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Meeting marks the first in-person meeting between the US president and New York City’s mayor-elect View the full article

The UK’s experiment in eating the rich while shrinking the state has left everyone worse offView the full article

US officials told organisers that President’s attendance in January depended on programme View the full article

Today’s eye-popping valuations are based on the assumption that LLMs are the only game in town View the full article

Magic circle legal firm also shifts work to lower-cost hubs in Poland and IndiaView the full article

Major retailers are selling tuna from fisheries where crews say they are exploited and abusedView the full article

Federal Reserve Gov. Stephen Miran reiterated his view that monetary policy has become more restrictive than economists think, but expressed increased urgency that the central bank take strong corrective action. View the full article

Proposed deal would limit size of Ukrainian forces and calls on Kyiv to withdraw troops from eastern DonetskView the full article

Ukrainian officials say President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is being pressed to agree to terms negotiated by the US and RussiaView the full article

Executives are no longer measured by the weight of their title but by the scale of what they create, especially in an era reshaped by AI. The most effective leaders now marry vision with execution, using technology as a co-pilot to accelerate outcomes while keeping human judgment at the center. Strategy isn’t declared anymore; it’s built in real time, constantly iterating and leveraging AI to turn ideas into outcomes faster than ever. The builder CEO is a visionary who architects systems, coaches teams, and removes obstacles through hands-on involvement. Here’s how executives with a builder leadership style are involved with the day-to-day work and unite teams around a shared mission. FROM VISION-SETTER TO VELOCITY ARCHITECT The builder mindset thrives where growth, technology, and disruption collide. Customers demand speed, relevance, and trust simultaneously. Meeting those demands requires leaders who are adaptive, accountable, and relentlessly driven by outcomes. Builders shorten decision loops by being present where the work happens: sprint reviews, demos, and product trade-offs. Their involvement clarifies priorities, reduces friction, and ensures strategy is lived at every level, not left on a slide deck. Stability still matters, but speed is the differentiator. Builders create systems that allow rapid testing without recklessness: guardrails, rollback plans, and clear accountabilities. They collapse silos by taking ownership of the P&L, customer outcomes, and cross-functional metrics. Marketing, product, operations, and sales work as one team because builders demand it. Builders flatten hierarchies and empower autonomy, but with accountability. Teams know exactly which calls they can make, which require escalation, and how success is measured. When a feature underperforms, the team doesn’t wait for a quarterly review. They assess metrics, test hypotheses, and implement fixes in days, not weeks. This rhythm of experimentation and fast learning ensures companies adapt in real time to customers and markets. The builder is always asking, “What can we test now?” and “What can we improve today?” BUILDERS IN AN AI-FIRST WORLD The builder archetype matters most in an AI-driven commerce environment. AI is the co-pilot bringing precision and scale, while human oversight preserves trust. Executives who design for measurement, keep human judgment where it counts, and integrate AI thoughtfully create enduring advantage. The best builders set a single customer outcome as the north star, participate directly in product reviews, require every experiment to have guardrails, and assign clear ownership for cross-functional work. They standardize where possible but keep space for human judgment where it drives value. AI, in their hands, is not a replacement but an amplifier, removing repetitive work so teams can focus on judgment, creativity, and engagement. This balance accelerates both growth and employee buy-in. THE HUMAN CORE OF BUILDING Builders aren’t flawless. Over-involvement can slip into micromanagement, while too much autonomy without boundaries breeds chaos. The remedy is clarity: metrics, cadence, and transparent ownership. Most importantly, builders lead with humanity. They celebrate wins, fail fast, and then mine failures for lessons, and ensure every team member understands the impact of their work. They know speed without trust is brittle, and systems without people are hollow. The modern C-suite is no longer judged by how many strategies it produces but by the outcomes it builds and the speed with which it learns. In an era defined by complexity and constant change, the builder mindset is the defining quality of leadership. The leaders who shape the next decade will be those with builder DNA. Elizabeth Buchanan is chief commercial officer of Rokt. View the full article

IT development has been around for more than 60 years and it has undergone radical transformations from the emergence of the first programming languages and OS development to the internet boom and the current AI era. Although programming tools and approaches are constantly changing, one thing remains constant: Only those developers who can adapt and master new knowledge and skills survive. I’m the chief software officer of a 70-strong team that designs a predictive maintenance system (PdM): A solution based on the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and AI. Without continuous growth, our developers cannot remain competitive. The same is true in nearly every industry; when individuals stop working on their skills, a company can lose its edge. Here’s a look at how we have created a system where professional development is an integral part of the work and how we help developers avoid and overcome stagnation. MUST EVERYONE GROW? Every team has specialists who prefer routine work, and to some extent teams need those people who do well in a position that does not require growth. But for a project to develop steadily, I believe such experts should not exceed 20% of the team. If their share is higher, other developers will eventually start to emulate their passive colleagues. Optimally, the majority—about 80%—should be actively developing and improving their expertise. Not everyone in the 80% needs to generate new ideas. The driver-to-performer ratio depends on the company’s development stage. A start-up needs 80% drivers because they’re the ones who forge ahead. Conversely, in mature companies, sustainable quality leads require constant hard-skill honing rather than a fountain of ideas. DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SMALL ACTIONS Encouraging developers to advance their skills can start small. For example, one underrated tool is having a person write tests to check their code, which is mandatory for everyone on our team, including senior specialists. Many teams use code reviews more often than writing tests. But when a developer writes a test, they may find that their method or function is too cumbersome, with many exceptions and dependencies, and it’s almost impossible to test it entirely. As a result, they begin redesigning their code and look for solutions to improve its logic. They study additional materials, such as technical blogs and best-practice guides, and consult with colleagues to deepen their expertise. However, tests have limitations. Once a person learns patterns, writes tests quickly and confidently, growth stops and routine begins. This tempts developers to automate their work. CASE-BY-CASE APPROACH There are many reasons why professionals pause in their development. They may be satisfied with their position/skills, bored, or facing challenging external circumstances. For example, most of our developers are Ukrainian, and our work has been affected by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has been a great stress to everyone. Team members have responded differently—approximately 30% lost their motivation to do anything, and another 30% have taken a deep dive into their development. One strong junior immersed himself so deeply in his studies that in just six months, he mastered senior level theory. The rest simply adapted and returned to their usual pace. After 10+ years in tech management, I realized that everyone has different motivations for advancing their skills. Your task is not to pressure them but to understand what is holding them back and what incentivizes them. Some practices that I’ve found helpful when developers stagnate are: Provide new context. Offer the developer an opportunity to work on another project or change domains. A new environment presents new challenges, requires adaptation, and learning. Present challenges. Give the developer a task that requires creative thinking and independent research. Don’t provide an answer. This will let them take initiative and responsibility for the result. Encourage learning. If a person seeks development opportunities provide them with resources. For example, compensate for conference or workshop participation. Adjust expectations. Sometimes a person is satisfied with their expertise. In this case, it’s important to agree: If the developer doesn’t want growth, they don’t seek promotion. Each specialist must have their own development plan. We draw it up twice a year, based on in-depth assessment. We set goals that meet the company’s expectations and the developer’s interests. THE COMPANY’S SYSTEMATIC APPROACH In my experience, developers often stop focusing on advancing their skills when they are overloaded. After intense work, they no longer have the energy to learn. Learning by working is our main principle. We believe developers can improve their skills through hands-on experience, so we integrate this approach into employee development plans. Daily: Giving them a short technical digest and work with code through tests and reviews. Two-week sprints: Each sprint includes two to three days when a developer can try a new approach, technology, etc. Once a month: Internal clubs— sessions in each department lasting one hour to 90 minutes where they can share experiences, run practical workshops, and exchange best practices. Once every three to six months: Three-hour sessions with external speakers, advanced training. FINAL THOUGHTS I’m convinced that development begins with dialogue. You should understand what motivates a person. I also believe that there are no wrong decisions—only different points of view. Developers shouldn’t be afraid to disagree because critical thinking and constructive discussion always help team growth. Illia Smoliienko is the chief software officer for Waites. View the full article

