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From Peppa Pig to Sesame Street, kids will be able to step into their favorite character’s universe in a new Netflix gaming app for children launching Monday. Aimed at children aged 8 years and under, ‘Netflix Playground’ is the streaming giant’s latest app offering age-appropriate games and activities included in all Netflix memberships. “We’re building a world where kids can not only watch their favorite stories, they can step inside them and interact with their favorite characters,” said John Derderian, Netflix Vice President of Animation Series and Kids & Family TV, in a press release announcing the app. Netflix Playground is set to be available in the…

Good news for this Monday: Jackie and Shadow, California’s world famous Big Bear Bald Eagles, are parents again. Fans were able to welcome the two new chicks to the world over the weekend thanks to a web camera maintained by the nonprofit Friends of the Big Bear Valley (FOBBV). Here’s some background information so you can be the resident Bald Eagle expert in your office. When did Jackie lay her eggs? The eggs that hatched this season were actually the second clutch laid by Jackie. The first two were laid on January 23 and 26, but unfortunately ravens breached the eggs while Mom and Dad were away. About a month later, Jackie laid an additional cl…

In 2025, companies directly attributed 55,000 job cuts to artificial intelligence—more than 12 times the figure from just two years earlier. In 2026, the pace has only accelerated. Block eliminated 4,000 roles in a single announcement. Amazon cut 16,000 corporate positions. Meta, Atlassian, Pinterest . . . the list grows weekly. If you haven’t been affected yet, someone you know has. And whether driven by AI, a merger, a restructuring, or a strategic pivot, layoffs are no longer exceptional events. They’re a recurring feature of working life. Most layoff advice focuses on the mechanics: Update your résumé, optimize your LinkedIn profile, practice your exit story. …

For years, companies have assumed that their digital relationship with customers would happen in a place they controlled: their website, their app, their checkout flow, their interface, their carefully optimized funnel. That assumption shaped an enormous amount of corporate behavior. Brands invested fortunes in design systems, SEO, conversion optimization, customer journeys, and digital experiences because the screen was where persuasion happened and where transactions were completed. That assumption is starting to break. The next wave of AI is not just about answering questions better. It is about acting. OpenAI’s Operator is designed to go to the web and perfo…

In a workplace increasingly defined by hybrid schedules, crowded digital channels, and shifting norms around visibility, being “good at your job” is no longer enough to ensure your work is recognized. Many professionals—particularly those who are thoughtful, collaborative, or less inclined toward self-promotion—find themselves doing high-quality work that goes largely unseen. To better understand what it takes to build meaningful visibility and influence in this environment, I spoke with Lorraine K. Lee, an award-winning keynote speaker and the best-selling author of Unforgettable Presence: Get Seen, Gain Influence, and Catapult Your Career. Lee also teaches popular c…

Ben & Jerry’s cofounder Ben Cohen has been publicly fighting with the Magnum Ice Cream Company, which took ownership of the Vermont ice cream maker last year. Cohen says Magnum has silenced the brand on social issues, including the war in Gaza, racial justice, and student protests. He spoke to Fast Company about why his business partner, Jerry Greenfield, stepped away from the business, how he’s fighting to protect his values, and how companies can be both socially active and profitable. View the full article

Instagram influencers asking their followers to shop by going to their link in bio could soon go the way of the MySpace top eight and the old Twitter as Meta will soon give some creators the ability to link products directly in their Reels. Product tagging would finally reduce the friction that comes from asking followers to click into a profile before tapping another link to find what they’re looking for. The feature will roll out this spring first for select creators in five markets before expanding to 22 countries, and it will allow up to 30 product links per post, Meta announced at the retail and e-commerce conference Shoptalk Spring, according to the trade public…

Given its $24 billion price tag and two decades in development, one would think that the Artemis II mission’s Orion spaceship would be flawless. Alas, that’s not how things work in the space program. These machines’ designs are so complex and so many things can go wrong that there is always going to be a breaking point somewhere. Sometimes this involves comical but potentially dangerous consequences—like Artemis II’s toilet malfunction or its Microsoft Outlook glitches—while other times there are tragic endings, like the losses of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia and their crews. Still, I wasn’t expecting a “use a T-shirt or something to block the sunlight …

