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Spotify's adding a new way to sort playlists for paying subscribers. The feature is called Smart Reorder, and it allows you to automatically sort your songs by BPM (beats per minute) and key. This is great for those who want to gradually bump up the intensity of the songs they listen to. It's worth noting that this feature only works for playlists you've created or those you've mixed using the Spotify Mix feature, which lets you add or customize song transitions like a DJ would. Also, because Smart Reorder is an extension of Spotify Mix, you can't have one without the other. Spotify Mix hasn't yet been launched in all markets where the streaming service is present, including where I live, and as such, Smart Reorder isn't available in those regions yet. It's a shame, because I'm really excited to try it. How to use Smart Reorder in SpotifyIf you're a Spotify Premium subscriber, using the Smart Reorder feature is easy. Just open any of the playlists you've created or mixed, and tap the Edit button above the first song. Scroll to the bottom and select Smart Reorder. Spotify will automatically rearrange your songs by BPM, and you can tap the Save button up top to confirm the changes. Smart Reorder should be a very useful feature for people like me, who prefer workout playlists that slowly bump up in intensity. I like to hear high BPM songs towards the end of my gym sessions or runs, but that might not be ideal for everyone. Some types of exercises, such as spin workouts, might be better off switching between high and low BPM songs as the intensity varies, and Smart Reorder wouldn't be great for those use cases. Some users on Reddit also suggested that you should create a copy of your playlists before using Smart Reorder on them, since you can't automatically restore playlists to their original order if you end up not liking the changes after saving them. To duplicate a Spotify playlist, open the playlist and tap the three-dots button above the list of songs. Select Add to other playlist > New playlist, then add a name for the copy and and tap Create. This is another example of Spotify doing more with its AI DJ feature than Apple Music, where the AutoMix AI DJ feature has been more of a mixed bag for me. At the moment, AutoMix just handles song transitions, and Apple hasn't added any kind of custom playlist reordering to it. View the full article

For the first time in history, podcasts have overtaken talk radio as the most-listened-to medium for spoken-word audio in the United States. Podcasts, including video podcasts, eclipsed AM/FM talk radio (which notably doesn’t include listening to music on the radio), with 40% of listening time, as opposed to 39% for radio, according to Edison Research’s Share of Ear survey. Researchers have tracked these statistics over the last decade. In 2015, AM/FM radio accounted for 75% of the time Americans spent listening to spoken-word audio. At the time, podcasts accounted for just 10%. Year over year, that gap has slowly closed, as podcasts boomed in popularity, increasingly keeping us company on daily commutes and during menial tasks. Over half of Americans, 55%—an estimated 158 million people—listen to a podcast monthly, and 40%, or 115 million, listen every week. This year, the scales finally tipped. Although the difference is only 1 percentage point, this is the first time podcast listenership has surpassed radio. Whether the gap continues to widen remains to be seen. Watching podcasts has become a growing trend over the past year, perhaps shifting the balance in podcasts’ favor. YouTube said viewers watched 700 million hours of podcasts each month in 2025 on living room devices like TVs, up from 400 million the previous year. Streaming platforms like Netflix have inked deals with iHeartMedia and Barstool Sports to bring podcasts to their services. Daytime talk shows have also suffered blows, including the recent cancellations of both Kelly Clarkson’s and Sherri Shepherd’s TV talk shows. Apple’s audio-only app has taken a hit as well, falling from 15.7% of monthly podcast listeners’ preferred platform in 2022 to 11.3% in 2025. But audio-only isn’t going anywhere, at least for now. According to Triton Digital’s annual podcasting report, only 7% of audiences exclusively watch their favorite podcasts, while 13% exclusively listen. The remaining 80% alternate between the two. The meaning of the word “podcast” has vastly expanded and grown increasingly diffuse as our media habits shift, Joe Berkowitz recently wrote for Fast Company. As for the future of podcasting—not talk radio, not TV chat show, but instead a secret third thing. View the full article

eBay is laying off about 800 employees, or 6% of its full-time workforce, saying the move is a push to align with its “strategic priorities.” It comes a week after the company announced it was acquiring second-hand clothing app Depop from rival Etsy for $1.2 billion. Depop is popular with millennials and Gen Z, and is part of eBay’s bid for younger consumers, who are gravitating to second-hand shopping online for sustainability and financial reasons. eBay Inc. (EBAY) was trading up 3.3% in midday trading at the time of this writing. This is eBay’s third round of layoffs since 2023. The online second-hand retailer cut 1,000 jobs in 2024 (9% of its workforce), after it cut 500 jobs in 2023 (or 4% of its workforce), per TechCrunch. “We are taking steps to reinvest across our business and align our structure with our strategic priorities, which will affect certain roles across our workforce,” a spokesperson for eBay tells Fast Company. “We are grateful for the contributions of the employees impacted and are committed to supporting them with care and respect.” The Silicon Valley-based online retailer has also been heavily investing in artificial intelligence. The eBay spokesperson said the cuts are not AI-related. eBay financials This latest round of layoffs comes just two weeks after eBay reported strong fourth-quarter earnings for 2025, with revenue coming in at $2.97 billion, beating estimates of $2.88 billion; and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.41, beating estimates of $1.35. “2025 was a milestone year for eBay, and our results reflect the strength of our strategy and the disciplined execution behind it,” eBay CEO Jamie Iannone said in that earnings release. “As we continue to harness AI to elevate the customer experience worldwide, eBay is in the strongest position it has been in years.” eBay has a current market capitalization of $40.2 billion. View the full article

