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Brokers warn some lenders might be slow to pass on lower prices due to uncertainty around trade policyView the full article

Sell-off in 10- and 30-year gilts prompts central bank’s decision to sell only shorter maturity bonds in April 14 auctionView the full article

Drop comes as Fed grapples with timing of rate cuts following tariff U-turnView the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Welcome to “Cookbook of the Week.” This is a series where I highlight cookbooks that are unique, easy to use, or just special to me. While finding a particular recipe online serves a quick purpose, flipping through a truly excellent cookbook has a magic all its own. It’s not much of a secret that I like to tinker with recipes. I like to see how different flours create different biscuit textures, how periodic cooking makes the perfect boiled egg, or how sour cream performs as an “egg wash.” There’s great freedom in being untethered to “the right way” to make recipes. Granted, I use recipes all the time, but if I’m missing an ingredient, I’d rather try a work around than go out and buy that one thing. It’s industrious laziness, and I’ve learned so much because of it. Clearly not driven by laziness, Katarina Cermelj has moved from tinkering to full-out scientific experimentation in The Elements of Baking. I’m spotlighting this book for Cookbook of the Week because, frankly, we may all be adapting, omitting, and replacing ingredients in our baking soon. It’s good to have a guide so your brownies and cookies don’t turn out like crap. About the bookThe Elements of Baking is a cookbook designed to help readers make gluten-free, vegan, egg-free, or dairy-free recipes. It is not, however, simply a book with allergen-free recipes. While those are in here, the greatest part of this cookbook is that you can learn how to make any existing recipe into an allergen-free recipe. (Nut-free isn't explicitly mentioned in this book, but I think you can use sunflower seeds when you run into those cases.) Make Junior’s New York Cheesecake recipe into a dairy-free version. Turn your great gram’s Swiss roll into a gluten-free Swiss roll. Whip up a batch of vegan crêpes. Not only is this helpful for folks like myself who are trying to avoid spending extra money at the grocery store, but this is a must-have resource for anyone with dietary restrictions themselves, or for folks who cook for others with dietary restrictions. You can stop endlessly searching the internet for a vegan and gluten-free buttermilk biscuit recipe that may or may not suck. Cermelj has put in the work of testing and documenting all of her free-from recipe successes in The Elements of Baking in informative yet accessible prose. Though, the best part of this book is getting sucked into the science. A great cookbook for baking nerds of all levelsThe Complete America’s Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook does a good job appealing to us food nerds with all-around practical food whys and hows, but The Elements of Baking is a special gift to those of us obsessed with baking. Katarina Cermelj front-loads the book with information, including the roles different components play in recipes, how to adapt recipes to free-from diets, and ingredient substitutions you’ll need to get your hands on. There’s even a flow chart for adapting existing recipes so you can see which part of the book to flip to. See what I mean? Do not tempt me with a good time. Cermelj doesn’t sugar coat (ha) the truth with free-from recipes. Substituting major ingredients with others can change the product—reducing flexibility, browning, or aeration depending on the swap. But slightly different baked goods can still be just that—good. I really appreciate the thorough case studies and plentiful picture comparisons. You get to see how your dessert should look depending on the version you’re making (maybe a little blonde in color or with more aeration), and cross-sections for cakes so you can check out the crumb's texture. The different iterations of brownies in 'The Elements of Baking.' Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann If you’re more of a light-level baking nerd, Cermelj has also considered you. You could really skip the whole front section (with the beautiful flow chart and textbook-esque case studies) and jump to Chapter 5. Here the book is broken into color-coded free-from recipe chapters: Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Egg-free, Vegan, Gluten-free Vegan, and finally Frostings, Icings, Creams, and Curds. You don’t need to know how the sausage is made, just get to your chapter and start baking. The treats I baked this week Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann I’ve been testing out egg replacements for cake recently, so I took the opportunity to try out some egg-less cookie adaptations. I navigated the flow chart and found two pathways for non-cakey cookies: ones that spread and ones that hold their shapes. I decided to try both. I decided to adapt my regular peanut butter cookie recipe, and the chocolate chip cookie recipe on the back of a Ghirardelli bag of chocolate chips. The peanut butter cookie doesn’t spread, so that substitution is simply a swapped measurement of milk (dairy or non) for each egg. The chocolate chip cookie recipe is typically a cookie that spreads, so for that recipe I was able to use Greek yogurt as the egg replacement. Both cookies turned out perfectly. The chocolate chip cookie was nearly identical in texture and flavor to the unmodified recipe, and despite how tangy Greek yogurt can be, there was no noticeable flavor from it. The peanut butter cookie was excellent, though it was more crisp and lacked the soft center that the unmodified recipe usually has. Still, if I had a friend with egg allergies, I don’t think I’d hear any complaints. Although I haven't had a chance to try them yet, I look forward to testing out the gluten-free bread recipes in this book. How to buy it The Elements of Baking is available for purchase online as a hardcover or as an e-book. It’s still relatively new, so you’ll likely see it on displays in your local bookstore. The Elements of Baking: Making any recipe gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free or vegan THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER $18.99 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $18.99 at Amazon View the full article

Shipments cancelled as US-China trade frozen by punitive leviesView the full article

Jason Momoa is a tough act to follow. Especially if you’re a Guinness marketer. Last year, the brand partnered with Momoa to direct and star in a U.S. spot for his favorite beer that ended up getting 13 billion impressions. So this year, Guinness decided to celebrate an even more valuable partner—its actual customers and fans. For the newest iteration of the long-running “Lovely Day for a Guinness” tagline—first rolled out in a 1935 ad campaign—the brand collected stories from customers across all 50 states. Among the stories is the Treme Brass Brand in New Orleans, who share pints of Guinness before taking the stage. The Chicago Plumbers Union are in there, as they’ve been dyeing the Chicago River green on St. Patrick’s Day since 1962. There’s also Minnesota’s Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza, which claims to be the world’s largest ice fishing competition. Guinness’s North American vice-president of marketing Joyce He says the goal was to illustrate how Guinness is not just for St. Patrick’s Day or an Irish pub (though it is very much about those things). “As we delved into the work, the bit that bubbled up that felt so magical was, instead of writing a story and casting actors, we know there’s real people out there who love the brand and have their real Guinness moments, so let’s go and find them,” says He. Real fans Created with agency Uncommon, the new campaign solicited stories from real U.S. customers before St. Patrick’s Day to find as many as it could to feature. The move is the latest example of a brand shining the spotlight on its own customers for a major advertising moment, like Taco Bell’s Super Bowl ad featuring more than 400 fans. The more than 250-year-old brand has seen a surge in popularity recently, even running short on supply in the UK ahead of the holidays late last year. Some credit the boost to an overall interest in stout among younger customers, which includes the viral “splitting the G” social trend. Whether you’re aiming to get your beer level down to evenly split the word “Guinness” on a pint glass in your first sip or not, He is hoping the diversity of locations and occasions in the new campaign will give people ideas. “We know there’s a massive opportunity beyond the pub,” she says. “Of course, a Guinness in a pub is amazing and magical, but it’s also really great with Mexican food, and Asian food, and seafood and oysters. I think what’s worked really well for us is honestly just staying true to what’s been true about the brand for over 260 years, and just finding new ways to share that with beer people and being really, really focused about it.” Commercial tradition Guinness has long navigated the balancing act between its Irish heritage and the place of prominence in pubs and St. Patrick’s Day that comes with it and extending its reach to a broader audience. Here are three of its best-ever ads to defy the Guinness stereotype. Surfer (1998) Directed by Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest, Under The Skin, Sexy Beast), this ad won every major advertising award, and has been named by many as one of the best commercials of all-time. Sapeurs (2014) Here the brand heads to Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, in celebration of the Society of Elegant Persons of the Congo, or “Sapeurs.” Created with AMV BBDO, the spot spotlights a real group of men from all walks of life, who make up the group united by a love of style. The ad was also complemented by a short doc called The Men Inside The Suits, and won director Nicolai Fuglsig a 2015 Directors Guild Award for Outstanding Achievement in Commercials. Compton Cowboys (2018) This was another portrait of a compelling group of friends, this time in Compton, California. Another from AMV BBDO, the ad is told from the perspective of Keenan Abercrombie, who tells us about how he and his friends care for and ride horses in their city better known for its gang violence. View the full article

