ResidentialBusiness

Lessons from a pivot to Asia that never comes View the full article

Microsoft is testing placing search refinement tabs or buttons above the shopping ads within the Bing Search results. And when you click on those refinements, you are taken into Bing Shopping Search.View the full article

Prime minister has been under pressure over dropping of charges against two British menView the full article

The Pittsburgh-based bank's solid third quarter comes weeks after it announced it plans to acquire a Colorado bank for $4.1 billion. View the full article

Google's John Mueller said that there was no change to how fast and frequently the Google Search Console API sends data. This comes after some are questioning the speed of the API and why there may be recent data slowdowns.View the full article

Retroactive interpretations have bedeviled mortgage servicers and the market for older loans. The industry will be watching other cases in New York closely now. View the full article

There is an all-out global race for AI dominance. The largest and most powerful companies in the world are investing billions in unprecedented computing power. The most powerful countries are dedicating vast energy resources to assist them. And the race is centered on one idea: transformer-based architecture with large language models are the key to winning the AI race. What if they are wrong? What we call intelligence evolved in biological life over hundreds of millions of years starting with simple single-celled organisms like bacteria interacting with their environment. Life gradually developed into multi-cell organisms learning to seek what they needed and to avoid what could harm them. Ultimately humans emerged with highly complex brains, billions of neurons and exponentially more neural interactions designed to respond to their needs, interactions, and associations with each other and the world. Creating an artificial form of that likely involves more than cleverly generating language with tools trained on massive repositories of largely non-curated text and marketing it as intelligence. What if aggregating the vast collective so-called wisdom accumulated on the internet and statistically analyzing it with complex algorithms to mindlessly respond to human prompts is really just an unimaginably expensive and resource-intensive exercise in garbage-in-garbage-out? At best, it may be a clever chronicler of common wisdom. At worst, it’s an unprecedented and unnecessary waste of resources with potentially harmful consequences. Eerily foreshadowing a critique of current mainstream AI, Immanuel Kant famously wrote in his landmark work, A Critique of Pure Reason, “thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind.” Put another way, can eons of evolved intelligence be replicated and reduced to the world’s greatest parrot or the mother-of-all autocompletes? With all of the global power, hype, and resources behind this one approach, you may have the impression that it is the only viable way to create an artificial form of human intelligence. Fortunately, it is not. Incrementalism On the incrementalist end of the spectrum of AI research and development, there are approaches that seek to make more efficient use of resources such as grouping small language models (SLMs) with AI agents (https://www.fastcompany.com/91281577/autonomous-ai-agents-are-both-exciting-and-scary) to allow more focused, economical inquiries and responses. (See, Small Language Models are the Future of Agentic AI, Cornell University, https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.02153). The theory is simple: employ flexible, efficient AI agents (technology that can autonomously interact with the environment and perform tasks without human supervision) to access SLMs, smaller, more targeted, and less resource-intensive sets of data. The underlying theory is the same for SLMs and LLMs—aggregating data and statistically modeling it to generate text or other data. SLMs are just a smaller and more efficient (but inherently more limited) way of doing this. This approach can incorporate additional technology to achieve greater accuracy such as retrieval augmented generation (RAG). RAG can access more targeted, verifiable, and critically, real-time information rather than simply relying on static (pretrained) data alone. A whole greater than the sum of its parts A more significant possible alternative to the LLM and GPT architecture that more closely simulates how we think is based on attempting to replicate evolutionary biology. One company pioneering such work is Softmax (named for a statistical function used in machine learning) led by a cofounder of Twitch, Emmett Shear, who briefly served as CEO of OpenAI. This approach is modeled on cellular biology and the idea that individual parts (cells) working (or in alignment) with each other can form a whole with greater coordinated functionality than the individual parts. A human being is made up of individual but synchronized cells that, on their own, don’t function like us, but somehow cohere to allow us to think and function as human beings. In terms of building a computer model, AI agents are the equivalent of cells in this approach that in theory at least, can work together to form a greater functioning, learning entity. If the current domination of LLMs and GPT architecture continues and other innovative approaches fall (or are pushed) by the wayside, it wouldn’t be the first time in the history of computing that commercial forces overrule potentially better alternatives (see Why bad ideas linger in software, Alan Kay, 2012, address to the Congress on the Future of Engineering Software). As Albert Einstein famously noted, if he had an hour to save the world, he would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and five minutes solving it. The massive entities pushing the current dominant approach to AI development have yet to define the problem they are trying to solve. LLMs and GPT have proven able to perform tasks that people find useful and they will likely continue to do so. The question is, what if anything, does that have to do with intelligence, human or otherwise? View the full article

When you go to the Google AI Mode home screen, the quick way to do that is to go to google.com/ai. You may see a small disclaimer under the search box that says "Based on your Google activity."View the full article

Uncover the truth about LLM visibility trackers. Are they worth the investment for your brand's online visibility and success? The post Are LLM Visibility Trackers Worth It? appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Looking for amazing Halloween messages? Halloween is one of the most popular holidays throughout the year, but it’s not always celebrated in business settings like Christmas, the New Year, and birthdays often are. Luckily, if you’re a Halloween fanatic, there are plenty of ways you can bring some spooky messages into your own interactions throughout the season. You may send a festive email to co-workers or send a card to your top clients. As we approach Halloween night, here are some options for sharing spooky wishes with your co-workers, clients, and bosses. Should You Send Professional Colleagues Happy Halloween Wishes? Halloween greetings are certainly not essential in professional settings. People don’t expect them as they do during the holiday season. However, a simple card, email, or greeting can inject some fun and friendly interactions into your business relationships. The content and tone of your Halloween messages may vary by situation. For example, you may save funny Halloween messages for your co-workers and stick with more professional messages when communicating with clients. Halloween card messages or emails may be especially beneficial if certain people in your circle have expressed a love of Halloween with you in the past. In these instances, sharing a festive greeting can show people how much you care and that you pay special attention during these interactions. Here are some more things to consider when sending Halloween messages: Cultural Sensitivity: Halloween isn’t celebrated everywhere