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Starting April 22, mortgage brokers will be able to access Rocket Pro's loan pricing, interest rates and product eligibility, the company announced. View the full article

Even the most loyal Apple users will admit that the company is lagging behind when it comes to AI, with Siri's big Apple Intelligence upgrade now officially delayed (having been heavily promoted throughout last year). In a new blog post, Apple outlines some of the ways it's hoping to get back on track. One of the potential reasons for Apple's generative AI struggles may be that it prioritizes user privacy a lot more than the likes of OpenAI and Google. Apple doesn't gather any user data to train its large language models or LLMs (though it has trained its models on free text on the web), and relies heavily on synthetic data to produce AI text from prompts and from existing writing. The problem with synthetic data is, well, its artificiality. It lacks the nuance and variation of human writing as it changes over time, and without any text written by actual people for comparison, it's difficult to assess the quality of what the AI is outputting. As mentioned in the blog post, Apple is now planning improvements to text generation. In basic terms, the idea is that AI-generated, synthetic text will be compared to a selection of actual writing from users, stored on Apple devices—but with several layers of protection in place to prevent individual users from being identified, or any personal correspondence being sent to Apple. The approach essentially grades synthetic text by comparing it against real writing samples, but only the aggregated grades get back to Apple. What's actually happening doesn't involve actual words or sentences at all, in fact: Both the synthetic text and human writing get converted into "embeddings," which are essentially mathematical representations of the text. There's enough data to rank the quality of the AI text, without getting to the level of doing any real reading. All of this information is encrypted as it's transferred, and comparisons are only made on devices where users have opted into Device Analytics on their gadgets (the option can be found in Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements in Settings on iOS, for example). Apple never knows which AI text sample was picked by an individual device, only which samples have better rankings from all the devices pinged. Genmoji and other tools Apple will test its AI outputs against user data without looking too closely. Credit: Apple This anonymized grading system can be used to improve text made or rewritten by its generative AI models, Apple says, and should also mean more accurate, more intelligent summaries of text as well. Outputs that rank the highest could be tweaked with a different word or two, before being sent back for another round of assessments. A simpler version of the same approach is already being used by Apple to power its Genmoji AI feature, where you can magic up an octopus on a surfboard or a cowboy wearing headphones. Apple aggregates data from multiple devices to see which prompts are proving popular, while applying safeguards to ensure unique, individual requests aren't seen or tied to specific users or devices. Again, this only happens on iPhones, iPads, and Macs that have been opted into Device Analytics. By getting devices to report "noisy" signals without any specific user information in them, Apple can improve its AI models based on aggregate data and users don't have to worry about their Genmoji prompts being discovered. Similar techniques will soon be used in other Apple Intelligence features, Apple says. Those features will include Image Playground, Image Wand, Memories Creation, Writing Tools, and Visual Intelligence, which have all been among the first Apple AI capabilities to actually make it out to devices. According to Bloomberg, the new and improved systems will be tested in upcoming beta releases of iOS 18.5, iPadOS 18.5, and macOS 15.5. We may well hear more about them, and about Apple Intelligence in general, at this year's Apple Worldwide Developer Conference, which is scheduled to get underway on Monday, June 9. Meanwhile, Apple's rivals in the AI space aren't showing any signs of slowing down—and have fewer scruples about using text written by their users to train their AI models further. In recent days we've seen Microsoft push out a range of updates for Copilot (including Copilot Vision and file search), Google add video generation to Gemini, and OpenAI upgrade the memory capabilities of ChatGPT. View the full article

US mortgage rates jumped last week by the most since October on the back of heightened volatility in the Treasury market, causing a pullback in financing applications for home purchases and refinancing. View the full article

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says battle could ‘force countries to choose’ between the two trading partnersView the full article

Snagging an internship can help future employees enhance their skills and knowledge and, overall, make them more desirable employees. But when it comes to actually working as an intern, not every company is a desirable place to be. Fortunately, Glassdoor, a company that analyzes workplace trends, explored thousands of intern reviews to put together its thorough list of the Best Internships of 2025. This year’s list includes 13 technology companies and six finance companies, with various other industries represented. The top companies offered not just competitive pay, but also roles that had a real impact—that is, the internships helped employees land jobs in their desired industries. Glassdoor also combined review ratings and workplace-factor ratings to rank the companies. Danny Cao, who heads Glassdoor’s internship program, said in the report that it’s no longer just students seeking intern roles, meaning competition is heating up. “While the majority of our internship applicants are current students, I’ve noticed a slight increase this year in recent graduates applying for summer internships,” Cao explained. “This could potentially be a growing trend that showcases how internships are evolving into a stepping stone for not only students but also early-career professionals navigating a challenging job market.” Here are the top 10 best companies to intern with this year: 1. EY-Parthenon Median Base Monthly Salary: $7,500 Overall Rating: 4.4 2. Capital One Median Base Monthly Salary: $8,833 Overall Rating: 4.2 3. Nvidia Median Base Monthly Salary: $8,333 Overall Rating: 4.2 4. AMD Median Base Monthly Salary: $7,916 Overall Rating: 4.2 5. Uber Median Base Monthly Salary: $7,750 Overall Rating: 4.1 6. Genentech Median Base Monthly Salary: $7,500 Overall Rating: 4.1 7. McKinsey & Company Median Base Monthly Salary: $8,333 Overall Rating: 4.1 8. Microsoft Median Base Monthly Salary: $7,875 Overall Rating: 4.1 9. Synchrony Median Base Monthly Salary: $ 5,166 Overall Rating: 4.1 10. LinkedIn Median Base Monthly Salary: $8,333 Overall Rating: 4.1 With competition increasing in multiple industries, including data science and software engineering, the time to apply is now. According to the report, February through March is when many internship listings are posted, though listings for certain fields peak in the fall. Regardless of when you apply, workers say, overwhelmingly, that an internship is extremely important. According to the report, 63% of Glassdoor users said their internship led to a full-time role. But even when it didn’t, 54% said it helped prepare them for their future in other valuable ways. Check out the full list of the best internships of 2025 here. View the full article

It can be alarming to find an unknown folder or file on your computer, not least because malware can install temporary files without your knowledge that allow an infection to hide or spread. If you're a Windows 11 users, the empty "inetpub" that recently appeared on your computer isn't malicious—and it's actually critical to patching a security flaw in your system. The folder, spotted last week by Windows Latest, was created on users' devices during the most recent Window 11 Patch Tuesday update. It is part of a security fix for an elevation of privilege vulnerability (labeled CVE-2025-21204) in the Windows Update Stack that allows attackers access to modify system files or folders, though Windows Latest reports that Microsoft hasn't clarified exactly how the folder is related to the patch other than offering "increased protection." If you find the inetpub folder on your device, do not delete it. If you already have, do not despair—you can recover it to ensure the vulnerability is patched. How to recover a deleted "inetpub" folder on Windows 11If you accidentally deleted the empty inetpub folder on your computer running Windows 11, you need to restore it for the security patch to be effective. While you can normally recover deleted files and folders from the Recycle Bin, File History, or a backup (or using recovery software), there is a specific process to restore the inetpub folder as described by Windows Latest: Go to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features. Click Turn Windows features on or off to pull up a dialog box. Check the box next to Internet Information Services and click OK. This will recreate the deleted folder with the same security protections as the original. View the full article

