Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

Life is full of bittersweet moments, such as when children leave a happy home to strike out on their own. Big Bear bald eaglets Sunny and Gizmo, the offspring of California’s internet-famous eagles Jackie and Shadow, are getting ready to do just that. And the eagle family’s one-million-plus social media followers can watch them fly from the nest for the first time. This act is known as fledging and can happen anytime between 10-14 weeks old. The official fledge window for the eaglets started on Tuesday, and fans who love watching the eagles on the live nest web camera operated by the nonprofit Friends of Big Bear Valley (FOBBV) hope the eaglets take their sweet t…

Baltimore, known for being a leader in medicine and technology as well as for its fiercely community-driven residents, is one of many cities trying to determine how to grapple with some of AI’s most pressing issues. And recently, the city has been sounding the alarm. Artificial intelligence is changing the way we live and work. In many ways, the tools are wildly helpful—solving business problems, advancing medicine, and even helping solopreneurs thrive without a team. However, the technology comes with some worrisome drawbacks and, given the lack of federal oversight, the risks are beginning to reshape local politics. That seems especially true in Baltimo…

Banana Republic wants you to be ready for check in at whichever balmy, poolside escape you might venture to after months of clutching hot toddies and sloughing on heavy duty night creams. [Photo: Banana Republic] Its new White Lotus collection, made in collaboration with the hit HBO show, is a resort collection that’s about allowing its wearers to enjoy an uncomplicated spritz and shvitz in options they can pull from their suitcase while using their PTO. Banana Republic designed the mens and women’s capsule collection, available in 26 stores and online beginning March 6, with weighty high quality and ethically sourced fabrics. Prices range from $40 to $300. But more br…

The MrBeast burger. MrBeast toys. Rumors of a MrBeast phone company. Could a MrBeast bank next? The world’s most-subscribed-to YouTuber, with 446 million subscribers, has filed an application with the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office for a service called MrBeast Financial. The recent trademark application for the latest venture from MrBeast — whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson — lists plans for a “mobile app and online services for a range of banking, financial advisory, crypto exchange, and other services.” The venture has not yet been approved and the full details remain unclear. However, the trademark application, which was filed on Oct. 13, aligns with …

A U.S. House committee on Tuesday asked 23andMe’s co-founder to testify next month as it launched an investigation into the risk of genetic data being transferred to potential buyers amid the DNA testing company’s bankruptcy. James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky and the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to 23andMe’s Anne Wojcicki, seeking her testimony on May 6 as well as documents and information from the genomics firm. The genomics firm filed for bankruptcy protection last month after struggling with weak demand for its ancestry testing kits. Wojcicki made multiple failed takeover bids for the company and re…

A painting by street artist Banksy with an environmental message and an estimate of up to 5 million pounds ($6.3 million) is going up for auction, with some of the proceeds helping victims of the Los Angeles wildfires. Sotheby’s auction house said Tuesday that “Crude Oil (Vettriano)” is being sold in London next month from the collection of Mark Hoppus, bassist with California skate-punk band Blink-182, who sees Banksy as a kindred spirit. Hoppus said he was drawn to the subversion, humor and intelligence of Banksy’s work and the similarities between “skateboarding, punk rock and art.” “I feel like street art and punk rock have the same core,” Hoppus said. “Th…

Elusive street artist Banksy appeared to confirm Monday that a new mural in London, depicting two children lying down and pointing up at the sky, is his latest work. The artist posted two photos of the artwork on his official Instagram account Monday, hours after its appearance on a wall on the side of a building in Bayswater, west London sparked speculation over whether Banksy was behind it. The black and white mural, painted above a garage, depicts two figures dressed in winter hats and boots lying on the ground, with one of them pointing a finger upwards. An identical image appeared at the foot of a tower in central London on Monday, but the graffiti artist…

The main reason Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran fires people? Having a bad attitude. On a recent podcast episode of The Burnouts, Corcoran shared that after hiring her first salesperson from another firm and training her “like crazy for a year-and-a-half,” there was one thing training couldn’t fix: her attitude. That experience taught her a straightforward, non-negotiable hiring principle. While skills can be taught, a good attitude cannot. “I learned a very valuable lesson: [if you] have somebody who has a bad attitude, they’re going to suck up other people into their attitude,” Corcoran said in the podcast episode. One person’s negative outlook c…

