What's on Your Mind?

You know, there was a plague before COVID. Lots of people came down with it every morning and evening: the agony of traffic and train delays. Commuting sucked, and everyone agreed on that. Then remote work came along and, all of a sudden, having to go into the office disappeared for millions. But something else disappeared, and no one really talks about that part. If you listen closely to parents now, you’ll hear it. They miss the commute. Sort of. They don’t miss fighting for a seat on the subway. And no one is longing for the good old days of gridlock. But they do miss what that time offered them. I didn’t realize it either until it was gone. Catching our bre…

Psychological safety is a crucial key to high performance, a positive culture, and team success—and for good reason. Google’s Project Aristotle found that it’s the number one factor in high-performing teams. When people feel safe to speak up, ask questions, admit mistakes, and challenge ideas, teams learn faster and perform better. But as the concept has gained traction, something else has happened. Many misunderstand what it actually means, and that misunderstanding is quietly killing accountability. At its core, psychological safety is about creating an environment where people can speak up without fear of humiliation or punishment. What it’s not about is avoid…

The news landed quietly, tucked into a letter from MIT Sloan’s dean to colleagues: After 67 years, MIT Sloan Management Review is shutting down. Future insights, the letter explained, will live on via “digital newsletters, short-form video, social-first content, and podcasts.” This is a strategic inflection point for management thinking. It will have a major impact on the entire ecosystem through which serious management ideas travel from researchers to the people who run organizations. That ecosystem was already fragile. Winner-take-all dynamics MIT Sloan Management Review and similar journals were classic two-sided market propositions. They offered management…

In April 2026, cloud-hosting platform Vercel disclosed that hackers had breached its internal systems and stolen customer data. The breach occurred because a Vercel employee had signed up for a third-party AI productivity tool using their corporate Google account and granted it full-access permissions. When that AI tool’s own systems were compromised, the attackers used the trust relationship as a bridge straight into Vercel’s internal environment. The stolen database was listed for sale on a hacker forum for $2 million. Note that the breach did not directly attack a software vulnerability. Rather, it exploited an architectural gap. The technology worked as designed, …

A tall baobab tree greets people inside the Long Beach, California, headquarters of Vast, an aerospace company that is building the space station of the future. It’s planted beneath a skylight in the center of a white-painted circular lobby furnished with a sleek aluminum reception desk and built-in wood banquette that follows the curve of the walls. The tree and the room are symbolic. The former references trees in The Little Prince, a 1943 novella with a character who travels between planets, and the latter has the same diameter of a Haven-1 module, which the Vast team hopes will become home to researchers, astronauts, and travelers and eventually succeed the Inter…

The organizations that are pulling ahead on AI adoption aren’t simply onboarding new tools, they’re rearchitecting work itself. That’s according to the latest edition of Microsoft’s annual Work Trends Index published today. The study—which included surveys with 20,000 workers using AI in 10 countries and trillions of anonymized Microsoft 365 productivity signals—suggests that AI can unlock immense value, but success depends on the surrounding workplace culture. It falls on leaders to align on their AI strategies, create time and space for collective experimentation, and adopt a less prescriptive approach to how work gets done more broadly. According to the …

Every drink has its trade-offs: Plastic bottles are lightweight and leak-proof, but they come at a cost to the environment. Cans are convenient and recyclable, but are prone to spilling. A new can design marries the best of both. ReLid USA designed a fully recyclable aluminum can that’s resealable, thanks to a patented tab that opens and closes using a built-in sliding mechanism. You lift the tab end and slide it open to drink; when you want to reseal it, you slide the tab back to its original position. According to ReLid, the tabs work for at least 14 reseals. The design and development of the cans began in 2020 by Re-Lid Engineering AG, a Liechtenstein-based pac…