How did you get to this article? Maybe you opened a link in an email, or you navigated from the Fast Company home page. Perhaps you Googled “agentic AI” and this figured in the results. The point is, you almost certainly clicked, scrolled, tapped, or typed your way here, because that’s the digital grammar that shapes nearly every online experience. But that 30-year-old paradigm is about to change. Agentic AI is ripping up the rulebook, by creating a new layer of intelligent, autonomous mediation between us and the digital world. Personal shopping agents will handle routine purchases, while in the workplace, agents will automate workflows and streamline procurement. Investors are excited, of course. Earlier this year, more than half of the Y Combinator startups chosen for its accelerator program were working in agentic, while the three biggest Q1 acquisitions in the AI sector involved companies building agentic enterprise technologies. This is because agents are about to transform how work gets done, how businesses operate, and how systems interact. And nowhere are the consequences more profound than in e-commerce. CLICKLESS COMMERCE Today, e-commerce success depends on online visibility, with search driving half of website traffic and fuelling the $75 billion search engine optimization (SEO) industry. But agentic AI upends the traditional business model. For agents, displays and brand content are less important. Merchants must focus on making product data machine-legible—accurate, structured, and accessible—because machines won’t browse sites. They’ll connect directly to sales platforms and databases via APIs, creating a parallel e-commerce track that serves agents rather than human shoppers. Building out that machine track will be a critical job for merchants, fintechs, software companies, and financial institutions. For merchants, an early task is compiling and structuring data in a way that’s visible and relevant to agents. Another is creating seamless connections between merchant systems and agent systems. The good news is that the connective tissue is already here. New protocols—model context, agent-to-agent, and agentic payments—now enable agents to connect, communicate, and transact autonomously. MARKETING TO MACHINES: A NEW INDUSTRY For retailers, one question looms: How do I market to machines? As SEO evolves for human audiences, new disciplines are emerging to optimize digital environments for AI agents. Agent engine optimization helps make digital spaces easier for agents to understand and use. Agent interaction design focuses on how they communicate with platforms, APIs, and other agents to get things done for users. These areas connect with generative engine optimization, which improves content so AI systems can better generate recommendations and make decisions. Taken together, they signal a new ecosystem—one that will create fresh roles, unlock new value streams, and redefine how businesses compete in an AI-driven economy. Another way of attracting machine buyers is to reward them. This is the agentic version of e-commerce’s affiliate system, where publishers, partners, and influencers are paid a commission for driving sales. There’s feverish speculation as to how an attribution mechanism may work, and who will get paid. There are plenty of challenges too—not least verifying agents’ identities, knowing with confidence which agent influenced the sale, and preventing fake agents from gaming the system. But the opportunities are apparent. The affiliate market is predicted to double in size by 2030, even without agents. FACE THE HEADWINDS Certain issues will require regulatory clarity. Agentic referral will have to be transparent, for example, to ensure fair competition. Then there’s the matter of trust. We’ll need confidence in the agents and the ecosystems they operate in. Giving an autonomous bot spending authority is a big commitment, but getting it right is key to scaling agentic commerce. Ensuring agents can operate across different payment systems, platforms, and legal jurisdictions will also pose technical and regulatory challenges. That said, we’re about to experience the biggest transformation in e-commerce since it began. This promises to be an era of great innovation—a time to build new tools, new ecosystems, and new ways of creating value. Agentic commerce isn’t just a tech shift; it’s a reimagining of how we buy, sell, and connect in a digital world. Ken Moore is chief innovation officer at Mastercard. View the full article

PM likely to green light project despite concerns about Beijing’s efforts to spy on BritainView the full article

Link is latest revelation in a years-long probe into Smart and TGR, which move money for criminals and sanctioned individualsView the full article

Households are pessimistic about their own spending and the country’s economic outlookView the full article

How would a school shooting affect your employees? It’s something that most employers never want to think about, but it’s a horrifyingly real threat to any community—and the companies and organizations that do business there. Following the death of my youngest son, Dylan, in the 2012 Sandy Hook School shooting, I can tell you first-hand about the lasting trauma that occurs when your child is injured or killed in this type of tragedy—and how that ripples through the entire community. In October, we held America’s Safe Schools Week, a national initiative to raise awareness about school violence and promote safety. It’s also a time for companies to recognize they have a major role to play in preventing school violence—and a lot to gain by doing so. When we invest in the safety and well-being of our children, we are also investing in our workforce, and in turn, the long-term health of our businesses. WHY THIS MATTERS FOR CEOS Our employees don’t leave their lives at the office door. Their children’s safety directly impacts their focus, mental health, and productivity. A tragedy in a school can create anxiety and shake an entire company—because our companies are made up of parents, caregivers, neighbors, and friends. Taking a role in vioence prevention isn’t just an act of compassion or show of goodwill and support. It’s a sound business strategy that strengthens your workforce, your brand, and your reach into communities. KNOW THE WARNING SIGNS People intending to harm themselves or others will often exhibit a range of telling behaviors. This might include expressing threats or a plan, bragging about access to weapons, becoming socially withdrawn, or experiencing chronic social isolation, among other signals. In most mass shootings and school shootings, someone knew something was off before it happened. Often, a peer, a friend, or a parent are among the first to notice a problem. The same is true for youth suicides, which are the second-leading cause of death for children and teens in the United States. Getting proactive about violence prevention begins with learning to recognize the warning signs that lead to violence and self-harm. For parents and caregivers, these signals offer some of our best opportunities to intervene and save a child. The ability for you and your employees to recognize warning signs will go far beyond your company’s walls. Ultimately, this type of impact will create safer schools, homes, and communities, leading to a stronger business environment where your company can thrive. That’s why it’s essential to learn these warning signs and know how to get help. THE PROTECT OUR KIDS PLEDGE One impactful way to take action is by signing the Protect Our Kids Pledge, a first-of-its-kind corporate initiative developed by Sandy Hook Promise. The pledge provides actionable training and tools to employees and their families to recognize warning signs of potential violence and self-harm, and knowledge of what to do next. Lessons from the Protect Our Kids Pledge will not only keep employees and their children safer, they will also help companies stand out in their industries by taking an active stand against youth violence and self-harm, prioritizing safety in innovative ways. It shows that a company cares about people, and signals to employees and customers alike that it values safety and social responsibility. OTHER IMPORTANT RESOURCES FOR EMPLOYERS In the last few years, legislation has provided additional violence prevention resources for companies and school communities. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), passed in 2022, included many nationwide investments that have been creating a positive impact. The Act included funding for states to implement crisis intervention programs and extreme risk protection orders—sometimes referred to as “red flag” or “temporary transfer” laws. These laws allow family members, law enforcement, and others to petition courts to temporarily remove firearms from a home when an individual is deemed a threat to themselves or others. The BSCA also expanded access to community health clinics that provide mental health crisis services and substance abuse treatment. This gives more employees and their families, particularly in rural areas, options to access the care they need. These resources are designed to save lives while protecting rights. Companies should ensure they understand the laws in their states, help educate their employees, and connect them to local resources when needed. TAKE ACTION TODAY Since the Sandy Hook tragedy, I’ve worked alongside leading experts and business leaders who understand that ending the epidemic of gun violence requires a holistic, public health approach focused on prevention. And when we make prevention a priority, we can also create safe, healthy communities that allow our businesses to thrive. Business leaders can demonstrate their commitment by signing on to the Protect Our Kids Pledge and encouraging other leaders to do the same. Share that prevention is possible, and it’s both a moral and business imperative to deliver that for our communities, our employees, and—most importantly—our children. Nicole Hockley is cofounder and CEO of Sandy Hook Promise. View the full article

