What's on Your Mind?

Kate Aronowitz tells me she first set out in graphic design because it felt like a discipline that helped her bring order to things. Many years later, she has a love-hate relationship with being labeled “a creative” because the creative process, as she sees it, is not just about art and design—it’s as much about solving problems as it is building things from scratch. She also believes everyone can be creative under the right circumstances. As portfolio operations lead at Google Ventures, Aronowitz has collaborated with some of the world’s most inspiring and hardworking founders. And now she has the opportunity to shape and inspire the next generation of students at S…

GameStop announced on Sunday that it would offer to buy eBay for nearly $56 billion. One day later, CNBC spoke to GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen about the news, in an interview media outlets have called “bizarre,” “evasive,” “dizzying” and “awkward.” In what felt more like an SNL sketch than a CNBC interview, the billionaire CEO of GameStop provided little context or further explanation as to how the company would afford and operate eBay, which has a market capitalization of $46 billion compared to GameStop’s $11 billion. When asked how math for the deal would actually pan out, Cohen answered, “It’s on our website. Half cash, half stock, but the details are on our websi…

As a young child, interior designer Jeremiah Brent and his mother visited open houses and model homes in his hometown of Modesto, California, as a form of daydreaming. Brent walked through the houses, imagining the people who might live there, building a fantasy around what these homes could be. Since then, Brent has turned his childhood design obsession into a sprawling career: He runs a 50-person design firm, moonlights on Queer Eye, and recently brokered his first bedding deal with Target. Having come up in the industry through a series of audacious bets on himself, Brent has developed a sense of humor and pragmatism around his relationship with creativity and his…

The old Tesla can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, ‘cause she’s dead. Over the past few days, a new trend has emerged on TikTok: people are posting their Tesla trade-ins accompanied by the hashtag “ByeTesla” and soundtracked to Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do.” In the videos, the Tesla driver backs out of a driveway as the lyrics play: “I’m sorry, the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, ’cause she’s dead.” Cut to a brand-new Rivian R1S, Porsche Macan Electric, or even a GMC Hummer EV SUV as the song’s chorus plays: “Look what you made me do.” “The best upgrade I’ve seen in this trend,” one person commented on the vide…

Countless hours, days—perhaps even weeks—of my life have been spent creating Sims characters, building them houses, marrying them off, and making babies. Now, there’s a new life-simulation game on the block hoping to expand beyond the American market. inZOI debuted on March 28 at $40 and quickly climbed to the top of Steam’s most wishlisted and bestseller charts. The game’s appeal lies in its hyper-detailed character customization, free expansions, and immersive, realism-focused world. Unlike The Sims, which embraces cartoonish characters and lightheartedness, inZOI opts for lifelike graphics and a slower-paced gameplay experience centered on everyday interactions. …

Since the term “design thinking” took off in 2000, the once boutique industry of design became a household term. Spurred on by the stratospheric growth of Apple after the iPhone launch in 2007, businesses invested untold sums purchasing design companies and building design proficiency in-house. The cherry on top arrived when McKinsey published a report in 2018 cementing the value of design in leading businesses cross-sector. And then? For the last several years, the design industry has quietly lost some of its luster. We’ve published multiple stories examining how the world of business broke up with design, while a generation of design leadership has grappled with the…

San Francisco may have a reputation for being AI-obsessed and chock-full of antisocial tech nerds, but those are only stereotypes—right? A viral post from a San Francisco tech worker brought all the city’s clichés into focus, after he visited New York City and was seemingly amazed by people interested in anything other than AI. Parv Sondhi, a San Francisco-based project manager with experience at Apple, eBay, and UC Berkeley, took to social media to share his observations after spending a week in New York City. In his post, he remarked on seeing “very few AI ads or billboards around” and coming across “way more artists.” Sondhi seemed especially wowed by how s…

Chili’s and TGI Fridays are in a full-blown mozzarella stick feud. Last week, TGI Fridays unveiled its new menu with a post on X: “New menu’s out. mozz sticks hit harder. happy hour’s calling. life’s good.” The next day, the chain appeared to throw shade at its fast casual rival, Chili’s Grill & Bar. new menu’s out. mozz sticks hit harder. happy hour’s calling. life’s good. — TGI Fridays (@TGIFridays) May 13, 2025 “Somebody tell [chili pepper emoji] to stay in their lane,” TGI Fridays posted on May 14. “Y’all are not mozzarella stick people. We are. That’s it. That’s the tweet.” Chili’s clapped back by sharing a screenshot of the post: “@ us next time…

