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In an era where customer expectations evolve rapidly, Oracle has launched its Fusion Agentic Applications for customer experience (CX), introducing a groundbreaking approach tailored for small businesses. These applications leverage advanced AI technology, aimed at streamlining sales, service, and marketing processes while turning complexities into opportunities for growth. At the heart of these applications is a coordinated team of specialized AI agents designed to proactively engage with tasks rather than just assist. By operating within established enterprise workflows and securely accessing unified data, these applications promise to empower small business leaders to make informed decisions swiftly. Chris Leone, Oracle’s Executive Vice President of Applications Development, emphasized the necessity of such innovation: “Customer expectations and operational complexity have outpaced traditional systems, creating an urgent need for applications that don’t just support work, but actively drive positive customer outcomes.” The new offerings include five specific applications: Contract Compliance Workspace, Cross-Sell Program Workspace, Marketing Command Center, Sales Command Center, and Service Manager Workspace. Each tool is crafted to target specific challenges faced by sales and marketing teams. Contract Compliance Workspace allows businesses to manage contracts proactively. By semantically analyzing contracts, it enhances oversight, identifies risks, and suggests next steps, shifting the focus from reactive contract management to proactive risk mitigation. Cross-Sell Program Workspace equips sales teams with insights to improve win rates and reduce acquisition costs, changing traditional campaigns into continuous revenue expansion strategies. Marketing Command Center consolidates data from multiple sources, helping marketing professionals prioritize segments and launch targeted growth initiatives, enhancing their response to market changes. Sales Command Center replaces manual oversight processes with continuous monitoring and risk assessment, helping teams convert leads more effectively and drive revenue growth. Service Manager Workspace enhances service quality by proactively monitoring operations and surfacing escalations, thus streamlining the customer service experience. For small businesses, the practical implications of these applications are significant. The streamlined workflows can lead to reduced operational costs, improved efficiency, and enhanced customer satisfaction. However, the integration of such advanced technology does come with considerations. Small business owners may need to invest time and resources into training staff for a smoother transition. Additionally, understanding the intricacies of the applications will be crucial to harnessing their full potential. Another critical aspect is the new Agentic Applications Builder, which allows organizations to develop customized AI automation without the complexity of traditional application development. This builder supports businesses in scaling their operations efficiently while ensuring safety and measurable ROI. As automation takes a more prominent role in various functions, small businesses could find themselves at a competitive advantage by adopting these intelligent solutions. In the intersection of technology and business, Oracle’s entry into the realm of agentic applications holds promise for small businesses looking to boost their operations. By reducing manual workloads and enhancing decision-making capabilities, businesses can refocus on their core competencies. As Leone noted, the urgency for businesses to adapt to growing customer expectations is clear. Implementing tools that actively drive outcomes rather than merely support existing processes will be vital for small businesses aiming to thrive in a competitive market. For more information and to explore the benefits of Oracle’s Fusion Agentic Applications, visit Oracle’s official site. The integration of these new tools could well dictate how small businesses navigate customer experiences in the digital age. Stay ahead of the curve—embracing this innovation might just be the key to unlocking new avenues for growth and elevating your customer interactions. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Oracle Launches AI-Driven Applications to Revolutionize Customer Experience" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

When Liza Moiseeva first heard that Allbirds was pivoting to AI, she thought it was satire. “It belongs in an Onion article,” says Moiseeva, chief marketing officer at Commons, an app that helps people shop more sustainably, in part by rating brands. Moiseeva has worked in sustainability for about 15 years, and she’s been an Allbirds customer for more than a decade. Her family owns 10 pairs of the sneaker that once ruled Silicon Valley streets—and that had been a leader in sustainable fashion. Now, Allbirds is stepping away from its footwear business, pivoting instead to AI compute infrastructure and rebranding as “NewBird AI.” (The Allbirds brand and footwear assets are being sold to American Exchange Group.) As part of that pivot, the original Allbirds company is also abandoning its previous focus on environmentalism, which doesn’t seem compatible with a focus on AI. In a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, the company wrote that its stockholders are being asked to approve a charter amendment “to remove references to the Company being operated for the environmental conservation public benefit.” The company intends to continue trading on the Nasdaq. Fast Company reached out to Allbirds for comment. Sustainable fashion goes out of style To customers like Moiseeva, that feels like a sharp turn away from the company’s beginnings. “It was a poster child for sustainable brands,” she says of the company. Its environmental mission is what drew her to become a customer (“They’re also super practical and comfortable,” she adds.) Though she doesn’t agree with the pivot, Moiseeva does see it as part of a broader move away from environmentalism—particularly under the The President administration, which has dismantled federal climate policies and seemingly made the larger conversation about climate action (especially from businesses) a bit of a taboo. “In the socio-political environment right now, the word ‘sustainability’ is kind of becoming a bad word,” Moiseeva says. To her, it’s a misstep for companies to move away from such efforts. “At the end of it, we still need a planet to live on,” she says. “If we all make these short-sighted decisions, we’re just gonna burn the world a little quicker.” Allbirds isn’t the first sustainability-focused company to peter out. (After being valued at $4 billion just a few years ago, the company sold its assets for just $39 million last month.) Parade, the underwear brand focused on recycled, eco-friendly materials, shut down in October 2025. Nisolo, a shoe brand that touted sustainability efforts, went into foreclosure in January 2025. Paravel, which used recycled materials (including water bottles) to make luggage, filed for bankruptcy in May 2025. All were also certified B Corps. And that’s just retail; a variety of clean tech startups have also struggled lately. With each one of these, it means one less sustainably minded choice for consumers. In the Commons app, Allbirds was once a top-rated sustainable brand. Now, the app notes that “this brand is undergoing significant transformation, and we are temporarily suspending its rating while we learn more.” VC funding once praised Allbirds’ environmentalism Allbirds’ original sustainably focused mission is also what attracted early investors, like Maveron, the VC firm that led the company’s $7.25 million Series A in 2016. On the day Allbirds went public in 2021, a Maveron blog post reflected on the company’s journey, and lauded its sustainability efforts and “strong brand ethos.” “Allbirds has always been committed to making better things in a better way,” the post read. “As a B Corp focused on sustainability, they’re trying to combat climate change and bring sustainability to the forefront. We’ve been so moved by their commitment to B Corp values that we became one ourselves.” It’s not clear how Maveron feels about the pivot; the firm could not be reached for comment. Maveron is among the largest shareholders in Allbirds. The meeting during which stockholders will vote on Allbirds’ amendment to remove environmental references is scheduled for May 18. The day Allbirds announced the move, though, its stock saw a 592% gain. To some, that’s more a sign of the hype around AI—and the manic urge that people and companies feel to not miss out on that tech—than any actual marker of the business’s potential future success. Business ownership and a changing market Though the Allbirds brand will live on through American Exchange Group, its environmental efforts won’t. American Exchange Group, as Jennifer Wilkins, a writer specializing in post growth economics, noted on LinkedIn, is not a public benefit corporation. Allbirds’ sustainability mission, then, “is no longer a governing constraint embedded in corporate structure.” To Wilkins, the pivot highlights the limits of the public benefit corporation model, which “does not lock in a specific business model or prevent asset sales,” she writes. “It does not guarantee continuity of mission.” Also at play is the fact that Allbirds relied on venture capital, and then became a publicly traded company, exposed to the whims of the market. Contrast that with Patagonia—which has never received VC funding and is not public, and has been able to hold onto, and even further cement, its environmental mission. “The Allbirds case demonstrates that business sustainability isn’t only about low-carbon production,” Wilkins writes. “It’s also about how business ownership behaves under changing capital conditions.” Allbirds likely won’t be the last sustainability company to fold or move away from its environmental ethos. But no matter how many companies do so, Moiseeva says she still believes in the model. “I still will believe that businesses should exist for the purpose of not just making money, but actually doing good in the world,” she says. “Real good, not ‘greenwashing’ good.” View the full article

The The President business behind Truth Social is replacing a former congressman and big supporter of the U.S. president as the leader of the social media platform after a stock collapse that wiped out billions in investor wealth. Devin Nunes, a former California congressmen in Donald The President’s first term, is being replaced temporarily by digital media executive Kevin McGurn as chief executive officer. The company, The President Media & Technology, didn’t give a reason for Nunes leaving or provide a timeline for his permanent replacement. After soaring shortly before The President’s re-election in November 2024, stock in the company plunged 67%, wiping out more than $6 billion in investor wealth. The President Media was formed by the The President family as an alternative to social media giants that had barred him from posting on their platforms after the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots. It said it would not only take on Facebook and Twitter as a “free speech” alternative, but eventually could become a media giant competing with streaming services such as Netflix. The stock soared, but it never gained traction with a wide audience despite the president’s frequent use of it for major political announcements, slammed by government ethics experts as a conflict of interest with the presidency. Since it went public two years ago, The President Media has lost more than $1.1 billion. Nunes got total compensation of $47 million in 2024, the last year for which figures are available. The new CEO McGurn said in statement that the company was “poised to take off.” “In carrying President The President’s unique, singular vision and message, Truth Social stands for the most powerful brand and voice in history of social media and beyond,” he said. The The President Organization didn’t immediately responded to a request for comment. The company has recently branched into cryptocurrency and another hot business, prediction markets. The latter are online betting venues where people can wager on sports, entertainment and political events. Both cryptocurrencies and prediction markets have gotten boosts from the The President administration, in terms of lighter regulation and outright promotion. Last year, for instance, the The President established a national bitcoin reserve, pushing up the value of that currency. McGurn, has worked at NBC Universal, Hulu and DoubleClick, among other companies, according to his LinkedIn profile. He is also the CEO of a new shell company that The President’s two oldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, joined last year to buy U.S. manufacturers. That company originally stated in regulatory filings that it would be targeting businesses hoping to tap federal contracts, which would be awarded by the same government run by their father. The The President Organization and the White House have repeatedly denied that there are conflicts of interest between The President’s role as president and the family business. —Bernard Condon, AP Business Writer View the full article