Owning a home is great, except for the utility bills that come along with it. The average cost of gas and electricity in the U.S. is $206.22 per month, and if you're eager to pay less, you’ve probably done the obvious stuff—conserving your use, sealing (or replacing) your windows and doors, or even using your appliances at off-peak times. But if you’ve covered the basics and your bills still seem too high, it’s time to dig deeper. Sometimes the reasons behind an unusually large utility bill aren’t obvious at all, and have nothing to do with your behaviors or usage patterns. Here are six unexpected—but not entirely unlikely—causes for a higher bill. Your appliances are olderIf your electricity bill has been rising steadily, investigate the appliances in your home. The efficiency ratings on that sticker that came with your new furnace or water heater are for an appliance in brand-new condition. Unfortunately, appliances age pretty rapidly in a lot of ways—in just two years, for example, a refrigerator’s electricity use can climb by 11%. That doesn’t mean you need to replace your appliances every other year, but just because they're still working doesn’t mean they’re doing so efficiently. If your utility bills are getting fatter, consider the “useful” life of those appliances—as they get older, they will pull more energy to get the same job done. Refrigerators: Refrigerators typically last an average of 14 years, but the seals around the door will start to wear out after 8 years or so. As its efficiency falls it will pull more power to compensate, bloating your bills. Dishwashers: About 10 years. Washing Machines: About 10 years. Dryers: About 13 years. Microwaves: About 9 years. Ovens, Ranges, and Stoves: Gas models can operate efficiently for as long as 15 years, but electric models have a slightly shorter lifespan, about 13 years. Another consideration? "Vampire" appliances. You can (and probably should) unplug countertop appliances like coffee makers when they’re not in use, and if you’re going on a long trip, you should consider unplugging stoves, televisions, and other devices that continuously sip on your power, driving up the bill. Inefficient interior design choicesThe layout and design choices in your house can have a big impact on your utility bills, because they can make it harder to heat and cool your home. Even if you set your thermostat to a reasonable temperature and schedule, if your furnace, boiler, or air conditioning system has to work overtime to maintain those temps, your utility bills will skyrocket. A few considerations when remodeling or rearranging furniture: Exposed beams. Those rustic beams exposed can add a lot of charm to your space—but also add heating and cooling costs. Exposing beams means there’s no insulation up there, so heat and cold will just transfer through your roof, and your utility bill will rise. High ceilings. Even without exposed beams, high ceilings make it harder to heat and cool your space, simply because your HVAC system will have to work harder to cool or heat a larger volume of space. Layout. If you’ve got furniture blocking heat sources or HVAC vents, you’re making your system work twice as hard to heat and cool your home. Similarly, long window treatments that cover radiators can drive up your bills. Opening up your layout as much as possible by removing ‘breaks’ like bookshelves or tall furniture can help cool and warm air to flow freely, making it easier for your systems to control the climate. Exposed brick. No matter how thick your walls are, brick is not a great insulator. The R-value (a measurement of thermal resistance) of brick is just 3, but exterior walls in most homes need an R-value of at least R-13. Exposing that brick will look amazing, and drive your utility bills skyward. Your water heater settingWhen you install a new water heater, chances are good the default temperature set by the manufacturer is 140ºF. This is pretty hot—hot enough for the water to cause serious burns with just a few seconds of exposure. From an energy perspective, it’s just not an efficient setting, as much of that heat gets lost, forcing your water heater to work harder. You probably won’t notice much difference if you turn it down to 120ºF. This isn’t just a safer bet, it can also save you as much as 22% off your utility bills. Defective wiringDefective wiring—whether due to incorrect installation or simple age—can leak electricity, meaning you’re paying for power that you’re not using. Old wiring can also overpower appliances and light fixtures, pumping more juice to them than they need. This not only raises your utility bills unnecessarily, it can stress your appliances and shorten their lifespan. You've got a freeloaderAnother possible reason your utility bills are so high? Someone might be stealing from you. Water, electricity, and even your internet service can be diverted and split, leaving you to subsidize someone else’s usage. A few tell-tale signs are extension cords plugged into exterior outlets, mysterious digging around your property, and rogue hoses attached to your exterior spigots. Cryptocurrency miningNo, really: Depending on where you live, cryptocurrency companies might be driving your utility bills higher. Cryptocurrency mining requires a lot of energy, and many crypto companies have made sweetheart deals with local utilities to get discounted electricity rates—with the costs sometimes passed on to regular consumers. In Texas, for example, residential consumers saw their electric bills rise by almost 5% because of subsidized rates for local crypto enterprises, and there are similar scenarios in New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arkansas. 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The US president’s tariffs on UK cars and other exports reveal the hollow promise of global BritainView the full article

The CEO’s role is evolving. Private equity is playing an increasingly influential role in shaping the expectations, performance, and tenure of CEOs. The financial environment is also changing, with influence increasingly moving from public markets to private capital. As private equity grows in importance as the dominant form of value creation, executives who excel at driving EBITDA and delivering outsize returns have become the winners. In this landscape, CEOs are increasingly being measured by their ability to generate financial returns. But true leadership requires hitting more than financial targets. The most effective leaders understand that long-term success depends on balancing financial acumen with empathetic leadership. Those who fail to adapt risk becoming transactional managers rather than transformational leaders. Understanding this shift and defining one’s leadership approach is more critical now than ever. How Did We Get Here? To grasp the challenges facing today’s CEOs, we must examine the forces reshaping corporate leadership. Over the past few decades, venture capital and private equity firms have evolved from peripheral participants to key drivers of corporate investment. Alongside this shift, executive compensation has moved from salary-based models to equity-driven structures, directly linking a CEO’s financial success to company performance. As a result, C-suite decision-making has become increasingly data-driven, prioritizing quantitative analysis over traditional intuition-based management. However, prioritizing financial capital over human capital creates a leadership challenge: Employees do not share the same motivation for growth and profitability as CEOs. As PwC identified in a study on purpose in the workplace, employees and business leaders prioritize very different things. Employees today are driven more by meaning, community, and impact, while business leaders are motivated by growth, innovation, and differentiation. Human capital intangibles—like meaning, trust, community, respect, and culture—don’t fit neatly into a spreadsheet, and they’re hard to quantify. What Teams Really Need A few years ago, Google researchers put together Project Aristotle to better understand what makes teams successful. They analyzed 50 years of academic research and studied 180 teams within Google to uncover the factors behind high-performing teams. Expecting to find a formula for optimizing employee performance through data, they were surprised by the outcome. The most significant factor they found wasn’t quantitative at all. Instead, it was psychological safety—a climate of trust and mutual respect in which employees feel comfortable being themselves. This insight, coming from one of the world’s most data-driven companies, highlighted the human side of leadership. Great teams and great leadership are more than metrics. They are about fostering an environment where people feel safe and valued. CEOs Feel the Strain While data-driven decision-making dominates the C-suite, the emotional and human aspects of leadership remain vital. And many CEOs feel the strain of this disconnect deeply. In our 2025 survey of 150 CEOs, we explored their perspectives on the quantitative and qualitative aspects of leadership. When asked about their top business priorities, 73% of CEOs prioritized growth, and 70% focused on profitability. These are expected answers, in line with the hard metrics driving today’s corporate world. But when we asked what they personally worry about, the responses shifted toward the human side of leadership. CEOs were most concerned with issues like employee morale (65%), burnout and work-life balance (58%), board relations (53%), and ethical dilemmas (48%). These factors are crucial to maintaining a thriving, sustainable business culture. Balancing Profit with People Today, CEOs face the challenge of balancing their company’s financial performance with their employees’ well-being. This balancing act has never been harder. CEOs are increasingly navigating complex and charged political environments. Employees notice when their leaders prioritize profit over people or avoid taking a stand on moral or ethical issues. In some cases, the company’s reputation becomes so entangled in external politics that it begins to affect employee morale and the perception of leadership. This leaves CEOs balancing the demands of external stakeholders and their employees’ needs. When CEOs fail to take a stand or are seen as “playing both sides,” it diminishes their credibility as true leaders. Integrating Data and Humanity To succeed in today’s business landscape, CEOs must do three things. First, leaders must navigate this fundamental shift in the CEO’s role as private capital increasingly shapes market dynamics. Leaders need to align their leadership style with more quantitative-led private capital expectations. Second, leaders must better connect financial capital + human capital. There is a real opportunity to implement a leadership approach that measures and values emotional intelligence, and cultural metrics alongside financial metrics. Finally, leaders need to focus on creating psychological safety to create high-performing teams. Psychological safety across the employee base will increase engagement, collaboration, innovation, retention, productivity and ultimately performance. In 2025, this balance is not just a “nice-to-have”—It’s the entrepreneurial superpower that will separate the disruptors from the disrupted. CEOs who blend quantitative financial acumen with data-driven team management will cultivate high-performance cultures that excel in times of uncertainty. View the full article

The commercial starts with an actor sitting in front of a TV, remote in hand. Suddenly the world around her changes, and she changes, too, as makeup artists transform her from a couch potato to a Victorian-era lady to a skeleton buried in dirt. The time-lapse filming looks like AI, but it’s exactly the opposite. In fact, the 90-second commercial—shot for BritBox’s first ever brand campaign—is the product of a single, continuous shot that took 14 hours, 45 minutes, and 31 seconds, and was filmed with 11 different sets, at one frame per second using a precision motion control unit. The British streaming service is aiming to woo potential subscribers with its attention to detail and craft. Its new spot also feels like a protest or counterpoint to the waves of AI experimentation hype in film production we see flooding our feeds each day. The Brits are comingDiana Pessin, chief marketing officer of BritBox, says that while the platform has done a great job of growing its core audience of British expats, Anglophiles, and people who generally enjoy British content, now it’s time to broaden the scope. The streamer has topped the 4 million subscriber mark across the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Nordic countries. It reported 25% year-over-year growth between 2023 and 2024, and so far is seeing double digit growth between this year and last. “We’re at a point now where we really want to attract people that may not self-identify as liking British content, but they just like great content,” says Pessin, who joined BritBox in 2023, after a long career at Warner and HBO. So much streaming marketing is clip-based, playing highlights from upcoming shows and movies, but Pessin says this campaign aims to avoid that. “If we want to grow even a little bit, we’re going to have to make more of an impact and create sort of that intrigue and excitement,” she says. “We need to take a step back and really create a reason for people to pay attention because there’s so much sameness out there. And so in some ways that clutter and sameness benefits us as a specialty streamer.” The pitchThe brand campaign launches in time for a slate of anticipated series coming soon to the service, including the season finale of Ludwig, a detective comedy starring David Mitchell that broke U.K. viewership records, and premiered in March on BritBox in the U.S. and Canada. There’s also Towards Zero, a new Agatha Christie adaptation starring Anjelica Huston and Matthew Rhys, premiering on April 16. Created with agency Uncommon, the campaign includes national TV, broadcast, and cinema, as well as several billboards in Times Square, a takeover in the Moynihan Train Hall in NYC and The Grove in LA. There’s also IMDB takeovers, sponsorship of The New York Times’s Wordle, and four custom cartoons with The New Yorker. Nils Leonard, Uncommon cofounder and chief creative officer, says that the goal was to do something purposely difficult in order to bring attention to what BritBox offers. “We were really keen to make sure it was something that people saw, and from that moment on know they’re in the business of film and creativity and story,” says Leonard. “We’re in an age where everyone’s talking about AI and how it’s gonna replace stuff, or about Apple and how amazing they are, and how much money they spend. So with this, we really wanted to try and do something different. Not out of vanity, but because it made it special, and we had one go at it.” The one-take scene concept is having a bit of a moment right now, between the Netflix hit Adolescence, and Seth Rogen’s The Studio. It’s filmmaking at its most intense. Here, Britbox is making it central to its pitch for new viewers who appreciate that intensity. “We really wanted to take the brand to a more emotional space and tap into something unexpected,” says Pessin. “Something people will see as worth trying because they actually may find a lot of hidden treasures.” View the full article

