Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

There is no bad seat at Cercle Odyssey. In fact, there are no seats. Within the rectangular structure, screens project an art film inspired by Homer’s Odyssey, made especially for the concert. In the center of the space, world-famous electronic musicians—from Moby to Black Coffee—perform for a crowd of 5,000 fans. As the world’s first 360-degree immersive concert installation, it’s a FOMO-inducing Instagram story waiting to happen. Thing is, phones aren’t allowed inside (they’re secured in pouches at check-in). Instead, there’s no choice other than to be present. Cercle Odyssey is the latest project from Cercle, a French company known for producing livestream DJ sets …

The cost of a multistep skincare routine can quickly add up. But have you ever wondered what would happen if you simply stopped? This weekend, a TikTok creator went viral for discussing her controversial “Caveman Method,” which she claims is helping restore her skin barrier after years of picking at her skin. In a video that has since racked up nearly 10 million views, Tia Zakher announced she had cut out everything from her beauty routine—even water. “What you are seeing is dead skin that’s going to flake off eventually while healthy skin forms underneath,” she posted in response to questions about the texture on her face. In a separate video, she explain…

Imagine living in a house with the latest smart home system: lights dim on voice command, your thermostat learns your schedule, your refrigerator orders milk before the carton runs out. It’s practical yet delightful. It improves your daily life. Now imagine that same house built on shaky foundations: the electric wiring is aging, and the plumbing is rotting. No matter how advanced your devices are the structure won’t support them reliably. That’s the difference between AI and blockchain. AI is the smart tech; blockchain is the well-designed infrastructure that ensures everything works reliably, predictably, and with integrity. Similar to how a home needs both …

Tech founder and provocateur Travis Kalanick made millions betting on key parts of the young adult lifestyle with Uber (transportation) and dining (ghost kitchen startup CloudKitchens). Can he hit a trifecta with a bet on tech-focused, community-driven apartments? Kalanick has partnered with Oliver Ripley, founder of the luxury hospitality company Habitas, to launch Sekra, a bid to tackle the massive multifamily housing market with a firm that will focus on building and managing upscale rental apartments. It’s a market that’s sure to grow: Ripley estimates 80% of people younger than 40 globally rent, and that’s only going to increase as stubborn housing affordability…

It’s been more than half a century since it became more common to ship freight in trucks than by train. But when one company decided to start selling its product in the New York City market, it built its own new rail terminal to avoid the cost and emissions of trucking. “A truck is not an efficient way to take these types of materials long distance,” says Grant Quasha, CEO of Eco Material Technologies. The company makes supplementary cementitious material or SCM, a component added to concrete to make it stronger and longer-lasting. The material is made from fly ash, a type of waste produced from coal plants that the company sources from landfills at locations througho…

Roughly half a mile behind the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Ariel’s Grotto in Walt Disney World sits a nondescript cement warehouse with the words “the can-do people” written on the outside. Should tourists somehow get lost in that corner, located just outside the Magic Kingdom, it’s a place they would never pay attention to. What they might never imagine, however, is that generic building is the lynchpin of the Disney experience. Welcome to Central Shops, a rarely spoken part of Disney that’s off-limits to visitors and most of the company’s cast members (Disney’s term for its employees). It’s ground zero for Disney World’s ride safety and an essential part of park ope…

The behavioral health sector is at a crossroads. The landscape is shifting rapidly, and for many, it feels harder than ever to plan. The One Big Beautiful Bill is a sweeping piece of legislation that redefines Medicaid eligibility and coincides with a broader restructuring of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the The President administration. Combined, these changes have introduced new questions about sustainability, staffing, and service delivery. While some details are still in flux, the direction is crystal clear: Providers will need to adapt. To help make sense of what’s changing, I recently joined a discussion with Chuck Ingoglia, C…

We’ve all heard the saying, “When you change the incentives, you change the behavior,” and most of us even believed it at some point. But with experience, you find that human behavior doesn’t fit into such neat little boxes. People act the way they do for all kinds of reasons, some of them rational, some of them not. The truth is that incentives often backfire because of something called Goodhart’s law. Once we target something to incentivize, it ceases to be a good target. A classic example occurred when the British offered bounties for dead cobras in India. Instead of hunting cobras, people started breeding them which, needless to say, didn’t solve the problem. …

