What's on Your Mind?

Stress isn’t just an occasional visitor in our lives—it’s more the houseguest who never got the hint to leave. Between economic uncertainty, workplace upheaval, rounds of layoffs, and the delightful unpredictability of daily life (surprise traffic jams, anyone?), most of us are living in a near-constant state of low-grade panic. But here’s something most people don’t realize: resilience—the ability to stay calm, flexible, and creative in the face of stress—isn’t just an inborn trait. It’s a skill. One that can be learned, practiced, and strengthened. And some of the most effective tools for doing that come not only from the world of business or psychology, but also fr…

Call it the day the music died. On December 31, 2025, MTV’s last music-only stations shut down forever​. The last video played on MTV Music in the U.K. was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles—which was also the first video ever played on the original MTV channel in the United States back in 1981. That’s a good 44 years of music history, bookended with a song that explores the theme of technology changing the way people experience art. It’s beautiful, in a way: A song that mourns the end of the radio age is played to mourn the end of another era. If you, like me, enjoy having random music videos on in the background while you work—or even just having them …

In late January, like Dr. Frankenstein pulling the knife switch to jolt his monster alive, entrepreneur Matt Schlicht flipped the digital switch on his vibe-coded social network, Moltbook, unleashing his own monster into the world. The platform made headlines for being the first social media site expressly for AI agents, not humans. But for me, its significance goes way beyond that. Moltbook is a harbinger—the first real sign that a new type of internet is upon us. No, not a dead internet. Something much more epochal: a zombie internet that could have devastating consequences for advertising, social media, and the human web in the years ahead. Or, perhaps it could…

Since I was old enough to vote in presidential elections, I’ve heard plenty of grumbling across the political spectrum about moving to Canada if one candidate or another wins. And since I have been a full-time worker, I have also been party to a number of pie-in-the-sky conversations about the expat potential of retiring to Barcelona; Buenos Aires, Argentina; or Bangkok. But conversations about leaving the United States have felt a little different over the last couple of years. It started when several of my parents’ contemporaries actually retired abroad, rather than just thinking about it. Then multiple friends picked up stakes—which included selling houses and cars…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. During the pandemic housing boom, we saw red-hot housing demand quickly absorb much of the available slack in the housing market. Back in 2021, active housing inventory for sale, unsold completed new builds, and available lot supply all plunged to historic lows. But ever since the pandemic housing boom fizzled out in mid-2022, housing slack has been building back up in the housing market—especially in certain pockets of the Sun Belt. Look no further than Zonda’s New Home Lot Supply Index, which measures lot supply based on the number of single-fa…

For decades, tuning into a sporting event at home involved watching a traditional broadcast on your TV. These days, however, many viewers aren’t just watching on their TV—they’ve got the game streaming right to their phones. After more than two decades, NBC and the NBA have revived their partnership just in time to face this new challenge. In a media landscape where fans consume sports across traditional broadcasts, streaming platforms, and mobile devices, the question is no longer about how to televise the game, but how to design an experience that cultivates the league’s next generation of stars, its culture, and fandom while honoring the nostalgia that once defined th…

Will Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce retire after this football season? Kelce has not yet delivered a public answer to this question, and there’s widespread speculation. But his choice of words when speaking about this decision may tell us which way he’s leaning. It’s a lesson for every communicator. Your choice of words carries meaning, whether you realize it or not. Sometimes that word choice can reveal more than you intended. The Chiefs just finished a dispiriting season, the first in Kelce’s pro career in which the team did not make the playoffs. Kelce’s current contract with the team ends in March. As many have pointed out, he’s a shoo-in for the Hall o…

In recent months, fans of Burger King appear to have fallen out of love with the chain’s signature sandwich, the Whopper. Social media has been full of complaints about the quality of ingredients and even completely deformed burgers. In response, the burger chain said this week that it is rolling out a revamped Whopper. Here’s what’s changing, and where and when you can get yours. Why is Burger King revamping the Whopper? In short, customers became unhappy with the quality of the chain’s flagship burger in recent years. Criticisms range from the lackluster quality of ingredients in the burger to soggy buns to even smashed burgers (no, not in a good way). …