Populist party promises panel discussions with ‘leading voices from across the economy’ to tempt wary chief executivesView the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Pocket wifi is nothing new, and I considered it a luxury more than a necessity—a way to guarantee wifi in a time when wifi access is already practically guaranteed. Not only was I wrong, but I overlooked it for far too long. And if you don't own a portable wifi device other than your phone, you're probably making the same mistake I was. When I bought my first home, I gave my cell reception only a passing thought. Spectrum wireless was available in our area and was confirmed to work well by the previous homeowner, so home connectivity wouldn't be a problem. My phone carrier, T-Mobile, also covers 99% of the country. I imagined the network coverage maps in full magenta, suggesting I would need to be on Artemis II to lose reception. But you know what happened next: I often found myself with my phone in SOS mode, with no reception, searching for a signal. And for the first time, I actually zoomed in on those T-Mobile coverage maps, expanded the map legend, and felt like an idiot. Ninety-nine percent coverage sounds like a lot, but not in every context. If 99% of planes landed safely, we'd have hundreds of crashes per day. My house is in the mountains, where I learned that "good" coverage feels a lot like "spotty" coverage compared to the city. But being in the mountains gave me an opportunity to test the Solis Edge 5G wifi hotspot. Solis Edge 5G Hotspot $209.99 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $209.99 at Amazon Credit: Jordan Calhoun / Lifehacker Stuck at a remote EV charging station in the Catskills mountains, I set up my Solis Edge. It scanned the area for local connections and found an AT&T network to which I was able to connect. Speeds were slower than I'd hoped—I ran a speed test that resulted in 17.79 Mbps download speeds and 3.83 uploads—but in an area with no reception from my primary carrier, a beggar can't be a chooser. Later, I wanted to see if my pocket wifi could reach speeds on par with my iPhone, so I found a coverage area where my phone worked fine and ran another speed test. A tried it in a few different places, and the results were unexpected, but clear: Both my iPhone 13 and Solis Edge are capable of 5G speeds, but when I connected them to the same network, my iPhone was consistently faster, reaching download speeds of around 76 Mbps versus my pocket wifi stalling out around 26 Mbps. iPhone speed test results Credit: Jordan Calhoun / Lifehacker Solid Edge speed test results Credit: Jordan Calhoun / Lifehacker There are various explanations for the speed disparity, ranging from antennae technologies, phone carrier prioritization, and high-speed data limits. Regardless, I wouldn't expect pocket wifi to perform as well as my standard smartphone or laptop connections. But pocket wifi serves its purpose to keep me covered during an emergency or when I can find a good connection with my primary carrier, and it earned its place in my travel bag as a necessity right next to my portable power bank. Other benefits of a portable wifi hotspotThe real reason I wanted a pocket wifi device was for international travel. After traveling over 50 countries, I've found myself in countless situations where I expected wifi to be available, only to find myself searching and paying for it. Pocket wifi devices work globally—my Solis Edge claims coverage across over 140 countries—so I have a way to connect to the internet in cars, stores, trains, hotels, and airports without searching for public networks. I haven't tried it abroad yet, but it won't be long before I do. Most pocket wifi also comes with a base amount of free data each month. The Solis Edge I use comes with 1GB free per month for life, which means I can only plan to use it for emergencies, loading maps, or sending a time-sensitive message. Ways to improve your portable wifi hotspot speedThe primary way to make your pocket wifi faster is check your connection settings to make sure your 5G-enabled device is actually connected to a 5G. Many run on a 2.4 GHz frequency by default, and you need to change your frequency to 5G in your pocket wifi settings. And while portable wifi devices allow for multiple devices to connect to your device at once, keep in mind that more connected devices will reduce your speed. If your device has a high-speed data cap, you might see throttled speeds once you pass your limit. Are portable wifi hotspots worth it?For those who travel often enough, a pocket wifi device is definitely worth keeping in your bag. When you're in need of wifi and can't find a reliable source, pocket wifi is worth its weight in gold. Keeping one in my travel bag alongside my portable power bank is one of my favorite life upgrades this year. If you're a little obsessive about being connected and prepared for emergencies, its worth the investment for the peace of mind of knowing you'll practically always have wifi when you need it. View the full article

Investor concerns that technology could hit companies’ business models will derail exits, says Swedish groupView the full article

Federal Council sets out plans for banking reform after months of lobbying by country’s biggest lenderView the full article

President Donald The President said Tuesday the United States was indefinitely extending its ceasefire with Iran — a day before it was to expire — as a new round of peace talks was on hold. The announcement appeared to ease fears that the fighting, which had shaken energy markets and the global economy, would promptly resume. Pakistan had planned to host a second round of talks, but the White House put on hold Vice President JD Vance’s planned trip to Islamabad as Iran rebuffed efforts to restart negotiations. Iran has not yet responded to The President’s announcement of the ceasefire extension. Both countries have warned that, without a deal, they were prepared to resume fighting. Pakistan scrambles to get US and Iran to negotiate Pakistani leaders, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, worked intensively to get both sides to agree to a second round of ceasefire talks, according to two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Sharif later thanked The President for his “gracious acceptance” of Pakistan’s request, saying the ceasefire extension would allow ongoing diplomatic efforts to proceed. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told Iran’s state TV there has been “no final decision” on whether to agree to more talks because of “unacceptable actions” by the U.S., apparently referring to the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports. In a Truth Social post announcing the ceasefire extension, The President said the U.S. would continue the blockade. As Vance put on hold a return trip to Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, The President’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were expected in Washington on Tuesday afternoon for consultations about how to proceed, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration deliberations. The official cautioned that The President could change his mind on negotiating with Iran at any time, and declined to predict what would happen. The official said The President has options short of restarting airstrikes. Both sides remain dug in rhetorically Before announcing the ceasefire extension, The President had warned that “lots of bombs” will “start going off” if there’s no agreement before the Wednesday deadline, while Iran’s chief negotiator said that Tehran has “new cards on the battlefield” that haven’t yet been revealed. A senior commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened to destroy the region’s oil industry if war with the U.S. resumes. “If southern neighbors allow the enemy to use their facilities to attack Iran, they should say goodbye to oil production in the Middle East region,” Gen. Majid Mousavi told an Iranian news site. Strait of Hormuz control key to negotiations Iran’s envoy to the United Nations said Tuesday that Tehran has “received some sign” that the U.S. is ready to stop its blockade of Iranian ports. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said ending the blockade remains a condition for Iran to rejoin peace talks. When that happens, he said, “I think the next round of the negotiations will take place.” The U.S. imposed the blockade to pressure Tehran into ending its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane through which 20% of the world’s natural gas and crude oil transits in peacetime. Iran’s grip on the strait has sent oil prices soaring. Brent crude, the international standard, was trading at close to $95 per barrel on Tuesday, up more than 30% from Feb. 28, the day that Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran to start the war. Before the war began, the Strait of Hormuz had been fully open to international shipping. The President has demanded that vessels again be allowed to transit unimpeded. Over the weekend, Iran said that it had received new proposals from Washington, but also suggested that a wide gap remains between the sides. Issues that derailed the previous round of negotiations included Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, its regional proxies and the strait. The US says its forces board sanctioned oil tanker On Tuesday, the U.S. said its forces boarded an oil tanker previously sanctioned for smuggling Iranian crude oil in Asia. The Pentagon said in a social media post that U.S. forces boarded the M/T Tifani “without incident.” The U.S. military did not say where the vessel had been boarded, though ship-tracking data showed the Tifani in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia on Tuesday. The Pentagon statement added that “international waters are not a refuge for sanctioned vessels.” The U.S. military on Sunday seized an Iranian container ship, the first interception under the blockade. Iran’s joint military command called the armed boarding an act of piracy and a violation of the ceasefire. Pakistan hopeful talks will proceed Pakistani officials have expressed confidence that Iran will also send a delegation to resume the talks — the highest-level negotiations between the U.S. and Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The first round April 11 and 12 ended without an agreement. Pakistan said Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met Tuesday separately with the U.S. and China’s top diplomats in Islamabad. China is a key trading partner of Iran. Security has been tightened across Islamabad, where authorities have deployed thousands of personnel and increased patrols along routes leading to the airport. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said the ceasefire extension was “an important step toward de-escalation” that will create “critical space for diplomacy and confidence-building between Iran and the United States,” according to his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric. Talks between Israel and Lebanon are to resume In Lebanon, the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah said in a statement it had fired rockets and drones at Israeli forces for the first time since 10-day truce took effect last Friday “in response to the blatant and documented violations” by Israel. Those violations, it said, included “attacks on civilians and the destruction of their homes and villages in southern Lebanon.” The Israeli army said it responded by striking the group’s rocket launcher. Israeli officials have said they intend to maintain a buffer zone in southern Lebanon — an area that includes dozens of villages whose residents have not been allowed to return. Historic diplomatic talks between Israel and Lebanon are to resume on Thursday in Washington, an Israeli, a Lebanese and a U.S. official said. All three spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the behind-the-scenes negotiations. The Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors met last week for the first direct diplomatic talks in decades. Israel says the talks are aimed at disarming Hezbollah and reaching a peace agreement with Lebanon. Fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah broke out two days after the U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran to start the war. In Lebanon, the fighting has killed more than 2,290 people. Since the war started, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran, according to authorities. Additionally, 23 people have died in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 U.S. service members throughout the region have been killed. Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price, Aamer Madhani and Darlene Superville in Washington; Samy Magdy in Cairo; David Rising and Huizhong Wu in Bangkok; Julia Frankel in New York; Bill Barrow in Atlanta, Edith M. Lederer and Farnoush Amiri at the United Nations; Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed to this report. —Munir Ahmed, Jon Gambrell and Matthew Lee, Associated Press View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Sony’s WF-C710N earbuds are on sale for just $64.99 on StackSocial right now. They're open-box models—they may arrive in repackaged materials with minor handling marks, but they’re verified to be in new condition and include a one-year third-party warranty—marked down at 50% off their full price. These are part of Sony’s newer lineup, and they focus on everyday usability rather than competing with flagship earbuds. The Sony WF-C710N earbuds have active noise canceling with dual noise sensors, Bluetooth 5.3, and support for AAC and SBC codecs. Pairing is quick, especially with Android and Windows devices, and the multipoint connection lets you stay connected to two devices at once. In practice, that means you can switch between your phone and laptop without re-pairing every time. The listening experience is tuned for general use. The 5mm drivers lean toward a slightly bass-forward sound, but vocals stay clear enough for podcasts and calls. Sony also includes its DSEE processing, which helps improve compressed audio, so streaming tracks sound a bit fuller than they otherwise would. Noise canceling works well for steady background sounds like traffic or fans, but it won’t completely block everything around you. When you do want to stay aware, there’s an ambient mode you can adjust, including one that focuses on voices so you can hear people without taking your earbuds out. These are built for daily wear, so comfort and convenience are a big part of the experience. The earbuds are light, and the case is small enough to carry without a second thought. They’re also rated IPX4 for water resistance, so sweat and light splashes are not a concern. You also get around 8.5 hours of battery life with noise canceling on, and the case brings the total to roughly 30 hours (your mileage may vary depending on use). All things considered, the Sony WF-C710N earbuds are a great buy at 50% off right now. Our Best Editor-Vetted Tech Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $199.99 (List Price $249.00) Blink Video Doorbell Wireless (Newest Model) + Sync Module Core — $35.99 (List Price $69.99) Ring Indoor Cam (2nd Gen, 2-pack, White) — $59.98 (List Price $79.99) Apple Watch Series 11 [GPS 46mm] Smartwatch with Jet Black Aluminum Case with Black Sport Band - M/L. Sleep Score, Fitness Tracker, Health Monitoring, Always-On Display, Water Resistant — $329.00 (List Price $429.00) Apple iPad 11" A16 128GB Wi-Fi Tablet (Silver, 2025) — $319.99 (List Price $349.00) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