Barbara Corcoran is one of Shark Tank’s longest-running sharks, with an estimated net worth of approximately $100 million. But she’s also one of 10 kids from a working-class family. By age 23, she’d held more than 20 jobs. By 52, she sold her real estate company for $66 million. Corcoran knows how to build wealth. Her financial strategies are bold and unconventional. They buck traditional financial wisdom and—full disclosure—they can be also risky. But could they help you build wealth? 1. Don’t Bother Saving Money “I’ve never saved a dime my whole life,” Corcoran told CNBC Make It in 2023. Rather than letting her money sit idly in a bank account, Cor…

Tres Xemeneies (Three Chimneys) is a former coal-fired power plant in Sant Adrià de Besòs. Think of it as Barcelona’s own Battersea Power Station, London’s iconic power station that has been redeveloped into a technological hub (and Apple’s new London digs). Like Battersea, Barcelona’s plant is set to undergo a radical transformation into the new Catalunya Media City—a cutting-edge hub for digital arts, technology, and education. The winning design is called E la nave va, a nod to Federico Fellini’s film of the same name, which translates to “And the Ship Sails On,” a reference to how this long-dead structure that resembles a three-mast ship will keep cruising history i…

It’s been a rough few years for brick-and-mortar retailers. In 2024, numerous big-name companies shuttered or announced their intentions to shutter locations across the country, including Big Lots, Macy’s, CVS, LL Flooring, Walgreens, and Family Dollar. Now a discount retail chain with nearly a hundred stores has announced that it will close all of its locations. That retailer is Bargain Hunt, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month. Here’s what you need to know about its bankruptcy and store closings: Why did Bargain Hunt file for bankruptcy? Interestingly, Bargain Hunt has not revealed specific reasons for filing for bankruptcy. No…

Barnes & Noble has an incredible comeback story. In 2019, the American bookstore chain was facing bankruptcy, but it’s since returned to a position of growth: In 2025, the franchise opened 67 new stores across the United States, and 60 more are slated to open throughout 2026. But recent comments from the brand’s CEO have some social media users convinced Barnes & Noble is wasting all its goodwill. James Daunt, who took over the company in 2019, shared how he plans for Barnes & Noble to adapt to the AI era—and those plans have some book lovers rethinking their relationship to the brand. “We will stock them”: Barnes & Noble opens its arms to AI …

Barnes & Noble is on a roll, and it’s not slowing down in 2026. The bookstore has confirmed plans to open 60 new locations across the country in 2026. For Barnes & Noble, the move is part of a major comeback that’s been years in the works. After the company saw a sales peak in 2008, it spent a decade watching sales dwindle as customers moved to other retailers (especially digital booksellers like Amazon), ultimately leading the retailer to shutter 150 stores. In 2019, the company was acquired by the UK’s Elliott Advisors and taken private. But since 2023, Barnes & Noble has annually added dozens of new locations across the U.S. A post-pandemic…

January was a long month, but we finally have some good news in 2025: Bookseller Barnes & Noble plans to open at least 60 new stores this year, topping last year’s record of 57 stores and marking a steady revival of its brick-and-mortar bookstores across the country. “[Barnes & Noble] is experiencing strong sales in its existing stores and has been opening many new stores after more than 15 years of declining store numbers,” the company told Fast Company. “In 2024, Barnes & Noble opened more new bookstores in a single year than it had in the whole decade from 2009 to 2019 . . . [The company] is enjoying a period of tremendous growth as the strategy to hand…

Leo Robitschek says he loves gin-based martinis and negronis. Unfortunately, they don’t always love him back. “After two, that decision to have a third is usually a tricky one,” says Robitschek, who has worked in the liquor industry for more than two decades, including serving as a bar director for Manhattan hot spots Eleven Madison Park and the NoMad Hotel. To lessen the pain after a boozy night out, Robitschek joined forces with another bartender, Nick Strangeway, and the founder of the sparkling beverage brand Dry Soda, Sharelle Klaus, to launch Second Sip Gin. The London dry gin is 20% alcohol by volume (ABV), roughly half the level of most gins, and was formu…

