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Most people do not put New York City and golf together, nor do they consider the game to be a team sport. The 2025 Ryder Cup is challenging these views. The competition will be held just outside of the Big Apple at Bethpage State Park’s Black Course in Farmingdale, New York. From Friday, September 26, through Sunday, September 28, 12 Americans and 12 European men will go head-to-head. Let’s take a look at the history and format before covering how to tune in for every stroke and birdie. The history of the Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is named after its patron, Sam Ryder, a British businessman and golf enthusiast. He fell in love with the sport after taking it …

Amazon reached a $2.5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday over whether the e-commerce giant used “deceptive methods” to sign up consumers for Prime subscriptions, then made it “exceedingly difficult” to cancel. The agency argued Amazon enrolled millions of customers in Prime subscriptions without their consent, and knowingly made it difficult for consumers to get out of the agreement. That settlement, which comes just three days into the civil trial in federal court in Seattle, included a whopping $1 billion civil penalty, the highest in history, and a $1.5 billion fund to refund Prime users harmed by the deceptive enrollment pra…

The Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday said it was extending an order limiting operations at Newark Liberty International Airport through October 24, 2026. The order, which limits the rate of arrivals and departures, follows comments from the New Jersey airport’s operator and airlines on extending flight limits to help address congestion at one of three main airports serving New York City. Newark is a major hub for United Airlines. —Jasper Ward, Reuters View the full article

Despite years of congressional hearings, lawsuits, academic research, whistleblowers and testimony from parents and teenagers about the dangers of Instagram, Meta’s wildly popular app has failed to protect children from harm, with “woefully ineffective” safety measures, according to a new report from former employee and whistleblower Arturo Bejar and four nonprofit groups. Meta’s efforts at addressing teen safety and mental health on its platforms have long been met with criticism that the changes don’t go far enough. Now, the report published Thursday, from Bejar, the Cybersecurity For Democracy at New York University and Northeastern University, the Molly Rose Found…

As the dust settles on a botched logo redesign that turned it into a political and cultural flashpoint this summer, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store is no doubt looking to put 2025 behind it. In the meantime, the restaurant company has also trimmed its physical footprint as it looks to 2026. Reporting its fourth-quarter financial results earlier this month, Cracker Barrel revealed the planned closure of 14 Maple Street Biscuit Company locations. That amounts to roughly 21% of its company-owned stores for the fast-casual brand, which Cracker Barrel acquired in 2019 for $36 million. The company is projecting revenue for fiscal 2026 of $3.35 billion to $3.45 bi…

Want to switch to Apple Music because you can’t find your favorite indie band on Spotify? Or maybe you’re on Amazon Music but saw a new subscriber offer on Tidal that’s too good to pass up. There are a variety of reasons to change music providers. But if you’re thinking about it, and you’re worried about losing your library of saved songs and personalized playlists, fear not: there are ways to bring all of it with you. Many music streaming services don’t make it obvious — often burying instructions deep in FAQs and making the process arduous — but they do offer options to help migrate your collection. Apple made it easier last month when it quietly rolled out …

Accenture beat fourth-quarter revenue estimates and unveiled a six‑month, $865 million restructuring to realign its workforce and operations for rising demand in digital and AI services. The restructuring program highlights the broader trend of companies adapting their workforce and operations to meet growing demand for digital and AI services, while using restructuring to cut costs and funnel savings into training and operational efficiency. The plan includes severance and selected divestitures, with savings redirected to staff training and operational efficiency. The Dublin-based company expects about $250 million in charges in the November quarter, on top o…

A newly released report from Senate Democrats alleges the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has “copied Americans’ sensitive Social Security and employment data into a cloud database without any verified security controls,” and is “operating outside federal law, with unchecked access to Americans’ personal data” at the Social Security Administration (SSA), the General Services Administration (GSA), and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). DOGE was initially led by tech billionaire Elon Musk. The report, released on Thursday by U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI)—a ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee—found DOGE is “worki…

If you think Jimmy Kimmel’s return to late night television this week spells the end of that whole saga, well, think again: A group of investors is demanding that Walt Disney share information about why he was suspended in the first place. Lawyers representing the American Federation of Teachers, Reporters Without Borders and other groups of Disney shareholders sent a letter to the entertainment giant on Wednesday requesting internal documents and communications related to the decision to remove Kimmel from the air. Kimmel was suspended by ABC “indefinitely” last week related to comments he made about the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The group of …

