Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

There’s an old myth that Inuit cultures have as many as a hundred words for snow. I remember learning about it in school, and there was just something wonderful about the idea that people’s perceptions can be so deeply rich and different. I guess that’s why, although it has been debunked many times, the story keeps getting repeated. There is also a lot of truth to the underlying concept. As anybody who has ever learned another language or lived in a different culture knows, people’s perceptions vary widely. In The WEIRDest People In The World, Harvard’s Joseph Henrich documents how important and interesting these differences can be. So if the Inuit snow myth hig…

Last weekend, a gnarly power outage in San Francisco took out a number of traffic lights, which, in turn, sent a number of self-driving Waymo robotaxis into a sort of fugue state. Instead of driving, some of the Waymos responded to these now-analog intersections by turning on their hazard lights, blocking traffic, and, well, not doing much of anything. There were multiple instances of Waymo cars clogging up roads, turning futuristic technology into glorified bollards. The city quickly asked the company to turn off the service. The immediate issue has been resolved—the power is back on and the Waymo service had resumed in San Francisco as of Sunday. But questions ling…

Today, investors are waking up to red on their screens as many tech and AI stocks are dropping in premarket trading. But why are shares in these companies falling? Much of it has to do with the cloud infrastructure company Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) and its latest quarterly earnings results. Here’s what you need to know. Oracle’s Q2 2026 results send ORCL plunging Yesterday, Oracle reported financial results for its second quarter of fiscal 2026. To say investors were disappointed in the results is an understatement, given how poorly ORCL shares are performing in premarket trading this morning. As of the time of this writing, ORCL shares are down over 12% as inve…

With more than 100,000 artifacts dating back thousands of years, nearly 900,000 square feet of floor space, a site that spans more than 120 acres, and a total price tag estimated to be more than $1 billion, it’s not hyperbole to call the Grand Egyptian Museum outside Cairo, Egypt, the most significant museum project in recent decades. It’s the kind of blockbuster building that would have even the starriest of starchitects salivating at the chance to lay claim to what’s likely become one of Egypt’s most visited tourist attractions. So, in hindsight, it’s a bit unexpected that the architecture firm that won the museum’s international design competition way back in 2002 …

I keep coming up against a logical fallacy in strategy that I feel compelled to address. The logic holds that when a company has a shareholder-unfriendly component of its portfolio—e.g. the business in question is cyclical, or it is low-growth or low margin—the company should diversify to make that business less-shareholder unfriendly. I take on the fallacy in this Playing to Win/Practitioner Insights (PTW/PI) piece entitled Diversification Can’t Disappear a Strategy Problem: It Just Creates a Different Problem. And as always, you can find all the previous PTW/PI here. The argument The usual motivator of this argument is cyclicality: We have a cyclical business, an…

Americans’ mental health is suffering and it’s not just due to stressful news feeds or not getting enough steps in. Toxic work environments are playing a large role in an epidemic of worsening mental health. According to Monster’s newly released 2025 Mental Health in the Workplace survey of 1,100 workers, 80% of respondents described their workplace environment as toxic. The alarming statistic is an increase from 67% just a year ago. The challenging environment has major implications. An astonishing 71% of workers say their mental health is poor (40%) or fair (31%), while only 29% rank it positively: 20% said it was good and 9% described it as great. Workers say…

Consumer products is perhaps one of the broadest, most competitive arenas for marketers, always facing the constant question: “Why should anyone care or pay attention?” These Brands That Matter honorees are answering that question. Brawny To launch its new three-ply paper towels, the brand decided to breathe new life into its lumberjack mascot, to help the Brawny Man stand out on store shelves and in culture. The brand puts its new heartthrob mascot into a partnership with Bachelor Nation‘s Rachael Kirkconnell to tap into a real-life messy moment—her high-profile breakup—and flip it into a story of strength and humor. In a video posted to TikTok and Instagram, Rach…

Thanksgiving is a beautiful day filled with family, loved ones, and good food. All that merriment takes copious amounts of labor and planning ahead. It is almost inevitable that something will fall between the cracks and a last-minute store run will be necessary. But is that even possible? Here’s a quick breakdown of what is open and closed on Thanksgiving 2025 to help you out in a pinch should you have a missing cranberry sauce crisis. But first let’s take a look at everyday services: Is Thanksgiving a federal holiday? Yes, Thanksgiving is a federal holiday celebrated annually in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. This makes Novem…

Balancing on a railroad-tie-size beam of a platform floating in Spain’s Vigo Bay, Ricardo Tur crouches and points below. Dangling several feet underwater is a pen the size of a garden shed, home to 80 octopuses. I squat too, hoping to glimpse even a single arm—there are 640 of them down there! In my excitement, I lean too far and almost fall in. Tur is a marine biologist who for the past decade has been feeding the octopuses on this batea, the Spanish term for the 65-foot-by-82-foot raft I’m on. The raft’s owner, Carlos Veiga, a short, fit 75-year-old who has fished the planet’s oceans since the Franco era, stands nearby. Around us in this inlet, which contains …

There’s no shortage of apocalyptic headlines about the future of work in the era of artificial intelligence. For workers, the technology has inflicted anxiety and uncertainty, provoking questions of when, how many, and which kinds of workers will be replaced. Companies have been propelled into a FOMO fury to integrate AI expediently or miss out on efficiency, cost savings, and competitive advantage. The disruption is inevitable, but from where I sit at the nexus of employee mental health and technology, we’re asking the wrong questions. Enhancing, not replacing, humans As CEO of Calm, I have spent the past year visiting with executives and their teams across the co…