Emerging like a mirage in the desert outskirts of Dubai, a sight unfamiliar to those in the Middle East and Asia has risen up like a dream in the exact dimensions of the field at Yankee Stadium in New York. Now that it’s built, though, one question remains: Will the fans come? That’s the challenge for the inaugural season of Baseball United, a four-team, monthlong contest that will begin Friday at the new Barry Larkin Field, artificially turfed for the broiling sun of the United Arab Emirates and named for an investor who is a former Cincinnati Reds shortstop. The professional league seeks to draw on the sporting rivalry between India and Pakistan with two of …

A jury in Georgia has ordered Monsanto parent Bayer to pay nearly $2.1 billion in damages to a man who says the company’s Roundup weed killer caused his cancer, according to attorneys representing the plaintiff. The verdict marks the latest in a long-running series of court battles Monsanto has faced over its Roundup herbicide. The agrochemical giant says it will appeal the verdict, reached in a Georgia courtroom late Friday, in efforts to overturn the decision. The penalties awarded include $65 million in compensatory damages and $2 billion in punitive damages, law firms Arnold & Itkin LLP and Kline & Specter PC said in a statement. That marks one of the larges…

A new $7.25 billion settlement between Bayer and a group of cancer patients could wrap up a huge wave of lawsuits against the company over allegations that it didn’t warn consumers about cancer risks associated with the weedkiller Roundup. Bayer faces more than 180,000 claims over Roundup, which contains the herbicide glyphosate – the chemical at the center of the controversy. Most of those claims are from people who used the weedkiller, which is sold at any hardware or garden store, at home. The lawsuits have prompted Bayer to pull glyphosate out of many products under the Roundup brand, though glyphosate is still commonly used by farmers and in the agriculture busin…

If you pick up plastic trash from a beach, you’re helping protect marine wildlife from harm. And every little piece—from a plastic bottle cap to food wrappers—matters, because even small amounts of this trash can be deadly to animals like sea turtles and seabirds. A new calculator from Ocean Conservancy can now quantify that impact. If you enter the amounts of different types of plastic that you clean up into the Wildlife Impact Calculator, it will tell you how many animal lives would have been at risk, had those items made their way into the ocean and been ingested. “We hope that people really see that beach cleanups matter,” says Erin Murphy, Ocean Conservancy’s…

In the basement of an Emack & Bolio’s ice cream shop in Midtown Manhattan, six batteries—each about the size of a toaster oven stood on its side—are plugged into the wall, connected right to the breaker box. Those batteries will charge during off-peak electricity times, when power is cheap. When energy demand increases and power prices go up, the batteries will discharge, keeping the freezers running and lights on while cutting the business’s utility costs. The batteries are from David Energy, a New York City-based startup energy provider. David Energy provides batteries to businesses for free, and then uses its software platform to manage when they draw and…

If you find yourself having to fly the allegedly friendly skies anytime soon, my goodness—good luck. Even in the best of times, heading to an airport can be an unpredictable headache. Now, in the midst of our current U.S. TSA meltdown, security wait times are climbing to crazy new highs. And the effects of that can often ripple far, even if you’re lucky enough to begin your journey in an airport (within the U.S. or without) that’s reasonably all right. Today, for an especially timely Cool Tools suggestion, I want to share a trio of resources with you that’ll help you see exactly what to expect before you head to the airport—and thus be able to plan and be prepared…

After years of working in PR and branding for luxury beauty, Jaimee Lupton decided to break away and disrupt the space by making beauty products that are accessible. With her business partner and real-life partner Nick Mowbray, she launched Monday haircare in 2020. Lupton saw a gap in the market for a brand that was targeted toward a younger demographic. There were few haircare brands that addressed the needs of younger customers, and even fewer who knew how to speak to those customers through their branding, messaging, and packaging. Lupton knew the power of a personalized message, and she created Monday with that in mind. The haircare company has received its fair s…