An uptick in consumer spending helped the U.S. economy expand at a surprising 3.8% from April through June, the government reported in a dramatic upgrade of its previous estimate of second-quarter growth. U.S. gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — rebounded in the spring from a 0.6% first-quarter drop caused by fallout from President Donald The President’s trade wars, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The department had previously estimated second-quarter growth at 3.3%, and forecasters had expected a repeat of that figure. The first-quarter GDP drop, the first retreat of the U.S. economy in three years, was mainly caused by a s…

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes remained sluggish in August, even as a late-summer slide in mortgage rates brought home loan borrowing costs to a 10-month low. Existing home sales slipped 0.2% last month from July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. That’s the slowest sales pace since June. Sales rose 1.8% compared with August last year. The latest sales figure topped the 3.96 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet. The national median sales price increased 2% in August from a year earlier to $422,600. That’s the 26th consecutive month that home prices have r…

Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen and other former top economic officials appointed by presidents of both parties urged the Supreme Court on Thursday to preserve the Federal Reserve’s political independence and allow Lisa Cook to remain as a central bank governor for now. The justices are weighing an emergency appeal from the administration to remove Cook while her lawsuit challenging her firing by Republican President Donald The President proceeds through the courts. The White House campaign to unseat Cook marks an unprecedented bid to reshape the Fed board, which was designed to be largely independent from day-to-day politics. No president has fired a s…

In a rural corner of Louisiana, Meta is building one of the world’s largest data centers, a $10 billion behemoth as big as 70 football fields that will consume more power in a day than the entire city of New Orleans at the peak of summer. While the colossal project is impossible to miss in Richland Parish, a farming community of 20,000 residents, not everything is visible, including how much the social media giant will pay toward the more than $3 billion in new electricity infrastructure needed to power the facility. Watchdogs have warned that in the rush to capitalize on the AI-driven data center boom, some states are allowing massive tech companies to direct exp…

Former President Bill Clinton opened the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative Wednesday with a list of things that worry him. “It would be irresponsible, almost jarring, for us to take off and not acknowledge the traumatic rise in political violence that we’ve seen in our country,” Clinton said about the shooting deaths of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark. “We’re pulling further and further away from one another.” Clinton said he worried about the dismantling of domestic and foreign assistance programs, “the war on science and public health,” cuts to education, trade wars, and be…

Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer, which means many entrepreneurs’ minds are turning towards beach getaways, lakeside camping trips, or lazy days at the pool with the kids. These kinds of water-based activities are a great way to relax and stay cool. But according to fascinating research in neuroscience, swimming isn’t just a fun vacation activity. It actually has special brain benefits that other forms of exercise just can’t match. Not just another form of exercise It will surprise exactly no one that exercise is good for your brain. (If this is news to you, here are some studies for you to get up to speed.) Swimming is, obviously, a …

Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Company’s weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. I’m Mark Sullivan, a senior writer at Fast Company, covering emerging tech, AI, and tech policy. This week, I’m focusing on the terms of Nvidia’s investment in OpenAI, in which the GPU maker gets guaranteed chip sales, an equity stake, and likely a product road map for years to come. I also look at the industry’s fixation on huge models and the quiet appeal of small ones. Sign up to receive this newsletter every week via email here. And if you have comments on this issue and/or ideas for future ones, drop me a line at sullivan@fastcompany.com, and f…

European automakers will save around 500-600 million euros ($585-700 million) a month dating back to Aug. 1 after the The President administration implemented the U.S. end of its trade deal with the European Union, the EU’s top trade negotiator said Thursday. Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said that the deal establishing a 15% tariff on most EU goods took effect with publication in the U.S. Federal Register instructing customs officials what to charge. That would reduce the tariff from a painfully high 27.5% rate set earlier by The President. The reduction eases a major burden on EU automakers and is a chief selling point for the deal as presented by European C…

