What's on Your Mind?

With less than a week before this year’s Super Bowl, many advertisers are already armpit-deep into their big game strategy. Brands have dropped teasers, trailers, and even full ads in anticipation of getting us all excited about what they view as their holiest of days: the Only Day People Actually Look Forward to the Commercials. Depending on who you ask, every Shakespeare play can be divided into three or four types: Tragedy, Comedy, History, and “Problem Plays.” Meanwhile, past researchers have analyzed thousands of novels to find six basic plot points that underpin every story: Rags to riches (a steady rise from bad to good fortune); Riches to rags (a fall from go…

As the Eaton Fire spread on January 7, curators at the Gamble House—an Arts and Crafts-era residence in Pasadena by the architecture firm Greene and Greene, which Back to the Future fans might recognize as Doc Brown’s mansion—kept refreshing evacuation maps and checking in with each other on a group text: Would the fires reach the house? They expected high winds, based on forecasts the night before, but not the fast-moving wildfires raging in neighboring Altadena. As the evacuation zone inched closer and the house entered the warning zone the morning of January 8, Jennifer Trotoux, director of collections and interpretation at the Gamble House, feared that the structu…

There’s nothing more annoying than arriving at your destination and finding that your checked baggage didn’t make the trip. But thanks to Apple’s new partnership with 15 different airlines, it’s easier than ever to track down your lost luggage—provided you have the right $29 gadget. Here’s what you need to know to help track down your missing baggage as efficiently as possible. U.S. airlines mishandle millions of bags every year While most checked bags get on the proper flight with their owner and arrive as planned, the U.S. Department of Transportation says over 2.8 million bags were “mishandled” by reporting U.S. carriers in 2023. The agency defines a “mishandled…

We all know the people pleaser in the office—the one who takes on extra work, stays late without being asked, and is at the full disposal of the department manager. They also may agree with whatever the majority says and will dodge conflict, even though they are in the right. But does this mentality pay off? Likely not, say experts. Who exactly is a people pleaser? A people pleaser is someone who abandons their own needs and values to try and make someone else happy, explains Amy Morin, a psychotherapist and the author of 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do. While on the surface, you may think this selfless approach will fast-track you at work, however, this…

You know you’ve said it. We all have. “Mmm, that looks so delicious—I want to try some!” That’s because when it comes to what we eat, it’s not just a matter of taste. What foods and drinks look like—the colors we see before the first morsels or sips hit our taste buds—have mattered to people for millennia. And nowhere has that been more blatant than the American food palate, where the visual spectrum we choose from includes not only the primary colors but artificial ones that nature couldn’t even dream up. For well over a century, food manufacturers in the United States have used synthetic dyes in their products as part of their production and marketing efforts. O…

This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Subscribe here. When’s the last time you fielded a tech support call from a parent? You want your parents—or anyone you support—to benefit from email, photo sharing, and video calls. You also have to protect them from scams, malware, and unnecessary complexity. Or maybe you are that parent and want to stay safe online. Either way, today’s post aims to support you. I periodically help my parents make sense of confusing WebEx conferencing instructions or Microsoft Word settings. So when Wonder Tools reader and tech expert Pa…

The waters of Cape Cod Bay are coming for the big brown house perched on the edge of a sandy bluff high above the beach. It’s just a matter of when. Erosion has marched right up to the concrete footings of the multimillion-dollar home where it overlooks the bay. Massive sliding doors that used to open onto a wide deck, complete with hot tub, are now barricaded by thin wooden slats that prevent anyone from stepping through and falling 25 feet to the beach below. The owner knew it. He removed the deck and other parts of the house, including a small tower that held the primary bedroom, before stopping work and falling into a standoff with the town. He’s since sold th…

An X post recently made the rounds for its “old money” visuals. The video depicting weekends spent sailing Lake Como in tuxedos and candlelit dinners at impossibly long dining tables screams “upper crust.” Or so we thought. It was another X user who quickly shattered the illusion. “Sorry to burst the fantasy, but I know one of the girls in this video, and none of this is casual or real,” Louis Pisano wrote in a post. “It’s an ‘Instagram club’ where, if you get accepted, you pay to dress up and create ‘old money’ content with them.” This is the Tuxedo Society, a U.K.-based members-only club promising access to “experiences in the most iconic locations” and a chance…

Influencers are not only good for skinny jean and matcha recommendations. Now, they can advise you on where to invest your money. Founded by 23-year-old Steven Wang, Dub is an influencer-driven marketplace where users can now copy the entire portfolios of the likes of Rep. Nancy Pelosi or billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman for just $9.99 a month or $89.99 a year. At the same time, retail traders accepted into Dub’s top creator program will be paid royalties for users to access their model portfolio. “I want the next five Warren Buffetts to be surfaced and famous on Dub,” Wang told CNBC last month. “If we’re really successful with the top creator program,…

