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The CX leaders’ blueprint to winning over the CFO
As a CX leader, you clearly know how essential customer experience is to long-term business success. But knowing isn’t enough, especially when you’re seeking funding, headcount, or executive support.

To make real progress, you need more than a compelling narrative. You need a powerful business case. And that means speaking the language of your CFO.

Here’s the good news: bridging the gap between customer experience and finance is not only possible—it’s one of the smartest moves you can make.

Below are five reasons why every CX leader should build a strong partnership with their finance team:

The following post references our latest e-guide, “The CX Leader’s Guide to the CFO: A how-to workbook to build a finance-friendly CX business case”. To download the free e-guide, click here!

1. Strategic expertise that strengthens your program

Let’s be honest, most CX leaders aren’t financial experts. That’s okay. But to get your program funded and prioritized, you need alignment with company-wide strategy and budget realities.

That’s where the CFO comes in. A strong finance partner provides strategic guidance on where CX fits into broader business goals. They also help evaluate cost structures, frame the investment conversation, and align your CX program with key priorities like growth, risk management, and long-term value creation. According to McKinsey, companies that align customer experience with strategic priorities see 15–20% improvement in sales conversion rates and reduce churn.

Pro tip: Invite Finance into the planning phase of your next initiative, not just the pitch. Their input early on will help your program land better later.

2. New insights from familiar metrics

You might already track metrics like NPS or CSAT. But finance leaders think in terms of metrics like customer lifetime value (CLV), acquisition costs, or average recurring revenue (ARR).

By collaborating with your CFO, you’ll gain access to new layers of analysis that connect CX results to business impact. Want to prove your program reduces churn, increases retention, or drives revenue per customer? Finance has the data and tools to help you tell that story.

Bottom line: Better insights lead to better decisions and stronger top-line results.

3. Executive advocacy opens doors and broadens impact

In organizations without a Chief Experience Officer, having a CX-savvy CFO can be a game-changer.

Your CFO acts as a powerful advocate across the executive team, the board, and investors. When your finance team champions CX, it brings legitimacy, visibility, and urgency to your initiatives—and increases the likelihood that you’ll get the resources you need.

They can:
- Elevate CX in cross-functional discussions
- Help prioritize it within business-wide strategies
- Advocate for budget and technology investments
- Link CX efforts to enterprise goals and ROI
4. A culture that puts the customer first

It’s one thing to say your customer-centric—it’s another to show it at every level of the organization.

According to Forrester, customer-obsessed companies are 4x more likely to achieve 10%+ revenue growth year over year. Building that kind of culture starts with buy-in from the top, including the CFO.

When your finance team backs CX, it sends a strong signal to the rest of the business: the customer experience matters. This type of alignment helps everyone—from product to support to marketing—rally around delivering consistently excellent experiences.

5. Program (and job) security in tough times

Economic uncertainty. Budget scrutiny. Rising cost pressure. In challenging business environments, customer experience programs are often vulnerable to cuts, unless the CFO sees them as a source of long-term value.

A CFO who understands the ROI of CX is less likely to view it as a soft cost. Instead, they’ll advocate for protecting (or even expanding) CX budgets because they know the payoff: higher retention, stronger margins, and increased revenue.

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There’s never been a more important time to invest in customer experience—and right now is a critical moment for CX leaders to build the kind of business case that drives real investment and lasting impact.

Want to keep reading? Download “The CX Leader’s Guide to the CFO: A How-To Workbook to Build a Finance-Friendly CX Business Case”.

In this practical workbook, you’ll learn:
- Why aligning with Finance is essential to proving CX value
- How to translate CX metrics into financial outcomes
- What CFOs care about and how to speak their language
- 5 key financial KPIs every CX leader should understand
- A step-by-step framework to build a winning CX business case
Or if you want to see how Alchemer can help you build and scale your CX programs, checkout out some of our other resources or request a demo!
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29/05/2025
Stop Losing $500+ a Month — The Mistake Starts With a Missed Call
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
For many small business owners, the ringing phone is a lifeline. But what happens when it goes unanswered? According to a new survey by my company, Vida, 42% of SMBs estimate they lose at least $500 every month to missed calls.

