What's on Your Mind?

Get ready to hurry up and wait. As delays and cancellations continue to pile up at the nation’s busiest airports during the weeks-long government shutdown, some travelers who have been anticipating extra headaches are hedging their bets with extra insurance protections. According to data shared with Fast Company from the price comparison service InsureMyTrip, 10% of travel insurance policies purchased in September and into October have included “cancel for any reason” (CFAR) coverage. That’s the highest percentage of the year so far and above the average of 8% seen from January through August, InsureMyTrip says. The additional protection, which can incr…

A major Amazon Web Services outage disrupted scores of online platforms on Monday — leaving people around the world unable to access some banks, chatting apps, online food ordering and more. History shows these kinds of system outages can be short-lived, and are often minor inconveniences — such as placing a lunch order in person or waiting a few hours for a gaming platform to come back online — than long-term problems, but recovery can be a bumpy road. And for people trying to move money, communicate with loved ones or work using impacted services, disruptions are especially stressful. Consumers may not realize how many platforms they use rely on the same back-end tech…

Disney+ and Hulu subscription cancellations rose during the month that ABC briefly cancelled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” according to data from subscription analytics company Antenna. Walt Disney Co. owns the streaming platforms and ABC. ABC pulled the show off the air for less than a week in September in the wake of criticism over his comments related the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Antenna estimates total cancellations in September were 4.1 million for Hulu and 3 million for Disney+. The “churn rate,” or the percentage of customers that cancel their subscriptions in a specific month, jumped from 5% in August to 10% in September for Hulu. That figure jumpe…

SpaceX has settled a lawsuit filed by the maker of the popular party game Cards Against Humanity over accusations that Elon Musk’s rocket company trespassed and damaged a plot of land the card company owns in Texas. Texas court records show a settlement was reached in the case last month, just weeks before a jury trial was scheduled to begin on Nov. 3. The card maker said in a statement Monday that it could not disclose the terms, and SpaceX did not return email and telephone messages left with the company and its Texas lawyer seeking comment. Cards Against Humanity, which is headquartered in Chicago, originally purchased the plot of land in 2017 as part of what i…

Don’t look now, but meme stock mania appears to be back with a vengeance this week. This time around, Beyond Meat, Inc. (Nasdaq: BYND) and Krispy Kreme, Inc. (Nasdaq: DNUT) are the two main stocks getting all the attention from meme investors. Here’s what you need to know. Beyond Meat shares skyrocket again On Monday, Fast Company reported on the surging share price of Beyond Meat, the producer of plant-based meat alternatives. The company started the trading week by enjoying a stock price surge of more than 67% in premarket trading that day. But far from any change in the company’s financial fundamentals, what seemed to be driving shares higher were short…

Breakfast has started to get a little riskier. More than six million eggs have been recalled since Sept. 29 over salmonella concerns. This week those concerns grew when the FDA expanded its earlier recall from Arkansas-based Black Sheep Egg Company and elevated the recall to Class I, which describes the highest possible risk to public health. The move follows a string of other recent egg recalls. In August, the FDA announced the recall of large brown cage-free Sunshine Yolks produced by Country Eggs, LLC of Lucerne Valley, California, and sold under the Nagatoshi Produce, Mizuho, and Nijiya Markets brands. Those products reportedly sickened at least 95 people across 1…

In today’s world, where success is often tied to financial accomplishments, status, and impressive job titles, Warren Buffett offers a refreshing perspective: True success is about the love we share. Yes, love. Buffett once said, “Basically, when you get to my age, you’ll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you.” Buffett’s wisdom gets to the core of what matters, reminding us that, ultimately, life’s real currency is the relationships we nurture that lead to two-way love. Who do you want to have love you? Are you a leader, manager, founder, or CEO with scores of people looking at you f…

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced two separate large-scale food recalls due to the same reason: possible contamination with metal fragments. The first recall was for BBQ pork jerky and the second was for ready-to-eat frozen chicken products. Both notices were posted over the weekend. In total, a combined 7.1 million pounds of the products—which were distributed nationwide in both cases—are included in the recalls. Here’s what you need to know. 2.3 million pounds of BBQ pork jerky recalled According to a notice posted by FSIS on Friday, October 24, a company called LSI, Inc. of Alpena, South Dakota, is recalling approximatel…