Every C-suite executive I meet asks the same question: Why is our AI investment stuck in pilot purgatory? After surveying over 200 AI practitioners for our latest research, I have a sobering answer: Only 22% of organizations have moved beyond experimentation to strategic AI deployment. The rest are trapped in what I call the “messy middle”—burning resources on scattered pilots that never reach production scale. In my 20-plus years helping companies solve complex problems with open-source AI and machine learning, I’ve watched this pattern repeat across industries. Companies get excited about AI’s potential. They fund pilots. They hire data scientists. But when it comes to production deployment and measurable ROI, they hit the same wall: over 57% take more than a month to move from development to production. That’s not innovation velocity—that’s friction eating your competitive advantage. The problem isn’t enthusiasm or investment. The problem is they’re building on quicksand. Without shared standards, every team reinvents the wheel. Tools fragment. Governance gaps widen. Trust erodes. What should take days stretches into months. Here’s what business leaders need to understand: The companies escaping this trap aren’t using better AI models. They’re using better foundations by using open-source software. Standards create a competitive advantage Standards might sound like bureaucracy, but in AI they separate companies that scale from companies that stall. Our research reveals the real barriers: 45% of teams cite data quality and pipeline consistency as their top production obstacle. Another 40% point to security and compliance challenges. These aren’t technical problems—they’re coordination problems. When every team speaks a different technical language, you can’t share work, build trust, or scale effectively. Think about it this way: Imagine if every department in your company used different email systems that couldn’t talk to each other. That’s essentially what’s happening with AI tools today. Open standards solve this by creating shared languages for AI development. When everyone uses compatible tools and formats, collaboration becomes automatic. Integration that used to take months happens in days. The result? Faster deployment cycles and measurable ROI. Companies are starting to get the message: 92% of AI practitioners use open-source tools, and 76% say their organization has increased its open-source priority this year, according to our research. Three standards that drive results Not all standards matter equally. Based on what I’ve seen transform organizations, here are three that deliver immediate impact: Ways to move AI models between systems without rebuilding. Standards like Open Neural Network Exchange prevent vendor lock-in and eliminate rework—the silent killer of innovation velocity. When teams can deploy the same model across different environments, development speeds up dramatically. Protocols that let AI services communicate seamlessly. Instead of building custom integrations for every new tool, teams can assemble complex AI systems from standard components. This turns months of integration work into days of configuration. Frameworks for responsible AI governance. With 53% of organizations lacking comprehensive AI policies, standardized approaches to model documentation and validation turn governance from a blocker into an accelerator. Teams move faster because they know exactly what compliance looks like. The pattern I see repeatedly is this: Each standard reduces friction. Together, they create an ecosystem where innovation compounds instead of fragmenting. Open source is your competitive edge Some executives worry that open source means chaos. They think standards need central authority. But AI moves too fast for traditional standardization. By the time a formal standards body publishes specifications, the technology has evolved. Open source solves this through evolutionary design. Standards emerge from real-world use, spread through community adoption, and adapt at market speed. This keeps them relevant in ways top-down standards can’t match. There’s another crucial factor: Transparency builds trust. Our research shows less than half of AI practitioners feel confident explaining model decisions to executives or regulators. When standards are open, you can inspect how they work, verify their claims, and adapt them to your needs. This transparency accelerates adoption and regulatory approval. What surprised me most in our research was the community insight: People distinguish between using open-source software and building on open-source foundations. True acceleration requires shared standards that let teams move independently while still moving together. Escaping the messy middle Here’s my core advice for C-suite leaders: Stop treating AI as a technology problem and start treating it as a systems problem. The messy middle exists because organizations approach AI as isolated projects. Teams pick different tools, build separate pipelines, and create individual governance processes. This works for pilots but kills scalability. Strategic AI requires a foundation built on compatibility. Here are three ways to achieve it: 1. Simplify your toolchain around core platforms that work together. You don’t need 47 different AI tools. You need a unified approach where teams can share models, data pipelines, and deployment processes without starting from scratch. 2. Choose solutions you can inspect and verify. This reduces risk and builds stakeholder confidence. Trust accelerates adoption, and adoption accelerates value creation. 3. Measure deployment cycles, not just model accuracy. Track time from prototype to production. Track how many AI projects deliver measurable business outcomes. These metrics reveal whether your foundation is working. Our work with large corporations shows that organizations moving from fragmented approaches to unified platforms see dramatic improvements: faster deployment, higher success rates, and clearer ROI measurement. Standardization and innovation are partners The gap between strategic AI deployers and pilot-trapped organizations will only widen. The winners won’t be those with the most experiments; they’ll be the ones who turn experiments into value fastest. According to McKinsey research, organizations are seeing material benefits from AI deployment, with a majority reporting cost reductions and revenue increases in business units using the technology. The good news? The foundations you need are being built right now by the open-source community. Your job as a leader is recognizing their strategic value and committing to building on them. This means making architectural decisions that prioritize compatibility over proprietary lock-in. It means investing in platforms that combine the innovation velocity of open source with the governance requirements of enterprise deployment. Most importantly, it means understanding that in AI, standardization and innovation aren’t opposites—they’re partners. Standards create the stable foundation that lets innovation flourish at speed. Start with one diagnostic question: Can your teams share AI models and data pipelines across projects without rebuilding them? If not, you’re building on quicksand. The companies that can answer yes will set the competitive pace for the next decade. Peter Wang is cofounder and chief AI and innovation officer at Anaconda. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Just a few months ago, Oura won a lawsuit against rival smart ring makers Ultrahuman and RingConn. Now, they've initiated proceedings against four more companies—the makers of the Samsung Galaxy Ring, Reebok Smart Ring, Amazfit Helio Ring, and the Luna Ring. Oura announced on their website that they have filed an ITC complaint against those four companies. The ITC is the U.S. International Trade Commission, and Oura says its complaint is "for the unlawful importation and sale of products that infringe on several of Oura’s patents." Oura's previous win against Ultrahuman and RingConn resulted in a judgment that those companies had to stop selling and importing their smart rings. RingConn ultimately came to an agreement with Oura to license their patents and continue selling their rings. Circular and Omate have made similar agreements with Oura. Ultrahuman no longer sells their ring in the U.S., but is working on a new ring design that would sidestep the alleged patent infringement. You can read Ultrahuman's take on the situation in this blog post, which also includes a promise to continue supporting rings that they have already sold or that people may buy from resellers. The rings in the recent complaint should still be available for a while. Oura says on their blog: "So what’s next? The ITC process will run its course." There's no guarantee that Oura will win their case, although the fact they were able to get such a sweeping judgment against other companies suggests that it's not too much of a long shot. While Oura's communications around this issue use phrases like "respect for IP" (that is, intellectual property), as a consumer and a reviewer, I hate to see an exciting tech area get dominated by a single player or, worse, shut down by that player piece by piece. I'm working on a review of the Luna ring, which I've previously noted has some serious potential improvements over other rings on the market. Here's hoping the smart ring category remains a lively one going forward. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Black Friday sales probably have you deep in your Christmas shopping already, but don't forget we've got another holiday to get through first. And while nothing gets you in the mood for the holidays like a good Christmas movie, there are a host (no pun intended) of Thanksgiving movies too. Now, there are plenty of films with Thanksgiving vibes (family gatherings and cozy fall colors), but you have to dig a bit deeper if you want that holiday specificity. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles gets mentioned overwhelmingly when people are asked about their favorite Turkey Day movie, in part because it's a legitimately good, but also because it's one of the few that people remember, but it's far from the only one. Here are 20 to stream while you're cooking, eating, or settling into a food coma this year. What’s Cooking? (2000) While movies and TV often portray a sameness in traditions, every culture, subculture, and family that celebrates brings its own sets of traditions and baggage to the holiday. What’s Cooking? brings together four ethnically and culturally diverse families (Latino, Vietnamese, Jewish, and African American...with a lesbian couple in the mix) who celebrate Thanksgiving together, with each contributing different foods (and family dramas) to the proceedings. Mercedes Ruehl, Kyra Sedgwick, Joan Chen, Lainie Kazan, Julianna Margulies, and Alfre Woodard lead the impressive cast. Stream What's Cooking on Prime Video and Tubi or rent it from Apple TV. What’s Cooking? (2000) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Home for the Holidays (1995) Jodie Foster followed up her 1991 directorial debut Little Man Tate with this all-star holiday get-together. Holly Hunter stars as Claudia Larson, a just-fired single mom coming back to Baltimore to spend Thanksgiving with her family. Because what could be less stressful? Her old friends make her feel insecure about being divorced; her mom's sister Gladys, in the early stages of dementia, confesses her love for her father; her gay brother drops a turkey on the conservative sister; and a friendly after-dinner wrestling match gets serious. Sounds generally less explosive than my typical family gathering, but still. Robert Downey Jr., Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning, Dylan McDermott, Claire Danes, Austin Pendleton, and David Strathairn also star. Stream Home for the Holidays on Paramount+ or rent it from Prime Video and Apple TV. Home for the Holidays (1995) at Paramount+ Learn More Learn More at Paramount+ Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987) One of John Hughes’ best movies barely involves teenagers at all, instead serving as a two-hander between Steve Martin and John Candy, a pair of desperately mismatched travelers headed to their respective Thanksgiving gatherings. Only the most fortunate among us have been spared the torments of holiday travel, and Hughes captures those trials, even as the movie reaches more absurd heights as the protagonists near their destinations—with enough well-earned sweetness by the end to lift this one into the holiday pantheon. Stream Planes, Trains, and Automobiles on Paramount+ or rent it from Prime Video and Apple TV. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987) at Paramount+ Learn More Learn More at Paramount+ A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1972) At only 25 minutes, this holiday special perhaps doesn't count as a movie, but it packs a lot of holiday spirit into its short runtime. As Charlie and Sally make plans to head off to their grandparents' for Thanksgiving dinner, Peppermint Patty finds herself adrift, her father out of town. So she goes ahead and invites herself, and the rest of the gang, over to the Brown place—with no dinner planned. Charlie's determined to do right by his friends, even if he doesn't know how to make much more than toast. Troubles naturally ensue. But what Thanksgiving prep doesn't involve drama? Between scenes of Snoopy's antics are some subtle lessons about managing expectations and finding the real meaning of gathering with friends. Stream A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on Apple TV+. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1972) at Apple TV+ Learn More Learn More at Apple TV+ Addams Family Values (1993) Say what you like about the Addams family (go ahead! They will not care); they’re one of the most loving and mutually supportive families in pop culture. I’d rather spend Thanksgiving dinner with them than almost any other fictional family (though I might bring my own food). The nod to the holiday here isn’t to a meal, though, but to the national mythology around which the holiday is built. When camp counsellors make the mistake of asking Wednesday and Pugsley to participate in a seasonal play, they turn it into a fiery indigenous revenge fantasy par excellence. Having white kids playing Native Americans doesn’t do much by way of indigenous representation, but at least the movie doesn’t glorify early contact. The Addams' are definitely screwed up, but they're doing better than most of us. Rent Addams Family Values from Prime Video and Apple TV. Addams Family Values (1993) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Ice Storm (1997) Perhaps not family viewing, precisely—though I'm hardly here to judge yours. Journey back to 1973 in Ang Lee’s Thanksgiving-set classic, as gathering for the annual dinner brings out dark secrets in the lives of two clans in a quiet, picture-perfect suburb. The meal gives way to a key party (ask your grandparents) weekend, which, if it had caught on, might have seen swinging and group sex with the neighbors become as much of a holiday tradition as green bean casserole. Alas. Rent The Ice Storm from Prime Video and Apple TV. The Ice Storm (1997) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Pieces of April (2003) Katie Holmes stars as the title’s April Burns in this indy dramedy built around an unconventional Thanksgiving celebration for an extremely dysfunctional family. April lives in a tiny Lower East Side apartment but is nevertheless determined to gather the entire family for dinner—though she's estranged from her parents and her siblings, her mom Joy (Patricia Clarkson) has breast cancer, and there’s every chance that this will be her last holiday. But April's best intentions can’t make things go smoothly. Her broken stove is a problem, as is her drug-dealer ex. And her very suburban family members will have to get over their fear of THE CITY. Thankfully, there’s some holiday cheer to be had, even if it’s desperately hard won. Stream Pieces of April on Tubi and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video and Apple TV. Pieces of April (2003) at Tubi Learn More Learn More at Tubi Thanksgiving (2023) Another one that's probably not for the whole family, this grisly, satirical Thanksgiving-themed slasher from director Eli Roth kicks off with one of those early-morning Black Friday sales that are totally fun, and where nothing could ever possibly go wrong. Taking a cue from real-life events, a crowd lined-up outside of a Wal-Mart-esque big box store gets unruly when they see the owner's daughter inside early with her friends. A stampede ensues, and it's so horrific it's nearly funny; customers and staff are killed with abandon by out-of-control shoppers (though it doesn't feel that far removed from some of the Black Friday near-tramplings we've seen on the news). The following year? A mystery killer seeks holiday-themed revenge. Stream Thanksgiving on Hulu or rent it from Prime Video and Apple TV. Thanksgiving (2023) at Hulu Learn More Learn More at Hulu Lez Bomb (2018) A charming, if lesser-known suburban comedy about the very relatable experience of trying to come out at a family gathering, and the ensuing mixed reactions. Jenna Laurenzo writes, directs, and stars as Lauren, who’s all ready to introduce her girlfriend to the family at Thanksgiving...until her male roommate shows up, and everyone auumes he’s her boyfriend. Stream Lez Bomb on Tubi or rent it from Prime Video and Apple TV. Lez Bomb (2018) at Tubi Learn More Learn More at Tubi For Your Consideration (2006) What does any Thanksgiving gathering need