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Yesterday, two of the biggest tech giants in the AI boom reported their latest earnings. Google parent company Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Facebook owner Meta Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq: META) posted Q1 2026 results with some striking similarities, including a surge in capital expenditures (capex) and strong revenue growth. But this morning, Meta’s stock is plunging, while Google’s is jumping. Here’s why. Google’s Q1 results give investors confidence in its AI strategy The way investors are reacting so differently to the two AI giants’ earnings results this morning makes the quarterly reports feel like A Tale of Two Cities, sorry, Tech Giants. For …

AI is changing how directors and cinematographers work—but not the way you might think When people think of artificial intelligence in Hollywood, they might picture deepfakes, synthetic actors, or AI-generated scripts and video. Google’s Veo3, along with other tools like Pika Labs and Kling AI, made headlines for their photorealistic AI generated video clips (as did OpenAI’s Sora 2 before the company in March announced plans to shutter it). But for freelance filmmakers, the real shift is happening behind the scenes. For years, cinematographers and directors have had to wear many hats: artist, technician, project manager, negotiator. Now, AI is quietly taking over…

At one point or another, most of us have stared at our computer screen and wondered: Is this it? For some, it’s a passing feeling. Yet, for others, that boredom turns into lingering dissatisfaction, leading to quiet quitting, or even walking away from a job entirely, which rarely solves the deeper problem. New data from Gallup shows that while only 30% of workers think it’s a good time to find a new job, more than half are actively looking anyway. In a decade and a half of working as a therapist, I’ve met a lot of smart, creative people who feel capable of more, if only they could figure out where to direct their energy. These restless souls (and I count myself among…

It’s been a busy month for Hugh Jackman. Between headlining New Born on Broadway and starring in an upcoming mystery-comedy called The Sheep Detectives, the X-Men actor stopped by Ball State University to deliver a commencement speech for the graduating class. “I’ve been asked [countless times] to give a speech like this over the years, and I have always said no, because the money just was never really good enough,” the actor joked. Jackman reportedly first visited Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana last year with his Broadway costar turned romantic partner, Sutton Foster—a longtime faculty member of the school’s theater department. Jackman himself studied c…

Another major food brand is voluntarily recalling products after potential salmonella contamination linked to milk powder. Utz Quality Foods LLC, a subsidiary of Pennsylvania-based Utz Brands Inc, recalled some varieties of its Zapp’s and Dirty potato chips. The impacted chips’ seasoning contained dry milk powder manufactured by food producer California Dairies, which might be contaminated with salmonella. That’s according to a recall notice posted Monday by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “The affected seasoning batches tested negative for Salmonella prior to use; however, out of an abundance of caution, Utz is recalling the limited varieties of Zapp’…

The Iran war risked reigniting after the U.S. tried to force open the Strait of Hormuz for commercial shipping, though a ceasefire seemed to be holding Tuesday even after the United Arab Emirates said Iran fired missiles and drones at it. Iran’s powerful parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, accused the U.S. of undermining regional security with the effort to end Iran’s stranglehold on the strait and warned that Tehran will respond. The U.S. military said two American-flagged merchant ships successfully transited the strait on Monday, the first day of the effort, and that it fired on Iranian forces, sinking six small boats that were target…

For those who think a fake mustache is not fooling anybody, think again. Since 2023, the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act has tasked social media and search engine companies with protecting young users by restricting harmful content and even resorting to age verification to access certain platforms. But unsurprisingly, the tech-savvy young generation is already developing ingenious ways to jump through the extra sets of hoops. A recent study by Internet Matters, a British child online safety organization, found that around one-third of children in the U.K. have bypassed safety measures such as age verification. The safeguard often requires users to take …

Nearly every solopreneur starts their business saying “yes” to everything. After all, you’re trying to get clients and build a business. Revenue is unpredictable, and your brain treats every opportunity like it might be the last. But when you work for yourself, every “yes” comes at a cost. Agreeing to one project means declining another — or giving up time you can’t get back. Defaulting to “yes” is how solopreneurs end up overcommitted, underpaid, and working on projects that don’t move their business forward. Saying no is a business skill and, like any skill, it gets sharper with practice. Saying no to bad-fit clients Not every client who reaches out is…

Last week, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff announced in a post on X that the company would hire 1,000 new grads and interns “to ride the AI exponential.” Today, the company released a statement committing to that plan. Salesforce launched a new Builder Program within its university recruitment program, in an effort to fast-track recent grads into roles like engineering, product and sales to work on the company’s AI agent system, Agentforce. Salesforce said the company has hired over 10,000 professionals through its university recruitment program to date. According to a recent LinkedIn report, entry-level hiring is down 6% year-over-year. Some major CEOs bet that AI wi…

Few people know fame like Robert Downey Jr. The Oscar-winning actor has done everything from critical darlings like Oppenheimer to pop culture juggernauts like The Avengers. While Downey took a more traditional path to celebrity, many up-and-coming stars got their starts on social media. Two of this year’s Grammy nominees for Best New Artist, Addison Rae and Alex Warren, were known for their TikToks before they were known for their music. Several of the biggest new names in filmmaking, including directors Danny and Michael Philippou of Talk to Me and Kane Parsons of the upcoming Backrooms, went viral on YouTube before breaking into Hollywood. But according to Dow…