Google DeepMind is rolling out Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image), its latest image generation model, combining the intelligence and production controls of Nano Banana Pro with the rapid performance of Gemini Flash. What’s new. Nano Banana 2 introduces: Advanced world knowledge: Powered by Gemini’s real-time web grounding to better render specific subjects and generate infographics or data visualizations. Precision text rendering and translation: Cleaner, legible text inside images — including localization. Stronger instruction adherence: Improved handling of complex, multi-layered prompts. Subject consistency: Maintains up to five characters and 14 objects within a single workflow. Production-ready outputs: Supports aspect ratios and resolutions from 512px to 4K. Enhanced visual fidelity: Sharper detail, richer textures and more dynamic lighting — at Flash speed. Why we care. Nano Banana 2 makes high-quality, production-ready image generation faster and more scalable — reducing the time and cost of creative development. With improved text rendering, subject consistency, and 4K-ready outputs, brands can generate campaign assets, localized variations, and social formats in minutes instead of days. Integrated directly into Google Ads and Gemini, it also tightens the loop between creative production and campaign execution, accelerating testing and iteration. The rollout. Nano Banana 2 is launching across Google’s ecosystem, including Google Ads, Gemini app, Search AI Mode and Lens, and more. Between the lines. Google is standardizing high-end image generation into its faster tier, signaling a broader shift: premium creative control is becoming baseline — not a paid upgrade. The bottom line. With Nano Banana 2, Google is betting that creators want fewer trade-offs — faster generation, stronger reasoning and production-ready visuals in one default model. View the full article

AI has not changed the importance of judgment in product leadership. What it has changed is the cost of getting it wrong. Early in my career, I learned a principle that still guides how I think about building products: The strongest decisions rarely start with perfect data. They start with conviction, a hypothesis shaped by experience, customer insight, and pattern recognition. What ultimately separates high-performing product organizations from average ones is how quickly and confidently instinct is validated. That validation is the true role of product analytics, and increasingly, it is where AI amplifies its value. Analytics tests whether what you believed would happen actually did, and to inform what you do next. When treating analytics as a decision engine rather than a reporting layer, it fundamentally changes how teams operate. ANALYTICS SPRAWL REDUCES CLARITY Across nearly every organization I have worked in, regardless of size or industry, one pattern shows up with remarkable consistency: analytics sprawl. Google Analytics, Amplitude, Mixpanel, Adobe Analytics, and Pendo are all excellent tools, adopted with good intent to solve real problems. However, when all—or even several—coexist within a single organization, they often create fragmentation that undermines decision-making. The issue is not the tools themselves, but the absence of a clear leadership decision to standardize. When analytics lives across multiple platforms, each with its own methodology and definitions, even basic questions become difficult to answer. AI magnifies that problem. Ask a simple question like, “How many monthly unique visitors do we get?” With data spread across multiple analytics platforms, there is no clean answer. You cannot aggregate the numbers. There is no deduplication. Slight differences in definitions erode trust. Teams stop discussing insights and start debating whose data is correct. That is not a tooling failure. It is a decision-making failure. INCONSISTENT DATA SCALES CONFUSION This challenge matters even more in an AI-driven world because AI depends on coherence. Models train on ambiguous metrics. If foundations are inconsistent, AI will scale confusion faster than any human ever could. Especially in organizations with multiple business units and products, analytics must start before dashboards, instrumentation plans, or AI ambitions. It starts with clarity. This comes from understanding what decisions must be made with confidence and what questions must be answered consistently across teams. Once that is established, everything else follows. Selecting the right product analytics platform is based on business requirements, not convenience. That platform may differ by context. In fact, I have yet to implement the same analytics tool twice. What stays the same is the discipline required to make analytics and AI effective at scale. Instinct may start the journey, but data must validate it. Tool sprawl is a leadership choice rather than a technical inevitability, and shared definitions matter far more than dashboards or models. Analytics and AI only matter when they improve decisions. When that foundation exists, AI becomes a true force multiplier, and organizations gain speed, trust, and the ability to scale. Insights surface faster, patterns emerge sooner, and teams spend far less time reconciling data and far more time acting on it. Leaders move from reacting to signals to shaping outcomes. Without that foundation, AI simply makes bad analytics louder. A SIMPLE CHALLENGE FOR LEADERS If you lead product, technology, or digital teams, here are three simple questions to consider: How many analytics tools does your organization use across your products? Do your teams share the same definitions for basic metrics? Can you answer a question once and trust the answer everywhere? If those answers vary, the issue is not analytics or AI. It is decision-making. If your AI strategy is ahead of your analytics foundations, you are scaling uncertainty, not intelligence. Darren Person is EVP and chief digital officer of Cengage Group. View the full article

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate slipped this week below 6% for the first time since late 2022, good news for home shoppers as the spring homebuying season gets rolling. The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate fell to 5.98% from 6.01% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the rate averaged 6.76%. The average rate has been hovering close to 6% this year. This latest dip, its third decline in a row, brings it closer to its lowest level since Sept. 8, 2022, when it was 5.89%. Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans. The 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.02% at midday Thursday, down from around 4.07% a week ago. Mortgage rates have been trending lower for months, helping drive a pickup in home sales the last four months of 2025, but not enough to lift the housing market out of its slump dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes remained stuck last year at 30-year lows. And more buyer-friendly mortgage rates this year weren’t enough to lift home sales last month. They posted the biggest monthly drop in nearly four years and the slowest annualized sales pace in more than two years. Still, with the average rate on a 30-year mortgage now below 6% as the annual spring homebuying season begins, it could encourage prospective home shoppers who can afford to buy at current rates to shop for a home this spring. “Assuming rates stay below 6%, buyers and sellers are going to start getting back into the market,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS. “March is when the spring homebuying season typically begins to ramp up and with rates at a three-and-a-half year low, it could be a barn burner of a spring homebuying season.” —Alex Veiga, AP business writer View the full article