but more lesbian coming-out drama? This essential Christopher Guest mockumentary follows the production of an arthouse movie initially called Home for Purim, starring Callie Webb (Parker Posey) as a young woman who brings her girlfriend to a holiday dinner during the 1940s. As the absolutely cursed production gains Oscar buzz, the studio takes things in hand, deciding that the setting of a movie called "Home for Purim," is way too Jewish. Soon, our cast and crew (played by Guest mainstays Catherine O'Hara, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, Fred Willard, Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge, and Jane Lynch) are promoting "Home for Thanksgiving," which is the relatively thin thread by which I'll hang the movie on this list. Watch it now, and then watch it again during Oscar season. Rent For Your Consideration from Prime Video and Apple TV. For Your Consideration (2006) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Mistress America (2015) In this screwball-style holiday comedy, Greta Gerwig (who also co-wrote the film with director Noah Baumbach) plays Brooke, an unstoppable force who's some combination of influencer, interior designer, and fitness instructor—and who's nevertheless barely holding things together. Tracy (Lola Kirke), meanwhile, is a quiet, intense college freshman. Tracy's mom is about to marry Brooke's dad. The two women hit it off immediately, but their differences set off a sting of fairly zany happenings that all lead to a funny, poignant, and very New York Thanksgiving dinner. Rent Mistress America from Prime Video and Apple TV. Mistress America (2015) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Humans (2021) The past is very much present at nearly any family gathering, and that’s the case in this psychological drama, written and directed by Stephen Karam, who also wrote the Tony-winning and Pulitzer-nominated play on which it’s closely based. It begins with a father struggling with 9/11-related trauma at his adult daughter’s apartment, which is too close to ground zero for his comfort (and might also possibly be haunted). Everyone brings traumas and resentments to the holiday table—but the movie is smart and subtle enough to avoid obvious beats and easy answers. Stream The Humans on Tubi or rent it from Prime Video and Apple TV. The Humans (2021) at Tubi Learn More Learn More at Tubi The House of Yes (1997) Screwball dark comedy The House of Yes is, perhaps, not terribly representative of any particular American family at Thanksgiving—unless you too have a psychotic sister (Parker Posey) who believes that she’s Jackie Onassis. This is Posey in her wacky indie golden age, starring in a darkly funny seasonal comedy which, OK, includes incest and murder so, you know, maybe don't watch it with the kids. But as a heightened version of the kinds of wackiness that family members can bring to the dinner table, it rings true. Rent The House of Yes from Prime Video and Apple TV. The House of Yes (1997) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Daytrippers (1996) You could spend an entire afternoon watching classic ‘90s Parker Posey movies—which honestly sounds better than 80% of typical Thanksgiving activities. Here she’s crammed into a Buick with Hope Davis and Live Schreiber as they head out on a day-after-Thanksgiving road trip to track down Davis’ husband and confront him about his cheating ways. Stream The Daytrippers on HBO Max and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video and Apple TV. The Daytrippers (1996) at HBO Max Learn More Learn More at HBO Max The Myth of Fingerprints (1997) Upper-middle class white family dysfunction was a big topic in the 1990s, and this is a standout example of the form. On one level, it's another story of a family coming together over the holidays while grappling with resentments and secrets and abusive histories, but it's a big step up from the typical family drama, unravelling the various relationships with uncommon subtlety and a sense of humor. The entire family is extremely horny, and having various couples under one roof for the holidays makes it very hard for anyone to get any sleep. Blythe Danner, Roy Scheider, Noah Wyle, and Julianne Moore star. Stream The Myth of Fingerprints on Tubi. The Myth of Fingerprints (1997) at Tubi Learn More Learn More at Tubi The Gold Rush (1925) One of Charlie Chaplin's most memorable films isn't exactly full of images of Thanksgiving abundance, though there are reasons for gratitude by the movie's end. But one of the best remembered scenes (not just in the film, but in all of American cinema) takes place during an extremely unconventional Thanksgiving meal: Chaplin's Tramp cooks up one of his shoes for himself and Jim (Mack Swain), with whom he's trapped in a tiny snowbound cabin during the Klondike Gold Rush. Their Thanksgiving repast doesn't end there, as The Tramp hallucinates a giant chicken, leading to a round of fisticuffs, before a more discernibly tangible bear comes to investigate. It's a good reminder to appreciate whatever food winds up on your plate, assuming it isn't also made of laces and leather. Stream The Gold Rush on HBO Max and Prime Video or rent it from Apple TV. The Gold Rush (1925) at HBO Max Learn More Learn More at HBO Max Turkey Hollow (2015) There's hardly any modern technology at all in the town of Turkey Hollow, making it a great place for recently divorced Ron to take his two kids for the holiday. They're all off to the home of Ron's eccentric Aunt Cly (Mary Steenburgen) for some peace and quiet—until teens Tim and Annie get involved in the hunt for the "Howling Hoodoo," a 10-foot-tall monster of local legend. That leads them into a plot to take over Aunt Clay's farm, as well as some other delightfully Muppet-y weirdness; produced by the Jim Henson Company, the movie is based on one of his original stories. Definitely a fun family watch. Stream Jim Henson's Turkey Hollow on Prime Video. Turkey Hollow (2015) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Spider-Man (2002) There's not a lot of Thanksgiving in the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man film, but this is about it if you're looking for a super-powered holiday. Here, the festivities occur at a key moment: Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) is having the whole gang over for turkey—Peter (Tobey Maguire) and pals Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) and Harry (James Franco), of course, but also Harry's dad Norman Osbourne (Willem Dafoe). He's secretly Spider-villain the Green Goblin, and it's during this meal that he notices that Peter has some suspicious injuries. The tension grows as the arch-nemeses gradually cotton to each other's dual identities. And what Thanksgiving dinner isn't filled with bubbling tension? Stream Spider-Man on Disney+ or rent it from Prime Video and Apple TV. Spider-Man (2002) at Disney+ Learn More Learn More at Disney+ The Last Waltz (1978) There's much that's poignant about The Last Waltz, the Martin Scorsese -directed concert film recorded during Thanksgiving 1976. The final performance of the Band feels like the end of a rock 'n' roll era, with the generation of musicians who exploded during Woodstock (Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, Joni Mitchell, and many others) saying goodbye to what had been in the face of disco, rap, new wave, and pop. But there's more here than just that sense of encroaching twilight: there are squabbles, there's real affection, and there's a lot of booze and more than a few drugs. In other words: not an atypical family Thanksgiving celebration. (The entire audience was given a Thanksgiving dinner before the concert, if that helps to sell you on the holiday connection.) Stream The Last Waltz on Tubi or rent it from Prime Video and Apple TV. The Last Waltz (1978) at Tubi Learn More Learn More at Tubi My Blue Heaven (1990) Once again, not a ton of explicit holiday here, but there is a sequence set at the mall during Thanksgiving—and the film is so charmingly goofy that it makes for solidly low-key seasonal viewing. Steve Martin plays Vinnie Antonelli, a mobster sent to live in the San Diego suburbs as part of the witness protection program—"Tod," as he's now called, struggles to give up his criminal ways, and doesn't even try to tone down his larger-than-life personality. This all makes life a bit of a blue hell for FBI agent Barney Coopersmith (Rick Moranis), assigned to keep an eye on Vinnie/Tod (they're joined by the reliably funny Joan Cusack). Herbert Ross (Steel Magnolias) directs a screenplay from Nora Ephron, and, if it's not the greatest use of all this assembled talent, it's still a very fun way to kill 90 minutes. Rent My Blue Heaven from Prime Video and Apple TV. My Blue Heaven (1990) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video View the full article