The company will be using a simplified name and a new logo it says shows its unified business model, but its longstanding tagline will stay in place. View the full article

The contract rate on a 30-year mortgage dropped for a third week to 6.35%, the lowest since mid-March View the full article

When it pertains to comprehending customer experiences, implementing effective feedback methods is essential for businesses. Customer feedback surveys gather valuable quantitative and qualitative data, whereas in-app feedback prompts capture immediate reactions. Real-time chat integration allows for genuine insights during interactions. Furthermore, customer interviews and focus groups provide deeper qualitative insights, and social listening helps monitor online conversations. Each method contributes to a more customer-centric approach, but how can you effectively integrate these strategies for maximum impact? Key Takeaways Utilize customer feedback surveys with a mix of question types for concise, unbiased insights on user experiences. Implement in-app feedback prompts for immediate responses, increasing participation rates up to five times. Integrate real-time chat to gather genuine feedback during customer interactions, enhancing service strategies. Conduct customer interviews and focus groups to explore deeper qualitative insights into customer needs and preferences. Monitor social listening and online reviews to capture real-time insights and address customer pain points effectively. Customer Feedback Surveys Customer feedback surveys are essential tools that gather both quantitative and qualitative data about user experiences, preferences, and satisfaction levels with your products or services. These surveys serve as effective feedback collection tools, offering insights into the customer feedback process. To guarantee you collect valuable customer experience feedback, keep surveys concise, unbiased, and include a mix of closed-ended and open-ended questions. This approach encourages thorough feedback as it minimizes respondent fatigue. One popular method is the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which categorizes customers into promoters, passives, and detractors, helping you gauge loyalty and advocacy. Timing plays an important role in survey distribution; embedding feedback widgets on your website or app allows for real-time feedback collection during user interactions, leading to higher response rates. In-App Feedback Prompts How can in-app feedback prompts transform the way you gather insights from users? These prompts, consisting of micro-surveys with 2-3 questions, allow you to capture user feedback immediately after interactions. By utilizing customer feedback collection tools, you can considerably boost response rates, yielding up to 5x higher participation compared to traditional methods. Smart triggers based on user behavior guarantee that feedback requests appear at ideal moments, improving their relevance without disrupting the user experience. Here’s a quick overview of the benefits: Benefit Description Impact on Strategy Timely Insights Captures feedback right after interactions Improves customer feedback strategy Higher Engagement Increases response rates dramatically Improves customer feedback solutions Seamless Integration Fits naturally within the app Streamlines how to gather customer feedback Incorporating in-app feedback prompts is essential for grasping the importance of customer feedback and acting on feedback from clients effectively. Real-Time Chat Integration Integrating real-time chat into your customer service strategy can greatly improve the way you gather feedback. With real-time chat integration, you can collect immediate insights from customers during interactions, capturing genuine feedback as issues arise. This method allows you to implement proactive triggers that prompt customers for feedback based on their specific behaviors. As a result, you can achieve response rates up to five times higher than traditional feedback methods. Customer Interviews and Focus Groups When seeking to comprehend customer needs and preferences, interviews and focus groups provide valuable qualitative insights that quantitative surveys often miss. These methods allow you to plunge deeper into customer feedback, uncovering the reasons behind their sentiments and shaping your product roadmap accordingly. Gain a nuanced comprehension of customer perceptions. Encourage collaboration and shared insights through group discussions. Create a more responsive, customer-centric culture. Social Listening and Online Reviews Social listening and online reviews are vital components of modern customer feedback strategies, as they provide valuable insights into customer opinions and behaviors. By monitoring social media conversations, you can gain real-time feedback on customer sentiment and emerging trends. Engaging with online reviews is equally important, as 93% of consumers say these reviews influence their purchasing decisions. Responding to both positive and negative feedback builds brand trust, as 70% of consumers expect brands to acknowledge their reviews. Method Benefits Social Listening Real-time customer insights Online Reviews Influence on purchase decisions Customer Feedback Identify pain points Customer Retention Improve overall experience Utilizing social listening tools and analyzing online reviews reveals common themes, allowing you to address specific concerns, improve the customer experience, and eventually enhance customer retention. Frequently Asked Questions What Is the 10 to 10 Rule in Customer Service? The 10 to 10 rule in customer service emphasizes responding to customer inquiries within ten minutes and ensuring a resolution or follow-up within ten hours. This approach nurtures quick engagement, which improves customer satisfaction and retention rates. By prioritizing timely communication, you streamline support processes and build trust with your customers. Implementing this rule not just enhances the overall customer experience but additionally positions your business favorably against competitors who may not prioritize swift responses. Which Tool Is Most Effective in Gathering Customer Insights? To gather customer insights effectively, consider using real-time feedback tools like Zendesk or Drift. These platforms integrate with your support operations, capturing customer input immediately after interactions. Furthermore, in-app surveys offered by tools such as Intercom can greatly increase response rates, providing timely data. For organized feedback management, platforms like UserVoice streamline feature requests, allowing you to prioritize based on user impact, ensuring you act on insights efficiently and effectively. What Is the Most Immediate Way to Gather Customer Feedback? The most immediate way to gather customer feedback is through real-time methods like in-app surveys or live chat integrations. By triggering these feedback requests during user interactions, you capture authentic reactions as their experience is fresh. Contextual micro-surveys that focus on specific user actions can greatly increase response rates. Furthermore, automated follow-ups after live chat sessions allow customers to provide instant feedback, enhancing your ability to address issues swiftly and effectively. What Are the 3 C’s of Customer Satisfaction? The 3 C’s of customer satisfaction are Consistency, Communication, and Customer Experience. Consistency guarantees you deliver the same high-quality service across all touchpoints, which builds trust. Communication involves actively listening to your customers, responding quickly, and addressing their feedback, enhancing their perception of your brand. Finally, Customer Experience encompasses every interaction a customer has with your business, where positive experiences can considerably boost loyalty and retention rates. Focusing on these three elements is essential for success. Conclusion Incorporating these five effective customer feedback methods can greatly improve your comprehension of customer experiences. By utilizing customer feedback surveys, in-app prompts, real-time chat, interviews, and social listening, you can gather valuable insights that drive improvements. These approaches not just boost response rates but additionally cultivate a more customer-centric culture within your organization. In the end, leveraging these strategies will help you improve customer satisfaction and retention, ensuring your business remains competitive and responsive to changing needs. Image via Google Gemini This article, "5 Effective Customer Feedback Methods for Instant Insights" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