Earlier this year, I had coffee with the chief investment officer of a large public pension fund. His fund doesn’t invest directly into venture (they have a fund of funds position instead), so my new CIO friend doesn’t usually get pitched directly by VC funds. He doesn’t spend a ton of time in tech circles either. When he does dip his toe in VC waters, he gets culture shock. “I have trouble understanding VCs,” he said. (I’m paraphrasing.) By his estimation, people in traditional finance are easier to read. Their goal is to maximize returns—and the progress toward this goal is concrete, transparent, and measurable. It’s really easy to understand what an asset …

Networking as a solopreneur can feel impossible. LinkedIn is full of the sort of hustle-culture aficionados who think yoga at 4 a.m. is something to brag about and who want you to buy their online course. Joining a networking referral group often costs money and can require a big time commitment without a guarantee of new leads. Asking friends and family to make referrals for you gives you flashbacks to that one summer in college when you got roped into selling Cutco knives. But solo businesses are already nontraditional, so you might as well embrace quirky networking opportunities. Some of my best freelancing leads have come from Tumblr, carpooling, and on one memora…

“We are cooked.” That’s the sentence I see with every AI-generated Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube short made with Seedance 2.0. And yes, we are. The walls of reality have finally vanished, sucked in by a black hole of Nvidia chips. So I’m going to Nancy Reagan the hell out of everyone and demand a global public service announcement like that old “Just Say No” to drugs campaign, which was everywhere when I was growing up. We need Mr. T back to make young and old fools listen up, because the companies printing money with their generative video tech are doing zilch to fix the planetary problem they have created. The message? Everyone should stop believing everyt…

I’ll never forget the first time I heard someone say, “This meeting could’ve been an email.” You can probably imagine exactly the voice they said it in (and what their face looked like). You’re probably heard it many times yourself. The meeting in question was a project check-in with multiple departments, where we’d spent an hour listening to one person giving an update that could have been written in a few bullet points. The rest of us just sat there, nodding along, waiting for it to end. No one really needed to speak, no one gave feedback, and no one asked any questions. As we all shuffled out, someone muttered, “Well, that was a waste of time,” and I couldn’t help…

QR codes have become a convenience of modern life. Just scan the black and white mosaic with your phone’s camera and you can do everything from connect to your hotel room Wi-Fi to pay for that public parking space to pull up a restaurant menu. But QR codes can also leave you vulnerable. That’s because scammers, organized criminal gangs, and shady nation-states are using the unassuming tech to get you to hand over your data unwittingly. Here’s how they’re doing it, and how you can protect yourself. People love the convenience of QR codes—but so do scammers It’s hard to believe that something nefarious can lie within a QR code, but it can. In order to understand…

Stablecoins that offer interest-bearing rewards may increasingly resemble bank deposits. But unlike traditional deposits, they lack the regulatory safeguards that undergird the banking system. That gap, according to JPMorgan CFO Jeremy Barnum, risks creating what he calls a “parallel banking system.” The issue is already on lawmakers’ agenda. During JPMorgan’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call, Evercore analyst Glenn Schorr noted that Congress is preparing to debate stablecoin policy, referencing a letter from the American Bankers Association that underscores the urgency of addressing a loophole around interest on stablecoins. Schorr added that Treasury estimated “$6.…

It’s no secret that Flavor Flav loves the Olympics. The rapper and Public Enemy member has become one of the loudest supporters of women’s sports in the past few Olympic cycles. He is the official hype man and a sponsor for USA Water Polo. In October 2025, he announced he was bringing the hype to the Winter Olympics as a sponsor for USA Bobsled and Skeleton. Now, after the USA women’s hockey team declined a perfunctory invitation to the State of the Union address after President Donald The President shared a chummy locker room phone call with the men’s team—in which they laugh at the prospect of the women’s gold medalists attending—Flav is once again stepping up.…

The public outcry over artificial intelligence has largely focused on what it could mean for the average worker. Entry-level jobs in sectors like tech and finance have already been impacted by the rise of AI. And while economists have said the claims of workforce disruption are overblown at the moment, some companies are, in fact, making major cuts to their workforces in the name of AI. Just this week, Block CEO Jack Dorsey cut 40% of head count at the fintech company, citing efficiency gains from its adoption of AI tools. But it’s not just rank-and-file workers whose jobs may be on the line. As CEOs tout the vast potential of AI—and make cuts to their workforces acc…