Google Ads expanded its “Political content” declaration, allowing advertisers to set a default political-ads preference at the account level — not just within individual campaigns. The feature quietly rolled out after Google introduced the campaign-level setting in August 2025. Why we care. The shift gives advertisers a simpler, more consistent way to comply with political-ad regulations, especially as new transparency requirements — including the EU’s TTPA rules that took effect in October 2025 — continue to ramp up. Instead of updating each campaign manually, advertisers can now define their political-ad intent once and apply it across the entire account. How it works. In campaign settings, advertisers can now choose: “I don’t intend to use this account to run political ads in the EU” Or declare that their campaigns do include political content. This account-level toggle acts as the default for all future campaigns, reducing errors and compliance gaps. A Spanish-language version of the UI spotted by Google Ads Specialist Victor Sellés Guillemat shows the update live. The big picture. Between global election cycles and new regional regulations, platforms are under growing pressure to enforce political-ad transparency at scale. Google’s latest update aims to reduce friction for compliant advertisers while ensuring regulators get clearer, more consistent disclosures. The bottom line. It’s a small UI tweak with real operational value: advertisers get fewer compliance headaches, and Google gets cleaner, more reliable political-ad declarations across accounts. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Giving the gift of tools for the holidays can be a great way to bring a smile to your favorite DIY enthusiast or home improvement weekend warrior, but quality tools can be expensive. However, you can still give a nice gift to someone who wants to do their own home maintenance or build their own shelves—you just have to know what to look for. Here are some of the best tools you can give for under $100, from someone who personally loves to wield a power drill. Best cordless tools under $100Cordless tools can be some of the most expensive for a home tool set because they need batteries and chargers in addition to the tool. Having batteries that work with multiple tools can be a big advantage because then you don’t necessarily need to have a different battery for each tool. Here are a few good deals on quality cordless tools that have battery platforms that work with hundreds of other tools and are durable as well. The Ryobi 18-volt driver set is $55.94 at Home Depot right now. The drill comes with a 1.5-amp-hour battery, a charger, and a 30-piece bit set, so it’s a good gift from someone starting a DIY tool kit because it has everything you need to start using it right out of the box. The Ryobi 18-volt battery platform includes over 300 cordless tools, so beginning with this battery set allows you to expand your kit in many directions. The Dremel 12-volt cordless multitool starter set is a good gift for a DIYer who is interested in metal smithing, wood carving, or even trimming a dog’s nails, and it’s $99 right now at Home Depot. The cordless feature makes a Dremel more portable, and easier to control because you don’t need to worry about dragging an extension cord around behind you. The starter set comes with a battery, a charger, and a small set of accessories, so it’s a good set as a gift because it’s ready to use right out of the box. The Ryobi 18-volt cordless brad nailer is a good gift for someone who is interested in installing trim or making woodworking projects like a birdhouse, and you can get it for $99 right now at Home Depot. It has a depth control and a built-in LED light that makes it more convenient in my experience when you’re working in tight spaces. While battery operated nailers used to be a little underpowered, improvements in battery technology and engineering have made them more functional in the last few years. This is a good gift for someone who already has an 18-volt Ryobi battery set or if you plan to buy batteries separately because it doesn’t come with a battery or a charger. Best tool sets under $100Quality hand tools like wrenches and pliers are an essential part of a home DIY set, and you might not even realize how important they are until you’re partway through taking your kitchen sink apart and you realize you don’t have the right wrench. Hand tools are a good gift for a DIYer because in my experience, you can never have too many. Here are a few quality tool sets you can give your favorite DIY home improvement expert for under $100. A set of Craftsman slip-joint pliers is a good gift for anyone who does vehicle maintenance, DIY appliance repair, or any DIY projects with mechanical parts, and you can get it on Amazon for $22.48 right now. I’ve used my slipjaw pliers on sink repair and also to fix wheels on rolling chairs. This set comes with one pair of 10-inch and one pair of eight-inch slip-jaw pliers with rubber handle grips for a more comfortable grip. The Klein 9-piece screwdriver set is a good quality starter set of drivers and a good gift to give someone interested in any type of DIY, and it’s $66.99 right now on Amazon. Klein screwdrivers are known for their durability, and are a popular choice for construction trades because they’re made with good quality steel and durable components. This set comes with eight flathead and Phillips head drivers in a range of lengths and a magnetizer/demagnetizer tool to allow you to magnetize your screw tip to hold hardware, or demagnetize it for work around sensitive electronic parts. The Craftsman 20-piece ratcheting wrench set is a good gift for anyone who works with mechanical parts, nut and bolts, auto-repair, or appliance repair. These wrenches are especially handy because they can fit in a much narrower place than a socket wrench would, so they can be indispensable for fitting into tight spaces. They’re $66.99 on Amazon right now, and the set includes ten SAE and ten metric wrenches in various sizes. CRAFTSMAN 20 Piece Ratcheting Combination Wrench Set, SAE/Metric (CMMT87220) $69.99 at Amazon $99.99 Save $30.00 Shop Now Shop Now $69.99 at Amazon $99.99 Save $30.00 Best bits and accessories under $100Bits, blades, and accessories for a tool set are sometimes the difference between being able to finish a project or not, but they can be more expensive than you might expect. If you’re shopping for someone with DIY dreams, bits and other accessories are almost always a useful choice because these things tend to be expendable, as they can wear out over time. I’ve never been sad to have extra bits in my tool kit. Here are a few of the best bits and accessories gifts under $100. The Bosch 15-piece router bit set is a good gift for a woodworker who likes to shape their own trim with a router. These bits are good quality, and made by one of the most popular router manufacturers around. They can be used for edge-trimming as well as cutting a molding profile or adding a decorative edge to shelves or cabinet doors. You can get this set for $94.99 on Amazon, and it comes with a wrench for swapping out the adapters and a carrying case. The Milwaukee 120-piece impact bit set is a good gift for anyone who uses a drill or impact driver for home repair or DIY projects, and it’s $29.88 at Home Depot right now. This set comes with a variety of driver bits as well as some drill bits and an extension bit holder. These bits will work with either an impact driver or a drill, so they’re versatile and interchangeable for convenient use. I like to use this type of bit because they tend to be more shatter resistant when you’re driving fasteners into tough material like the 110-year-old plaster walls in my house. The Milwaukee 23-piece impact compatible drill bit set is a good gift for anyone who installs shelving, builds home woodworking projects, or wants to hang storage in their home. It comes with drill bits that are cross compatible with a drill or impact driver in a variety of sizes, and you can get it for $29.97 at Home Depot right now. These bits are stranger than your average drill bit to accommodate the extra force that an impact driver exerts, and I find that they tend to be durable for woodworking projects. View the full article