in the same way. Before sending a greeting, ensure that the recipient is familiar with and appreciates the holiday. Avoid potential misunderstandings or unintentional offense. Balance Humor with Professionalism: While Halloween is known for its fun and spooky elements, remember to strike a balance. Avoid jokes or images that might be too informal or might not resonate well in a professional context. Personalize the Message: Just like any other communication, personal touches matter. If you know a colleague has kids who’ll be trick-or-treating, or if they’ve shared a Halloween anecdote, mention it. This shows you listen and care. Keep it Optional: If you’re in a managerial position and considering sending Halloween wishes to your team, make any related activities (like a Halloween card exchange or a themed office party) optional. Everyone should feel comfortable, and no one should feel pressured to participate. E-Card or Physical Card? Consider the most appropriate medium for your message. An email or e-card might be suitable for distant colleagues or virtual teams. For colleagues in the same office, a physical card can have a personal touch and sit on their desk as a festive decoration. Best Halloween Greetings to Co-Workers When wishing your co-workers a happy Halloween, you may share casual or funny greetings. Since you’re likely more familiar with these individuals than you may be with partners, bosses, or customers, customize messages to each co-worker’s personality and preferences. The following greetings provide a solid starting point that you can adjust as needed. Wish your colleagues a killer Halloween with the following messages. Happy Halloween! Let’s brew up some good vibes at work today! Don’t eat too much candy today; we’ve got work to do tomorrow! Happy Halloween! Let’s haunt the office with good vibes and candy! Wishing you a ghoulishly good Halloween, filled with spooky delights! May your Halloween be filled with as many laughs as candy! Have a chillingly good Halloween and a fright-free workday! Happy Halloween! Here’s hoping today is fright-free and full of candy! May your coffee be strong and your workday be short. Happy Halloween! Hope your Halloween is as awesome as you are! Happy Halloween! Let’s scare the workday away together! May your Halloween be filled with candy, fun, and spooky vibes! Have a fang-tastic Halloween, and don’t let the workday bite! Have a witchy Halloween, and don’t get too spooked at your desk! Wishing you a candy-filled and stress-free Halloween! Have a hauntingly fun Halloween at the office today! Hope your day is full of thrills, chills, and sweet treats! Wishing you a hauntingly good day at work—Happy Halloween! Happy Halloween! Don’t be too spooked by the inbox today! Hope your Halloween is full of thrills, chills, and lots of candy! Wishing you a witchy good time this Halloween—may the workday fly by! Have a bewitching Halloween! Don’t let the ghouls get to you! Wishing you a day filled with spooky fun and office treats! Wishing you a day full of spook-tacular fun and treats at work! Wishing you a boo-tiful day and a spooky evening! Happy Halloween! Don’t let the workday scare you! Happy Halloween! Don’t let the office zombies get to you today! Wishing you a fang-tastic Halloween filled with eerie-sistible treats! Don’t let the ghosts and goblins distract you—have a fang-tastic Halloween! Trick or treat yourself to something sweet today—you deserve it! Happy Halloween! Let’s scare away the Monday blues together! Keep an eye out for black cats in the office today; we wouldn’t want any bad luck! Happy Halloween! Hope your day is filled with more treats than tricks! Hope your Halloween is full of good times and even better treats! Happy Halloween! Let’s get through today with a little magic and a lot of candy! Happy Halloween! Let’s make today less trick and more treat! Ghouls rule and boys drool, right? Have a wicked day at work! Hope your Halloween is magical and full of delicious treats! Happy Halloween! May your day be filled with ghoulishly good times! Don’t let the office ghosts steal your lunch today! Have a spooktacular day! Just a heads up, the copy machine is dressed up as a paper jam monster today! Messages to Wish Clients a Spooky Halloween Halloween can provide an ideal opportunity to reach out to clients who also love spooky festivities. These Halloween card messages may be a bit more professional than those sent to colleagues, but you can still work in a few cheesy Halloween jokes for those with a sense of humor. Sharing happy Halloween messages may be especially impactful if certain clients have already mentioned a love of this holiday in past conversations. Even a simple card or email can show them that you pay attention and help you connect even further. Here are some ideas to get you started. Spooky greetings! May your day be filled with treats, laughter, and no ghostly hitches! Trick or treat, smell our feet—thanks for being so sweet! Happy Halloween! No tricks, just treats! Happy Halloween from the team at [Your Company]! Wishing you a hauntingly good time this Halloween! We’re bewitched by your support and partnership. Have a magical Halloween! On the eve of Halloween, we want to say thank you for making every day a treat! Happy Halloween from [Your Company]—thanks for being a fang-tastic client! It’s time for pumpkin-spiced everything! Have a wonderful Halloween! Thank you for your continued trust in our services. Have a bewitching Halloween! Wishing you a spooktacular Halloween full of sweet moments and happy memories. Sending batty wishes and fang-tastic vibes your way this Halloween! May your Halloween be full of eerie encounters and sweet rewards! Wishing you a spook-tacular Halloween from all of us at [Your Company]! Sending you spooky greetings and wicked fun this Halloween! May your Halloween be as fantastic as you have been to us this year. Happy haunting! Wishing you thrills, chills, and lots of candy this Halloween! Have a boo-tiful Halloween filled with sweet moments! Wishing you a frightfully fun Halloween filled with all your favorite treats! Sending you best wishes for a Happy Halloween. May it be filled with fun surprises! Have a witchy and wonderful Halloween from all of us at [Your Company]! Happy Halloween! We’re grateful for your business (and your sweet tooth)! May your Halloween be filled with just the right amount of spookiness and a whole lot of fun! Wishing you a Halloween that’s choc-full of fun and goodies! ? Have a ghostly good Halloween—don’t let the vampires bite! Wishing you a chillingly good Halloween filled with tricks and treats! We hope your Halloween is filled with both tricks and treats! Here’s to a spook-tacular Halloween filled with frightful delights! Sending you Halloween wishes for a hauntingly great time! Hope your Halloween is full of sweet treats and spooky delights! From our team to yours: Have a bootiful Halloween filled with delightful surprises! Here’s to a fun-filled Halloween! Thank you for being such a valuable client. From our haunted office to your home, Happy Halloween! We hope your Halloween is sweeter than candy corn! Wishing you a day filled with more treats than tricks! Enjoy the Halloween festivities! Happy Halloween! Don’t let the ghosts and goblins get you! Sending spooky vibes and happy haunts your way this Halloween! Have a bewitching Halloween, and don’t forget the candy! Trick or treat yourself to a fantastic Halloween! Hope your Halloween is as sweet as the candy you collect! Have a frightfully fun Halloween filled with pumpkin-spiced everything! Words to Wish Your Boss a Festive Halloween In many workplaces, it may also be appropriate to send bosses or business owners happy Halloween messages. These spooky Halloween wishes may vary by personality type. For example, a boss you’re close with may appreciate funny Halloween greeting cards. However, good Halloween messages for a new boss may stick to the basics. The following messages should provide some solid ideas. Happy Halloween! Here’s to a frightfully good day at the office! Hope your Halloween is filled with more treats than meetings today! Hope your Halloween is