Issue is expected to come under the spotlight in chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Spring StatementView the full article

The cash-and-stock offer is aimed at The Presidenting an agreed deal led by Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund ManagementView the full article

For the first time since early September 2022, the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey has the 30-year below 6%, but the 15-year gained this week. View the full article

The President and Witkoff expect weaker parties to cave — but unlike in real estate, ideology and national pride matterView the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you follow tech news, you're likely familiar with Apple's two big events each year: WWDC in June, where the company reveals new OS updates (like iOS 26), and its fall event, where it typically announces the latest round of iPhones. But while these are Apple's best known events, they're not the only ones. The company does mix things up, hosting mid-year keynotes every now and then to announce new products, especially when those products aren't the latest flagship iPhones. The March event is just the latest such example. Apple will be hosting this special event Wednesday, March 4, live from New York City. While we won't know exactly what the company has in store until they make their announcements, there are plenty of rumors from leakers who seem quite confident in their reporting. Here are the six products we expect to see during Apple March event: Apple will replace the iPhone 16e with the new iPhone 17eThe iPhone 16e is Apple's option for customers looking for the essential iPhone experience, without spending close to $1,000 to get it. The iPhone 17e will likely continue that mantle, with some small upgrades to separate it from its predecessor. The display likely won't be among them, though. Rumors suggest Apple will keep the same 6.1-inch display with the lower 60Hz refresh rate. And despite having an OLED panel, the 17e will likely not have an Always-On display. Again, Apple cuts corners with the "e" series to bring the cost down. Apple could, however, upgrade the camera notch for the 17e, adding the Dynamic Island from its recent flagship iPhones. The biggest upgrade for the 17e will likely be the A19 chip, the same SoC Apple put in the iPhone 17 series. That's the benefit here: You get the power of the iPhone 17 without paying the iPhone 17 MSRP. I expect Apple will keep the $599 price tag from the 16e here, which means you save $200 by not opting for the iPhone 17. Apple will reveal the A18 iPad and M4 iPad AirRumors suggest Apple will also refresh its base model iPad, as well as its iPad Air. You wouldn't know it from the design, however, as leakers expect both iPads to look identical to the current models. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though: Apple's recent iPad designs look modern, with large edge-to-edge displays and thin bezels. If Apple shrunk the bezels any further, there wouldn't be much room to hold onto the iPad without accidentally touching the screen. The advantage with these new iPads is in power: The base iPad will upgrade from the A16 chip to the A18, the same chip found in the iPhone 16 series. That should offer some good performance, especially for the price, if Apple keeps things starting at $349. On the flip side, the iPad Air will likely move from the M3 to the M4. M4 is more powerful than M3, but it's not necessarily a reason to upgrade from the current Air to the new one. Still, it could be a good option for anyone upgrading from an older iPad Air—though iPadOS isn't the most demanding software. We're about to get our first look at Apple's "cheap" MacBookApple's MacBook Air is a great value at $999, and an even better one when you get it on sale. But the company seems poised to reveal an even better-value laptop. The company will announce a new MacBook—likely just called "MacBook"—that will start at just $599. To drive down the cost, the company is rumored to be using an A-series chip from its iPhone line, rather than its M-series chips that power all of Apple's modern Macs—possibly the A18 Pro. This laptop may also have a smaller 12.9-inch display compared to the Air's 13.6-inch screen, with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. That's not much RAM by today's standards, as Apple's MacBooks all ship with 16GB by default, but it might make sense for users who want a better price and don't mind the cut in performance. To win even more customers over, Apple may introduce new colors for this MacBook line, including light yellow, light green, blue, and pink. Apple's MacBooks don't typically come in fun colors, so this could add some novelty to push buyers to pick them up. That certainly has my attention: I usually only spring for the MacBook Pros, but if I could get a MacBook in light blue to match my iMac, I'd consider it. Apple MacBook M4 Chip 256GB SSD 16GB RAM 13.6" Laptop $899.00 at Amazon $999.00 Save $100.00 Shop Now Shop Now $899.00 at Amazon $999.00 Save $100.00 Expect to see the M5 MacBook AirApple will likely take this opportunity to introduce the M5 MacBook Air. This won't be an exciting update: Aside from the bump from the M4 to the M5 chip, the computer should essentially be the same. It'll still come in both 13 and 15-inch options, with the same overall design. However, new buyers will probably notice the boost in graphics and NPU performance, even compared to the M4. CPU performance is also improved, though it's not quite so sharp. Still, the M5 Air may just be the best overall MacBook package, for anyone looking for the best balance of power and price. Apple will introduce M5 Pro and M5 Max with new MacBook ProsBut for anyone looking for the most powerful MacBooks, no matter the price, Apple's new M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBooks should do it. These will follow the M5 MacBook Pro, and while we don't know the exact performance gains yet, expect these to be Apple's most powerful chips yet. Like some of Apple's other upgrades this year, the rumors don't suggest any design changes here, so the overall laptops should look and feel about the same—minus the boost in performance. View the full article

