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Around 70,000 Discord users may have had images of their government IDs stolen, according to an update from the company. Last week, the popular chat platform notified users that the third-party vendor the platform uses for customer service was hacked, affecting Discord users who had interacted with the app’s customer support or trust and safety teams. Discord initially announced last week that an unauthorized group gained access to a “small number” of government ID images. That includes images of sensitive documents like driver’s licenses, passports and potentially even selfies of people holding those documents – a common way to verify identity for online accounts. …

Here’s a question about the shutdown submitted by an Associated Press reader, Ryan S.: How might the shutdown affect the U.S. economy? Shutdowns of the federal government usually don’t leave much economic damage. But the one that started Wednesday looks riskier, not least because President Donald The President is threatening to use the standoff to permanently eliminate thousands of government jobs, and the state of the economy is already precarious. For now, financial markets are shrugging off the impasse as just the latest failure of Republicans and Democrats to agree on a budget and keep the government running. Let’s take a look at a range of possible eco…

Wall Street is taking a pause on Thursday as U.S. stocks and even the price of gold pull back from record highs following their torrid runs. The S&P 500 slipped 0.2%, coming off its latest all-time high and its eighth gain in the last nine days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 145 points, or 0.3%, as of noon Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% lower. Gold also fell following its stellar rally this year, while Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market. They’re taking a moment following big runs driven in large part by expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates to support the economy. Financial markets…

Flight delays and disruptions at U.S. airports have persisted for a fourth consecutive day due to staffing issues stemming from the government shutdown, which began on October 1. Air traffic controllers are expected to work without pay during the shutdown. As federal employees begin to feel the financial impact of the shutdown, many are calling out of work. And as the shutdown continues, many airports are struggling with growing staffing issues. Over 16,000 flights have been delayed since Monday According to FlightAware, which tracks flight delays, disruptions, and cancellations, as of late Thursday morning, more than 16,000 flights flying into, within, or out …

When a winter storm took out the grid across Texas in 2021, Matt Popovits and his family didn’t have power for four days, and didn’t have heat in the record cold. “We spent the night huddled up lying on the floor in our living room next to our gas fireplace, just desperately trying to stay warm,” he says. “And I remember looking at my wife and saying, ‘We can never let this happen again.’” They started researching whole-house generators, but the cost, at around $15,000, was prohibitive. Last year, another storm took out the family’s power again for several days. They relied on a small generator, but it didn’t work well. Now they’ve turned to a new solution: a battery …

In the midst of the current government shutdown, thousands of flights across the U.S. have been delayed or cancelled. With no clear end to the shutdown in sight, it’s time to revive a tried-and-true tool that’s dependably delivered soul-crushing news to fliers for more than a decade: the Misery Map. The Misery Map is a live tool that tracks weather across the U.S., tallies the number of delays and cancellations at every major airport in the country across 17 city hubs, and graphs popular flight destinations with the chances that upcoming flights will actually make it on time. Operated by the flight tracking website Flight Aware, the map has been delivering a no-n…

Ask the most bullish representatives of big AI companies, and they’ll tell you that robotic colleagues and house staff are just around the corner. A massive market for robotic aids, powered by AI “brains,” could contribute huge sums to the bottom line of tech firms. Elon Musk predicted earlier this year that they could produce $30 trillion in revenue for his companies alone. Picture what those robots are, and your mind’s eye likely conjures an image of a humanoid robot: Two arms, two legs, a head, all in human-like proportions. That’s what the biggest players in the sector like Tesla, Figure and Unitree see, too: Distinctly human-shaped cutting-edge hardware. Yet …

For many high-impact runners, it fels like Mom and Dad are fighting. Strava, the popular fitness-tracking app, is suing the fitness wearable giant Garmin over alleged patent infringement and breach of conduct. The lawsuit, filed Sept. 30 in a Colorado district court, alleges that Garmin is infringing on two patents — segments and heatmaps — and also broke a written agreement between the two companies, as first reported by DC Rainmaker. For many athletes, Strava and Garmin go together like Oakley sunglasses and On Running shoes. A trend report published last year by Strava showed that Garmin’s Forerunner was among the most popular smartwatches for its users. If y…

