evaluate more against typical knowledge work, the kind of stuff he would find in finance or in like maybe a, like in like a legal office. Um, my personal use case is always like managing my things, like managing my personal mortgage or something like that, right? Or like wealth planning for me and my family.Those are the kinds of use cases we eval, clock cowork on. And what you might be picking up on is like the subtle changes we make to the system. Prompt what we put in the system, prompt how we steer, clot with the tools we give it. Um, like either it'd be better in one or the other direction and whether there's a trade off, try us exist a lot.CLO code will be better of a code and Claude Cowork will be better. For non-coding tasks, will those gaps still exist in the next three generations of models? It's like a little unclear to me though.swyx: Yeah,Felix: because right now these like hyper optimizations we make, I'm not sure for how long they're still be relevant.swyx: I think what I was referring to was also, it, it just, uh, it qualitatively felt different when I probably, it's just all prompting and I'm reading too much into it, but like the, the fact that it comes out with like a nine step plan, I can edit the plan and give feedback and, and, and see it execute the plan.Yeah. It felt more long range than in Claude Code, but maybe that already existed in Claude Code and you just build a nicer UI for it.Felix: It's kind of both. Um, like if the Clark Code people who build the planning functionalities would city, they probably say yes, we have all of those things in Clark code and they do.Um, I think people tend to give cowork. Tasks that are maybe of longer time horizon, I thought isswyx: so long. Yeah.Felix: That's like one thing, right? It's just like that the, the chunk of work tends to be maybe a little bigger. And then the second thing is that because the work, when it gets longer, it gets a little bit more ambiguous.We do tell co-work to make heavy use of the planning tool or to make heavy use of the ask user question tool, right? We do want it to come up with like. Different scenarios of, okay, tease out what the user actually wants. Don't go off to work for like four hours and then come back with the wrong thing.And you're probably picking up on that.swyx: Yeah.Felix: Um, I wish I could tell you I like built this magical thing and it's like, there's some secret sauce,swyx: but No, no, no. I mean, it's, it's just clarity is good that, you know, engineers just want to know. Yeah. They can, they can plan around it. And then I think also for me, um, I am realizing I have to switch to my, my other machine because this is a new machine that doesn't have my session.But, uh, yeah, the, the, the planning is really important for, for me to like approve or like to see whether it's like, it's right. The ask is, the question is so beautifully presented. I mean, it also, it also available in like cursor and, and in Claude Code. But like, I, I think like it's so nice to see that it, like it's kind of for me like to understand that it gets me, it gets what I want to do.Felix: Yeah.swyx: Yeah.Felix: It probably very hardswyx: just on the topical evals. Mm-hmm. When you say eval, I think people are very vague about what it means. Is it just like vibe testing or do you have like automated programmatic evals of Claude Cowork?Felix: When we say eval, uh, what we really mean is that we essentially take the entire transcript, including all the tools that clot has available ultimately to it, and we then measure what are the outputs, depending on what we tweak, right?So we do run that a lot. We use that in training. Um, we use that in, in like, if you sort of separate out post training from like the scaffolding around it. Cowork sort of exists in the scaffolding space, but obviously we also train on it a little bit. Um, so when we say eval, we mean given the certain transcript, what do the outputs look like?Including the file outputs as well as like the actual token outputs, like the ones that you see in the chat window.Alessio: I'm curious, um, how much of the failure modes are the model intelligence versus like the usage of the end tool to put the intelligence in? Like the well planning is like a good example, right?It's like one thing is to come up with a plan. The other thing is like make a nice spreadsheet. Yeah. That kind of runs you through the plan. Like how have you seen that? Well,Felix: the thing that I grapple with a lot is that whatever scaffolding you come up with, I think we still have a bit of sort of like model overhang where the model is dramatically more capable than right.Users end up using it for. And I think part of that is that we're just not getting the model all the tools to do all the things that's theory capable of, right? There's like one thing, um, however, whenever you do build the scaffolding, I'm sort of wondering at what point, at what point will that scaffolding go away and like how much you invest in figuring out what the right scaffolding is.It's kind of up to, it's a little bit of a bet. And one thing that I as an NJ quite enjoy is that like working in philanthropic and working at a frontier lab, I maybe have a little bit more insight into what's coming, coming down the chute in terms of like, what's the next model, what is the model capable of?What is good at, what is it bad at? And I'm, I'm increasingly wondering, is the right thing for us to like really invest too much in sort of these like scaffolding corrections where the model might otherwise not misbehave, but just not do the thing that you want?Alessio: Yeah.Felix: Or is it to just like give it as many capabilities as possible, try to make those safe so there's the worst case scenarios, likeno status might be otherwise.And then just simply wait a second for the next model drop. I'm personally, currently more leaning into the ladder. I think we're gonna see a lot of like applications and companies that do very impressive things with ai that in the short term might seem very effective ‘cause they're very specialized to individual use cases.But I think once models get better generalization and get better at like those specific use cases without being super guided on those, I'm not sure how long that's gonna stick around. And you can kind of, kind of already see this in like skills and NCP servers, right? Mm-hmm. We've, we've already seen sort of this like slow shift from MCP service to skills.And like, maybe a good example is Barry who made skills. He was initially hacking on something that honestly looked a lot, looked, looked a lot like what Cowork does today. It was sort of thinking about what if cowork, but for like people who don't wanna build code. Mm-hmm. And, um, he too did that as a prototype inside the desktop app.One of the first use cases we thought of were, okay, what, what are like coding like use cases that could really benefit from graphical interfaces and like from being a little separated from the actual underlying code. And everyone comes with the same answers. Data analysis,Alessio: right?Felix: Yeah. Or saying how many users do we have today?How many, like, it's always data analysis. And I think the thing that ultimately led to skills is that we wanted to connect this little prototype to our data warehouse and. The team very quickly discovered that like instead of building a custom tool for the thing to talk our data warehouse, they just like meet and embarked on follow like mm-hmm.Dear Claude, if you want to get data, here's the end point. Here's what the API looks like. You'll figure it out.swyx: Ah.Felix: And then it be hand over control. Yeah, yeah. Also just like maybe go one step up in the layer of abstractions, right. Just, yeah. Instead of, instead of telling the thing, here's ACL I, please call the CLI, or here's an MCP.Please call this ECT shape. Just like this is the end point. If you wanna know something, if you post here, maybe you can do post sql. It's gonna be okay. And that ended up being so effective that they started trying the same pattern of like just giving the model a markdown file that describes whatever it needs to do.That the whole thing eventually became skills and we're like. We should package this up. This is a good idea.swyx: Yeah. Um, we've had Barry Mahesh, uh, on, on our conference and uh, he's uh, definitely got a good idea there.Felix: Yeah.swyx: I wanted to show you the, how I've been using Claude Cowork.Felix: Uh, this is was my favorite part.swyx: This is this. So this is like me, uh, this is how we run the Discord. Uh, we literally, uh, at first I didn't trust Cloud Core. This was my very first usage.Felix: Okay.swyx: Right. So then I was like, okay, I will just try to manually download from Zoom all my recordings and upload it to YouTube. Yeah. Because this is a very laborious process.I got a click, click, click YouTube, um, isn't super user friendly. Uh, and it just did it. And then I was like, actually, you know, even the download from Zoom part, I should also. Put into Claude Cowork, and then I did it right. Here's a bunch of, and it starts compacting here, and it, and it, it starts to even be able to do things like look through the individual frames of the video to name the video so I can upload it auto automatically.Oh, that is, and this replaces my job as a YouTuber. We will forever appreciate your creative Yes. You know, and so that's great. Uh, but then by the way, it compacts and makes, makes like a new thing, right? So I, I don't, I don't have the initial, initial thing, but then I asked it to make its own skills so that it, so that something that's repetitive and one-off and human guided becomes more automated and I can use the skills independently and reuse them.Uh, and it obviously you can write skills and that goes into context and skills at the bottom here, which is, which is so nice. Um, so I have all these skills that, that I now sort of do on a weekly basis. Uh, I know you've released scheduled Coworks, which I haven't done yet, butFelix: course I should try them. I, I think this is like so wonderful and fun for me to see because.One thing that is very fun for me about skills in particular is that they're so easy to make. Like anyone can make a skill, like a text message, could be a skill, and they can be so hyper personalized to you. And this is like sort of the subtraction layer, right? Like, um, I, I'm just guessing, but I assume, heck, you are very good at your job.You're probably given this thing some guidance about how to do it, right? I,swyx: I just said, wrap everything up into, into a skill, right?Felix: Yeah.swyx: And then, uh, and then I was like, actually, sometimes I might need to break, uh, things apart because some parts fail or some parts might be needed in individually. So I told it to split one skill into three skills.So it's like a skill splitting thing, and then there's like a parent skill that just orchestrates all of them if I want to use that. You know, like, um, I think that's, that's like really good. Uh, and, and, uh, there's, there's one more part, which is the, uh, Google Chrome thing that I told you about.Felix: Yeah.swyx: Where I'm like, okay, you know, what's better than uploading, using Claude Coworks to YouTube?Like actually. Looking at the docs to like programmatically upload to YouTube and then putting that in a skill. And I've never done that before. I don't want to deal with Google Cloud. Yeah. So Claude Cowork does it for me.Felix: That is really cool.swyx: So, so I, I just, I don't care. I just, like, I do a thing. I don't, it doesn't really matter.Felix: That is really cool. And then you've, I assume paired the skill just with the script that it's built.swyx: Yeah, no, I just update, update the skills.Felix: Oh, that is beautiful. Yeah. That's wonderful.swyx: It's kind of like a skill, like, uh, uh, basically I think like the way that people ease into Claude Cowork is like take a knowledge work task that you would normally be clicking around for and then, uh, try to turn, turn that, and then you do the, okay, well what if you went further?Okay. And then when, if you went further, when, if you, and it sort of expand the scope of cowork as you gain trust with it and, and also teach it how to replace you.Felix: Yeah. It's like a little bit like playing factorial, but for your own life. Uh, like you say, you start really small.swyx: Yeah.Felix: You start automating something really tiny and like.Once it clicks, you keep adding onto this like automation empire. Just like make your life easier and easier. My favorite skill has been, um, every single morning Kohlberg starts looking at my calendar and make sure that there's conflicts because people tend to schedule a lot of meetings, sometimes last minute, sometimes miss it soft and painful.And a lot of products have existed like that A lot. I've written in the custom prompt there. I haven't made it a skill, um, honestly should.swyx: Yeah.Felix: But I've given it like pretty clear instructions about okay, here are some people, if they book over other meetings, I'm probably gonna go to their meeting. Like if Dario schedules a meeting.swyx: Right.Felix: Not try to reschedule down. Right. Um, and I think there's some other rules in there about like what kind of meetings I care more about what kind of meetings I care less about. What is okay to like, maybe pun like when I want to be, when I want to be working, when I don't want to be working. And it's those really small things that I can think kind of click with people.Right. When we launch co-work, I think one of the US races that went most viral on Twitter. X was clean up your desktop, which is stuff, because silly, that's such a smart thing, right? Like you don't need to model to clean up your desktop. Not really. Um,swyx: like this, like clean up my desktop.Felix: Yeah, exactly. Yeah.swyx: I need to, I need to choose my desktop, right? I guess give it access to my desktop.Felix: Yeah.swyx: Okay. Uh, okay. This is very scary. Oh, we'll do it.Alessio: I did, I did it with my downloads folder. It was like, you have so many term sheets and there's like eight copies of your rental lease for your office. I was like, all right.Like, don't yell at me.Felix: It's like, it's not such a small task. And then like, I, I would never go out there and normally otherwise and tell people I've pulled a product. It can organize your folder. Right. Um, because it feels small. But I think to your point like,swyx: oh, here's, here's the, here's the ask user questions.Felix: Yeah.swyx: Uh,Felix: beautiful. Right. Elite obvious junk. You probably shouldn't click that.Alessio: No.Felix: If he's not done right.swyx: As long as it's reversible, I don'tAlessio: make up blend to,swyx: yeah. Uh, yeah. No, I, I have a, I have a typical, everything is super messy folder. So, yes. I think this, this is super helpful. So this is a pretty simple task.Mm-hmm. But I've, okay, here it is. Right. Here's the progress. I don't see this in, that's why I'm like, this gotta be something different than, uh, than Claude Code, because I'm like, weFelix: do. Yeah. That's, we do system prompt that. We're like, all right. We want you to think about like, this task Yeah. Methodology.Yeah.swyx: And then I can, I can, I can do like little suggestions for, for, for these things. It's beautiful. Look at this. I, I can, I can like say like, oh, don't do that. Don't do this. It's amazing.Felix: I'm so happy. You like it. Um, I mean, the other way around, like we're part of the Clark core team, if you would like this in Clark COVID.swyx: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so, so yeah, I mean, uh, this is really good. Obviously I, I'm like kind of raving about it. Uh, you know, I have other things like sign up for pg e so if you can do phone calls for me, that'd be great. Um, I, I do, peopleFelix: have done that. Obviously you can't do that natively, but people have done that with like, various other providers.swyx: Yeah. Uh, and then this is like signing up for the Figma MCP. Um, I, I really am trying to do like everything, um, data analysis as well. I do think, um, oh, design to code, uh, very, very good. Right? So like, here's a Figma file, take it. And then this is where like a lot of other tasks is like knowledge work, like replace my manual clicking, but this is no, I would normally use Claude Code or uh, Claude Code for this, but because I perceive that you have better Chrome integrationFelix: mm-hmm.swyx: I, I think you can actually do a better job of this. And I, this, this is one shot at my, uh, conference website.Felix: That's pretty cool. Like at some point I would love to like, hear how you feel about code. In the desktop apps, which is like I never use, which is the, the same team. Same team.swyx: So I use the call code in terminal, which I, I perceive to be the default way of cloud coding.Felix: So one thing this has,swyx: sorry, I'm just like, I'm notFelix: here, I'm not here. All products. Can I talk about other stuff? Like I, I'm not sure if people out there wanna like hear me advertise my stuff for like an hour. Please do that. Um, this thing is like a builtin browser, which is a thing a lot of products have said.Yeah, it's a builtin browser. And I think giving cloud eyes into like what you're actually working on makes it so much more effective. And that's probably what you've seen in cohort because it can see Chrome, it can like debug the dom, it can like see things. Um, that does make it more powerful.swyx: Yeah. So, so I think, uh, my mental model was kind broken.‘cause I only use this cowork because I thought it had a, a browser thing in it. But I understand that the Claude Code app. The app version of Claude Code does have a built-in browser. I've seen, I've seen this preview thing.Felix: Yeah.swyx: I just, I've never used it.Felix: But in the end, in the end, you sort of have it by hard.Yeah. You basically get the same thing. Right? Like the, the, the additional skill that you're describing is chart is better if we can see what it's working on. Right. That's, that's sort of like the summary here and like whether it's using your Chromeswyx: Yeah.Felix: Or it's just like making up its own little like browser.It doesn't really make a big difference because either way it's gonna see what it's working on and that just makes it much better. And then you don't have to run QA for your cloud.swyx: Why doesn't it pick up my existing Claude Code sessions? ‘cause I, I mean, obviously I've used Claude Code, but Excellent question.Um, don't have a good answer other than like, we're honest. Just haven't Yeah. This is what the Open AI team does. Okay. Uh, cool. I I I don't have other, like, I, I just, I, I do wanna expand people's minds and also maybe show people if they haven't really done it, but like, I, I think it's very interesting how I sometimes use this more than I use, I mean, I use dia, right?Yeah. Um, I, and I use, uh, I've used like all the other agentic browsers and philanthropic didn't have to build an agentic browser because you just had Claude Cowork and that's enough.Felix: Yeah. I also think like maybe integrating with number of excellent browsers out there, it's like currently on my personal priority list, a little higher than like trying to rebuild a browser from scratch.Yeah. You know, never say never, but I think going back to this idea of like, we wanna plug this into an entire existing workflow, I think our goal is actually to not replace any of the applications we have in your computer. But instead of like, work really well within a new workflow,Alessio: make the new one. Yeah.Are, it seems that nowadays, especially on the browser, most of the innovation is like user ergonomics. It's not really like the underlying browser engine. So I feel like to call it, it doesn't really matter if it's like the, uh, or Chrome or Alice, whatever.Felix: Yeah. We wanna, we wanna meet you wherever you are.Which is like, like obviously I would say that, but it's also just generally true because I don't wanna shrink my potential user base artificially by saying, okay, like, I'm gonna start building for the people who are willing to switch browsers.Alessio: Right.Felix: That's such a, like, you know, like many lawsuits have been filed over who gets to review the browser and like a lot of money has switched hands over the question of like, which browser is default and which search engine is default within the browser.Um, I just wanna build for, yeah, I wanna build for swyx essentially. Like, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna build for people who have a number of annoying tasks that they feel like. Maybe clock could do it. Could do it for them.Alessio: Yeah. What do you think about skills portability? I think there's been one thing, I use another thing called zo, which is kinda like a cloud computer plus agent.And I have a skill to add visitors to the office. Yeah. So whenever somebody has to come in after hours, they need to check in downstairs. Um, but I wanna like text the thing, so it doesn't really work in, in cowork, but now that skill is in the zone harness and it's not in my cowork thing. And then if I make a change, it's gotta, I gotta sync them.How do you see that going? Like I see memory as like. Cloud personal, kinda like, I don't necessarily want my memories to be cross thing.Felix: Yeah.Alessio: But I do want my skills to be cross agent that I use. I think with MTPs, people do the same thing. It's like, oh, Mt. P Gateway. Mt P registry. I don't really know if that's like a business.So I'm curious like if you've had any thoughts in the area.Felix: I think for me, this is sort of where I go back to the really basic primitives for our skills are file-based instead of like this complicated thing that exists inside a place somewhere that is like super proprietary. I'm really leaning into the idea of like, it's all just files and vultures, and that makes it very portable on its own.Right. We do have skills as part of this container format, which was just called plugins.Alessio: Mm-hmm.Felix: And plugins are available both for Claude Code and Claude Code work the same format, and you can install plugins. This works in cowork today. You can basically say, I'm gonna add a whole, like just a GitHub repo as a.Skills marketplace or like a plugin marketplace. And that's how we're doing portability. I think we have a lot of room left to grow in. How do we make it easy for people to know that they can write skills? How do we make it easy for them to just like, share a skill with you? Because obviously all the words I just said, right?Like I'm losing most of the knowledge worker base out there, right. And start by saying, oh, you can connect to GitHub repo. It's not exactly how most people will end up working in like a general knowledge worker space. Um, but I think there's something there. And another thing that's there that I think has not really been properly explored is the, the, the combination of which part of the skill is very portable and then which part of the skill is like very personal to you.Right. And I think that's something we haven't really solved as an industry. Hmm.swyx: It's like, which, how you wanna introduce more structure to the skill or have always have like. Public skill, private skill, you know, pair. Yeah, yeah. Kind of. I think there'sFelix: like a, like the easiest way to do this, which is we do like use string interpolation or something.Right, right. Yeah, yeah. Insert username here, insert like phone number, insert, like known folder, locations, that kind of stuff. Um, that's probably clunky. That's why we haven't built it. Um, but I do think someone is going to come up with like an interesting way to keep everything we like about skills. The portability is just a file, it's just marked down.It's just text, honestly. Right. Like a text file words. The complete lack of structure, which means you don't need any kind of tutorial to write a skill. Just like explain it to Claude the way he would explain it to me and Claude will probably get it before I work. Mm-hmm. Right? You're just like, for booking a flight, tell Claude how to book a flight the same way we tell him somewhere.I just started working here today. But combine that with a very like, personal thing. Um, maybe we'll stick with a booking a flight example. I don't actually think. AI should be booking flights. I think the tools we have is yes.swyx: Yeah. Finally, somebody says it. It's the default demo that everyone's making.Felix: I'mswyx: like, I even against like booking demos, it is not a good showcase.Felix: Yeah. I'm like, I just wanna book my flight myself. But, um, I think there's a lot of things that have a personal and a non-personal component and that's maybe why people reach for flight booking because some things are very universal. Yeah. Super flight is usually better, right? Like few people try to book the most expensive flight.And then some things are quite personal about like what times you prefer, which seat you prefer, which airports you prefer. Combining that and like a skill format that is actually portable, compatible, easy to understand for people. I think that would be very exciting. We just haven't figured it out yet.Alessio: Yeah, I think the text part every, I think everybody by now has some sort of like cloud file thing. Either Dropbox, Google Drive, whatever. So it feels like in a way it should basically like sim link. My skills into all my agent harnesses. Yeah. Just keep those ing like we have internally this like valuable tokens repo, which is like all the commands sub agents.It's good. Uh, and then I build like a TUI where you can start it and be like, you know, install this command and this three sub agents into this agent in this folder and just copy paste this. It doesn't do anything. It literally cp the file into that. But I feel like there should be something similar where like whenever I go into a new thing, it's like, hey, here's like the link to exactly the cloud folder and just bring down these skills into this.Yeah. Like today it doesn't quite work like that. Like if I install a new agent, I cannot, I have to like copy paste all the skills and I don't even know where they are.Felix: Yeah.Alessio: That's like the big problem. It's like where do I find them?Felix: Yeah.Alessio: Um, so I'm curious like in the future like that, that almost feels like my personal productivity thing will be my skills.Felix: Yeah.Alessio: Is not really the product that I use. Everybody has access to the same product. But today there's, that just looks like copy pasting ME files, IFelix: think so many things I, I really like thinking about agents and LLMs just as like another coworker. So many attempts have made to build documentation companies that are like, oh, we're gonna solve oil documentation problems.Um, I myself, like spend a little bit of time working in notion, right? I'm like deeply familiar with the concept of let's get everyone on the same page. Mm-hmm. Right? And what you're basically saying here is you want all your agents to be on the same page about your preferences, about the skills, about the way they ought to work and like how they ought to execute.And I'm not sure what the right thing is going to be if it's going to be some, some company that can say, all right, we're as an independent body, we're not trying to like, push into any particular product. It's our job to be like the skill authority, and we provide, I don't know, we're gonna be the Dropbox of skills and we can just sim link us into all the products we want to use.I'm not sure that's gonna be viable business, but as, as an idea, it would be cool.Alessio: Yeah. Yeah. I think so many things are just going away as businesses. It's like, how am I supposed to do it? I'm not even asking somebody to make a product about it. Like yeah. I wanna personally know. And there's things like you said, it's like you almost wanna skill and then interpolate it between personal and work.So if I'm booking a fly for work, it's different than I'm booking a flight personally.Felix: Yeah.Alessio: In some ways, yeah. But like a lot of the scaffolding is the same, you know? Cool.Felix: I mean, as an engineer I will tell you like, you know, technic a person to technic a person. I will just be like siblings.Alessio: Well that's what, that's what I do.We call that MD and agents that MD's just the same how sim length. And so it is like, that works, but it feels like, yeah, I don't know. MaybeFelix: you can always go one, you can always tell cowork problem and then cowork will solve it for you. Just make the siblings. That's like one way to do it.Alessio: That's true.That's true. All right. Everything is called cowork.Felix: Uh, potentially spicy. Question for both of you.swyx: Uh, which of these industries will go away?Alessio: Okay, so what Felix was saying before is interesting. There's busy like. The short term pressure of like, we need to turn these tokens into valuable things, which is I should build the last mile product that harness the model.And then there's the question of like, long term, which ones are gonna still be valuable? And I think you're kind of seeing this today with like, uh, you know, the coding space in a way is kind of like everybody's moving up and up in stack because you need more than just turning tokens into code. I think search, like enterprise search is kind of saying the same thing.Like with G Clean and like all these different companies is like, at the end of the day, if Cowork is the one doing all the work, the search itself is like such a small part that like, I don't know if I'm really gonna pay that much money just to do search. It's almost like everything is like a cowork vertical.So like how much can cowork first party support?swyx: Mm-hmm.Alessio: And how much can it not? I think for a lot of these things, the planning thing that you were showing do Which one? The planning. The planning.swyx: Okay. Yeah. Yeah.Alessio: That's one thing where like most of the value that these agents provide is like they're better at planning for specific tasks.Yeah. And have better tools for it.swyx: Yeah.Alessio: But I think the models are now moving in that direction and they have the right harnesses and they're on your computer. So for me it's almost like if for the end customer trusts your startup to be the provider of that task result, then I think that works. This is, uh, something that, this is a shortswyx: spike that we're, we're working on.Uh, yeah.Felix: I think, look, I'll, I'll, I'll tell you this, like I don't think I'm the best person to like actually estimate which industry is going to be hit the hardest. But I do think that at philanthropic as a group of people, we're deeply worried about the impact. That the tools are going to have on the labor market, especially for like junior employees that, because I think, I think it's only honest to say that when we talk about automating a lot away, a lot of the work that we personally find annoying that we maybe think's not the best use of our time.In a lot of industries, that kind of work would've been given to a junior entry level employee. Yeah. Right. And I think it's, it's only, it's only right to be really worried about that and like worry what that's going to do in particular to people like enter the shop market.Alessio: Mm-hmm. I have a solution for that.Which you make them, you create simulative jobs for them.Felix: Okay.Alessio: So this is, this is like half joke, half true. So if you think about software engineering, when you're like a junior engineer, you work like 1, 2, 3 years. And in those three years there's like maybe like a handful of moments where like you really learn something.And then a bunch of other days where like you're not really progressing.Felix: Yeah.Alessio: I think now we can use AI and these models to actually like shortcut these careers and almost like simulate the early years of your work and like just make them like super dense and like these learnings, it's like, hey, we're working on this feature, which is like a distributed system and you need to learn this thing that might take three months at a company.And so you take three months here, it's like we're just simulating the whole thing. It's actually not a real thing. And in one week we kind of speed run through the whole thing and you kind of learn your lesson from there. And we kind of repeat that in like one year. You basically get like three years worth of like projects and experience.Yeah. I think it's harder for like things like sales or for things like, you know, marketing because you don't really have a way to get the feedback loop. But I think a lot of it, it sounds kind of silly, it's like you're making the new effect job, but it's almost like you go to college, right? People pay to learn how to do it, and this might feel similar where it's like, hey, we have the.Jane Street Simulator is like, you wanna come work at Jane Street? We'll just put you in the simulator for like three months.Felix: Wow.Alessio: And you'll come out of it. It's like, you know, I'm ready.Felix: So there, there is an aspect here. I'm not an expert enough to like actually know what, what is going to happen to marketing or legal or finance, right?Like, I don't work in those jobs and I, I don't think I should talk about them, but I am an engineer and I think I have a pretty good idea of what engineering is like. And I think one thing we're sort of seeing is that as a company and also as, as the public, we're like deeply worried about entry level, but we're also seeing more senior engineers accelerate it.If like they're more productive. They, they actually increase the value they provide. And the thing that I'm thinking about a lot is the fact that even before all of this happened, um, I've always had a lot of respect for the University of Waterloo and the, the new grads that have joined my teams as from coming from the University of Waterloo always felt like.More ready than new grads will like literally spend their entire time at the university regardless of how good, but never actually had to work inside an environment where you have to ship things that eventually will be used by users. And I'm, I'm, I'm German. I like initially went to German University and I think the, the, the like information systems programs, there tend to be very theoretical, right?Like I often give people the example of like trying