A reader writes: I oversee a public-facing department at a nonprofit. One of our long-time program managers is an oversharer. This includes on social media, where she has in the recent past criticized two of our sponsors in long Facebook posts, which included phrases like “Corporation X needs to get their crap together.” These were criticisms based on her personal experiences, not related to work (think complaining about the customer service at Corp X when she was shopping there). Yesterday, she followed up with more complaining during a program meeting that included clients. I know she is connected to many of our volunteers and clients, as well as colleagues, on social media. She has also talks about promoting the program she manages on her personal accounts, so it’s clear to anyone following her that she is an employee. Our organization does not have any policies about social media use. Can I tell her to stop with the negative posts about sponsors and then hold her accountable, given her public-facing role? Should we instead create a policy about social media use that would ensure everyone in the company is getting the same message/equal treatment? I answer this question — and two others — over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them). You can read it here. Other questions I’m answering there today include: I don’t want to keep meeting with my business mentor Can I brush my teeth at work? The post our employee is criticizing our sponsors on social media appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

ChatGPT’s emerging ad ecosystem is gaining momentum, according to new monitoring from AI ad intelligence firm Adthena — with more brands appearing, clearer trigger patterns, and evolving ad placements. What’s happening. After initially identifying the first advertisers inside ChatGPT last week, Adthena now reports a noticeable ramp-up in advertiser participation and ad delivery behavior. Advertisers spotted so far: Best Buy AT&T Pottery Barn Enterprise Qualcomm Expedia How ads are triggering. Based on a sample of 1,500+ prompts analyzed over the past week: Most ads appear on the first prompt. Some only trigger on the third or fourth repetition of the same query. High-intent modifiers like “best” and “new” appear to carry significant weight. Example prompts include: “I am going to buy a new phone. What is the best phone?” “I need a new phone.” “I need to buy a new desk, what’s best?” Between the lines. The keyword triggers appear relatively simple — focused on strong commercial intent rather than nuanced emotional language. In one notable example, Best Buy secured two ad placements in a single response for iPhone-related queries, signaling early experimentation with positioning and share of voice. Why we care. As ChatGPT advertising scales, understanding trigger behavior — even at a basic keyword level — will be critical for brands testing this new channel. The bottom line. ChatGPT ads are moving from pilot to pattern. The signals may be simple for now — but the competitive dynamics are already taking shape. Spotted. The results of the competing ChatGPT ads were shares by Adthena CMO Ashley Fletcher who shared screenshots on LinkedIn. View the full article

Etsy has made headlines with its announcement that eBay will acquire its fashion resale marketplace, Depop, for approximately $1.2 billion. This move is set to enhance eBay’s consumer-to-consumer (C2C) capabilities, particularly within the lucrative and ever-evolving fashion industry, while allowing Etsy to concentrate on its core marketplace operations. Etsy’s decision to divest from Depop aligns with its intent to drive sustainable growth within its primary platform. The evolving landscape of online commerce presents opportunities for small business owners, especially those who prioritize niche markets and sustainability. eBay’s acquisition of Depop signifies a strategic shift in the resale market, projected to deepen eBay’s engagement with younger consumers, particularly Gen Z and Millennials. Depop has cultivated an active community, with approximately 7 million active buyers—90% of whom are under the age of 34—and over 3 million active sellers. The platform recorded around $1 billion in gross merchandise sales in 2025, showcasing a vigorous year-over-year growth rate of nearly 60% in the U.S. Jamie Ianonne, CEO of eBay, commented, “A key C2C driver, fashion represents more than $10 billion in annual gross merchandise volume for eBay… This acquisition presents an opportunity to advance one of our newest and fastest-growing Focus Categories.” The strategic goal here is clear: to position eBay as a leader in the fashion resale market while enhancing the range of offerings to young, eco-conscious consumers. For small business owners, particularly those operating within the fashion space, this acquisition opens several avenues for growth. The partnership will leverage eBay’s extensive infrastructure, financial services, and shipping solutions. Such capabilities can significantly enhance the selling experience for small entrepreneurs and provide them with tools to better navigate the complexities of e-commerce. Kruti Patel Goyal, CEO of Etsy, expressed enthusiasm about Etsy’s renewed focus: “We believe this transaction is a great outcome for Etsy’s shareholders, and a positive next step for all involved.” Etsy plans to use the proceeds from the sale for various corporate purposes, including share repurchases and investments geared toward enhancing its primary marketplace. This renewed emphasis on its own platform could foster innovation that benefits the independent sellers that Etsy is known for. However, small business owners should also consider potential challenges stemming from this transition. As eBay integrates Depop into its ecosystem, there could be shifts in seller fees, platform policies, and community dynamics. Entrepreneurs relying on Depop as their primary selling channel may experience disruptions, which could necessitate adjustments in their operational strategies. Furthermore, eBay will likely introduce additional features aimed at enhancing the buying and selling experience on Depop. This could create a competitive edge but might also lead to an influx of sellers into the marketplace. Small business owners will have to stay agile and responsive to changing dynamics if they want to stand out in a more crowded field. Peter Semple, CEO of Depop, stated, “This transaction is a testament to the significant growth we have delivered… We’re very grateful to Kruti and the Etsy team for their partnership.” This sentiment reflects the potential for sustained growth, even as existing players consolidate their positions in the market. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, pending regulatory approvals. This timeline gives small business owners several months to assess the implications of these changes, adapt their strategies, and engage with both marketplaces as they evolve. With eBay’s historical emphasis on C2C sales and now with the integration of Depop, small business entrepreneurs must pay attention to how this acquisition reshapes the competitive landscape of online fashion retail. Enhanced tools and services could create new opportunities, but maintaining market relevance will require adaptability and innovation. For further details, you can read the full press release from Etsy here. Image via Google Gemini This article, "eBay Acquires Depop to Capture Growing Youth Fashion Marketplace" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Court found that Indian tycoon had devised ‘fraud on a grand scale’ against commodities traderView the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Open ear design headphones are picking up steam, possibly because ANC technology has become so good that people are forgetting what the sound of birds singing sounds like (or is that just me?). Nothing is a newer brand that has started off well, making good value products with great features that are very competitive with more well-known brands. The Nothing Ear (Open) is their first open ear design earbuds from 2024, and it's currently $99 ($149) for Prime Members, the lowest price it has been, according to price tracking tools. Nothing Ear (Open) $99.00 at Amazon $149.00 Save $50.00 Get Deal Get Deal $99.00 at Amazon $149.00 Save $50.00 The Nothing brand offers many features on their products that you usually see on higher-end products. The Nothing Ear (Open) are no exception. These earbuds come with multipoint connection, so you can hook it up to your phone and laptop simultaneously. There's also a "Find My Earbud" feature that plays a loud sound on the earbuds so you can find them (different and not compatible with Apple's Find My). There's also a low-lag mode with 120 milliseconds of latency for gaming, so the audio will be in sync with your actions. If you use a supported Nothing phone, this feature is automatic, and there's also a ChatGPT integration that you can access directly through the earbuds. The battery lasts eight hours, and the case offers an extra 30 hours of juice with a 10-minute wired charge, giving you two hours of listening time. The Nothing Ear (Open) comes with a microphone AI technology that reduces environmental noise so you can be heard better. The companion app also has an advanced EQ feature that lets you tweak your sound. The sound is impressive for the open ear design—just don't expect powerful bass, according to PCMag's "excellent" review (this is the case for all open ear designs, though). Our Best Editor-Vetted Tech Deals Right Now Apple AirPods 4 Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds — $139.99 (List Price $179.00) Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 6.9" 512GB Privacy Display Smartphone + $200 Gift Card — $1,299.99 (List Price $1,699.99) Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 (2026) AI True Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds + Gift Card, Noise Cancelling, Hi-Res Audio, 1-Way Speaker, New Fit, IP54, Live Translation, Black [US Version, 2 Yr Warranty] — $179.99 (List Price $199.99) Google Pixel 10a 128GB 6.3" Unlocked Smartphone + $100 Gift Card — $499.00 (List Price $599.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $329.00 (List Price $349.00) Apple Watch Series 11 [GPS 46mm] Smartwatch with Jet Black Aluminum Case with Black Sport Band - M/L. Sleep Score, Fitness Tracker, Health Monitoring, Always-On Display, Water Resistant — $329.00 (List Price $429.00) Amazon Fire TV Soundbar — $99.99 (List Price $119.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