Jingye makes first comments after ministers seized control of struggling companyView the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. At $1,399 (down from $1,899), this deal on the 14-inch Apple MacBook Pro (2023, M3 Pro chip) brings some high-end specs into a more accessible price range, especially considering it’s still $1,699 on Amazon. Apple MacBook Pro (2023, M3 Pro chip) $1,399.00 at Best Buy $1,899.00 Save $500.00 Get Deal Get Deal $1,399.00 at Best Buy $1,899.00 Save $500.00 This base M3 MacBook Pro configuration gives you an 11-core CPU, a 14-core GPU, 18GB of unified memory, and a 512GB SSD, which is plenty for handling creative workloads like editing 4K video, code compiling, or juggling multiple apps and browser tabs without hitting thermal limits or draining battery in a couple of hours. It runs on macOS Sonoma, has a backlit keyboard, and supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth, though those were already around in the 2021 model. The display is a 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR screen with a 3024 x 1964 resolution and up to 1000 nits of sustained brightness (which makes a difference if you work outdoors or with HDR content). Colors look vibrant, and Apple's ProMotion tech keeps things smooth with a 120Hz refresh rate that adjusts dynamically. This helps during video playback or fast-paced visuals, though it won’t make much of a difference for static office work. And while it’s not a touchscreen (something Windows users might miss), the display clarity more than makes up for it in sharpness and depth. Battery life is solid too, with up to 30 hours unplugged, according to this PCMag review. You’re also getting a more generous port selection than what you’d get on a MacBook Air (speaking of, read why Apple's newest MacBook Air is the one to buy) or most laptops in this class. There are three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI output, an SDXC card reader, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and MagSafe charging—so dongle life doesn’t have to be your default. If you don’t need a powerhouse for 3D rendering or machine-learning tasks, this M3 Pro version is more than capable. It’s a good fit for creative professionals, developers, gamers trying to get more mileage from the Mac ecosystem, and anyone who doesn’t want to compromise on screen quality or build, but also doesn’t need the fully loaded top-tier models. View the full article

Shares in Nvidia Corporation and other chip technology companies are down in premarket trading this morning after Nvidia confirmed that it would take a significant financial hit to cover costs associated with a newly required export license so it can ship some of its latest chips outside of the United States. Here’s what you need to know about the new requirement and its effect on tech stocks. What’s happened? Yesterday, AI chipmaking giant Nvidia revealed that it will record a $5.5 billion charge this year related to its H20 chips, sending the stock down in premarket trading this morning. Nvidia made the revelation about a week after the The President administration added new export license requirements to the H20. Nvidia initially revealed that information in a Form 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dated April 9. In that filing, Nvidia revealed that the U.S. government now requires Nvidia to obtain an export license to export its H20 chips to China and select other countries. Due to this, Nvidia expects to incur about $5.5 billion in costs related to “inventory, purchase commitments, and related reserves” of the H20. The H20 chip is a chip Nvidia designed especially for the Chinese marketplace in order to comply with U.S. export restrictions, notes CNBC. In 2024, Nvidia made between $12 billion and $15 billion selling the H20. But now the associated $5.5 billion charge will take a significant chunk out of those revenues. The The President administration’s new export controls are also a sign that Nvidia could face an increasingly challenging environment when exporting its chips to countries that the U.S. believes could use them in ways that could disadvantage America. In Nvidia’s 8-K filing, the company said that the new export license requirement covers “the Company’s H20 integrated circuits and any other circuits achieving the H20’s memory bandwidth, interconnect bandwidth, or combination thereof” and that the United States government “indicated that the license requirement addresses the risk that the covered products may be used in, or diverted to, a supercomputer in China.” But China (including Hong Kong and Macau), isn’t the only country that the new export license requirement applies to. The license is also required for other so-called “D:5 countries.” According to a March 2024 publication by the United States Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, D:5 countries comprise over two dozen nations, including Afghanistan, Cambodia, Iran, Libya, Nicaragua, Russia, and Venezuela. On April 14, the United States government said the license requirement would “be in effect for the indefinite future,” according to Nvidia’s filing. Chip stocks fall The expected $5.5 billion charge related to Nvidia’s H20 chips has sent the stock tumbling nearly 6% in premarket trading this morning as of the time of this writing. Nvidia shares (Nasdaq: NVDA) are currently down around $6.45 to $105.75. However, it’s not just Nvidia shares that are down. The stock prices of chipmakers often move in unison—suggesting that most investors believe that what is good or bad for one company could be good or bad for the chip industry as a whole. The new export license requirement on Nvidia is a sign to many that U.S. chipmakers may see rougher waters ahead when it comes to exporting their products across the globe. Rougher export waters could lead to higher costs, reduced profits, or both. Other chipmakers this morning are currently seeing their stock price down, too, including: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE: TSM): down 3% Intel Corporation (Nasdaq: INTC): down 2.7% Broadcom Inc. (Nasdaq: AVGO): down 4% Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU): down 3.8% Arm Holdings plc (Nasdaq: ARM): down 4.8% QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM): down 2.2% Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMD): down 7% ASML warns about weaker orders However, the Nvidia news may not be the only thing dragging down these other chip companies. Currently, shares in the Dutch company ASML Holding N.V. (Nasdaq: ASML) are also down 4.7% in premarket trading as of the time of this writing. ASML isn’t a chip maker itself. It manufactures the critical machines that chipmakers need to produce their chips. As noted by the Wall Street Journal, ASML has now reported that orders for its machines that help make semiconductors totaled $4.45 billion in its first quarter. That was well below the $5.5 billion that analysts were expecting, suggesting a massive slowdown in once-expected production by chipmakers. ASML warned that President The President’s policies were creating uncertainty for the semiconductor industry. Not including today’s premarket falls, companies operating in the semiconductor space have had a rough 2025 so far—not helped by The President’s recent tariff policies and now, tightening export rules. As of market close yesterday, since the beginning of the year, NVDA shares were down 16.4%, TSM shares were down 21.4%, AVGO shares were down 22.8%, MU shares were down 15.5%, AMD shares were down 21.1%, and ARM shares were down 17.5%. Before today’s premarket drop, ASML shares were down 1.8% for the year. View the full article