That’s over $6,000 a year — vanishing without a trace. Yet despite growing awareness of the issue, only 22% have adopted AI-powered voice agents to help solve the problem.

What businesses are doing

When teams are stretched thin and customer demands keep growing, staying on top of inbound calls is tough, and usually means hiring more staff, which drives up costs. That’s where AI voice agents come in. These tools step in to fill customer service and sales gaps, ensuring every call is answered, common questions are addressed, and new opportunities aren’t missed.

Many SMBs are already putting AI voice agents to work, handling inbound sales, responding to support inquiries and even serving customers in their preferred language, extending accessibility without the need for additional hires.

Related: Is It Always PR’s Job to Make the Phone Ring?

Take Larry, for example, who runs an independent cleaning business. Before implementing an AI voice agent, Larry estimates he was missing 8-10 calls a week, often during jobs or after hours. Now, his AI agent books appointments, answers after-hours inquiries and provides updates to clients while his team is en route. He’s not only retaining more leads but also improving customer satisfaction simply by being available, even when he can’t pick up the phone.

AI voice agents also offer a major advantage when it comes to scaling a business. Whether it’s a seasonal surge or a promotional push, automation helps absorb spikes in call volume so staff can stay focused on more complex tasks.

And it pays off — according to a global study by Qualtrics, customers who have a 5-star experience are 3 times more likely to recommend a business.

Overcoming misconceptions

Adoption still lags in part because many business owners associate AI voice agents with the clunky, robotic systems of the past, or feel overwhelmed by the idea of implementing them. There’s also a lingering concern that customers will reject automation.

But the reality? Most customers don’t care how they get help, as long as they get it quickly and accurately. Today’s AI tools sound natural, respond dynamically and work seamlessly alongside your team.

Actually, Zendesk reports that 59% of consumers expect generative AI to change how they interact with companies within the next two years, highlighting just how quickly customer expectations are shifting.

And the results speak for themselves. With the right setup, AI voice agents quickly go from a “nice to have” to a critical part of the team.

How to get started

Bringing AI voice agents into your business doesn’t require a massive overhaul. In fact, the most effective implementations start small and scale up:
- Start small. Focus on high-volume, low-complexity tasks like scheduling appointments, qualifying leads or answering FAQs.
- Train your team. Help employees understand how to work with the AI agent, not against it.
- Scale gradually. As confidence builds, expand the agent’s responsibilities to include other repetitive or time-consuming tasks.
- Track and optimize. Monitor performance, gather insights and adjust workflows to improve outcomes over time.
Getting started is easier than many business owners expect. Today’s AI voice agents are built to plug into existing systems, whether a CRM, calendar or phone platform, making the transition minimally disruptive and requiring no technical expertise. Some solutions even allow business owners to simply forward calls to the AI agent.

For business owners like Larry, setup took just minutes. He provided a bit of background, shared a few of his existing marketing materials and FAQ documents to help train the system, and the AI agent was ready to go. Now, it effortlessly handles appointment bookings, inquiries and client updates. And because these agents are adaptive, they learn and improve over time, creating more value the longer they’re in use.

According to Vida’s SMB AI Voice Agent Adoption & Impact Survey, 97% of businesses already using AI voice agents reported increased revenue. Another 82% saw stronger customer engagement, and 80% saved five or more hours each week, time that can be reinvested into higher-value work.

Related: How to Turn Your Key Employees Into Your Business Successors (and Avoid the Headache of Outside Buyers)

Why it matters

AI voice agents are becoming a strategic necessity for SMBs aiming to stay responsive and competitive. As more companies embrace digital tools, those who stay complacent risk falling behind. Small slips like a missed call might seem minor, but over time, they lead to lost revenue, missed connections and stalled growth. Forward-thinking businesses go beyond streamlining operations; they embrace intelligent systems that evolve alongside customer needs and technological change.