If it seems like Black Friday deals, and holiday shopping in general, is starting earlier and earlier, you’re right. Just in time for, um, Halloween, both Walmart and Best Buy have announced plans for their 2025 Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Black Friday, always the day after Thanksgiving, falls on Friday, November 28 this year. Deals generally continue through that weekend into Cyber Monday, which falls on December 1. However, in recent years, many retailers have jump-started the sales some two, or even three weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. And this year is no different. Here’s what to know. When do Walmart’s Black Friday deals start? The …

Below, Zelana Montminy shares five key insights from her new book, Finding Focus: Own Your Attention in an Age of Distraction. Zelana is a behavioral scientist who is pioneering a transformative approach to mental health and resilience. She has built a career advising and speaking for Fortune 500 companies, global organizations, and academic institutions. Her recent clients include American Express, Coca-Cola, Estee Lauder, Bank of America, UCLA, and Big Brothers Big Sisters. She appears regularly on The Doctors, Good Morning America, The Today Show, and Access Hollywood. What’s the big idea? We live in a world that is quietly, relentlessly unraveling our atten…

The latest gambling scandal to rock the NBA is about a real-world event that normal people would never have noticed. In March 2023, the 35-37 New Orleans Pelicans coasted to a 115-89 win over the Charlotte Hornets, who would go on to finish the year with a record of 27-55. The Pelicans never trailed in the game thanks largely to the play of Brandon Ingram, who notched the first triple-double of his career. The ninth paragraph of the recap on ESPN mentions one other factor that may have contributed to the decisive margin of victory: Hornets guard Terry Rozier left the game early, complaining of a sore right foot, and did not return. As alleged by federal prosecuto…

I once attended a slide presentation given by an executive in a telcom company. The presentation was highly technical, but that was not the main problem. It was boring because the speaker was using back-to-back visuals and had zero connection to his audience. When the one-hour session came to an end, the entire audience filed out of the room but the executive kept talking. He was so focused on his visuals that he didn’t even realize the audience had left the room. This story illustrates the dangers of using slides. The speaker can easily lose touch with the audience, and the result is that the power you bring as a speaker gets lost. To retain your power when using…

There are bigger, better-known tech brands than Logitech, but few have ever rivaled its quiet but pervasive impact on how people engage with the digital world. Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, but with equally deep roots in Silicon Valley, the 44-year-old company helped to popularize once-unfamiliar devices such as computer mice and webcams. Those are still two of its marquee product lines. But Logitech also makes a dizzying array of other accoutrements for personal and business computing, including keyboards, headphones, speakers, microphones, videoconferencing equipment, tablet accessories, gaming controllers, and more. Despite playing in a variety of categor…

Below, Eric Becker shares five key insights from his new book, The Long Game: A Playbook of the World’s Most Enduring Companies. Eric is the founder and chairman at Cresset, an award-winning multi-family office with billions in assets under management. He also co-founded Sterling Partners, a value-added, growth private equity firm. With his long history of starting, backing, and nurturing companies, Eric advises founders, entrepreneurs, private equity partners, and ultra-high worth families. What’s the big idea? Companies that last not one generation, not two, but for a hundred years and beyond share certain things in common. It is no accident when a company en…

Some seven million Americans are now on GLP-1 weight loss drugs, a figure expected to rise to 24 million by 2035. These medications curb users’ appetites for fatty, ultra-processed foods, and grocery stores are noticing: total sold units of doughnuts, cakes, and cookies are down by 10%, 19%, and 13%, respectively, compared to five years ago. With this drop in revenue from junk food, grocery stores need to think about how to make more money from other categories. For Whole Foods, there’s one aisle that brims with potential: supplements. Today, Whole Foods is introducing a new line of Japanese-inspired supplements called Apothékary onto its aisles. The brand is known fo…