Affordability concerns continue to reshape the American housing market, upending expectations about home ownership and forcing buyers to get creative to make ends meet. According to a new report from Realtor.com, the high cost of living is bringing multiple generations of family members together under the same roof—making homes that can accommodate them a hot commodity. In its report, Realtor.com revealed that multigenerational homes come with a 65% higher median asking price than traditional family homes. But apparently that premium hasn’t deterred motivated buyers. A multigenerational living situation involves two or more adult generations of family members—ofte…

Artificial intelligence is helping knowledge workers do things that weren’t previously possible, according to a new report from Microsoft. In the company’s 2026 Work Trend Index report, which includes results from a survey of 20,000 knowledge workers who use AI at work, 66% of the AI users surveyed say that AI allows them to spend more time on high-value work, and 58% reveal that they’re producing work they couldn’t have produced just one year ago. That number rises to 80% among a category of AI power users Microsoft dubs “frontier professionals.” “Instead of just automating away what people used to do, and that’s an efficiency gain, what we’re seeing is much more…

Motivation can come in the form of a little treat to help you get through a long work day. Today (Tuesday, May 5, 2026) is Cinco de Mayo, meaning tacos, tequila, and guacamole are happy to help. This Mexican holiday has found a strong foothold in American culture despite it being not as popular in its homeland. It’s a good excuse for a margarita at the company happy hour. Before you indulge, let’s take a look at the history of this day so you can regale your coworkers. Impress them even more by knowing which deals will get you the most bang for your buck. The history of Cinco de Mayo Cinco de Mayo literally translates to “the fifth of May” and marks the da…

The expectation to respond instantly to every message is burning out professionals across industries. But how can you move away from being “always available” without harming your reputation? Here, experts offer practical strategies to reclaim control of your time and attention, so you can establish clear boundaries while maintaining professional effectiveness and trust. Make Communication Predictable One effective way professionals can move away from being “always available” is by creating clarity and predictability in how they communicate, rather than trying to respond to everything instantly. Most professionals think they need to respond faster to reduce pressure…

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

If you’re like me, your bank statement looks like a graveyard of monthly $9.99 charges for apps and web services that somehow add up to the price of a used Honda Civic every year. Somewhere over the last decade or two, software companies turned us from owners into renters. And quite frankly, the landlords are getting greedy. But here’s the good news: Whether you’re on a Mac or a PC, there are world-class alternatives that don’t require a monthly tribute to a corporate overlord. We’re talking professional-grade tools that are either free forever or have free tiers so robust you’ll forget the paid version even exists. Stop renting your digital life. Here are…

When communications worker Suzanne Selkow decided to open her own consulting practice, she realized that going solo meant fewer opportunities to “turn to a colleague for a gut check,” she says. Knowing herself to get bogged down in “decision paralysis,” she figured she needed some kind of outside perspective as she launched her business. So she turned to a different kind of mentor—she created an AI career coach using Anthropic’s Claude. “I figured that was actually a practical use case for an LLM—to be able to take some of those bigger-picture ideas that I had workshopped with a human coach, and turn it into a week-by-week [business] plan,” she says. Now mon…

Below, Piera Gelardi shares five key insights from her new book, The Playful Way: Creativity, Connection, and Joy Through Everyday Moments of Play. Gelardi is a creative entrepreneur. She cofounded the media brand Refinery29 and, more recently, the creative wellness company NoomaLooma. What’s the big idea? Playfulness means being curiously, creatively, and courageously engaged with life. Being playful isn’t the easy choice. It requires showing up authentically, risking looking silly, and trying something that might not work. In a world that rewards performance and polish, choosing play is a quiet act of courage that will help you feel alive. Listen to the a…

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…

Artificial intelligence—surely the most hyped technological development to seize the spotlight in a generation—does not appear to be very popular with the American public. A clear majority recognize AI is a big deal, but recent Pew Research Center polling found more concern than excitement, particularly in its impact on creativity and relationships. Quinnipiac surveys find opinions souring even as usage rises. It’s associated with job losses, cheating, dubious advice, excessive energy consumption, and a variety of doomsday scenarios up to and including the eradication of humanity. In March, 57% of respondents to an NBC poll said the risks associated with the technolo…