For about 20 years, Docusign has been known as a tool for collecting digital signatures—helping businesses replace paper forms with electronic versions that are just as secure and legally binding. Just over a year ago, the company announced its development of an “intelligent agreement management,” or IAM, platform. This platform uses AI not only to gather signatures but also to assist with creating new agreements and organizing contracts after they’ve been signed. These features contributed to strong earnings in Docusign’s most recent quarter, beating analyst expectations and helping customers transform contracts from hard-to-manage text files and paper printouts into actionable data. “It’s literally a revolution in how agreements are managed inside of companies,” says Allan Thygesen, Docusign’s CEO. Traditionally, even digitally signed documents are still stored as word processing files or PDFs, often scattered across company servers and cloud systems. Although critical to company operations—from hiring to product sales—”Businesses really run on agreements,” says Docusign Chief Revenue Officer Paula Hansen. Yet these documents are often difficult to scan and analyze systematically. That makes it challenging to answer even basic questions, such as which agreements are up for renewal next month, without time-consuming human review. “It really should be structured data that’s managed by software,” says Dmitri Krakovsky, Docusign’s chief product officer. “But in fact, it usually sits in text somewhere—you cannot interrogate the contract.” Docusign’s IAM platform aims to solve that by giving customers a centralized space to store and track contracts—including those housed in other cloud systems—reducing the need to hunt down relevant files. Its AI tools can automatically ingest, analyze, and search contracts. Meanwhile, an automation platform called Maestro helps companies build workflows around agreements, such as collecting customer data via webforms, gathering signatures, and verifying signer identities. Once signed, contracts can be saved automatically, and Maestro can log relevant data to third-party systems like Salesforce. Now, Docusign is unveiling a suite of new features to make it easier for users to collaborate on contracts, track compliance, review them with AI, and verify the identity of signers. Launching at this week’s Docusign Momentum conference, a new AI engine called Docusign Iris will leverage the company’s deep contract experience to apply the most suitable AI models for various tasks. “We get to benefit from our deep understanding of how agreements are structured,” Thygesen says. “There’s sort of an inherent meta-structure to agreements, and therefore an ability to develop better models for extraction.” New virtual workspaces will enable collaboration on complex, multistep agreements. A feature called Obligation Management will automatically extract and highlight what each party is required to deliver and when—ensuring deadlines aren’t missed. This data can also be integrated into other software, like procurement management tools, eliminating the need for manual data entry, Krakovsky explains. By next month, Docusign plans to release a beta version of a new feature called Agreement Desk—a ticketing system that helps companies organize and manage contract-related tasks, similar to developer or help desk systems. It’s designed for use across departments—not just legal—supporting teams like sales, HR, and procurement. Agreement Desk offers visibility into task statuses and required actions. New contract prep tools will also make it easier to populate templates with data from across a company’s systems. Later this year, Docusign expects to roll out more advanced AI agents that can further automate contract processes. These tools will recommend next steps, highlight contracts up for renewal, flag potential issues, and even generate draft communications. Enhanced AI review features will identify contract terms that conflict with company policies, which can be written in natural language. Users can continue editing contracts in familiar tools like Microsoft Word or Google Docs, where AI-suggested redline changes will also appear, says Thygesen. That’s important for a solution meant to enhance—rather than replace—existing workflows. “Trying to get people to move out of the tools that they like to work in—email, Word—has not ended well for anyone,” he says. No matter the tools or workflows, Docusign’s management and AI features are designed to help customers avoid missed opportunities caused by delays or overlooked deadlines. Some customers are already seeing the benefits. Kelly Park Capital, which connects independent financial advisers and their clients with investment opportunities like hedge funds and private equity, uses Docusign’s systems to digitize and manage complex investment subscription documents. “These documents are hundreds of pages long, typically, and they are filled with dense, archaic, legalistic, regulatory-driven language,” says Dean Rubino, managing partner at Kelly Park Capital. “So if you’re not used to that, and you’re trying to do it in mass, it’s almost impossible.” Using Docusign technology, the company collects preliminary data—like client info and investment types—via web forms, which Maestro then automatically adds to the correct digital template. This saves around 70% of the time previously spent manually filling contracts and reduces the risk of transcription errors, Rubino says. Docusign’s upcoming workspace feature will also help Kelly Park Capital collaborate more effectively on documents. Meanwhile, AI tools may soon enable automatic updates to templates—useful for applying regulatory changes across similar agreements. While other tools exist for managing legal documents and using AI to analyze them, Docusign leaders believe their long history with contracts—and the trust of nearly 1.7 million customers—gives them an edge. “It’s still really early days,” says Hansen. “But the results are exceeding our expectations, and we’re fortunate to have a really large customer base and a customer base that trusts us.” View the full article

Design industry leaders trust artificial intelligence less than they did a year ago, and many see the world as an increasingly uncertain place. These are a few of the most striking takeaways from the 2025 State of Design & Make report from the design and engineering software maker Autodesk. This third annual design industry outlook is based on surveys and interviews with 5,594 industry leaders, futurists, and experts across industries including architecture, engineering, construction, and operations, design and manufacturing, and media and entertainment. Leaders from what Autodesk calls the “design and make” industries were asked to report on a wide range of topics, including adoption of digital technologies, sustainability efforts, supply chain challenges, and the growth of AI. AI is a recurring topic in the report, but one of the most striking results is just how skeptical industry leaders are becoming about AI and its use in their businesses. Only 65% of architecture, engineering, and construction professionals say they trust AI, down from 76% last year. That may not change its impact on the business, however, as 68% of firm leaders believe AI will ultimately enhance their industry, compared with 48% who think it will be a force of destabilization. But while AI is still an open question for many design industry leaders, there are some ways it has been largely embraced. According to the report, 39% of industry leaders say they are using AI to be more sustainable in their business practices, up from 34% in 2024 and 26% in 2023. The global economy is another overarching theme in the report, with many industries expressing concern and uncertainty. The architecture industry stands out, with leaders from the field predicting dark times ahead. Last year, 74% of architecture leaders reported that they were well prepared for unforeseen future changes in the global economy. This year that number has dropped to 46%, the steepest decline among all industries surveyed. The number of architecture leaders who see the global landscape as more uncertain than three years ago has risen from 35% to 57%. Just 55% of leaders in the architecture sector say they will increase investments in the next three years, a 28% decline from 2024. This design industry outlook may feel a bit like a knee-jerk reaction to the tumultuous economic conditions that have emerged in the early months of the The President administration, but industry leaders were seeing these clouds on the horizon long before. The quantitative data that the report is based on was collected between May and August of last year. View the full article

State governor says that duties will lead to job losses and higher pricesView the full article