In this episode of Your Investment Partners, hosts Garrett Smith and Paul Norman examine the Social Security Fairness Act and what it means for retirees and government employees. They break down the repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO), explaining how the changes may impact individuals who worked in both government and private-sector roles. The conversation also addresses how retroactive legislation can affect financial plans and what investors can do to prepare for future policy changes. Garrett and Paul outline strategies such as building excess capacity in retirement plans, maintaining liquidity, and preparing for tax implications when unexpected payments occur. Key Points From This Episode ● Introduction to the Social Security Fairness Act and its potential impact● Explanation of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO)● Which workers are most affected, including teachers, firefighters, police officers, and certain federal employees● How the legislation repeals WEP and GPO and adjusts Social Security benefits● The concept of retroactive law changes and how they can affect past income or benefits● Historical examples of retroactive policy changes, including tax law adjustments● Building excess capacity in retirement planning to account for unexpected policy shifts● Importance of liquidity in investment portfolios when financial rules change● Balancing illiquid investments with accessible assets to maintain flexibility● Tax considerations when receiving unexpected payments or lump sums● Lessons from the PPP loan program about evolving government guidance● Setting aside funds to cover uncertain tax liabilities or future changes● Why government employees should verify whether they qualify for benefits under the new law Want to learn more? Contact us hereUseful Links Garrett on LinkedIn Paul on LinkedIn Ascend Investment Partners

