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Hi again, and welcome back to Fast Company’s Plugged In. On November 18, Google announced a new product. More precisely, it declared that it was ushering in “a new era”—which is what tech companies do when they really want you to pay attention. The product in question is Gemini 3 Pro, the latest version of Google’s LLM. It’s not just the foundation of Google’s ChatGPT-like chatbot, also called Gemini. It underlies vast quantities of features in flagship offerings such as Google Search, Gmail, and Android. It powers Antigravity, a new Google AI coding platform that debuted on the same day. And thanks to Google Cloud, the model is also available to third-party devel…

A creepy account that’s almost certainly using AI to generate videos of imaginary New Yorkers criticizing mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani raises a frightening prospect: that deepfakes could be used not just to impersonate politicians, but also constituents. Accounts on several social media platforms – which are using similar profile pictures and appear to be linked – are calling themselves the Citizens Against Mamdani. In recent days, these accounts have posted confessionals and rants from “New Yorkers” slamming Mamdani for his – alleged – anti-Americanism, plans to hike taxes, and false promises on rent and transportation. They appear to be trying to imitate the diversit…

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a once-loyal supporter of President Donald The President who has become a critic, said Friday she is resigning from Congress in January. Greene, in a more than 10-minute video posted online, explained her decision and said she’s “always been despised in Washington, D.C., and just never fit in.” Greene’s resignation followed a public fallout with The President in recent months, as the congresswoman criticized him for his stance on files related to Jeffrey Epstein, along with foreign policy and healthcare. My message to Georgia’s 14th district and America. Thank you. pic.twitter.com/tSoHCeAjn1 — Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (…

How can you tell if someone is a great leader? They always want to know more. They’re interested in mastery of a subject or skill. They ask great questions. And, as they find out more, they sometimes change their mind. They’re a “learner.” But these days, most CEOs and other leaders take the opposite approach. They think of themselves as “knowers.” They appear to have all the answers. That’s bad for them, their direct reports, and the organizations they lead. That insight comes from researcher and author Brené Brown and Wharton professor and author Adam Grant. The two behavior experts had an open-ended discussion about the nature of courageous leadership during a rece…

As Sesame Street’s 56th season gets underway, Elmo, Big Bird, and the Sesame organization are navigating a volatile chapter in the show’s history—marked by government funding cuts, evolving new media habits, and AI’s impact on education. Sherrie Westin, CEO of Sesame Workshop, discusses balancing risk-taking with brand trust, partnering with Netflix, and why emotional well-being and kindness are the skills that matter most in today’s world. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by former Fast Company editor-in-chief Robert Safian. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with t…

Jon Armstrong never intended to create the booming live-commerce platform Stacked Golf. All he wanted was to join the local golf club, but his wife, Ashley, gave him an ultimatum: Yes, he could join, but only if he could find a way to pay for it himself. His solution? Start a YouTube channel reviewing golf balls. The problem was that he didn’t even have the money to buy balls to review, so he scoured the woods at his Daytona Beach golf club for lost balls and started making videos comparing the Titleist Pro V1 balls he plays to whatever he found in the rough. Zero budget. Zero business plan. Just a guy with a phone and a hunch that people might search for golf ba…

When entrepreneurs list their principal reasons for launching a company, small business owners often cite being their own boss, flexibility in setting their working hours, and turning a commercial concept into reality as their main motivations. Now, new data identifies another incentive that may convince future entrepreneurs to take the plunge. According to a recent analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, the average self-employed person earns significantly more income during their career than people who work for someone else. However, the report’s findings also note the widely varying levels of income among small business owners, and the length of time u…

Another home furnishings retail chain has sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it deals with higher costs, reduced sales, a downturn in the housing market, and President The President’s tariffs. American Signature Inc (ASI), parent company of American Signature Furniture and Value City Furniture, said Sunday that it has secured $50 million in debt financing as it seeks a buyer in an auction process. Here’s what to know. What is ASI and why is it bankrupt? Founded it 1948 and based in Columbus, Ohio, American Signature Inc is the parent company of two home furnishings retail chains: American Signature Furniture and Value City Furniture. Combined, the…

Two things that made massive cultural splashes this year — Labubu and “KPop Demon Hunters” — will fill the sky and streets of New York when the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade kicks off this year. Conan Gray and Lainey Wilson will bring the tunes. The Nov. 27 parade begins rain or shine on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and ends at Macy’s Herald Square flagship store on 34th Street, which serves as a stage and backdrop for performances. It will feature 34 balloons, four mini-balloons, 28 floats, 33 clown groups and 11 marching bands — all leading the way for Santa Claus. Here’s key things to know about the parade and how to watch it. What time does the Macy’s Than…