On the corner of a tree-lined street in northeast Omaha, Nebraska, two modern and minimalist residences are resetting the standard of what a new house should look like. Their bold orange and navy blue exteriors and spare, geometric forms set them apart from the more conventional gabled houses down the street. The biggest difference, though, is their size. At just 802 and 618 square feet, the two houses are significantly smaller than the average new American home, which has a median area of more than 2,100 square feet. The houses are the first two iterations of OurStory, a housing system envisioned as a replicable, accessible, and above all affordable approach to build…

America’s stance on gun rights has always been complicated. On the one hand, people fight vociferously for their Second Amendment rights. On the other, 47,000 people died due to gun-related injuries in 2023 alone. That uneasiness reaches beyond the right to bear arms. It’s increasingly affecting people’s ability to pursue a seemingly unrelated hobby: 3D printing. State lawmakers across the United States are debating—and in some cases nearing passage of—rules that would require 3D printers to include mandatory “print blocker” software. These systems would scan files and refuse jobs they think might produce firearm parts. Washington’s HB 2321 would require printers …

In 2025, less than half (48%) of U.S. employees said they trusted their senior leaders, and 40% reported distrust of their leaders and colleagues, signaling a broad erosion of workplace trust. And when you add AI to the mix, things aren’t looking good. In a 2025 YouGov survey, only 5% of Americans say they trust AI. Meanwhile, in late 2025, McKinsey found that 78% of U.S. companies report using AI in at least one business function (up from 55% just a year earlier). Put simply, we’re in an AI-accelerated trust recession. BUILDING VULNERABILITY-BASED TRUST Patrick Lencioni, author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, shares that vulnerability-based trust creates c…

To observe a SpaceX launch in person, as I did in February, is to witness a stunning and galvanic event. Two of the company’s greatest feats occur in quick succession. First, there’s the launch itself, with the rocket ferrying its payload—perhaps its own Starlink internet satellites, or ones for other businesses and the government, or even humans—and painting the night sky a blazing orange. Then there’s the second act, one that changed spaceflight forever. It begins with a wary silence, and then, suddenly, there’s the rocket’s first-stage booster returning to Earth, announcing itself with a sonic boom and ferrying down from the heavens. It descends, before hovering an…

It’s a good day for America’s largest health insurance stocks. The biggest players in America’s private, for-profit health insurance system, including UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH), Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM), and CVS Health Corporation (NYSE: CVS), are all seeing their share prices rise after the The President administration announced it will backtrack on earlier proposals and increase Medicare insurer payments significantly more than expected. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? On Monday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency that manages America’s government-funded health programs, including M…

If you read the headlines, you’d think the music business is a technology business. We talk about demand-side platform (DSP) market share, algorithmic discovery, and the looming threat of AI-generated songs. We treat artists like software founders and songs like lines of code—versioned, optimized, and endlessly iterated. That conversation isn’t wrong. But it’s incomplete. Yes, IP protection in an AI-driven world is critically important. Creators and IP owners deserve safeguards, attribution, and fair economics as machines learn from human work. We need clear rules of the road. But even if we get copyright exactly right, it won’t solve the deeper shift underway. …

Whether intentionally or not, companies build walls. Different business units use metrics that may not align with those of others. And, if it’s an international organization, data-sharing regulations can add extra borders between teams, preventing efficient collaboration. Early in the days of generative AI, I asked a chief information officer (CIO) how many data scientists they had. Most are lucky to have one or two, but he answered 800. He didn’t know exactly what they did though, because they spanned multiple business units that didn’t work together. We helped them establish an AI Center of Excellence (CoE), where groups share knowledge. The result? Several data…