In a world where speed, personalization and 24/7 availability are becoming the norm, AI voice agents help SMBs make every call count. Every missed call is a missed opportunity, one that your competitors may be ready to catch. Fortunately, staying competitive doesn’t require a full operational overhaul. It starts with taking one smart step forward.

And with the right AI voice agent in place, businesses can become more responsive, more reliable and more profitable, without burning out their teams or breaking the bank. The difference between a missed call and a booked customer is often just a few seconds. AI voice agents help you win those moments — and in business, moments matter.
For many small business owners, the ringing phone is a lifeline. But what happens when it goes unanswered? According to a new survey by my company, Vida, 42% of SMBs estimate they lose at least $500 every month to missed calls.

That’s over $6,000 a year — vanishing without a trace. Yet despite growing awareness of the issue, only 22% have adopted AI-powered voice agents to help solve the problem.

What businesses are doing

The rest of this article is locked.

Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

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28/05/2025
5 Best Games to Play Over the Long Weekend

Many iOS games are designed for quick action gameplay that is best suited for the few spare moments in your day. There is a small subset of games that can be played for hours on end. In fact, these games are ones that you set aside time to play to truly savor.

Death Road to Canada

Get ready to do whatever you can to survive a road like no other. The game begins by letting you team up, and then its off to your destination. Along the way, you will run into other bands of survivors, car troubles, and of course zombies. Your crew will need to scavenge for resources, battle back zombies, and face the consequences of a crisis in psyche due to the trying circumstances.

The game does a great job of balancing variety, challenge, and humor. You will die often, but the game still entices you to retry to make it to your destination. There are multiple ways to change how you play to survive as long as you can. The game is filled with different circumstances and situations to contend with along the death road.

Get Death Road to Canada in the App Store

Kalimba

Kalimba has players controlling two characters at the same time to help restore light to the island. Are you up to the task in this beautiful puzzle platformer?

Visually, Kalimba is gorgeous. The game features an aesthetically pleasing minimalist design that is full of geometric shapes that come to life. Everything is rendered in 2-D with bright and vibrant colors and amazing textures. The totems and narrator have distinctive appearances so it’s always easy to tell each character apart from one another. Environments dynamically change once the toggles get activated, and it’s all done in a seamless transition that’s rather mesmerizing with particle effects.

Animations in Kalimba are buttery smooth and fluid, with zero lag on my iPhone 7. There’s also voice acting through the narration, and it’s incredibly well done. A quirky soundtrack plays in the background, which fits in with the overall quirky theme of the game. Overall, Kalimba is beautifully designed inside and out in terms of visual and audio.

Get Kalimba™ in the App Store

Thimbleweed Park

Thimbleweed Park is a point-and-click adventure game that’s dark, mysterious, and packed full of humor.

The classic style of point and click adventure games of the past like Secret of Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, and others are on full display in Thimbleweed Park. You get to play as two FBI Agents who are faced with a small town murder to solve. There are numerous quirky characters to interact with as you play through a storyline that is about a dozen hours.

Get Thimbleweed Park in the App Store

Cat Quest

Cat Quest is a fantastic open world RPG dungeon crawler that’s filled with dragons, cats, and epic loot.

Since Cat Quest is an adventure game at heart, players discover and unravel the story of a cat hero who carries the mark of the “Dragonblood” on his head. Once the premise of the plot is revealed, you’ll embark on a journey of getting strong enough to defeat the dragons. All of your traveling is done on the overworld, as well as combat. Villages and NPCs reveal themselves to you as the story unfolds. Everything is told through quests, whether they’re main quests relating to the story, or side quests that you can do for experience, loot, and rewards.

The biggest draw of Cat Quest is the fact that everything is done in real-time, so there’s no waiting around. As you move around on the overworld, you’ll see enemies scurrying about around you. You can engage in combat with them on the overworld, or just avoid them altogether if they’re too tough.

Get Cat Quest in the App Store

Space Marshals 2

Space Marshals 2 is the sequel to the original Space Marshals. It’s an immersive tactical combat stealth game where you lay down the law.