Skyscanner, a leading global travel booking site, released its 2026 Travel Trends report on Thursday. And the forecast for the year ahead includes trips down the supermarket aisle, literary-inspired itineraries, in-flight beauty routines, and some surprising trending destinations (looking at you, New Haven). If travel in 2025 was about collective experiences, the new travel mindset for 2026 is clear—it’s no longer solely about community connections, it’s about prioritizing travelers’ individual interests and passions. The report also looked at the role AI is likely to play in travel search and planning in 2026: 54% of travelers said they felt confident using AI to…

La Niña, a climate pattern that can affect weather worldwide, has officially arrived. La Niña is fueled by colder-than-normal Pacific ocean temperatures, which then affect the pattern of the Pacific jet steam. It’s the cooler counter to El Niño, which involves warmer-than-normal ocean waters. Both are part of a weather system called the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). La Niña conditions emerged in September, the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center said on Thursday. They’re expected to continue through the end of the year, and potentially until February 2026. This La Niña is expected to remain weak, weather experts said, but it could still…

Before I was ever involved in the flower business, I jumped from job to job, trying to figure out where I belonged. I grew up in South Queens, New York, where the role models on my block were police officers and firemen who showed up when others needed them most. Naturally, I thought I’d follow that path and become a cop. That dream shifted into social work, a field that fed my heart but not my wallet. To make ends meet, I took on whatever work I could, flipping houses, tending bar, you name it. Through it all, I never forgot what my dad, a painting contractor, used to tell me: “If you’re old enough to walk, you’re old enough to work.” On paper, none of this looke…

I recently had an unsettling rideshare experience. Let me paint a visual picture. You have a Tesla doing its self-driving thing, a guy just sitting in the driver’s seat “supervising,” and a terrified human (me) in the backseat looking on in horror. Finally, I said, “Please keep your hands on the wheel when you’re driving me, OK?” Tesla’s autonomous functionality might be safe, but I don’t have enough trust yet to allow a Tesla to get me from Point A to Point B without a human steering it. There’s a parallel between self-driving cars and the current perceptions of AI and agents. You might be comfortable letting one of these automobiles make a simple right-hand …

Too many jobs today have a PR problem, limiting opportunities for our young people and our economy. The jobs that now exist and the training needed for them have changed dramatically over the past half-century, but our perceptions haven’t kept up. Consider the manufacturing industry. A sector once synonymous with grimy factory floors, repetitive labor, and aggressive offshoring is now a hub for advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, and big data analytics. Yet Deloitte found that only 4 in 10 Americans would likely encourage their children to pursue a manufacturing career. While working in Kentucky several years ago, I heard from many par…

I grew up in the Netherlands, so I know the upsides of living in Europe. I also know how hard it is to build a company here. The rules change across borders, funding is limited, and things move slower than they should. When we started Remote, we knew we had to think globally but also anchor in the U.S. It’s the biggest tech market, and succeeding there gives you the best chance to scale everywhere else. That choice wasn’t unique to us. More and more European founders are making the same call. What’s changed is the timing of the move. Expanding to the U.S. used to happen once companies were well-established in Europe. Now they’re showing up earlier and moving faster. …

Agentic AI is redrawing the boundaries of value creation in corporate America. Gartner projects that by 2028, 33% of enterprise software applications will incorporate agentic AI, and at least 15% of daily business decisions will be made autonomously by AI agents. The AI race isn’t about building the most sophisticated algorithms, it’s about whether employees actually adopt these digital collaborators and use them to expose inefficiencies long hidden in plain sight. Yet many business leaders are still grappling with how to integrate agentic AI seamlessly into existing operations, and deliver meaningful results. A recent MIT Nanda report found that 95% of AI pilots fail…

When I first entered the workforce, my mantra was simple: Do whatever it takes. So when I was organizing and running programming for an event early in my career and the need for visitor transportation came up, I didn’t hesitate. That’s how I ended up behind the wheel of a 12-person Sprinter van—doing pickups, drop-offs, and general schlepping in between running the actual event. Saying yes to every extra task doesn’t make you indispensable. It makes you exhausted. And worse, it raises the question of your value as an employee. Are you just duct tape slapped over a leak when needed, or is there real substance and strategy to your role in the organization? A str…

Americans’ mental health is suffering and it’s not just due to stressful news feeds or not getting enough steps in. Toxic work environments are playing a large role in an epidemic of worsening mental health. According to Monster’s newly released 2025 Mental Health in the Workplace survey of 1,100 workers, 80% of respondents described their workplace environment as toxic. The alarming statistic is an increase from 67% just a year ago. The challenging environment has major implications. An astonishing 71% of workers say their mental health is poor (40%) or fair (31%), while only 29% rank it positively: 20% said it was good and 9% described it as great. Workers say…