Parce que… c'est l'épisode 0x721! Shameless plug 31 mars au 2 avril 2026 - Forum INCYBER - Europe 2026 14 au 17 avril 2026 - Botconf 2026 20 au 22 avril 2026 - ITSec Code rabais de 15%: Seqcure15 28 et 29 avril 2026 - Cybereco Cyberconférence 2026 9 au 17 mai 2026 - NorthSec 2026 3 au 5 juin 2026 - SSTIC 2026 19 septembre 2026 - Bsides Montréal 1 au 3 décembre 2026 - Forum INCYBER - Canada 2026 24 et 25 février 2027 - SéQCure 2027 Description Introduction : qu'est-ce que le shadow IT ? Dans cet épisode du podcast, Cyndie Feltz, Nicolas Milot et Dominique Derrier abordent un sujet omniprésent dans les entreprises, mais souvent méconnu : le shadow IT. Le terme désigne l'utilisation d'outils, de logiciels ou de périphériques non approuvés par le département des technologies de l'information (TI), dans un contexte professionnel. Il ne s'agit pas uniquement d'apporter son propre appareil au bureau (bring your own device), mais aussi d'installer des applications sur un poste de travail fourni par l'entreprise sans avoir obtenu l'aval de l'équipe TI. L'exemple classique ? L'employé qui télécharge un convertisseur PDF gratuit trouvé sur Internet parce qu'il avait un problème avec son lecteur PDF habituel. Ce geste, anodin en apparence, illustre bien la nature du phénomène : il n'y a aucune mauvaise intention derrière, seulement un besoin pratique à combler rapidement. Une question de besoin, pas de malveillance L'un des points centraux de la discussion est que le shadow IT naît rarement d'une volonté de nuire. Les employés adoptent des outils non autorisés parce qu'ils veulent simplement faire leur travail efficacement. Ils connaissent un logiciel, ils ont l'habitude de l'utiliser, ou encore ils se retrouvent dans une situation d'urgence — il est 17 h 50, la présentation doit être envoyée dans dix minutes, et l'équipe TI est injoignable. La solution de facilité s'impose alors naturellement, sans que la personne mesure les risques auxquels elle expose son organisation. Comme le soulignent les intervenants, l'être humain a horreur du vide. Lorsqu'un outil manque, il trouve une alternative, qu'on lui ait dit ou non de ne pas le faire. Une politique de refus systématique, sans solution de remplacement proposée, ne résout rien : les employés contournent l'interdiction de toute façon. Les risques concrets pour l'entreprise Le vrai problème avec le shadow IT, c'est qu'il échappe à toutes les mesures de sécurité mises en place par l'entreprise. Ces mesures existent précisément pour réduire les risques ; or, un logiciel installé en dehors des processus officiels ne bénéficie d'aucune de ces protections. Les intervenants soulèvent plusieurs types de risques : Les vulnérabilités logicielles non corrigées. Quand un logiciel est installé par un employé sans passer par les canaux officiels (Intune, GPO, etc.), l'équipe TI n'est souvent même pas au courant de son existence. Elle ne peut donc pas en assurer la maintenance ni les mises à jour. Le cas de VLC est cité en exemple : un employé l'installe pour lire des vidéos, l'oublie pendant trois ans, et entre-temps le logiciel accumule des failles de sécurité (zero-days) jamais corrigées. Pour un testeur d'intrusion comme Nicolas, c'est une aubaine ; pour l'entreprise, c'est une porte ouverte aux attaquants. Les problèmes de licences. Certains logiciels sont soumis à des licences commerciales. Si un employé installe un tel outil sans que l'entreprise l'ait acheté, elle s'expose à des redressements financiers parfois très coûteux, pour un logiciel utilisé une seule fois et oublié. Le shadow AI. Le phénomène s'étend désormais à l'intelligence artificielle. Les intervenants posent la question directement : si une entreprise n'a pas encore officiellement adopté un outil d'IA ni établi de directives à ce sujet, croit-elle vraiment que ses employés n'utilisent pas l'IA ? La réponse est non. Pire encore : même sans utiliser directement un outil d'IA, les employés se servent souvent de logiciels qui intègrent de l'IA en arrière-plan. La question n'est donc plus de savoir si l'IA est utilisée dans l'entreprise, mais comment l'encadrer. Comment s'en prémunir ? Les intervenants s'accordent sur plusieurs pistes concrètes pour limiter le phénomène. Anticiper les besoins. La meilleure façon d'éviter que les employés cherchent leurs propres solutions, c'est de leur fournir les bons outils avant qu'ils en ressentent le besoin. Le département TI doit adopter une posture proactive et proposer des alternatives officielles aux logiciels populaires. Limiter les droits d'administration. S'assurer que les employés ne sont pas administrateurs locaux sur leur poste de travail est une première étape importante. Cela ne résout pas tout, mais complique considérablement l'installation sauvage de logiciels. Favoriser la communication. Il est crucial de créer un environnement où les employés se sentent à l'aise de signaler leurs besoins en matière d'outils, sans craindre un refus automatique ou une réaction négative. Quand un employé demande à son équipe TI s'il peut utiliser tel logiciel, c'est déjà un pas dans la bonne direction : il faut encourager et cultiver ce réflexe. Inclure les TI dans l'adoption de nouveaux outils. Chaque fois qu'un département envisage d'adopter un nouveau logiciel — qu'il soit destiné à la facturation, à l'ingénierie ou à la gestion de projets — l'équipe TI doit être impliquée dès le départ, pas après coup. Faire un inventaire des applications installées. Pour les entreprises qui font appel à un fournisseur de services managés (MSP), il est recommandé de lui demander un inventaire complet des applications présentes sur les postes de travail. Cet exercice réserve souvent de mauvaises surprises, mais il constitue un point de départ indispensable pour reprendre le contrôle. Conclusion : un problème humain avant tout Le shadow IT est un problème complexe, et il l'est d'autant plus que l'entreprise grandit. En PME, la pression de la rapidité et l'absence de processus formels amplifient le phénomène. Mais au fond, c'est avant tout un enjeu humain et communicationnel. Sensibiliser les employés aux risques, leur offrir des alternatives adaptées à leurs besoins et instaurer une culture de dialogue ouverte entre les équipes métier et l'équipe TI : voilà les piliers d'une approche réaliste et efficace face au shadow IT — et à tous ses avatars, du shadow hardware au shadow AI. Collaborateurs Nicolas-Loïc Fortin Dominique Derrier Cyndie Feltz Nicholas Milot Jordan Theodore Crédits Montage par Intrasecure inc Locaux virtuels par Riverside.fm

