Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

Earlier this year, I had coffee with the chief investment officer of a large public pension fund. His fund doesn’t invest directly into venture (they have a fund of funds position instead), so my new CIO friend doesn’t usually get pitched directly by VC funds. He doesn’t spend a ton of time in tech circles either. When he does dip his toe in VC waters, he gets culture shock. “I have trouble understanding VCs,” he said. (I’m paraphrasing.) By his estimation, people in traditional finance are easier to read. Their goal is to maximize returns—and the progress toward this goal is concrete, transparent, and measurable. It’s really easy to understand what an asset …

Mattel just got its first custom global typeface in over 80 years, and it’s brimming with brand easter eggs. Mattel operates dozens of brands under its corporate umbrella, each with their own visual identity and brand voice. But, until now, Mattel has never had its own proprietary typeface for its overarching brand, instead opting to license multiple existing fonts on a global scale—an endeavor that was not only expensive, but also came at the cost of visual consistency across Mattel’s many product lines. Otis Gibson, founder of the Chicago-based creative agency Gertrude, says his agency was tasked with “putting a lasso” around Mattel’s corporate identity. Their solution,…

The moon is just going to have to wait a little longer. NASA is pushing its moon landing back a year to streamline its rocket production and workforce to improve safety, accelerate mission frequency, and better compete with China’s growing space program, announced NASA administrator Jared Isaacman on Friday. The revamped schedule calls for standardizing its massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket configuration and aligning workforces with private contractors with an eye toward launching as frequently as every 10 months. Artemis III, initially slated to return astronauts to the lunar surface next year for the first time since 1972, will instead conduct tests i…

Elon Musk is expected to take the stand in a shareholder trial on Wednesday in San Francisco, where he’s accused of making false and misleading statements that drove down Twitter’s stock price before he bought the social media platform for $44 billion in 2022. The lawsuit was filed in October 2022 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of Twitter shareholders who sold the stock between May 13 and Oct. 4, 2022, a few weeks before Musk’s purchase of Twitter was finalized. It claims Musk violated federal securities laws by making false, public statements that “were carefully calculated to drive down the price of Twitter stock.” T…

Despite considering themselves successful, most Americans also feel like they’re lagging on at least one major milestone. But experts warn that dwelling on it could put them further behind. In a recent survey conducted by daily development app Headway, 77% of respondents said they consider themselves successful. At the same time—in what researchers label the “success paradox”—81% said they’re falling behind their peers in at least one major personal or professional domain. Roughly one-third said they feel behind others their age financially, 11% feel they’re behind in life experiences, 10% feel they’re lagging in their career progress, and another 10% said the sa…

The U.S. military was able “to strike a blistering 1,000 targets in the first 24 hours of its attack on Iran” thanks in part to its use of artificial intelligence, according to The Washington Post. The military has used Claude, the AI tool from Anthropic, combined with Palantir’s Maven system, for real-time targeting and target prioritization in support of combat operations in Iran and Venezuela. While Claude is only a few years old, the U.S. military’s ability to use it, or any other AI, did not emerge overnight. The effective use of automated systems depends on extensive infrastructure and skilled personnel. It is only thanks to many decades of investment and experi…

Entertainment in 2026 is a bit of a double-edged sword. Excellent films and television shows are widely available in ways that would have sounded like science fiction just 20 years ago—but at a steep price. A single movie ticket costs an average of $16, while the average American household spends over $42 per month on streaming services, which adds up to $504 per year. And if you’re anything like me, you may not even be getting your money’s worth on those streaming services. Often when I sit down to watch something, I scroll through the options on Netflix, only to go to bed an hour later without having watched anything. In many cases, that decision paralysis refle…

Think of your favorite movie. Maybe you love it for the plot, or the nostalgia you get from watching it again and again. Now think of that same movie, but all the actors have been shuffled: An American who can’t quite master a British accent, a 35-year-old playing a high schooler, a dramatic actor whose jokes fall flat. The people who make sure that doesn’t happen often go unrecognized, but now the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has something to say about it. The inaugural Best Casting Oscar will be awarded at the 98th Academy Awards on March 15. It’s the first new Oscars category in more than two decades. (In 2002, Shrek was the first to win the then…

I teach a course on AI and filmmaking at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, and lately, rather than planning each session well in advance, I’ve been structuring the class the night before. I’ll browse platforms like X, Substack, and YouTube, selecting the most provocative articles and video clips to present the following morning. It’s a testament to how quickly artificial intelligence’s relationship to filmmaking is evolving: Each week brings new—often startling—developments. The next morning in class, my students and I debate the ethics, the aesthetics, and the storytelling changes taking place in these collaborations with AI. And we’re not alone: Throughout Hol…