ghoulishly good and filled with candy! Happy Halloween, Boss! Your leadership is a treat to be around every day. To the boss who’s as cool as a vampire in the shade, have a great Halloween! Happy Halloween, boss! Wishing you a hauntingly productive day! May your day be filled with magic and productivity—Happy Halloween! Happy Halloween! Hope your day is free from any workday horrors! May your day be filled with more treats than tricks. Thanks for being a gourd-geous boss! May your Halloween be filled with sweet moments and zero workday frights! Hope your Halloween is full of spooky fun and sweet treats! Wishing you a ghoulishly fun Halloween! Thanks for all you do! To the boss who’s more sweet than scary, have a fang-tastic Halloween! Happy Halloween, boss! May the only tricks today be fun ones! Hope your Halloween is filled with more treats than tricks, boss! Wishing you a spooky yet productive Halloween, boss! Happy Halloween, boss! May your day be as sweet as candy! May your Halloween be as awesome as you are—have a great one! Wishing you a fang-tastic Halloween! Thank you for being a great boss! Boo! Just popping in to wish the best boss a Happy Halloween! Wishing you a boo-tiful day and a spook-tacular evening, boss! Wishing you a Halloween full of spooky fun and lots of candy! Wishing you a magical Halloween and a fright-free workday! To the boss who’s as wise as an owl and as fun as a jack-o’-lantern, Happy Halloween! Happy Halloween! I promise no tricks—only hard work today! Happy Halloween to the best boss—may your day be spook-tacular! To the boss who’s as inspiring as a full moon on Halloween night, enjoy your day! Wishing you a spellbinding Halloween full of sweet rewards! Wishing a fantastic Halloween to a boss who’s more sweet than scary. Happy Halloween, boss! I’m ready to brew up some hard work today! Hope your Halloween is filled with magic and lots of treats! Happy Halloween! May your day be full of spooky success! May your Halloween be filled with laughs, candy, and just a little bit of spooky fun! Here’s to a spooky and productive Halloween—Happy Halloween, boss! Spinning a web of gratitude for all you do. Happy Halloween, Boss! Wishing you a thrilling Halloween and a day free from any workday horrors! Here’s wishing you a Halloween as sweet as candy and as fun as a haunted house! Hope your Halloween is filled with treats, not tricks—thanks for leading us! Wishing you a fa-boo-lous Halloween, boss! Here’s to a productive day! Happy Halloween! May your day be filled with spooky surprises and sweet treats! What Are Popular Halloween Phrases? The most popular Halloween greetings card messages are simple things like “Happy Halloween.” However, you can also integrate common and easily recognizable Halloween quotes and phrases like “double, double, toil and trouble,” “be afraid, be very afraid,” or “eat, drink, and be scary!” What Do You Write in a Halloween Card? Halloween greeting cards can vary widely, so tailor the message to the recipient. For example, friends and coworkers with a great sense of humor may appreciate funny messages about candy or spooky ghosts. However, if you’re writing a message to a boss, client, or someone you don’t know especially well, keep it simple. “Happy Halloween” or “wishing your family a spooky holiday” may be all that is needed. Otherwise, you may include some Halloween quotes or share happy Halloween messages wishing their whole family or team fun and enjoyable holiday. If you have a special connection with someone relating to Halloween, include references to your shared experiences to really personalize the card. If the recipient has a Halloween birthday, you could also use a birthday card to wish them both a happy Halloween and share positive wishes for the year ahead. Here are some examples of messages to write in a Halloween card: Happy Halloween! May your night be filled with scares, laughter, and lots of candy. Wishing you a hauntingly fun Halloween filled with tricks, treats, and lots of laughter. Beware of the witches and ghosts tonight, but most of all, have a fantastic Halloween! Hope your Halloween is as sweet as the candy you collect! Enjoy every bite. Have a boo-tiful Halloween filled with fun, frights, and delicious delights! May your Halloween be filled with magical moments and plenty of treats! Wishing you a night full of frights and a bag full of delights. Happy Halloween! Have a spooktacular Halloween! Enjoy the thrills and chills of the night. Sending you bewitching wishes for a Happy Halloween! Enjoy the spooktacular fun! May your Halloween be as enchanting as a full moon night. Have a fantastic time! Wish Colleagues an Unforgettable Halloween Adventure Filled with Creepy Memories Halloween messages provide a nice opportunity to connect further with clients, co-workers, and colleagues. A spooky greeting may show business connections how much you care about their interests or give them a glimpse at your personality or sense of humor. You don’t need to craft a complicated narrative to make an impact, though you certainly can if that’s your preference. In most cases, a simple “Happy Halloween” or funny notion may create a meaningful connection and help those in your circle enjoy a memorable and fun Halloween. The Happy Halloween messages above should provide a good starting point for your emails, greeting cards, or other correspondence throughout the spooky season. Choose those that speak to you, and then customize them to the people in your business network. Image: Envato Elements This article, "Happy Halloween Messages for Co-Workers, Clients and Your Boss" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Looking for amazing Halloween messages? Halloween is one of the most popular holidays throughout the year, but it’s not always celebrated in business settings like Christmas, the New Year, and birthdays often are. Luckily, if you’re a Halloween fanatic, there are plenty of ways you can bring some spooky messages into your own interactions throughout the season. You may send a festive email to co-workers or send a card to your top clients. As we approach Halloween night, here are some options for sharing spooky wishes with your co-workers, clients, and bosses. Should You Send Professional Colleagues Happy Halloween Wishes? Halloween greetings are certainly not essential in professional settings. People don’t expect them as they do during the holiday season. However, a simple card, email, or greeting can inject some fun and friendly interactions into your business relationships. The content and tone of your Halloween messages may vary by situation. For example, you may save funny Halloween messages for your co-workers and stick with more professional messages when communicating with clients. Halloween card messages or emails may be especially beneficial if certain people in your circle have expressed a love of Halloween with you in the past. In these instances, sharing a festive greeting can show people how much you care and that you pay special attention during these interactions. Here are some more things to consider when sending Halloween messages: Cultural Sensitivity: Halloween isn’t celebrated everywhere in the same way. Before sending a greeting, ensure that the recipient is familiar with and appreciates the holiday. Avoid potential misunderstandings or unintentional offense. Balance Humor with Professionalism: While Halloween is known for its fun and spooky elements, remember to strike a balance. Avoid jokes or images that might be too informal or might not resonate well in a professional context. Personalize the Message: Just like any other communication, personal touches matter. If you know a colleague has kids who’ll be trick-or-treating, or if they’ve shared a Halloween anecdote, mention it. This shows you listen and care. Keep it Optional: If you’re in a managerial position and considering sending Halloween wishes to your team, make any related activities (like a Halloween card exchange or a themed office party) optional. Everyone should feel comfortable, and no one should feel pressured to participate. E-Card or Physical Card? Consider the most appropriate medium for your message. An