On Friday, Moderna’s mCombriax—a combined vaccine for both the flu and COVID—was recommended for authorization by European regulators, which opens the door for the vaccine’s approval in the European Union. The European Medicines Agency, the regulator granting the recommendation (or adopting a “positive opinion” on recommending it for market authorization), said that the messenger RNA vaccine should help protect “people aged 50 years and older against COVID-19 and seasonal influenza (flu),” in a statement. The shot works like any other vaccine, effectively prepping the human body to defend itself against foreign infection, with the messenger RNA contained within …

One of generative AI’s earliest applications remains among its most controversial: AI art. Its proponents celebrate the chance to create the images in their head, no time or traditional skills necessary. Its critics argue that AI images lack the soul of human-made art, steal the work of other artists without permission, and take opportunities away from working artists. AI-generated art often draws ridicule across social media, whether it’s being used for advertising, like Gucci’s recent series of AI-generated posts, or in the fine art world, like the immersive AI-generated works of Refik Anadol, which caught flak on X last week after being featured on 60 Minutes. (“T…

Target will stop selling cereals containing synthetic colors by the end of May. The Minneapolis-based discounter said Friday it had been phasing out synthetic colors in cereals for several years. Right now, 85% of its cereal sales already come from products made without synthetic dyes. Target said it has worked with national brands and its private brands to reformulate products as needed. Some cereals — including Trix and Lucky Charms, which are made by General Mills — will have updated formulations, Target said. Target said it will no longer carry brands that don’t reformulate, but it didn’t name the brands. General Mills announced last year that it planned t…

If you think Paris is always a good idea and the French do everything better, especially leisure—then this one is for you. Unlike Americans, who treat their weekends as a sprint to see who can do the most chores, Sundays are sacred in France—a time to slow down, reset for the week, and do as little as possible. (“Even protests in France happen every day except Sunday . . . that’s how sacred [they] are,” Céline Kaplan, co-founder of upcycled products marketplace OOOF (Out of Office Forever) and PR agent for French clients in New York, tells The Zoe Report.) Looking for more work/life balance? Try treating Sunday as a holiday instead of the first day of a new week, …

Hopefully you never find yourself left behind by a partner while hiking a mountain or abandoned in the woods. If you do, you might be a victim of an “alpine divorce.” The phrase has gained traction on social media in recent weeks following news of a climber’s guilty verdict after he left his girlfriend behind on a hike, where she froze to death on Austria’s highest mountain. The phrase is said to have originated from the 1893 short story An Alpine Divorce by Robert Barr, in which an unhappy husband plots to kill his wife by pushing her off a mountain during a trip to the Swiss Alps. Across platforms like TikTok and X, women have started sharing their own stori…

On Thursday, Block CEO Jack Dorsey announced that his fintech company, which owns Square and Cash App, would be laying off a whopping 40% of its workforce, slashing over 4,000 jobs. Despite a “strong year” in 2025, Dorsey—like many of his tech executive peers—believes AI will enable greater efficiency with far fewer workers. “Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,” he wrote in a letter to shareholders. “We’re already seeing it internally. A significantly smaller team, using the tools we’re building, can do more and do it better.” A number of business leaders have seemingly used AI as a smokescreen for layoffs, but Dorsey has e…

Productivity, and alleged lost productivity, has driven most of the conversation around traffic congestion and sprawl in the United States. While “time is money” is true in some contexts, it’s a terrible starting point for planning transportation systems. Traffic congestion is a pervasive issue, whether it’s the destination (a downtown, a stadium, a new development) or the streets connecting to the destinations. In economic terms, congestion occurs when demand exceeds supply: not enough lanes for everyone trying to get somewhere at once. Your time is valuable and there are sometimes real consequences you experience when roads are clogged with cars. But it’s a serious …

Hello again, and thank you, as always, for spending time with Fast Company’s Plugged In. In a remarkably influential 2011 Wall Street Journal op-ed, Netscape and Andreessen Horowitz cofounder Marc Andreessen declared that software was “eating the world.” From entertainment to commerce to transportation, he argued, startups that were about code at their core were disrupting many of the world’s most deeply entrenched businesses. That was just the beginning, he warned: “Companies in every industry need to assume that a software revolution is coming.“ Fifteen years later, we know that some of the disruptors Andreessen cited—such as Zynga, Groupon, and Skype (RIP)—did …