Agricultural data is “fragmented, distributed, heterogeneous, and incompatible.” That’s the verdict from a major Council for Agricultural Science and Technology report published barely a year ago, and it helps explain why AI has struggled to gain traction on farms. Other data-heavy industries, like healthcare or financial services, have established data standards, but agriculture has no universal framework for translating between the dozens of systems that generate field-level information. This isn’t a new observation, but its persistence is noteworthy. While consumer tech and enterprise software largely solved their interoperability challenges years ago, agriculture …

Happiness has been a bit thin on the ground these days. The headlines are grim, loneliness and disconnection are rising, and work pressures seem to multiply by the day as new technologies, global unrest, and social upheaval collide. In the midst of all that, searching for joy may feel a bit . . . selfish. Even absurd. But none of these forces seem likely to resolve themselves anytime soon. Work will remain demanding. The news cycle will keep churning. Which raises a practical question: if the world isn’t getting lighter anytime soon, how do we find a little more lightness inside it? That doesn’t mean ignoring the difficulties around us. But you will be better…

Box CEO and tech thought leader Aaron Levie says he recently met with 20 enterprise AI and IT leaders and came away with insights into what everyone, especially the stock market, wants to know: how—and how fast—large U.S. companies are adopting AI for core business functions. In a post on X, he outlined the main themes he heard. Had meetings and a dinner with 20+ enterprise AI and IT leaders today. Lots of interesting conversations around the state of AI in large enterprises, especially regulated businesses. Here are some of general trends: * Agents are clearly the big thing. Enterprises moving from… — Aaron Levie (@levie) March 19, 2026 Here’s a closer look a…

I talk to a lot of people who are quietly terrified about their careers right now, wondering if the thing they spent 15 years getting good at is about to become irrelevant. The kind of fear where you smile through another LinkedIn post about AI productivity gains and feel your stomach drop. I get it. I build AI systems and agents for enterprise clients—and for myself. I watch these tools get more capable every week. And the narrative everywhere, from VCs, from CEOs, from the breathless tech press, is that your job is going to be automated. That you’re going to be replaced. That AI is coming for your job, and you should be very, very worried. I think that narrative…

When a global financial services firm sought Sam’s guidance, the problem seemed familiar. The firm had deployed AI tools across its business. Adoption was uneven, and the gap between teams was growing. In some corners of the organization, people were already using AI to draft client materials, summarize research, and speed up analysis. In others, they avoided it entirely: unsure what was permitted, worried about quality, or skeptical that leadership really meant it. Managers were fielding questions they weren’t equipped to answer. If my team uses AI, what changes in our standards? What happens to accountability? The leadership team quickly realized the problem was…

If you don’t pay attention, you could miss it. There is a secret alligator emoji game hidden in your TikTok DMs. And while this news is coming on April Fools’ Day, it’s no joke—this easter egg (on the first day of Passover) is real! Here’s what to know. How to find TikTok’s hidden emoji game in your DMs Here’s how to find it: Go into your TikTok messages as if you were sending a DM, and send an emoji, then look for a tiny link that reads “tap emoji to play emoji game.” Click the link and you’ll see a green screen with alligators and floating emojis. Use your finger to swipe up on the profile picture of whomever you are messaging at the time, and viola, sta…

The most famous dead person to ever wear sunglasses just might be Bernie Lomax. Until now. Because the namesake for the 1989 hit comedy Weekend at Bernie’s was a fictional character, but you dear reader, you are very real. Liquid Death just announced its newest collab, this time with sunglasses brand Pit Viper, to make what its calling “Sunglasses for Dead People.” According to Liquid Death, 87% of people who have near-death experiences report seeing a blinding bright light. That’s not an exact science, but the canned water brand isn’t letting that get in the way of a good bit. Available on Pit Viper’s site for $119, the limited-edition shades feature shatt…

Below, Nir Eyal shares five key insights from his new book, Beyond Belief: The Science-Backed Way to Stop Limiting Yourself and Achieve Breakthrough Results. Eyal is a best-selling author, former Stanford lecturer, and one of the world’s foremost experts on behavioral design. His previous books, Hooked and Indistractable, have sold more than a million copies and been translated into 30-plus languages. Next Big Idea Club readers can get an exclusive free download of Eyal’s 5-Minute Belief Change Guide at: NirAndFar.com/beyond-belief-live/. What’s the big idea? The best beliefs are both practical and provisional. They offer just enough certainty to act, yet e…