email or e-card might be suitable for distant colleagues or virtual teams. For colleagues in the same office, a physical card can have a personal touch and sit on their desk as a festive decoration. Best Halloween Greetings to Co-Workers When wishing your co-workers a happy Halloween, you may share casual or funny greetings. Since you’re likely more familiar with these individuals than you may be with partners, bosses, or customers, customize messages to each co-worker’s personality and preferences. The following greetings provide a solid starting point that you can adjust as needed. Wish your colleagues a killer Halloween with the following messages. Happy Halloween! Let’s brew up some good vibes at work today! Don’t eat too much candy today; we’ve got work to do tomorrow! Happy Halloween! Let’s haunt the office with good vibes and candy! Wishing you a ghoulishly good Halloween, filled with spooky delights! May your Halloween be filled with as many laughs as candy! Have a chillingly good Halloween and a fright-free workday! Happy Halloween! Here’s hoping today is fright-free and full of candy! May your coffee be strong and your workday be short. Happy Halloween! Hope your Halloween is as awesome as you are! Happy Halloween! Let’s scare the workday away together! May your Halloween be filled with candy, fun, and spooky vibes! Have a fang-tastic Halloween, and don’t let the workday bite! Have a witchy Halloween, and don’t get too spooked at your desk! Wishing you a candy-filled and stress-free Halloween! Have a hauntingly fun Halloween at the office today! Hope your day is full of thrills, chills, and sweet treats! Wishing you a hauntingly good day at work—Happy Halloween! Happy Halloween! Don’t be too spooked by the inbox today! Hope your Halloween is full of thrills, chills, and lots of candy! Wishing you a witchy good time this Halloween—may the workday fly by! Have a bewitching Halloween! Don’t let the ghouls get to you! Wishing you a day filled with spooky fun and office treats! Wishing you a day full of spook-tacular fun and treats at work! Wishing you a boo-tiful day and a spooky evening! Happy Halloween! Don’t let the workday scare you! Happy Halloween! Don’t let the office zombies get to you today! Wishing you a fang-tastic Halloween filled with eerie-sistible treats! Don’t let the ghosts and goblins distract you—have a fang-tastic Halloween! Trick or treat yourself to something sweet today—you deserve it! Happy Halloween! Let’s scare away the Monday blues together! Keep an eye out for black cats in the office today; we wouldn’t want any bad luck! Happy Halloween! Hope your day is filled with more treats than tricks! Hope your Halloween is full of good times and even better treats! Happy Halloween! Let’s get through today with a little magic and a lot of candy! Happy Halloween! Let’s make today less trick and more treat! Ghouls rule and boys drool, right? Have a wicked day at work! Hope your Halloween is magical and full of delicious treats! Happy Halloween! May your day be filled with ghoulishly good times! Don’t let the office ghosts steal your lunch today! Have a spooktacular day! Just a heads up, the copy machine is dressed up as a paper jam monster today! Messages to Wish Clients a Spooky Halloween Halloween can provide an ideal opportunity to reach out to clients who also love spooky festivities. These Halloween card messages may be a bit more professional than those sent to colleagues, but you can still work in a few cheesy Halloween jokes for those with a sense of humor. Sharing happy Halloween messages may be especially impactful if certain clients have already mentioned a love of this holiday in past conversations. Even a simple card or email can show them that you pay attention and help you connect even further. Here are some ideas to get you started. Spooky greetings! May your day be filled with treats, laughter, and no ghostly hitches! Trick or treat, smell our feet—thanks for being so sweet! Happy Halloween! No tricks, just treats! Happy Halloween from the team at [Your Company]! Wishing you a hauntingly good time this Halloween! We’re bewitched by your support and partnership. Have a magical Halloween! On the eve of Halloween, we want to say thank you for making every day a treat! Happy Halloween from [Your Company]—thanks for being a fang-tastic client! It’s time for pumpkin-spiced everything! Have a wonderful Halloween! Thank you for your continued trust in our services. Have a bewitching Halloween! Wishing you a spooktacular Halloween full of sweet moments and happy memories. Sending batty wishes and fang-tastic vibes your way this Halloween! May your Halloween be full of eerie encounters and sweet rewards! Wishing you a spook-tacular Halloween from all of us at [Your Company]! Sending you spooky greetings and wicked fun this Halloween! May your Halloween be as fantastic as you have been to us this year. Happy haunting! Wishing you thrills, chills, and lots of candy this Halloween! Have a boo-tiful Halloween filled with sweet moments! Wishing you a frightfully fun Halloween filled with all your favorite treats! Sending you best wishes for a Happy Halloween. May it be filled with fun surprises! Have a witchy and wonderful Halloween from all of us at [Your Company]! Happy Halloween! We’re grateful for your business (and your sweet tooth)! May your Halloween be filled with just the right amount of spookiness and a whole lot of fun! Wishing you a Halloween that’s choc-full of fun and goodies! ? Have a ghostly good Halloween—don’t let the vampires bite! Wishing you a chillingly good Halloween filled with tricks and treats! We hope your Halloween is filled with both tricks and treats! Here’s to a spook-tacular Halloween filled with frightful delights! Sending you Halloween wishes for a hauntingly great time! Hope your Halloween is full of sweet treats and spooky delights! From our team to yours: Have a bootiful Halloween filled with delightful surprises! Here’s to a fun-filled Halloween! Thank you for being such a valuable client. From our haunted office to your home, Happy Halloween! We hope your Halloween is sweeter than candy corn! Wishing you a day filled with more treats than tricks! Enjoy the Halloween festivities! Happy Halloween! Don’t let the ghosts and goblins get you! Sending spooky vibes and happy haunts your way this Halloween! Have a bewitching Halloween, and don’t forget the candy! Trick or treat yourself to a fantastic Halloween! Hope your Halloween is as sweet as the candy you collect! Have a frightfully fun Halloween filled with pumpkin-spiced everything! Words to Wish Your Boss a Festive Halloween In many workplaces, it may also be appropriate to send bosses or business owners happy Halloween messages. These spooky Halloween wishes may vary by personality type. For example, a boss you’re close with may appreciate funny Halloween greeting cards. However, good Halloween messages for a new boss may stick to the basics. The following messages should provide some solid ideas. Happy Halloween! Here’s to a frightfully good day at the office! Hope your Halloween is filled with more treats than meetings today! Hope your Halloween is ghoulishly good and filled with candy! Happy Halloween, Boss! Your leadership is a treat to be around every day. To the boss who’s as cool as a vampire in the shade, have a great Halloween! Happy Halloween, boss! Wishing you a hauntingly productive day! May your day be filled with magic and productivity—Happy Halloween! Happy Halloween! Hope your day is free from any workday horrors! May your day be filled with more treats than tricks. Thanks for being a gourd-geous boss! May your Halloween be filled with sweet moments and zero workday frights! Hope your Halloween is full of spooky fun and sweet treats! Wishing you a ghoulishly fun Halloween! Thanks for all you do! To the boss who’s more sweet than scary, have a fang-tastic Halloween! Happy Halloween, boss! May the only tricks today be fun ones! Hope your Halloween is filled with more treats than tricks, boss! Wishing you a spooky yet productive Halloween, boss! Happy Halloween, boss! May your day be as sweet as candy! May your Halloween be as