I was taught that hard work would get me ahead, would ultimately pay off, and would get me promoted. But several years ago, when I was passed up for yet another promotion, I was angry and devastated because I was convinced that I had deserved that promotion. How could I not have been promoted after all the hard work I had been doing? A mentor I reached out to finally confided this to me, “Yes, you are working hard. But you are working on the wrong things. You need to be working on things that get you visibility.” I was doing lots of work, but with little visibility. I didn’t realize that only focusing on working hard was the quickest way to not get promoted. Even if I thought I was performing exceptionally, others didn’t have that perception of me. They didn’t see me in action on the things that mattered to them. It wasn’t clear or evident to them that I was capable and should be promoted. So if you aren’t getting promoted, it’s not that you didn’t deserve a promotion, or that you aren’t capable, or that you haven’t earned it. Here’s what you might not recognize: You aren’t visible to the leaders who are behind closed doors making decisions about your career. So if you want to get promoted, start with focusing on the following three things: Prioritize what’s important to your organization Especially in this current market, companies are having to make hard choices across the board. They are faced with executing layoffs, changing direction in strategy, cancelling initiatives, and more. Companies are prioritizing, reprioritizing, and reprioritizing again, assessing what’s the most important thing for them to achieve at this moment. And you need to make sure you have a clear understanding of what those changing priorities are. Review your project list and your goals for the year. What percentage of items are still relevant to your company’s changing priorities? All of it? Some of it? Or none of it? If you are quietly working on projects that are no longer a priority for the company, or have been put on the back burner, your work has become invisible. All that hard work has been forgotten or is just no longer important at this moment. Check in with your boss on what you are currently working on. They may have forgotten that you are still working on something that’s no longer relevant. When meeting with them, share with them what you have heard the company’s priorities are. Make sure you are raising your hand to take on work that’s important to leadership and helps you get the visibility you need. Every job will include non promotable or administrative work. And if you are working hard on invisible work only, you need to adjust quickly to ensure your work is getting on the radar of those making decisions about your career. Make sure you are visible to other leaders One of the biggest mistakes I made was to tie all my career fortunes to my boss. At one point in my career, I became exceptional at managing up to this one boss. She knew what I was working on; she had me leading a lot of visible work with very little non promotable or administrative tasks. She advocated for me in rooms I wasn’t in. She coached and guided me on what I needed to do to get promoted. Unfortunately for me, she got a great external opportunity and left the company. And then I was left all alone, trying to navigate my career. I had lost my only career champion at the company. Make sure you aren’t just visible to your boss, but also to other leaders. If your company encourages skip level meetings, get a meeting with your boss’s boss and whoever is running your division. And if they don’t, you can certainly schedule this or ask your boss ahead of time, so they don’t think you are going behind their back. It can be a short meeting to ask them questions about their career, but also to give them the highlights of what you are working on. You can send them quick updates once a month on progress, or share articles or books you have been reading that are pertinent to the challenges and opportunities your company is currently facing. Also, build relationships with your boss’s peers. When my boss left, one of her peers took over our team. I wish I had built a relationship with her sooner so she knew what I was working on and how I was adding value. Remember, you want to be visible not just to your boss, but to anyone who has a say in whether or not you get promoted. Be ready to present in big and small moments I thought my hard work would speak for itself. Even if I was working on the right things, I kept my head down and worked hard, and worked some more. I didn’t think I needed to promote what I was doing; that quite frankly seemed like a waste of time. I needed to be focused on the work, and not talk about the work. Now, I think about so many missed opportunities in my career to share what I was working on and be visible. All those missed opportunities cost me a number of key promotions along the way. So be ready to present, share, and be visible in those small and big moments. If they are looking for nominations to present projects at the next town hall, say yes. If they are looking for someone to ask the CEO a question about the shifting priorities, raise your hand. If they want someone to kick off a team meeting with a highlight on their project, volunteer to do it. Any opportunity to be visible and showcase what you are working on, take it. I shifted my mindset to realize this: It wasn’t about me bragging about what I was doing. It was me sharing the value I was adding to the company, and a great opportunity to hear questions and get inputs along the way to make my work stronger. Instead of just working hard heads down, becoming more visible also meant I could get more coaching from other leaders. If you are disappointed that you aren’t getting promoted, all is not lost. Shifting from working really hard under the radar to working on the right things and being visible might just be what you need to get on the path for the promotion you deserve. View the full article

If you’re planning to see the new Minecraft movie and haven’t heard of the viral “chicken jockey” trend wreaking havoc in theaters across the country, read on. The trend gets its name from the block-shaped zombies in the video game Minecraft that occasionally ride chickens—thereby becoming chicken jockeys. In a scene from the new film A Minecraft Movie, based on the popular game, Jack Black’s character Steve at one point screams out, “Chicken jockey!” The phrase has since become a battle cry for teen-filled audiences to yell at the top of their lungs, flash phone lights, and launch popcorn and drinks at the screen. In one video, a moviegoer perched on another’s shoulders holds up a live chicken as chaos erupts around him. they brought a live chicken pic.twitter.com/t2FELBbEZt — 🕐HOURLY🕑 shitpost (@hourly_shitpost) April 9, 2025 According to Entertainment Weekly, some screenings have been so rowdy that police officers were called in to escort audience members out. Other theaters have issued disclaimers at the start of the film, warning against antisocial behavior. The trend is largely harmless fun—teenage boys being teenage boys—unless you’re the minimum-wage cinema staff tasked with cleaning up the mess. “Please don’t ruin our theater and the movie experience for other guests just for imaginary internet points. Real employees have to clean up this nonsense,” a Sandy Springs-based movie theater posted on Instagram last week. “Enjoy Minecraft, but not like this.” In some locations, unaccompanied minors and large groups of teen boys are now banned in an attempt to curb those chasing their five seconds of viral fame. The movie’s director, Jared Hess, has embraced the trend. “It’s been way too fun. People are sending me these really hilarious speeches that a lot of teenagers are giving right before the movie. It’s so hysterical, man. I’m staying up way too late,” Hess told Entertainment Weekly, adding that he finds it funny that “cops are getting called for popcorn.” Others, including Jack Black himself, aren’t so amused. During a surprise appearance at a weekend screening, Black warned: “For today’s presentation of A Minecraft Movie, please no throwing popped corn, and also no Lapis Lazuli, and also absolutely no Chicken Jockeys!” Whether you find it funny or not, the trend has undoubtedly contributed to the film’s impressive box office numbers. After just two weeks in theaters, A Minecraft Movie is already the highest-grossing Hollywood release of 2025, earning $80.6 million during its second weekend. It Ends With Us told fans to wear their florals, while Barbie turned movie theatres pink. Now, A Minecraft Movie fans can expect to leave the theater dressed head to toe in someone else’s soda and popcorn. View the full article

Tokyo first in line for negotiations that will be closely watched as test case of Washington’s trade war strategyView the full article

Unanimous decision by judges is a blow for transgender rights campaignersView the full article