Following a cryptocurrency scandal in December 2024, Haliey Welch (aka Hawk Tuah girl) seemed to drop off the map. Months later, she’s opening up about what really happened. The trouble started when Welch, who rose to fame after a viral street interview moment last summer, announced she would be releasing her own cryptocurrency memecoin called $HAWK late last year. The token was publicized heavily and quickly rose to a $490 million market cap when launched on December 4. It tanked just as quickly, and its value plunged $440 million in just 20 minutes. Now, more than two months later, we finally have an explanation. “How this idea got brought to me, it was suppos…

AI is quickly moving beyond rote tasks and into the realm of bigger-picture decisions that once relied only on human judgment. As companies treat AI as a thinking partner, the technology also introduces new risks. But the efficiency gains are hard to ignore, and companies are going head first into adoption. “It’s very much like a chief of staff or a senior adviser,” says Stacy Spikes, CEO of cinema subscription service MoviePass. To Spikes, AI platforms are a second or third set of eyes, helping him approach vendors or handle tricky people-to-people situations. He says he treats AI as a sounding board, not a decider. “I’m not letting it make the decision for me, …

After a long day in the office, you catch a sight of yourself in the bathroom mirror: Hair, frizzy. Skin, dry. Eyes, puffy. “Office air” has claimed yet another victim. The term, which has recently gone viral on TikTok, puts its finger on a complaint office workers have suffered in silence for years. Coined by content creator Noa Donlan, her videos documenting the phenomenon have recently amassed millions of views across TikTok and Instagram. “I first noticed it as a student, but it became unmistakable once I started working full-time four years ago,” Donlan told People in a recent interview. “I’d leave the house feeling put together, then catch myself in t…

Those who work a 9-to-5 know nabbing one of the few available weekend slots with your hairdresser or nail technician requires a huge amount of forethought. Or how time-consuming it can be to get your oil changed, buy your groceries, or wait in line at the post office. The two-day weekend is simply too short to squeeze in all the errands and life admin that builds up throughout the week. So rather than wasting precious leisure time—or worse, PTO—some workers are going ahead and scheduling their appointments on company time. “A little reminder to everyone who works in corporate that no one at work actually needs to know what your appointments are for,” one viral T…

Social media users have been having a field day with Waymo’s autonomous vehicles, sharing videos that poke fun at the driverless cars getting stuck, acting unpredictably, or simply navigating the world a little too awkwardly. The latest wave of posts follows Waymo’s recent expansion into Austin, where users are already documenting bizarre and frustrating experiences with the service. TikTok user Becky Levin Navarro posted a video on April 20 claiming a Waymo car trapped her and her fellow passengers on the side of a highway after heading in the wrong direction. “This is the most insane thing. We’re in a Waymo, here, under Mopac,” she said. “It was going the wrong …

Retro gaming is experiencing a revival thanks in large part to people born after the Game Boy era. According to a new survey from Pringles, a popular gaming snack, 66% of Britons have bought retro tech of some kind in the past two years, with 24% of Gen Z now owning a retro games console. Popular retro consoles include Game Boy, first released in 1989 and discontinued in 2003; Super Nintendo Entertainment System, released in 1990 and also discontinued in 2003; and the Xbox original, first released in Europe in 2002 and discontinued in 2009. For 89% of gamers, retro games offer a welcome break from the internet, with 74% agreeing that “nostalgic games” are more …

Zoom made a name for itself during the pandemic, becoming synonymous with video conference calls. But the company recently changed its name from “Zoom Video Communications Inc.” to simply “Zoom Communications Inc.,” a sign that it’s pushing beyond video. Other Zoom offerings include a Team Chat product comparable to Slack, a collaborative document platform that integrates with Zoom meetings, business phone features, and an AI companion. Zoom CEO Eric Yuan spoke to Fast Company about the company’s offerings and ambitions beyond video, his vision for the future of AI-powered work, and what the return to the office has meant for how people use Zoom. This interview has b…

A glance at the day’s headlines reveals a universal truth: Leadership matters. Whether uplifting and ethical or toxic and abusive, leaders profoundly shape our lives. And this is especially true on the job. Research consistently shows that leadership influences employees’ attitudes, behaviors and emotions, driving key organizational outcomes such as creativity, employee engagement, well-being and financial performance. Unfortunately, research also shows that supervisors abuse their employees far too often and then try to manage impressions to compensate for their bad behavior. But what happens when a leader tries to “make up” for past abuse by suddenly acting ethi…

Whether he’s climbing skyscrapers in Taiwan or working to build the Honnold Foundation, free solo climber and activist Alex Honnold remains an optimist. He sat down with Fast Company to talk about why a good outlook is essential—both for his sport and in the fight for the planet. Honnold also reflects on education, human potential, overconsumption, and what’s at stake for American national parks and public lands. View the full article