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This week, tech companies were either melting down in real time or promising a future where computers are smarter than we are. Investors panicked, calmed down, panicked again, and then bought T-shirts for sea otters. We saw a giant internet outage that reminded everyone just how dependent the modern world is on one company. We also saw a stock that most people had basically pronounced dead suddenly rip higher like it was 2021 again. There was drama in Washington, too. The White House leaned even harder into AI content as a political weapon, raising a question that has been building all year, which is: Are we entering the AI misinformation era for real, or are we alrea…

If you blinked this week, you might’ve missed a few major moves. Netflix decided it’s time for a stock split, Amazon trimmed thousands of jobs, and Walmart is already dropping “Black Friday” prices before the Halloween candy wrappers are even off. Meanwhile, housing trends, climate shocks, and AI budgets kept reshaping the conversation about what’s next for growth. Here’s a look at what mattered most this week, and why these stories could shape the months ahead. Mortgage-free America hits a new high A record 40.3% of owner-occupied homes are owned free and clear, up from 39.8% last year. Aging baby boomers and longer lifespans concentrate equity among older…

This week’s biggest business news is perhaps that the U.S. federal government shutdown finally ended; however, that ending didn’t come without more than a few noteworthy concessions. Meanwhile, a beloved coffee chain walked straight into a strike on one of its biggest promo days, and a regional grocer found a way to turn literal loose change into both PR and foot traffic. In the background, the tech world reminded everyone that hype cycles come with fine print. CoreWeave, one of the hottest names in AI infrastructure, delivered blockbuster revenue but still saw its stock sink on news of a delayed data center. IBM, facing louder rivals in quantum computing, rolled out …

This week brought a mix of serious headlines and splashy moves. On one end, regulators and retailers are making decisions that could directly affect your wallet and grocery cart—from FICO shaking up how mortgage lenders handle credit scores to Walmart promising cleaner labels on its private-label food. On the other, cultural and corporate forces collided in ways that only 2025 could deliver: Starbucks is closing stores (many of them unionized), and Taylor Swift is rolling out a new album and a three-day movie event that’s giving theaters a rare box office jolt. Here are some of the week’s biggest stories. More pasta recalled after deadly listeria outbreak R…

Would you share the pages of your journal with a bunch of strangers, because that’s the idea behind social wellness app Exist. The new iOS social wellness app wants to turn journaling into a social experience. Originally designed with Gen Z in mind, Exist unexpectedly found its audience among middle-age users, with the average sign-up age landing at 40. Seeing this, the founders pivoted to focus on this group, creating a space for real, raw conversations about life’s challenges. Exist calls itself the edgier cousin of Calm and Headspace, but instead of solo meditation, it puts social journaling at the center of its mission. The app is built on the idea that heali…

Gustaf Westman, the homeware designer known for his delightfully chunky objects, just unveiled his latest project. It’s a shelf inspired by classic puzzles. Gustaf Westman In a new video posted to his Instagram, Westman introduces the Puzzle Shelf, a modular unit that comes in the form of several components resembling giant puzzle pieces. Users can assemble the shelf however they see fit, as well as select their own piece colors, which include white, forest green, fire-engine red, pink, a range of blues, and even a metallic silver. It’s currently available on a made-to-order basis, as each unique shelf is produced by a London-based 3D-print artist. Westman’s ir…

It looks more like a racing yacht than a cargo ship. But this new 100% wind-powered vessel will soon begin bringing goods from Europe to the U.S.—and could make deliveries faster than conventional cargo ships. Vela, a French startup, pulled technology from the racing world to make the vessel run as fast as possible. It’s a trimaran, meaning it has three hulls, which helps it cut through water efficiently. The wide, stable shape allows it to carry large sails. As in racing yachts, the mast is made from carbon fiber, and the sails are made of high-performance fabric designed for strength. The ship also uses navigation tech developed for racing to help route toward ideal…

Many things irk people about the way modern companies operate. Workplace communication tools and so-called enterprise social media platforms are among the low-stakes but high-impact bugbears. Reading through the latest dull update from that guy in accounts who continually spams the work comms platform, or worrying about when and how to engage with a problematic post can cause plenty of stress. Having to keep up with colleagues on a workplace communication platform annoys many. But new research suggests the much-maligned tools might actually serve a purpose—and can benefit workers and the businesses they work for. Princeton University professor Manoel Horta Ribeiro…