Welcome to Pressing Questions, Fast Company’s workplace advice column. Every week, deputy editor Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work podcast, will answer the biggest and most pressing workplace questions. Q: How can I get my boss to stop emailing me in the middle of the night? A: This dilemma is closely related to the question of how to say “no” at work without feeling guilty and how to push back if your workload is too much. All are part of setting boundaries, but in an uncertain job market, drawing firm lines between work and personal time can feel more fraught. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t set boundaries. In fact, the most valuable, creative, productive, and innovative employees are never the workaholics who respond to messages at all hours. Numerous studies have shown that an “always on” culture not only destroys employee morale but causes stress that negatively impacts job performance. While you can’t control your boss’s behavior or work style, you can set clear expectations for how you work. Here are a few ways to do it: Create office hours for yourself Most of us work in some kind of remote or hybrid capacity, which means we often work with people in different time zones. Even those in the same time zone may have different chronotypes, or times of the day you are most productive. For this reason, many people have found it useful to put a message on their email, Slack, and other communication platforms that says something like “My working hours from 9 a.m. EST to 5 p.m. EST. I will respond to your message within those hours.” You can include that as part of your status or signature or as an auto reply to messages received outside of those hours. If you tend to on a less traditional schedule, you can also signal to those you work with that while you might be emailing them at 9 p.m. or 6 a.m., you don’t expect them to respond. Including a signature line like: “My working hours may not be your working hours. Please do not feel obligated to reply outside of your normal work schedule,” can go a long way in showing that you have reasonable expectations. Both of these approaches can be a good start to let your boss know that you won’t be responding to off-hour messages without being confrontational. You can also just set your status to snooze notifications or better yet, put your devices away in a separate room. Have a direct conversation At least 60% of my workplace advice boils down to “have a direct conversation.” It may feel obvious, but most people avoid uncomfortable workplace discussions. However, once you get over the initial fear and awkwardness of bringing something up, a direct conversation is often the best way to address an issue. In this case, you can bring it up in during another regular check-in when you are already talking about projects you are working on. Try something like “By the way, I think our hours are a little misaligned. I’ve noticed some off-hours messages from you. I snooze my notifications on weekends and after 5 p.m. on weekdays, so that’s why I don’t respond right away.” You can also often advice if you think they’d be open to it: “Did you know you can schedule your messages to send during work hours?” If both of those approaches don’t work, you can just not respond to the messages and if your boss brings it up you can point to overtime laws in many areas that make it illegal for bosses to contact employees outside of work hours. Work often doesn’t fit neatly in a 9–5 box, and you should always first assume good intentions (and have empathy for your boss who might themselves be under a lot of pressure). But you should always protect your work-life balance, because that’s what makes you the best employee—not the your 11 p.m. email response time. Want more advice on setting boundaries at work? Here you go: 5 reasons why answering work emails and texts after hours is backfiring What sending after-hours emails does to your productivity How to get better at setting boundaries How can I push back if my workload is too much? View the full article

Not since the crash of 2008 has free trade held the moral and intellectual high groundView the full article

A range of policies, including tariffs, are leading foreign firms to question their dependence on US funding View the full article

If you follow much tech news, you’ve probably read about the Reddit theory of search. The Reddit theory is the idea that the best info you can get from Googling anything these days comes from Reddit—and the power of crowdsourced wisdom. You want to find the best portable battery pack? Or uncover the secret to getting Sharpie off your skin? See what scores of Redditors have settled on and save yourself the trouble of trying to dig up a definitive answer from any single source without all that extra perspective. It’s become such a popular tactic, in fact, that Google inked a major deal​ to feature Reddit info more prominently in its results. But you still never know exactly what you’re gonna get for any given search, and finding anything close to a consensus of opinions is often easier said than done. My friend, I’ve found a better way. Allow me to introduce you to the search-supplementing supertool you never knew you needed. Psst: If you love these types of tools as much as I do, check out my free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. You’ll be the first to find all sorts of simple tech treasures! Answers, answers, everywhere All right—so here it is: Few mere mortals who aren’t Reddit regulars realize it, but Reddit recently launched its own interactive search system for finding worthwhile info across the site. ➜ It’s called Reddit Answers​. And I’ve legitimately been blown away by how useful and effective of a resource it can be. ⌚ You’ll only need about 20 seconds to see what it can do. ✅ Just ​open up the Reddit Answers website​, then type any question or general search query into the box in the center of the screen. The key here is to think about this as a specific sort of supplement for your standard searching. Reddit probably isn’t the place to turn for objective facts, definitions, or any other such info. But it is an unmatched repository of genuine human opinion on a huge range of topics, and Reddit Answers helps you navigate that sea of sentiment better than any other tool I’ve tried. So, for instance, if you’re seeking out a new smart lock for your home, you might find it helpful to see a big-picture view of opinions from relevant Reddit discussions on the subject: Or if you’re planning a trip, you might benefit from browsing through stacks of firsthand opinions on different neighborhoods within a certain city: What makes Reddit Answers especially interesting for me is not only the info it gives you but also the way in which it structures it. Instead of just serving up scattered answers, it shows you smart summaries along with links to specific threads for more detailed reading. It’s like a gateway into a wild and often unapproachable jungle of popular perspectives—a starting point that makes it infinitely easier to explore that info without having to scroll through a zillion different pages and put it all together on your own. Reddit Answers works entirely ​on the web, in whatever browser you like. It’s free. And you don’t have to sign in or share any sort of personal info to use it. That being said, you will be limited to 10 queries a week if you don’t sign in (and a regular Reddit account is free and easy to create). Ready to rev up your productivity even further? Check out my free Cool Tools newsletter for an instant introduction to an incredible audio app that’ll tune up your days in some truly delightful ways—and another off-the-beaten-path gem in your inbox every Wednesday! View the full article