If you head to Tools → Planning in Google Ads, chances are you’re clicking into Keyword Planner. Most advertisers stop there. But two other planners sit in the same menu — often overlooked — that can directly influence how you forecast budgets, model performance shifts, and scale campaigns. Performance Planner and Reach Planner offer deeper insight into how spend changes affect your key metrics across channels. Here’s a practical breakdown of how each tool works and when to use them to forecast growth more accurately. Why Performance Planner matters for scaling search and display Performance Planner helps you model how metrics could change if you adjust ad spend across Search or Display. Instead of reacting to performance, you can forecast how budget shifts may influence conversions, CPA, and overall spend before you make changes. Performance Planner can be especially useful if you’re looking to forecast data or scale an account. It provides projections for existing campaigns based on prospective budget changes. These forecasts are typically refreshed daily and are based on the last 7-10 days of data. A more recent addition to the Performance Planner home screen is Suggested plans. Google indicates the potential impact of raising specific budgets or bids without requiring you to build a full plan. How to create a new performance plan To create a new plan, click Create new plan at the bottom of the page. From there, a pop-up screen allows you to set the timeframe, dates, and channel. If multiple channels are represented in your account, you’ll see more than one option. You can also select key metrics, including specific conversion goals, as well as a CPA, conversion, or ad spend target. Finally, choose the campaigns you want included in the plan. Only eligible campaigns will appear. Google may propose a $0 budget for certain campaigns if it determines they aren’t efficient enough to justify continued spend. Before building a plan, it’s important to understand which campaigns qualify. Campaign eligibility and limitations to know Eligibility criteria vary based on the channel a campaign runs on. Here are some of the requirements for Search and Shopping campaigns. Search campaigns Bid strategy: Uses manual cost-per-click (CPC), enhanced CPC, max clicks, max conversions, max conversion value, target return on ad spend (ROAS), target cost-per-action (CPA) bidding strategies, or target impression share bidding strategies. Have not changed bid strategies in the last 7 days. Run time: Have been running for at least 72 hours. Recent clicks: Have received at least 3 clicks in the last 7 days. Conversion minimum: Have received at least 3 conversions in the last 7 days. Budget: Have a Search lost IS (budget) of less than 5% over the last 10 days (target impression share campaigns only). Shopping campaigns (Standard) Bid strategy: Campaign isn’t part of a portfolio bid strategy. Run time: Have been active each day with a minimum spend of $10 USD or more in the last 10 days. Impression minimum: Have received at least 100 impressions in the last 7 days. Conversion minimum: Have received at least 10 conversions and/or conversion values in the last 10 days. Budget: Campaign doesn’t have a status of “Limited by Budget.” Target ROAS standard shopping campaigns (only) have a Search lost IS (budget) of less than 5% over the last 10 days. A campaign with a shared budget is eligible only if all campaigns in the shared budget use a single Merchant Center account. This is an example of what a Performance Planner plan looks like. Performance Planner is especially effective for advertisers with existing campaigns who want KPI projections. If you’d like to learn more, visit Google’s support documentation. Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. Why Reach Planner is different from Performance Planner As a complement to Performance Planner, Reach Planner is designed to estimate reach, views, and conversions across video campaigns. It’s updated weekly based on “Google’s Unique Reach Methodology.” This means Google uses modeled third-party data to estimate the potential reach and scale of video campaigns. Reach Planner is useful for account managers forecasting how a video campaign may perform at scale. It projects three primary metrics: unique reach, views, and conversions. These forecasts can help determine how to allocate YouTube ad spend across campaigns. Reach Planner also provides detailed reach, demographic, and device insights when planning new video initiatives. Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand shows up. The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need. Start Free Trial Get started with How to build a Reach Planner forecast As with the other planners, you’ll find Reach Planner under Tools → Planning. If you’re unable to access it, you may need to contact your Google account manager. When creating a new campaign plan, you’ll be asked to select your location, currency, and whether you want to build a plan for YouTube or YouTube and Linear TV. Next, select your dates, demographics, sublocations, audiences, devices, and frequency caps. You can choose In-Market, Affinity, Remarketing, Custom, and Lookalike segments while building your plan. The next step is selecting the type of YouTube campaign you want to include. A newer Reach Planner feature provides forecasts for a mix of video campaign types, called advanced plans. This is an example of what a completed plan may look like after selections are made: Reach Planner is extremely useful and often underutilized when planning current or future video ad spend. If you’re interested in learning more, you can complete the Reach Planner learning modules on Skillshop. When to use each planner in your workflow The Performance Planner and Reach Planner are powerful, often underutilized tools in Google Ads for account managers managing budgets and scaling performance. Performance Planner forecasts the impact of budget changes across Search and Display, while Reach Planner provides audience and performance projections for YouTube video campaigns. Used together, they help advertisers move beyond basic keyword planning and make more data-driven decisions about budget allocation and growth. View the full article

Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Company’s weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. You can sign up to receive this newsletter every week via email here. Anthropic’s stance on autonomous weapons may not survive the future Much of the AI world is watching closely as Anthropic tangles with the Pentagon over how the government can use the Claude models. Anthropic has a $200 million contract with the Pentagon, but the contract says the military can’t use the AI company’s models as the brains for autonomous weapons or for mass surveillance of Americans. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insists, after the fact, that the military should be able to use the Anthropic models for “all lawful purposes.” Hegseth summoned Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to the Pentagon for a Tuesday morning meeting, in which he reportedly gave Anthropic until 5:01 p.m. Friday to comply with the Pentagon’s demand. If Anthropic fails to do so, Hegseth threatened to invoke the Defense Production Act to compel the AI company to supply its models with no guardrails. Hegseth also said the government would declare Anthropic models to be a “supply chain risk,” meaning that all government suppliers would be directed to avoid or discontinue use of Anthropic models. Amodei said in an interview after the Hegseth meeting that his company has no intention of complying with Hegseth’s demands. (He’s got a strong case: After all, government officials agreed to the terms.) Amodei explained that the military relies on human judgement to avoid violating people’s constitutional rights. If AI is making the decisions, there will be no human being to object. Amodei is right, and his company’s willingness to stand up for its values is laudable. The trouble is, we’re rapidly heading for a future where autonomous systems become the norm in warfare. For years, the defense establishment talked about keeping the “human in the loop” in AI weapons systems. Often that human is a government lawyer who can make calls on rules-of-engagement issues on the battlefield. Today the Pentagon is talking more about fully autonomous weapons that can manage more of the “kill chain,” or the series of communications and decisions around the destruction of a target. Military leaders often say that whoever can use technology to shorten the kill-chain will win wars. Things like electronic warfare (cyberwar), hypersonic missiles, and drone swarms are making war faster and response times shorter. This may eventually preclude the opportunity for human review and decision-making. —Increasingly, the U.S. military may be forced to take humans out of the loop in order to stay competitive with its adversaries. So the result of Anthropic’s standoff with the Pentagon may be that a safety-conscious AI lab is forced out, and a generally less scrupulous company like xAI is chosen as the alternative. The President rips off Mark Kelly’s idea for powering new data centers In his State of the Union address, Donald The President spent a few minutes on the subject of new data centers for AI, which has over the past few months become a hot button issue for voters. While the tech industry says it needs hundreds of new data centers to support all the AI it’s building, a growing number of voters now understands that the power grid improvements needed to power the data centers may increase their energy bills. “I have negotiated the new Ratepayer Protection Pledge,” The President crowed. “We’re telling the major tech companies that they have the obligation to provide for their own power needs.” Politicos might recognize that message, as it closely echoes what Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat, has been saying for months now. Kelly’s “AI for America” plan would create an industry-financed “AI Horizon Fund” to pay for energy-grid upgrades and workforce reskilling. According to Kelly’s plan, Congress could require data center developers to buy or lease enough land to contain both their facilities and the renewable energy infrastructure to power and cool them. The data center operators could also be required to pay to connect the renewable sources to the local grid, should the power they generate go unutilized. The President’s idea is more of a suggestion. As of now it’s non-binding, just words. And there was no mention of how the tech companies would generate their own power. Elon Musk’s xAI, for example, brought its own power to its massive Colossus data center in Memphis. Unfortunately, they were dirty methane-powered turbines, and the facility quickly became one of the area’s biggest polluters. High numbers of young tech job seekers AI-cheated on skills tests Cheating on technical hiring assessments went through the roof in 2025, with fraud attempts more than doubling, according to new research from CodeSignal, which runs a developer-skills evaluation platform used in hiring software engineers. The research found that 35% of proctored assessments showed signs of cheating or fraud last year, up from just 16% in 2024. The biggest culprits? Plagiarism, having someone else take the test for you, and sneaking in AI tools that aren’t allowed. The jump was especially noticeable among entry-level candidates. Fraud rates for junior roles nearly tripled year over year—going from 15% to 40%—making early-career hiring a particularly vulnerable spot in the recruiting pipeline. In a press release accompanying the report, CodeSignal CEO and cofounder Tigran Sloyan partly blamed the normalization of AI tools, noting that 80% of Gen Z reportedly uses AI in daily life, which has made the line between acceptable help and outright cheating much blurrier. “Accessibility to AI also makes unauthorized assistance harder to detect and raises the stakes for maintaining fair and reliable skill evaluation,” he noted. CodeSignal’s detection systems—which combine AI analysis, human review, and digital monitoring—identified a few common patterns across flagged assessments. About 35% of candidates frequently looked off-screen, suggesting they were consulting outside resources during the test. Another 23% showed unusually linear typing patterns, where complex solutions just appeared with barely any pauses or debugging. And 15% had answers that looked a lot like known solutions or leaked content. (It’s worth noting that these numbers reflect attempts that were actually caught, not cases where someone successfully slipped through.) The data also surfaced some geographic and procedural gaps. Fraud attempt rates hit 48% in the Asia-Pacific region, compared to 27% in North America. Testing conditions made a big difference, too: Candidates in unproctored environments showed score jumps more than four times larger than those being actively monitored, which pretty clearly shows that proctoring works as a deterrent. As for how CodeSignal catches all this: the company says it’s spent a decade building out its fraud-prevention infrastructure, which it’s now applied across millions of assessments. It uses a proprietary “Suspicion Score” and leak-resistant test design to flag things like plagiarism, proxy test-taking, unauthorized AI use, and identity fraud. More AI coverage from Fast Company: Harvard study shows AI stock trading rivals many picks made by fund managers He built a hit podcast about the Epstein files. It’s entirely AI-generated What if the SaaSpocalypse is a myth? This AI note-taking startup thinks it’s building the ‘steering wheel’ for chatbots Want exclusive reporting and trend analysis on technology, business innovation, future of work, and design? Sign up for Fast Company Premium. View the full article