If you’ve bought the antihistamine medication Benadryl from Amazon in the past few years, you’ll want to make sure to carefully check its packaging to make sure it is not part of the recall that was posted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) this month. That’s because a select Benadryl product sold on the e-commerce giant’s website has a fault that could lead to the risk of a child being poisoned. Here’s what you need to know. Benadryl Liquid Elixir sold on Amazon.com is being recalled On March 20, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission posted a recall notice on its website for Benadryl Liquid Elixir imported by Arsell Inc. of Brooklyn, N…

If you recently bought celery sticks from Walmart, you’ll want to check to make sure they are not of a certain variety. That’s because a select celery stick product is being recalled due to fears that it may be contaminated with Listeria, a potentially deadly bacterium. Here’s what you need to know. What is the reason for the recall? On April 10, Duda Farm Fresh Foods, Inc. of Oxnard, California, issued a voluntary recall for one of its products: a bag of celery sticks sold under the “Marketside” brand, according to a recall notice posted on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website. The company issued the recall because the celery sticks have the possibi…

Thousands of nurses in three hospital systems in New York City went on strike Monday after negotiations through the weekend failed to yield breakthroughs in their contract disputes. “Nurses on strike! … Fair contract now!” they shouted on a picket line outside NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital’s campus in Upper Manhattan. Others picketed at multiple hospitals in the Mount Sinai and Montefiore systems. About 15,000 nurses are involved in the strike, according to their union, the New York State Nurses Association. The hospitals remained open, hiring droves of temporary nurses to try to fill the labor gap. The strike involves private, nonprofit hospitals, not city-ru…

Online child abuse is a pernicious problem that’s rife in digital life. In 2023, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received more than 36 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation—and a 300% increase in reports around online enticement of youngsters, including sextortion. And a new report by social media analysts Graphika highlights how such abuse is moving into a troubling new space: utilizing AI character chatbots to interact with AI personas representing sexualized minors and other harmful activities. The firm found more than 10,000 chatbots labelled as being useful for those looking to engage in sexualized roleplay with min…

So many mourners lined up to see Pope Francis lying in state in a simple wooden coffin inside St. Peter’s Basilica that the Vatican kept the doors open all night due to higher-than-expected turnout, closing the basilica for just an hour Thursday morning for cleaning. The basilica is bathed in a hushed silence as mourners from across the globe make a slow, shuffling procession up the main aisle to pay their last respects to Francis, who died Monday after a stroke. The hours spent on line up the stately via della Conciliazione through St. Peter’s Square and through the Holy Door into the basilica has allowed mourners to find community around the Argentine pontiff’s legacy…

“I always dream of the same mall.” So begins a recent post on the popular subreddit r/The MallWorld. The subreddit was first created in 2021, and currently has 10,000 monthly visitors detailing their recurring dreams of eerie, often empty spaces. The description reads, “Have you been to one of these common dream locations?” The post continued: “It has a very vintage feel to it. It always has warm amber lighting and wooden guard rails. It has 3 main floors, and one secret lower floor. “The lower floor is usually kept pristine, a time capsule of the 90’s. The stores are closed, but the merchandise remains. It smells like my kindergarten class did..” If this…

Meta’s Threads app is leaning into impermanence. Starting Monday, the platform is rolling out “ghost posts,” a new post format for sharing fleeting thoughts that automatically disappear after 24 hours. Think Snapchat or Instagram Stories—except, for text. Unlike regular Threads posts, replies to ghost posts go straight to the user’s messaging inbox rather than inline, and only the author will be able to see who liked or responded to them. It’s a subtle but significant shift toward private engagement within a public feed, providing a middle ground of sorts between Twitter’s public discourse model and Instagram’s close-friends Stories. Meta says the feature is a…