Nearly a decade after Congress passed the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015, the law is facing an uncertain future. Not to be confused with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (which shares the same acronym), the law—often referred to as “CISA 2015” to avoid confusion—was designed to clear the way between private companies and the federal government to more openly share cyber threat data. Supporters argued it would bolster national cybersecurity by speeding up the flow of information about emerging attacks. In ways that most people don’t see, the law has helped financial firms, hospitals, and major retailers spot and respond to threats faster—thwarting ransomware, phishing scams, and other attacks before they spiral. But CISA 2015 came with a built-in expiration date—and that clock is now ticking. Key provisions of the law are scheduled to sunset at the end of September unless Congress acts to renew them. As lawmakers weigh the future of CISA 2015, they’ll have to navigate a tricky set of obstacles—namely skepticism from privacy advocates. Fast Company spoke with Matthew Eggers, vice president for cybersecurity policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, about what’s at stake in the renewal process. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Broadly speaking, how has the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act shaped the government’s relationship with the private sector? The law, and the attitude that it’s built up over the years, has really provided government entities with a host of cyber threat data that they can’t get on their own. In a lot of ways, the information-sharing legislation has built a lot of connective tissue between the government and industry. What we’re trying to say to Congress is they need to pass the legislation by September 30, because not only is the law the cornerstone of U.S. cyber security, but it’s also to their benefit. They’ve got the public and private entities in their districts, in their state, that are under attack from cyber criminals and foreign nations—China, Russia, Iran, North Korea. Can you give an example of a tangible impact the law has made? I look at something like the food and ag sector. They’ve got a new Information Sharing and Analysis Center, and I think that is definitely an outgrowth of CISA 2015. There was a very good paper that David Turetsky, a professor at the University of Albany, put out in 2020 that showcases cyber success stories. It basically hits on a small fraction of the incidents that were probably mitigated or prevented. That’s one of the things about cyber information sharing: It’s hard to prove or show situations where you probably stop attacks at the outset or mitigate them. What is at stake, then, if the law lapses? It’s probably the case that information sharing would go down, and that’s in no one’s interest. There was information sharing happening before CISA 2015 passed, but what you’ve seen is an expansion of information-sharing bodies. And we don’t want to undercut that progress that’s been made. The other thing that’s at stake is trust. It takes a long time to build trust among individuals and organizations; at the end of day, it’s individuals within organizations who share information, and they have to know one another. Is a straight reauthorization sufficient? Some folks have pushed to modernize the law to address new cyberthreats like AI-driven attacks. It’s definitely part of the mix, and I can say that many leading organizations that are invested in this law are giving that a lot of thought. The law expires September 30; we definitely don’t want the law to lapse, but it only makes sense that we should be thinking about ways to improve the program, and I think that would likely entail new legislation. That can take time to consider. Do we have time to do that? I think that remains to be seen. Our priority is making sure that the program doesn’t lapse. Groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation have argued that the law doesn’t have sufficient safeguards for data. What is your response to those concerns? I think those concerns were unfounded when the program was being considered. A Congressional Research Service report that just came out showed that industry and government have a strong record of safeguarding privacy and civil liberties under CISA 2015. And to my knowledge, there have not been any privacy incidents. Plus, sharing privacy information really doesn’t do an organization much good from a cyber standpoint. Typically, what you’re sharing are cyber threat indicators, which are things like domain names, log data, malware, date stamps, stuff like that. Senator Rand Paul was a major opponent of the original bill, and he’s now chairing the Senate’s Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee. Have you engaged with him directly? We have been engaging his staff, and would be more than willing to engage him. I would say it’s just a matter of time before we try to meet with him. We’re always willing to talk. One thing we’re trying to do is more or less impress upon him the importance of the program to his state’s public and private entities. President The President hasn’t said anything on the law’s future, but there have been cuts to similar cyber initiatives. The people he is putting into positions at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and likely the Office of the National Cyber Director and the National Security Council—they get the importance of information sharing. Probably between now and September, when you may see a statement of administration policy, I can’t help but think that there would be a thumbs-up in favor of this program. Someone like Sean Plankey, who is expected to head up CISA, I know personally that he believes in the importance of this kind of effort. View the full article

A decade ago, streets in Paris were clogged with cars and exhaust. But now, if you ride a bike down a major boulevard at rush hour, you’ll be surrounded by a stream of other cyclists—and much cleaner air. “It’s an incredible feeling to ride your bike—it feels like Copenhagen, basically,” says Vincent Thorne, a postdoctoral researcher in sustainable mobility at the Paris School of Economics, who moved to the city a little over a year ago. Since Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took office in 2014, the city’s roads have radically transformed, speeding up a shift away from driving. More than 100 streets have been closed to cars. Tens of thousands of parking spots have disappeared. Hundreds of miles of bike lanes have been added. In response, car traffic keeps dropping. A new report shows what the changes mean for local air quality: pollution levels have dropped roughly by half compared to 2005. Airparif, an organization that tracks the city’s air quality, found that levels of particulate matter (PM 2.5) pollution—tiny pieces of soot, dust, or smoke that can lodge in the lungs—fell by 55% over the last 20 years. Nitrogen dioxide pollution, one of the main ingredients in smog, dropped by 50%. When Hidalgo began fighting to speed up the city’s transition to sustainable transportation, she was motivated both by the need to cut climate emissions and by Paris’s dismal air quality, which regularly exceeded EU health limits. The previous mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, had introduced Paris’s bike-sharing network, along with an electric car-sharing network, and closed traffic on the left bank of the Seine. Hidalgo pedestrianized the right bank, turning a busy highway into a pedestrian path and park. A new low-emission zone blocked the most polluting cars from the city center. The city started getting rid of parking spots, replacing some of them with trees and other green space. Speed limits were lowered. Streets next to schools were closed, making it easier and safer for students to walk. Hidalgo embraced the concept of the 15-minute city, the idea that you should live a short bike ride or walk away from work and errands. (To help, the city is helping redevelop some single-use buildings, turning offices into housing, shops, coworking spaces, preschools, and other uses under one roof.) The city’s network of bike lanes keeps expanding. The way that people get to work has quickly changed. Between 2022 and 2023, alone, the use of bike paths doubled during rush hour. On some roads, bikes started to outnumber cars. Some of the bike commuters might not have switched specifically from a car, says Thorne, the mobility researcher. Many Parisians already took public transportation, for example. But even if some people previously took the subway, if they’ve now switched to biking, that means that there’s now more room on the train. With the train less crowded, some drivers might now be more willing to take it instead of their cars. Thorne has been studying the impact of adding bike lanes on air pollution in New York City, where he found that bike infrastructure helped some people replace short taxi rides. The situation in Paris is likely different, he says. On many streets, entire lanes of traffic were converted to bike lanes. The shrinking road space for cars is convincing people to drive less overall; some of them may be walking or on public transportation rather than riding a bike. As traffic has subsided, the city is also just a better place to live. “Yesterday, I was having dinner [outside] at a restaurant on one of our main boulevards, and it was kind of enjoyable,” Thorne says. “It wasn’t something that was completely overwhelming with gas vehicles and traffic noise.” View the full article

To promote its newest shoes, the Swiss athletic apparel brand On filmed a fictional movie trailer with Zendaya. Zone Dreamers stars the actress as an elf-eared astronaut who wears athleisure, trains in space with her flight crew, and—On hopes—sells some merchandise. It’s all an elaborate ad campaign for On’s new low-profile sneaker, Cloudzone, its one-piece Studio Knit Bodysuit, and other offerings from the company’s Spring/Summer 2025 Movement Lifestyle collection, which Zendaya wears throughout. (Consumers hoping to get their hands on the futuristic space suit Zendaya sports in one scene will be disappointed to learn that it’s not part of the collection. Celebrity stylist Law Roach, who styled the shoot, commissioned the white-and-clear suit from creative studio Chrishabana. “Some of my best work!!!” Roach wrote on Instagram.) It’s also a high-production way to sell workout apparel in a market that’s more competitive than ever. Global athleisure sales are expected to grow by more than $173 billion from 2024 to 2028, according to data from Technavio, a market research firm, and lifestyle, yoga, and women’s athleisure are expected to be major drivers. Challengers like On and Lululemon have cut into the market share of legacy brands like Nike since the pandemic, and today apparel companies are jockeying for many of the same consumers. On’s campaign suggests that having a celebrity spokesperson isn’t enough in a product category this competitive. The truth is that celebrity brand ambassadors are everywhere. Athleta and Lululemon have partnered with athletes like Simone Biles and DK Metcalf for years, Fila recently tapped model-influencer Hailey Bieber to promote a tennis-inspired athleisure line, and Nike just teamed up with Kim Kardashian’s Skims for a first-of-its-kind collaboration due out later this year. Skims is also a leader in advertising innovation, often engaging external collaborators who bring artistic vision to tentpole campaigns. On is leaning into that approach. Visual artist Nadia Lee Cohen, whose work has been featured in Interview magazine and the Dolce & Gabanna X Skims campaign, directed the spot. The resulting work allows On to “push the limits of creative storytelling,” as Alex Griffin, the company’s chief marketing officer, put it in a statement. With elevated production and an unconventional concept, Zone Dreamers sets itself apart from traditional fashion photo shoots—and that’s the point. The rise of hi-fi marketing campaigns, from the likes of Skims and now On—featuring magazine-style editorial execution and big-name creative talent both in front of and behind the camera—points to how well-suited narrative storytelling is for today’s biggest distribution channels: social media feeds. They’re attention-grabbing, create conversations, and can draw out launch-related buzz over multiple posts and days in a way that echoes box-office-style marketing for movies. Zendaya’s leading role in the new Zone Dreamers video shows there’s room to take high-production marketing concepts to the movies, outer space, and beyond. View the full article