When it pertains to comprehending customer experiences, implementing effective feedback methods is essential for businesses. Customer feedback surveys gather valuable quantitative and qualitative data, whereas in-app feedback prompts capture immediate reactions. Real-time chat integration allows for genuine insights during interactions. Furthermore, customer interviews and focus groups provide deeper qualitative insights, and social listening helps monitor online conversations. Each method contributes to a more customer-centric approach, but how can you effectively integrate these strategies for maximum impact? Key Takeaways Utilize customer feedback surveys with a mix of question types for concise, unbiased insights on user experiences. Implement in-app feedback prompts for immediate responses, increasing participation rates up to five times. Integrate real-time chat to gather genuine feedback during customer interactions, enhancing service strategies. Conduct customer interviews and focus groups to explore deeper qualitative insights into customer needs and preferences. Monitor social listening and online reviews to capture real-time insights and address customer pain points effectively. Customer Feedback Surveys Customer feedback surveys are essential tools that gather both quantitative and qualitative data about user experiences, preferences, and satisfaction levels with your products or services. These surveys serve as effective feedback collection tools, offering insights into the customer feedback process. To guarantee you collect valuable customer experience feedback, keep surveys concise, unbiased, and include a mix of closed-ended and open-ended questions. This approach encourages thorough feedback as it minimizes respondent fatigue. One popular method is the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which categorizes customers into promoters, passives, and detractors, helping you gauge loyalty and advocacy. Timing plays an important role in survey distribution; embedding feedback widgets on your website or app allows for real-time feedback collection during user interactions, leading to higher response rates. In-App Feedback Prompts How can in-app feedback prompts transform the way you gather insights from users? These prompts, consisting of micro-surveys with 2-3 questions, allow you to capture user feedback immediately after interactions. By utilizing customer feedback collection tools, you can considerably boost response rates, yielding up to 5x higher participation compared to traditional methods. Smart triggers based on user behavior guarantee that feedback requests appear at ideal moments, improving their relevance without disrupting the user experience. Here’s a quick overview of the benefits: Benefit Description Impact on Strategy Timely Insights Captures feedback right after interactions Improves customer feedback strategy Higher Engagement Increases response rates dramatically Improves customer feedback solutions Seamless Integration Fits naturally within the app Streamlines how to gather customer feedback Incorporating in-app feedback prompts is essential for grasping the importance of customer feedback and acting on feedback from clients effectively. Real-Time Chat Integration Integrating real-time chat into your customer service strategy can greatly improve the way you gather feedback. With real-time chat integration, you can collect immediate insights from customers during interactions, capturing genuine feedback as issues arise. This method allows you to implement proactive triggers that prompt customers for feedback based on their specific behaviors. As a result, you can achieve response rates up to five times higher than traditional feedback methods. Customer Interviews and Focus Groups When seeking to comprehend customer needs and preferences, interviews and focus groups provide valuable qualitative insights that quantitative surveys often miss. These methods allow you to plunge deeper into customer feedback, uncovering the reasons behind their sentiments and shaping your product roadmap accordingly. Gain a nuanced comprehension of customer perceptions. Encourage collaboration and shared insights through group discussions. Create a more responsive, customer-centric culture. Social Listening and Online Reviews Social listening and online reviews are vital components of modern customer feedback strategies, as they provide valuable insights into customer opinions and behaviors. By monitoring social media conversations, you can gain real-time feedback on customer sentiment and emerging trends. Engaging with online reviews is equally important, as 93% of consumers say these reviews influence their purchasing decisions. Responding to both positive and negative feedback builds brand trust, as 70% of consumers expect brands to acknowledge their reviews. Method Benefits Social Listening Real-time customer insights Online Reviews Influence on purchase decisions Customer Feedback Identify pain points Customer Retention Improve overall experience Utilizing social listening tools and analyzing online reviews reveals common themes, allowing you to address specific concerns, improve the customer experience, and eventually enhance customer retention. Frequently Asked Questions What Is the 10 to 10 Rule in Customer Service? The 10 to 10 rule in customer service emphasizes responding to customer inquiries within ten minutes and ensuring a resolution or follow-up within ten hours. This approach nurtures quick engagement, which improves customer satisfaction and retention rates. By prioritizing timely communication, you streamline support processes and build trust with your customers. Implementing this rule not just enhances the overall customer experience but additionally positions your business favorably against competitors who may not prioritize swift responses. Which Tool Is Most Effective in Gathering Customer Insights? To gather customer insights effectively, consider using real-time feedback tools like Zendesk or Drift. These platforms integrate with your support operations, capturing customer input immediately after interactions. Furthermore, in-app surveys offered by tools such as Intercom can greatly increase response rates, providing timely data. For organized feedback management, platforms like UserVoice streamline feature requests, allowing you to prioritize based on user impact, ensuring you act on insights efficiently and effectively. What Is the Most Immediate Way to Gather Customer Feedback? The most immediate way to gather customer feedback is through real-time methods like in-app surveys or live chat integrations. By triggering these feedback requests during user interactions, you capture authentic reactions as their experience is fresh. Contextual micro-surveys that focus on specific user actions can greatly increase response rates. Furthermore, automated follow-ups after live chat sessions allow customers to provide instant feedback, enhancing your ability to address issues swiftly and effectively. What Are the 3 C’s of Customer Satisfaction? The 3 C’s of customer satisfaction are Consistency, Communication, and Customer Experience. Consistency guarantees you deliver the same high-quality service across all touchpoints, which builds trust. Communication involves actively listening to your customers, responding quickly, and addressing their feedback, enhancing their perception of your brand. Finally, Customer Experience encompasses every interaction a customer has with your business, where positive experiences can considerably boost loyalty and retention rates. Focusing on these three elements is essential for success. Conclusion Incorporating these five effective customer feedback methods can greatly improve your comprehension of customer experiences. By utilizing customer feedback surveys, in-app prompts, real-time chat, interviews, and social listening, you can gather valuable insights that drive improvements. These approaches not just boost response rates but additionally cultivate a more customer-centric culture within your organization. In the end, leveraging these strategies will help you improve customer satisfaction and retention, ensuring your business remains competitive and responsive to changing needs. Image via Google Gemini This article, "5 Effective Customer Feedback Methods for Instant Insights" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

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We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Samsung Galaxy S26 is down to $799.99 for the 256GB unlocked version, a drop from $899.99 and its lowest price so far, according to price trackers. This is Samsung’s smallest flagship for 2026, and it leans into that idea of giving you most of the high-end experience without the size or cost of the Ultra model. The design feels familiar if you have used a Galaxy before, and is relatively compact at 6.3 inches, so it sits comfortably in one hand without feeling cramped. It also comes with an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. Samsung Galaxy S26 Unlocked Android smartphone (256GB, black) $799.99 at Amazon $899.99 Save $100.00 Get Deal Get Deal $799.99 at Amazon $899.99 Save $100.00 It runs Android 16 with Samsung’s One UI 8.1, and it is set to receive seven years of updates, which is still one of the longest support windows you will find on an Android phone. Performance is not a concern here—the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor for Galaxy keeps everything fast, whether you are jumping between apps, editing photos, or playing games. Plus, it has a bright and sharp display (with a 120Hz refresh rate) that holds up well outdoors. Samsung’s newer AI tools are built-in, too—you can edit photos using text prompts, clean up document scans, or get suggestions through features like Now Brief. That said, its battery life is average, with just over 15 hours of video streaming, according to this PCMag review. The triple-camera system, with a 50MP main sensor, 12MP ultrawide, and 10MP telephoto, delivers solid results in most conditions. Photos look natural, and low-light shots benefit from a brighter main sensor, though you may notice some softness compared to the Ultra model. The camera module also causes a slight wobble when the phone is placed flat, which is common but still noticeable. For most people, though, the S26 covers the basics quite well—delivering strong performance, a bright display, and capable cameras in a form factor that is easier to handle than most flagship phones. Our Best Editor-Vetted Tech Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $199.99 (List Price $249.00) Blink Video Doorbell Wireless (Newest Model) + Sync Module Core — $35.99 (List Price $69.99) Ring Indoor Cam (2nd Gen, 2-pack, White) — $59.98 (List Price $79.99) Apple Watch Series 11 [GPS 46mm] Smartwatch with Jet Black Aluminum Case with Black Sport Band - M/L. Sleep Score, Fitness Tracker, Health Monitoring, Always-On Display, Water Resistant — $329.00 (List Price $429.00) Apple iPad 11" A16 128GB Wi-Fi Tablet (Silver, 2025) — $319.99 (List Price $349.00) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

