What's on Your Mind?

Tesla rolled out “affordable” versions of its best-selling Model Y SUV and its Model 3 sedan, but the starting prices of $39,990 and $36,990 struck some as too high to attract a new class of buyers to the electric vehicle brand. Tesla’s stock fell 4% and Tesla bull Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush, said he was disappointed that the cars were only about $5,000 cheaper than the next trims of the models. The new versions, called Standard, cost more than what the previous models started at, including a $7,500 tax credit that expired at the end of September. The much-awaited unveiling is crucial for Tesla as it pushes to reverse falling sales and waning market shar…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued a public health alert on Monday for FreshRealm’s ready-to-eat meals— shipped directly to consumers by HelloFresh—due to possible contamination from listeria. HelloFresh is a German-based meal-kit company operating in the United States and globally in Europe, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. FreshRealm notified FSIS that the spinach used in the products tested positive for listeria bacteria. So far, no illnesses have been reported. However, FSIS said it expected additional products will be affected, and asked consumers to check this public health alert frequently as the age…

As the end of 2025 approaches, a viral TikTok trend is helping people achieve their wellness goals: “The Great Lock In” encourages participants to finish the year strong by fully focusing on their life goals from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31. Many people focus on exercise or eating healthier. But the trend can also help you achieve your financial goals. There are no set rules for “The Great Lock In.” The phrase “lock in” is popular on social media and it means to focus intensely on a task. “Something I like about this particular trend is that it’s like New Year’s resolutions’ little sister,” said Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, financial therapist and founder of Mind Money Balance, a…

A new study out Wednesday in the journal Nature from the University of California, Berkeley found that women are systematically presented as younger than men online and by artificial intelligence—based on an analysis of 1.4 million online images and videos, plus nine large language models trained on billions of words. Researchers looked at content from Google, Wikipedia, IMDb, Flickr, and YouTube, and major large language models including GPT2, and found women consistently appeared younger than men across 3,495 occupational and social categories. (Note: It’s possible that filters on videos and women’s makeup may be adding to this age-related gender bias in visual cont…

Trader Joe’s stores have a reputation for getting crowded at the best of times, but if you’re planning to make a stop in the next few days, beware: the brand just dropped a Halloween version of its mini tote bags, and they already went viral twice for creating in-store traffic jams. The bags, which come in combinations of black, orange, purple, and green, cost just $2.99 each and dropped in stores on October 8. They’re a tiny version of Trader Joe’s classic reusable tote bags, measuring just 13 x 11 x 6 inches—about the size of an iPad. This is the third time that Trader Joe’s has released a new version of the bags, which have proven to be a desirable fan favorite (to…

Forget magical virtual worlds. In its quest to broaden the audience for virtual reality, Meta is now embracing much more familiar surroundings: Owners of Meta’s Quest VR headsets will soon be able to create digital replicas of any room in their house, and then invite others to “visit” them in those spaces. Imagine, for instance, having a spontaneous family reunion in a metaverse version of your living room – perhaps even with an avatar that looks just like you, and not a character that has escaped from a video game. “There is something very magical about scanning a space that you know, bringing someone else who knows that space into it and feeling like you’re there toget…

Up until a week ago, I was really quite satisfied by my iPhone 17 Pro. Not the Liquid Glass, but its soft orange aluminum frame felt just new enough to give me a spark. Then I opened the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold. Yes, its name is too long. Yes, it costs $700 more than my iPhone. Yes, it’s still heavier than I want it to be. And yet, I hate to admit it . . . the Fold justifies every analyst who has cried that Apple’s hesitance to adopt flexible screen technologies is starting to make it look dated. An estimated 17 million folding smartphones sold last year, representing a scant 1.5% of the smartphone market, but about every analyst expects that figure to balloon …

Gap just released an animated ad to promote its collection with designer Sandy Liang, and we need it to become its own TV show ASAP. Created by animator Annie Choi, who has a history of illustrating campaigns for luxury fashion labels, the ad stars a young girl modeled after Liang herself. While dreaming up new clothing designs inside her childhood bedroom, the girl discovers that her closet has been imbued with magical powers—and when she opens its doors, she’s transformed, Sailor Moon–style, into a new version of herself dressed head-to-toe in Gap x Sandy Liang. The Gap x Sandy Liang ad, titled “Sandy’s Dream Closet,” is part of the roll-out for Liang’s bigges…

There’s a common story in the marketing and advertising industry, with many variations. Whenever a member of that industry is at a party or on a plane, inevitably someone will ask what they do for a living. And as soon as they say advertising, that person immediately begins to tell them how good they’d be at working in advertising, how they should make this or that ad campaign better, or why that ad they saw during an NFL game is terrible. This probably doesn’t happen to engineers and doctors. The discipline of advertising, and the process behind it has always been up for debate and question. Well, starting on September 30th, NBC’s new show On Brand with Jimmy Fallon …