Quiet is out and the “swicy” trend has calmed down. Now our taste buds are screaming for “crunch,” gritty textures, and noisy flavor experiences. Last year, noiseless squishy gummies and sweet-and-spicy, or “swicy” flavoring, were the breakout food innovations that took over the snack aisle. Remember the peelable mango gummy candy that went viral on TikTok? In 2025, food trend watchers, with a little help from TikTokers, have identified our top cravings. They include crispy foods, bold flavor mashups, and edible aquatic plants. The crunchier the better “‘Crunch’ is one of the trends that I’m excited about,” says Alyssa Vescio, Whole Foods Market’s senior vice president of center store merchandising, sourcing, and product development. “An area where we tend to see a lot of innovation is in the snacking category because people are always looking to discover the next ‘taste’ and ‘texture.’ I think crunch connects easily into the trends that we’ve seen in snacking. But now we’re seeing it come out of snacking and go into other spaces,” Vescio says. Whole Foods, which operates more than 500 stores across the U.S., identified crunch as the “texture of the moment” in its annual food trends report, which highlights the grocery chain’s top food predictions for the year. According to Vescio, food shoppers are searching for crunchiness across their meals, from breakfast to lunch to dinner. Food brands are responding by delivering plenty of innovative crispiness, such as crunchier versions of the chili crisp, crunchy dehydrated fruits and vegetables such as mushrooms and okra, crunchy chocolates, fermented nuts, roasted chickpeas, and mushroom chips. The crunch texture is also popping up in beverages and desserts, she says, such as crunchy cinnamon sugar crystal toppings on coffee beverages and the crème brûlée espresso martinis with a hard crunch sugar surface that you crack before you sip. Fast-food chain Subway planted its flag in crunchland, pairing up with Doritos to introduce a quirky limited-time concoction this month called the Doritos Footlong Nachos. Not to be left behind, Taco Bell announced last month that it is adding more crunch, cheese, and sauce to its toasted Cheddar Street Chalupas. It doesn’t end there. “You’re also seeing crunch in spices and seasonings. The number of people that I talk to who say, ‘Every time I make eggs, I put chili crunch on them’ or ‘Every time I have a dinner I put this textured seasoning on it,’ has increased tremendously,” Vescio says. A cultural signal Tastewise, an artificial intelligence-powered consumer research platform, continuously mines tremendous amounts of online data—millions of social media posts, online reviews, online recipes, and restaurant menus—globally to surface emerging food and beverage trends. Using its methodology, Tastewise analyzed the crunchy trend in the U.S. and found that over the past 12 months, social discussions involving the term crunchy have increased by about 13%. “This indicates not only a rising appetite for the sensory experience of crunch but also its resonance in how consumers talk about food online,” says Alon Chen, cofounder and CEO of Tastewise. According to Tastewise, three emergent consumer patterns are defining the crunchy trend. The company analyzes consumer needs at any given moment in time through how various dishes, ingredients, flavors, and textures are framed in menus, recipes, and social posts. It found that the number one reason fueling the need for “crunch,” based on significant growth in discussion on social media, was an association with comfort, such as comfort food. “This insight reframes crunch not just as energetic or exciting, but as comforting. This could be a new lens through which brands can market crispy products,” Chen says. Crunchy is increasingly associated with vegan offerings, showing that consumers are looking for textural satisfaction even in plant-based foods. And Peruvian cuisine has emerged as the fastest-growing culinary context for crunchy dishes with chulpi (or roasted) corn, crispy onions, and fried yucca being the top ingredients fueling the crunch texture in it, according to Tastewise. Among menu items, Tastewise’s analysis showed that 26% of restaurants in the U.S. currently offer items described as “crunchy” on their menus, which Chen says “represents a strong foothold in food service, often a bellwether for broader retail and CPG [consumer packaged goods] trends.” A new kind of crunch Crunch isn’t just for chips. Tastewise says the texture is being paired in several interesting ways—from indulgent to savory—with ingredients such as chocolate and pistachio (Hello Dubai chocolate viral TikTok craze!), cinnamon sugar, blood orange, chicken, and caramel apple. “I consider crunch a texture, not a flavor, and it gives you an experience,” says Sally Lyons Wyatt, global executive vice president and chief industry adviser for market research firm Circana. “Crunch has always been something that consumers have gravitated to when you think about chips and crackers. But there are some innovations that have gone across the texture, like freeze-drying in foods that gives a different texture in the mouth,” she says. Lyons Wyatt believes the big food trends for 2025 will be rooted in experimentation. “When I eat that food or drink that drink, what is that unexpected moment, through crunch, through freeze-dried, through flavors evolving while I eat?” she says. “I do think that crunch is going to be part of that.” The Whole Foods food trend report also highlighted the growing popularity of edible aquatic plants, such as seaweed and sea moss, for snacking or adding to food recipes. Duckweed, or water lentils, for example, is emerging as an alternative high-protein choice to other leafy greens, the report says. “I want to mention international snacking, too, because that’s an extension of crunch,” says Whole Foods’s Vescio. “It’s this idea of taking global flavors or fusion of foods and bringing it into the snacking category. One of my favorites is the Geem Korean seaweed chips. They have a thicker texture and with more substance than in a traditional seaweed snack.” Her other top pick is an artisanal snack brand out of Afghanistan called Ziba. “It’s a trail mix that has some really unique ingredients, like mulberries and apricot kernels. This fusion of flavors and discovery is really exciting and it also has a perfect crunchy texture,” Vescio says. View the full article

