Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

After a yearlong search, the Sundance Film Festival announced Thursday that its new home will be Boulder, Colorado, keeping Sundance in the mountains but moving it out of Park City, the Utah ski town that had for decades provided the premier independent film gathering its picturesque snowy backdrop. Organizers said that after 40 years in the mountains, the festival had outgrown Park City, and lacked the necessary theaters or affordable housing to continue hosting what has become one of North America’s most sprawling movie events. Sundance had narrowed down the options to Salt Lake City (with a smaller presence in Park City), Cincinnati and Boulder. Boulder, organi…

Apple Watch sales are enduring a years-long backslide. While Apple first launched its watch in 2015, sales didn’t spike until the pandemic, when consumers were highly focused on their health. But competitors quickly caught up, with fitness-focused companies like Garmin integrating more smart technology. Meanwhile, Apple stumbled in adding compelling new features—getting into some legal spats along the way. For the past three years, Apple Watch sales have declined year-over-year, according to research firm IDC. In 2022, Apple sold 43 million units; by 2024, that number dropped to 34 million. The Apple Watch also lost market share, falling from 29.6% to 22.5%, while…

The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more. Most of us have heard the phrase “supply chain disruption” a few times too many in recent years. An extreme weather event or material shortage in one corner of the earth can ripple through thousands of global businesses, causing major delays. As the CEO of a company that builds data centers for some of the biggest technology providers in the world, it’s a concept I’m all too familiar with. It’s …

The bible tells us to “love your enemies,” and major sports teams seem to be taking that doctrine seriously. Or at least their stadium concession stands are. Fans come to stadiums for the game, but they almost always indulge in the food, too—which typically reflects the cuisine of their home team’s city. But now, baseball and football stadiums have begun offering some local bites of their opponents’ teams in a bid to sell more concessions. On March 27, Major League Baseball’s Opening Day, stadium food for the Washington Nationals will offer a new signature concession item: a platter of loaded nachos dubbed the “Stolen Plate Special.” The toppings on those cheesy…

Most people know Henry Ford as the founder of the Ford Motor Co. and creator of the trailblazing Ford Model T. But fewer are likely to be familiar with his side occupation as a hotelier. In 1931, Ford Motor Co.’s headquarters in Detroit was connected to other major cities by the now-defunct Ford Airport, an airline service for which Ford himself provided the necessary land and main investment. Ford realized that many of the travelers and business partners who flew in to the Dearborn airport would want somewhere convenient to stay after their long journeys. The thought led Ford to build one of the country’s first airport hotels. [Photo: Isaac Maiselman Photography]…

In January, Meta announced the end of third-party fact checkers on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. The tech giant is betting on a new, community-driven system called Community Notes that draws on X’s feature of the same name and uses the X’s open algorithm as its basis. Meta is rolling out the feature today. Anyone who wants to write and rate community notes can sign up now. The rollout will be throttled and, initially, notes won’t appear publicly as Meta claims it needs time to feed the algorithm and ensure this system is working properly. The promise is enticing. A more scalable, less biased way to flag false or misleading content, driven by the wisdom of the crow…

Every year, American cars hit a staggering 1 million large animals like deer and elk. In California—a roadkill hot spot—vehicle collisions with animals cost more than $200 million every year. To address the problem, experts have long advocated for wildlife crossings that either span over high-speed freeways or burrow under them to help animals cross over safely. (The world’s largest wildlife crossing is set to open in 2026 in California, where it will help reconnect habitats bisected by the 10-lane 101 Freeway.) Other strategies involve reducing traffic or closing roads altogether at peak animal crossing times. Now, a new solution might be on the horizon, and it is mounte…

If you have any vegetable products in your kitchen, you’ll want to be aware of the latest recall posted on the website of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The recall involves numerous vegetable products and fears that they could be a breeding ground for Clostridium botulinum bacterium, which can produce the deadly botulinum toxin. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? On March 3, the FDA posted the notice of a voluntary recall from AKT Trading Inc. of Torrance, California. The recall was initiated after the company discovered that some of the prepared vegetable products manufactured by Choshiya Honten Co., Ltd had the potential to harbor the Cl…

Trying to find authentic, consistent joy in the midst of a reality that is relentlessly delivering devastating blows feels akin to finding a needle in an impossibly large haystack. But according to Michelle Obama, it is possible—and the power lies in acknowledging the depth of despair and apathy while still finding reasons for hope. At SXSW this week, the former first lady and her older brother, Craig Robinson, who is executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, took the stage for a live session of their new podcast, IMO. The pair were joined by Laurie Santos, a cognitive scientist, the Yale professor behind the school’s most popular class t…

The one-bedroom cottage with a woodsy vibe reminded Heather McAlpine of the home she lost to the brutal Los Angeles-area wildfires. But only two hours after seeing the listing, the rental was snapped up. She is one of tens of thousands of people displaced by the fires who is now competing for housing in a region that is among the most expensive and competitive in the country, partly due to lack of supply. McAlpine, had lived in her Altadena house for four years and is now staying with her boyfriend. She isn’t surprised by spiking rents. “I know they’re expensive, and it sucks,” she said. Tenants who were just getting by before the fires now face a daunting housing sea…

The American economy runs on what are known as heuristics, a diverse array of mental short-cuts that help consumers make a dizzying number of choices to navigate the wild complexity of everyday life. These shortcuts help us select the restaurants we may choose to patronize, the cars we drive, the food we purchase, and the schools we attend and to which we send our children. We rely on scoring systems, certifications, and ranking methodologies to consider what movies to see, what music to listen to, and whether to purchase fair-trade products. These shortcuts come in many forms, from the complex (like the tools used to rate bonds and other financial products) to the straig…