awesome as you are—have a great one! Wishing you a fang-tastic Halloween! Thank you for being a great boss! Boo! Just popping in to wish the best boss a Happy Halloween! Wishing you a boo-tiful day and a spook-tacular evening, boss! Wishing you a Halloween full of spooky fun and lots of candy! Wishing you a magical Halloween and a fright-free workday! To the boss who’s as wise as an owl and as fun as a jack-o’-lantern, Happy Halloween! Happy Halloween! I promise no tricks—only hard work today! Happy Halloween to the best boss—may your day be spook-tacular! To the boss who’s as inspiring as a full moon on Halloween night, enjoy your day! Wishing you a spellbinding Halloween full of sweet rewards! Wishing a fantastic Halloween to a boss who’s more sweet than scary. Happy Halloween, boss! I’m ready to brew up some hard work today! Hope your Halloween is filled with magic and lots of treats! Happy Halloween! May your day be full of spooky success! May your Halloween be filled with laughs, candy, and just a little bit of spooky fun! Here’s to a spooky and productive Halloween—Happy Halloween, boss! Spinning a web of gratitude for all you do. Happy Halloween, Boss! Wishing you a thrilling Halloween and a day free from any workday horrors! Here’s wishing you a Halloween as sweet as candy and as fun as a haunted house! Hope your Halloween is filled with treats, not tricks—thanks for leading us! Wishing you a fa-boo-lous Halloween, boss! Here’s to a productive day! Happy Halloween! May your day be filled with spooky surprises and sweet treats! What Are Popular Halloween Phrases? The most popular Halloween greetings card messages are simple things like “Happy Halloween.” However, you can also integrate common and easily recognizable Halloween quotes and phrases like “double, double, toil and trouble,” “be afraid, be very afraid,” or “eat, drink, and be scary!” What Do You Write in a Halloween Card? Halloween greeting cards can vary widely, so tailor the message to the recipient. For example, friends and coworkers with a great sense of humor may appreciate funny messages about candy or spooky ghosts. However, if you’re writing a message to a boss, client, or someone you don’t know especially well, keep it simple. “Happy Halloween” or “wishing your family a spooky holiday” may be all that is needed. Otherwise, you may include some Halloween quotes or share happy Halloween messages wishing their whole family or team fun and enjoyable holiday. If you have a special connection with someone relating to Halloween, include references to your shared experiences to really personalize the card. If the recipient has a Halloween birthday, you could also use a birthday card to wish them both a happy Halloween and share positive wishes for the year ahead. Here are some examples of messages to write in a Halloween card: Happy Halloween! May your night be filled with scares, laughter, and lots of candy. Wishing you a hauntingly fun Halloween filled with tricks, treats, and lots of laughter. Beware of the witches and ghosts tonight, but most of all, have a fantastic Halloween! Hope your Halloween is as sweet as the candy you collect! Enjoy every bite. Have a boo-tiful Halloween filled with fun, frights, and delicious delights! May your Halloween be filled with magical moments and plenty of treats! Wishing you a night full of frights and a bag full of delights. Happy Halloween! Have a spooktacular Halloween! Enjoy the thrills and chills of the night. Sending you bewitching wishes for a Happy Halloween! Enjoy the spooktacular fun! May your Halloween be as enchanting as a full moon night. Have a fantastic time! Wish Colleagues an Unforgettable Halloween Adventure Filled with Creepy Memories Halloween messages provide a nice opportunity to connect further with clients, co-workers, and colleagues. A spooky greeting may show business connections how much you care about their interests or give them a glimpse at your personality or sense of humor. You don’t need to craft a complicated narrative to make an impact, though you certainly can if that’s your preference. In most cases, a simple “Happy Halloween” or funny notion may create a meaningful connection and help those in your circle enjoy a memorable and fun Halloween. The Happy Halloween messages above should provide a good starting point for your emails, greeting cards, or other correspondence throughout the spooky season. Choose those that speak to you, and then customize them to the people in your business network. Image: Envato Elements This article, "Happy Halloween Messages for Co-Workers, Clients and Your Boss" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Learn some key digital marketing tactics that work well for any business looking to grow. View the full article

Apple TV+ is dead. Long live Apple TV. On October 13, in a press release about F1: The Movie, Apple TV+ nonchalantly slipped in a line that from here on out it will be known simply as “Apple TV, with a vibrant new identity.” The streaming service’s new name is the same as Apple’s connected smart TV device product and app—effectively merging all of the brand’s TV-centric products under one moniker. Anyone who enjoys a bit of time winding down in front of the television knows about the plus sign. It’s come to represent nearly every streaming service out there: Disney+, ESPN+, BET+, Discovery+, even NASA+. Many streamers that don’t have the “Plus” now once did (we’re looking at you, Hulu). And there’s a reason this convention became ubiquitous. When streaming services first became popular in the mid-2010s, broadcast companies were tasked with creating streamer names that helped users understand the value proposition of the service. The “Plus,” after it was adopted by an initial few companies, quickly became a recognizable shorthand for “streamer.” Today, though, consumers are much more familiar with the joys (and, often, frustrations) associated with the many streaming services available to them. In casual conversation, most people aren’t even tacking on the “Plus” in these service’s names—simply saying that a show is available on Disney or Apple TV is enough to get the point across. On the brand side, streaming services have become less of a side offering and more of a core product. Now some streamers are grappling with how to adjust their branding to cut out the noise and escape the category’s sea of sameness—and it might just mean that the “Plus” is on its way out. Fast Company asked four branding experts what they think of Apple TV’s new identity. Here’s what they had to say: We’ve seen streamers like HBO Max, Paramount+, and now Apple TV adjust their branding over the past few years. Why do you think these streaming companies are having such a hard time getting it “right”? “The offerings across these platforms are nearly identical,” says Kennedy Placek, director of partnerships and client services at the creative agency Lexicon Branding. “They each carry powerful parent brands, and with that comes hesitation to dilute the brand. Using the plus sign was a safe move for signaling ‘more’ without undermining the equities of the master brand. The problem is that when everyone is using [a plus sign] and consumers are exposed to [it] in nearly every category, it loses credibility or meaning. It essentially stands for nothing.” Ben Sherwood, creative partner at the agency Design Bridge and Partners, says, “Streaming companies aren’t necessarily ‘getting it wrong,’ but rather navigating an incredibly volatile and saturated market. Branding these services is inherently difficult because their core product—content—is a moving target due to constant mergers, acquisitions, and licensing shifts.” Why might Apple TV have decided to lose the plus sign? Are we likely to see other streamers follow suit? “The plus sign no longer adds value or generates interest. Apple has always been known for its simplicity, and its decision to remove the ‘+’ is a return to that focus,” says Placek. “Apple TV on its own is consistent with other offers like Apple Music, Apple News. Apple has and continues to be a role model for other brands, so I wouldn’t be surprised if others follow suit.” Richard