Non-QM's rapid rise is reshaping how lenders underwrite and manage risk, setting a model the rest of the industry will follow, writes the founder of Prudent AI. View the full article

For much of its history, marketing thrived on creativity, intuition and an almost magical ability to connect with audiences. Campaigns were conceived in brainstorming sessions, executed over weeks or months and celebrated (or dissected) once the results rolled in. Theodore Levitt’s “The Marketing Imagination” stays on most marketers’ bookcases alongside their team’s awards. Much of the technology we buy inside marketing is mostly isolated and gives fractal views of the customer, never a complete one and never of the customer in motion (with or without us). The one platform to solve it all has been the misnomer we have been hunting for but will never find. The promise of a single point of heuristic overview is as unlikely as a nirvana state. That model is rapidly disappearing. In its place is a new reality for new college entrants, mid careerists and senior management looking to break the glass ceiling into the board room. Marketing as a continuous, data-driven and precision-engineered system. The artistry remains, but it’s wrapped in structures, processes and toolchains more familiar to software developers than to Mad Men. This isn’t theory. It’s the inevitable outcome of digital transformation — the central premise of “The Digital Helix,” which frames modern business as a living, adaptive DNA strand. In this DNA, marketing stops being a series of isolated campaigns and becomes an always-on engine of growth, fueled by data and shaped by customer signals in real time. From campaigns to continuous systems In the analogue era, campaigns had clear beginnings and endings. Teams worked in long arcs — brief, create, launch, measure, repeat. But digital customers don’t wait. They move fluidly across channels, expecting brands to respond instantly to their behaviors and preferences. This forces a shift from episodic campaigns to continuous systems: self-correcting, learning and evolving without the need for a restart. Engineers call this continuous integration; in marketing, it means messaging, content, and offers can change dynamically mid-stream, without pausing for a quarterly review. In this new environment, marketing isn’t just storytelling. It’s system design and it needs constant engineering (sprints, scrums, design, match up and perform and adjust mindsets). How we work — and the skills and mindsets we’re looking for — are going to transform who we are, and fast. Add agents, add GenAI and our teams need to think like learning software engineers, evolving from an MVP launch into something highly tuned and ongoing. Why the shift is happening now There are five key forces pushing marketing into an engineering mindset. 1. Data as the core material In engineering, everything starts with inputs. In marketing, those inputs are data: every click, search, purchase and pause in a video. These signals act like sensors, feeding an engine that decides what happens next. Modern marketing teams use real-time customer telemetry to guide decisions, trigger automated responses the moment certain conditions are met and maintain predictive models the way developers maintain codebases. Data isn’t an afterthought. It’s the raw material from which every experience is built. It is the DNA of these situations and not data as an afterthought from opinion. Not all data is perfect; most is directional but frequent review and adjustments with it gets marketing the north star. Every day, marketing leaders should be looking at the data that signals, shapes and even lets them construct new Origami ideas from it. 2. Modular, reusable assets drive everything. Think Lego, think Tesla, think Amazon — sovereignty over your assets is a moat. Software developers rarely build from scratch. They use libraries and frameworks. Marketing is adopting the same principle. Instead of creating bespoke content for each campaign, brands are building modular content objects: video snippets, dynamic templates, copy blocks — all designed to be reused, recombined and deployed across platforms. Some forward-thinking brands are even developing “APIs for brand” — structured repositories of logos, imagery and copy that partners and products can tap into instantly. And just like engineers, marketers are adopting version control, tracking the evolution of creative so they can roll back or iterate faster. Lego does this extremely well. There are 3,400 different molds and tens of millions of different models or set possibilities. Tesla is 100% dedicated to module design. Software developers use containers to move code around. The world has gone modular. Just look inside an Amazon warehouse. It’s all modular. Marketing has been too slow to embrace this global precedent. 3. Agile becomes the default, not the exception. This means comfort with degrees of success and learning, not winning or losing. Agility is no longer optional. Annual planning cycles can’t keep pace with shifting customer expectations. Marketing teams are moving to sprint-based workflows, borrowing directly from Agile software development. This means Scrum-style stand-ups across creative, analytics, and operations, the ability to deliver rapid prototyping of offers and messages, tested live with small audience segments and most importantly iteration based on performance data, not assumptions or beliefs. Agile marketing turns the department from a lumbering ship into a nimble fleet of fast-moving vessels — sort of your own version of Drake against the Spanish Armadas. 4. Journeys as living architectures require shepherds of the TQM The “funnel” is dead. What we have now is more akin to an experience architecture — an interconnected network of pathways that adjust based on customer behavior. Journey orchestration platforms function like traffic control systems, routing customers to the most relevant touchpoints in real time. When performance dips, marketers diagnose the “experience outage” and reroute flows, much like engineers reroute network traffic. In this model, journeys are not diagrams on a wall. They’re dynamic, reconfigurable systems based on connected moments where a target might enter, abandon, store, or share with others. Think in the target’s journey and the moments of choice, not in the outcome you want. The journey must be stewarded and curated at every point, and everybody owns the quality of that experience and not just the piece they might touch. Think TQM for marketing journeys. 5. AI and automation as the toolchain will lead to agent-to-agent marketing as the norm. In software development, toolchains manage the build, test, and deployment process and invariably vast swathes of the testing. In marketing, AI and automation are becoming our equivalent. Generative AI accelerates creative production and personalization. Predictive AI identifies high-value customers and moments to intervene. Automation frameworks ensure consistent execution across regions and languages. The marketer’s workstation of the future will look as much like a developer’s IDE as a designer’s studio. If this scares you, that is a legitimate concern. Orchestrated machine learning will lead to agent-to-agent futures in marketing where agentic and intelligent agents work together around parameters to deliver work products. Engineers with empathy — Marketing’s new mandate If all this sounds mechanical, it’s worth remembering one of the key truths from “The Digital Helix”: transformation doesn’t erase humanity — it enhances it. Engineering disciplines still require deep user understanding. Marketing’s human touch, empathy and creativity remain essential. The difference is that these qualities now operate inside scalable, measurable systems. Tomorrow’s marketers (as in, truly, tomorrow) will be comfortable discussing APIs, automation triggers and model accuracy. They will need to be fluent in design thinking, data science, and automation logic from a senior and a very junior perspective and they will have to be able to be storytellers who test and refine narratives the way engineers prototype features. A new marketing playbook The parallels between engineering and marketing are striking: Engineering PrincipleMarketing EquivalentExampleModular designReusable campaign componentsA product launch template that auto-localizes for each regionContinuous integrationAlways-on optimizationCreative that self-adjusts daily based on engagementAutomation pipelinesOrchestrated journey flowsTriggered nurture sequences tied to live customer signalsMonitoring & alertsExperience dashboardsInstant alerts when sentiment dropsVersion controlIteration managementTracking every revision of messaging This playbook isn’t theoretical. It’s already in use by leading brands. The Digital Helix in practice and the inevitable future In a true Digital Helix organization, marketing and engineering mindsets merge. Data intelligence and customer empathy twist together in every decision. Systems are designed for continuous improvement, not one-off success. Getting there requires technology investment in modular content systems, automation and analytics, cross-disciplinary learning between marketers, engineers and data scientists, shifting KPIs to measure system health and adaptability, not just campaign ROI. Customer expectations are being set by the smoothest, fastest experiences they encounter — whether ordering a coffee, streaming a show, or booking a ride. Meeting those expectations demands precision, speed, and adaptability. Engineering disciplines have excelled at this for decades. Now, marketing must follow suit. The marketers of tomorrow will think like engineers, design like architects, and create like artists. They’ll build systems that run 24/7, learning and improving in the background, while they focus on what no algorithm can replace: the human connection. That’s the future of marketing — and it’s already being built. View the full article