For decades, human organs, some of the most fragile cargo imaginable, have been transported on ice. Not because it was the best method, but because that’s how it had always been done. A process with life-or-death consequences remained unchanged simply out of habit. I didn’t fully grasp the flaws in this system until I experienced it firsthand. I saw the gaps in coordination, the last-minute scrambles, and the life-altering consequences of relying on outdated methods. But identifying a problem isn’t the same as knowing how to fix it. Innovation happens when leaders refuse to accept the way it’s always been done. It happens when they show up, ask questions, and stay…

Amid rapid technological advancements, return-to-office policies, and political and economic uncertainty, soft-skills like conflict mitigation are rising through the ranks as desirable skills for professionals. Skills needed for jobs are rapidly changing, with LinkedIn estimating that 70% job skills will change by 2030. In response, the social network identified the top 15 fastest-growing skills in the United States with its inaugural Skills on the Rise 2025 report. With a quarter of professionals planning on learning new skills, LinkedIn’s list pinpoints the most popular skills for both professionals and companies hiring. LinkedIn identified growth on skil…

A random tree in Toronto—yes, a tree—has become an unlikely online sensation, racking up dozens of glowing five-star reviews on Google. Known affectionately as “Rodney the Tree,” the landmark recently gained viral attention after a screengrab of its Google Maps listing was shared on the subreddit r/MadeMeSmile. The post’s caption: “Someone marked a random tree in Toronto as a tourist attraction – and the reviews are genuinely taking me out,” alongside a handful of screengrabs of the 180 online reviews. One visitor claimed to have traveled all the way from the UK just to see Rodney, who stands proudly on a patch of grass near King Street and Strachan Avenue.…

China’s energy and auto giant BYD has announced an ultra fast EV charging system that it says is nearly as quick as a fill up at the pumps. BYD, China’s largest EV maker, said Monday that its flash-chargers can provide a full charge for its latest EVs within five to eight minutes, similar to the amount of time needed to fill a fuel tank. It plans to build more than 4,000 of the new charging stations across China. Charging times and limited ranges have been a major factor constraining the switch from gas and diesel vehicles to EVs, though Chinese drivers have embraced that change, with sales of battery powered and hybrid vehicles jumping 40% last year. BYD’s news appear…

The American economy runs on what are known as heuristics, a diverse array of mental short-cuts that help consumers make a dizzying number of choices to navigate the wild complexity of everyday life. These shortcuts help us select the restaurants we may choose to patronize, the cars we drive, the food we purchase, and the schools we attend and to which we send our children. We rely on scoring systems, certifications, and ranking methodologies to consider what movies to see, what music to listen to, and whether to purchase fair-trade products. These shortcuts come in many forms, from the complex (like the tools used to rate bonds and other financial products) to the straig…

Tuesday’s news that Google would acquire the Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion was remarkable on several fronts. The deal, assuming it closes, will be the largest acquisition in Google’s history. And it’s the biggest exit in Israeli history. “Becoming part of Google Cloud is effectively strapping a rocket to our backs,” Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport wrote in a blog post. “[I]t will accelerate our rate of innovation faster than what we could achieve as a stand-alone company.” It also marks the close of a fast-paced, five-year chapter for the company. Founded in January 2020 by Assaf Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Roy Reznik, and Ami Luttwak, Wiz grew quickly, as …

TD Bank is planning to close at least 37 branches across 10 states and Washington, D.C., as part of a broader effort to streamline operations and adapt to changing customer banking habits. The decision comes amid ongoing recovery efforts for the company, which is still grappling with the fallout from a $3 billion payout after pleading guilty to money laundering and failing to prevent illegal transactions. In October 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed that over a six-year period, TD Bank had neglected to monitor more than $18 trillion in payments, enabling the laundering of over $600 million. As part of the settlement, the bank was required to pay hefty…

Google has made it much easier to find the answers we seek without navigating to various websites, but that has made it much harder to do business for media companies and other creators. And this new era of artificial intelligence-powered search will reshape the future of the internet, according to Matthew Prince, cofounder and CEO of Cloudflare. Cloudflare has a unique vantage point because it counts content creators and artificial intelligence companies among the more than 20% of the internet that sits behind its network. Driven by a mission to build a better internet, the San Francisco-based company is invested in finding a solution that works for all players invol…

Marcia Dunn, AP reporter: Almost all roads to space begin here in Cape Canaveral. Haya Panjwani, AP correspondent: That’s Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press’ space writer. She’s following Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams’s return home from the International Space Station. PANJWANI: I’m Haya Panjwani. On this episode of “The Story Behind the AP Story,” we’re unpacking how the two astronauts got stuck up there in the first place and what they’ve done in the last few months at the station. DUNN: So Butch and Suni became the first people, the first astronauts, to strap into a Boeing Starliner capsule and be launched into space. This was last June, June 5, 2024. They…

A bitcoin investor who bought a SpaceX flight for himself and three polar explorers blasted off Monday night on the first rocket ride to carry people over the North and South poles. Chun Wang, a Chinese-born entrepreneur, hurtled into orbit from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. SpaceX’s Falcon rocket steered southward over the Atlantic, putting the space tourists on a path never flown before in 64 years of human spaceflight. Wang won’t say how much he paid Elon Musk’s SpaceX for the 3 ½-day ultimate polar adventure. The first leg of their flight—from Florida to the South Pole—took barely a half-hour. From the targeted altitude of some 270 miles (440 kilometers), their full…