Time capsules are designed to be resilient by nature. But no time capsule has survived as long as designers hope “America’s Time Capsule” will. The time capsule, designed for the semiquincentennial of the U.S. founding, is being created by America250, the nonpartisan, congressionally mandated group organizing commemorations for this year. The plan is to bury the time capsule underground in Philadelphia at Independence National Historical Park on July 4, and for it to be opened in another 250 years, in 2276. The problem is time capsules, which are typically buried underground, and exposed to the elements, don’t really last that long. “We’ve unburied some time capsules that are more than 200 years old and the contents haven’t fared well,” says Tony Medema, a special advisor and project manager for the time capsule, during a press conference Wednesday. When a time capsule is buried in a building cornerstone, or stored in a climate-controlled space as is the Bicentennial time capsule (it’s stored on a shelf in the National Archives), it’s easier to preserve whatever is inside. Outside, though, it’s exposed to the elements and could get wet and deteriorate. “The biggest risk to a time capsule is water,” says Jacob Ricker, an engineer for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a Commerce Department agency that standardizes weights and worked on the time capsule. The design team is taking several precautions to ensure the time capsule remains protected from water. They made the 36-inch-tall vessel tubular to reduce structural vulnerabilities. The capsule has three inner layers that lock in its contents and protect them from outside elements, followed by an outer stainless-steel finish that covers the entire time capsule. Inside, design decisions were both functional and organizational. A metal bell jar cover creates an air pocket. There are also stacks of interior shelves that will eventually house things like a flag, items from the 2026 Rose Parade, and submissions from all 50 states, five territories, and Washington, D.C. Paper documents—its most delicate contents—will be secured inside an inner chamber. Earlier plans for the time capsule imagined it embedded in a 46-foot-long sculpture of Benjamin Franklin’s 1754 “Join or Die” political cartoon showing a snake made up of pieces representing the then-British colonies. The sculpture is expected to be completed this fall. Organizers, however, determined that for longevity’s sake, it would be better to bury the time capsule underground. Independence National Historical Park is about 30 feet above sea level, so rising sea levels shouldn’t be a problem for 250 years, Ricker says, but the time capsule was also designed to withstand flooding. “Because we’re underground, we do get rain and things like that and it is possible that the burial area could get flooded with water. Our design is accounting for that,” he says. “So it shouldn’t see water, even if we get torrential rains or anything like that, which would flood the burial site. It should be 100% sealed just with that outer shell.” NIST scientists helped develop the time capsule alongside preservation experts at the Library of Congress and in coordination with the National Park Service, America250 says. A replica will be displayed at the White House Visitor Center, however, time to see the real thing is limited: the actual time capsule will be briefly displayed in early June in Philadelphia before it’s buried. View the full article