At this late stage in the streaming era, we're all overwhelmed by more digital subscriptions than we can keep track of, from fitness apps to cloud storage. Still, it certainly feels as though Netflix is one of the subscriptions that people are least likely to ditch—and that's backed up by the numbers. Perhaps it's because Netflix was the first company to really make streaming work, or perhaps it's the vast catalog of content it's amassed, or perhaps it's just because of Stranger Things and Squid Game. Whatever the reason, Netflix's churn rate is impressively low. Subscribers stick with it. Certainly it's always something I've long considered a mainstay on my streaming device. But recently, in the midst of reevaluating all of my monthly subs, I decided to save myself some money and actually cancel Netflix. It has gone so well, I'd suggest you do the same. Here's what I've noticed since my life became Netflix-free—and I have a strong suspicion this might be your experience too. (Full disclosure: I will eventually subscribe again, if only to finish Stranger Things, but there are benefits to quitting, even if only temporarily.) I didn't miss it as much as I thought I would Netflix content: There's a lot of it. Credit: Lifehacker I was quite a heavy Netflix user before I gave it up, and would often cycle through the recommended list of shows and movies in the evening and especially on weekends. I've recently binged my way through shows like The Diplomat, Dept Q., Departure, and The Glass Dome. I could always find something to watch on Netflix. But when I stopped being able to access Netflix, I realized didn't really miss it all that much. My viewing switched to other streaming services, and free, ad-supported channels in particular. There's actually more free content out there than you might have realized. I even did some fun rewatches of movies and shows I'd previously purchased on various platforms (because I don't always want to rent something for the evening). I've also been spending less time streaming video in general—more of my time has been put towards gaming and reading since I ditched my Netflix subscription. I've even been to an actual movie theater once or twice (not that you can see anything developed by Netflix on the big screen for the most part). The prices keep going up Need an extra member? That's an extra cost. Credit: Lifehacker Before I quit Netflix, I was on the most expensive plan: It's £18.99 a month here in the U.K., and $24.99 a month in the U.S. This gets you the best audio and 4K HDR video quality, spatial audio, four simultaneous streams, and six devices for downloading content. It's actually one of the most expensive streaming packages there is, and prices keep going up. After the great password crackdown of 2023, you can't even share the account with anyone who doesn't live with you either—at least not unless you pay an extra fee (£4.99 here in the UK, $8.99 in the US). By any measure, that's a significant chunk of money. If you're paying for the best plan plus an extra member and decide to take six months off Netflix, you'll saving yourself more than $200. There are cheaper plans available of course, if you want to sit through ads and put up with lower-resolution video—but I thought the whole point of paying for streaming was to avoid ads? It's hard to imagine Netflix ever dropping its prices, so this is a problem that's likely to get worse over time. Your account will be preserved for two years Netflix will hang on to all your viewing history for a while. Credit: Lifehacker One of the reasons you might be reluctant to cancel Netflix is because you think you'll lose years' worth of your viewing history and your personalized recommendations, and have to start again with a blank slate if you decide to sign back up. But in fact, Netflix stores your account information for 24 months—including ratings, game saves, and other account details. As long as you resubscribe again within a couple of years, you'll find everything as you left it (though you may need to scan some plot recaps for shows you were halfway through binge watching). This suggests Netflix is keen to leave the option to resubscribe open as long as possible. In my experience, it'll definitely send you lots of emails about rejoining in the meantime. I'm going to go back to Netflix someday—there's just too much stuff on there that I want to watch—but after years and years as a customer, it's been an interesting experiment to see what life is like without it. Certainly after this, I wouldn't be worried about taking another Netflix break in the future. When I decide I want to resubscribe, it'll only take a couple of clicks or taps. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Black Friday sales officially start Friday, November 28, and run through Cyber Monday, December 1, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it's over. Follow our live blog to stay up-to-date on the best sales we find. Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more. Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox. Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change. If there's a pantheon of digital notebooks, reMarkable has a place of pride. When the company released its reMarkable 2 tablet and stylus in 2020, it was a game changer for its sharp, professional design, innovative features, and especially its smooth, paper-like writing experience. Even years later, folks over in the r/reMarkableTablet subreddit consider it a best-in-class device, even if they've since upgraded to the newer reMarkable Paper Pro, which adds a backlight and a color screen. Either one of these tablets is an excellent choice for anyone looking for an e-ink digital notebook built for creativity: Unlike some competitors, reMarkable tablets don't run apps or try to replace your iPad. Like a paper notebook, they are designed to eliminate distractions and leave you alone with a blank page, but unlike a paper notebook, the work you do in them can be easily uploaded to the cloud, sent to your co-workers, and otherwise integrated into your workflow. If you've been looking to pick up one of these immensely useful gadgets, now is a good time: Though they rarely go one sale, you can currently pick up either one in a discounted Black Friday bundle that includes a cover and stylus. reMarkable Essentials Bundle $529.00 at Amazon $599.00 Save $70.00 Get Deal Get Deal $529.00 at Amazon $599.00 Save $70.00 reMarkable Paper Pro Bundle $749.00 at Amazon $799.00 Save $50.00 Get Deal Get Deal $749.00 at Amazon $799.00 Save $50.00 SEE -1 MORE reMarkable Essentials Bundle This bundle includes the reMarkable 2, a folio, and the Marker Plus stylus with eraser. You can choose between a leather folio for $529 on Amazon (down from the usual price of $599) or a cloth-bound folio. If you choose a cloth-bound folio instead, you'll pay $499—a less impressive $30 discount, but a discount all the same. reMarkable Paper Pro Bundle If you want a color screen and a front light, you'll need the upgraded reMarkable Paper Pro. For the tablet in a bundle with the Marker Plus with eraser and a cloth folio, you'll pay $729 (down from $779), or you can go with the leather folio option for $749 (down from ($799). Does Amazon have Black Friday deals?Yes, Amazon has Black Friday sales, but prices aren’t always what they seem. Use a price tracker to make sure you’re getting the best deal, or refer to guides like our live blog that use price trackers for you. And if you have an Amazon Prime membership, make the most of it. What stores have the best sales on Black Friday?Nowadays, both large retailers and small businesses compete for Black Friday shoppers, so you can expect practically every store to run sales through Monday, December 1, 2025. The “best” sales depend on your needs, but in general, the biggest discounts tend to come from larger retailers who can afford lower prices: think places like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Home Depot. You can find all the best sales from major retailers on our live blog. Are Black Friday deals worth it?In short, yes, Black Friday still offers discounts that can be rare throughout the rest of the year. If there’s something you want to buy, or you’re shopping for gifts, it’s a good time to look for discounts on what you need, especially tech sales, home improvement supplies, and fitness tech. Of course, if you need to save money, the best way to save is to not buy anything. Our Best Editor-Vetted Early Black Friday Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $219.99 (List Price $249.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $279.99 (List Price $349.00) Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) — $69.99 (List Price $139.99) Sony WH-1000XM5 — $248.00 (List Price $399.99) Blink Outdoor 4 1080p Wireless Security Camera (5-Pack) — $159.99 (List Price $399.99) Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus — $24.99 (List Price $49.99) NEW Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones — $298.00 (List Price $429.00) Shark AI Ultra Matrix Clean Mapping Voice Control Robot Vacuum with XL Self-Empty Base — $249.99 (List Price $599.00) Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band) — $349.99 (List Price $399.00) Western Digital 14TB Elements Desktop External Hard Drive — $169.99 (List Price $279.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article