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. For years, famed restaurateur Danny Meyer has wanted to reinvent the way diners pay their bills. He’s dreamed of a world in which patrons can pay for their meals and simply walk out of an eatery without asking and waiting for the check. Meyer’s vision for frictionless payments found its…

When disasters happen—such as hurricanes, wildfires, and earthquakes—every second counts. Emergency teams need to find people fast, send help and stay organized. In today’s world, one of the fastest ways to get information is through social media. In recent years, researchers have explored how artificial intelligence can use social media to help during emergencies. These programs can scan millions of posts on sites such as X, Facebook, and Instagram. However, most existing systems look for simple patterns like keywords or images of damage. In my research as an AI scientist, I’ve developed new models that go further. They can understand the meaning and context of p…

Shares in coffee giant Starbucks Corporation (Nasdaq: SBUX) are down significantly in premarket trading this morning after the chain announced its Q2 2025 earnings results yesterday after the bell. Those results were described as “disappointing” by Starbucks’s own CEO, Brian Niccol, and demonstrate that the company’s turnaround efforts still have a long way to go. Here’s the latest on Starbucks and what has investors nervous: Starbucks Q2 2025 results below expectations In January of this year, Starbucks announced its Q1 2025 earnings, in which it beat Wall Street expectations—a small win for the company and for Niccol, who joined as CEO from Chipotle Mexican …

From the outside, it looks like a generational standoff. Baby boomers are retiring earlier than expected, frustrated by workplace change, technology shifts, and growing tension with younger colleagues. At the same time, Gen Z talks openly about quitting jobs that feel misaligned or draining. Many leaders interpret this as a clash of values. Older workers cannot adapt. Younger workers lack commitment. The data tells a more complicated story. New research from Clari and Salesloft, conducted in partnership with Workplace Intelligence, surveyed 2,000 U.S. sellers and sales leaders across industries. The study found that 19% of baby boomers are planning to retire early…

Disney’s 1951 animated film Alice in Wonderland taught audiences that “you can learn a lot of things from the flowers.” But the movie never mentioned the full moon named after those springtime sensations. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, a celestial phenomenon called the “Flower Moon” occurs today, and despite being “micro,” it is still a sight to behold. Let’s take a deeper look into what all these names mean, and when you can see this “full flower micromoon.” Why is the May full moon tonight called the ‘Flower Moon’? The Old Farmer’s Almanac shares popular names given to each month’s full moons. Many of these monikers are based in Native American tradit…

Is a side hustle really the only thing separating you from the life you desire? Listening to some influencers on social media could certainly have you thinking so. Side hustles encompass a range of self-directed entrepreneurial activities undertaken while also working a job. For young people with limited access to capital, they’re the most accessible opportunity to engage in entrepreneurship. Yet, we still know very little about who takes them on and why, and what kind of impact they have on working life in economies like Australia. Our new report, Side Hustles: How Young People Are Redefining Work, presents the first wave of findings from an ongoing three-yea…

Jack in the Box announced Wednesday that it will close between 150 and 200 underperforming restaurants as part of a broad restructuring effort, with approximately 80 to 120 restaurants shuttering by December 31, 2025. The remainder will close over time, based on the termination dates of their respective franchise agreements. Fast Company reached out to Jack in the Box for a list of locations it will be closing, but did not hear back by time of publishing. The initiative is part of the company’s “JACK on Track” strategy—a comprehensive plan aimed at improving long-term financial performance across its restaurant system, strengthening its balance sheet, and reaffirm…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. When assessing home price momentum, ResiClub believes it’s important to monitor active listings and months of supply. If active listings start to rapidly increase as homes remain on the market for longer periods, it may indicate pricing softness or weakness. Conversely, a rapid decline in active listings could suggest a market that is tightening or heating up. Since the national Pandemic Housing Boom fizzled out in 2022, the national power dynamic has slowly been shifting directionally from sellers to buyers. Of course, across the country that shift …