The job market is tough right now. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job openings have been trending down, and are currently below pre-pandemic levels. In a hypercompetitive economy, people entering the workforce are facing fewer opportunities than just a few years ago. And for the 1 in 3 American adults with a justice-involved past, or any interaction with the criminal justice system as a defendant, their record is another obstacle in an already challenging job search. April marks Fair Chance Month, an annual opportunity to spotlight reentry programs, resources, and skills-training for formerly incarcerated people. Yet, as the conversation around second chance hiring has expanded each year, a criminal record can still reduce a candidate’s chances of a second interview by 50%. Even when people with justice-involved pasts take advantage of every opportunity, exclusionary hiring practices and systemic barriers make finding and retaining employment an uphill battle. For example, returning citizens frequently have trouble securing safe and reliable housing and transportation, and are therefore 10 times more likely to experience homelessness than the general public. When we systematically exclude people from employment because of a checked box, we’re not just denying them jobs, we’re denying them the foundation they need to rebuild their lives. BREAK DOWN BARRIERS Second chance hiring practices can—and should—be tailored to each company’s unique needs and challenges, but they have the potential to benefit any industry. Across industries and sectors, 85% of HR professionals and 81% of business leaders individuals with justice-involved pasts perform the same as, or better than employees without. This reinforces the value second chance hires can bring to the company. At Frontier Co-op, we’ve seen firsthand the tangible impact second chance hiring can make on a community. We implemented our flagship Breaking Down Barriers to Employment program in 2018 to take a more holistic approach to addressing employment barriers. It involves adopting second chance hiring practices and working with a local nonprofit partner to provide access to comprehensive wraparound services. Internally, we provide subsidized childcare options, transportation, and an apprenticeship and skills training program. Most recently, we launched a savings match program to support our workforce’s long-term resilience. We’ve seen how this has grown our workforce, as more than 25% of Frontier Co-op’s production hires in the last year were justice-involved individuals. While anonymity is critical to the program’s success, one employee—Alisia Weaver—has chosen to share her story. She began as an apprentice and has grown into her current role as a machine operator. She will celebrate her sixth anniversary this fall. As an important part of our co-op’s advocacy in this space, Alisia offers her perspective on the impact second chance hiring has had on her life and future. “This experience has helped me advance in all aspects of my life. I have my own place, a vehicle, and daycare for my son. I’ve come forward to tell my story because I just want to encourage people and inspire them not to give up, no matter what setbacks they face,” she said. “I also want to encourage companies to try something different and consider adopting second chance hiring practices. It could be beneficial for you, but it could also change someone’s life.” RETHINK YOUR HIRING PRACTICES By embracing candidates with diverse backgrounds and perspectives, we’ve seen how this approach strengthens the resilience of both our workforce and our business. Most meaningfully, it has shaped our culture in lasting ways. Over the years, many employees have stopped me to share how proud they are of our commitment to fair hiring. So many people know or love someone who has been held back by a justice-involved past, and it matters to them to see their employer offering people a truly fresh start. But we can’t make these changes in silos. As a second chance employer, we’re proud to partner with organizations like the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ) and REFORM Alliance, which are leading the change and helping businesses remove barriers and create career opportunities for these individuals, to ensure a more inclusive workforce for all. “Businesses play a crucial role in keeping communities safe and healthy,” said Maha Jweied, RBIJ’s CEO. “Hiring justice-impacted job seekers can break cycles of incarceration, revitalize neighborhoods, and forge pathways for people to reach their potential—and that includes those with past convictions. By prioritizing inclusive hiring, we not only demonstrate our commitment to the communities we belong to, but also enhance our organizations with capable, dedicated, and resilient talent.” We know we can’t hire everyone regardless of their past, and we don’t view this program as a rehabilitation process. Our intent is simply to eliminate a bias that could negatively impact good candidates along the hiring journey. That’s something we think every organization and company can aim to do. This Fair Chance Month, I’d challenge all business leaders to take a moment to think a little differently—a little critically—about their hiring processes. Set aside time for an open, internal conversation about whether criteria related to justice involvement may unnecessarily be limiting candidate consideration. Reach out to a colleague who is doing this work to hear more about their experience, ask candid questions, and understand the challenges they’ve navigated. My door is always open. Tony Bedard is CEO of Frontier Co-op. View the full article

Plug-in solar is on the way, and it could cut your electric bills. A growing number of states are poised to pass bills supporting the panels, which are designed for DIY installation: Hang one out a window or set it on a deck, plug it into a regular outlet, and power starts flowing back into your home. A new calculator helps you estimate how much you can save on power bills, using your zip code to estimate how much sunshine you get and how much you’re paying for electricity now. The tech could be especially useful in cities like New York, where renters have steep electric bills and don’t have roofs to install traditional solar panel systems. “A huge percent of this country is composed of renters,” says Cora Stryker, cofounder of Bright Saver, a nonprofit that advocates for the technology and just released the calculator. “What are you supposed to do? I mean, it’s really a powerless feeling—pun intended—to see your energy bills just spike and not be able to do anything about it.” Homeowners who don’t want to invest in a full rooftop system can also use plug-in panels. Designed for self-installation, they avoid the costs of permitting, inspections, hiring an electrician, and the marketing expenses of solar companies, which together make up nearly half the price of traditional systems. “The reason this is a game changer is we’re taking all those extra costs out, and we’re delivering the dirt-cheap cost of the technology to consumers so they can install it themselves,” Stryker says. “It’s pushing us toward a tipping point. For years now, clean energy has been cheaper to produce than fossil fuel alternatives. However, for the consumer that is not true. This is the beginning of that.” Plug-in solar panels, also known as balcony solar, became widespread in Germany when electricity bills surged because of Russia’s war in Ukraine; their use continues to grow throughout Europe. (In Germany, they’re so common that you can buy them at Ikea.) In the U.S., regulatory hurdles are beginning to fall. Right now, though the panels aren’t illegal, they require a complicated process of approval from utilities. But states are beginning to change that. Utah was the first to pass a law supporting the tech last year, exempting consumers from the need to get approval from utilities. Maine followed this month. Bills also passed in Colorado, Maryland, and Virginia and are awaiting signatures from governors. More than 20 other states are now considering bills, from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers. Some utilities have argued that the devices pose safety risks, but advocates say that years of use in Germany have proven that they’re safe. UL Solutions, the standards organization, is currently working on certifying devices to a new safety standard that was created at the beginning of the year, though Stryker says devices on the market in Utah meet existing standards. The panels come in different sizes, ranging from around 400 watts to 1.2 kilowatts, and cost between $400 and $2,000. A small panel could cover the power used by a full-size fridge. An 800-watt system could cover that along with a TV, lights, and other small equipment like routers. “It’s most meaningful for your background electricity demand, meaning what is running all the time,” Stryker says. It’s not like a whole rooftop system, which could power your entire house. But it can still make a noticeable difference on your electricity bills. In New York City, for example, someone using a 1,200-watt panel on an apartment balcony could potentially save $339 in a year. (It’s worth noting that the calculator doesn’t attempt to include whether the panel is facing south or how much other buildings might be shading it.) In Oakland, California, someone with the same panel could potentially save $491 because of the sunnier weather. The devices could help people who are struggling the most to afford electric bills, especially low-income renters. “Because electricity varies so much in cost, it really becomes an equity issue,” Stryker says. “The people living in the densest parts of the United States have the highest electricity [rates] almost universally.” View the full article

Samsung's One UI software for its Galaxy phones comes packed with features and functionality, but there are also several official extra apps made by Samsung that don't come preinstalled on its phones—and they're well worth checking out. I've already written about the various Good Lock plug-ins—which let you build your own keyboards and set separate volume levels for individual apps—but that's not all there is to explore when it comes to additional apps. There's also Galaxy Enhance-X, a tool for polishing and improving your photos and videos, as well as manipulating digital documents. Enhance-X can do everything from applying cinematic filters to pictures, to scanning in documents and translating them at the same time, and it's free to install and use. It's also just been given a major revamp, with Samsung cleaning up the app's interface as well as adding some additional features. If you use a Samsung phone, you can get Enhance-X from the Galaxy Store. Learning the basics in Enhance-XThere are now three tabs to work with in Enhance-X, part of the recent app interface revamp: Plug-ins, Home, and History. The Plug-ins tab is a good place to start, because it shows off some of the app's capabilities: Tap the download icon (the downward arrow) on FilmStyle to access nine extra filters for your pictures. These filters and many more effects can be applied to your photos and videos from the Home tab. This tab is essentially a file picker—you can select one or more photos and videos to work with. To switch to the standard Gallery app view (complete with albums and collections), tap the flower-style icon in the top right corner. Enhance-X comes with optional plug-ins. Credit: Lifehacker Pick one or more images, and you can choose between Photo tools and Doc tools (for scans) at the bottom; if you're selecting videos, there's just the Video tools option. That then takes you into the full editing interface, where you can see everything Enhance-X has to offer (including the FilmStyle filters). Use the icons at the bottom of the screen to browse through the tools, which are typically one-tap enhancements that the app will configure itself. There's Colorize for adding color to black and white photos, for example; HDR for boosting dynamic range; and Fix blur for images that aren't quite sharp enough. HDR is one of the color customization options. Credit: Lifehacker Many of these options are useful quick fixes, but there are some fun tools as well. Tap Creative then 24-hr time lapse, and you can turn any image into a short video—nothing in the image will move, but the colors will shift as if you're seeing the picture go through a full night-and-day cycle. Some of the tweaks available will vary depending on the type of image or video you've selected. Pick a portrait shot for example, and you get access to the Face tool—this gives you sliders for adjusting the smoothness and tone of the facial features, and you can adjust the strength of each effect individually. Exploring more Enhance-X featuresIf you pick Film style filters from the Suggested tab when editing a picture, you can try out the filters we downloaded earlier. Use the thumbnails to browse between the different effects and see how they work—if you tap the small "i" button to the left you get a useful rundown of what each filter does and which types of images it works best with. Over on the video tools side, you've got options like Slow mo. This presents you with a timeline of your video, and if you press and hold at any point in that timeline, Enhance-X adds a special slow-motion effect. The app lets you preview changes before applying them. Credit: Lifehacker There are also simple trimming tools for your video clips, as well as a Single take section where you get to play around with effects like rebound (which creates a video that can loop infinitely) and highlights (which picks out the best parts of the video). Each effect can be previewed on screen before saving. For documents scanned as photos, there are a host of different options. You're able to apply crops, filters (to add or remove color), text, and scribbled highlights; you can combine different scans together in one document; and you can remove any unwanted scanned elements (like fingers). There are many different actions you can take on scanned documents. Credit: Lifehacker Choose Add text, for example, and you get the option to drop a text box right on top of your scan, with settings for font size, style, and color. Whether you need to add annotations or correct mistakes on the original document, it's straightforward and intuitive to use, and means you don't have to call up a separate app or start editing on a desktop interface. Head to the History tab to review all your edits and undo them if necessary. Enhance-X is something I've kept on my Galaxy phone ever since I discovered it, and it's often come in use for edits that it can do more quickly than other apps or that other apps can't do at all—including the apps that actually come with One UI. View the full article