The sequel continues the style of the original with a top down shooter adventure that gives you dual stick controls, and a story based adventure to play through. Both editions emphasize tactical combat to allow you to take out enemies from behind with stealth, as well as flank enemies and take cover. The new version seems to have more happening at once, and yet it’s easier to manage all that’s going on. Space Marshals 2 presents relatively expansive mission maps with numerous pockets of enemies. There are also blockades, transitions, and bosses to contend with across the 20 deluxe missions.

Space Marshals 2 is beautiful and packs in a ton of action. You’ll have a hard time putting this one down once you get going.

Get Space Marshals 2 in the App Store

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23/05/2025
The Old Man and the iPhone

Our modern conveniences are exhaustingly inconvenient.

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23/05/2025
Android Developers Blog: Updates to the Android XR SDK: Introducing Developer Preview 2

Posted by Matthew McCullough – VP of Product Management, Android Developer

Since launching the Android XR SDK Developer Preview alongside Samsung, Qualcomm, and Unity last year, we’ve been blown away by all of the excitement we’ve been hearing from the broader Android community. Whether it’s through coding live-streams or local Google Developer Group talks, it’s been an outstanding experience participating in the community to build the future of XR together, and we’re just getting started.

Today we’re excited to share an update to the Android XR SDK: Developer Preview 2, packed with new features and improvements to help you develop helpful and delightful immersive experiences with familiar Android APIs, tools and open standards created for XR.

At Google I/O, we have two technical sessions related to Android XR. The first is Building differentiated apps for Android XR with 3D content, which covers many features present in Jetpack SceneCore and ARCore for Jetpack XR. The future is now, with Compose and AI on Android XR covers creating XR-differentiated UI and our vision on the intersection of XR with cutting-edge AI capabilities.

Building differentiated apps for Android XR with 3D content and The future is now, with Compose and AI on Android XR

What’s new in Developer Preview 2

Since the release of Developer Preview 1, we’ve been focused on making the APIs easier to use and adding new immersive Android XR features. Your feedback has helped us shape the development of the tools, SDKs, and the platform itself.

With the Jetpack XR SDK, you can now play back 180° and 360° videos, which can be stereoscopic by encoding with the MV-HEVC specification or by encoding view-frames adjacently. The MV-HEVC standard is optimized and designed for stereoscopic video, allowing your app to efficiently play back immersive videos at great quality. Apps built with Jetpack Compose for XR can use the SpatialExternalSurface composable to render media, including stereoscopic videos.

Using Jetpack Compose for XR, you can now also define layouts that adapt to different XR display configurations. For example, use a SubspaceModifier to specify the size of a Subspace as a percentage of the device’s recommended viewing size, so a panel effortlessly fills the space it’s positioned in.

Material Design for XR now supports more component overrides for TopAppBar, AlertDialog, and ListDetailPaneScaffold, helping your large-screen enabled apps that use Material Design effortlessly adapt to the new world of XR.

An app adapts to XR using Material Design for XR with the new component overrides

In ARCore for Jetpack XR, you can now track hands after requesting the appropriate permissions. Hands are a collection of 26 posed hand joints that can be used to detect hand gestures and bring a whole new level of interaction to your Android XR apps:

Hands bring a natural input method to your Android XR experience.

For more guidance on developing apps for Android XR, check out our Android XR Fundamentals codelab, the updates to our Hello Android XR sample project, and a new version of JetStream with Android XR support.

The Android XR Emulator has also received updates to stability, support for AMD GPUs, and is now fully integrated within the Android Studio UI.

The Android XR Emulator is now integrated in Android Studio

Developers using Unity have already successfully created and ported existing games and apps to Android XR. Today, you can upgrade to the Pre-Release version 2 of the Unity OpenXR: Android XR package! This update adds many performance improvements such as support for Dynamic Refresh Rate, which optimizes your app’s performance and power consumption. Shaders made with Shader Graph now support SpaceWarp, making it easier to use SpaceWarp to reduce compute load on the device. Hand meshes are now exposed with occlusion, which enables realistic hand visualization.