Mañanera Del Pueblo | 27 de febrero de 2026

According to research on organizational alignment led by LSA Global highly aligned companies grow revenue 58% faster and are 72% more profitable than misaligned companies. So how can you cultivate an aligned culture ready to drive improved outcomes? Riley Rogers: Hi, and welcome to the Win/Win Podcast. I’m your host, Riley Rogers. Join us as we dive into changing trends in the workplace and how to navigate them successfully. Here to discuss this topic is Julia Juliano, manager of sales enablement at Cencora. Thank you so much for joining us, Julia! I’d love it if you could kick us off by telling us a little bit about yourself, your background, and your role. Julia Juliano: Yeah, of course. Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here today. My name is Julia Juliano. I live in the Philadelphia area with my husband, daughter, and two dogs. I’m actually coming up on my seventh year with Cencora. I'm now a sales enablement manager, and I started with the company in generic sales within the New York Metro Territory, where I was a top performing rep. That experience really ignited my passion for empowering sales teams to succeed, which ultimately led me to transition into sales enablement. I entered the enablement world as a specialist about four years ago, and worked my way into my current role as a manager. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of supporting both community retail pharmacies and more recently our specialty distribution business. These experiences have given me a comprehensive understanding of the challenges our teams face and the tools and strategies they need to excel in such a competitive and highly regulated environment. RR: Well, we’re super excited to have you here and to dig into a couple of those things you’ve mentioned—transitioning into that sales enablement role from your desire to help sales teams win, navigating competition. So excited to dig into all of that. I want to start with one of the first things you mentioned, which is that you’ve run the gamut from sales to sales enablement. So, can you take us back to your time as a pharmaceutical sales rep at Cencora? What challenges did you experience that shaped how you enable today? JJ: Yeah, you know, it’s a really unique experience to be able to go from sales to sales enablement. As a pharmaceutical sales rep, I experienced firsthand the challenges of accessing the right resources at the right time. Whether that was finding compliant marketing materials, navigating product specific information, or understanding how to position solutions for different customer needs, there was often a disconnect between the tools available and the realities of working in the field and the conversations that I was having with those customers. That experience really allows me to approach enablement from the rep perspective, knowing that every minute they spend searching for content or trying to interpret complex messaging is a minute that they’re not spending with their customers. My goal is to streamline their workflows, ensure they have what they need at their fingertips, and create alignment between the tools we provide and the outcomes that they’re driving in the field. RR: I think that’s such an important call out: Every minute that you’re distracted with non-essential tasks takes you away from the work that really matters both to you and to our business. I think bringing that kind of lived experience and empathy that comes with it to the table is so huge and helps you kind of build the programs and support arms that you’re like: “I wish I’d had that.” And I know it probably can’t be easy to build those programs because Cencora unites six distinct business units under a single brand. So, from an enablement perspective, what kind of complexity does that create for you? JJ: Yeah, so the complexity really lies in balancing the enterprise wide alignment with the unique needs of each of those six business units. So, the six business units are specialty, GPO, community, retail health systems, animal health, and corporate partnerships. They each serve distinct segments of the healthcare ecosystem; their customers, products, and sales strategies vary significantly, which means that their enablement needs are equally diverse. At the same time as one unified brand, we have to maintain consistency and messaging, compliance and governance across the organization. So from an enablement perspective, this requires a strategic and thoughtful approach to content structure, governance, and collaboration to ensure that we’re effectively addressing both the enterprise and each individual business unit’s priorities. RR: When you’re looking across these priorities and trying to stitch everything together into a clear strategy and message, it's obvious that alignment doesn’t happen by accident. It's a very intentional, thoughtful thing that you have to cultivate. So how do you use Highspot to break down those silos that could potentially appear, and then make sure that everybody’s running to the same drum beat at the same pace? JJ: We’ve accomplished this by building a centralized Spot architecture that balances enterprise-level consistency with business unit-specific relevance. So at the enterprise level, we house shared resources like compliance guides, org charts, corporate initiatives—things like that. At the business unit level, we provide more tailored content and tools designed to meet those unique needs of each team for their specific solutions. Highspot Analytics further enables us to identify content gaps and redundancies, which allows us to continuously refine and optimize our approach By centralizing any efforts on Highspot, we’ve established a single source of truth that fosters alignment while maintaining the flexibility needed to meet those diverse needs across our customer segments. RR: There’s so much in what you said that I really want to dig into in just a second. You know, about how you structured those Spots, how you determine what gets a Spot, what doesn’t, alongside the kind of specific, tailored tools that you’re building for solutions. But I want to start with the foundation, the baseline for all of this, which is that as part of your work, you led the creation of a formal structured governance plan. Why did you see governance as foundational for driving alignment and helping Cencora drive a shared strategy? JJ: Governance is truly the backbone of any successful enablement strategy, especially in a complex organization like Cencora. Without it, you risk content duplication, outdated materials, and a lack of visibility into what’s working and what isn’t. When I joined the team, we had a ton of great content, but it wasn’t always easy for reps to find or trust that they were using the most current and up-to-date version. By implementing a formal governance plan, we established a clear process for content creation, approval, and maintenance. And this not only improved findability and adoption, but also ensured that everything we provide to our teams is compliant, up to date, and aligned with our strategic goals, RR: So, you knew what it could achieve for you, and you’re starting to see those outcomes. Specifically you’re seeing that in the data. You know, as a result of this governance strategy, you’ve seen meaningful improvements in content views, downloads, findability, and even platform adoption. So, what actions or parts of this strategy do you think made the biggest difference in achieving the results that you’ve named? JJ: We implemented a consistent taxonomy or naming convention across all the different business units, which made it easier for reps to navigate and find what they need. We also introduced regular content audits on a quarterly basis to ensure that everything in Highspot is relevant and up to date. Another key action was also leveraging Highspot analytics to identify gaps in content or areas where reps were struggling to find resources. And by addressing those gaps and continuously refining our approach, we saw significant improvements in engagement metrics, like you mentioned, the content views, downloads, and overall adoption of the tool. RR: How did you identify those gaps in content that reps couldn’t find? JJ: So, we created sales surveys and worked with our marketing partners and our solution owners to identify which solutions were being most searched for by reps, what materials they needed to aid in the customer conversations that they were having. Then, you know, in the surveys we addressed: “What would you like to learn more about? What type of content are you unable to find that would be helpful in your day-to-day role?” And so we took those surveys, partnered with marketing and those solution owners, like I mentioned, and were able to create those resources to better drive, you know, adoption and findability within the platform. RR: Okay, amazing. I think that’s such an important approach where you’re building from the perspective of your users. It’s not just: “Here’s what we think works.” It’s: “Okay, what does this actually look like in your day to day and how can we make it better?” And actually that kind of leads me to that Spot architecture that you touched on, which includes enterprise-level and then business-unit specific spots. So, how did you create this structure and then how does it help you create consistency like we talked about, but also keep things relevant to reps' day to day? JJ: Yeah, so we started by clearly defining what belongs at the enterprise level versus the business unit level. Enterprise level Spots include resources that apply across the entire organization—this is our compliance guidelines, corporate initiatives, any distribution information, org charts, and training materials. The business unit specific Spots are tailored to the needs of each team—this is your product specific collateral solution, information, sales playbooks, and any sales execution materials that we have for the teams to ensure consistency. We developed a standardized template for all Spots so that reps know where to find what they need, no matter which business unit they’re in. The structure ensures that the reps have access to both the big picture, along with the details that matter most to their customers. Additionally, each business unit only has access to the enterprise level Spots, plus the materials that are relevant to their team. For example, a rep in health systems won’t be able to see community retail content if it isn’t applicable to their role. So the targeted access keeps search results cleaner and more accurate, reducing noise and helping reps to get to the right asset faster. It also supports a smart marketing model. We may have one enterprise solution, but the go to market strategy, messaging, and customer facing materials can vary by customer profile and their buying environment. So structuring the access this way allows marketing and enablement to maintain the consistent approach for enterprise positioning while still delivering the right version of the story and tailored assets for each individual audience. RR: It feels like there was so much intention and thought put into this. You’ve kind of checked the box for everybody in the org. You know, sales is getting specifically what they need. They don’t have to filter through the noise and the chaos of five other business units. Marketing ensures that their strategy is being executed to its fullest and that the materials they’re producing and investing in are seeing the usage they’d like. Then you as an enablement team have a much easier time governing and maintaining your strict policies because you don’t have that same sprawl, so I love to hear that; it’s a fantastic structure. Not to get too in the weeds, but I’ve heard that as part of this Spot structure, you’re also empowering reps to land the value of Cencora's different product lines by creating Richardson Methodology-inspired Plays for each solution. What do those Plays look like in practice and how are they supporting reps? JJ: Our Richardson-inspired Plays are thoughtfully designed to guide reps through the entire sales process, all the way from discovery to close in a way that’s tailored to each specific solution. Each Play for every individual solution that we offer is structured into three sections:Learn, prepare, and engage. The “Learn” section provides internal facing materials to educate the reps on the solution, ensuring that they have a deep understanding of its value and its applications. The “Prepare” section offers guidance on how to plan and strategize for customer conversations, so this includes tools like questioning frameworks and call planners. And then finally, the “Engage” section houses our customer facing materials. So these are typically created by marketing, and they support reps in effectively communicating the solutions value to customers to support them in those conversations. And these Plays really act as a clear and actionable roadmap, equipping reps with the knowledge, preparation, and resources they need to have more meaningful, productive, and impactful conversations with our customers. RR: So we’ve dug into the details. We talked about thoughtful governance, strategic Spot architecture, and solution-specific plays. When we look at all of this more broadly, how has this approach improved or changed how reps take Cencora solutions to market? JJ: This approach has really transformed how our reps take solutions to market by making it easier for them to find trust and use the resources that they need. With the governance in place, reps know that they’re always accessing the most current and compliant materials, and then the Spot architecture ensures they can quickly find content that’s relevant to their specific customers and sales strategies. The solution-specific Plays also provide a clear roadmap for engaging customers and addressing their individual needs. Together, all of these elements have really improved their efficiency, confidence, and effectiveness, which ultimately has led to better customer outcomes and stronger business results. RR: It really seems like you and the team have built an environment that you as a rep would’ve been like: “This is fantastic. I can go run and do my job and not spend time on the things that take me away from it.” I’d be curious to add onto that impact piece: What key results have you achieved beyond everything that we just covered off on (which was a lot!). What particular wins are you especially proud of? JJ: Yeah, so since we implemented Highspot in 2021—coming up on five years at this point—we’ve seen clear improvements in how our teams find, trust, and use the enablement resources that we’re able to provide for them. Like I’ve mentioned, the content is much easier to locate, adoption is stronger, and engagement is more consistent because reps know that they’re working from a single current source of truth. We’ve talked about most of them today, but the wins I’m especially proud of are the governance foundation we’ve put in place, the Spot architecture that balances the enterprise consistency with the business unit relevance, and then those solution-specific plays that help reps move from learning to preparing to engaging with their customers. Together, those changes have reduced friction for sellers, improved onboarding and readiness for new team members, and strengthened alignment across the organization. The most important thing with having Highspot as our sales enablement platform is that, before we adopted this tool, different versions of materials were just kind of floating around on people’s desktops and an old platform that we used to utilize in Teams channels and through inboxes. You never knew which one was the one that was most recently updated. “What should I be using? Has any of this messaging changed?” Now, there’s one place; I always pitch it to our reps as Cencora's Google. You just search in the search bar, whatever you’re looking for, and the first result that comes up is what you’re looking for. RR: I think it’s really important, that kind of domino effect that you touched on: “We did the work at the very beginning to make sure everything is accessible, to make sure it’s updated and to make sure it’s valuable to our reps and that they know it.” And now you’re seeing the entire progression from finding content to engaging buyers in a more meaningful, trusted way and creating more trusted relationships. So you’ve kind of built that flywheel. Now it’s just kind of spinning and maintaining, which is fantastic to hear. Last question for you: For leaders building similar enterprise-level enablement strategies in a similarly complex competitive environment, what hard-earned advice would you leave them with? JJ: My advice would be to start with the governance and the structure. Without a clear plan for how the content is created, organized, and maintained, it’s really easy for things to become chaotic, especially in a complex environment where multiple teams are involved. There’s lots of hands in the pot. Things get lost in translation. So governance and structure would be the starting point. Additionally, it is so important to always keep the end user in mind. Enablement is all about making the lives of your reps easier. Take the time to understand their needs and challenges so that you can create solutions for them. And finally, don’t underestimate the importance of analytics. Use the data to continuously refine your approach and demonstrate the impact of your efforts. Enablement is truly a journey. It’s not a destination, and the key is to stay agile and focused on delivering value both to the reps that you support and their customers. RR: That phrase there: Enablement is a journey is so important to hear because, to our audience who are all at different stages in the process, maybe you’re building, you’re just writing that enablement charter or maybe you’re just trying to run and optimize. Either way, I feel like you need to hear that because everything is constantly changing and you are constantly adapting. I think that’s a reassuring spot to end on, and I really appreciate you saying that. Beyond that, I really appreciate you joining us and sharing all of this wonderful experience. It’s been so amazing to step into the work that you’re doing and the impact that you’re driving for Cencora. JJ: Absolutely. I’m honored to be invited. I’m so grateful to be here. Thank you for the time and asking all these thoughtful questions. I hope that can help many other organizations out there.RR: To our listeners, thank you for listening to this episode of the Win/Win Podcast. Be sure to tune in next time for more insights on how you can maximize enablement success with Highspot.

A large brat bhríde, crafted by a group of Laois women, has gone on display in Dublin's GPO ahead of St Brigid's Day. Determined to keep the fading tradition alive, Portarlington woman Rita O'Loughlin founder of “My Brat Bhríde” teamed up with Portlaoise craftswomen to create an impressive 33-square piece.

Today the Minister for Public Expenditure and Infrastructure, along with the Minister for Finance, launched a new Government service to accelerate major Government capital investment projectsThis will aim to cut back major unfractured back by 12 months. Projects like the GPO redevelopment and the National Concert Hall in Dublin are likely to be among the first projects to see the benefit of this.Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform & Digitalisation. Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin West Jack Chambers, joined Ciara Doherty to discuss this and more.

The very best of Arena's week - with singer Peggy Seeger, actor Brendan Fraser and radio memories with our live panel at the GPO for RTE Radio 100.

Live from the GPO for a special event marking 100 years of public broadcasting in Ireland. Rick is joined by Booker Prize winner Paul Lynch, novelist Christine Dwyer Hickey, filmmaker Colm Bairéad, Executive Director of the Abbey Mark O'Brien, and actor Bríd Ní Neachtain. Plus, music from piper Louise Mulcahy and Pilgrim.

RTÉ is today marking 100 years of broadcasting with a series of programmes from Dublin's GPO to mark the start of a year of special programmes and events. Patricia Monahan is RTÉ's Director of Audio.

On episode 207 I am delighted to be joined by Cuala Director of Coaching Mark Brennan. Mark is originally from Carlow and was a dual player for his native county. He has since turned his hand to coaching and was involved in the rise of the Meath senior ladies football team where they would win back to back all Ireland's in 2021 and 2022. Mark also worked as a GPO in clubs across Dublin. We discuss coaching, the role of director of coaching, being a dual player, Cuala, Meath ladies success, learning from elite sporting environments including Saracens & Harvard and more! Please note this episode was recorded in early September 2025. Prior to any Ladies Football rule enhancements Find Mark here https://x.com/MarkBren13 https://ie.linkedin.com/in/mark-brennan-b48a8a52   Thanks to our sponsor Taranis Recovery. Use the discount code SIDELINE15 for 15% off your purchase on ⁠taranisrecovery.com⁠ . An Irish-owned brand focused on helping athletes recover smarter, Rise higher and Live stronger.  Follow The Sideline Live Social Media channels and the host Orla here: ⁠https://linktr.ee/TheSidelineLive⁠Recorded using Samson Q2 microphone, Edited using GarageBandIntro music, Watered Eyes by a talented Irish artist, Dillon Ward check him out ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠ . If you are looking to set up your own podcast get in touch with the Prymal Productions team ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.prymal.ie⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