The Chevrolet Corvette has been the icon of U.S. industrial power since 1953. It also symbolizes the great ideal of America—a dream of individual freedom that was ultimately embodied in big roaring cars and endless highways. This gasoline-fueled dream might lose its gasoline smell forever, as General Motors experiments with a fully electric Corvette. GM created this car in its new design studio in Royal Leamington Spa, about 20 miles from Birmingham in the U.K. And, although the company insists that it is not a confirmed production model (concept cars are never production models), it marks the beginning of a path already taken by rivals like the Ford Mustang and the Dodge Charger. “This concept is purely a design exercise involving GM’s existing design studios in Los Angeles, Detroit, and the U.K.,” Chad Lyons, head of Chevrolet PR, tells me via email. The concept “has no production intent,” and is not a signal of future Corvette design language but rather a “futuristic and exploratory design exercise only, intended to push the envelope of design and technology.” In my mind, an all-electric Corvette is all but inevitable. As GM’s president Mark Reuss stated back in 2022, the electrification of this American icon is “a priority.” Reuss didn’t say whether it will be a variant of the gasoline model or a completely new design standing on its own, but it will happen. And this design is the first spark. Symbol of America’s golden age Ford and Dodge already made the transition to fully electric models in 2019 and 2024 respectively. But, while the Mustang and the Charger are icons in their own right, none of them carry the power of the Corvette as a symbol of America’s industrial might. You can easily argue that the Corvette reached peak car status in pop culture like no other car ever created in the U.S. If America was ever “great,” the Corvette represented that greatness like no other. Like most American celebrated inventions, the Corvette was born as an experiment. The genesis of the Chevrolet Corvette lay in the vision of Harley Earl, the head of GM’s Styling Section, who aimed to create an American sports car to rival the growing popularity of the glamorous European models by Ferrari, Jaguar, and Masserati, which appeared after World War II. Dubbed Project Opel, the initial concept debuted at the 1953 GM Motorama fair, showcasing a revolutionary fiberglass body. The material—which was completely new at the time—offered lightness and a unique aesthetic compared to the typical steel bodies. The design was influenced by U.S. fighter jets and the sleek lines of European sports cars like the Jaguar XK120. While the early six-cylinder models didn’t immediately match the performance of their European counterparts, the Corvette’s striking design and “dream car” appeal quickly captured the public’s imagination. It was not until 1955, with the arrival of its rumbling V8 engine, that the Corvette found its literal and figurative voice. Then in 1963, it cemented its place as the most desired car in America with the C2 Stingray. This marked a pivotal moment in its design evolution. While the overall direction was under legendary American car designer Bill Mitchell, the stunning and instantly recognizable design comes from designer Larry Shinoda, a first-generation American whose parents immigrated from Japan. He translated Mitchell’s Stingray racer concept into a new era for the Corvette. Wiki Commons Working within Mitchell’s Studio X special projects group, Shinoda was instrumental in shaping the sleek new appearance of the C2. Its rear split-window coupe, though only produced for a single year, became an instant icon on its own right, symbolizing the bold and innovative spirit of American design during the time NASA took humans to the moon. Compared to other cars of the era, the Stingray offered a unique blend of American muscle and sophisticated futuristic styling that set it apart from both European sports cars and traditional American automobiles. The Corvette became synonymous with the American automotive industry. It represented American industrial prowess, showcasing the country’s ability to produce high-performance machines that could compete on a global stage. It was at this time when the car turned into a towering cultural icon of the Space Age era. It wasn’t only about its sci-fi looks, but also about who was driving it. Starting with Alan Shepard, the first American in space, many Mercury 7 astronauts and those who followed were offered the opportunity to lease Corvettes for a nominal fee. Each crew of the Apollo missions—including Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins—had matching Corvettes, which they used to get around Houston and on the roads near Cape Canaveral. This association forged an indelible link between the Corvette and the image of American innovation, speed, and pushing the boundaries of what was possible. The Corvette became a symbol of the nation’s technological ambition, mirroring the achievements of the space program. The C3 generation—built from 1968 to 1982—became an even stronger visual icon. Often referred to as the “Shark” due to its curvy design, heavily influenced by the Mako Shark II concept car created by Shinoda under Mitchell’s direction, it continued the Corvette’s dramatic styling. It had a long, low profile, a curvy Coca-Cola bottle shape, bulging fenders, and pop-up headlights. Reinventing an icon All this to say that it is a strange feeling to see a new electric Corvette prototype coming from GM’s U.K. Advanced Design Studio. Even more so when you consider how much closer it was to Mitchell and Shinoda’s sensibilities than the current Corvette. The team took the 1963 Stingray’s split rear window and made it the central element of the design, turning it around and splitting the windshield in a concept they call Apex Vision. The singular vertical central spine is not just for looks; it is a structural element, according to Julian Thomson, who leads the design studio. The British prototype is actually a “hypercar” with 22-inch front and 23-inch rear tires, a car that can run on the road and on the racing track. At 15.1 feet long, 6.9 feet wide, and a height of 3.4 feet—lower, wider, and longer than the current C8—the design has two distinct parts. The upper section presents classic Corvette elements in a futuristic style, like Apex Vision, while the lower half focuses on functional technical design. That includes embedded EV battery technology and aerodynamic elements designed to channel air efficiently without traditional wings or spoilers. Instead, the prototype uses active ducts that redirect airflow depending on the driving mode. On a regular road, they optimize range by channeling air under the chassis; on a race track, they deploy aerodynamic surfaces that increase grip. The bodywork is made using additive manufacturing, its creators say, also known as 3D printing, to reduce weight and assemblies. The concept also incorporates aviation-inspired elements in its sculptural forms and functional aspects, along with full wrap-around side glass and powered gull wing doors. All of that makes the electric Corvette a very attractive design. It feels ready to run the 24 hours of LeMans. There have been positive reactions in the press, but met with mixed reactions from fans. Whether purists will accept a Corvette without the roar of a V8 engine is anyone’s guess. The rise of the all-electric muscle car Its direct competitors have had mixed results in the market. Sales of the Dodge Charger Daytona EV have not been good, with only 2,115 units sold in the first quarter of 2025. On the other hand, the Ford Mustang Mach-e has had a great start of the year, becoming one of the best selling EVs in the first quarter of 2025, reaching 22,550 units (an 11% increase over the previous quarter). GM already markets the Corvette E-Ray, a hybrid variant, which only sold 1,447 units in its first year. It’s not a promising sign. But then again, the E-Ray is not a very attractive car. It feels blah. Michael Simcoe, senior VP of global design at GM, says that the U.K.-designed concept is part of a global initiative where multiple studios were tasked with developing hypercar concepts that pay homage to Corvette’s heritage while showcasing unique creative interpretations. The concepts will appear through 2025, perhaps a strategy to whet the fans for an all-electric model. But it’s likely that, at one point in the very near future, the company is getting ready to drop that roaring combustion engine. While the current Corvette doesn’t have the same design magnetism and pop culture symbolism as the ones from the ’60s and ’70s, it still carries the torch of a time long gone, a heavy heritage that nobody can ignore. The moment the gas roaring turns into a silent buzz of electricity, it will truly be the end of an era for a whole industry and the entire country. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, perhaps everyone in the U.S. should be hoping that its most iconic car can successfully turn into the icon of a new era for the country. Looking at the electric supercar tsunami coming from China, I’m not so hopeful for its future. But this concept car gives me some hope that they may pull it off. View the full article