If you’ve been building consumer hardware for any real amount of time, you know the pattern. Most of these shifts start the same way. The sensor exists, but it’s stuck in clinical settings where it’s expensive, awkward, and not something anyone would realistically use day to day. At some point, someone figures out how to shrink it down enough to fit into a real product, and a few companies take an early shot at turning it into something people actually want. Early on, it’s easy to dismiss. It looks niche, maybe even like a gimmick. But adoption starts to build, usually more gradually than people expect at first. Then it picks up, and within a product cycle or two, it stops feeling optional and just becomes part of the baseline. That’s typically the point where it becomes clear who planned for it and who didn’t. And if you didn’t, you’re trying to retrofit something fundamental into a product that wasn’t designed for it. In almost every case, most of the market waits. Not for the technology but for validation from a small set of industry leaders. By the time that signal arrives, the category is already defined, and the leaders are already ahead. Heart rate monitoring is the textbook case. Electrocardiography has existed since the early 1900s. For decades, continuous heart rate data meant a clinical setup or, at a minimum, a chest strap and a willingness to look like you were under house arrest while jogging. Then optical sensors got small and cheap enough to sit on a wrist. Polar shipped the first wireless heart rate monitor in 1977, and it was built for elite Finnish cross-country skiers, not for everyday users. For a long time, that kind of data stayed in that world, or at least required gear most people wouldn’t bother with. Then Fitbit brought heart rate into a simple wristband, Apple built it into a watch, and it gradually became part of how people expected these devices to work. At this point, it’s hard to imagine a fitness product without it. What used to feel specialized is now just assumed. The entire category was reorganized around a sensor that used to require a hospital visit. What’s easy to forget is that consumers didn’t ask for this. Apple and the companies that followed turned heart rate into a requirement before most people knew why it mattered. Once it was there, it became unthinkable to ship without it. Enter Brain Sensing Brain sensing will follow the same path. The first companies to integrate it won’t be responding to demand so much as shaping it. And once users experience products that adapt to their cognitive state, going back will feel like a downgrade. Active noise cancellation did the same thing to headphones. Bose had the science for years, originally developed for aviation, before Sony and Apple turned it into a consumer expectation that redrew the entire competitive map in premium audio. If you were making $300 headphones without ANC by 2020, you weren’t in the conversation. The companies that waited didn’t lose because the tech was unclear they lost because they waited for confirmation. We’re seeing this now in the age of AI. Google invested heavily into AI research for years, improving internal processes and products with LLMs since the late 2010s. It wasn’t until ex-Google employees came up with the idea to launch a chatbot (in the form of ChatGPT) that AI became a mainstream term (and prompted Google’s famous “code red” initiative at the end of 2022). The technology didn’t suddenly appear, but the shift in market perception forced everyone else to react. What’s worth noticing is that in every case, the underlying technology was well understood long before anyone productized it. Science wasn’t the bottleneck. The engineering was shrinking the sensor, solving the noise problem, making the experience seamless enough that a normal person never thinks about the technology underneath. That’s exactly where we are right now with brain sensing. And the product category it’s going to hit first is everything worn on or around the head. What’s taking so long? Which raises a reasonable question: if the brain is the most important organ we have, why hasn’t anyone turned brain data into a consumer standard already? Electroencephalography EEG has been measuring the brain’s electrical activity since 1924. Hans Berger, a German psychiatrist, captured the first recording of human brainwaves almost exactly a century ago. Since then, EEG has become one of the most widely used measurement tools in clinical neuroscience. It’s standard in hospitals for diagnosing epilepsy, evaluating traumatic brain injuries, studying sleep disorders, and flagging early markers of neurodegeneration. This is not emerging science. This is established, validated, battle-tested science that has been sitting there waiting for someone to solve the product problem. The limitation was never understanding the brain; it was making the technology disappear into a product people would actually use. The basics: your brain emits tiny electrical signals every time neurons fire in coordinated patterns. Just like EKGs pick up the electrical pulses from your heart, EEG detects the electrical pulses from your brain. The best part? It’s completely noninvasive. The user doesn’t feel a thing. And when you process those signals well, they tell you a surprising amount about how someone’s brain is actually performing in real time. So why has it taken a hundred years for this to land in a consumer product? Because three hard engineering problems were stacked on top of each other, and until recently, no one had solved all three. The sensors were a nonstarter for consumers. Clinical EEG uses wet electrodes, metal discs that need conductive gel, a skilled technician, and a setup process that takes 20 to 45 minutes (or more). The caps can run anywhere from 64 to 256 electrodes wired across the scalp. Outstanding data. Zero chance anyone’s doing that before their Monday standup. What changed is material science. Soft, dry, conductive fabric sensors can now capture EEG signals from the skin on the head, around or in the ear with enough fidelity to produce research-grade data. They integrate directly into the ear cushions of headphones, so the form factor and comfort stay the same, and the user doesn’t have to think about them at all. Brain signals are absurdly quiet. I mean absurdly. We’re talking microvolts, one millionth of a volt. A single jaw clench can generate electrical noise orders of magnitude louder than the brain signals you’re trying to read. In a controlled lab, you can manage that. In the real world, where your customer is walking through an airport or grinding their teeth during a Zoom call, the signal-to-noise ratio is a nightmare. This is where AI earned its keep, and I mean years of earning it, not a model someone fine-tuned over a weekend. Machine learning systems trained on thousands of hours of real-world brain data from thousands of users can now isolate neural activity from muscle artifacts, electrical interference, and movement noise, in real time, on compact hardware. Some of these models have been validated through work with the Department of Defense and partnerships with clinical institutions. The signal processing is the moat. It’s what separates legitimate consumer EEG from the wave of pseudoscience wearables that have come and gone over the past decade, and there have been plenty. It had to be invisible. The final step The last piece is pure product engineering. EEG systems that once needed dedicated amplifiers and bundles of wires now run on the same Bluetooth chips and battery budgets as premium noise-canceling headphones. Multi-channel EEG, 250 to 500 Hz sampling rate, wireless data transmission all inside an ear cup, with enough juice left to maintain typical battery life. The user puts on headphones. The brain sensing just happens. What matters is that these three breakthroughs compounded. Better sensors generated cleaner data. Cleaner data trained better models. Better models meant you could extract more signal from fewer, smaller sensors. That flywheel is what finally moved brain sensing from “technically possible in ideal conditions” to “shipping in consumer hardware.” In other words, this is no longer a research problem. It’s a product decision. If you’re evaluating this for your roadmap, this is where things tend to matter most , because overclaiming is rampant in this space, and it erodes trust fast. Consumer-grade EEG has been validated in DoD-reviewed research and in real-world deployment for detecting changes in cognitive state over time. The brain’s electrical oscillations fall into well-characterized frequency bands (delta, theta, alpha, beta, gamma), and the relative power across those bands shifts in predictable ways with different mental states. That’s the foundation. In practice, a few applications are already reliable today: Focus and attention detection is the most robust application. Distinguishing sustained concentration from mind wandering, backed by substantial published research. Being able to proactively recommend an intervention when focus starts to drop, in some cases, hours before they’d normally take a break. Cognitive fatigue detection identifies declining mental performance before the person subjectively notices it. This has been validated across populations from office workers to military personnel, and it’s one of the most immediately useful applications for product integration. Imagine your earbuds coaching you through the last mile of a long race when they detect your cognitive resources need it most. That’s the kind of differentiator this technology can enable. Cognitive load estimation is how hard the brain is working on a given task. Relevant for UX research, adaptive interfaces, gaming performance, and workplace optimization. Crucial across military, driver, and pilot use cases to pull someone out before accidents happen. Longitudinal brain health trends track shifts in baseline brain activity over weeks and months. These patterns correlate with sleep quality, stress levels, and aging. The research on whether they can serve as early indicators of neurological change is promising but still maturing. It’s worth watching closely, but it would be irresponsible to overstate where the science is today. What makes this different from earlier biosensors is how the data gets used. Heart rate data PPG is retrospective. It tells you what has already happened to your body. EEG is real-time and bidirectional. The system detects a shift in your cognitive state and responds to it immediately. That’s not a subtle distinction. It’s the difference between a dashboard that tells you what already happened and a system that actively changes with your performance in real time. The closed-loop potential, where the product adjusts audio, pacing, content, workload, or alerts based on live brain state, is the innovation that makes this genuinely new territory. No previous consumer sensor has enabled this. The limits Now, what EEG does not do: it does not read thoughts. It does not decode what someone is thinking about. It measures how the brain is performing, not what it’s processing. The applications right now are wellness and performance, not clinical diagnosis. That line matters, scientifically and regulatorily, and any partner worth working with will be clear about it. If someone tells you their EEG can do more than this today, ask to see the published validation data. The credible players in this space welcome hard questions. The others deflect them. If you’re running a product org for headphones, gaming headsets, earbuds, AR glasses, helmets, hearing aids, or anything head-worn, the integration math looks like this: The physical footprint is smaller than most people expect. Unobtrusive, comfortable sensors embedded in existing ear tips or cushion form factors. A firmware layer handling signal acquisition and transmission. A software platform is doing the processing. If your product already makes contact with the skin in or around the ear or on the head, you’re working with a compatible starting point. The industrial design disruption can be minimal, the sensors are invisible to the end user, and you’re not asking your customers to do anything differently. You also don’t have to build a neuroscience team. The technology stack, sensors, firmware, signal processing, AI models, and app infrastructure are licensable. Think about the model Qualcomm established for mobile connectivity or what Dolby did for audio processing. Deep technology, integrated into your product, without requiring a decade of R&D you haven’t done. The hard years of data collection, algorithm training, and clinical validation already happened. You’re buying the outcome, not the journey. And what most hardware companies miss: this isn’t a feature add. It’s a new computing layer, one with a roadmap that compounds over time, and with revenue models that pure hardware doesn’t support: subscriptions, premium tiers, enterprise licensing, data partnerships. The companies integrating now aren’t just acquiring a sensor. They’re taking a position in a platform that’s still being built, at a moment when that position is still available. And the feature set is meaningful and available today. Focus tracking, fatigue detection, cognitive health insights, personalized performance coaching, and brain break prompts. Devices with these features are already shipping, and early data shows two out of three users reporting measurable improvements in daily focus. That’s the kind of engagement metric that supports premium pricing and retention. This is also just the baseline. New biomarkers and applications are in active development, sleep biofeedback is already in the pipeline, and the platform roadmap keeps expanding as more real-world data gets collected. How much that matters will depend on whether you’re in a position to take advantage of it. The gaming wearables market is projected to grow from $5 billion to nearly $20 billion by 2034. The BCI market overall is expected to exceed $52 billion globally in the same timeframe. Brain sensing headsets are already winning “Best of CES” awards. This isn’t a niche technology looking for a market. The market is forming in real time. A compounding advantage One part that doesn’t get discussed enough is that brain data has a compounding advantage. The companies that start collecting it first build better models. Better models attract more users. More users generate more data. That flywheel is extremely difficult to replicate once a competitor has a multi-year head start on it. If you’ve watched what happened with fitness data ecosystems, how hard it is to switch away from a platform that has years of your health history you understand why the early mover advantage here isn’t just about features. It’s about the data layer underneath. At this point, it’s less about whether this works and more about whether you’re early enough to matter. If I were sitting in a product review evaluating whether to pursue brain sensing integration, the questions I’d focus on are: On integration, what’s the BOM impact? What changes in my existing ID? What does sensor contact look like across different head shapes and hair types? What happens when contact is bad? Does the system fail silently, throw errors, or degrade gracefully? On the platform, what does the user see, and through what interface? How much processing happens on device versus in the cloud? How is sensitive brain data protected? What’s the privacy architecture? (This one is non-negotiable, and regulators are already circling Colorado, which passed the first state privacy act that explicitly includes neural data as protected information.) On the business, what’s the evidence on willingness to pay for cognitive features? Which verticals are moving fastest? What does the regulatory landscape look like if I want to make wellness claims versus health claims? A good partner has clear answers to all of these. If they’re hand-waving on any of them, you’re in the wrong conversation. Heart rate monitoring existed for a century before it became a consumer standard. Active noise cancellation sat in aviation for decades before it redefined headphones. AI-supported internal products and infrastructure at Google for nearly a decade before chatbots were widely adopted. In all cases, science was never the holdup. The product packaging was. And in all cases, the companies that moved early didn’t just have a feature advantage, they defined what the category became. Brain sensing is on this same path. The science is validated. The engineering is solved. The form factors are ready. The first products are shipping and winning awards. At this point, it mostly comes down to timing and whether you’re early or playing catch-up. You’ve watched this exact pattern play out before. You know how it ends for the companies that wait. View the full article