Pharmacy buyers play a critical role in keeping hospitals running—and their partnership with a GPO can make all the difference. In this episode of Verified Rx, Jackie Stokes sits down with Theresa Brown and Michelle Crump, two powerhouse pharmacy buyers and members of Vizient's Pharmacy Technician Committee, to talk about the tools, programs, and peer networks that help them thrive in their roles. From leveraging pharmacy analytics to navigating shortages, maximizing NovaPlus value, and strengthening buyer-to-buyer collaboration, this episode is packed with insights to help pharmacy teams work smarter, save money, and support better patient care.   Guest speakers:  Theresa Brown National Pharmacy Purchasing Specialist Prospect Medical Holdings   Michelle Crump, ASBA, CPhT National Certified Pharmacy Technician Buyer Pharmacy Host: Jackie Stokes Program Services Manager Center for Pharmacy Practice Excellence (CPPE) Vizient   Show Notes: [00:48] — Guest Introductions Theresa National pharmacy purchasing specialist Background: inventory control, home infusion startup, pharmacy technician educator [01:14] — Michelle Nationally certified pharmacy technician since 2016 Pharmacy buyer at a small independent county critical access hospital Transitioned from accounting into pharmacy purchasing   [01:26] — The Role of Vizient in Supporting Pharmacy Buyers Theresa: Biggest benefit: relationship with pharmacy executive & sourcing team Uses Pharmacy Analytics (formerly VSAP) to evaluate spend and inventory control across 63 facilities   [02:16] — How Pharmacy Analytics Supports Buyers Theresa: Data mining on spend increases/decreases Tracks product returns Identifies sharing opportunities to prevent waste [02:59] — Michelle's Experience Analytics helps mitigate waste Collaboration with other buyers has been essential — especially for someone new to the buyer role Learns navigation of Vizient systems and how to work with the local GPO Peer support helps demystify a “diverse and complex” buyer role   [04:02] — Value of the Vizient Pharmacy Technician Committee Provides national peer networking Helps buyers learn from subject matter experts Even highly experienced buyers (35+ years) learn from every call   [04:41] — Vizient Programs: NovaPlus, NES, Forum Calls, Hot Info Bimonthly Forum Calls Provide regulatory updates Help expand buyer knowledge in real time Hot Info Weekly Updates Keeps users informed on inventory, shortages, spend impacts [05:31] — Michelle on Program Impact Calls and shared expertise were critical when she was new NovaPlus program especially valuable in critical access settings   [06:32] — Deep Dive: How the NovaPlus Program Works Michelle explains: NovaPlus (Y-label) aligns with manufacturer-labeled products (M-label) Quarterly rebates provide significant savings Critical access hospitals benefit via 340B optimizer software that extracts outpatient utilization to qualify for discounted M-label purchasing Can result in “significant savings” depending on contract structure   [08:38] — What If NovaPlus Pricing Isn't the Best Price? Michelle: Buyer's responsibility to identify price discrepancies Communicates with Vizient representative to reassess contracting needs Often resolved through rebates or future price adjustments [09:30] — Theresa: Price challenges taken seriously Many result in price reductions visible in Hot Info the next week Demonstrates importance of strong GPO relationships   [10:07] — Understanding NES: NovaPlus Enhanced Supply Theresa: Her hospitals are exploring NES participation Requires 90% compliance (higher than standard 80%) Benefits include prioritized product access during shortages Critical when national backorders exceed 200+ items Ensures better patient care continuity   [11:34] — Supply Assurance & Mitigation Strategies Michelle: During the North Carolina hurricane, Vizient's mitigation strategy was “imperative” Vizient engaged Baxter directly to resolve critical fluid shortages Small hospitals especially reliant on support in crisis situations [12:36] — Theresa: Shortage team provides substitution guidance and clinical appropriateness information Vizient recommendations support discussions with local clinical teams Crucial during COVID start date — her first day in national role   [13:23] — Continuing Education (CE) Programs Theresa: Vizient CE programs help maintain technician licensure Webinars are interactive, engaging, and more informative than generic CE resources   [14:07] — Networking and Pharmacy Aggregation Groups (PAGs) Theresa: PAGs offer cost savings and peer collaboration Ability to share information and bring value back to her own network [14:44] — Michelle's Example of System-to-System Collaboration Shared compounded syringes (from a 503B facility) with another hospital to prevent waste Highlights real-world benefits of PAG networking   [15:52] — Addressing National Challenges Together Theresa: PAG roundtables help uncover shared struggles (e.g., DSCSA serialization issues) Members provide actionable advice on what's working in their systems Reinforces “we're all in the same boat”   [16:50] — Supporting and Elevating Pharmacy Technicians Jackie's goal: Support technicians and recognize the value they bring Committee exists to uplift and empower pharmacy buyers/techs [17:05] — Michelle: Worked with leadership to create a tiered technician level system Helps techs gain skills, feel valued, and earn raises Improves career satisfaction and retention   [17:46] — Closing Reflections Theresa: Being part of Vizient is “an honor and a privilege” Values shared knowledge and strong relationships [18:00] — Michelle: Gratitude for collaboration and guidance over the years Vizient connections were vital for adapting to the buyer role   VerifiedRx Listener Feedback Survey: We would love to hear from you - Please click here   Subscribe Today! 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Hunger Strike in English PrisonsIn English prisons five people, imprisoned under new repressive laws targeted at pro-Palestinian activists, are on hunger strike. Several of them will have been on hunger strike now for over 50 days. At the weekend and each day since, protests have taken place across the island of Ireland and in Britain. Irish republicans have a natural affinity with those who use hunger strike in protest against inhumane prison conditions and to advance democratic aims. The use of hunger strike by political prisoners following the Rising and during the Tan and Civil Wars and in the North is well documented.Grace – just hold me in your arms …Next year the judicial review, taken by the Moore St. Preservation Trust, will be held in the Dublin High Court to challenge the Irish government's support for the plans of the developer - Hammerson – to demolish much of the historic 1916 Moore St. battlefield site.16 Moore St. is where the leaders of the 1916 Rising held their last meeting and where the decision to surrender was taken to prevent further civilian loss of life.Among those present was Joseph Plunkett who was centrally involved in the planning of the 1916 Rising. He was Director of Military Operations in the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He was also a member of that organisations Military Council. He was a signatory of the Proclamation and although heavily bandaged as a result of medical operations in early April, Plunkett spent Easter week in the GPO. A bleak Christmas for PalestiniansThe story of Christmas and the birth of Jesus in a stable, as Mary and Joseph sought shelter, is known by billions around the world – even by those of other faiths and none. Christmas will be celebrated – presents given – and many will go to their respective places of worship to remember the child born in poverty, surrounded by a loving family and animals.But for the people of Palestine, surviving in the occupied Palestinian Territories, this Christmas thousands of families will be separated from their loved ones, many of them children, held illegally in Israeli prisons. In the Gaza Strip families will mourn the 20,000 babies and children killed in Israel's genocidal war and the many more left with life changing injuries. Children will grieve for the parents who have been killed.

Jim and Chris discuss listener emails on Social Security spousal eligibility and claiming coordination, a listener PSA on Social Security proof of marriage requirements, RMD planning while still working, money market earnings in brokerage accounts, and using QLACs for long-term care planning.(16:15) Georgette asks whether the repeal of WEP and GPO affects her eligibility for a spousal benefit if her ex-husband worked for the federal government and she did not pay into Social Security. (26:45) A listener asks how Social Security works when one spouse lacks enough work credits for their own benefit and only qualifies for a spousal benefit, including whether both spouses must claim at full retirement age to access that benefit.(42:00) The guys address a PSA on why Social Security may already have proof of marriage on file for one spouse due to a name change but still requires documentation from the other spouse when benefits are claimed.(49:30) Jim and Chris discuss whether maximizing pre-tax retirement contributions and rolling a SEP IRA into a 403(b) can reduce or eliminate RMDs under the still-working exception.(1:06:45) A listener questions the statement that Money Market earnings are minimal, pointing to current yields in a fund they hold.(1:12:00) The guys respond to feedback on whether a QLAC could be an effective way to address long-term care planning when self-funding alone does not feel sufficient. The post Social Security, RMDs, Money Market Earnings, QLACs: Q&A #2551 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show.

Long before Skynet, the British Post Office built its own murderbot. In The War Machines, a supercomputer called WOTAN tries to conquer the world by... hypnotizing secretaries and constructing clunky Dalek knockoffs in a warehouse. And honestly? It almost works. Join us as we revisit the First Doctor's most tech-forward outing, featuring the debut of companions Ben and Polly, the Inferno Club (not that one), face-sucking elevators, and a press conference for the ages. Is this the beginning of UNIT-era vibes? Did the GPO invent AGI? And wait, did they seriously name-check Jimmy Savile?! Tune in for evil acronym discourse, war machine shenanigans, and the shocking origin of the Cybermen.Give your own rating for The War Machines on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!Subscribe to our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and become a True Companion of the podcast to get new episodes before everyone else!Subscribe to our newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠pulltoopen.net⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for extended notes on The War Machines.Support the podcast by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠becoming a patron⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ of Pull To Open on Patreon.Please review Pull To Open on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.Timeline:Intro 00:00:00Previously… 00:01:22Whomoji Challenge 00:05:55POLL To Open 00:11:36TL;DW 00:19:32Commentary: The War Machines 00:22:17Four Questions to Doomsday 01:07:12What If the Evil Plot Had Succeeded? 01:10:07Where Is the Clara Splinter? 01:16:32Final Judgment 01:21:56Randomizer! 01:26:33Follow us on:TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@pulltoopen⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@pulltoopen63⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@pulltoopen63⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@pulltoopen63⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@pulltoopen63⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@pulltoopen⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Play ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pull To Open Bingo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Story EssentialsSeason 3, Serial 10Story number: 26, per the The Pull To Open CodexWriter: Ian Stuart Black, from a story by Kit PedlerDirector: Michael FergusonScript Editor: Gerry DavisProducer: Innes LloydAired 25 June–16 July 1966Pull To Open: The War MachinesSeason 6Episode 33Hosts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pete Pachal⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Chris Taylor⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music: Martin West/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Thinking Fish⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠©️AnyWho Media LLC 2025Doctor Who ©️BBC 1963

PJ talks to Dyanne Hanrahan of the Jingle Belles All Female Choir who are singing throughout the city this Saturday (1100 GPO 1130 old Ulster Bank 1200 – Opera Lane 1230 Le Château 1415 English Market Grand Parade 1445 old Ulster Bank 1530 Fifth Quarter 1645 Imperial Hotel 1730 GPO) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

fWotD Episode 3147: Littlehampton libels Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Tuesday, 16 December 2025, is Littlehampton libels.The Littlehampton libels were a series of letters sent to numerous residents of Littlehampton, in southern England, over a three-year period between 1920 and 1923. The letters, which contained obscenities and false accusations, were written by Edith Swan, a thirty-year-old laundress; she tried to incriminate her neighbour, Rose Gooding, a thirty-year-old married woman. Swan and Gooding had once been friends, but after Swan made a false report to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children accusing Gooding of maltreating one of her sister's children, the letters started arriving. Many of them were signed as if from Gooding. Swan brought a private prosecution against Gooding for libel; in December 1920 Gooding was found guilty and imprisoned for two weeks. On her release the letters started again, and Swan brought a second private prosecution against Gooding. In February 1921 Gooding was again found guilty and imprisoned for twelve months.While Gooding was in prison, two notebooks were found in Littlehampton. They contained further obscenities and falsehoods and were in the same handwriting as the letters. As a result, Gooding's case came to the attention of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Archibald Bodkin, who thought that there had been a miscarriage of justice. An investigation by Scotland Yard cleared Gooding of involvement in sending the letters and she was released from prison. When the letters started up again, the focus of police attention moved to Swan and she was put under surveillance. She was seen to drop a libellous letter and prosecuted in December 1921. Despite the evidence against her, the judge intervened in the prosecution's questioning and the case collapsed.In early 1922 the letters began arriving again. By October the police and detectives from the General Post Office (GPO) were involved, all targeting Swan. GPO detectives caught Swan sending another libellous letter in June 1923. She was arrested, found guilty and imprisoned for a year. In 2023 a film about the events, Wicked Little Letters, was released; it stars Olivia Colman as Swan and Jessie Buckley as Gooding. A similar case of libellous letters being sent over several years was reported in 2024, in the village of Shiptonthorpe, East Yorkshire; parallels were observed with the events at Littlehampton.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:57 UTC on Tuesday, 16 December 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Littlehampton libels on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Justin.