Imagine you’ve set the goal of running a marathon that’s 90 days away. You’ve hired a trainer who says this a less than optimal amount of time, but if you stick religiously to her fitness routine, nutrition plan, and sleep schedule, you’ll be ready come race day. Cheat in any of those three areas, she warns, and you won’t be able to run 26.2 miles on three month’s notice. Let’s assume you feel pretty good about your odds of following through in each area. You believe there’s a 70% chance you’ll stick with the fitness routine, a 70% chance you’ll stick with the nutrition plan, and a 70% chance you’ll stick with the sleep schedule. What are your odds of doing all three…

Most people still measure performance in hours. They pack their calendars as full as possible, track time down to the minute, and take pride in squeezing more into each day. However, the best performance comes from harnessing rhythm—the alignment of energy, capacity, and focus. It’s what turns effort into flow. In the industrial age, managing time made sense: productivity was tethered to factory shifts and desk schedules. But in today’s BANI—brittle, anxious, nonlinear, incomprehensible—world, hours spent no longer translate neatly into value created. The leaders who thrive now are those who sense and harness the rhythms of their team. Energy rises and falls acros…

The real AI story in most organizations isn’t about algorithms; it’s about habits. New tools arrive with impressive demonstrations and confident promises, yet the day-to-day routines that decide what gets attention, who can take a risk, and what counts as a “good job” tend to remain the same. Leaders set up special units, roll out training, or look for quick savings, only to find that the old culture quietly resets the terms. When that happens, early gains fade, adoption stalls, and cynicism grows. This article draws on our forthcoming book to look at three recurring myths that help prop up existing cultures and prevent the deep transformations that are needed to supp…

Here are two high-level truths essential to understanding the present and future of robotics. First, we want robots to work for us. Second, when it comes to work, humans have three historical blueprints for recruiting labor: animals, through the process of domestication; other humans, through employment, but also subjugation and outright enslavement; and machines, through the development of physical systems for performing actions. Why does this matter to understanding the present and future of robotics? While we’ve created an astonishing diversity of machines in the broadest sense, those first two blueprints for recruited labor—animals and other humans—have so far do…

Three years ago, Patagonia’s founder Yvon Chouinard made an unprecedented move: he and his family gave away the company. Instead of selling the multibillion-dollar retailer or taking it public, they created a new trust and nonprofit that would use the company’s profits to fight climate change and protect nature. In a new report that looks at company’s impact over its 52-year history, Patagonia shares how the change has amplified its environmental work. While the company’s day-to-day internal work hasn’t changed significantly, “we’re giving away a lot more money to protect the planet,” says Corley McKenna, Patagonia’s chief impact officer. The company has …

For 10 years, I obsessed over finding a ’70s-era corduroy car coat like the one Wynona Ryder wears in the first season of Stranger Things. Not a “vintage inspired” fashion version, but an American classic turned velvety with wear. That meant thrifting at resale shops. Always on the lookout, I never scored because the outerwear selection in my size (large) was bleak. But today I am thrifting in the age of Ozempic, when women jettison entire wardrobes as an act of reinvention after dramatic weight loss, often monetizing through consignment and resale. As a result of all the larger sizes flowing into stores, I finally possess my unicorn: a heritage LL Bean corduroy coat…

Fitness brand Modern Warrior has voluntarily recalled all lots of its dietary supplement Modern Warrior Ready after testing revealed the presence of “undeclared ingredients,” one of which could be potentially life threatening. ​The product was sold over a period of three years as capsule-based dietary supplements. Consumers nationwide could buy them directly online. The voluntary recall was announced on Friday, January 9, the same day that a recall notice was published on the website of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Here’s what you need to know. What does the recalled product look like? The recalled dietary supplement, Modern Warrior Ready, is…

What can a pair of pants tell you about leadership? Much more than you think. How do you feel when you pull a pair of non-stretch jeans straight from the dryer? They’re stiff. Way too tight. The waistband digs into your belly. Now picture trying to work an eight-hour day in them. That discomfort—and sense of restriction—is exactly what it feels like to work for a micromanager. On the other end of your closet are those oversized sweatpants—they’re comfy, but there’s no shape (or direction) to them at all . . . kind of like a workplace where everyone might like the manager, but no one has any idea what’s actually expected or where they’re headed. Between those t…