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We may earn a commission from links on this page. One million years ago (sometime before 2020), Peloton had a series of Bike classes designed around heart rate zone training. Christine D’Ercole would tell you what zone your heart rate should've been in for each part of the workout, and you’d adjust your effort accordingly. Those classes are long gone, but Peloton is dipping a toe back into the world of heart rate training with its new “Zone 2” collection. Peloton Exercise Cross Training Bike, Indoor Stationary Spin Bike for Home Workouts, Space-Friendly Exercise Equipment for Cardio and strength Workout & Indoor Cycling $1,695.00 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $1,695.00 at Amazon Peloton's collections are just groupings of existing classes, so there aren't (yet?) any classes that are designed around heart rate zones. Instead, if you tap the “Zone 2” collection on your Bike, Tread, or Row, or in the phone app, you’ll see 16 Zone 2-ish classes, including: Four cycling classes, including two 60-minute Power Zone Endurance rides and two shorter Power Zone Recovery rides. Eight “Tread + Outdoor” classes, about half of which are walks and half are runs. You can do these either on a treadmill, or outdoors with your phone in your pocket. Four Row classes, all labeled as Endurance Row and ranging from 20 to 45 minutes. What it’s like to take one of Peloton's Zone 2 classes Credit: Beth Skwarecki I tested out one of the cycling classes—the 45-minute Power Zone Recovery Ride with pro cyclist Christian Vande Velde. Power Zone training is no relation to heart rate zones. Instead of watching your heart rate, the instructor cues you to pedal hard enough to match one of seven power zones that are based on how much mechanical power you are putting into the pedals. Normally, Power Zone workouts range from zone 1 to 5, with Power Zone Max classes peaking in the higher zones. Power Zone Endurance rides (PZE) are at the other end of the spectrum, with most of the class spent in zones 2 and 3. The two Power Zone Endurance rides in the Zone 2 collection are notable for being lower intensity than most other PZEs. Instead of bouncing between power zones 2 and 3, you’re in power zone 2 the whole time. The Power Zone Recovery rides are even easier: you bounce between power zones 1 and 2. I hooked up my trusty heart rate chest strap to both my Peloton Bike and to my Coros watch, and took the class. We spent the first 15 minutes in zone 1, then a few short segments in zone 2 (while standing up out of the saddle!) with long zone 1 sections between. If this doesn’t sound like much of a workout, you’re right—Christian emphasized that “this is not training. This is recovery from your training.” What is the purpose of Zone 2 classes on Peloton? Christian’s statements during the class made me wonder if people might find this type of workout to be a bait-and-switch. If you listen to the fitness influencers, we should all be doing more—maybe all—of our cardio in heart rate zone 2. So what do you mean these classes aren’t training? Truthfully, I get it: Heart rate zone 2 is a pretty low intensity of exercise. It’s a great low-stress addition to your training routine, especially if you’re trying to increase the number of miles you run or hours you train. But if you’re training to get fitter, you need intensity! Heart rate zone 3 has plenty of benefits, and the VO2max-boosting Norwegian 4x4 workout does its magic in heart rate zone 4. I could definitely see myself reaching for the Zone 2 collection when I want a recovery day or an easier version of an endurance day. But I’d still stick with the regular PZE classes for a more standard endurance workout. Do Peloton’s Zone 2 classes actually put you in zone 2? Left to right: Peloton, Coros, Garmin. All are using data from the same ride. (Coros recorded a little bit of my stretching session afterward, which is why the average HR is different on that one.) Credit: Beth Skwarecki Besides checking out the class design and intensity level, my other reason for trying one of these classes was to see whether my heart rate actually reached, and stayed in, zone 2 while taking it. Coospo H6M Bluetooth/ANT+ Heart Rate Monitor Whether it succeeded depends on whose definition of zone 2 you’re using—because apps disagree. If you connect a heart rate monitor to your Peloton equipment or app, you’ll get Peloton’s five heart rate zones, which define zone 2 as being 65% to 75% of your maximum heart rate. On the other hand, my Coros watch has six zones, with zone 2 being 50% to 60% of my max heart rate. For what it’s worth, my average heart rate was 122, which is around 60% of my max. Coros tells me I spent 39% of my time in the “warm up” zone (zone 2) and 43% in the “fat burn” zone (zone 3). Peloton says I spent 65% of my time in zone 1, and 31% in zone 2. If I were using a device like a Fitbit or Pixel Watch, I would have been split pretty evenly between “moderate” and “vigorous” (low and medium, in a three-zone scale). If I were using an Apple Watch, I would have been split between zone 1 and zone 2. Garmin is the “winner” here, in a sense—it’s the only system that has me in zone 2 for the majority (57%) of the ride, with 23% in zone 1 and 15% in zone 3. (To get those numbers, I used the Peloton-to-Garmin sync.) Watching my heart rate on the Peloton screen (with a paired chest strap), I noticed that most of the time when I was told to pedal in power zone 1, my heart rate was near the top end of heart rate zone 1. On the intervals, I found that standing up spiked my heart rate into zone 3 pretty quickly, but that if I did the intervals while seated, my heart rate didn’t go above zone 2. In part that’s because standing up is less efficient (so you work harder for the same output), but I don’t think that’s the only reason. Heart rate reflects more than just your effort during an exercise; it can also change with body position (standing versus sitting) and other factors, like how warmed-up you are, the temperature of your room you’re in, and more. Which is why cyclists prefer power zones to heart rate zones, in general—power is a more direct measurement of what you’re doing on the bike. View the full article