Double Tap Episode 439 This episode of Double Tap is brought to you by: Gideon Optics, Primary Arms, Night Fision, Blue Alpha, Bowers Group, and Second Call Defense   Welcome to Double Tap, episode 439! Your hosts tonight are Jeremy Pozderac, Jon Patton and me Shawn Herrin, welcome to the show! Jon Patton - https://theguncollective.com/ Dear WLS Hunter M - Wanting to upgrade my Ender 3 Pro to a Bambu X1C, but I am hesitant to buy one if there is a possibility of blocking 2A prints. I have seen where some people suggest never connecting it to the internet and only printing off of SD cards but it seems like you could be missing out on a ton of features. Is it worth it to connect it to the internet or play it safe and only use it offline? If it was connected and they pushed out anti-gun restrictions how could you get the printer back to printing freedom? Conner R - What are your go to snacks or meals when hiking, camping, hunting, or rucking? What are you favorite meals in general? Thanks!l Uvuana Suqit - Why does every host on the Firearms Radio Network seem to have an astigmatism? And a bunch of other media people in the firearms industry in general. I hear constantly about not being able to use red dots because of astigmatism, making the dot not a perfect circle, and some other shape. Just want to say that the projection on the glass for red dots won't be a perfect circle with the way they are designed/manufactured, and the “dot” has a weird shape because it is projecting a bunch of tiny dots to a general area on the glass to make up the dot. It does not create a perfect circle. And if you focus on the “dot,” then you will see “imperfection” vs looking at the target where the “imperfection” will be nonexistent, with the general dot shape being over the target. I'm just curious if everyone is mistaking this inherent design of the red dot projection for something that is wrong with their eyes. And when every host says they have an astigmatism, it just seems odd. Karl F - The conflict in Ukraine has demonstrated the usefulness of small drones when it comes to both reconnaissance and delivery of payloads. This usefulness could definitely extend beyond combat to a SHTF scenario. Have any of you considered adding a drone to your gear collection?#blamecanada Oopsie Daisy - If you wanted to escape thermal imaging, do you think throwing a mylar poncho over the wool Five Star Alterations poncho would have a greater effect on reducing your thermal signature? For no one in particular, I'm interested to hear all of your opinions on this. Nate B - How far back is too far back for barrel porting? I understand you'd like the port as far forward as possible as that is where it's most beneficial (better tilt point) but I've seen ported Glocks and other pistols where they have multiple, tiny holes that seem to be fairly close to the chamber. Also ports > comps Anthony L - I wanted to ask what sites you use for the 3d print files. Thank you   The winner of this week's swag pack is Oopsie Daisy! To win your own, go to welikeshooting.com/dashboard and submit a question!   Gun Industry News Switzerland Picks SIG Sauer P320 Swiss Army picks SIG P320 as new standard pistol, 5th military to do so after US, Canada, Australia, Denmark. Beats Glock and HK in tests via lower costs and Swiss production promise, despite early fixes needed for ergonomics. Gun fans celebrate another big military win for modular P320. Not for civilian sale. Tuning the Shadow 2: New Frame Weight Eemann Tech's new frame weight for CZ Shadow 2 adds 172g of front-end steel to cut recoil and steady fast shots. No mods needed, screws on easily. Special for comp shooters tuning balance without changing gun shape. Compact version coming. Available now. Sweden Police Swap MP5s for AK 24 Sweden's police are ditching MP5 submachine guns for AK 24 rifles in 5.56mm, matching the military's choice. Reasons: MP5 contract ended, 9mm sucks at range and vs. armor/vehicles, better teamwork in ops. They bought some for tests, fixed over-penetration with right ammo. Costs $2,700–$3,600 each, same as MP5. Gun fans note it's a rare police switch to rifle calibers from SMGs. Not available yet; deliveries start 2027. Staccato Stops Making C and CS Pistols Staccato stopped making C and CS pistols on Nov 21, 2025, to focus on 2011 and HD models. Gun folks can still buy leftover stock while it lasts; owners get full parts, mags, and warranty support. Special: Speeds up upgrades for main lines. Not in production now. Daniel Defense Eleanor Brings UK Spec Rifle to America Daniel Defense's Eleanor is a limited run of 250 M4A1 rifles copying UK Ministry of Defence specs, first U.S. version with real anodized FDE Vortex AMG EBR-22L optic—not fake finishes like clones. Gun fans get exact Royal Marines setup in Pelican case. Not available now. GPO's New Tactical Monocular with Gun Reticle GPO launched TACTICAL MONO 10x42 ED, a pocket-sized 10x42 monocular with offset MIL reticle for quick range estimates. Stands out with tactical reticle in super compact 5.3-inch, 13.4-oz rubber-armored body. MSRP $319.99. Available now. Gun community gets affordable, portable spotting tool for field measurements. Strike Bravo Chassis for Taurus GX4 Strike Industries and Taurus teamed up for GX4 Strike Bravo pistols with a new chassis boosting recoil control, ergonomics, and modularity via Dynamic Control system. Special: Picatinny for braces/stocks, optics-ready slide, threaded barrel, works with GX4 accessories. Four versions: 10/15-round mags, braced or not. Prices: $607 non-braced, $796 braced. Available now. New 9mm Apache Commander Gun Watchtower Defense launched the Apache Commander, a compact double-stack 9mm 1911 for carry with optics cut, aggressive serrations, adjustable 4.5-5.5 lb trigger, and tough stainless steel build in Black or FDE. First tactical model from veteran-owned brand. $3999 with three 17-round mags and lifetime warranty. In stock and shipping now. Gun fans get a premium, duty-ready carry option supporting vets. New ZeroTech Vengeance Scope Reticle Options ZeroTech updated its Vengeance 3-12x40 SFP riflescope with three reticles: precise R3, classic PHR 4, and low-light illuminated PHR 4 IR. Lightweight 1-inch tube, side parallax, multi-coated glass. Gives gun folks faster targeting and better holds in any light. Price not listed. Availability not stated. New Reticles for Vengeance Scope ZeroTech added PHR 4 and illuminated PHR 4 reticles to its Vengeance 4-16x40 SFP scope. Clean holdovers, fast aiming, low-light brightness levels on lightweight 1-inch tube. Gives gun users affordable precision for hunting and shooting. Available now. Viridian's New Green Dot for Rifles Viridian launched VENTA Green Dot rifle optic. Crisp 2 MOA green dot, instant-on motion activation, 10 brightness settings, IPX7 waterproof, 30k-hour battery, 5 oz lightweight, Aimpoint T2 footprint. Stands out for speed, clarity, and low $169 MSRP in black or FDE. Available now. Gun folks get affordable, tough optic upgrade. New Tactical Light with Green Laser NEXTORCH launches WL25 tactical weapon light with 1,200-lumen white beam to 459 yards plus green laser for fast aiming. Ambidextrous switches, quick battery swaps, recoil-proof mount, glove-friendly. German-designed, pistol-rail compatible. MSRP $239.99. Available now for LE/military eval. Gun community gets pro-grade light-laser combo at mid price. Before we let you go - Join Gun Owners of America   Tell your friends about the show and get backstage access by joining the Gun Cult at theguncult.com.   No matter how tough your battle is today, we want you here fight with us tomorrow. Don't struggle in silence, you can contact the suicide prevention line by dialing 988 from your phone. Remember - Always prefer Dangerous Freedom over peaceful slavery. We'll see you next time!   Nick - @busbuiltsystems | Bus Built Systems Jeremy - @ret_actual | Rivers Edge Tactical Aaron - @machinegun_moses Savage - @savage1r Shawn - @dangerousfreedomyt | @camorado.cam | Camorado

This week, we're headed to Dublin, where a silent teenage girl appears out of nowhere on the steps of the GPO. She was shivering, terrified, and seemingly too traumatized to even say her own name. As police scramble to figure out who she is, they uncover drawings that hint at something horrific… and a trail that stretches far beyond Ireland. What starts as a heartbreaking mystery about a possible trafficking victim turns into the twisted, globe-trotting story of Samantha Azzopardi: a woman who slips in and out of identities like costumes, leaving devastated families, terrified teenagers, and baffled authorities in her wake. How does someone build an entire life out of lies, and what does she really get out of it? We're digging into the many lives of “Con Girl” and the very real damage left behind. Sources: Samantha Azzopardi: Australia's notorious con artist sentenced for child theft The Many Faces of Samantha Azzopardi | by Nikki Young | Medium How global fraudster Samantha Azzopardi duped Melbourne families Samantha Azzopardi - Wikipedia Compelling story of the GPO girl – a master of manipulation and mind games Mystery Australian woman flying home after leaving Irish hospital Podcast: Casefile  The many, many lives and bizarre crimes of ‘Con Girl' Samantha Azzopardi How global fraudster Samantha Azzopardi duped Melbourne families A global conwoman's wild lies and the victims she's left behind Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pharmacy benefits shouldn't feel like a black box. We sit down with Susan Thomas, Chief Commercial Officer at Lucy Rx, to unpack why drug costs keep rising and what it takes to build a benefit that serves patients and plans—not middlemen. Susan started as an oncology nurse and moved into PBM leadership, and that dual lens shows up in everything we cover: from the real-world stress of waiting days for an oral chemo to the hidden economics of rebate chains and vertically integrated networks.We dig into the two biggest levers for change. First, formulary autonomy: instead of being locked to a single, opaque GPO, a marketplace approach lets employers compare multiple rebate contracts, see drug-level net cost, and choose the best path for categories like Humira biosimilars or GLP-1s. That shift enables utilization management that protects value without opening the floodgates. Second, network independence: when PBMs own specialty and mail, steering is inevitable. By contracting with integrated health systems for specialty and modern mail partners for home delivery, plans can speed therapy, reduce waste from 30-day auto-ships, and improve member experience at a lower overall cost.We also talk fiduciary duty, policy momentum, and technology. Employers need verifiable net-cost math—not averages—to defend decisions in a post–J&J lawsuit world. Washington's scrutiny is rising, and incumbents are signaling changes, but structural misalignments remain. On the tech front, AI-driven reporting and specialty navigation are already here, while precision medicine and pharmacogenomics promise to target high-cost drugs to the patients who will benefit most. The question is whether the industry will embrace smaller, smarter populations when volume shrinks and outcomes improve.If you care about cutting pharmacy spend without compromising care, this conversation is a practical roadmap: ask for drug-level net cost, insist on formulary choice across GPOs, require independent specialty and mail, and set utilization criteria that put patients first. Subscribe, share this episode with a colleague who manages pharmacy benefits, and leave a review with the one PBM metric you wish you'd had sooner.This episode is sponsored by Benepower, the platform of choice for a modern benefits experience. Benepower is an AI-powered benefits platform offering access to top products and services, enabling consultants and employers to create customized plans, optimize usage, and measure effectiveness. www.benepower.com

Happy Thanksgiving week friends! Today we're celebrating a turkey and pie overload by sharing another fun tale of pentest pwnage! It involves using pygpoabuse to hijack a GPO and turn it into our pentesting puppet!  Muahahahahaah!!!!  Also: This week over at 7MinSec.club we looked at how to defend against some common SQL attacks We're very close to offering our brand new LPLITE:GOAD 3-day pentest course (likely in mid-January). It will get announced on 7MinSec.club first, so please make sure you're subscribed there (it's free!) Did you miss our talk called Should You Hire AI Run Your Next Pentest?  Check it out on YouTube!

Cameron is joined by Phil Stamper, founder and CEO of Med-Aesthetics America, and they discuss the evolution of medical esthetics, the creation of the "Best Aesthetic Injectors" award, and the directory of top providers. The award, open to all providers, uses a peer-vote system to recognize excellence. Phil also highlights the benefits of Med-Aesthetics America membership, including exclusive events, training, and a GPO offering significant discounts on products. The conversation explores the evolving relationship between aesthetics and longevity, emphasizing the importance of incorporating peptides into health practices for optimal resultsListen In!Thank you for listening to this episode of Medical Millionaire!Takeaways:Aesthetics is increasingly linked to longevity and health.Functionality is becoming a key aspect of aesthetics.Peptides are essential for modern health practices.Practitioners not using peptides risk falling behind.The focus is shifting from mere appearance to overall wellness.Longevity is becoming a priority in aesthetic treatments.Incorporating science into aesthetics enhances effectiveness.Health practices must evolve with new findings.The future of aesthetics lies in functional beauty.Understanding the role of peptides is crucial for practitioners.Unlock the Secrets to Success in Medical Aesthetics & Wellness with "Medical Millionaire"Welcome to "Medical Millionaire," the essential podcast for owners and entrepreneurs inMedspas, Plastic Surgery, Dermatology, Cosmetic Dental, and Elective Wellness Practices! Dive deep into marketing strategies, scaling your medical practice, attracting high-end clients, and staying ahead with the latest industry trends. Our episodes are packed with insights from industry leaders to boost revenue, enhance patient satisfaction, and master marketing techniques.Our Host, Cameron Hemphill, has been in Aesthetics for over 10 years and has supported over 1,000 Practices, including 2,300 providers. He has worked with some of the industry's most well-recognized brands, practice owners, and key opinion leaders.Tune in every week to transform your practice into a thriving, profitable venture with expert guidance on the following categories...-Marketing-CRM-Patient Bookings-Industry Trends Backed By Data-EMR's-Finance-Sales-Mindset-Workflow Automation-Technology-Tech Stack-Patient RetentionLearn how to take your Medical Aesthetics Practice from the following stages....-Startup-Growth-Optimize-Exit Inquire Here:http://get.growth99.com/mm/

Labhraíonn Dean Memery le Seán faoin méid atá bainte amach aige leis an spórt, a ról mar GPO leis an CLG agus faoina thogra nua - Cúl Cubs.

Starting a new business is never easy — but after 39 years in the#hotelindustry, Greg A. Presley decided it was time to bet on himself. I caught up with Greg on the show floor during The Lodging Conference for #NoVacancyNews, where we talked about his leap of faith to launch Presley Hospitality, the power of relationships, and why getting “back to the basics” in #hotelmanagement might be exactly what the industry needs right now. Greg's focus on smaller#hotelowners, personalized service, and good old-fashioned integrity is a refreshing reminder of what hospitality is all about. A big thank-you to my friends at Entegra — helping hotels stay profitable through smarter purchasing with the power of a GPO. Learn more at Entegra.com

This time last year, the Dublin City Taskforce Report was launched in the GPO. But one year on has progress been made? All to discuss with Independent Chair of Dublin City Taskforce and CEO of An Post, David McRedmond.