Swain, partner at the global brand agency Further, says, “Apple dropping the ‘plus’ says less to me about streaming and more about the convergence of hardware and software. When they launched the service, they needed to separate it from the physical Apple TV device and the content-aggregation platform. Today audiences understand those distinctions, so Apple can afford to simplify. It’s also a signal that the ‘plus’ era has probably run its course. Dropping it is a show of confidence from Apple.” Sherwood notes, “We absolutely think we’re likely to see other streamers follow suit. As brands mature and seek clearer differentiation in a crowded space, shedding generic suffixes is a natural evolution.” How much of a role does branding play in a streamer’s success, especially in the current environment of mounting costs and subscription tiers? “It definitely matters, arguably now more than ever,” says Swain. “Amazon has had to work so much harder to earn credibility in streaming because its brand is anchored in convenience and commerce. That association can be hard to shake. Meanwhile, companies like Netflix, and until recently HBO, have built brands that make you feel something before you even press play. The ‘ta-dum’ or the crackle of HBO static aren’t just logos or sounds, they’re Pavlovian cues that set your expectation about what experience you’re about to embark on.” Matt Sia, executive creative director at brand design agency Pearlfisher, says, “I think it would be in the best interest of these brands—especially the big, iconic ones—to draw less attention to what they’re doing and just continue doing good things for their audience. I heard that Apple TV called it a ‘vibrant new identity,’ and I think that was a miss. I don’t think they should have said anything; they could have just dropped [the plus sign]. Sometimes drawing attention to it is almost like, ‘Look at this brand-new identity!’ and it becomes a meme.” Lexicon Branding’s Placek concludes, “At this stage, branding matters less than the story they tell and the offer that supports their stories. It is all a big sea of sameness. Consumers have a hard time deciphering what they get in each ‘bundle,’ and likely make decisions based on loyalty or simply out of fatigue. To be frank, I don’t think people choose one platform over the other simply because one has a plus sign. Symbols don’t drive choice. Clarity does.” View the full article

The ink is hardly dry on the Draft 1.0 specification and then yesterday Broadcom announced Wi-Fi 8 chips are sampling. The post Off to the races: Wi-Fi 8 arrives (very!) early with Broadcom – and TP-Link appeared first on Wi-Fi NOW Global. View the full article

When athletes arrive in Milan for the 2026 Winter Olympics, they’ll find themselves living on top of what was once a bustling 19th-century rail yard. The newly revealed athletes village is located in the city’s historic Scalo di Porta Romana district—and when the Games are over, it’ll be converted into Italy’s largest-ever affordable student housing development. The Olympic Village design was led by the global architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). It includes six mass-timber residential buildings, two former train repair sheds that have been renovated into communal spaces, and 40,000 square meters of green space. After the Winter Olympics take place, the village will be transformed into 1,700 student apartments in time for the 2026-2027 school year. The repurposing of the 2026 athletes village follows a long history of similar past efforts, including converting former athlete housing into resorts, luxury condos, and mixed-use developments—all of which have achieved varying degrees of success. Inside the 2026 Athletes Village Photos of Milan’s Scalo di Porta Romana district from the early-20th century paint a picture of an ultra-industrial zone populated by factories, smokestacks, and railway cars. Today Milan’s administrative body, the Comune di Milano, is in the midst of a multiyear project to convert the district into a sprawling neighborhood complete with green space and commercial and residential zones. Part of that plan includes first transforming the former rail yard into a global destination for the Olympics and, later, a student housing development. “Porta Romana is a unique neighborhood,” says Colin Koop, design partner at SOM. “Originally situated outside the city walls, the neighborhood developed as a unique mix of industrial buildings, factories, and farms driven by its adjacency to the gate to Rome. Our project takes direct inspiration from these practical, utilitarian buildings in the siting and composition of our six, interconnected buildings.” The site chosen for the athletes village, located on the southwest corner of the former rail yard, included two abandoned train repair sheds—which, according to Koop, were found “in various states of ruin.” To preserve the historic buildings, his team embarked on an extensive reinforcement of their existing structures. To do this, they had to entirely replace both roofs to meet seismic requirements, reconstruct several supporting walls, and rework crumbling facades with careful attention to the preservation of the buildings’ architectural character. “The interiors are largely defined by the restored timber structure and largely left as an open hall, similar to their original spatial layout,” Koop says. During the Olympics, the two buildings will serve various uses for competing athletes, including a dining hall, information and logistics center, and communal lounge. Beside the renovated buildings are six new apartment complexes, each composed primarily of single-occupancy rooms with their own bathrooms. Every floor includes amenities like communal kitchens, study rooms, and lounges, making them easily convertible into future student housing, Koop says. Fitness centers, screening rooms, and laundry facilities are incorporated on the ground floor. Where the buildings truly stand out from previous athlete housing, though, is in their pocket courtyards and climbing greenery. These green spaces are designed both to pay homage to Milan’s architecture and to incorporate natural daylight in every room. “Milan has a rich tradition of courtyard buildings with vertical gardens climbing up their facades,” Koop says. “We were inspired by these beautiful private terraces, which soften the city’s stone, brick, and plaster facades with rich palettes of plants and trees. We set out to extend this tradition through the creation of two grand facades of social terraces, which cover the eastern and western portions of the site.” By the time students are ready to move in, Koop adds, the buildings’ incorporated irrigated planters and metal cables will have allowed plants to cover the facades entirely, “enveloping the student spaces in a canopy of green.” The challenges of repurposing Olympic housing This is far from the first time that an athletes village site has been repurposed after the Olympics. In fact, the practice has been around for decades. After the 1996 Atlanta Games, athlete housing was converted into student dorms that were first used by Georgia State University and later by Georgia Tech. Following the nearly $12 billion 2012 Summer Olympics in London, housing in the city’s East Village neighborhood was turned into mixed-use residential and commercial space, with some of the former flats retailing for as much as $1 million back in 2021. After the 2008 Games in Beijing, the Olympic Village site became public parkland and memorial spaces. In Sydney, following the 2000 Summer Games, the village was transformed into a residential suburb. These transformations have sometimes proved unsuccessful, or even damaging to local communities. The 2016 Olympic Village in Rio de Janeiro was the largest in the history of the Games at the time, but after the athlete housing was converted to luxury condos, the space reportedly fell vacant, coming to serve for some as a symbol of the Games’ wasteful excesses. Back in 2024—when Paris was preparing to turn its athletes village into sustainable housing and office space—political scientist Jules Boykoff told Fast Company that attempts to reuse Olympic infrastructure often fail. “Unfortunately, the Olympics have an ignominious tradition of creating ‘white elephants,’ or stadiums and other venues that remain underused and expensive to maintain in the wake of the Games,” he said. He added that organizers often make promises to build social housing that fall through, like in Vancouver in 2010 and London in 2012, when “both projects ended up being essentially nationalized, paid for by taxpayers, and then promises around social housing mostly evaporated in the face of market exigencies.” In the case of the 2024 Olympic Village in Paris, established residents reported during construction that they were forced out of their homes to make way for the new housing. Currently, Paris is in the process of converting the Olympics infrastructure into a new district, though concerns around gentrification remain. The Olympic Games are a limited-time event, notorious for passing through the host city in the blink of an eye. Whether the SOM team’s vision for the Milan site lasts long after 2026 remains to be seen. View the full article