In 2023, Ken Lux found himself in an FBI briefing on child trafficking. The CEO of Luxe Aviation was there as the past commander of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office’s Air Squadron, a volunteer cadre of 50 general aviation pilots supporting police missions and community service. Lux recalls the FBI agent relaying the story of a since-jailed airline pilot who used his credentials to traffic children to clients in the Philippines with chilling negotiations. “I have a girl that’s 12 years old for your client,’” the pilot said. The client’s response: “No, we think we need an 8-year-old.” The group was horrified. “I have two daughters,” Lux says. “We said, ‘Wa…

In case you haven’t been deluged with enough day-themed holiday shopping sales yet, the travel industry will try to tempt you with some seemingly tantalizing travel offers on December 2, aka Travel Tuesday, traditionally the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving. But whether the travel deals are actually steals may require you to do some research in advance and read the fine print so you don’t face some unexpected fees once you’re on vacation. If you regularly book through a specific travel provider and have a sense of what you normally pay, that will help you to better suss out whether you’re actually saving money. Knowing what a specific trip or ticket would normall…

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. It’s the time of year when we all make promises to ourselves. I’m committing to read more, procrastinate less, and squeeze in an extra hour of piano practice a week. I asked other CEOs to share their 2026 New Year’s resolutions; here are seven responses, in their own words. Omar Abbosh,…

The “New Tab” page in Chrome is the digital equivalent of a blank stare. A white void. Nothing, and plenty of it. Why are we settling for this? Your browser’s start page is the most valuable real estate on your computer. It’s the first thing you see! Instead of looking at an empty space, you could be looking at a command center. Here are five Chrome extensions that turn that boring start screen into something actually useful. Momentum If you want your browser to feel less like a software application and more like a high-end wellness retreat, Momentum is the gold standard. Every day, it greets you with a stunning, high-res landscape photo and a simpl…

Your company rolls out an AI agent to assign tasks, draft updates, and nudge overdue approvals. But within days, it’s flagging completed work, tagging the wrong people, and creating confusion instead of clarity. It’s a familiar outcome for companies that adopt agentic AI without the workflows, data, or systems to support it. New research from Wrike reinforces that disconnect: 74% of employees say their company treats data like gold, yet most don’t manage it well enough for AI to use it effectively. Even the smartest, most context-aware tools stall without strong foundations. And automation doesn’t fix broken operations—it magnifies them. To get agentic AI ri…

Too late. Too expensive. Too bland. Too antiquated. Too much of the same. There are just too many toos when it comes to Tesla’s new “cheap” cars, which the company announced on Oct. 7. Its highly anticipated “affordable models” are just stripped-down Model 3 and Model Y variants that come in at a more expensive price point than the current 2025 models. Some marketing genius labeled them as “Standard,” but judging the cars against cheaper, better models from automakers around the world, Tesla’s newest offerings can’t even claim that benign adjective. The truth is, these cars are terrible news for the company. With its reputation in tatters thanks to Musk’s bra…

When the clock strikes midnight tonight, the U.S. government could shut down. If that happens, it will be because Congressional Republicans and Democrats could not reach an agreement on a new funding bill, which is required to keep the government running. As noted by CBS News, one of the key sticking points between Democrats and Republicans involves healthcare provisions in the proposed bill. Democrats want provisions in the bill that would help fund healthcare for millions of Americans across the country. They also want restrictions on President The President’s ability to withhold such healthcare funding. Republicans have so far refused to entertain these provisi…

Last week, YouTube TV ditched over 20 Disney-owned channels, after the two companies failed to reach a new content distribution deal ahead of the deadline. But now, YouTube TV is trying to make it up to subscribers who are reeling from their diminished viewing options. According to multiple reports, YouTube TV seems to be (quietly) offering $10 credits on subscriber bills for six months, for a total savings of $60. But there’s a catch, which is that that credit won’t be automatically applied. It looks like users will have to do some digging through your YouTube TV account’s settings in order to opt in. Here’s how to check for the credit: According to TechRadar…

It’s a great week to have a disposable income and act like you know how to ski. North Face x Skims today launches its second winter outerwear capsule, again channeling ski culture with a campaign shot on the powder-coated Chilean mountains. (Skis and airfare not included.) The 2025 drop expands on its collection from last year with even more silhouettes, like the wrap puffer coat, and a thoughtfully cropped, hooded puffer jacket with drop shoulder that brings some fashion to the line, which is aesthetically more oriented toward sport. It also includes men’s and kid’s styles for the first time (prices range from $55 to $800). Even considering the new styl…

U.K. banks and government tech systems going down. University students in Australia struggling to complete their coursework. Homes across Europe losing access to their Ring doorbells. While you were sleeping, large parts of the Amazon Web Services (AWS)-based internet went offline around the world. According to the AWS outage monitor, the problem stemmed from a misconfiguration of Domain Name System (DNS) resolution within the company’s cloud infrastructure. The problem was remedied within three hours of being encountered—by people unable to log onto Roblox or search the web with Perplexity. But the outage highlights just how much the web’s day-to-day function…