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece The Great Gatsby conjures up images of gilded Art Deco opulence: cloche hats and shimmering flapper dresses; a freeflow of French 75s and festivities. And that’s thanks, in part, to kaleidoscopic films like Baz Lurhmann’s 2013 adaptation of the novel. But when you read Gatsby, you discover a less glamorous narrative that has perhaps been overshadowed by contemporary Jazz Age visual clichés—one that is essentially a dark portrait of its times with a bit of rot at its core, thanks to the titular swindling bootlegger Jay Gatsby. And that’s what luxe publisher The Folio Society sought to reflect in its brilliant limited-edition illustrated edition of the novel, which is out today on the centennial of the book’s initial publication. “[We] wanted to move away from the sort of prescribed images that have been cemented in our consciousness,” Folio Head of Editorial James Rose says. “100 years on, I think it’s Fitzgerald’s look at the American Dream—and the abandonment of the American Dream.” NEW ILLUSTRATIONS CAPTURE THE BOOK’S DUALITY Folio is known for its embrace of art, design, and high-end production, and for this edition they commissioned New York–based Japanese artist Yuko Shimizu to bring the book to visual life. Rose says the publisher has worked with Shimizu before, and she has an innate ability to interpret a text and make it her own, as well as suss out hidden meanings and take an unconventional approach. Given that unconventional is exactly what Folio was going for with its interpretation of one of the most famous and well-trodden novels of all time, Shimizu was an ideal fit. The Great Gatsby “Yuko got that instantly,” Rose says. She didn’t view the novel through the lens of the glamorous, glitzy jazz parties and flapper girls the period is known for, according to Rose. “Once you peel back those layers, underneath it’s really quite horrid. […] She wanted to bring that out and actually show that behind all of this surface veneer of money and success, there’s actually a very dark undercurrent.” As the gilded first impressions fade, readers discover that the mysterious millionaire Gatsby is in fact a charlatan. The antagonist Tom Buchanan breaks his mistress’ nose. Then there’s the fatal car crash and the climactic murder. Rose says Folio gives its artists a large degree of autonomy, and Shimizu came up with a list of scenes to illustrate—ultimately bringing all of those above and more to life across 13 pieces. “When they came in, I think we were all stunned by them,” Rose says. In her style they’re gorgeous yet tragic—which strikes at the heart of the book at large. The Great Gatsby GAZING UPON THE AMERICAN DREAM The Great Gatsby in the most literal sense of the cliché needs no introduction. So, Folio elected to commission an afterword instead of a foreword, especially since analysis of the novel could end up spoiling its biggest moments. Who could you bring in to deliver an unexpected take on an unexpected edition?Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk. Though there’s more connective tissue there than you might think. “Chuck’s one of the foremost American novelists at the moment, and his books deal with that undercurrent of violence,” Rose says. “Particularly if you look at Fight Club, it is essentially about the male gaze on the American Dream. And this is just a continuation of exactly what F. Scott Fitzgerald was doing 100 years before.” The Great Gatsby Rose says he wasn’t sure what exactly Palahniuk would turn in—but he hoped it would offer a look at the book from a fresh angle, and that’s exactly what the author did, exploring it almost as a morality tale, and (humorously, naturally) drawing parallels to everything from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to Rosemary’s Baby. “We should all be able to lament as beautifully as [Fitzgerald] did,” Palahniuk writes in the afterword. “Regardless of shaping the future, we should all be able to revisit our past with such skill and humility.” The Great Gatsby BOTH TIMELY AND TIMELESS True to Folio’s output and its fan-favorite limited editions, the production is appropriately opulent. Shimizu illustrated the exterior, as well, which features the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, a signature thematic element of the novel. The book is bound in goatskin leather, with green foil and gilded edges. It’s printed on Dolce Vita Ivory paper, with Sirio Pearl Cocktail Blue Moon endpapers (“which is just the best name for any paper—and I don’t know why, it makes me think of Jazz Age cocktails,” Rose notes.) Each book is signed by Shimizu and Palahniuk, and housed in a custom cloth box that is screenprinted with a design by Shimizu in gold foil, featuring custom lettering by Atelier Olschnsky Grafik und Design OG in Vienna. The project was also printed and bound by Graphicom in Italy, which is renowned for its sheer craft and eye for detail. To keep things truly limited, Folio is only producing 500 of the books, which sell for $500 each. “We will never do a 100th anniversary, centenary edition of Great Gatsby ever again,” Rose says. “So for us, we need to be very forensic about the materials that we use and get them just right. We’ve got one chance to get it absolutely perfect.” It’s a remarkably gorgeous object—and yet indeed contains illustrated horror right there on the case itself (those headlights . . . ), bringing the concept full circle. A century on, why are we still so entranced by Gatsby? Rose says the class and social divides at the heart of the book persist to this day. “These are timeless themes . . . so I think Gatsby has an unlimited ability to find its way into a new generation,” he says. “It’s not just relevant—I think it’s slightly prescient for America today. Alarmingly so, perhaps.” View the full article

