Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

Let’s be honest: No matter your perspective, taking in news these days tends to be a pretty tiring experience. At best, it’s a bit boring. At worst, it’s anxiety-inducing and mind-melting, often leaving you with more questions than answers. This week, a whole new kind of news app is officially breaking cover. And, I know—yadda yadda yadda, right? Another “earth-shattering” news app with more of the same as every other app before it? I had the same thought when I first came across this. Then I started to actually use it. And man alive, lemme tell ya: This is not like any other news app I’ve ever encountered. It’s fresh, it’s interesting, and it’s absolutely…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Heading into the fall last year, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate slipped to a low of 6.07% by September 17, 2024, as the market reacted to weaker-than-expected labor market data. At that point, there was a noticeable upswing in refinances as some 2022–2024 borrowers took the opportunity to get payment relief. However, it was short-lived and quickly fizzled out once labor market data tightened a bit and mortgage rates popped back up. Fast-forward to September 2025, and we’re once again seeing a mini “refi boomlet.” Similar to early las…

It had begun nearly two years prior, with a miscarriage, and then another. I was compiling a list of fertility clinics when he made an appearance on the ultrasound monitor, a flickering response to my quietly brewing despair. I spent the long months of pregnancy that followed feeling like a cartoon character with a me-size thunderstorm threatening at every turn. Though my pregnancy was healthy, I was convinced I had to remain vigilant until my son was in my arms. When my husband and I visited my obstetrician nine days past my son’s due date, I wasn’t surprised to see an irregularity in his heartbeat. Less than an hour later, we were checking into the hospital to start…

There’s no clearer sign of anime’s cultural ascendance than the box office haul of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — Infinity Castle. The film, which hit U.S. theaters two weeks ago, has pulled in more than $555 million globally, including more than $104 million in North America, making it a bonafide hit for Sony Pictures, which distributed it outside of Japan through its anime streaming arm, Crunchyroll. The movie’s success reflects audiences’ growing interest in anime. A survey from market research firm Dentsu found that, 31% of people worldwide said they consumed anime at least weekly, with a full 50% of Gen Z reporting they watch it. That’s translated into a boom i…

Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer, which means many entrepreneurs’ minds are turning towards beach getaways, lakeside camping trips, or lazy days at the pool with the kids. These kinds of water-based activities are a great way to relax and stay cool. But according to fascinating research in neuroscience, swimming isn’t just a fun vacation activity. It actually has special brain benefits that other forms of exercise just can’t match. Not just another form of exercise It will surprise exactly no one that exercise is good for your brain. (If this is news to you, here are some studies for you to get up to speed.) Swimming is, obviously, a …

I was one of the millions of people who lost someone to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the nonstop news about the “new normal,” my grief felt invisible. I took shallow solace in my phone and turned to social media to numb me from the reality that I now lived in: a world without my dad. One day, while mindlessly scrolling, I came across the r/Squishmallow subreddit, where a girl had posted her collection of more than 100 round plush toys. They were called Squishmallows—round stuffed animals invented in 2017 that have become one of the most popular toy lines in the world, with more than 100 million sold each year. I was hypnotized. I expected that my dive into the S…

An experimental medication made from marijuana successfully reduced back pain in a new study, offering further support for the drug’s potential in treating one of the most common forms of chronic pain. The 800-patient study by a German drugmaker is the latest evidence of the therapeutic properties of cannabis, which remains illegal under U.S. federal law even as most states have made it available for medical or recreational use. Health officials in Canada and Europe have previously approved a pharmaceutical-grade form of cannabis for several types of pain, including nerve pain due to multiple sclerosis. In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration has approved a …

On the heels of Starbucks’ recent announcement it will be cutting 900 corporate roles and closing 1% of its Northern American stores by the end of 2025 (after accounting for both new openings and closures), Starbucks Workers United said Tuesday that 59 of those locations marked for closure are unionized locations. Starbucks Workers United, the worker-led effort to unionize Starbucks baristas, represents 12,000 baristas in 45 states and Washington D.C., across more than 650 cafes. The closures, announced last week by CEO Brian Niccol, are part of a massive $1 billion restructuring strategy dubbed “Back to Starbucks,” aimed at turning around declining sales and bran…

Miklu Silvanto, Oura’s chief design officer, says incorporating advanced computing power into a tiny ring is a major challenge. It’s just as challenging to make a ring that people will actually want to wear around the clock. So Silvanto, an industrial design veteran who has worked at Apple and Bang & Olufsen, must also think of himself as a jewelry designer. “A ring is such an intimate object,” he says. “You might wear it alongside your wedding ring. You need to think comfort, and beauty, and fashion.” On October 1, Oura launches a new collection of ceramic rings that are more fashion-forward than its previous ones, which resemble metallic wedding bands. Since…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Zillow is facing mounting legal battles—including a lawsuit Tuesday brought by the Federal Trade Commission alleging that Zillow paid rival Redfin $100 million to exit and stop competing in the online apartment rental listings market. The FTC claims the arrangement—framed publicly as a “partnership”—was in fact an unlawful anticompetitive agreement that eliminated Redfin as a meaningful competitor in the online rental space. According to the complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the February 2025 deal requi…

It’s official: AOL‘s dial-up internet has taken its last bow. AOL previously confirmed it would be pulling the plug on Tuesday (Sept. 30) — writing in a brief update on its support site last month that it “routinely evaluates” its offerings and had decided to discontinue dial-up, as well as associated software “optimized for older operating systems,” from its plans. Dial-up is now no longer advertised on AOL’s website. As of Wednesday, former company help pages like “connect to the internet with AOL Dialer” appeared unavailable — and nostalgic social media users took to the internet to say their final goodbyes. AOL, formerly America Online, introduced many hou…