BlackBerry revivalist phones have been appearing in various forms over the last few years, but the Unihertz Titan 2 Elite is the most credible option yet. The small-scale Chinese boutique-of-sorts Unihertz has spent years refining its formula to balance modern Android capabilities with legacy tactile hardware. In 2026, it’s finally landed on a device that makes the most of its own identity. The naming convention here is admittedly a little confusing. Last year’s Titan 2 was a rugged, wide-format device clearly inspired by the BlackBerry Passport—it was, in every sense, “titanic.” But this new Elite successor isn’t a turbo-charged version of that phone; it’s a complete…

Fast Company’s global tech editor Harry McCracken and tech writer Jared Newman cut through the AI hype to walk you through the tools and techniques that are making a difference in the way they work. In this conversation, they break down the trends behind 2026’s most forward-thinking organizations and share the practical, steal‑worthy strategies that leaders at all levels can apply right now. Whether you’re refining your road map or scanning the horizon for what’s next, their overview will provide you with actionable insights and valuable new perspectives. View the full article

Below, Alex Mayyasi shares five key insights from his new book, Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life. Mayyasi is a journalist who writes about business, economics, and food. He hosts the new podcast Gastronomics and is a longtime contributor to NPR’s Planet Money. A former editor of Priceonomics, he launched Gastro Obscura, which won two James Beard Awards, and published the New York Times best-selling book Gastro Obscura. What’s the big idea? The economy isn’t static or centrally controlled. It’s an evolving system where information, technology, and human behavior interact to continuously reorganize opportunity. Listen to the a…

“Challenges with memory and thinking have emerged as a leading health issue reported by U.S. adults,” associate professor of neurology Adam de Havenon of the Yale School of Medicine has reported. A 2025 Yale Study, authored by de Havenon, found an alarming increase in self-reported cognitive disability, particularly among adults ages 18 to 34. The younger cohort rate nearly doubled over a decade—from 5.1% in 2013 to 9.7% in 2023—driving most of the overall increase. By comparison, the rate among adults overall increased more modestly from 5.3% to 7.4% over the same period. The study tracked 4.5 million adults over 10 years. Is there a youth dementia epidemic…

Climate change is making your allergies worse, in part by creating longer and more intense pollen seasons, according to a growing body of research from a number of scientists and physicians. “We know that climate change is leading to greater amounts of pollen in the atmosphere,” says Paul Beggs, an environmental health scientist and professor at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, who published a 2024 paper on the link between climate change and asthma. “It’s changing the seasonality of the pollen. It’s changing the types of pollen that we’re exposed to.” With pollen season already underway in many parts of the U.S., the AccuWeather 2026 US Allergy Forecast…

I flew Spirit Airlines out of LaGuardia on April 28th. With the announcement just days later that the carrier was shutting down, it felt a little like catching the last chopper out of Saigon. Then again, every time you flew Spirit felt a little like catching the last chopper out of Saigon. There were the improbably tiny bags, people packed tightly in seats, and an everpresent sense that the simmering confusion could at any moment break out into full blown calamity. Like most people, I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with Spirit. Unlike most people, I once expressed it to the face of Ben Baldanza, the former CEO of Spirit. In 2015, I wrote an essay for The …

I used to think I was a great salesperson because I had all the right answers. I knew my product inside and out. I could explain every feature, every benefit, every reason someone should say yes. And I did what most people do—I led with that. Confident. Certain. Ready to convince. And I lost deals I should have won. I remember one pitch early in my career like it happened yesterday. I walked into the room fully prepared. My slides circled the room like a victory lap. I spoke for ten minutes straight, laying out exactly why my offer was the perfect solution. When I finished, the client looked at me and said, “That’s nice… but that’s not what I’m looking for.” It was a …

Trains are set to resume rolling on the Long Island Rail Road on Tuesday after a deal was reached to end a strike that had shut down the busiest commuter rail system in the country. But commuters in the eastern suburbs of New York City still had to muddle through another tough morning rush hour, as trains weren’t set to be running in time for the commute into work after the agreement was reached late Monday. Limited train service was set to resume around noon, with full service expected to be back in time for the evening rush. The LIRR still urged riders to work from home again Tuesday if possible. Shuttle buses were being offered from a handful of locations on Long Is…

American cities are choking on traffic. From Los Angeles to Chicago, Atlanta to Boston, gridlock is miserable for everyone. New York City’s Congestion Relief Zone offers a data-rich blueprint for cities willing to treat transportation as a system, rather than focusing on one form of travel at a time. Launched in January 2025, the program charges most drivers entering Manhattan’s core business district during peak hours. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) first comprehensive evaluation report, released in January 2026, shows clear success across mobility, environment, revenue, and equity metrics. The haters are flummoxed. More movement Deconges…