Americans can’t get enough chicken—brands like Raising Cane’s and Chick-fil-A have risen as fast-food superstars while others race to consolidate their spot as winners of the chicken sandwich wars. Now, Chili’s is entering the game in a big way. Value menus, a staple of chain and fast-food restaurants, bundle multiple menu items at a discounted price, giving customers a full meal without the full cost. Now, Chili’s—whose value meal includes an entrée, fries, a soda, and bottomless chips and salsa—is adding chicken sandwiches to the mix. “We’re setting our sights on fast food chicken sandwiches, offering our gigantic Big Crispy and Spicy Big Crispy chicken sandwich…

Walk into any office and you’ll hear it. “She’s so nurturing — she’d be great leading the wellness committee.” “Don’t worry, the guys will handle the heavy lifting on this pitch.” “You look amazing today!” These statements arrive warmly, often from people who genuinely mean well. That’s exactly what makes benevolent sexism one of the most insidious and under-addressed forces in modern workplaces. Unlike overt harassment, benevolent sexism doesn’t announce itself. It hides behind chivalry, compliments, and cultural tradition. It flatters women while quietly limiting them, wraps restriction in a ribbon and calls it care. And for that reason, it tends to go unchallenged …

Willie Simon stood outside the Memphis motel where Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968, now a museum dedicated to the Civil Rights Movement. Days after the U.S. Supreme Court gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, Simon feared what the decision would mean not just for Black Americans like himself but an entire country where the political guardrails seem to be coming apart. Simon, who leads the Shelby County Democratic Party in Tennessee, said the court’s conservative majority set a precedent that if you’re “not in the in-crowd group, they can just erase us.” By weakening a requirement that states draw congressional districts in a way that gi…

Bose is rethinking its approach to smart speakers. While the company has released plenty of Wi-Fi-connected speakers over the years, its new Lifestyle Ultra line is a strategic reset, with a new platform that Bose spent the last few years building. (The name is also a nod to Bose’s original Lifestyle systems from the 1990s.) The new Bose offerings include a $299 standalone speaker, a $1,099 soundbar, and an $899 subwoofer, which can also be combined into a surround system. Raza Haider, Bose’s president of premium consumer audio, says these are the first of many speakers that it will launch on the new technology stack. “It’s a completely brand new platform, whe…

Threads is rolling out Meta AI, which will provide real-time context when mentioned in a post or reply. Connor Hayes, head of Threads, posted on the app Tuesday about the thinking behind Meta AI’s new feature. “We’re starting to test a way to get context on a Threads conversation by mentioning Meta AI in a post or reply. This will start in a handful of countries today and expand over time,” Hayes posted. “Conversations here move fast. A lot of people want to look things up before jumping in. We want to make that easier. Ask Meta AI to get real-time context about a trend, breaking story, or get recommendations right in the conversation.” The new Meta AI Threads…

The current AI boom reminds me of the dot-com era, which I watched unfold from venture capital in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Lots of hype. Eye-watering investments. Genuine transformative potential. Most conversations about AI today focus on the obvious value, productivity, and efficiency gains. That’s real, but it’s the shallow end. The deeper potential is something else entirely: ending the linear take-make-waste economy and with it, our reliance on fossil fuels. For half a century, the global economy has run on a simple, destructive model. Extract finite resources from the Earth. Manufacture mostly disposable products. Throw away. Repeat. Petroleum into pa…

Last weekend, when Puck announced that the sustainable fashion startup Everlane had been acquired by the Chinese ultra fast fashion retailer Shein, it sent shockwaves throughout the fashion world. Michael Preysman, who founded Everlane in 2011, was just as shocked. “I found out the same time as everyone else,” he said in a LinkedIn post a week ago. “I’m not involved with the company anymore, and like many, am still digesting the news.” Well, Preysman is done digesting. And it seems that he’s ready to do something about it. Preysman just announced stillradical.com, a new venture that we know little about other than the bare bones website it launched with. The…

As 7.4 million Americans sit unemployed, the path to employment has completely changed. Amid fake listings, AI filtering of candidates and widening talent pools, job seekers believe that they’re competing against a hiring ecosystem that penalizes honesty and rewards perception. The result? A hiring environment where the signals employers have traditionally relied on to evaluate candidates have become deeply unreliable. Now, both sides are operating with diminishing trust in each other. What’s Driving the Deception? Hiring today is not facing a character problem, but a structural one. When candidates believe that presenting themselves accurately will cost them …