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Could it be any clearer that Sam Altman intends for OpenAI to be a sprawling consumer tech company, not just an AI lab? His public comments certainly suggest as much. Today, The Verge reported that OpenAI has been working on an internal prototype of a social network that would let people share their AI-generated images. OpenAI began as a fairly rudderless little AI lab back in 2015. “We literally had no idea we were ever going to become a company—like, the plan was to put out research papers,” Altman said in a recent Stratechery interview. “But there was no product, there was no plan for a product, there was no revenue, there was no business model, there were no plans…

At a recent groundbreaking for one of our data center campuses, three members of the community told our team, “Great, we’re going to get a Trader Joe’s now.” It may sound funny, but this is one small part of the data center effect. Having Starbucks and Whole Foods establishments in the neighborhood famously have been associated with higher property values. Data centers also boost the communities where they’re located, by creating jobs and supporting revitalization efforts, for example. Of course, the industry faces criticism too, often based on outdated perceptions that don’t reflect advances in design and sustainability. But public opinion is shifting—partly tha…

Peter Berg doesn’t need to do Super Bowl commercials. Yet the award-winning director helmed two ads during this year’s big game. First, was a fun NFL spot advocating for varsity girls flag football. And second, was water bottle brand Cirkul’s first-ever trip to the Super Bowl, starring Adam Devine. The commercial diversion comes not long after the release of Berg’s hit Netflix limited series American Primeval, which dropped on January 9, and quickly hit the top of the streamer’s ratings. In its first week, it had 1.25 billion viewing minutes. Berg has built an incredible Hollywood career, producing, writing, and directing hit films and TV series, from Fri…

Quantum researchers are in a race for qubits, and Microsoft is in the thick of the competition. Microsoft has spent the last 20 years pursuing a topological approach to quantum development. Last week, they had a breakthrough: The company counted eight topological qubits on their Majorana 1 chip. They published a paper in Nature, got a glowing New York Times piece about a “new state of matter,” and buoyed quantum stocks across the market. Eight qubits isn’t anywhere near what would be needed to reach full-scale quantum computing. That number is in the millions, and they would need to be error-corrected. Other companies, like IBM and Google, are much further ahead …

Jefferson Early Learning Center bears little resemblance to elementary schools many adults recall attending in their earliest years. The classrooms have child-size boats and construction vehicles children can play on, and ceilings painted to resemble outer space. There are no desks—all space is devoted to learning through play. Windows are low to the ground so children can easily look outside. The gym floor is made of “pre-K friendly” layered vinyl, rather than hardwood, to cushion inevitable trips and falls. Hallways are lined with a corrugated plastic for wiggly fingers to touch as children transition to other locations. Children love coming to the building, said te…

In early April, Ikea unveiled the latest edition of its iconic Stockholm 2025 collection, marking 40 years since the original collection was released in 1985. The 96-item lineup includes a range of pieces, like bold statement sofas, side tables, and elegant chandeliers. The designs are keeping with the brand’s signature Scandi aesthetic, but with a twist: inspiration from the natural world. The collection is now available in stores and on the Ikea website. At the core of the collection is a thoughtful focus on materials. Solid wood is paired with tactile surfaces and natural fibers like mouth-blown glass and rattan to create a variety of pieces, such as woode…

A well-funded AI lab with a deep bench of research talent is releasing a powerful new model that generates high-definition video for the film and advertising industries. The company, Moonvalley, on Wednesday launched its first model, named Marey—a nod to early cinema pioneer Étienne-Jules Marey—which could soon help Hollywood studios dramatically speed up production and cut costs. What sets Marey apart—and has caught the attention of risk-averse studios—is its training data. The model was trained exclusively on video content either owned or fairly licensed by Moonvalley, avoiding the copyright gray zones that make much generative content legally fraught. Moonvalle…

Efforts to hollow out the federal workforce by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have resulted in a dramatic rise in layoff announcements. The latest monthly data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas shows that employers in the United States announced more than 172,000 layoffs during February, which was an increase of 245% from January and the highest monthly total since mid-2020, during the pandemic. Further, it was the highest number of layoffs for the month of February since 2009, in the middle of the financial crisis and subsequent Great Recession, when more than 186,000 layoffs were announced. So far, through the first two mo…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Mortgage giant Rocket Companies—the parent company of Rocket Mortgage, formerly known as Quicken Loans—announced on Monday it has entered into an agreement to buy Redfin in an all-stock transaction valued at $1.75 billion equity, or $12.50 per share. If completed, the move would integrate Redfin’s real estate search platform, which attracts nearly 50 million monthly visitors, with Rocket’s mortgage services. “Redfin is known for its beautiful product but is also [a] data powerhouse in an AI-driven world—100 million properties, 50 million engaged mont…

