What's on Your Mind?

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…

Rent can eat up an entire paycheck at the start of the month, so a growing number of renters are turning to a financial product that promises relief by letting them split the bill — for a price. So-called “rent now, pay later” services have emerged over the past few years as housing costs climb and paychecks grow less predictable, particularly for lower-income and gig-economy workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, rents have jumped nearly 28% in the past five years. Companies such as Flex, Livble, and, more recently, Affirm, say breaking rent into multiple payments can help renters manage cash flow. But consumer advocates warn the products typically…

In recent years, there’s been a wave of studies reporting that humans are basically full of microplastics: They’ve been found in our brains, arteries, and even in placentas. But some scientists, quoted and cited in an article published by the Guardian this week, have critiqued some of those findings, saying that microplastics research has been muddied by issues like contamination and false positives. One chemist even told the outlet that these criticisms are “​​forcing us to re-evaluate everything we think we know about microplastics in the body.” However, other scientists who study microplastics and human health say that this framing is overblown. While…

As genetic testing company 23andMe heads to bankruptcy court, there is a lot of data at stake. The company, which analyses DNA through its salvia test kits and offers information about customers’ ancestry, health traits, and genetic risks, now seeks “authorization from the Court to commence a process to sell substantially all of its assets through a chapter 11 plan,” according to 23andMe’s press release. Your DNA data could be part of those assets. A close reading of the bankruptcy docket shows the company’s terms of service appear to allow 23andMe to transfer personally identifiable information in the event of “bankruptcy, merger, acquisition, reorganization or sale …

You graduated, moved back home, submitted dozens, maybe hundreds, of job applications and finally landed one—that you’re probably overqualified for. Welcome to the life of a recent college graduate. According to ZipRecruiter’s recent graduate report—which surveyed 1,500 college grads from 2025 and 1,500 rising graduates—the current job market is changing how a new wave of young adults are studying, working and living. And despite obstacles, they remain hopeful about reaching their professional goals in the near future. New grads face intense competition today than in past years, as entry-level opportunities shrink and artificial intelligence reshapes the job …

On November 14, hotel and short-term apartment rental chain Sonder Holdings filed for bankruptcy, just days after suddenly announcing it would be “winding down operations immediately,” abruptly kicking guests to the curb and sending employees scrambling for answers. The company had faced major, unforeseen costs from a deal signed in August 2024 to integrate reservation systems with Marriott International and promote Sonder listings through the hotel giant, according to a statement issued four days earlier. Sonder had long been an outlier in the short-term rental space, which was a big part of its appeal to investors. Most of its competitors—short-term rental companies…

Few brands can point to a specific date for their downfall. For Sonos—once the darling of home audio—that date is May 7, 2024, when it rolled out a disastrous app update that left many of its 15 million customers confused by hardware and software features that were suddenly unusable. When all was said and done, more than a decade of brand trust was flipped like an off switch. Now Sonos is taking its first major steps to earn back trust and audiophile stature with a new brand strategy and the launch of two new speakers: the Sonos Play and Era 100 SL. The Sonos Play is framed as a “callback” to the original Play:1 speaker that invented the smart wireless speaker ca…

Happiness is taking control of a beloved comic strip. Sony is buying a 41% stake in the Charles M. Schulz comic “Peanuts” and its characters including Snoopy and Charlie Brown from Canada’s WildBrain in a $457 million deal, the two companies said Friday. The deal adds to Sony’s existing 39% stake, bringing its shareholding to 80%, according to a joint statement. The Schulz family will continue to own the remaining 20%. “With this additional ownership stake, we are thrilled to be able to further elevate the value of the ‘Peanuts’ brand by drawing on the Sony Groupʼs extensive global network and collective expertise,” Sony Music Entertainment President Shunsuke …

A new partnership between music creation platform BandLab and Sony is set to bring users production tools that are aimed at making independent musicians competitive with big-budget artists. Starting this summer, BandLab will integrate Sony’s spatial sound technology, 360 Reality Audio, directly into its song-creation app—allowing the songwriters and producers who use it to build immersive songs on their smartphones, using any headphones. “A lot of these creators don’t have access to expensive equipment and gear,” says Jordy Freed, who leads brand, business development and strategy for Sony’s personal entertainment business. “When we look at 360 [Reality Audio] and…