Check out Unity’s improved Mixed Reality template for Android XR, which now includes support for occlusion and persistent anchors.

We recently launched Android XR Samples for Unity, which demonstrate capabilities on the Android XR platform such as hand tracking, plane tracking, face tracking, and passthrough.

Google’s open-source Unity samples demonstrate platform features and show how they’re implemented

The Firebase AI Logic for Unity is now in public preview! This makes it easy for you to integrate gen AI into your apps, enabling the creation of AI-powered experiences with Gemini and Android XR. The Firebase AI Logic fully supports Gemini’s capabilities, including multimodal input and output, and bi-directional streaming for immersive conversational interfaces. Built with production readiness in mind, Firebase AI Logic is integrated with core Firebase services like App Check, Remote Config, and Cloud Storage for enhanced security, configurability, and data management. Learn more about this on the Firebase blog or go straight to the Gemini API using Vertex AI in Firebase SDK documentation to get started.

Continuing to build the future together

Our commitment to open standards continues with the glTF Interactivity specification, in collaboration with the Khronos Group. which will be supported in glTF models rendered by Jetpack XR later this year. Models using the glTF Interactivity specification are self-contained interactive assets that can have many pre-programmed behaviors, like rotating objects on a button press or changing the color of a material over time.

Android XR will be available first on Samsung’s Project Moohan, launching later this year. Soon after, our partners at XREAL will release the next Android XR device. Codenamed Project Aura, it’s a portable and tethered device that gives users access to their favorite Android apps, including those that have been built for XR. It will launch as a developer edition, specifically for you to begin creating and experimenting. The best news? With the familiar tools you use to build Android apps today, you can build for these devices too.

XREAL’s Project Aura

The Google Play Store is also getting ready for Android XR. It will list supported 2D Android apps on the Android XR Play Store when it launches later this year. If you are working on an Android XR differentiated app, you can get it ready for the big launch and be one of the first differentiated apps on the Android XR Play Store:

And we know many of you are excited for the future of Android XR on glasses. We are shaping the developer experience now and will share more details on how you can participate later this year.

To get started creating and developing for Android XR, check out developer.android.com/develop/xr where you will find all of the tools, libraries, and resources you need to work with the Android XR SDK. In particular, try out our samples and codelabs.

We welcome your feedback, suggestions, and ideas as you’re helping shape Android XR. Your passion, expertise, and bold ideas are vital as we continue to develop Android XR together. We look forward to seeing your XR-differentiated apps when Android XR devices launch later this year!

Explore this announcement and all Google I/O 2025 updates on io.google starting May 22.

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21/05/2025
Adventure and Elevators Come Together in The Valley of the Architects

You’ll follow writer Liz as she journeys through Africa to find the secrets of the lost architect. Challenges are ahead as you’ll only be able to use elevators to make your way through the trials and completely the test that the architect left for you.

Going through those will help you find the true story lying below.

Each level in the game is a page in Liz’s latest article, narrated by her to give the game a personal perspective.

The game features easy control by the puzzles are worth your time and will keep you engaged. There are beautiful dioramas in each level. And as you progress through the level, the score reacts to what’s happening.

The Valley of the Architects is a $3.99 download on the App Store. It’s for the iPhone and all iPad models.

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16/05/2025
What the Changes in Apple’s App Store Mean for iPhone Users

A federal judge created a path for app makers like Spotify and Patreon to avoid paying Apple hefty commissions. Is this a win for consumers? It’s complicated.

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16/05/2025
The Secrets to Success for Alexander’s Patisserie
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
On a busy Saturday afternoon in Mountain View, California, the line at Alexander’s Patisserie — a pastry shop known for its precision and innovation — can stretch out the door. Customers eye a display case of delicacies, from black sesame croissants to more than 20 flavors of macarons. It’s easy to assume the appeal is in the presentation, but beneath the patisserie’s viral popularity is an authentic story: one of team leadership, craftsmanship and a dedication to continuous improvement.