It’s been a rough week for the tech industry. First, Salesforce announced it would lay off more than 1,000 employees, and now another enterprise software maker has announced even deeper job cuts. Yesterday, Workday, Inc. (Nasdaq: WDAY), maker of cloud-based human resources software, announced that it would lay off 1,750 employees—or roughly 8.5% of its global workforce. These layoffs add to a rough start for the tech industry in 2025, which has seen major tech giants, including Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon, trim their workforces. Here’s what you need to know about Workday’s layoffs. Roughly 8% of Workday’s employees are impacted Workday yesterday announced …

What’s in your office starter pack? La Colombe cold brew and a New Yorker subscription? Bose headphones and Brooks Brothers? Thanks to the latest ChatGPT trend making the rounds, you can now find out. By uploading a few photos and using a specific prompt, OpenAI’s GPT-4o image generator will spit out a personalized action figure or Barbie box in your likeness—complete with miniature accessories and sealed in plastic. In the past week, the trend has started popping up across TikTok, X, and—where trends go to die—Facebook and LinkedIn. “The Strategic Data & AI Consultant Starter Pack – Now in limited-edition blister packaging,” one LinkedIn user wrote alongs…

Today, February 25, is a make-or-break day for Super Micro Computer (aka Supermicro) and its stock, which trades on the Nasdaq under the SMCI ticker. That’s because by the end of today, the beleaguered server company needs to file its delinquent Form 10-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). If it fails to do so, the company’s shares may be delisted from the Nasdaq. Here’s what you need to know about its stock price ahead of the deadline and the possible outcomes should Super Micro Computer fail to meet its requirements. SMCI stock price sinks ahead of filing deadline As of the time of this writing, in early trading SMCI’s stock price is down…

All Swedish schools and pre-schools will have to make plans to keep unauthorised people off their premises, the government said on Wednesday, as the country tries to come to terms with the worst school shooting in its history last week. Ten people were shot dead at the Campus Risbergska school in Orebro, before the suspected perpetrator – identified by a Reuters source and Swedish media as Rickard Andersson, a 35-year-old Swedish recluse – turned a weapon on himself. The attack has raised questions about whether security at Sweden’s schools needs to be improved. Unlike in many other countries, schools are generally seen as semi-public spaces and rarely have any co…

Parental leave is often treated as a checkbox issue—handled quietly by HR, focused on paperwork, and confined to a narrow window of time. But Amy Beacom, founder and CEO of the Center for Parental Leave Leadership and author of The Parental Leave Playbook, is reshaping that view. With over 25 years of experience in executive coaching and organizational development, Beacom, who has an EdD degree in industrial and organizational psychology from Columbia University, partners with leading companies to transform parental leave into a strategic advantage for retention, equity, and leadership growth. In this conversation, Beacom unpacks some of the biggest misconceptions abo…

If you’ve got a smartphone, you probably spend too much time on it — checking Instagram, watching silly TikTok videos, messaging on WhatsApp or doomscrolling on X. It can be hard to curb excessive use of smartphones and social media, which are addictive by design. Reducing your screen time is often more than just a matter of willpower, especially for younger people whose brains and impulse control are still developing. If you’re a phone addict who wants to cut down on the hours a day spent looking at your device, here are some techniques you can try to free up more IRL time: Delete apps An easy first step is getting rid of any apps you’ve been wasting time …

There has been lots of chatter in the past few years about the benefits of a shorter workweek, as some companies have tested out four-day work schedules and other variations on the traditional workweek. Back in 2021, on the heels of the pandemic, California Congressman Mark Takano even introduced a bill to enshrine a 32-hour workweek—though it never garnered enough bipartisan support to progress further. In surveys, a majority of workers have expressed interest in a four-day or 32-hour workweek (with no reduction in pay, of course). Even as some leaders increasingly see the evolution of the workweek as an inevitability, we’re still a long way from ushering in swee…