Kohl’s announced on Monday that interim CEO Michael Bender will become the ailing retailer’s permanent new CEO—making him the third chief executive to head the company in about three years. The news comes a day before the Wisconsin-based department store releases its third-quarter earnings report, on November 25 at 9:00 a.m. “Over the past several months as interim CEO, Michael has proven to be an exceptional leader for Kohl’s–progressively improving results, driving short and long-term strategy, and positively impacting cultural change,” board chair John Schlifske said in a statement. Bender has served as interim CEO for the last six and a half months. Shar…

After entrepreneur Brynn Putnam sold her smart fitness company, Mirror, to Lululemon for $500 million in 2020, she was looking for her next big idea. It was the middle of the pandemic, and Putnam was living with five kids ranging in age from 2 to 21. She says she often found herself dreaming of an activity that would get her whole family to sit down and connect with each other. Brynn Putnam “When we played games, we were either playing board games like Candyland, so that the littlest ones could participate, or we would try to play video games, but the teenagers who’ve logged a lot of hours on sort of modern controllers would always smoke us,” Putnam says. “There wa…

Only a week after experiencing a dreaded “death cross,” and subsequently seeing its value fall to less than $81,000, Bitcoin is showing some signs of recovering. On Monday, BTC’s price topped $89,000, and as of early Tuesday, are hovering around $87,500. To be clear, the slump is far from over—the coin saw its price top $124,000 just last month—and no one can predict what will happen next, but it’s a clear upswing in momentum. All told, when Bitcoin bottomed out at $81,000, it had fallen around 35% off its high. There were several reasons for the selloff, including outflows from large institutional investors and broader economic uncertainty, among other thin…

Design flaws caused a Tesla Model 3 to suddenly accelerate out of control before it crashed into a utility pole and burst into flames, killing a woman and severely injuring her husband, a lawsuit filed in federal court alleges. Another defect with the door handle design thwarted bystanders who were trying to rescue the driver, Jeff Dennis, and his wife, Wendy, from the car, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. Wendy Dennis died in the Jan. 7, 2023, crash in Tacoma, Washington. Jeff Dennis suffered severe leg burns and other injuries, according to the lawsuit. Messages left Monday with plaintiffs’ attorneys…

The The President administration is hunting for ways to block the ability of states to regulate artificial intelligence. In response, dozens of state attorneys general have now sent a letter pressing Congressional leadership not to approve language that would preempt their governments’ freedom to propose their own legislation on the technology. “Broad preemption of state protections is particularly ill-advised because constantly evolving emerging technologies, like AI, require agile regulatory responses that can protect our citizens,” they write in a Tuesday memo. “This regulatory innovation is best left to the 50 states so we can all learn from what works and what do…

I feel it—the strain, the fractured attention. The constant tug to check, scroll, click. Everything we want is a tap away. Yet when we chase it all, something essential slips through our fingers. I see it clearly in my own world of conferences and events. These are spaces meant for connection, yet people often leave feeling overwhelmed and oddly under-connected. The truth is that genuine engagement is rare. According to Gallup, only 21% of employees are fully engaged. Most are simply going through the motions. It’s a similar story at large-scale events and webinars, where participation beyond passive listening has long been the exception, not the norm. That’s exactly …

Below, coauthors Melissa Valentine and Michael Bernstein share five key insights from their new book, Flash Teams: Leading the Future of AI-Enhanced, On-Demand Work. Melissa is an associate professor of management science at Stanford University, where she codirects the Center for Work, Technology, and Organization. Michael is an associate professor of computer science at Stanford, where he is a Bass University Fellow. Both have had their work featured in major publications, including The New York Times and Wired. What’s the big idea? Have you ever wished that you could assemble your version of the Avengers at work? That’s basically what it means to build a Flas…

Working for myself was the goal. I did it. I made it. I work for myself. But it hasn’t fixed my life. I’m free to pursue anything I want. But achieving goals doesn’t and won’t make me complete. There’s a term for it: the arrival fallacy. It’s the reason we sometimes still feel “empty” even when we achieve what we want. Achieving a goal rarely feels like arrival. Because it’s not the end we imagined. You do everything you can to climb the ladder. But you get up there and then nothing. Or even worse, a disappointment. That happens because the end we expect doesn’t necessarily solve our problems. Goals are meant to guide us. They can show you how much you’ve grown. How f…