The complexity of Social Security calculations can cause some confusion around when someone eligible should file and claim their benefit. There are a lot of variables to consider and acronyms to decipher that can make Social Security feel like a confusing hedge maze. Let's cut through some of the noise and clarify some of the most pressing questions around Social Security benefits and what questions you need to consider to determine what's best for you and your family. Social Security has many layers, and the concept of eligibility can be pretty complex. It's not always clear when and how someone should begin taking their benefits because being eligible doesn't necessarily mean you should turn that benefit on. Social Security benefits can be turned on as early as age 62. Each year the benefit is delayed, you receive what is called a delayed retirement credit or DRC. These DRCs guarantee an automatic 8% increase in your Social Security benefit every year you delay up to age 70. There is also your full retirement age. This is the age when you are eligible to receive the full benefit without any offset for having earned income. Earned income being income from employment, which is different from income received from investments, pensions or annuities. For those born in 1960, or later, your FRA is age 67. Benefits are calculated by the Social Security Administration by taking 35 years of earnings that are indexed for inflation. Any years you didn't work are counted as a zero in your average earnings calculation. These annual amounts are then totaled and divided by four and 20 months to arrive at the monthly figure known as your average indexed monthly earning. This number is different from your benefit amount. The SSA then applies a formula to that number which determines your primary insurance amount or PIA and this is your monthly Social Security benefit. If you choose to take your benefit before your FRA while employed, there's an offset that can significantly reduce the benefit if your income exceeds $21,240 in 2023. This reduction is $1 for every $2 of earned income over the limit. In the year you reach your FRA, the limit increases to $56,520 in 2023, with a benefit reduction of $1 for every $3 of earned income over the limit. After you've reached your FRA there's no earning limits and you receive the full benefit with no income offsets. Provisional income comes into play after your benefits are activated. Your provisional income is calculated by taking your adjusted gross income plus half of your Social Security benefit. If that total is less than $25,000, your Social Security benefit is not subject to federal tax. If it is  above 25,000, but below 34,000, 50% of the benefit is taxed, and if it's above 34,000, 85% of the benefit is taxed. If you're a government employee, there's something called a Windfall Elimination Provision, or WEP. And there's also a Government Pension Offset, or GPO. There are three common conversations we have with clients when it comes to Social Security. The first thing is determining the breakeven point. One method for deciding when to take Social Security benefits involves calculating the breakeven point, this is the future point in time when the value of one option equals that of another. For example, if your FRA benefit is $2,000 a month, and $1,400 at age 62, there's a $600 a month difference. When compared to waiting the five years and taking the full amount, the breakeven point would be 11.6 years. Something else to keep in mind is that by taking a benefit early, you reduce the amount of spousal benefit made available since the benefit in and of itself has been reduced and this could be an important consideration. The second consideration relates to one's health and longevity. If you don't expect to live past that breakeven point, taking the benefit early might make more sense. From this perspective, it could be a win-win situation if they start receiving benefits early and they live longer than expected because the payments continue. We can't know our lifespan for certain, but if you're in poor health, taking benefits early might be a reasonable option. The third consideration involves a person's retirement income requirement. Many clients we work with see Social Security simply as a piece of the retirement income strategy, and aren't necessarily concerned with breakeven points as much as they are with maximizing their assets and the resources. Many clients opt to turn their Social Security benefits on instead of tapping into their assets in order to maintain growth. Using assets to generate income in retirement also comes with variables that are hard to predict, like the conditions of the stock market and economic policy. Social Security, in comparison, is stable and easy to predict. Figuring out your retirement income requires careful planning, which is why it's crucial to work with a professional that understands Social Security and its role in your retirement plan.     Mentioned in this episode: BrianSkrobonja.com Common Sense Financial Podcast on YouTube  Common Sense Financial Podcast on Spotify BrianSkrobonja.com/Resources - Free Resources To Help You Protect Your Financial Future Common Sense: YOUR Guide to Making Smart Choices with YOUR Money by Brian Skrobonja SSA.gov   References for this episode: SSA.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/agereduction.html SSA.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/delayret.html SSA.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/agereduction.html SSA.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/whileworking.html SSA.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/whileworking.html SSA.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/taxes.html   Securities offered only by duly registered individuals through Madison Avenue Securities, LLC. (MAS), Member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services offered only by duly registered  individuals through Skrobonja Wealth Management (SWM), a registered investment advisor. Tax services offered only through Skrobonja Tax Consulting. MAS does not offer Build Banking or tax advice. Skrobonja Financial Group, LLC, Skrobonja Wealth Management, LLC, Skrobonja Insurance Services, LLC, Skrobonja Tax Consulting, and Build Banking are not affiliated with MAS. The firm is a registered investment adviser with the state of Missouri, and may only transact business with residents of those states, or residents of other states where otherwise legally permitted subject to exemption or exclusion from registration requirements. Registration with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or any state securities authority does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Skrobonja Wealth Management, LLC and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. This website is solely for informational purposes. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. Investing involves risk and possible loss of principal capital. No advice may be  rendered by Skrobonja Wealth Management, LLC unless a client service agreement is in  place. Skrobonja Financial Group, LLC provides links for your convenience to websites produced by other providers of industry related material. Accessing websites through links directs you  away from our website. Users who gain access to third party websites may be subject to the copyright and other restrictions on use imposed by those providers and assume responsibility and risk from use of those websites. Any references to protection, safety or  lifetime income, generally refer to fixed insurance products, never securities or investments. Insurance guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims paying abilities of the  issuing carrier. This is intended for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be used as the sole  basis for financial decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individual's situation. Our firm is not permitted to offer, and no  statement made on this site shall constitute tax or legal advice. Our firm is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. Government or any governmental agency. The information and  opinions contained here in provided by third parties have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed by our firm. Any media logos and/or trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners and no endorsement by those owners of Brian Skrobonja is stated or implied. The awards, accolades and appearances are not representative of any one client's experience and is not indicative of future performance. Each of these awards have set criteria for their nominations and eligibility requirements. “Best Wealth Managers” and “Future 50 Company” are annual surveys conducted by Small Business Monthly. The winner is chosen by an online vote of the general public and no specific criteria is utilized to determine the winner other than number of votes. Some voters may not be clients of Brian Skrobonja and Skrobonja Financial Group. These awards are not representative of any one client's experience and is not indicative of future performance.

Margin pressure. Rate uncertainty. Shifting investor expectations. Welcome to 2026 planning season. During The Lodging Conference, I spoke with David Duncan, President & CEO of First Hospitality, and Marissa Ballan, Chief Investment Officer, about how their team approaches the next phase of the hotel cycle — with discipline, data, and confidence. Here's what stood out:

SAVC (Section on Ambulatory Vascular Care) formed a GPO to help SVS members in private practice access competitive pricing on medical supplies, devices, pharmaceuticals, and services. The podcast episode explores the history of the collaboration, the benefits for SVS private practice members, and how they can become involved.   Guest Info Dr. Anil Hingorani is a previous President of the Eastern Vascular Society. He is currently the Chair of the Section on Ambulatory Vascular Care (SAVC) of the Society for Vascular Surgery. Dr. Naveed A. Rahman, Editor, is a Vascular Surgery Fellow at the University of Maryland.    Website Links   SVS launches partnership to help private practice vascular surgeons cut costs  Section on Ambulatory Vascular Care in SVS. How to Join the SVS - Group Purchasing Organization  

The Social Security Fairness Act, which was signed into law at the start of 2025, has been in effect for about nine months since this game-changing legislation repealed both the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset, restoring and increasing Social Security benefits for millions of retirees, especially teachers and public employees who worked in jobs exempt from Social Security. In this episode, I discuss exactly who qualifies for these newly restored benefits, explain how the Social Security Administration is handling the rollout, and give you a step-by-step guide on what to do if you haven't received your payment yet. I'll also walk you through critical tax changes you'll need to consider if you're now receiving this extra income, and practical strategies to avoid any nasty tax surprises at the end of the year.  You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in... [02:26] Social Security Fairness Act overview and impact. [05:57] Who is eligible for Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) or Government Pension Offset (GPO). [07:35] Applying for your benefits. [08:16] How much Social Security becomes taxable. [11:09] Increasing withholding on pensions, IRA, 401(k), or earned income. What Is the Social Security Fairness Act? Signed into law by President Biden in January 2025, the Social Security Fairness Act has restored benefits for millions of retirees who were previously penalized due to their employment in jobs that were exempt from Social Security taxes. These roles frequently include teachers and certain municipal or state employees. For years, retirees in those positions received a reduced Social Security benefit due to provisions known as the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP): Affected individuals who worked in both Social Security-covered and non-covered jobs, resulting in a reduced Social Security benefit. Government Pension Offset (GPO): Reduced the spousal or survivor Social Security benefit for those receiving a government pension from non-covered employment (like teachers in Connecticut). With the repeal of these two provisions, retirees are now eligible to receive their full Social Security benefit, as well as the entirety of their eligible spousal or survivor benefits, regardless of their pension amount. Who Is Impacted? The Act primarily benefits retirees who worked in state or municipal jobs excluded from Social Security wage contributions (think teachers, police, firefighters, or other state employees in certain states). It also helps spouses or survivors of such retirees, who, under the GPO, were denied or saw dramatic reductions in their spousal/survivor benefits. As an example, if a teacher in Connecticut was receiving a $3,000/month pension, they were previously eligible for only a fraction of their spouse's Social Security survivor benefit. Now, with the Act's passage, they can receive the full amount, eliminating a significant hardship for many families. The Social Security Administration has processed around 3.1 million payments, exceeding prior estimates, and paid out approximately $17 billion. However, some eligible recipients have yet to see increases, particularly those who never filed because they believed they wouldn't qualify. What Should You Do If You're Eligible? If you haven't received a payment adjustment, you might be missing out on thousands of dollars. File or Re-file: Eligible recipients should visit SSA.gov to update or submit a new application for benefits. Check Your Status: Even if you're not currently receiving Social Security, consult the SSA to determine your eligibility for individual, spousal, or survivor benefits, especially once you reach full retirement age (typically between 66-67). Lots of people have been automatically credited and are receiving retroactive payments, but those who never applied in the first place due to WEP and GPO restrictions must now take proactive steps. Tax Implications of Increased Social Security Benefits More income is always welcome, but it may come with new tax responsibilities. Here's what you need to know: Social Security Taxation Basics: Taxability depends on your total income: adjusted gross income (AGI), plus half of your Social Security benefit, plus tax-exempt interest. Generally, married couples with less than $32,000 combined income owe no tax on Social Security, and between $32,000 and $44,000, up to 50% of benefits may be taxable, then over $44,000, up to 85% of benefits can be taxable. For individuals, the thresholds are $25,000 and $34,000. Avoid Surprises by adjusting your tax withholding, either by filing IRS Form W-4V for Social Security, or updating withholdings on pensions or retirement accounts. You may also make quarterly estimated payments, especially if you live in a state with income tax. Social Security does not withhold state income taxes, so plan accordingly to avoid penalties and interest. With these changes, it's more important than ever to review your retirement plan and tax strategy. Speak to a qualified accountant and financial advisor to ensure you are maximizing your benefits and staying compliant with tax requirements. Resources Mentioned Retirement Readiness Review Subscribe to the Retire with Ryan YouTube Channel Download my entire book for FREE  Social Security  Connect With Morrissey Wealth Management  www.MorrisseyWealthManagement.com/contact   Subscribe to Retire With Ryan

Dentistry is a difficult and demanding profession. But with the right people and the right resources, you can make it rewarding and worthwhile. In this episode, Kirk Behrendt brings in Dr. Louis Kaufman from Smile Source Chicago to share his journey from his time at Burger King to becoming a successful practice owner. To hear about his incredible path and the lessons he's learned, listen to Episode 944 of The Best Practices Show!Learn More About Dr. Kaufman:Follow Dr. Kaufman on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaufmanlouisRegister for the 2025 Smile Source Exchange: https://sstheexchange25.eventscribe.netMore Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:Subscribe to The Best Practices Show: https://the-best-practices-show.captivate.fm/listenJoin The Best Practices Association: https://www.actdental.com/bpaDownload ACT's BPA app on the Apple App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/best-practices-association/id6738960360Download ACT's BPA app on the Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.actdental.join&hl=en_USJoin ACT's To The Top Study Club: https://www.actdental.com/tttGet The Best Practices Magazine for free: https://www.actdental.com/magazinePlease leave us a review on the podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-best-practices-show-with-kirk-behrendt/id1223838218Episode Resources:Watch the video version of Episode 944: https://www.youtube.com/@actdental/videosRead Never Die Easy by Walter Payton and Don Yaeger: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/128589/never-die-easy-by-walter-payton-with-don-yaegerMain Takeaways:Attend the Smile Source Exchange, not just for the CE but to find your community.Take continuing education. It will play a big role in your life and your practice.Always look ahead to the next year. Be intentional in planning your life.Don't let your current financial burden define your next ten years.Be around and listen to other experienced entrepreneurs.Snippets:0:00 Introduction.0:43 From Burger King to dental school.7:23 After dental school and taking CE.11:18 Purchasing the practice and helping it evolve.15:33 The best business decisions Dr. Kaufman has made.16:59 A week in Dr. Kaufman's life.19:58 The biggest challenges for young dentists today.22:28 Dr. Kaufman's history with Smile Source.28:58 GPO, explained.31:47 The importance of being...