It took Duolingo more than a decade to grow its owl mascot, Duo, from a cute cartoon character into a social media star with tens of millions of followers. Then Duolingo’s marketing team did the unthinkable: It killed him off. The decision turned out to be the company’s most successful social media play ever—and likely one of the widest-reaching social campaigns of all time, by any brand. Duo was originally created as logo in 2011, the year that Duolingo was founded. In the years since, the friendly (if occasionally menacing) green owl has grown into a layered character with friends, enemies, motivations, even a potential lover, and legions of fans. But on February 11, Duolingo announced that Duo was dead—hit by a Cybertruck, fans later found out. This brand stunt was originally meant to roll out as an update to the app’s icon (the cartoon owl appeared dead with his eyes crossed out), accompanied by a series of three videos for Duolingo’s social channels. Duolingo, after all, has a track record of building daring social media campaigns around its owl. Last year, the company rolled out a production-heavy April Fool’s prank promoting Duolingo on Ice, a fake musical for which the company made several very real music videos. This December, Duo starred in a collab with the the Netflix show Squid Game that saw him transform into a K-pop idol. But Duo’s death struck a deeper chord with users than these previous stunts. As the death notice began taking off on TikTok, it garnered thousands of comments from concerned fans, video responses from other brands, and even callouts on national news stations. As the reaction grew, Duolingo’s social media team saw the opportunity to build Duo’s untimely passing into something much bigger. Within a matter of days, they’d met with marketing, product, and engineering teams to spin the concept into a campaign of global proportions—complete with localized ads, in-app integrations, merch, and brand partnership tie-ins. “Candidly, we had three posts, and we were gonna post them and be chilling—just another day at Duolingo,” says Zaria Parvez, Duolingo’s senior social media manager and the mastermind behind its TikTok strategy. “The first post we did was a fake press release about Duo being dead. When we posted that, we saw that the user engagement was popping off. It was a number of impressions that we’d never seen before. Then we were like, ‘Okay, like there’s a huge wind here. We need to build this narrative out even more.'” In the two weeks between Duo’s death and the reveal that he’d actually faked his demise, the Dead Duo campaign raked in a record 1.7 billion impressions across Duolingo’s socials in just two weeks. According to Duolingo’s market research, there was twice as much social media conversation around Duo’s demise as any of 2025’s top 10 Super Bowl ads, which had aired just days before on February 9. Though the campaign was unprecedented in many ways, it followed a social media marketing recipe that Duolingo has perfected over the years: Combine a healthy dose of risk-taking with speed, agility, and, most importantly, a deeper brand story. For many companies, a mascot faking his own death would feel out of character or desperate. But for Duo, it’s right on brand. From Sick Duo to Dead DuoIn the past few months alone, Duo the owl has been roasted on a grill, shredded in a blender, and plagued by a terrible disease—but this is the first time he’s actually died. Duo’s recent ailments are part of the “unhinged” persona that has become his calling card online. In Duolingo’s early days, the company started using the owl to send push notifications to users, begging them to continue doing their lessons, often in a guilt-tripping tone. The internet spun Duo’s passive-aggressive personality into a meme (including one much-circulated image of him holding a gun). The company quickly embraced fans’ interpretation of Duo, building him into a much larger figure on the brand’s social media with his own cast of side characters. Duo’s defining characteristic is that he will do anything to get users to complete their lessons—including kidnapping their families and holding the Duolingo office dogs hostage. Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn told Fast Company in November that he reviews anything where the owl is going to be in the product, and his feedback usually is, “Can we make it weirder?” This strategy has unlocked a new level of visibility for Duolingo on socials: The brand’s TikTok account added more than 6 million followers over the past year, while total social media impressions grew 80% year over year. Duo’s internet stardom is so significant that, in an interview last year for the Acquired podcast, von Ahn assessed the owl’s value at hundreds of millions of dollars. Duolingo is now bringing more of Duo’s social media personality into brand partnerships and onto the app itself, building out his lore along the way. Part of this strategy has involved occasionally swapping out the app’s default icon (a picture of Duo’s friendly visage) for something unexpected that reflects Duo’s desperation for learners to come back to the app. For a brief period in late 2023, Duo’s face appeared to be melted, startling users. And for two weeks in September 2024, the Duolingo icon showed a sickly looking Duo—with snotty nose and red-rimmed eyes—inciting both disgust and concern from fans. In an email to Forbes at the time, a Duolingo spokesperson explained the bird’s illness: “Duo is quite literally sick of reminding everyone to do their lessons,” they wrote. “But don’t worry. His symptoms aren’t contagious, as long as learners keep their streaks going.” Sick Duo content ended up generating 30 million impressions across Instagram and TikTok. The success inspired the product team to push the envelope even further with their next icon update. Move fast and break Duo In early January, the Duolingo product team began exploring ideas for an app icon change, looking for something next-level that would grab users’ attention. After a few weeks of brainstorming options, Gregory Hartman, Duolingo’s head of art, had a radical idea: What if they just killed Duo? Hartman’s mock-up of a Duo with Xs over his eyes went into audience A/B testing alongside several other icon options, including an anxious, sweaty Duo and a chubby Duo. According to Osman Mansur, Duolingo’s senior product manager specializing in reengagement, the results of the test were relatively inconclusive: The icons performed similarly in getting inactive users to return to the app. So Mansur took the results to Parvez for her input. “We really liked Dead Duo because there was more lore, more narrative, more story we could tell about that,” Parvez says. “We particularly notice that when an app icon change has a strong emotion or a characteristic that people can relate to, it creates more buzz.” With Parvez’s blessing, Mansur brought the Dead Duo concept to Duolingo’s senior leadership team—including von Ahn—and explained that both the product and marketing teams had a “strong intuition” about the potential icon swap. Von Ahn approved the selection, instructing the team to “Dead the shit out of it.” Parvez’s team had just six days to craft the content that would announce Duo’s death. “We value speed at Duolingo,” Parvez says, “so our biggest goal as a marketing team is how do we get things the quickest from ideation to post?” A Cybertruck crimeThe news of Duo’s death came in the form of a somber black-and-white press release posted across socials, set to Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel.” It proclaimed: “Duo, formally known as The Duolingo Owl, is dead.” The following day, a post revealing Duo’s cause of death showed him getting hit by a speeding Cybertruck—a timely jab at Elon Musk’s Tesla, which has been on a downward financial spiral as Musk has become increasingly involved in the U.S. government. Three days after Duo “died,” the official X account tweeted, “All birds go to heaven,” with images of the former Twitter logo and Dead Duo. Duolingo responded, “both killed by a Cybertruck. RIP.” both killed by a Cybertruck RIP https://t.co/578dWAWsWo — Duolingo (@duolingo) February 14, 2025The choice of a Cybertruck as the instrument of Duo’s murder worked exactly as Duolingo’s marketing team intended. “We wanted to find social-first ways to get the internet excited and drive conversation about these different parts of Duo’s death,” Parvez says. “Cybertrucks look funky. And it was like, ‘This seems like something that would happen to Duo—just getting hit by a truck.’” In a third video announcing Duo’s untimely passing, two of Duolingo’s other characters mournfully deposited Duo’s coffin onto the bed of a pickup truck. The video’s caption read, “Btw im deaf so i hope this is a sad song,” while the sexually explicit lyrics of the song “Good Lookin’” by Dixon Dallas played in the background. Those three posts were supposed to be the extent of the Dead Duo campaign. But the internet had different ideas. As news of Duo’s death reverberated across TikTok—the Cybertruck video raked in 25.7 million views and the “Good Lookin’” video garnered another 66.3 million, making it the company’s second most-viewed TikTok—major brands like KitKat, Subway, BuzzFeed, Hilton, and T-Mobile jumped into the comments to offer their condolences. The world’s most popular YouTuber, Mr. Beast, made his own TikTok about Duo’s death (it now has 96 million views.) Traditional media, including The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, weighed in as well. Duo’s death also led to one of the company’s most sought-after achievements: an acknowledgment from the pop star Dua Lipa. For years, a cornerstone of Duo’s lore has been his one-sided love for the singer. But just before Valentine’s Day, Dua Lipa responded to Duo’s death with a tweet that read, “Til’ death duo part.” To commemorate the occasion, James Kuczynski, senior creative director, says Duolingo sent Dua Lipa a gift basket which included a box of “Duo’s ashes” (a packet of matcha powder). Inside Duolingo, the team was ecstatic. Parvez received a Slack message from von Ahn: “Dua fucking Lipa tweeting about us.” That same morning, von Ahn also sent a company-wide Slack that read, “It is with a heavy heart that I announce the retirement of the entire marketing team. As they said, ‘there’s nothing left to accomplish.’” Duo dies 100 deathsAs it turns out, the marketing team was just getting started. With the original Dead Duo videos taking off online, the Duolingo team decided to capitalize on the moment by building out a much wider campaign. The company began systematically killing off its other characters on TikTok. Within a couple of days, it had worked with its merch partners to launch limited-edition plushie versions of the dead characters, which came in coffin-shaped packages. Duo’s death also went international. The company leveraged its 13 localized social media accounts to create region-specific narratives around the owl’s passing, engaging global audiences. In Germany, Duo’s death had a creepy, cult-inspired twist: After his death, a group of smaller Duos resurrected him through occult practices and initiated him as their leader. And in Japan, where there’s a higher cultural sensitivity around death, Duo never died—instead, he became stronger than ever. Rebecca Paramo, Duolingo’s regional marketing director for Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, says her team had all of two days to plan out their localized content and hop on the bandwagon. “We pivoted most of the campaigns that we were already working on and partnerships with other brands, and were basically able to create an entire global and international narrative around Duo’s death,” Paramo says. In Brazil, for example, Duolingo had previously lined up a major partnership with McDonald’s that was set to drop around the same time that Duo died. There, Duo’s death was announced in a series of telenovela-inspired TikToks. When McDonald’s saw the content, they were initially concerned for the future of the partnership. But Paramo’s team found a way to merge the two efforts: Duo appeared on a popular local TV gossip show to reveal both the McDonald’s partnership and his resurrection. Duo rises from the deadDuo was never actually going to stay dead, of course. But as the buzz around his death grew, it became clear that the story of his resurrection would have to justify the hype. The team decided that the campaign needed to connect more directly to the app’s language-learning mission—and get fans involved. The weekend after the first Dead Duo post, several engineers worked to create a web page that would track the XP (experience points) that users receive when they complete their lessons, each of which are worth 20 to 35 XP. The page promised that users around the world could “bring back Duo before it’s too late” by completing enough lessons to rack up 50 billion XP. The site tallied the statistics by country, and ranked each one—enticing users to boost their countries’ standings. “The engineers worked on it for hours over the weekend just to get us to the finish line,” Parvez says. “That speaks to Duolingo culture: When people started getting excited about it, everyone was like, ‘How can we help?’ It became a company-wide effort.” While Duolingo is unable to share exact statistics on how much Dead Duo boosted in-app engagement before its first quarter earnings report on May 1, a spokesperson confirmed that the campaign “drove a meaningful lift in new and resurrected users.” Exactly two weeks after Duo first perished, fans’ revival efforts proved successful. Duo rose from the dead with a new app icon showing his eyes blazing with light, alongside a hype TikTok set to VVV and Playboi Carti’s “YEAT.” In a subsequent TikTok, he addressed viewers himself: “I’ve always had two main goals: Get people to do their lesson and get Dua Lipa to notice me,” Duo said. “Neither was working. I had to do something drastic. So I thought, why not kill one green bird with two stones?” Extreme DGAF brandingThe impact of Dead Duo surprised even Duolingo. The company had set a goal of 70 million impressions for the campaign, according to a spokesperson. In the past, Duolingo’s largest campaigns generated around 100 million impressions. Not only did Dead Duo achieve nearly 2 billion impressions on the company’s own social media accounts, the campaign inspired around 160,000 pieces of user-generated content—about 25 times the size of fan reactions to past icon changes. Dead Duo is a prime example of something that Fast Company has termed “DGAF branding”: A form of branding that eschews expectation and tradition in favor of all things wild. Examples include Pop Tarts sacrificing one of its pastries at the Super Bowl and Nutter Butter’s brain rot-inspired, head-spinning TikTok page. Already, other brands are trying to take a page out of the Dead Duo playbook—Sour Patch Kids recently announced that it would no longer be sour and would instead adopt the moniker, “Patch Kids,” before ultimately restoring its sourness days later. Still, Duolingo stands out in that, through its push notifications, brand partnerships, and social media content, it’s built Duo to feel almost like a real person (or owl) to fans. That level of connection is difficult for other companies to replicate. Duolingo, meanwhile, is taking its own lessons from Dead Duo’s resounding success. Mansur says it’s clear that the company’s focus on creative speed is working, but the campaign demonstrated that marketing, product, and creative teams could benefit from collaborating more extensively. “We have a very strong marketing team at Duolingo, and we have a very strong product team. But for a while, a lot of our work streams were kind of parallel to each other,” Mansur says. “This a really unique case where something that was within the product also had a larger marketing component to it, and required close collaboration. We’re testing new things to strengthen this muscle of collaborating across different teams at Duolingo.” For now, the team is still basking in the afterglow of Dead Duo’s success—and taking a break from fielding countless questions from friends and family about Duo’s fate. From an outside perspective, it’s difficult to imagine where Duo could go from here. After all, there aren’t many moves more extreme than killing off a mascot worth millions of dollars. Parvez sees things differently. “Obviously, as a marketer, there’s always that fear of, like, ‘Will we ever be able to one-up ourselves again?’” she says. “But it’s also exciting. It’s proof that, even five years into creating unhinged social content, we’ve been able to elevate it to literally a global scale where everyone was invested. I think the best is yet to come.” View the full article

The regulator argues the company is attempting to thwart a pending enforcement action involving an alleged discriminatory appraisal in 2021. View the full article

Nigel Farage spurns olive branch from Kemi Badenoch as local election campaigns gather paceView the full article