After writing more than one article a day for the last 23 years, I’ve accumulated a body of text large enough to train an AI model that could convincingly write “like me.” With today’s technology, it would not be difficult to build a system capable of generating opinions that sound as if they came from Enrique Dans—an algorithmic professor that keeps publishing long after I’m gone. That, apparently, is the next frontier of productivity: the digital twin. Startups such as Viven and tools like Synthesia are building “AI clones” of employees and executives—trained on their voices, writing, decisions, and habits. The idea is seductive. Imagine scaling yourself infinitely…

Generative AI is seemingly becoming more and more entrenched in daily life, with built-in tools making it near impossible to avoid across platforms, not to mention the AI-generated content flooding apps like X, TikTok, and Instagram. At every turn, the technology’s critics have shouted their concerns from the rooftops, including the environmental havoc wrought by data centers to the damage AI can do to creative industries. Now, that crowd has something to celebrate: the end of OpenAI’s video generation platform Sora. On Tuesday, March 24, OpenAI announced it was shutting down Sora, its AI-first TikTok clone, just months after its launch in September of 2025. “…

In the handful of years since generative AI became both a zeitgeist technology and common dinner table conversation topic, people across the design industries—ranging from independent graphic designers to tech executives—have landed on a curious mantra to justify its use: it’s just a tool. In this very publication, in 2023, designers Caspar Lam and Yujune Park, wrote that “if we see a designer’s role as communicating and connecting ideas to humans in meaningful ways, AI image-generation becomes another tool and avenue for creative expression.” This perspective is not unique to them. Josh Campo, the CEO of Razorfish, extolling the virtues of AI for creatives in Forbes…

2026 may still be more than seven months away, but it’s already shaping up as the year of consumer AI hardware. Or at least the year of a flurry of high-stakes attempts to put generative AI at the heart of new kinds of devices—several of which were in the news this week. Let’s review. On Tuesday, at its I/O developer conference keynote, Google demonstrated smart glasses powered by its Android XR platform and announced that eyewear makers Warby Parker and Gentle Monster would be selling products based on it. The next day, OpenAI unveiled its $6.5 billion acquisition of Jony Ive’s startup IO, which will put the Apple design legend at the center of the ChatGPT maker’s qu…

Celebrities are continuing to learn the hard way that publicly pontificating about their views on AI, like politics, might come with far more risk than reward. The latest incident involves beloved Academy Award winner and Walk the Line star Reese Witherspoon, who is facing ongoing backlash for an Instagram video she posted last week—and then again defended this week—encouraging women to learn more about AI. In a recent video posted from what appears to be her kitchen, Witherspoon told her followers that she’s worried not enough women are using AI. Her evidence: An informal poll she took at a recent meeting of her book club, where most of the members told her they wer…

Early in my career, I was fortunate to cross paths with a mentor who changed how I saw design—and myself. He ran a small studio whose influence reached far beyond its size. He led with a quiet confidence and quick wit, showing how intelligence and humility could coexist in the creative process. I was passionate about the craft, but there was still so much more to learn about the tools, and about business. He taught me how to infuse storytelling into design. How to navigate constraints. How to bring meaning to every project, not just the ones that sparked instant excitement. He reminded me that creativity thrives on play and curiosity, and that if you lose joy in the proce…

Despite its status as an architectural celebrity, the Breuer building, commissioned by the Whitney Museum in the 1960s, has never had an easy relationship with New York City. With a hulking, top-heavy build, brooding dark-gray granite cladding, and nearly windowless facade, it’s as introverted as buildings come, standing confrontationally against its traditional Upper East Side neighbors. Either you love it or hate it. Critic Ada Louise Huxtable described the building as an acquired taste akin to “olives or warm beer” (how appetizing) yet celebrated the “maximum artistry and almost hypnotic skill” of its namesake architect, the Bauhaus-trained modernist Marcel Breuer…