When a door broke loose on a new electric bus in Des Moines, Iowa, and nearly fell off, it was one in a long list of problems for the local transit agency. The city began using its fleet of seven electric buses, made by the startup Proterra, in 2021. The vehicles soon showed defects in the suspensions, weatherproofing, and wheelchair ramps. After only 18 months of use—and unsuccessful attempts to get the manufacturer to fix the problems—the agency had to pull them off the road. Other cities had similar issues. In Philadelphia, Proterra buses were sidelined in 2020 after the heavy batteries started to crack the vehicle chassis. (This summer, one of those vehicles started a fire while it was in storage, destroying 16 other buses.) In Austin, 46 new Proterra buses were taken out of service last year as the agency tried to sort out glitches. In Seattle, the buses had charging issues. In Duluth, Minnesota, they struggled on hills. In Miami, dozens of the vehicles now sit unused in storage. As the buses broke down, transit agencies often couldn’t get the parts they needed for repairs. Then, in late 2023, Proterra declared bankruptcy. An EV company called Phoenix, which makes school buses but had no experience with heavy-duty transit buses, took over Proterra’s bus business, and it got even harder for cities to fix issues. Now, across the country, the buses are stranded in parking lots waiting to be auctioned off for parts. Some buses that cost as much as $1 million new are selling for $20,000. Proterra’s collapse didn’t just leave cities stuck with expensive new technology that they couldn’t use. It slowed down efforts to cut emissions and made transit agencies more skeptical of climate tech startups trying to reinvent the bus—even though most of the problems had less to do with electrification than with flawed engineering and execution. Here’s what went wrong. A failed unicorn Not long ago, Proterra was a rising star in the transit industry. The company, founded in 2004, had been led by a former Tesla executive, Ryan Popple, since 2014. News articles called the product the “Tesla of buses,” and Popple declared that transit buses would be the first vehicles to transition fully to electric. In a 2016 interview, Popple argued that electric buses would quickly replace diesel. By 2025, he predicted, half of new transit bus purchases would be EVs, and diesel buses would begin to go extinct. “There is no such thing as clean tech,” he said. “Just tech. Proterra is a tech company that has a superior technology for public transit.” Investors were enthusiastic. Popple himself became involved with the company as an investor in early funding rounds at Kleiner Perkins—his job after Tesla—later stepping in as Proterra’s CEO when the startup needed a new leader. Over time, Proterra raised nearly $700 million in venture capital from investors including Daimler, General Motors Ventures, and J.P. Morgan. In 2021, the company went public through a reverse merger with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), raising another $640 million. By the end of that year, it had a backlog of around $450 million in orders. It invested $76 million in a sprawling new plant in South Carolina dedicated to making its batteries, in addition to factories it already had in the state and in Southern California. At its peak, in 2022, the company had more than 1,200 employees. At its Silicon Valley headquarters, just south of San Francisco, engineering teams raced to develop proprietary batteries that could store more energy and charge faster than others on the market. Politicians saw the company as a leader in advancing the U.S.’s global competitiveness in clean technology. “We’re running way behind China, but you guys are getting us in the game,” President Biden said on a virtual tour of one of the company’s plants in the spring of 2021. “We’re going to end up owning the future, I think, if we keep doing what we’re doing.” For transit agencies, becoming an early adopter of Proterra’s vehicles was also a way to be seen as a leader, helping cities achieve goals on air quality and climate pollution. The buses cost far more than diesel equivalent. But hefty grants were available from the federal government, states, utilities, and sources like Volkswagen’s Dieselgate settlement money. And, in theory, the lifetime cost of owning the buses should have been lower than diesel, since electricity is cheaper than fuel. No one expected that the buses would be out of use a couple of years after they left the factory. Reinventing the bus Like a typical Silicon Valley startup, Proterra set out to upend the status quo. “It was nice to see a new company come in and try to reinvent some things,” says William Haber, the procurement lead at King County Metro, the transit agency in the Seattle area. “The challenge is really how many things they tried to reinvent.” Rather than making the frame of the bus from steel, like a standard bus, the company decided to use a new composite material that included fiberglass and carbon fiber. The goal was to make the bus lighter, since the giant battery in the bus added so much weight. “It didn’t really reduce weight to the level that they expected or that any of us were hoping that it would,” says Haber. It also created a new challenge: The body of the buses started to crack. In Ithaca, New York, the transit agency quickly noticed that the buses were cracking where holes had been drilled through the composite material to mount the rear axle. The holes had destroyed the ability of the material to carry weight, and allowed moisture to get into the material and make it start to rot. “Eventually, what happens is the rear axle just falls off a vehicle,” says Matthew Rosenbloom-Jones, general manager at TCAT, the local agency. TCAT hired a forensic engineer to analyze the vehicles, who said that it was a basic design flaw. While the cracks could be repaired, they’d quickly reappear. The agency experienced multiple other reliability issues, from the doors to air compressors. After less than two years in use—much of which time the buses were broken down—they had to be taken completely out of service. “We never really even got through the break-in period with these buses before they fell apart,” Rosenbloom-Jones says. Since Proterra essentially designed the bus from scratch, it also made it harder to find parts when they broke and needed to be replaced. (As its sales grew, pandemic supply chain issues were another challenge.) Agencies discovered that the company was unprepared to provide the level of service that they needed. “It took them some time to understand how the bus market works,” says Haber. “Once we buy a number of buses, we have to operate them for a minimum of 12 years if you’re using [federal] funding. So then there’s a requirement of support through that 12 years. It was really [about] having a reasonable amount of time to respond when we ran into an issue with the bus.” The bankruptcy While the company projected a glossy image, it was struggling. After leading the