For years, the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset reduced benefits for those who had rightfully earned them. Now that those policies are gone, many are left with questions. Eddie Holland joins us to help clarify what's changed and what it means for your retirement.Eddie Holland is a Senior Private Wealth Advisor and partner of Blue Trust in Greenville, South Carolina. He's also a CPA, a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), and a Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA®).A Quick History of WEP and GPOThe Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), enacted over 40 years ago, reduces Social Security benefits for individuals receiving a non-covered pension—a pension from which no Social Security taxes were withheld. This often included employees in state and local government jobs, such as teachers, police officers, and firefighters.Similarly, the Government Pension Offset (GPO) reduced a spousal or survivor benefit for individuals in the same situation. These rules were designed to prevent “double-dipping,” but they often unfairly penalized modest-income workers, sometimes reducing their monthly Social Security checks by hundreds of dollars—or even eliminating their spousal or survivor benefits entirely.The Social Security Fairness Act of 2025That changed on January 5, 2025, when President Joe Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act. This legislation repealed both WEP and GPO, effective retroactively as of January 2024. As a result:Nearly 3 million Americans became eligible for retroactive benefits.Future monthly benefits for those affected have also been adjusted upward.This marks a significant win for many retired public servants who had long felt the weight of these provisions.What to Expect if You're AffectedThere are two phases of payments:Retroactive Payments – Starting in March 2025, some individuals received large one-time deposits representing the benefits they should have received since January 2024. These payments often arrived with little to no explanation, leaving many confused. Adjusted Monthly Benefits – Beginning in April 2025, Social Security began increasing ongoing monthly benefits for those impacted.It's important to note that these changes only apply to individuals with a non-covered pension, not all civil service employees.Steps to Take if You Think You QualifyIf you believe these changes may apply to you, Eddie recommends two simple steps:Check Your Account Online. Visit SSA.gov to log in to your account (or create one if you haven't already). Contact the Social Security Administration. If your account doesn't show any updates or you have questions, call 1-800-772-1213 or schedule an appointment at your local SSA office to speak directly with an agent.If navigating these changes feels overwhelming, consider consulting a Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA) who specializes in matters related to Social Security, who can help you make informed, faith-based financial decisions. You can find one in your area by visiting FaithFi.com and clicking “Find a Professional”. On Today's Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions:I'm 60 years old and planning to retire early at 62. I'd also like to pay off my house before I retire. Is that a smart move, and is it realistic given my current financial situation?I understand that retiring before my full retirement age will result in a reduction of approximately 8% per year in my Social Security benefit. How do Social Security cost-of-living adjustments factor into that reduction?My grandson wants to be added as an authorized user on my credit card to take advantage of my good credit score so he can get a lower interest rate on a car loan. Is that a wise decision?At what age am I required to start taking distributions from my 401(k)? Also, I have two family members—one with dementia and another recovering from a stroke. How can we protect their assets, such as their house and 401(k), if they need long-term care?Resources Mentioned:Faithful Steward: FaithFi's New Quarterly Magazine (Become a FaithFi Partner)Social Security Administration (SSA.gov)Wisdom Over Wealth: 12 Lessons from Ecclesiastes on MoneyLook At The Sparrows: A 21-Day Devotional on Financial Fear and AnxietyRich Toward God: A Study on the Parable of the Rich FoolFind a Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA) or Certified Christian Financial Counselor (CertCFC)FaithFi App Remember, you can call in to ask your questions most days at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on the Moody Radio Network and American Family Radio. Visit our website at FaithFi.com where you can join the FaithFi Community and give as we expand our outreach.

Además de GPO, otras megaempresas petroquímicas buscan instalarse en Bahía de Ohuira: César Hdez.Enlace para apoyar vía Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/julioastilleroEnlace para hacer donaciones vía PayPal:https://www.paypal.me/julioastilleroCuenta para hacer transferencias a cuenta BBVA a nombre de Julio Hernández López: 1539408017CLABE: 012 320 01539408017 2Tienda:https://julioastillerotienda.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You don't need to work longer; you just need a better plan. Schedule a peace of mind visit for your retirement planning with this link: https://calendly.com/charlesdzama/dzamatalk-complimentary-15-min-phone-call“The Social Security Fairness Act ensures fairness for public servants who planned wisely in their careers — they should never be penalized for planning well.”⌚ Timestamps0:00 – Introduction: What Is the Social Security Fairness Act?0:36 – Storytime: From VCRs and Blockbuster to Uncle Joe's Last Acts2:08 – What Were WEP & GPO and Why Did They Exist?3:24 – Who Was Impacted: CSRS, Teachers, Police, Fire, Railroad Employees5:10 – Real-Life Examples: Clients and Back Payments (e.g., “Patty P.”)11:52 – When Did It Take Effect? (January 1, 2025)12:14 – SERS Offset Cases: How They Were Finally Fixed13:25 – Real-Life Wins: Who Benefited and Why It Matters13:50 – Health Tip: Surround Yourself with Healthy Influences14:53 – Couples Who Sweat Together Stay Together—Working Out with Loved Ones19:07 – Closing Thoughts and How to Get More from CD FinancialConnect with CD Financial for More Insights:Twitter: /CDFinancial_LLCInstagram: /CDfinancial.llcFacebook: /CDFinancialLLCLinkedIn: /cd-financial-llc Visit our Website: https://cdfinancial.org/Subscribe and Stay Updated: Don't miss out on crucial advice for your financial journey. Subscribe now for weekly insights and strategies to secure your retirement.Get More from CD Financial: Looking for personalized advice? Schedule a consultation with Charles to tailor a plan that suits your unique financial situation: https://calendly.com/charlesdzama/dzamatalk-complimentary-15-min-phone-callAdvisory services are offered through CD Financial LLC dba CD Financial, an Investment Advisor in the State of California. Insurance products and services are offered through CD Financial & Insurance Services LLC, an affiliated company.Opinions expressed herein are solely those of CD Financial and our editorial staff. The information contained in this material has been derived from sources believed to be reliable but is not guaranteed as to accuracy and completeness and does not purport to be a complete analysis of the materials discussed. All information and ideas should be discussed in detail with your individual adviser prior to implementation.Support the show

Today I talk about a subject I love while also driving me crazy at the same time: building a pentest training course! Specifically, I dissect a fun/frustrating GPO attack that I need to build very carefully so that every student can pwn it while also not breaking the domain for everybody else. I also talk about how three different flavors of AI failed me in solving a simple task.

With the Social Security Fairness Act now in effect, significant changes are under way for retirement benefits. In a conversation with podcast host John P. Bryson, Brooke delves into the implications of eliminating the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and what the changes mean for current and future retirees. Here's a glimpse into the conversation.1 What is the Social Security Fairness Act?Brooke: The Social Security Fairness Act of 2025 repealed two controversial provisions that were a part of Social Security: the WEP and GPO. The Fairness Act was signed into law on January 5, 2025, by former U.S. President Joe Biden. Although it was signed into law in 2025, it is retroactive to January 1, 2024.2 What happens now that WEP and GPO have been eliminated?Brooke: Since these provisions were repealed, Social Security has been making one-time retroactive payments to individuals who previously received lower benefits. These payments cover amounts due from January 2024 to February 2025. Starting in April 2025, ongoing payments should reflect the new, higher amounts. However, it may take until November 2025 to fully process all retroactive payments.3 Who benefits from the Social Security Fairness Act?Brooke: Between three to four million people are affected by this change. This primarily affects individuals in a few states such as Texas, California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Ohio, Louisiana, Georgia, and Illinois.

*** Content warnings: Sexual assault, child abuse, child sexual abuse ***On Thursday, October 10 2013, passersby noticed a distraught-looking teenage girl, crying and shivering outside of Dublin's General Post Office building. When police officers approached the girl, she either couldn't, or wouldn't, talk. The mystery teenager – soon dubbed the GPO girl – was taken into care, and experts suspected that she was a victim of sex trafficking.When attempts to identify the GPO girl failed, Irish investigators went public with the case, not realising they were just dealing with just the tip of the iceberg in a crime spree that spanned continents.---Narration – Anonymous HostResearch & writing – Erin MunroCreative direction – Milly RasoProduction & music – Mike MigasAudio editing – Anthony TelferSign up for Casefile Premium:Apple PremiumSpotify PremiumPatreonFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-323-the-gpo-girl Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Defend the GPO and Save Moore St.There is widespread anger at the decision by the Irish government to convert the historic GPO in Dublin into shops and offices. Last Saturday hundreds gathered in O'Connell St. to protest at the government's plans for the GPO and for the Moore St. Battlefield site. Their demand is for the protection of the cultural and revolutionary heritage of this part of Dublin.Every nation that fought for its freedom from colonial rule - often from the British - has hallowed ground, the place where patriots made a stand against injustice and occupation. For the people of Ireland, the GPO is one such place.  It is the place where the revolutionary generation of the early 1900s declared for a Republic and where the Pearse read the Proclamation of that republic.Best International DocumentaryI spent the weekend in Galway and Mayo. The weather was amazing. The countryside with its miles of stone walls separating plots of land and the lush colours of green and rocky inclines was a joy to travel through.I was in Galway on Saturday to attend the Galway Film Festival/Fleadh where Trisha Ziff's film – A Ballymurphy Man - was receiving its world premiere. The cinema in the old Town Hall where the Festival is centred was packed to capacity for the screening. The audience was hugely attentive and very welcoming when Trisha and I went on the stage at the end of the screening to talk about the making of the documentary.A Week in the Life and Death of GAZAI first met Mustafa Barghouti in the west Bank in 2014. The General Secretary of the Palestine National Initiative is a physician, an activist, and is head of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society. He is also a member of the PLO and of the Palestinian Legislative Council. He advocates the use of non-violence and civil disobedience.In a few weeks' time, I hope to have the opportunity to interview Mustafa for a special podcast on the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.Each day Mustafa sends out a WhatsApp update on news from the region. The following is an edited daily diary for the week beginning Sunday 6 July to Sunday 13 July.

No Economic Block on Irish UnityIn recent years there have been encouraging signs of growing support for Irish unity in successive electoral results, demographic changes, contributions from civic society, in opinion polling and in public commentary. Unsurprisingly, any debate on unity quickly focuses on practical issues like the economic viability of a united Ireland as well as on the future of a health and care system, governance structures, education, the environment and other matters.Sinn Féin's Commission on the Future of Ireland recently held a successful conference examining the issue of health in a new Ireland and the party produced a widely welcomed health and care document looking to a future all-island model. It is available at  https://sinnfein.ie/the-case-for-an-irish-national-health-and-care-service/And now we have the report by Professor John Doyle of Dublin City University – ‘The Projected Public Finances of the Early Years of a United Ireland, and the Northern Ireland Subvention.' The report is the product of joint research by Dublin City University and Ulster University's Economic Policy Centre. It succeeds in cutting through much of the jargon associated with economics to present a cogent explanation of the economic benefits of a united Ireland.The Future of the GPOMicheál Martin's ten-year plan for the GPO site in Dublin is shameful. His effort to sell the plan as a flagship project for Dublin City Centre, that will protect the historic and cultural significance of the GPO, was described by the Irish Times as “vague and ill-defined.” Mary Lou McDonald and others have been much more vocal and direct in their condemnation of the government's plans. Martin's proposal, for example, that the upper floors of the GPO will be turned into office space, makes no sense when much of the available office space in central Dublin is currently unused and vacant.The reality is that the GPO holds a special place in the nation's soul. It may have been a Post Office for all of its two hundred years but it is more than just another of those Dublin buildings that reflect the capitals colonial past. It is acknowledged by generations of Irish people as the birthplace of the Republic, as envisaged in the Proclamation. For over one hundred years it has symbolised the hopes, aspirations and vision of that historic document and of the courage of the men and women who risked everything in April 1916.World Premier in Galway of ‘A Ballymurphy Man'This weekend I will be in Galway for the 37th annual international Galway Film Fleadh/Festival. The Fleadh runs for a week every July.  This year it's between 8 July and 13 July. It was established in 1989 as a place for Irish filmmakers to exhibit their work to their peers.  This year it will host World, International and Irish Premieres in the Town Hall Theatre and Pálás Cinema.It will feature 31 World Premieres, 11 International/European Premieres and 46 Irish Premieres from 44 countries, featuring 96 feature films in totalJoin the campaign to “Save the GPO”. Sign the petition which calls for the development of a 1916 Cultural Quarter in the area around the GPO, O'Connell Street and Moore Street and the implementation of the Moore Street Preservation Trust plan. We must fight to save the GPO together.Sign the petition here:

FUN HALF LINK HERE: https://youtube.com/live/qzCOCJJt2o4 It's News Day Tuesday! Sam and Emma speak with Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, to discuss President Biden signing the Social Security Fairness Act into law. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on the GOP's reconciliation fight, Trump's second certified election W, Merrick Garland's Jan 6th report, Fetterman's support for more right-wing legislation, Senate GOPers push for ICC sanctions, Virginia's special elections, CIA's surveillance of Latino activists, Rudy Giuliani's contempt of court, Guantanamo's prisoners, Zuckerberg's re-welcoming of misinformation back to Meta, and gender-affirming care data, before diving a little deeper into Big Tech's overwhelming capitulation to Donald Trump's regime, from Zuckerberg's Meta misinformation to Bezos' Washington Post censorship. Alex Lawson then joins, quickly running through the recent debates over social security – from the Trump-Musk push to cut it via the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to Biden's recent passage of the Social Security Fairness Act – before taking a major step back to the Reagan Administration as he walks through Reagan's sweeping WEP and GPO kneecaps to Social Security, serving to cut all benefits by 14% and completely carving teachers, police officers, and firefighters out of the system, respectively, and serving to bolster the rapid development of wealth inequality over the four decades since, helped all the while by the shift from defined-benefit pensions to defined-contribution 401ks. Jumping back to the modern day, Alex, Sam, and Emma unpack the attacks to be expected as Trump's DOGE takes over, from addressing supposed concerns about growing life expectancy – a development only affecting the wealthy – to attempts to make it more “profitable” by undercutting benefits rather than raising revenue, and tackling the unsurprising solution of simply lifting (or even eliminating) the income cap that prevents wealthy people from paying their fair share into the system. Wrapping up, they assess the overwhelming popularity of Social Security (outside of DC, of course), and what it will take to protect it. And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma parse through Trump's outlandish territory claims – from the Gulf of Mexico to Greenland – and the concerning motives that could be behind them, before diving deep into the GOP's ongoing reconciliation infighting, as Larry Kudlow presses Ted Cruz over the decision to keep it as one massive bill. They also unpack Hannity's malaise over recent attacks on the wealthy, Musk's relationship with Argentina's poverty-pusher Javier Milei, and Tim Pool's recent freakout over jailed January 6th defendants, plus, your calls and IMs! 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