Camb.ai is on a mission to disrupt the dominance of English in global media. Founded in 2022, the AI-powered platform specializes in real-time translation that retains a speaker’s emotional resonance—processing content up to 20 times faster than traditional dubbing services. Major League Soccer now uses Camb.ai’s technology for live broadcasts. But the company has also found unexpected demand in markets like video advertising and the localization of interactive smart toys. To power its growth, Camb.ai has raised $15.5 million to date. The platform now supports translations in more than 150 languages—including Maleku, spoken by just 500 people. CEO Avneesh Prakash, who previously helped build India’s Aadhaar biometric ID system used by more than a billion people, cofounded the company with his son, Akshat Prakash. The younger Prakash, Camb.ai’s CTO, is a computer scientist and former AI/ML engineer on Apple’s Siri team. Avneesh Prakash envisions a future where English is no longer the default language for media production—and where global audiences can access any content, in any language, on demand. Fast Company spoke with Prakash about AI’s potential to reshape global media, the complexities of preserving emotional nuance across languages, and why rare languages remain central to Camb.ai’s mission. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. What misconceptions do people have about AI voice technology, and how do you address those concerns? People are concerned about inaccuracies when using AI, but they often overlook that even human translators have flaws. When evaluating AI, people try to find that moment of “Oh, it went wrong there.” Often these are subjective opinions, and such analyses do not use a comparative benchmark of how human translators would do on the same piece. The best approach is to enable human translators with AI like ours so they can be 50 times more productive and help cover a large body of work that today remains locked up in one to two languages, like English. What metrics do you use to measure success beyond traditional business growth indicators? One way we measure success is the number of languages we can translate into. Our mission is to redesign the internet for speakers of every language. That’s why we’ve also put a lot of effort into our capability to translate rare or endangered languages like Icelandic or Indigenous languages like Maleku. We already support more than 150 languages for speech-to-speech translation and our goal is to grow this number three to four times over the next two years. What advantages do you have in competing against large tech players and giant AI companies, and what are the biggest hurdles for you to overcome? Compared to the household names in AI, we can make models that are hyperfocused on being the best at translation and dubbing. We are also focused on the open-source community and can use its feedback to iterate and develop faster. The biggest challenge we face is one plaguing the entire AI industry: access to the computing power necessary to continue innovating. To remain competitive, we have prioritized building smaller models capable of being run on a user’s device, rather than the race to the biggest model in Big Tech. Your recent partnership with Legible focuses on books. What other content types present the most compelling opportunities? One unexpected opportunity we’re capitalizing on is translating advertisements (both picture and video). With traditional translation tools, it’s very difficult to translate ads in a way that makes sense culturally. A lot of advertising relies on metaphors, analogies, and cultural references. In the past, if you were to translate ads directly, a lot of the context would get lost in translation. Our models can overcome that hurdle. What do you envision happening to translators as AI dubbing technology advances? I envision a future where content creators and translators work alongside AI rather than work against it. AI will be able to provide a “first draft” translation, but there will always be scenarios (especially in literature and poetry) where a human touch is needed. What’s a common assumption about the future of global content that might be flawed? Most people assume content will continue to be English-first. While a majority of the global content is currently produced in the U.S., in English, with demographic and technology shifts, I see a future where a majority of the world’s media is originally produced in languages other than English. Which unexpected industries or sectors have shown the most interest in your technology? One interesting use case has been in the smart toy industry, where more and more toys are becoming interactive and AI-enabled. Localization in this context has the incredible potential of teaching children their own culture and language; this gets increasingly lost in the modern world. Looking ahead five years, what do you expect to be the most significant change in how we consume cross-language content? We will see all content available in all languages. If you go on Netflix or YouTube right now, you’ll see some content being translated or captioned into a limited number of languages. In less than five years, I expect we will be able to view that same content in tens or hundreds of languages on demand. How does AI-powered dubbing/live translation fundamentally change the economics of global content distribution compared to traditional methods? With AI translation, markets and audiences that were previously considered financially unviable now become accessible. AI translation rapidly increases the speed at which content can be spread around the world. We’ve seen our technology dub content up to 20 times faster than traditional dubbing agencies, so content can be released worldwide simultaneously. Beyond cost savings, what unexpected benefits do you see for AI live translations? Certain cultures have populations greater than that of the U.S. For example, the number of Bengali speakers is larger than the populations of many countries combined. In many such cultures, sports/content/media has the opportunity to reach everybody and unlock a new generation of accessibility and viewership for businesses. Critics argue AI-dubbed content lacks the “soul” of human performance. How do you address this perception, technically and philosophically? With our models, preserving emotion and “soul” has been the number-one priority. By training our models on both text and raw audio, the model learns how different words, punctuation, and context relate to various emotions and expressions. For us, translation is a way to share human expression across cultural boundaries, and ensuring that we maintain the emotional meaning of speech is the essence of what we do. Camb.ai’s mission is to let “every story be told in every language.” How might this reshape cultural power dynamics? Could a Gambian filmmaker compete more effectively against someone benefiting from Hollywood’s global influence? Exactly. That’s our vision. As technology like ours becomes more pervasive, I expect to see content that “breaks the internet” coming from all corners of the globe. Major League Soccer used Camb.ai to live-dub commentary into four languages simultaneously. Is sports broadcasting reaching a linguistic tipping point? Prior to MLS using our technology, there was very little appetite for using AI in a livestream context. This milestone has led to AI being considered a viable alternative for commentary and dubbing, and we’re now seeing more and more global sports organizations adopt the technology. What’s your mission in competing in this ultra-competitive AI arena? The internet was made for English speakers, and we decided to redesign it for the world. While language is a tool of diversity and hence evolution, it is also a tool of exclusion. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have the good fortune of going through an English-language education. I’m grateful for that, but I also see the unfairness of that. We created a company to disrupt that disparity. As noted in the film Ratatouille, “Not everyone can be a great artist. But a great artist can come from anywhere.” We are trying to create a world where a great artist born anywhere, creating anywhere, is able to take their content to any other part of the world. View the full article

Le Creuset turned 100, and to celebrate, it released a new cookware collection in a hue inspired by its original color, Flame. Named Flamme Dorée, French for “golden flame,” the set includes round and oval dutch ovens, a braiser, and a saucepan in a rich orange gradient with a shimmering gold finish. Prices for the Flamme Dorée pieces range from $310 to $860, which is more expensive than its standard lines—especially premium prices for what the company is positioning as a special occasion product. The French cookware brand was first known for its orange enameled cast iron cocottes, and it now sells products in a range of more than 200 colors. Last year it partnered with Pokémon and released its first ever out door cookware line. The original molten orange Flame color is its “signature color,” Le Creuset says, and Flamme Dorée is the modern remake. It recommends pairing the color with a deep rich green called Artichaut and White. “More than just a color, Flamme Dorée is a feeling,” Le Creuset says, like warmth or light. Le Creuset teased the collection’s release with a social media post of vintage print ads for the original orange Flame-colored sets. Few brands have been around long enough to have colors they’ve been associated with for 100 years, so by reimagining the color for a modern take, Le Creuset is tapping into its heritage to make something new. “Fiery, vibrant and globally recognizable, this celebratory hue pays tribute to the past while illuminating the path to the future,” it says. View the full article

When Anirudh Rao was 4 years old and living in Nashville, his friend’s house was destroyed by a tornado. A year later—yes, as a kindergartner—Rao started sketching a potential solution for better tornado warnings. Now 12 years old and living in Colorado, Rao is pursuing a more advanced version of his concept: a network of drones that could theoretically sense infrasound, a wave phenomenon emitted before and during tornadoes with frequencies below the threshold of human hearing. “On the outskirts of the city, there’ll be a base station and a network of autonomous drones that fly in all directions,” says Rao. He envisions sensors detecting infrasound along with temperature, pressure, and altitude, and sending data back to the base station; if a tornado is detected, that information could go to local authorities to trigger an official tornado warning and push notifications on phones. Currently tornadoes are detected as they have been for decades: through radar and by storm chasers visually spotting them on the ground. But radar doesn’t work perfectly. As storms have started to move east out of the traditional “Tornado Alley” in the center of the country (a trend that may be happening because of climate change), they’re also moving into hillier topography, where radar is even less reliable. As tornadoes are shifting eastward, they’re also reaching more populated areas, increasing the risk. Rao’s instinct to use infrasound is in line with the latest science. The idea isn’t new, though until tornado patterns changed, radar had been considered good enough. “As tornadoes move into hillier areas and it limits the effectiveness of radar [science is] refocusing on the potential use of infrasound,” says Brian Elbing, a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor at Oklahoma State University. Though it still isn’t fully understood how tornadoes produce infrasound, “you can pick up the signal before the tornado touches the ground, and it lasts the life of the tornado,” Elbing says. “And it carries information about the strength of the tornado.” Rao’s theory is that rather than building large stationary sensors for infrasound, drones could cover more ground. “My bigger idea was to use the fact that infrasound produced by tornadoes travels hundreds of miles,” he says. “Instead of waiting for it to come closer and then detect it using Doppler [radar], drones can fly outwards in all directions to offer an opportunity to reach out to a potential tornado, thus reducing the detection time and increasing the warning time.” (He calls his concept Revere, named after Paul Revere’s warning during the Revolutionary War.) There are challenges, including the fact that the noise from wind interferes with the sensors that detect infrasound. Rao argues that it’s possible to physically shield the sensor and then filter the signal. Altitude is another challenge, since the pressure would change as the drone flies, but Rao thinks that’s also surmountable. Ebling believes that a stationary network of sensors measuring infrasound is more likely. It would be cheaper to use than radar, and more accurate, so people could feel more confident that a warning wasn’t a false alarm. As the science advances, he says it could be feasible to build commercial networks of sensors as soon as a decade from now. Rao, meanwhile, is continuing to pursue his idea, while also working on an array of other inventions, from a sensor that could measure moisture in wounds to help avoid infection to a biomimetic surface for roads that could help ice melt faster. “I’m really interested in science, and I believe science can solve a lot of problems,” says Rao, who is a National STEM champion and was recently honored by a platform called Young Planet Leaders. View the full article

The Minecraft movie is crass, dumb, and barely coherent. It also just made almost $163 million at the domestic box office over its opening weekend. Video game adaptations have been on a hot streak in recent years. In 2023, The Super Mario Bros. Movie crossed the billion-dollar mark, nearly unseating Barbie as the year’s top-grossing film. Amazon’s Fallout shattered records with 2.5 billion viewing minutes in its debut week. And now, A Minecraft Movie stands as the highest-grossing film since Deadpool & Wolverine. Hollywood’s obsession with intellectual property—from comic book heroes to kids’ toys—is nothing new. But for decades, video games were the outliers: critically panned, commercial duds. That’s no longer the case. Today, they’re becoming studios’ most reliable path to profit. The long history of video game movie flops While a few video game films trickled out in the late 1990s, the first major wave of studio-backed adaptations hit in the early 2000s. Many of these were helmed by German director Uwe Boll, who became notorious for a steady stream of critical and commercial failures. BloodRayne barely scraped together $3 million at the box office; Alone in the Dark grossed just over $12 million on a $20 million budget. In the Name of the King, starring Jason Statham, bizarrely carried a $60 million price tag but pulled in only $12 million. (Boll himself admitted that Alone in the Dark—with Christian Slater and Tara Reid—was “not good.”) By the early 2010s, studios leaned into flashy visual effects to boost video game adaptations. These films made modest profits but often alienated audiences. Max Payne, starring Mark Wahlberg, scored just 16% on Rotten Tomatoes and earned Wahlberg a Golden Raspberry Award (better known as a Razzie). Disney’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, fronted by Jake Gyllenhaal, was pitched as the next Pirates of the Caribbean-style franchise. That dream died quickly after the CGI-heavy film was trounced at the box office by Sex and the City 2 and Shrek Forever After. Around the same time, game developers began chasing global markets, especially in Asia—and most notably, China. That expansion opened new international audiences for video game films. The strategy peaked in 2016, when Universal released Warcraft. Though critics panned it and American audiences mostly shrugged, the film soared in China, earning more than $100 million there despite failing to reach $50 million in the U.S. Even as box office numbers climbed, video game movies still carried the stigma of cheap storytelling and poor production. The late 2010s and early 2020s saw a mix of live-action flops like Mortal Kombat and animated crowd-pleasers like Sonic the Hedgehog and Detective Pikachu. They all turned a profit—but they’re often better remembered for their internet backlash than cinematic impact. When gaming adaptations started soaring Then, almost unexpectedly, these cash-grab adaptations started getting . . . better. Or at least good enough to justify their existence beyond box office potential. The Super Mario Bros. Movie didn’t just rake in $1.3 billion—it also delivered a viral hit with Jack Black’s “Peaches.” Critics may have panned Five Nights at Freddy’s, but audiences embraced it, giving it an 86% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and contributing to nearly $300 million in global revenue. Video games have also made major inroads into prestige television. HBO gave The Last of Us the coveted Sunday night slot, and the show went on to earn five Primetime Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series. Amazon’s Fallout became the platform’s biggest premiere ever—even surpassing YouTube juggernaut MrBeast’s game show in viewership—and it, too, snagged a nomination for Outstanding Drama Series. Now comes A Minecraft Movie. Is it good? Not really. But it’s a box office magnet—just ask the legions of middle schoolers screaming “Chicken jockey!” and causing public disruptions in theaters. It’s the clearest sign yet of the genre’s evolution. Video game adaptations are no longer synonymous with bad CGI and low returns. They’ve officially entered the IP big leagues. View the full article