Burger King’s slogans have long emphasized personalization, like “Have It Your Way” and “Your Rule.” Now there’s a text generator that lets you personalize its logo, too. A new Burger King logo font generator lets users customize the red, rounded letters that sit between the logo’s burnt-orange-colored buns. It’s by Pixel Frame, a website that makes album cover and logo text generators for everything from Drake’s discography to Dragon Ball Z and Donkey Kong. Just a few words will render big and bold in the logo generator, but the text will become increasingly squished and stacked as you add more text, with one line stacked on top of the other like hot-off-the-gril…

Pinterest’s newest ad starts with two young women doomscrolling in the dark. It’s a familiar nightly ritual for millions. As one of them slumps on the bed in a Reels-induced semicoma, the other gets an idea and opens . . . you guessed it, Pinterest. Suddenly, an energetic dance track fills the room, and the two are inspired to get their best ’fits together for a night out. It ends with the tagline, “The best thing you can find online is a reason to go offline.” When the business model for every other social platform revolves around your attention and time spent as their primary product for brand advertising dollars, this may feel like a counterintuitive strategy…

When Anna Jarvis set out to establish a national Mother’s Day in the early 20th century, her goal was to honor her own mother’s legacy of activism, sacrifice, and maternal devotion. She envisioned a national day of gratitude where all Americans expressed their thanks and admiration for their own mothers. But just a few short years after successfully getting official recognition for the holiday, Jarvis was horrified to see Mother’s Day commercialized to benefit florists and greeting card companies. Jarvis petitioned to recall the holiday she had championed. One imagines Jarvis banging her head against the wall if she could see us now, since Mother’s Day spending co…

Twenty years ago, if you asked the average person what Google was, they’d tell you it was a search engine. The company became synonymous with searching for information online, reaching a level of dominance no search engine had seen before, or has seen since. Ask the average person today and they’d probably tell you the same thing. Except Google isn’t just that anymore. It’s a far more complicated company, one trying to be all things to all people, and arguably succeeding at none of them. Google is now a five-layer company, says David Bader, director of the Institute for Data Science at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. One of the key layers is AI, which coul…

Hello again, and welcome back to Fast Company’s Plugged In. Upon hearing of a celebrity’s death, have you ever been startled to realize that they hadn’t left us long ago? That happened to me last weekend. Except the dearly departed in question wasn’t a person, but a company: Ask.com, the web property forever better known by its original brand, Ask Jeeves. For years, I wrote about Ask quite regularly. But when its owner, media conglomerate IAC (which is in the process of changing its own name to People Inc.), announced it had shut down the site as of May 1, it was its first time in the news in more than 15 years. The last time before that was in November 2010, when…

As artificial intelligence use skyrockets, tech companies are racing to build data centers, the infrastructure needed to run and teach their models. There are roughly 4,000 data centers around the U.S., with reports suggesting 3,000 more are coming online soon. Just one problem: No one seems to want a data center in their backyard. Communities oppose them because they consume massive amounts of energy and water and pollute the environment. Another concern? Data centers are major eyesores. These complexes can span hundreds of acres and usually feature uninspiring, windowless concrete facades. Built quickly, efficiently, and as inexpensively as possible, their desig…

It made sense 50 years ago to market to entire generations as if they were one persona. It was a way for companies to understand consumers when there was little else to go on. But does this approach still work today? In the 1960s, marketers needed to reach the large cohort of post-war consumers entering adulthood (and peak spending years). Et voilà, the idea of the Baby Boomer generation was born. The conventional wisdom was that the entire cohort had lived through similar experiences that shaped their values and spending patterns similarly. It was largely true at the time, but a lot has changed since then. Technological progress was impressive, but it didn’t …