For decades, NBCUniversal’s “The More You Know” campaign has promoted the idea that knowledge is always a public good. And there’s certainly truth in that. But we’ve all watched as a movie character who starts to know too much soon meets their demise. As we navigate a reality inundated with an ever-growing amount of information, data, and artificial intelligence, I look to the recent unveiling of Banksy’s identity to see that we must reconsider the ‘more you know’ mentality. Reuters published an investigation revealing Banksy’s identity, arguing the piece was a matter of public interest. I was surprised by the backlash that followed. While plenty of people flocked to …

The workplace has seen its share of technological shifts, but the rise of AI is happening at a much faster pace. What once took years is now unfolding in months, leaving little time for companies or their employees to catch up. A new global study of 2,400 employees and C-suite leaders conducted by Workplace Intelligence and enterprise AI agent platform WRITER finds that 60% of companies plan to lay off employees who won’t adopt AI. Even more striking, 77% of executives say those who resist AI won’t be considered for promotions or leadership roles. AI isn’t just another tool. It’s quickly becoming a baseline expectation for staying relevant at work. This shift is alrea…

AI is transforming companies everywhere. While some research has shown that women are falling behind in terms of AI adoption, at the leadership level women are highly involved in guiding AI strategy. According to new research from Chief, a network for senior women leaders, in partnership with The Harris Poll, women leaders are playing a key role in carefully building AI frameworks. The research, which polled 1,768 male, female, and nonbinary leaders, found that, overwhelmingly, women are driving AI strategy with 80% playing active roles in how it’s being implemented into workflows. Nearly a third (31%) said they were involved in AI governance, ethics, and responsi…

Universal Music Group saw its shares (AMS: UMG) rise more than 11% on Tuesday, following a proposal from billionaire Bill Ackman to buy the music giant through his investment firm Pershing Square Capital Management. Pershing Square currently owns a 10% stake in Amsterdam-listed UMG. Despite today’s bump, the stock is down about 15% year to date. UMG has an extensive music catalogue and is home to major recording artists such as Taylor Swift, Bob Dylan, and Bad Bunny. What would the deal mean for UMG? If approved, the deal would offer shareholders €9.4 billion ($10.9 billion) in cash and 0.77 shares in “new UMG” for each share of UMG they currently own. …

Something I live by in my role: departmental success means nothing unless the entire company is making progress toward its goals. That thinking changes everything about how I approach my job—from the metrics I care about to the conversations I have with the CEO and leadership team. I’ve moved beyond operating within the confines of a title or a narrowly defined scope. The lines between departments should be artificial, and what truly matters is taking ownership of the company’s success. Historically, the chief marketing officer (CMO) position was often confined to brand management, campaigns, and lead generation. Critical drivers like revenue, customer retenti…

Five years ago, while working at Apple as a product designer, Mary Ann Rau decided to electrify her house and move away from fossil fuels. She installed solar, a battery, an induction range, and owned an EV. But there was still one big challenge: her HVAC system. “When it came to heat pumps, I was shocked when I got a quote for $40,000 to install heat pumps in my own house,” Rau says. Today, Rau launched a startup that’s tackling the problem of making heat pumps more accessible. Merino Energy, which just came out of stealth, makes heat pumps that each take an hour or less to install and come with a fixed price per unit of $3,800, including installation fees. For a who…

After traveling deeper into space than any other humans, the Artemis II astronauts pointed their moonship toward home Monday night, wrapping up a lunar cruise that revealed views of the far side never beheld by eyes until now. Their flyby of the moon — NASA’s first return since the Apollo era — even included some celestial sightseeing besides yielding rich science. It was a significant step toward landing boot prints near the moon’s south pole in just two years. A total solar eclipse greeted the three Americans and one Canadian as the moon temporarily blocked the sun from their perspective. Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn nodded at them from the black void. The landing …

I’ve heard it too many times to count, “We’ve never done PR before and are getting ready to announce [insert your major milestone of choice]” Too often, businesses wait until they have big news to begin thinking about strategic communications. They’re about to close a funding round, launch a product, or enter a new market. But here’s the thing: If you’re just starting to think about PR now, you’re already behind. After nearly 20 years leading communications for fintech companies and financial institutions, I can confidently say that the organizations that benefit most from major announcements began building visibility long before the moment arrived. WHY CO…