This month, Anthropic announced that it had built an AI model so powerful it couldn’t be released to the public. Claude Mythos had autonomously discovered thousands of critical security vulnerabilities across all major operating systems and web browsers. Anthropic chose to make the model available only to a consortium of technology companies, giving them an opportunity to patch vulnerabilities and strengthen defenses before models with similar capabilities inevitably fall into the hands of those who would exploit them. This development shines a light on the potential future dangers that the rapid evolution of AI models brings with it. These kinds of powerful models will proliferate, and their spread will create an escalating need for governance policies rooted in the principles of responsible AI. The practice of responsible AI aims to ensure that as AI systems grow more powerful, they remain fair, explainable, and subject to human oversight—governed by ethical principles and accountable structures that protect the people those systems affect. Responsible AI is not something businesses can set aside for the moment and hope to implement in the future. Every AI system deployed without an adequate governance framework creates reputational, legal, and operational risk right now. Those risks will only compound over time. And the dangers are not only technical. A recent survey of 750 CFOs projects roughly 500,000 AI-related job losses in 2026 alone. Responsible AI must account for the societal impact of these systems, not just the operational risks they pose to the organizations that deploy them. Three pillars of responsible AI Ethical foundations. An AI use policy—a list of what people can and cannot do with AI tools—feels concrete and actionable. But a use policy sits downstream from the values that it formalizes. Before developing specific policies, the first thing you will need is clarity about what your organization stands for: the principles that will both guide policies and shape immediate decisions when technological advances blow past current guidelines. Accountability and oversight. Responsible AI fails when nobody owns it. You need clear answers to key governance questions: Who can approve an AI deployment? Who can halt one? And who is accountable to the board when something goes wrong? Organizational accountability is a vital starting point but it is not enough on its own. You’ll also need frontline safeguards that keep humans meaningfully in the decision-making loop, especially when it comes to matters of safety and enduring consequences. Human impact. Every AI deployment affects real people—people whose work changes, who lose their jobs, whose options are shaped by algorithmic decisions, and whose opportunities expand or contract in accordance with the scope of the new models. A responsible AI approach means being thoughtful and deliberate about the human effects of deployment, and actively designing for fairness, dignity, and human augmentation rather than replacement. The 90-day plan that follows is built on these three pillars. Days 1-30: Map The temptation with any governance initiative is to start building immediately. Resist that impulse. The first 30 days of this plan focus on mapping your AI landscape. In most organizations, the AI footprint is significantly larger, more fragmented, and less governed than leadership believes. 1. Map your AI landscape. Inventory every AI system used by the organization or that touches the organization in a significant way, including through “shadow use” of unsanctioned AI systems by employees. In most cases, the number will be significantly higher than leadership initially expects. For each use case, document what the AI does, what data it uses, who it affects, and who is responsible for its governance. 2. Force the worst-case conversations. For every AI use case you identify, ask your leadership team: What’s the worst-case scenario here? This approach is based on the catastrophize step of the CARE framework for AI risk management; the worst-case scenario is deliberately named to provoke the right mindset. The disciplined practice of imagining catastrophic failure aims to surface risks that would otherwise go unnoticed. 3. Triage. In some cases, the risks you uncover won’t be able to wait for you to develop a polished governance infrastructure. If the mapping and catastrophizing processes reveal that an AI system is making consequential decisions with no oversight, no explainability, and no clear owner—escalate the problem immediately. Pause the use of the system or place it under close human review. You don’t need a complete governance framework to act on an obvious risk. 4. Diagnose your culture. None of the governance structures you are about to build will work if your organizational culture isn’t actively engaged with them. You need to answer one fundamental question: Does your organization treat responsible AI as a business priority or as a compliance box to be checked? If the answer is the latter, a comprehensive culture change initiative will be required. 5. Map your decision rights. You need clear answers to four questions: a. Who can approve a new AI deployment? b. Who decides when a system requires governance review? c. Who can halt a deployment? d. Who can reallocate resources to address a newly identified risk? If the answers are ambiguous, your governance framework will have no teeth—decisions will default to whoever speaks the loudest or moves fastest. In this situation, responsible AI will lose every time. Days 31-60: Build In the second phase, the plan’s focus shifts to building the governance infrastructure that will sustain responsible AI over the long term. 1. Develop your ethical framework. Your ethical framework is the set of foundational principles that will guide every AI decision your organization makes, including the ones the policy hasn’t anticipated yet. It should address your commitments around fairness and nondiscrimination, your position on human oversight and the circumstances under which autonomous AI decision-making is and is not acceptable, your approach to employee impact and workforce augmentation, and your stance on the broader societal effects of AI. 2. Begin building the technical architecture. Governance policies without technical infrastructure are just words. Start putting in place the monitoring and data collection processes that your ethical framework needs to become an operational reality: the ability to track what your AI systems are doing, to detect drift and bias, and to produce the evidence your governance reviews will rely on. This work will not be complete by day 60, but the foundations need to be laid. 3. Establish ownership and structure. If responsible AI is a side responsibility bolted onto someone’s existing role, it will always lose out to the part of their job that is used to assess their success. Someone needs to own responsible AI and governance as an intrinsic part of their actual job. Your organization needs a dedicated person or team with both an enterprise-wide view and the authority to enforce the relevant policies. You’ll also need people in each business unit with the responsibility and authority necessary to turn principles into practical governance on the ground. 4. Design your assessment process. Build a structured, repeatable process for evaluating AI systems against your ethical framework. The assessment should produce a clear risk profile for each system, with defined thresholds that trigger different levels of governance review. Not every AI system needs board-level oversight, but you need a mechanism for determining which ones do, and that mechanism needs to be consistent, documented, and enforceable. 5. Realign incentives. People do what they’re rewarded for. If every incentive in your organization points to the importance of speed and cost reduction above all else, responsible AI will be treated as a source of friction—something to route around rather than a necessary part of the work. Tie a portion of leadership evaluation to responsible AI metrics: risk incidents identified and addressed, governance reviews completed, willingness to halt or modify deployments that don’t meet standards. 6. Begin reviews on your highest-risk systems. As soon as you have your ethical framework and assessment process in workable shape, run your first reviews on the systems that your risk inventory identified as the most exposed. You get two things out of this: real findings about your most urgent risks and an early read on whether the governance infrastructure actually works under pressure. 7. Build your skill development plan. Responsible AI requires capabilities most organizations do not yet have. Your leadership needs to understand AI risk well enough to govern it. Your technical teams need bias detection and human-centered design skills. Your frontline managers need to understand how AI is changing the work their teams do. Your legal and compliance teams need to understand the rapidly evolving regulatory landscape. Design a targeted development program that addresses the most critical gaps and then build its implementation into the governance cadence. Days 61-90: Embed In the last 30-day stretch, the focus shifts to ensuring the system survives contact with the day-to-day pressures of running an organization. 1. Build exit plans. Every AI system in your portfolio should have a defined exit pathway, documented and owned, that shows how to safely shut it down. These are the exit protocols of the CARE framework, and they must to be put in place before you need them. The time to design a shutdown procedure is not in the middle of a crisis. 2. Establish the governance rhythm. Set up a regular meeting with an outline agenda for monitoring and responding to responsible AI issues. This creates a protected space on the calendar for reviewing the risk landscape, surfacing emerging issues, and assessing the health of your governance processes. 3. Embed governance into operations. Responsible AI cannot live as a separate process that runs alongside normal operations—it needs to be woven into them. Every new AI system above a defined risk threshold requires a governance review before deployment. Every existing system requires periodic reassessment. No exceptions. This is where responsible AI stops being a project and starts becoming part of how you operate. 4. Iterate. By day 90, you have live data—use it. Where are the bottlenecks? What’s working well and what isn’t? Is the culture shifting or is it stuck in place? The aim here is to learn from everything you’ve done so far and use these learnings to iterate the next version of your governance engine. Conclusion Claude Mythos is not an anomaly. It’s a preview of the kind of dangerous capabilities AI models will bring with them in the future. The question is not whether your organization will be affected by AI systems of this power. It will. Rather, the question is whether you will have the governance infrastructure in place when they arrive. Any organization can take significant steps toward putting this infrastructure in place in a single quarter. There’s no excuse for not starting today. View the full article

We all call planet Earth home and benefit from having a healthy dwelling place. Earth Day, which is today (Wednesday, April 22), is a great time to reflect on our responsibility to maintain and preserve this sanctuary for future generations. Let’s take a look at the history of the holiday and some of the festivities and demonstrations taking place around the world this year. Who created Earth Day? While it is now a global event, Earth Day was first conceived by Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin and Representative Pete McCloskey of California, and held on college campuses in the United States in 1970. The men were inspired by the student anti-war protest movement. The book Silent Spring, published in 1962 and written by Rachel Carson, also helped change public consciousness and set the stage for environmental awareness. Was the first Earth Day successful? The first Earth Day was considered a protest or teach-in. Twenty million Americans took to the streets to raise awareness about the dangers of unchecked industrial development. To put that number in context, that was about 10% of the population of the United States at the time. This event’s impact helped pass important legislation, such as the National Environmental Education Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Clean Air Act. It also aided in the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). What Earth Day events are happening in 2026? Flash forward to the present, and Earth Day is less protest and more celebration, although protests are happening today too. The theme for Earth Day 2026 is “our power, our planet.” This urges participants to focus on small actions that add up to the greater good, such as reducing plastic use and planting trees. This year also emphasizes innovation, especially in renewable energy. There are many events all over the world to help you learn about how to protect and celebrate the planet. In Kyoto, Japan, events last all month long and include markets, yoga, and sustainability workshops. In Kenya, people are teaming up to clean the Nairobi River. In Padova, Italy, scientists Filippo Giorgi and Carlo Buontempo will take part in a free panel discussion on climate change and how cities can adapt. Closer to home in Santa Barbara, California, the festivities at Alameda Park will take place over the weekend on April 25 and 26. The weekend event includes a green car show and music. Which protests are happening? Going back to its activist roots in Washington, D.C., two rallies are being held. The first by XRDC and Third Act took place on April 21 at 10:30 a.m. ET outside Apple Carnegie Library. The event called on leaders to stop building AI data centers because of the negative impact these have on the environment. The following day, the CCAN Action Fund will lead a group at the Wilson Building to help remind the mayor and the D.C. Council to properly fund climate and environment programs. The event starts at 8:15 a.m. ET. View the full article

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