I don’t know if urbanism is science or art, but I do know its outcomes are best with a dose of creativity. There’s plenty to learn from the giant leaps in art and science to improve your urbanism advocacy. Happy, healthy communities aren’t made from being stuck in a bygone era. The value of fog Impressionist painters didn’t discover fog. It was always there, but it wasn’t something people were discussing much in the early 19th century leading up to the impressionists and tonalists. Each of those artistic movements created illusions of reality with familiar scenes. James McNeill Whistler was an influential figure and one of the original tonalists. Here’s what he…

When announcing her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, on the New Heights podcast, Taylor Swift said, “You should think of your energy as if it’s expensive. . . . Not everyone can afford it.” She was encouraging people to have a healthy relationship with social media and not get sucked into online drama and endless scrolling. As a working mom with three kids, this hit me deeply—about much more than social media. I have spent a good portion of my adult life talking about productivity, apps, and tools to save time. But Swift used a different word: energy. I can do dozens of things to save time in my day, but if I don’t have any energy left, what have I really gained? …

Office dress code has been trending more casual for years, and the pandemic helped turn athleisure and sweatpants into business casual. And now, there’s a growing debate around one practice long thought to be standard for anyone wishing to look presentable and professional: ironing. In fact, many people on social media are saying they never iron anything—whether it’s work clothes or otherwise. “For science, how many of you still own an iron—the one for taking wrinkles out of clothing—AND know how to use it?” one Threads user recently asked. It’s a sentiment others have shared online from TikTok to Facebook. Naturally, the replies were divided. “I use min…

Long John Silver’s is known for its seafood, but it’d like to be better known for its poultry. So much so, that it just swapped the fish in its logo for a chicken. In time for national seafood month, Kentucky-based chain announced that it’s dropping the golden yellow fish illustration for a similarly styled chicken illustration. It’s also adding the words “Chicken” and “Seafood” to its lock-up. “Guests have been telling us for years that our chicken is a best-kept secret,” Long John Silver’s senior vice president of marketing and innovation Christopher Caudill said in a statement. “It’s time we let that secret out.” For now, the new logo shows up on the Long J…

Hours after Princess Diana gave birth, she walked out onto the steps of the Lindo Wing, the private maternity ward of St. Mary’s Hospital in London, where she was met with photographers from around the world. As she introduced Prince William, then a couple years later, Prince Harry, she looked radiant, with flawless makeup and flowing gowns. It was a portrait of maternal serenity. It’s a beautiful image, one that captures many magical aspects the hours after giving birth. But it is far from the full picture for the roughly 140 million women who enter postpartum every year. It likely did not even capture what Diana herself was feeling on those steps. “There’s a duality…

Maybe you’re meeting a coworker you’ve only known on Zoom in person for the first time. Maybe you’re greeting a group of coworkers at a conference, or saying goodbye after a team happy hour. Maybe a coworker has experienced a sudden loss. Or maybe you’re simply more of a hug person than a handshake person. Is embracing a colleague a faux pas—or worse? Cultural moments like the #MeToo movement, as well as the hands-off norms established during the pandemic, have shaped opinions about when it’s okay to touch someone else. Although most people don’t greet their office mates with literal open arms each day, colleagues who’ve developed close bonds may feel inclined to…

For decades, MBA programs, leadership trainings, and consultancies have told us that effective leaders share a set of “essential competencies.” You know the lists: empathy, strategic vision, humility, charisma, psychological safety, communication skills. These ideas get repeated in boardrooms and promised in executive education programs. But if these competencies were truly essential, then the leaders we most admire should have them. The truth is, they often don’t. This never made sense to me. In addition to my writing and research, I’ve spent the past 15 years running a secret dining experience called the Influencers Dinner. We’ve hosted close to 4,000 Olympians, Nob…

Microsoft just redesigned all of its Office icons to embrace the AI era, and, according to the company, that means ditching solid shapes for all things “fluid and vibrant.” The 12 new icons, which began rolling out on October 1, encompass all of Microsoft’s platforms from Outlook to Word Documents and Teams. This is the first time that Microsoft has updated the icons’ aesthetics in seven years, and the company’s designers have reworked every logo to be curvier, brighter, and more colorful. “Today, as we roll out refreshed icons for Microsoft 365 apps, small but significant design changes are a reflection and a signal,” a Microsoft blog post, published on October 1…