Central to this story is Shuyao Cao, better known as Chef Shu. As the pastry chef behind the Alexander’s menu, she leads with creativity and intention, uniting the business with a collaborative spirit.

Related: Want to Work With Influencers? Here’s What Small Business Owners Need to Know.

“I feel like our whole team, everyone has their own talents,” Cao says. “Each one of them is unique, and I take the string from them, and then I put it together. I can’t come up with [the brunch menu] all by myself.”

The team dynamic is evident from the moment customers walk in the door. Whether staff are managing a packed tea service or catching up with regulars, the atmosphere is warm and welcoming. David Brungard, vice president of operations for Alexander’s Group Corporate, says Cao’s leadership has helped make this work environment possible.

“[Chef Shu] earned every single person’s respect, including the dishwasher, because she does everything,” Brungard says. “She cleans the walk-in, makes the croissants, comes up with ideas and walks around to taste stuff. She makes family meals for our employees so that when they come to work, [they don’t have to eat pastries all day].”

According to Brungard, Cao’s hands-on leadership style has fostered a workplace culture built on trust and appreciation: “The level of quality in your life depends a lot on how you feel when you are at work, and [Chef Shu] knows how to make everyone in our team feel valued,” he says.

Related: 5 Secrets to Success From a Sustainable Business That’s Grown 95% in 3 Years

One of the patisserie’s most talked-about menu items — the famous flat croissant — wasn’t even for customers at first. “I wanted to try it because it went viral in my Asian area,” Cao says. “I wanted to taste it myself, so I made one at the patisserie, and the front and the back of the house really enjoyed it. So I said, ‘Let’s put it on the menu.’”

Since then, Cao’s flat croissants have become a fan favorite, driving traffic in-person and on social media. But trending pastries are only responsible for a portion of the patisserie’s success. What keeps Alexander’s relevant is its commitment to adaptation through customer feedback.

“ We see how customers react and how much we sell every day,” Cao says. “We see how people react on the internet, too. I read every review the customer leaves me, and I mean it. I take opinions, and then I let the whole team taste it. Even [Brungard], when he comes, I pull him.”

For Brungard, reviews function as both valuable feedback and a celebration of the team’s efforts: “When they mention an employee by name in a raving review, it makes me super happy because they deserve the credit,” he says. “I love it when the public recognizes their hard work. And then when they don’t, I take it on. That’s what I’m here for.”

Part of Alexander’s staying power comes from thoughtful sourcing that spares no expense for quality. “We use chocolate imported from France… the best chocolate in the world,” Cao says. “We make sure we use an AOP butter for our croissant. AOP butter is super expensive, and only one region of France makes it.”

And when specialty ingredients aren’t available through traditional vendors, Cao gets creative. “Sometimes I find matcha powder [or] the best sesame paste brand in the supermarket or the Chinese grocery store,” she says. “I can pick out different stuff for myself and then ask my sales guy if he can find me a bulk item.”

Related: How This North Carolina Lawn Care Company Earns Customer Loyalty

From recipe tasting to fixing kitchen equipment, Cao and Brungard run operations like clockwork, but always with heart. “Part of our meeting is to talk about new products, reviews, what’s broken in the kitchen,” Brungard says. “How can I fix it? How can I give you what you need to be successful?”

This behind-the-scenes support reinforces a company-wide policy: Take care of the team, and they’ll take care of the guest.

Ultimately, Alexander’s success comes from the patisserie staying true to its values. Thoughtful leadership and room for experimentation allow the team to chase their passions, resulting in a sweeter experience for the guests. “When you put love into something, it reverberates into the world,” Brungard says.