Amazon is rolling out kiosks that let patients get their prescriptions while they are still at the doctor’s office. Starting in December 2025, the tech behemoth will be stepping up its efforts to become a bigger presence in the pharmaceutical market by launching in-office pharmaceutical kiosks stocked with medicine. The kiosks will initially be launched at certain One Medical locations (which Amazon acquired in 2023 for $3.9 billion), including in Downtown Los Angeles, West Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Long Beach, and West Hollywood. The company claims that the kiosks will help combat pharmacy deserts across the U.S., and help patients who don’t or can’t fil…

Kentucky’s attorney general claimed Tuesday that the online gaming platform Roblox has become a “playground for predators” as he announced a lawsuit accusing the company of lax child safety measures. The Kentucky suit, filed by his office Monday in a state court, is the latest action alleging that the wildly popular site isn’t doing enough to protect children on its gaming services. To bolster safeguards for children and teenagers flocking to the site, the company needs to install effective age verifications and content filters, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said. Added parental notifications also are needed, he said. Courtney Norris, a Kentucky mother of t…

Thirty paintings created by the bushy-haired, soft-spoken Bob Ross will soon be up for auction to defray the costs of programming for public television stations suffering from cuts in federal funding. Ross, a public television stalwart in the 1980s and ’90s, “dedicated his life to making art accessible to everyone,” said Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross Inc. “This auction ensures his legacy continues to support the very medium that brought his joy and creativity into American homes for decades.” Bonhams in Los Angeles will auction three of Ross’ paintings on Nov. 11. Other auctions will follow in London, New York, Boston and online. All profits are pledged to statio…

Gold has been having a very good year. That sentiment couldn’t have been clearer on Tuesday, October 7, as the precious metal hit a new milestone: $4,000 an ounce. As of early Wednesday, gold was up over 53% year to date. That’s significantly higher than the growth seen by major stock indexes over the same period The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 9.93% this year, the S&P 500 is up 14.42%, and the Nasdaq Composite is up 18.19% as of the market close on Tuesday. As a so-called safe-haven asset, gold has benefited from a few things this year, including a weakened dollar and an unpredictable economy. The latter has been especially true since the…

In early 2023, a couple of months after ChatGPT launched and became the fastest-growing consumer application in history, I remember feeling both excited but also a bit overwhelmed by the rapid pace of AI. The barrage of news, product launches, and innovative use cases was relentless. We held an executive meeting at that time and decided to immediately reassign additional teams from other long-planned initiatives to double down on AI. We saw an opportunity to deliver even more value to our customers. My experience is not unique. Across the board, leaders have been aggressively implementing AI to improve productivity, lower costs, and improve communication—but the r…

Below, Nick Foster shares five key insights from his new book, Could Should Might Don’t: How We Think About the Future. Nick has spent the last 25 years working within companies at the very forefront of emerging technology, from Apple and Sony to Nokia and Dyson. Most recently, he was head of design at Google X. He has established himself as a leading figure in the field of Futures Design. In 2021, he was awarded the title Royal Designer for Industry, the highest accolade for a British designer. What’s the big idea? We need to have a conversation about the future, but not the kind you’d expect. Humans have already talked at length about what the future may or m…

AI fluency is quickly becoming the new leadership divide: Some executives are already embedding it into strategy, while others are still asking what it means. The gap is widening—and it’s shaping who gets hired to lead. That’s why AI fluency is becoming a top priority in leadership searches. Not deep technical mastery, but a practical understanding of how these tools work and where they apply. Companies want leaders who aren’t just talking about transformation but are actively engaged in it. People who’ve run pilots, evaluated risks, collaborated with product and tech, or led adoption efforts in their function. They don’t need to be engineers. But they do need to …

One thing I genuinely love about my job is mentoring young professionals who are just getting started in their careers. Gaining a foothold in the tech industry is tough, especially in the AI age. And today’s new generation of employees are asking compelling questions: How do I focus in complex environments? How do I create a competitive advantage? What happens if I fail? I recently found myself asking similar questions—about my golf game—to one of the world’s top golfers, Padraig Harrington. It was humbling to be on the other side of the fence, getting insights from a global legend that not only improved my swing, but helped me better coach the next generation of tech…

Artificial intelligence is changing everything: how we work, build, create, and grow. It’s unlocking opportunities daily. At Grove Collaborative, we’ve seen it firsthand. AI helps us move faster, make smarter decisions, and, most importantly, serve our customers better. But here’s the part not enough people are talking about: the environmental cost. AI is resource-intensive, especially when rolled out at scale. It uses a ton of electricity and water, drives new forms of e-waste, and complicates carbon accounting. For mission-driven companies—especially those built on sustainability—that creates a real tension. We want to innovate. But we also want to protect the p…

Last week, I walked into a meeting where AI notetakers outnumbered humans three to one. The irony wasn’t lost on me—I built one of them. As CEO of Fireflies, I’ve helped put AI in millions of meetings. And I believe AI should be in every meeting—because knowledge shouldn’t vanish the moment we hang up. But having the right privacy controls to protect sensitive moments is key to using an AI notetaker. THE PRIVACY-FIRST DECISION FRAMEWORK Before your next meeting, ask yourself three questions: Who controls the data? Every meeting should be captured, but not every recording needs to be shared. Use private meeting settings, control access permissions, and set …