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In the acting races, unexpected wins for the likes of Demi Moore, Fernanda Torres and Sebastian Stan produced some of the most heartfelt speeches of the night. Both poignant and relatable, Moore spoke movingly about her career struggles over more than 30 years, The award for “cinematic and box office achievement” debuted in 2024, and it was, unsurprisingly, given to “Wicked.” The official criteria is that it is the “most acclaimed, highest-earning and/or most viewed” feature. For an ostensibly glamorous ceremony, the show itself looked terrible onscreen. Presenters were filmed awfully close up, giving everything a harsh and casual vibe.

Big Tech stocks led this year’s rally, pushing the Nasdaq to a yearly gain of 28.6%. The Dow, which is far less weighted with tech, rose 12.9% for the year. The stock market’s record-breaking turn in 2024 was certainly much better that what most people on Wall Street predicted. U.S. markets’ stellar run was driven by a growing economy, solid consumer spending and a strong jobs market. Skyrocketing prices for companies in the artificial-intelligence business, such as Nvidia and Super Micro Computer, helped lift the market to new heights. Solid corporate earnings growth also helped. Wall Street expects companies in the S&P 500 to report broad earnings growth of more than 9% for the year.

When self-checkout kiosks began to pop up in American grocery stores, the sales pitch to shoppers was impressive: Scan your stuff, plunk it in a bag, and you’re done. Long checkout lines would disappear. Small talk with cashiers would be a thing of the past. Store associates, freed from the drudgery of scanning barcodes, would be close at hand to answer your questions. Didn't happen! You still have to wait in line. The checkout kiosks bleat and flash when you fail to set a purchase down in the right spot. Scanning those items is sometimes a crapshoot—wave a barcode too vigorously in front of an uncooperative machine, and suddenly you’ve scanned it two or three times. [More]

The biggest change coming in 2025 is a new $2,000 cap on annual out-of-pocket prescription drug expenses, which will help an estimated 3.2 million people in Medicare prescription drug plans save money on their covered medications next year, a recent report from AARP shows. Part D enrollees who reach the cap will save an average of $1,500 in 2025, and some will see savings of $3,000 or more. The new $2,000 cap — a provision in the AARP-backed prescription drug law signed in 2022 — takes effect Jan. 1 and will be adjusted each year along with the other parts of the Part D benefit. [Read about other significant changes]