Consider Alexander’s Patisserie’s guiding principles for creating a thoughtful experience for both customers and staff:
- Lead from within. Respect is earned. Set the tone by working alongside the team and staying hands-on in the operation.
- Innovate with intention. Let curiosity, creativity and customer feedback drive your menu changes, rather than trends alone.
- Feedback helps you pivot and grow. Read and discuss every review to identify areas for refinement and improvement.
- Quality begins with sourcing. Whether it’s imported French butter or the perfect sesame paste, sourcing should be deliberate and can help your business align with its (and customers’) values.
- Culture is the secret ingredient. A welcoming team translates into a positive guest interaction. When your team feels supported, the entire operation succeeds.
Related: She Runs a James Beard Award-Nominated Restaurant. Here’s Her 2-Step Process for Hiring the Best Employees.

Listen to the episode below to hear directly from Cao and Brungard, and subscribe to Behind the Review for more from new business owners and reviewers every Thursday.

Editorial contributions by Alex Miranda and Kristi Lindahl

This article is part of our ongoing America’s Favorite Mom & Pop Shops™ series highlighting family-owned and operated businesses
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14/05/2025
Android Developers Blog: The Android Show: I/O Edition
Posted by Matthew McCullough – Vice President, Product Management, Android Developer

We just dropped an I/O Edition of The Android Show, where we unpacked exciting new experiences coming to the Android ecosystem: a fresh and dynamic look and feel, smarts across your devices, and enhanced safety and security features. Join Sameer Samat, President of Android Ecosystem, and the Android team to learn about exciting new development in the episode below, and read about all of the updates for users.

Tune into Google I/O next week – including the Developer Keynote as well as the full Android track of sessions – where we’re covering these topics in more detail and how you can get started.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3yDd3CmA_Y

Start building with Material 3 Expressive

The world of UX design is constantly evolving, and you deserve the tools to create truly engaging and impactful experiences. That’s why Material Design’s latest evolution, Material 3 Expressive, provides new ways to make your product more engaging, easy to use, and desirable. Learn more, and try out the new Material 3 Expressive: an expansion pack designed to enhance your app’s appeal by harnessing emotional UX, making it more engaging, intuitive, and desirable for users. It comes with new components, motion-physics system, type styles, colors, shapes and more.

Material 3 Expressive will be coming to Android 16 later this year; check out the Google I/O talk next week where we’ll dive into this in more detail.

A fluid design built for your watch’s round display

Wear OS 6, arriving later this year, brings Material 3 Expressive design to Google’s smartwatch platform. New design language puts the round watch display at the heart of the experience, and is embraced in every single component and motion of the System, from buttons to notifications. You’ll be able to try new visual design and upgrade existing app experiences to a new level. Next week, tune in to the What’s New in Android session to learn more.

Plus some goodies in Android 16…

We also unpacked some of the latest features coming to users in Android 16, which we’ve been previewing with you for the last few months. If you haven’t already, you can try out the latest Beta of Android 16.

A few new features that Android 16 adds which developers should pay attention to are Live updates, professional media and camera features, desktop windowing for tablets, major accessibility enhancements and much more:
Watch the What’s New in Android session and the Live updates talk to learn more.

Tune in next week to Google I/O

This was just a preview of some Android-related news, so remember to tune in next week to Google I/O, where we’ll be diving into a range of Android developer topics in a lot more detail. You can check out What’s New in Android and the full Android track of sessions to start planning your time.

We can’t wait to see you next week, whether you’re joining in person or virtually from anywhere around the world!
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13/05/2025
Insider Tips for the 2025 National Restaurant Show

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Every year, thousands of chefs, founders, franchisees, operators and suppliers walk into the National Restaurant Show in Chicago looking for solutions and leave feeling something more powerful: inspired.

Lisa Malikow, senior vice president of the National Restaurant Show (taking place this year on May 17-20 in Chicago), has been attending since 2009 and has played a key role in expanding the event into one of the largest food service gatherings in the world.

The show has grown from two buildings to three, now covering more than 700,000 square feet, roughly the size of 12 football fields, and features over 2,200 exhibitors and 55,000 attendees from around the globe.

They come for new tech, better equipment and smarter systems. But what often surprises first-time attendees is the sense of community and momentum they find just walking the floor.

