What's on Your Mind?

If you bought Tom’s of Maine toothpaste in the last six years, you could be eligible for a cash payout stemming from a recent $2.9 million settlement. The class-action lawsuit filed against Tom’s parent company, Colgate-Palmolive Company, “alleged deceptive and misleading business practices with respect to the manufacturing, marketing, and sale” of certain toothpaste products.” Tom’s is best known for its natural products. The toothpaste products were produced at its manufacturing facility in Sanford, Maine, where the company also makes deodorant and bar soap, and sold to consumers through third-party retailers. What’s the issue in the class-action lawsuit? …

Sure, when chatbots aren’t outright hallucinating, they can be helpful tools for gathering information, generating ideas, and completing tasks. But some of the biggest players in the AI chatbot space—including OpenAI, Google, and Meta—aren’t exactly known for strong privacy protections. So you have to have a lot of blind faith that the data you give to their chatbots won’t be used in ways you might not like, such as building a profile around you and your prompt history for the purposes of advertising or tracking. So, what’s a person to do if they don’t trust Big Tech with their chatbot data? Give up AI chatbots entirely? Luckily, they don’t have to. I’ve been …

The odds of winning the lottery are about one in 300 million. If you have a tattoo of an old Mountain Dew logo on your body, your odds of winning Mountain Dew’s new sweepstakes are much, much higher. The soda’s owner, PepsiCo, is launching the contest to celebrate Mountain Dew’s new logo hitting store shelves. It’s asking people who have a tattoo of the old Mountain Dew logo to upload a photo to social media and tag Mountain Dew for a chance to win a trip for two to Las Vegas to get a tattoo of the new logo. Last year, Mountain Dew retired its jagged, abbreviated “Mtn Dew” logo introduced in 2009 for a new logo that spells out the citrus soda brand’s entire name.…

The most enduring leaders aren’t the ones with flawless résumés. They’re the ones who’ve been tested, humbled, and reshaped by failure. From an early age, I trained intensively to become a professional ballet dancer. Ballet wasn’t just a passion. It was my identity, my future, my entire world. Until an audition in Vienna changed everything. A sudden injury ended the career I had spent years building. That moment could have marked the end of my story. Instead, it became the beginning of a new one. I pivoted into finance and marketing, building a career at American Express and Amazon. Today, I advise boards and CEOs on succession, governance, and talent strategy at …

Dole invented a new fruit. The Dole Colada Royale Pineapple is sweet and tangy with notes of coconut and, as the name suggests, piña colada. Unlike its golden yellow counterpart, the Colada Royale has a cream-colored pulp with a green-to-golden shell. It also took more than 15 years to get it just right. The suggested recipes the company released with the new fruit include snacks like a pineapple and coconut carpaccio and a basil-wrapped pineapple with pine zest. Clearly this is meant to be a luxury pineapple experience. The fruit, which is now available in select grocery stores in the U.S. and Canada, is 100% non-GMO and naturally bred. The company didn’t share i…

Economists and academics are still not clear on how, exactly, AI will change the jobs that are most vulnerable to its advances. Some jobs may disappear altogether, while others will simply evolve and be augmented by AI. But new research from Goldman Sachs this week indicates that the workers whose jobs are hit hardest by AI will find it particularly difficult to secure a new job—and suffer real economic setbacks in the aftermath. Drawing on four decades of federal data—which captured the lives of over 20,000 Americans from the 1950s to 1980s—the report found that the workers who were most impacted by technological shifts struggled to recover and took a month lon…

Emotional intelligence matters, and not just on a personal level. Research shows developing greater emotional intelligence can lead to higher performance and pay, as well as better professional and personal relationships. The better you can understand and manage your emotions, and the emotions of people around you, the greater your chances of success. So how emotionally intelligent are you? You could take an emotional intelligence test. Or you could just see how you answer the following questions. “Do I ask for advice instead of feedback?” Say you’re okay with getting feedback, even when it’s critical. (Plenty of people who claim they do, really don’t.…

I’m a journalist, and the first 30 minutes of my day used to be spent mainlining newsfeeds. Now, more often than not, it’s dedicated to LinkedIn. Such is the natural course of technology; I seek an engaged audience for pieces built on considered thought. And I discovered the pseudo social network that I’d once found cringe is actually full of smart people—who crop up if I’m willing to spend a bit of extra time sharing my writing with them. We are now in the era of the AI-born LinkedIn expert. Their mastery is dropping a story into ChatGPT and asking for a perky LinkedIn post summarizing it. (LinkedIn even has its own AI writing assistant that encourages people to …