The Barclays Center is taking its dressing rooms for touring artists to the next level, and they looked to local inspiration to decorate them. The Brooklyn venue, which hosts concerts and is home to the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and WNBA’s New York Liberty, has upgraded six dressing rooms that now resemble Brooklyn brownstone apartments, complete with moody tones, soft-glow lighting, and high-end fixtures and finishes. The makeover is part of Barclays Center parent company BSE Global’s $100 million, five-year upgrade of the venue that’s still set to include improvements like a new fan zone and a new premium membership club. Laurie Jacoby, BSE Global’s chief entertai…

The crash of a small plane in southwestern Brazil killed four people including Chinese landscape architect and urban planner Yu Kongjian, Brazilian authorities said Wednesday. The accident happened late Tuesday during a landing attempt at a large farm about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the municipality of Aquidauana in Mato Grosso do Sul state, firefighters said. Yu, who was known for promoting ecologically sound development, was traveling with two Brazilian documentary makers, Luiz Fernando Feres da Cunha Ferraz and Rubens Crispim Jr., who were making a film about the Pantanal wetlands. All three were killed along with pilot Marcelo Pereira de Barros, authorities sai…

Did you buy a new pink dress to watch the Barbie movie, only to never wear it again? An Oura ring because your favorite TikTok influencer had it? A new pair of baggy jeans because ’90s fashion is making a comeback? Niche trends fueled by social media can influence your shopping decisions. Participating often brings some happiness and a sense of community, but the problem comes when you do it so often that you’re not using your money to achieve your financial goals, or worse, you get into debt, said Erika Rasure, chief financial wellness advisor for Beyond Finance, a financial services company. Whether it’s coastal grandma or clean girl aesthetic, microtrends can take a …

Remember when former Try Guy Ned Fulmer was caught in a public cheating scandal that broke the internet? He’s back, this time with a new podcast called Rock Bottom with Ned Fulmer. Or as one commenter called it: “One of the most painful watches in YouTube history.” The podcast is meant to explore, “people’s lowest, most embarrassing, and challenging moments.” Fulmer’s first guest: his wife, Ariel. The first question many have asked is why would they do this? “Was this a humiliation ritual for him?” one TikTok user asked. According to Ariel, it was mostly for their children, aged 7 and 5, who they are currently coparenting, and as a way to move on and put the past…

Starbucks will end the year with fewer stores and fewer employees. But the brand maintains that it’s all part of a greater turnaround still in the mix. Today, the company announced that its North American store locations will be reduced by 1% for fiscal 2025—landing the coffee chain at 18,300 stores total. And it will be eliminating 900 jobs outside of its coffee houses (in other words, corporate and other functions). The company claims it will attempt to place affected baristas into new stores, but Starbucks says, “For those we can’t immediately place, we’re focused on partner care including comprehensive severance packages. We also hope to welcome many of …

The H&M group is entering the fall season with style. On Wednesday, September 24, the retailer released its third-quarter earnings and reported an operating profit of 4.9 billion Swedish krona ($521 million). The H&M group owns brands including H&M, COS, Monki, and Arket. Its operating profit marked a 40% increase year-over-year (YOY) and beat analysts’ predicted 3.7 billion Swedish krona ($393 million), according to consensus estimates cited by CNBC. The figures also marked consecutive quarterly successes for the H&M group, which also beat estimated operating profits in quarter-two. However, the H&M group now predicts that 2025’s quarter-four…

There’s no clearer sign of anime’s cultural ascendance than the box office haul of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — Infinity Castle. The film, which hit U.S. theaters two weeks ago, has pulled in more than $555 million globally, including more than $104 million in North America, making it a bonafide hit for Sony Pictures, which distributed it outside of Japan through its anime streaming arm, Crunchyroll. The movie’s success reflects audiences’ growing interest in anime. A survey from market research firm Dentsu found that, 31% of people worldwide said they consumed anime at least weekly, with a full 50% of Gen Z reporting they watch it. That’s translated into a boom i…

There’s no clearer sign of anime’s cultural ascendance than the box office haul of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — Infinity Castle. The film, which hit U.S. theaters two weeks ago, has pulled in more than $555 million globally, including more than $104 million in North America, making it a bonafide hit for Sony Pictures, which distributed it outside of Japan through its anime streaming arm, Crunchyroll. The movie’s success reflects audiences’ growing interest in anime. A survey from market research firm Dentsu found that, 31% of people worldwide said they consumed anime at least weekly, with a full 50% of Gen Z reporting they watch it. That’s translated into a boom i…