Kodiak Brush doesn’t mince words when it comes to the state of football helmet design. “Most helmets today are designed to win lab tests, not protect players on the field,” he tells me over email. Brush, an MIT-trained mechanical engineer and former middle linebacker, is a production engineering manager who leads helmet design at Carlsbad, California-based Light Helmets. His latest creation is the Apache helmet, which, at just 3.5 pounds, is the lightest on the market—and yet it has achieved the highest safety score ever recorded by Virginia Tech’s independent helmet testing lab. The Apache is a direct challenge to decades of conventional wisdom about what makes a foo…

Meta’s Messenger has a new logo set in Facebook blue. The instant messaging app dropped the multicolor gradient used in its previous logo for a solid blue that matches the shade used by Meta’s flagship app. Some small, subtle refinements were also made to the lightning-bolt shape inside the Messenger logo’s word-bubble mark. Secondary versions of the logo appear in black or white. “We often refine our designs to enhance the look and feel of our products,” a Meta spokesperson tells Fast Company. “In this spirit, you’ll find that we’ve updated the Messenger color palette.” Online, some suggested the change was made because of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s comment t…

At last night’s Academy Awards, the standout star proved to be the indie film Anora, which raked in a whopping five awards on a budget of only $6 million. When director Sean Baker took the stage to accept his Oscar for best director, he used the moment to issue a call to action: a plea to the industry to reinvest in movie theaters. “Watching a film in the theater with an audience is an experience,” Baker told the crowd. “We can laugh together, cry together, scream in fright together, perhaps sit in devastated silence together. [. . .] It’s a communal experience you simply don’t get at home. And right now, the theatergoing experience is under threat.” Baker went on…

The breakout star of this season of The White Lotus? Aimee Lou Wood—and her distinctive real-life smile. “I mean, I can’t believe the impact my teeth are having,” the English actress told Jonathan Ross last month on Ross’s eponymous British chat show. “I hope that people don’t start, like, filing their teeth so they have gaps.” Too late. Unfortunately, Wood may have unintentionally reignited a troubling DIY dentistry trend. On TikTok, users are once again taking nail files to their own teeth, with hashtags like #teethfiling and #teethfile, racking up more than 130 posts, according to Screenshot Media. While Wood’s smile may be the most recent inspirati…

The Daytona 500 is one of the more challenging races on the NASCAR circuit. The speedway is long and narrow, forcing drivers to be more aggressive. And the weather in central Florida doesn’t always cooperate. During the 2024 event, a deluge of rain had forced a Monday conclusion. After 41 lead changes and with only eight laps to go, a crash involving half the field prompted a red flag and a 15-minute delay. At the end, another collision between leader Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric opened the door for William Byron to zip by and take the checkered flag. Byron’s win wasn’t a huge surprise—he’d notched 10 prior wins on the NASCAR circuit—but his backstory is unusual.…

Americans largely agree that women have made significant gains in the workplace over the past two decades. But what about men? While many Americans believe women are thriving, over half believe men’s progress has stalled or even reversed. To make matters more complex, recent research has revealed a massive divide along gender and partisan lines. The majority of Republican men think full gender equity in America has been achieved, while the majority of Democratic women think there’s still work to be done. As researchers at the Rutgers Center for Women in Business, we think this divide matters a lot. And for business leaders, this gap isn’t just a social or politica…

The deadly Los Angeles wildfires had just begun when Comic Relief U.S.’s new CEO took the helm at the charity that uses entertainment to combat poverty. Michele Ganeless noticed Hollywood’s response all the way from New York. She saw late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel turn his show’s backlot into a donation center. The Largo, an intimate nightclub featuring A-list comedians, hosted benefit performances. Inspired, Ganeless saw an opportunity to help out from the nation’s other cultural hub through “Stand-Up for LA.” “The goal was to help the New York comedy community give back,” Ganeless said of the March 3 comedy event including Jon Stewart, John Oliver, Ramy Youssef…

With enrollment on the rise, the California Polytechnic State University in seaside San Luis Obispo has found itself staring down a familiar California problem: a severe housing shortage. “Cal Poly’s located in this beautiful town of San Luis Obispo. That is one of our competitive advantages, but it also means that everybody else wants to live here, too,” says Mike McCormick, vice president of facilities management and development at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo This desirability poses a problem for the university, which has seen enrollment grow in recent years, with trendlines suggesting an additional 4,000 students by the end of the decade. “It’s really hard for us…