The Mojave Micro Mill just broke ground in the Mojave Desert about 85 miles from downtown Los Angeles. It’ll be the first steel mill to open in California in more than half a century when it begins production in two years. More notable, it’ll do so using local sun and wind power, making it the first self-powered, net-zero steel mill in the country. Mojave Micro will make rebar—the thin rods of steel used to reinforce concrete walls and floors—out of recycled scrap steel using a net-zero manufacturing process. Eric Benson, CEO of Pacific Steel Group, which will operate the plant, said the company had started to strategize about a new facility a few years ago. Since power remains one of the most expensive inputs in the steelmaking process, he wondered whether a mill could be placed right next to one of these solar farms. Due to its remote location in the high desert, where there’s plenty of land, the 174-acre Mojave Micro site will include 63 acres of dedicated solar panels, batteries, and wind turbines that will be able to meet the power needs of the plant. The plant is hooked up to the grid in case it needs backup power, but will also install a carbon capture system for times when it runs on grid power, which Pacific Steel says will net out carbon emissions. Benson estimates the plant will be able to run all of its electric arc furnaces on its own power 85% of the time. The company predicts that when it’s fully operational in early 2027, the mill will have the ability to produce 450,000 tons of rebar per year. Mojave Micro saves emissions in other ways, too. Most of California’s 4.3 million tons of scrap metal is shipped out of state to other mills in the Southwest, and then trucked back to big markets like Los Angeles. The transit costs of moving such heavy material can run $100 per ton. Being able to offer scrap dealers a place to recycle steel that’s just a short drive from L.A.—accessible by truck instead of train—will dramatically cut down on transportation emissions. The steel industry, which has traditionally run on fossil fuels like coal, generates about 7% of global emissions. In recent years, environmental groups and startups have pushed to develop more green methods of making steel, powered by hydropower and renewables. Startup Boston Metals recently figured out a process to make virgin steel using electricity. The Center for American Progress argues that investment in domestic green steel production can help the U.S. industry adapt to the future and grow out the nation’s industrial base, especially as it looks to build more microchip plants and manufacturing sites. Mojave Micro also makes a case for more self-contained industrial facilities. With the robust renewable power available in the Mojave (another massive solar farm is located just across the street from the mill’s future home) companies could set up their own power systems and supply everything their factories need, without worrying about grid connections or local power capacity. The current rush for data centers, for instance, has been hampered by the need to increase local power generation and transmission capacity. A plant like Mojave Micro will have all the power infrastructure it needs. The effort also shows the value of industrial recycling. With tariffs upending supply chains, a similar kind of factory and process could be used to, say, recycle lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles. Pacific Steel, which currently supplies a quarter of California’s rebar, believes this new plant will not only enable it to sell greener steel at the same price as competitors but also to steal market share. California state law mandates that state-funded building projects use the greenest possible materials; Pacific Steel’s net-zero rebar will give it a big advantage, and could drive competitors to match its sustainable process. William Sonneborn, president of Generate, a green investment fund that provided $200 million to help build the plant, believes Mojave Micro is a model that will be copied. He says that some corporations concerned about their environmental footprints, like Walmart, have been looking for greener building materials, seeking to reduce what are known as Scope 3 emissions. Pacific Steel’s new mill aims to help them do just that, at a competitive price. “We love the idea,” Sonneborn said, “because it sets a standard and it creates a market for the United States because of the design of the technology.” View the full article

Is doomscrolling on your phone unhealthy for your brain? Oxford University Press’s word of the year, “brain rot,” seems to suggest so. It defines the condition as the “supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.” The key word, though, is “supposed,” as there is there is no such thing as mindless scrolling, says Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, the author of The 5 Resets: Rewire Your Brain and Body for Less Stress and More Resilience and a Harvard physician who specializes in stress. “’Brain rot’ is not a word or phrase that I would use as a physician, because it connotes that our brains are passively withering away,” she says. “Scientifically what is happening to your brain when you sit and scroll and scroll is not passive. [Scrolling] has a very active effect on your brain, and it signals all sorts of hormones and chemical cascades and neural circuits.” While that’s a relief, we do love our digital devices—maybe too much. According to a recent survey by Reviews.org, Americans pick up their phones an average of 205 times a day. Eighty percent check their phones within the first 10 minutes of waking up, and 43% consider themselves to be addicted. Having a true addiction to your phone is rare, says Nerurkar. What’s common, though, is “popcorn brain,” a term coined by University of Wisconsin researcher David Levy. “Popcorn brain is the sensation of your brain popping when you spend too much time online,” explains Nerurkar. “It’s when you’re chronically online, overconsuming. It has an effect on your sleep, your mood, your emotional reactivity, irritability, fatigue, and in some cases, anxiety, depression, and insomnia.” Finding balance If you feel popcorn-y, finding a sene of balance can help. But where do you start? Howard Lewis, author of Leave Your Phone at the Door: The Joy of OFFLINE, says it’s not the technology that’s the problem, it’s a growing fear of missing out. “I think there’s a fear of being irrelevant,” he says. “The advent of social media has made the problem much worse. People used to get their news from newspapers, and the process could take three or four days. Now, if you wait more than three or four hours, there is a sense that you’re not very relevant, and I think that’s a big error of judgment.” There’s a fine line between consuming and overconsuming, and the first thing to do is to cut yourself some slack about your phone habit. Doomscrolling is a primal urge, says Nerurkar. “Your brain is governed by the amygdala, and the main purpose of your amygdala is survival and self-preservation,” she explains. “Back when we were all cave people, there would be a night watchman who would scan for danger while the others slept. In modern times, we are all our own night watchman. The modern equivalent of scanning for danger is scrolling.” To find balance, you need to get your prefrontal cortex online. This is the part of the brain that governs strategic thinking, complex problem-solving, and “adulting,” says Nerurkar. “Building healthy phone habits intentionally dials it down,” she says. “The goal is to become more intentional with your media use. The truth is that the environment and big tech and the news is going to continue. Your brain and body is doing exactly what it was intended to do when you’re feeling stressed. It’s not about abstinence from our devices. It’s about creating some digital boundaries to preserve your mental health while remaining informed to what’s happening in the world.” How to build healthier habits with your phone Nerurkar teamed up with the mental health app Calm to create a five-part series called “Building Healthier Phone Habits.” The first step toward becoming more intentional about your media consumption is an awareness of your current state. Start by monitoring a three- to four-hour block of time. Put a pen and paper nearby and every time you have the urge to pick up your phone, create a tally mark. At the end of the time block, identify how many times you felt like reaching for your phone. Next, address the urge with a three-second brain reset exercise called “Stop, Breathe, Be,” which helps you strengthen your mind-body connection. “Instead of giving into the impulse to reach for your phone, stop, take a deep breath in and out, and be in the moment,” says Nerurkar. “What it does over time is it decreases the volume of your amygdala and gets that prefrontal cortex back online.” Another strategy is leveraging the grayscale of your phone. Nerurkar recommends switching your phone off color mode and into black-and-white mode. Go to your Settings page. Tap on “Accessibility” and then “Display and Text Size.” Switch your color filters to grayscale. You can easily toggle the grayscale on and off. “What it does is it makes scrolling less addictive, less enticing,” says Nerurkar. “Good times to use grayscale are when you’re trying to focus on a task at work, but you notice that you keep reaching for your phone and you’re not able to finish that task. It’s a visual boundary that you’re creating.” Building healthier phone habits is a process, so give yourself lots of grace, says Nerurkar. “Compassion, and particularly self-compassion, helps rewire the brain and decrease your reliance on your devices,” she says. “It also decreases the volume of your amygdala.” Why detachment is important Phones and applications may be enticing, but they offer less value than we think, says Lewis. “They do provide a sense of comfort and belonging, which is fine, but the difficult thing is that they become a replacement for adjunct and real-life conversations,” he says. Lewis regularly hosts dinner parties where guests must leave their phones at the door. He recommends breaking the cycle of dependence by putting your phone away wherever you’re engaging with someone in person. “People have certain preconceptions about the way they should look and behave around others,” he says. “What matters most is that you give people your time and your attention in a meaningful way. By leaving your phone at the door, you are enabled to embrace life.” Give yourself permission to be different by untethering yourself from your device, urges Lewis. “Being offline opens the door to randomness and serendipity,” he says. “Life behind a screen, in my opinion, is not real life.” View the full article