Earlier this month, the House Oversight Committee made public more than 20,000 pages of documents from the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s estate. The documents were released as thousands of individual text files, images, and scanned PDFs, a monumental trove most wouldn’t have the time or patience to sift through. But what if you could navigate the source documents as easily as you do your inbox? That was the thinking behind Jmail, a Gmail-style interface for accessible browsing of Epstein’s released emails launched Friday by Kino CEO Luke Igel and software engineer Riley Walz. Walz, a serial website builder previously dubbed San Francisco’s “T…

It’s long been the uniform of management consultants and finance bros, but now the humble quarter zip is being embraced by a rather unexpected demographic. ​​Over the past few weeks, FYPs have become dominated by the workwear staple. Young men who previously might’ve been seen exclusively in Nike Tech, have now traded them in for quarter zip sweaters. Across social media, they are sharing styling tips and hosting meetups at malls, all clad in business-casual. The trend gained widespread attention when, in early November, TikToker @whois.jason shared a video of himself sipping a matcha (the beverage of choice for the ‘performative male’) with a friend. Both are we…

Since 2019, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has undergone a resurrection from discarded early 2000s mall brand to a sought after brand for millennials and older Gen Zs. Abercrombie reported $1.29 billion in revenue for quarter three, up 7% year-over-year. The Tuesday, November 25 earnings report is the 12th in a row with consecutive growth between quarters. The company also beat Wall Street’s predicted $1.28 billion in revenue and reached earnings per share of $2.36 earnings, rather than the estimated $2.16, according to consensus estimates cited by CNBC. Abercrombie’s shares (NYSE:ANF) closed Tuesday up more than 37% on Tuesday, though the stock is still down 39.…

The National Park Service said Tuesday it is going to start charging the millions of international tourists who visit U.S. parks each year an extra $100 to enter some of the most popular sites, while leaving them out of fee-free days that will be reserved for American residents. The announcement declaring “America-first entry fee policies” comes as national parks deal with the strain of a major staff reduction and severe budget cuts, along with recovering from damage during the recent government shutdown and significant lost revenue due to fees not being collected during that time. The fee change will impact 11 national parks, including the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and…

Tucked in a two-sentence footnote in a voluminous court opinion, a federal judge recently called out immigration agents using artificial intelligence to write use-of-force reports, raising concerns that it could lead to inaccuracies and further erode public confidence in how police have handled the immigration crackdown in the Chicago area and ensuing protests. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis wrote the footnote in a 223-page opinion issued last week, noting that the practice of using ChatGPT to write use-of-force reports undermines the agents’ credibility and “may explain the inaccuracy of these reports.” She described what she saw in at least one body camera video, writi…

They go by names like @The President_ARMY— or @MAGANationX, and their verified accounts proudly display portraits of President Donald The President, voter rallies, and American flags. And they’re constantly posting about U.S. politics to their followers, sounding like diehard fans of the president. But after a weekend update to the social media platform X, it’s now clear that the owners of these accounts, and many others, are located in regions such as South Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe. Elon Musk’s X unveiled a feature Saturday that lets users see where an account is based. Online sleuths and experts quickly found that many popular accounts posting in support…

The job of a headline is to draw attention to the article beneath it. When a headline instead draws attention to itself, it feels as wrong as a carnival barker cursing out passersby. The New York Times, which remains among the world’s load-bearing newspapers, has published plenty of stories in 2025 with that rogue carnival barker vibe. “Why is someone screaming this at me?” would be a natural response to headlines like “Did Women Ruin the Workplace?” which NYT ran earlier this month, inspiring an apoplectic backlash that forced editors to change it to the only-slightly better “Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace?”. Since that controversial header is one of many qu…

A wave of vital prescription drugs is about to get a lot cheaper for people on Medicare. The The President administration announced Tuesday that it has successfully negotiated lower prices for 15 drugs, including medications used for asthma, diabetes, arthritis and multiple forms of cancer. The list includes Ozempic and Wegovy, Novo Nordisk’s drugs for Type 2 diabetes and weight management, as well as Rybelsus, Novo’s oral GLP-1 for treating diabetes. The deal for cheaper prescription drugs grew out of an initiative put in place by the Inflation Reduction Act, the signature legislative package passed in 2022 during the Biden administration. That law opened the doo…