When Dr. Wendy Ross logged on for a Zoom meeting in early 2024, she wasn’t sure who to expect on the other side of the call. It was a digital writers’ room, Ross tells Fast Company, “and in the upper left-hand corner—I’ll never forget it—was Noah Wyle.” Ross, a developmental and behavioral pediatrician and the director of Jefferson Center for Autism & Neurodiversity in Philadelphia, had received a request to lend her expertise to the writers of a new medical series—but they told her only that it was set in an emergency room and would potentially feature an autistic doctor. “I had no idea what was going to happen, but I thought it sounded kind of cool,” she says. That show went on to become HBO’s hit drama The Pitt, which won three Emmy Awards and averaged 10 million viewers an episode in its first season. Wyle is an executive producer and a star of the show, making his return to medical dramas 30 years after his breakout role on ER. (Ross recalls that show airing at the same time she was first studying medicine: “In my fangirl world, we went to medical school together,” she says—though when meeting him over Zoom, she kept her cool.) From the get-go, Ross says, The Pitt’s writers “were very serious about not portraying a stereotypical situation” regarding autism. “That was in the original request that was posed to me,” she says. Her advice eventually helped shape fan-favorite character Dr. Mel King (played by Taylor Dearden), a bright-eyed resident new to the ER in the show’s first season. Mel exhibits many autistic-coded traits, like self-soothing, the occasional dropped social cue, and a knack for repetitive, focused tasks. But notably, she’s never confirmed on the show to be diagnosed as neurodivergent. Instead, viewers get to see many sides of Mel as the season unfolds: her compassion as she comforts a child losing her sister, her earnestness as she befriends her fellow doctors, her eccentricity as she calms herself by repeating Megan Thee Stallion lyrics like a mantra. The decision not to confirm a diagnosis onscreen was a recommendation from Ross. “I suggested that it not be clear whether or not this character knew she was on the spectrum, but that some of these characteristics unfold subtly and naturally, as they do in real life,” she says. Autistic women are often diagnosed later in life than autistic men; Ross even points out that many women don’t receive diagnoses themselves until their children are diagnosed, prompting them to recognize shared traits. Mel stands in for these women, whose autistic traits could pass for neurotypical if unexamined. “You see her sometimes do these quirky, unexpected, very enthusiastic things that are kind of subtle,” Ross says, “but for people who know, you know.” A difficult reality The year prior to being tapped by The Pitt’s writers’ room, Ross co-authored an article on the experiences of autistic doctors in the workplace in collaboration with Autistic Doctors International. “The data in that article was very disconcerting and, frankly, a little bit sad,” she says. Ross and her fellow researchers found that of the 225 autistic doctors surveyed, 77 percent had considered suicide, while 24% had attempted it. 80% of respondents said they’d worked with another doctor they suspected was autistic, but only 22% had worked with a doctor they knew was autistic. “There’s a lot of anxiety and depression related to being an autistic doctor,” Ross says. “Part of it is, it’s a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ kind of situation, because people are afraid of the stigma, and by the time they do disclose, they’ve had so many challenges that things quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy.” Banishing stereotypical mythology Ross’ work with autistic doctors caught the attention of The Pitt‘s development team, who contacted her through the University of Southern California’s Hollywood, Health & Society program, a service that connects the entertainment industry with experts in medicine and safety. “I think that this is an extremely sincere group of people that is motivated by more than the popularity of a show, and I think that’s really special,” says Ross. Ross advised The Pitt to avoid overused tropes of autistic characters on television—particularly, what she calls the “stereotypical mythology” of autistic people being savants. “While there are some autistic savants, many autistic individuals have varying levels of cognitive abilities like the rest of us,” she says, noting that their actual “super strength” is in dealing with other neurodivergent individuals in stressful situations (like being in an emergency room). “It’s really important that we understand all kinds of minds, that we understand that everyone has strengths that they bring to the table,” Ross says. “They don’t have to be savants to provide added value.” Ross also recommended that The Pitt cast a neurodivergent actress in the role, which she says “lends a level of authenticity” to any portrayal of autism. The Pitt did so in casting Dearden, who shared that she has ADHD after the first season aired. Dearden, for her part, has shared the importance of bringing authenticity to her performance as Mel: “I’m really sick of what people usually do on TV,” she said in an interview with Variety. “I feel like every time it’s ever been portrayed, it’s usually complete robots or completely dysfunctional and can’t survive at all. It’s ridiculous.” The value of authentic representation Now airing its second season, The Pitt has garnered massive critical acclaim not only for its portrayal of Mel, but for tackling themes like gun violence, substance abuse, and burnout in the healthcare industry. Beyond its stellar cast and writing, Ross attributes the show’s success to its focus on empathy. “That’s a pervasive theme that expands well beyond the autistic characters,” she says. “This idea of having authentic representations of people, of accepting all kinds of people, and understanding that we all have strengths and challenges that we engage with is really critically important.” Ross hopes that on-screen portrayals like The Pitt’s can inspire the real-world healthcare industry to do better by neurodivergent folks—not only patients, but doctors and other healthcare professionals. She compares it to the implementation of ramps for wheelchair users: Though designed for the needs of a specific demographic, they improve the lives of all people with mobility issues. “The strategies that we deploy for this population are things that all of our patients and colleagues benefit from,” Ross says. “This kind of care is the kind that some people really have to have, but that all of us ultimately deserve.” View the full article

Look to history for some wisdom. By Sandi Leyva Go PRO for members-only access to more Sandi Smith Leyva. View the full article

Look to history for some wisdom. By Sandi Leyva Go PRO for members-only access to more Sandi Smith Leyva. View the full article

Online platform will be available in Singapore next season and could be rolled out to other overseas marketsView the full article

Today's Bissett Bullet: “Confirming the details of your meeting with a prospective client after a meeting is set up is not a formality.” By Martin Bissett See more Bissett Bullets here Go PRO for members-only access to more Martin Bissett. View the full article

Today's Bissett Bullet: “Confirming the details of your meeting with a prospective client after a meeting is set up is not a formality.” By Martin Bissett See more Bissett Bullets here Go PRO for members-only access to more Martin Bissett. View the full article