The Great Gatsby, Maintaining relevance after 100 years in the public consciousness is no small feat, but that’s exactly what the American novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald has managed to do. First published by Charles Scribner’s Sons on April 10, 1925, it initially received mixed reviews and was a commercial failure. As this now-beloved novel celebrates its centennial, how did it finally find an audience and what are its most-enduring themes? Also, here’s to maybe catch a bit of the bash. From failure to required reading Fitzgerald died in 1940 from a heart attack thinking he had failed as a writer. What he didn’t know was that Gatsby had been chosen by the Council on Books in Wartime as one of the titles to be distributed to WW II soldiers waiting in army barracks to eventually be shipped overseas—and it clearly had a massive trickle-down effect. The soldiers identified with the character of Jay Gatsby and the themes of disillusionment and loss. This newfound popularity made literary critics take a second look. The book would find its way onto college syllabuses and later become required reading for high schools. It also inspired adaptations in various cultural mediums, such as musicals, movies, ballets, and more. Enduring themes The story is told through the eyes of Nick Carraway, a World War I veteran and Yale graduate, who moves from the Midwest to Long Island where he meets the enigmatic, flashy, “self-made” millionaire Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is famous for throwing extravagant parties at his Long Island mansion, embodying the Jazz Age and raucous Roaring Twenties, in hopes that his ex, Daisy Buchanan, will attend. The fact that she is already married to Tom Buchanan, a violent Yale graduate who comes from old money, doesn’t stop Gatsby’s obsessive pursuit. But with all that extravagance, illicit alcohol (this was the Prohibition, after all) and unrequited love, tensions are sure to boil over with deadly consequences. This short novel explores themes of class, the dark truth of the American Dream, corruption, and obsession. A hundred years later, the ’20s of a new century don’t feel all that different from its predecessor, the 1920s. Here’s how book lovers can celebrate In Gatsby celebrations (and real estate!), location is the thing. If you find yourself in or near Fitzgerald’s birthplace of St. Paul, Minnesota, head over to the Minnesota History Center. On April 10, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. local time (CT), a live reading of the novel is scheduled, featuring a variety of readers. Also at the Center is an exhibit, That’s My Middle West: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s St. Paul, which showcases artifacts from Fitzgerald’s early life along with Gatsby memorabilia, and runs through May 31. Princeton University, Fitzgerald’s alma mater, is also celebrating Gatsby’s centennial and its favorite son throughout the month. A special exhibit at the Firestone Library called Living Forever: The Archive of The Great Gatsby opens April 10. A roundtable discussion titled “What’s So Great About The Great Gatsby?” will be held April 28. New York City, the setting of much of Gatsby, couldn’t let this 100th birthday go without a toast or two. The Empire State Building is turning green in commemoration, a nod to the glowing green light on Daisy’s dock that Gatsby gazes at from his lawn across the bay. Broadway is home to the 2023 Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of the novel. On April 10, the cast will have a special toast with audience members being gifted a special anniversary collector’s item souvenir. Also, the Midtown bar Oscar Wilde is throwing an all-day Gatsby-themed soirée, replicating the Roaring Twenties, with lots of music (DJ, 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.) and extravagant cocktails. If you can’t make it to any of these locations. never fear, old sport. Throw your own Gatsby movie night. Jack Clayton’s 1974 offering starring Robert Redford in the title role is available to rent on Amazon with the MGM add-on. No add-ons needed to rent the 2013 Baz Luhrmann flick starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Pop some bottles and step into the Jazz Age. Maybe Fitzgerald will feel the long-sought admiration from his grave in Rockville, Maryland. View the full article

Mother’s Day is a wonderful opportunity to show our gratitude and appreciation for the women who have influenced our lives. As a small business owner, you can enhance your Mother’s Day gifts by including the perfect printable gift tag, adding a personal touch to each present. Check out some of the best Mother’s Day gift tags that will make your gifts stand out and show appreciation to the amazing moms out there. How do you say Happy Mother’s Day in business? In a business setting, it’s important to maintain a professional tone while still conveying warmth and appreciation. When it comes to saying “Happy Mother’s Day” to employees, colleagues, or customers, the key is striking the right balance between formality and sincerity. A simple and classic greeting like “Wishing you a Happy Mother’s Day” can work well, or you can customize the message to fit your brand’s tone and style. Adding a personal touch like the recipient’s name or a heartfelt message can also go a long way in showing your appreciation for the amazing moms in your business community. Why should you use printable Mother’s Day gift tags? Printing the perfect Mother’s Day gift tags not only can help increase your sales but also can boost customer satisfaction. There are multiple reasons why you should use printable gift tags for Mother’s Day in your small business, including: Professional appearance: Using high-quality, printable gift tags can give your products a more polished and professional look, making them more attractive to customers. Brand exposure – Including your business logo and contact information on gift tags can enhance brand visibility. This strategy not only helps attract new customers but also promotes repeat business. Easy customization – Printable gift tags can be easily customized with personalized messages and designs, allowing you to offer a more personal touch to your customers. Convenience – Gift tags are a convenient option for customers who want to add a special touch to their gifts without having to spend time creating their own. Cost-effective – Printable gift tags are a cost-effective way to add value to your products and increase customer satisfaction without having to invest in expensive packaging or marketing materials. You even might find some free printable Mother’s Day gift cards available to download. Attach These Meaningful Tags to Your Mother’s Day Gifts Mother’s Day is around the corner, and adding a special touch to your gifts can make all the difference. Here are 12 of the best printable gift tags for small businesses to make this Mother’s Day extra special. Floral Mother’s Day Gift Tag These Mother’s Day gift tags from Etsy feature a lovely floral design and can be customized with a personal message, making them the perfect finishing touch to any gift. They are sure to make any mom feel loved and appreciated on her special day. From Your Favorite Child Gift Tags These Mother’s Day gift tags are sold as a digital download, which is perfect for small business owners who want to save time and money on shipping costs. The tag features a detailed floral design and the option to personalize the message, making it easy for businesses to create a unique and eye-catching look for their Mother’s Day gifts. Mother’s Day Gift Tags Variety Pack These printable Mother’s Day gift tags are available in four distinct styles, each showcasing a unique and playful design that brings a whimsical flair to any gift. Offered as a digital download, these tags provide a convenient and budget-friendly solution for small business owners who want to enhance their Mother’s Day gifts with a special touch. Round Mother’s Day Cookie Tags These printable Mother’s Day gift tags are perfect for businesses that specialize in baked goods or sweet treat options. The tag features a “Happy Mother’s Day,” message, and it is designed to fit on a 2-inch round cookie, making it an original and creative way to show appreciation for any mother on her special day. Colorful Happy Mother’s Day Gift Tags These Mother’s Day gift tags feature a colorful floral design and a peppy greeting. The tags can be downloaded and then printed on high-quality cardstock as the perfect finishing touch for any Mother’s Day gift. Editable Gift Tag Printables These Mother’s Day gift tags are sold as an editable digital download, which allows businesses to personalize each tag with their own custom message or branding. The printable gift tag template features an elegant and minimalist design, making it a versatile and stylish option for any Mother’s Day gift. Customizable Mother’s Day Gift Tags These Mother’s Day gift tags feature a cheerful, “Happy Mother’s Day,” message, and they can be customized with a personal message. Print the tags on high-quality cardstock if your business is looking for a simple and cost-effective way to add a special touch to its Mother’s Day gifts. Scripted Mother’s Day Gift Tag Multi-pack These vivid Mother’s Day gift tags are sold as printable digital downloads, and they feature a variety of scripted designs with, “Happy Mother’s Day,” messages. The tags are easy to print at home or at a local print shop, making them a convenient and budget-friendly option for small businesses. Black and White Printable Mother’s Day Tags These Mother’s Day gift tags from Etsy feature a minimalist, black-and-white design with a simple and elegant, “Happy Mother’s Day,” message. When the tags are printed on high-quality cardstock, they serve as a stylish and versatile option for businesses looking to add a special touch to their Mother’s Day gifts. Cute and Funny Mother’s Day Tags From Kids These Mother’s Day gift tags from Etsy feature cute and colorful designs that are perfect for gifts from a child to their best mom. The fun set includes a variety of tags with sweet messages perfect for a “fruity” family, including, “Mom, you’re pear-fect,” and, “Have a berry great Mother’s Day.” The printable tags make a heartwarming addition to any Mother’s Day gift. Printable Gift Tags for Mom It’s clear who the recipient of these gifts will be with this tag. These printable Mother’s Day gift tags showcase a timeless floral design, prominently displaying “MOM” in large letters. The downloadable gift tags can be printed at home or at a nearby print shop, offering a convenient and cost-effective solution for small businesses. Personalized Gift Tags for Mother’s Day These personalized Mother’s Day gift tags from Etsy allow small businesses to add a special touch to their Mother’s Day gifts. The set includes gift tag templates that can be customized with a name, message or brand, making them a unique and thoughtful addition to any present. How can you use Happy Mother’s Day gift tags? Printable gift tags for Mother’s Day can be a great way for small business owners to add a personal touch to customers’ purchases. These tags can be customized with a business’s logo or a heartfelt message, providing a unique branding opportunity. Utilizing Mother’s Day gift tags can help create a festive and celebratory ambiance both in stores and on company websites. Small businesses have various options for incorporating printable Mother’s Day gift tags, such as: Attach the tags to products as a thoughtful finishing touch. Adding a beautiful gift tag to each purchase can create a memorable unboxing experience for customers. Offer the tags as a free gift with purchase. Providing a free gift tag can incentivize customers to make a purchase and also can help spread the word about a business. Use the tags as part of a social media campaign, and encourage customers to share photos of their purchases with the gift tags on social media using a branded hashtag. Such posts can increase a brand’s visibility and encourage online engagement like making a comment. How to Create a Mother’s Day Gift Tag Printable By following a few basic steps, small business owners can create unique and personalized printable Mother’s Day gift tags to offer customers and promote their companies. Start adding a personal touch to your products this Mother’s Day by printing your own custom gift tags. Just follow this simple process: Choose a template – Purchase a downloadable template from a site like Etsy, or select a template offered by a design platform such as Canva or Adobe Spark. The template might be ready to use, or it might allow customization. Customize the template – If your template can be edited, add your business’s logo or a special message for Mother’s Day. Use your brand’s colors and fonts to make the tag cohesive with your other marketing materials. Include a barcode or QR code – Think about incorporating a barcode or QR code into the tag to facilitate easy tracking and inventory management. Print and cut – After finalizing the design, print the tags on high-quality cardstock. Then, use a paper cutter or scissors to trim them to the desired size. Hole punch and attach – Create a hole at the top of the tag using a hole punch, then secure it to your products with ribbon, twine, or a tag fastener. Attach These Mother’s Day Gift Tags to Beautiful Handmade Gifts Mother’s Day is a special occasion for small businesses to show their appreciation to customers and increase sales. A great way to add a personal touch to your products is by using printable gift tags. By using printable Mother’s Day gift tags, small businesses can make their customers feel special and increase customer loyalty. Don’t feel like you have to stop with adorning purchases with Mother’s Day gift tags. Be sure and download the perfect gift tags for holidays, printable birthday gift tags and even printable Christmas gift tags so you can impress customers all year long. You even can find certain free printable gift tags for any occasion. Image: Depositphotos This article, "Mother’s Day Gift Tags: Add a Special Touch with Our Charming Selections" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Mother’s Day is a wonderful opportunity to show our gratitude and appreciation for the women who have influenced our lives. As a small business owner, you can enhance your Mother’s Day gifts by including the perfect printable gift tag, adding a personal touch to each present. Check out some of the best Mother’s Day gift tags that will make your gifts stand out and show appreciation to the amazing moms out there. How do you say Happy Mother’s Day in business? In a business setting, it’s important to maintain a professional tone while still conveying warmth and appreciation. When it comes to saying “Happy Mother’s Day” to employees, colleagues, or customers, the key is striking the right balance between formality and sincerity. A simple and classic greeting like “Wishing you a Happy Mother’s Day” can work well, or you can customize the message to fit your brand’s tone and style. Adding a personal touch like the recipient’s name or a heartfelt message can also go a long way in showing your appreciation for the amazing moms in your business community. Why should you use printable Mother’s Day gift tags? Printing the perfect Mother’s Day gift tags not only can help increase your sales but also can boost customer satisfaction. There are multiple reasons why you should use printable gift tags for Mother’s Day in your small business, including: Professional appearance: Using high-quality, printable gift tags can give your products a more polished and professional look, making them more attractive to customers. Brand exposure – Including your business logo and contact information on gift tags can enhance brand visibility. This strategy not only helps attract new customers but also promotes repeat business. Easy customization – Printable gift tags can be easily customized with personalized messages and designs, allowing you to offer a more personal touch to your customers. Convenience – Gift tags are a convenient option for customers who want to add a special touch to their gifts without having to spend time creating their own. Cost-effective – Printable gift tags are a cost-effective way to add value to your products and increase customer satisfaction without having to invest in expensive packaging or marketing materials. You even might find some free printable Mother’s Day gift cards available to download. Attach These Meaningful Tags to Your Mother’s Day Gifts Mother’s Day is around the corner, and adding a special touch to your gifts can make all the difference. Here are 12 of the best printable gift tags for small businesses to make this Mother’s Day extra special. Floral Mother’s Day Gift Tag These Mother’s Day gift tags from Etsy feature a lovely floral design and can be customized with a personal message, making them the perfect finishing touch to any gift. They are sure to make any mom feel loved and appreciated on her special day. From Your Favorite Child Gift Tags These Mother’s Day gift tags are sold as a digital download, which is perfect for small business owners who want to save time and money on shipping costs. The tag features a detailed floral design and the option to personalize the message, making it easy for businesses to create a unique and eye-catching look for their Mother’s Day gifts. Mother’s Day Gift Tags Variety Pack These printable Mother’s Day gift tags are available in four distinct styles, each showcasing a unique and playful design that brings a whimsical flair to any gift. Offered as a digital download, these tags provide a convenient and budget-friendly solution for small business owners who want to enhance their Mother’s Day gifts with a special touch. Round Mother’s Day Cookie Tags These printable Mother’s Day gift tags are perfect for businesses that specialize in baked goods or sweet treat options. The tag features a “Happy Mother’s Day,” message, and it is designed to fit on a 2-inch round cookie, making it an original and creative way to show appreciation for any mother on her special day. Colorful Happy Mother’s Day Gift Tags These Mother’s Day gift tags feature a colorful floral design and a peppy greeting. The tags can be downloaded and then printed on high-quality cardstock as the perfect finishing touch for any Mother’s Day gift. Editable Gift Tag Printables These Mother’s Day gift tags are sold as an editable digital download, which allows businesses to personalize each tag with their own custom message or branding. The printable gift tag template features an elegant and minimalist design, making it a versatile and stylish option for any Mother’s Day gift. Customizable Mother’s Day Gift Tags These Mother’s Day gift tags feature a cheerful, “Happy Mother’s Day,” message, and they can be customized with a personal message. Print the tags on high-quality cardstock if your business is looking for a simple and cost-effective way to add a special touch to its Mother’s Day gifts. Scripted Mother’s Day Gift Tag Multi-pack These vivid Mother’s Day gift tags are sold as printable digital downloads, and they feature a variety of scripted designs with, “Happy Mother’s Day,” messages. The tags are easy to print at home or at a local print shop, making them a convenient and budget-friendly option for small businesses. Black and White Printable Mother’s Day Tags These Mother’s Day gift tags from Etsy feature a minimalist, black-and-white design with a simple and elegant, “Happy Mother’s Day,” message. When the tags are printed on high-quality cardstock, they serve as a stylish and versatile option for businesses looking to add a special touch to their Mother’s Day gifts. Cute and Funny Mother’s Day Tags From Kids These Mother’s Day gift tags from Etsy feature cute and colorful designs that are perfect for gifts from a child to their best mom. The fun set includes a variety of tags with sweet messages perfect for a “fruity” family, including, “Mom, you’re pear-fect,” and, “Have a berry great Mother’s Day.” The printable tags make a heartwarming addition to any Mother’s Day gift. Printable Gift Tags for Mom It’s clear who the recipient of these gifts will be with this tag. These printable Mother’s Day gift tags showcase a timeless floral design, prominently displaying “MOM” in large letters. The downloadable gift tags can be printed at home or at a nearby print shop, offering a convenient and cost-effective solution for small businesses. Personalized Gift Tags for Mother’s Day These personalized Mother’s Day gift tags from Etsy allow small businesses to add a special touch to their Mother’s Day gifts. The set includes gift tag templates that can be customized with a name, message or brand, making them a unique and thoughtful addition to any present. How can you use Happy Mother’s Day gift tags? Printable gift tags for Mother’s Day can be a great way for small business owners to add a personal touch to customers’ purchases. These tags can be customized with a business’s logo or a heartfelt message, providing a unique branding opportunity. Utilizing Mother’s Day gift tags can help create a festive and celebratory ambiance both in stores and on company websites. Small businesses have various options for incorporating printable Mother’s Day gift tags, such as: Attach the tags to products as a thoughtful finishing touch. Adding a beautiful gift tag to each purchase can create a memorable unboxing experience for customers. Offer the tags as a free gift with purchase. Providing a free gift tag can incentivize customers to make a purchase and also can help spread the word about a business. Use the tags as part of a social media campaign, and encourage customers to share photos of their purchases with the gift tags on social media using a branded hashtag. Such posts can increase a brand’s visibility and encourage online engagement like making a comment. How to Create a Mother’s Day Gift Tag Printable By following a few basic steps, small business owners can create unique and personalized printable Mother’s Day gift tags to offer customers and promote their companies. Start adding a personal touch to your products this Mother’s Day by printing your own custom gift tags. Just follow this simple process: Choose a template – Purchase a downloadable template from a site like Etsy, or select a template offered by a design platform such as Canva or Adobe Spark. The template might be ready to use, or it might allow customization. Customize the template – If your template can be edited, add your business’s logo or a special message for Mother’s Day. Use your brand’s colors and fonts to make the tag cohesive with your other marketing materials. Include a barcode or QR code – Think about incorporating a barcode or QR code into the tag to facilitate easy tracking and inventory management. Print and cut – After finalizing the design, print the tags on high-quality cardstock. Then, use a paper cutter or scissors to trim them to the desired size. Hole punch and attach – Create a hole at the top of the tag using a hole punch, then secure it to your products with ribbon, twine, or a tag fastener. Attach These Mother’s Day Gift Tags to Beautiful Handmade Gifts Mother’s Day is a special occasion for small businesses to show their appreciation to customers and increase sales. A great way to add a personal touch to your products is by using printable gift tags. By using printable Mother’s Day gift tags, small businesses can make their customers feel special and increase customer loyalty. Don’t feel like you have to stop with adorning purchases with Mother’s Day gift tags. Be sure and download the perfect gift tags for holidays, printable birthday gift tags and even printable Christmas gift tags so you can impress customers all year long. You even can find certain free printable gift tags for any occasion. Image: Depositphotos This article, "Mother’s Day Gift Tags: Add a Special Touch with Our Charming Selections" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