“I hear it every year,” Malikow tells Shawn Walchef of Cali BBQ Media, a regular attendee and content creator at the show. “They arrive with a plan, but they leave with ideas they didn’t even know they needed.”

Related: How a Spot on ‘The Montel Williams Show’ Sparked a Restaurant Power Brand for This Miami Chef

One-third of the vendors are new each year, ensuring the show stays fresh and future-focused. From real estate consultants to flavor scientists, back-of-house tech to beverage demos, the show is curated to reflect every layer of the modern hospitality world.

“We don’t segment the show floor too tightly,” Malikow says. “We want it to feel like exploration.”

Technology plays a massive role across every corner of the experience. The Kitchen Innovations program, now in its 21st year, showcases equipment powered not just by hardware but by smart software and real-time analytics.

“It’s not just about machines anymore,” Malikow explains. “It’s about how those machines are integrated, connected and helping kitchens run smarter.”

Even on the busiest days, Malikow carves out time to walk the floor, observe how people interact with the booths and hear what excites them. “There’s an energy that builds when this many people in hospitality come together,” she says. “You feel it. And that feeling is why they keep coming back.”

Related: A Loyal Customer Asked Him to Cater One Event. Now, He Runs More Than 1,000 a Year.

Restaurant Show tips

If you’re heading to the National Restaurant Show like we are with a long to-do list, that’s good. Just don’t get too attached to it.

The people who get the most out of the show know the real magic isn’t always planned. “The best moments are the ones you didn’t even know you needed,” Malikow says. “People show up thinking they’re just solving a problem, but they leave with ideas that reshape their business.”

Preparation doesn’t just happen on the show floor. Malikow says some of the most effective operators start their strategy before they ever walk in. “The Show To Go app is where it begins,” she explains. “It’s your digital storefront. Attendees are searching before they show up, so if your profile is strong, you’re already on their radar.”

She recommends every attendee download the app ahead of time. “It helps you map out your day, keep track of who you want to see and make sure you don’t miss something important,” she says. “With so much going on, it’s your guide to staying focused.”

Once you’re inside, it’s a good idea to shift gears. “Think about how you can explore something that’s not already on your radar,” Malikow says. That might mean stepping into a panel on marketing to multiple generations, or catching a demo on how smart kitchens are using AI without losing soul.

“There’s a lot of content that’s designed to help operators see what’s possible, not just what’s next,” she explains. Whether it’s rethinking a loyalty program or hearing how another operator solved a problem you’re facing, “the most valuable insights are often the ones you didn’t come looking for.”

The educational sessions are where a lot of those unexpected light bulb moments happen. “We cover everything from branding and storytelling to operations and menu development,” says Malikow. “The content is built to meet people where they are, whether you’re just getting started or scaling.”

She’s quick to point out that you don’t need to fill your schedule to get something out of it. “You don’t have to attend everything,” she says. “But pick one session that makes you a little uncomfortable. That’s usually the one that sticks.”

For Malikow, the real value of the show isn’t just what’s on stage. It’s the crowd. “Everyone here is trying to solve something,” she says. “That energy is contagious. And sometimes the best ideas come from a conversation you weren’t planning to have.”

So walk the floor, follow your curiosity and talk to people. “This industry is built on connection,” she adds. “You never know what’s going to change your path.”

Related: This ‘Chopped’ Champ Beat Cancer 6 Times, Lost Nearly 200 Pounds and Found Power in Presence

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Every year, thousands of chefs, founders, franchisees, operators and suppliers walk into the National Restaurant Show in Chicago looking for solutions and leave feeling something more powerful: inspired.

Lisa Malikow, senior vice president of the National Restaurant Show (taking place this year on May 17-20 in Chicago), has been attending since 2009 and has played a key role in expanding the event into one of the largest food service gatherings in the world.

The show has grown from two buildings to three, now covering more than 700,000 square feet, roughly the size of 12 football fields, and features over 2,200 exhibitors and 55,000 attendees from around the globe.

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13/05/2025