The return-to-office (RTO) pendulum continues to swing toward the wants of CEOs, and we expect this trend to continue. A 2024 survey of CEOs by KPMG found that 79% believe employees will be back in the office five days a week within three years—a dramatic increase from 2023’s survey. For many leaders, the workplace remains a vital tool for reinforcing company values and driving strategic alignment across teams. Yet, while employers prioritize a return to the collaboration, culture, and innovation that the office fosters, employees say they enjoy the autonomy and flexibility they’ve gained working remotely. If leaders don’t act consistently and communicate a RTO strate…

You’ve tried it all before. Waking up at 5:30 a.m. Journaling first thing in the morning. The exercises you’re supposed to do before work. But do your morning habits stick? Are you still practicing them? We all want to “win the morning,” to be productive and intentional. The trouble with morning routines is that they don’t work as they should if you don’t fix your evening habits. People are obsessed with morning routines. But they forget that winning in the morning starts the night before. Every single choice you make after dinner is either setting you up for a great morning or sabotaging tomorrow before it begins. That late-night binge doesn’t just keep you up. I…

Good urbanism should transcend politics. Socialists and capitalists can walk the same neighborhood and agree it’s a pleasant place to live. They can each appreciate the tree canopy, the corner café with people spilling onto the sidewalk, the mix of ages on bikes and on foot, the architectural details of older buildings, and so on. Whether they arrive by bus, bike, car, or on foot, people across the political spectrum want the same thing: places that work for everyday life. Places that feel safe, accessible, and appealing for young and old alike. Unlikely alliances are forming around this shared vision. People who call themselves conservatives, liberals, capitalis…

I was taught to use a so-called “feedback sandwich” to give constructive feedback: lead with a positive, share the negative, finish with a positive. The idea was . . . well, I don’t know what the idea was. I guess to soften the “room for improvement” blow? All I know is that the feedback sandwich rarely worked. Especially on me. Take the time a boss told me, “I really appreciate how you always come prepared to the supervisor meetings. But you sometimes run over people with all your facts, and figures, and productivity results. Even so, you’re a valuable member of the team.” The meat of the sandwich, the “you sometimes run over people with your facts and fi…

You know the expression, “If you want to get something done, ask a working mother?” Surprising as it may seem, the same holds true for cancer patients. Conventional wisdom holds that cancer patients are too sick and fragile to work, at least not to their full ability. That can certainly be true in some cases, sometimes tragically. And I’m not suggesting that anyone should ever feel pressured to work if they don’t feel well enough to do so. But in many instances, the stereotype that cancer patients are too compromised to work is a myth. I know because I’ve been living—and working—with an incurable type of blood cancer for more than twenty-two years. And I’m by no mea…

There’s a saying: you can’t control the world, but you can control yourself. This perspective is critical when navigating an uncertain economy. I learned this lesson the hard way, right out of college, when taking my first steps into the full-time workforce. The timing was around the 2008 Recession. Despite being lucky to land a job that I loved, the economic instability pushed me to realize I could not depend on a corporate role for my livelihood long-term. So I started exploring freelancing in 2010, when I went on Craigslist and searched for freelance writing roles. That’s how I landed my first client. In 2011, one year after building my portfolio, I earned an …

MrBeast’s fast-cutting, non-stop dramatics are already quick enough. Now, some users can watch his videos (and more) at 4x speed. YouTube is continuing their push for pace. In a new experiment, Premium users will be able to quadruple the speed of their videos. That’s up from YouTube’s previous ceiling of double speed. Meanwhile, TikTok users can up the tempo with a simple push-and-hold. And on Spotify, which is pushing to become video platform with their drive towards filmed podcasts, the speed cap is 3.5x. Ever since TikTok gained dominance, social media companies have worked quickly to shorten their video offerings. Meta and X pumped out TikTok clones for their…

Every few weeks, Americans get another letter in the mail that starts the same way: “We’re writing to inform you that your personal data has been exposed.” A retailer gets hacked. A hospital. A supermarket. A travel site. It never ends. Most of us feel like we’ve lost control over who has our information and how it’s being used. But a new kind of privacy technology, one that lets companies confirm what they need to know without ever seeing your personal details, may finally offer a way out of this mess. We’ve slipped into a world where giving away our personal information is the “cost” of participating in modern life and where we’re frustrated, but not surprised, when…