One of the laws of physics I learned in high school was the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Officially, it says, “The level of disorder in the universe is steadily increasing. Systems tend to move from ordered behavior to more random behavior.“ In simpler terms, it says this: Left on their own, systems tend toward disorder. That’s why a cup of coffee left on the counter cools over time, not the other way around. It’s why sandcastles crumble, buildings decay, and 52 playing cards thrown on the floor don’t become a stacked deck on their own. Everything, in the absence of outside energy, moves from order to chaos. This law is always at work—in nature, in science—and in our homes and lives. I was thinking about this fact recently as I finished writing the manuscript of my next book. The words were typed on my computer, of course. But over the months of researching and writing, I collected a large number of notes and pieces of paper—loose sheets of handwritten outlines, printed pages to edit, notecards, lists, folders of relevant projects, even a stack of books I referenced often. Over time, I placed more and more of them on a shelf near my desk. As the writing continued, the pile slowly grew. One stack turned into two, and two stacks turned into three. Piles of notecards got higher and higher. Papers intermingled. Things got buried. The mess expanded, more and more, until eventually the entire shelf was overtaken with notes for the book. The mess didn’t improve with time—it only worsened. The system tended toward disorder, not order. And it stayed that way, until just last week, when the book was completed and I finally took the time and effort to clean it up fully. Because here’s the thing about messes: They don’t clean themselves. They require attention. When my kids were younger, Kim and I had a mantra that we would use often. Especially after meals or light snacks in the evening, if someone left their plate on the counter near the sink, I’d say, “You know that plate’s not going to clean itself. Somebody in this family is going to have to do it. It might as well be you since you’re the one who dirtied it.” I wish I could say the mantra was 100% effective—but we all know better than that. Regardless, there is an important truth hidden in that reality that we would be wise to remind ourselves of—even beyond our teenage years. Messes don’t clean themselves. The universe moves naturally toward disorder, not order. This is important to see and apply accordingly in our homes. Messes only grow as clutter attracts more and more clutter. The mail you left on the counter will only pile up higher—until you make the effort to sort it. The dishes in your sink will remain dirty—until you make the effort to clean them. The clothes in your closet will take up more and more space—until you make the effort to discard some. The boxes of stuff in your basement will remain there—until you take the time to sort them. The garage will remain too full to park in—until you get out there and declutter the stuff. And maybe, some of us need to stop reading right here, and go make the change to bring about the order in our home that we’ve been wanting. But this principle doesn’t stop at our possessions. Messes don’t clean themselves. The universe only moves toward order when energy is applied: If we’re living paycheck to paycheck, avoiding the numbers won’t change the math. Our attention and energy is required to fix it. If our lifestyle is unhealthy, doing the same thing over and over won’t bring change. Our attention and energy is required to change it. If we don’t like the direction of our life, attention and energy will be required to start moving in a different direction. If there is a strained relationship in our life, ignoring the hard work won’t solve it. Attention, energy—and probably humility—will be required. We can spend a lot of time waiting for the right moment, the perfect motivation, or the ideal set of circumstances. But messes rarely resolve themselves as we wait. They grow. And the longer we delay, the more energy it takes to clean them up. So maybe today is a good day to ask: What mess in my life is waiting for my attention? And what small step can I take before the sun sets to begin cleaning it up? The post Messes Must Be Cleaned Up appeared first on Becoming Minimalist. View the full article

Executives say trade war and Opec output surge create toughest challenge since the Covid-19 pandemic View the full article