Nearly half of Americans believe that we will see a civil war in the United States in our lifetime. As a corporate leader of a large, diverse team that operates across the United States, I am simultaneously horrified by this and hopeful that it will not come to fruition. The workplace gives me a window into the relationships that are at stake if our country further divides. It also gives me hope that relationships can hold us together, two people at a time. I met my colleague Ted last year. We are a generation apart. I’m a city girl. He’s a country guy. I’ve never voted Republican. I doubt he’s ever voted for a Democrat. We both call ourselves Christian, while o…

In just a couple of years, generative AI (GenAI) has made a big impact on the way people, companies, and entire industries think about work. It’s helping doctors and nurses, who spend more than a third of their work week on paperwork, free up more time to focus on patients. Scientists are using GenAI ideation to achieve research breakthroughs. In the field of law, where time is so valuable it’s often measured in six-minute increments, GenAI’s ability to understand and analyze documents faster than any person can is quickly becoming indispensable. Many legal teams doing text-heavy work are using innovative GenAI tools to speed their race against the ever-present clock.…

Many of America’s top figure skaters will gather in Washington, D.C., for a live “Legacy on Ice” tribute show to support families impacted by the January 29 plane crash that killed young skaters returning home from a training camp. Cohosted by Olympic champion Brian Boitano, the March 2 event at Capital One Arena will feature current U.S. champions Ilia Malinin, Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, plus retired U.S. gold medallists Tara Lipinski, Kristi Yamaguchi, Scott Hamilton and Johnny Weir. “As we begin to heal from this devastating loss, we look forward to honouring the enduring memories of these athletes, coaches and family members who repr…

Amazon is set to release its long-awaited—and delayed—Alexa generative artificial intelligence voice service, said three people familiar with the matter, and has scheduled a press event for later this month to preview it. Once released, it would mark the most significant upgrade to the product since its initial introduction accelerated a wave of digital assistants more than a decade ago. Amazon on Wednesday sent press invites to an event to be held on February 26 in New York featuring the head of its devices and services team, Panos Panay. A spokesperson said the event is Alexa-focused, while declining to elaborate. The new generative AI-powered Alexa represen…

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) loans have become increasingly popular in recent years—originations grew tenfold between 2019 and 2021, for instance. Last year, roughly 20% of American consumers used one to make a purchase. Despite their increasing usage, BNPL loans are still not used to calculate credit scores—which may have effects for lenders, and could be costing some consumers with good credit habits some valuable points. FICO—the creator of the FICO Score which is used by 90% of U.S.-based lending institutions to make lending decisions—recently published an analysis in tandem with the BNPL company Affirm to get a sense of what the results would be if those loans were …

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) stock (NASDAQ: AMD) fell 9% before the bell on Wednesday after the company fell short on sales for its data centers, despite reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings. (The stock is down 7% as of midday Wednesday.) That’s because the chipmaker’s core business is selling data center chips for graphics processing units used to power AI. It’s currently going head-to-head with Nvidia for market share of the lucrative, high-powered AI chip market. Shares in Nvidia (NVDA), meanwhile, were up 4% in midday trading Wednesday after Google’s parent company, Alphabet, announced it will spend $75 billion in expected capital expenditure…

The Walt Disney Company posted first-quarter earnings Wednesday that beat on the top and bottom lines, but it also revealed the start of predicted streaming subscriber losses at its Disney+ service. The service lost 700,000 subscribers over the final three months of 2024, which is the first quarter of Disney’s fiscal year 2025. The media and entertainment giant had warned during its fiscal fourth-quarter report in November that it expected a “modest decline” in core subscribers during the first quarter of 2025. Hulu picks up the streaming slack Total paid Disney+ subscriptions currently rest at 124.6 million, compared with 125.3 million at the end of the fisca…

Major changes are afoot behind-the-scenes at Walmart. The retailer is cutting hundreds of jobs and shuttering its North Carolina office. Employees from certain locations are also being asked to move to its newly opened headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, and other central hubs. News of the shake up was first reported by Fox Business after Walmart Chief People Officer Donna Morris sent a memo detailing the cuts and other changes to employees. “We are making these changes to put key capabilities together, encouraging speed and shared understanding,” the memo, viewed by Fox read. “Through this review process, we have eliminated some roles as we streamline how we work…

Before a wildfire ravaged their street in northwest Altadena, Louise Hamlin and Chris Wilson lived next door to each other in nearly identical houses. “I chose an old home in an old neighborhood because it has soul,” said Hamlin, a 51-year-old single mom with a teenage boy, who bought her 1,500-square-foot home 10 years ago. Today, gone are their charming English-style cottages built in 1925 with the welcoming porches and Palladian windows. Amid the rubble and ash, little is left of their historic neighborhood. In the weeks since the Eaton wildfire took their homes, Hamlin and Wilson have been stumbling through the layers of business, bureaucracy and emotional…