In the modern working world, employees have a lot on their minds. From stressing about high costs of living and pressing political issues, there are no shortage of worries to go around. But worries at work are stacking up, too, with many feeling uncertain about their future employment in the face of AI. While workplaces are seeing some benefits to automating tasks with AI, there’s another not-so-secret problem with the technology taking off: employee anxiety. In part, that’s because workers are deeply stressed about being replaced, but there are also learning curves that come with working alongside the technology. Also notable, one recent study found that AI is …

Igloo is recalling more than 1 million of its coolers sold across the U.S., Mexico and Canada due to a handle hazard that has resulted in a handful of fingertip injuries, including some amputations. The now-recalled “Igloo 90 Qt. Flip & Tow Rolling Coolers” have a tow handle can pinch users’ fingertips against the product — posing potential amputation and other crushing risks, according to a Thursday recall notice from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Igloo has received 12 injury reports in the U.S., the CPSC notes, which include fingertip amputations, bone fractures, and lacerations. There are no known injuries in Canada or Mexico. Consumers i…

Our second annual Ignition Schools awards recognizing the colleges and universities shaping future entrepreneurs and innovators arrives at a crucial crossroads for higher education. On one hand, artificial intelligence has caused us to rethink assumptions about how far and how quickly technology can improve our society and our lives. On the other hand, a storm of skepticism brewing in a sea of disinformation has dimmed the view of many toward college educations, which some have also accused of being politically indoctrinating. That has led to unprecedented attacks on university research funding at a time when core research is needed to develop advanced solutions in such f…

If you’re in need of a winter pick-me-up, look no further than your local IHOP. The pancake chain just reminded folks that its yearly National Pancake Day holiday is about to take place. To celebrate, IHOP will be dishing out some free buttermilk pancakes all day long. The breakfast chain will be giving out free short stacks of buttermilk pancakes on Tuesday, March 3, from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. That means whether you’re in the mood for pancakes for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, IHOP will grill them up for free. The deal is only good for guests who are dining in and other flavors aren’t included in the deal—just the original buttermilk recipe. “As the leader in bre…

Ikea plans to open even more new stores this year. On Wednesday, the Swedish furniture retailer released its 2025 Annual Summary, which included plans to open four new locations. Ikea previously announced plans to open six new stores, bringing the new total for openings slated in 2026 to 10. The latest batch of locations includes stores in Chicago, Fort Collins, Los Angeles, and Tulsa. The six previously announced Ikea locations include: Huntsville, Alabama; University Park in Dallas; Phoenix; Rockwall in Dallas; the Chantilly/Dulles area in the Washington region; and Houston-Webster, Texas. Per the announcement, Ikea had a successful 2025, despite a challenging …

Ikea’s new collection is all about accessibility. The furniture maker’s new Bäsingen collection, which is available this month, includes six items for the bathroom that the company designed to be easy to use for people with disabilities: a shower chair, two kids of stools with rails, a towel rail, a shower shelf, and a toilet roll holder. The products range from about $12 to about $39. The collection was designed to be sturdy and non-slippery, with tube handles on the stools and that are thick for an easy grip. The dark color for the products in the collections was also chosen so the items would be easily visible, but stylish enough so to be something you’d want t…

It’s a well-known fact that phone time before bed makes it harder to sleep. Studies show that a nighttime scroll keeps your brain active, delays REM sleep, and may even disrupt your circadian rhythm. Now, Ikea has created an unusual solution to this damaging habit: designing a dedicated bed for your phone. The Ikea Phone Sleep Collection is essentially an ultra-miniaturized version of an Ikea bed frame, made in the perfect dimensions to cradle your smartphone on a bedside table. Embedded in the bed’s frame is an NFC chip that tracks how long the phone has been tucked in. If the time exceeds seven hours for seven consecutive nights, the user is rewarded with a shopping…

At a time when it seems like everything’s getting more expensive, Ikea keeps making cheaper and cheaper USB-C chargers. Its newest—the 20-watt, single-port Sjöss—sells for $3.99. You’d pay more than four times that for Apple’s 20-watt, single-port USB-C charger, priced at $19. Charging cables for both are sold separately. Ikea has moved more aggressively into home electronics since last year. The company released a revamped range of smart home products in fall 2025 and opened pilot in-store pop-up shops in select U.S. Best Buy locations, meaning the brand now shares kiosk space with tech giants like Apple, Microsoft, and Meta. Its strategy: selling products th…