company for six years, Popple decided to transition back to venture capital in 2020, and was replaced by a new CEO, Jack Allen, formerly the CEO of Navistar, now called International Motors, a truck and bus manufacturer. (Popple remained with the company as an executive director, but submitted his resignation from the board in December 2021; he died a week later of undisclosed causes at the age of 44.) As the leadership transition happened, revenue was growing, but the company—which had never been profitable—was still burning through tens of millions a year. It had already been facing cash flow problems, and the pandemic added to the challenge with supply chain disruptions. The cost of shipping, materials, and labor rose. To qualify for federal grants and tax incentives, the company had to use a certain percentage of American-made parts, including batteries, which also kept the cost of production high. The company struggled to keep up with production, and by 2022, had an even bigger backlog of orders. At the same time, it was facing a deluge of warranty claims from agencies across the country as the buses sometimes literally fell apart. In August 2022, the company’s CFO told investors it had the “balance sheet to ride out potential economic turbulence,” with more than $500 million in cash. But the company later announced a net loss of $81 million for the fourth quarter of the year. In August 2023, as the financial pressures mounted, Proterra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, saying that it intended “to continue to operate in the ordinary course of business.” A few months later, Volvo bought the battery manufacturing arm of its business for $210 million. Cowen Energy, one of Proterra’s backers, acquired the company’s charging infrastructure technology (the company did not respond to requests for comment). Phoenix, a small California-based manufacturer of electric medium-duty trucks and school buses, bought the company’s bus business for $10 million, a tiny fraction of the VC money that had been invested in it. This year, the company’s estate agreed to a $29 million settlement in a lawsuit with investors who said that they had been misled about financial risks and production inefficiencies. Transit agencies can’t make repairs After Proterra’s bankruptcy, making repairs became more challenging. Agencies struggled to get help from Phoenix, which had no previous experience working with transit buses. (Phoenix did not respond to multiple request for an interview). Though Phoenix appears to be growing—in June 2025, it announced that it was taking over a 1.6 million-square-foot EV manufacturing facility in China to make electric cars for international markets—transit agencies say that it’s been difficult to get the company to return calls about repairing buses. Some specialty parts became less available. “The aftermarket suppliers fell off the map,” says Coree Cuff Lonergan, CEO of transportation for Florida’s Broward County. “So we were unable to get the supplies to fix the buses.” The county’s Proterra buses broke down as much as seven times as often as its standard diesel buses. “The ability to get parts and service for them was made significantly more challenging by Proterra’s bankruptcy,” says Michael Schmieder, director of Everett Transit in Everett, Washington. “Critical components were not available. Proprietary software made servicing them ourselves difficult and at times impossible.” Some agencies have more resources than other for repairs; King County Transit, for example, even has staff that can make repairs to battery cells. The smallest agencies have been hit hardest. In the small college town of Iowa City, Iowa, which has four Proterra buses, the entire fleet has been parked for a year and a half because the transit agency can’t get parts. It’s critical for electric bus manufacturers to offer robust support and warranties that go well beyond what manufacturers would offer for a passenger EV, says Matthew Lichtash, an EV and clean energy consultant at PA Consulting. An electric car might offer a battery replacement if the range decreases to 70%, for example—but a bus might need a replacement sooner. “That might be fine if you own an electric car and you’re driving around town,” he says. “But if you bought a 200-mile [range] bus and it’s now a 150-mile bus, that’s going to introduce a lot of challenges.” It’s a clear example of the fact that vision and innovation isn’t enough for a climate tech company to succeed—service networks, supply chains, and institutional reliability also need to be firmly in place. Are electric buses ready? For many agencies, the biggest problem wasn’t the fact that the buses were electric, but the fact, they say, that the company didn’t seem know how to build a bus or support it. A bus driver who had driven the vehicles told me that she thought it was obvious Proterra was more a battery company than a bus maker, judging by the mistakes they’d made. All of those basic flaws were very unusual. “We’ve rarely, if ever, experienced a situation where a bus that we purchased cannot make it to the end of its useful life,” says Erin Hockman, chief strategy officer for the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority. Still, some agencies had problems with the electric system, too. Many said that in cold weather, the range of the batteries dropped significantly. Others had trouble with charging, particularly in some of the company’s earlier designs. Some agencies had difficulty setting up the charging infrastructure needed to support the buses. For some agencies, the experience pushed them to wait on electric buses in general. “We’re always open to new technology as it evolves, but in the electric space, at least in the U.S. market, we have not seen the reliability yet,” says Broward County’s Lonergan. “And given our current experience, we’re not willing to make those investments at this time.” Several others have bought new electric buses from other companies like Gillig, a long-time bus manufacturer which began selling electric busses in 2019. In Everett, where half of the city’s fleet is now made up of electric Gillig buses, the vehicles have performed well, and any issues have been easier to address. Proterra had touted its “clean sheet” approach to redesigning buses. “Your opportunity is to exploit the bias these large industries have to not innovate,” Popple said in one early interview. “They are fat, dumb, and happy. Focus, concentrate, and out-work them.” But legacy manufacturers had the experience to make vehicles that worked. (At the same time, battery technology keeps improving, helping make it easy for other manufacturers to electrify.) “Gillig has been in the business a long time, and they have a robust service partnership with Cummins and others that makes getting service and support so much easier, timely, and familiar,” says Schmieder. “Transit vehicles are a complex array of systems that take a beating every day while in service. Even hybrid buses and diesel buses have issues. The issues with the eGilligs have been slightly more pronounced, but our support from Gillig and their network has been rock solid.” Like other electric vehicles, the technology continues to improve. Heat pumps may soon be available in buses, for example, which can help dramatically improve the range in cold weather. Battery range keeps getting better. And Chinese buses are still farther ahead. Shenzhen, China, a city larger than New York, transitioned to 100% electric buses eight years ago. In other countries that are importing Chinese electric buses now—unlike the U.S.—the buses are noticeably better. Santiago, Chile now has thousands of electric buses in its fleet. “You just don’t see the type of reliability issues there that you’ve seen in North America,” says PA Consulting’s Lichtash. One of the reasons, he says, is that Chile has “relied a huge degree on Chinese suppliers. And I think there is a tension here in the U.S. between geopolitics and reliability.” The fate of the Proterra buses Some agencies took the Proterra buses off the road before they’d been in use for two years so that they could still qualify for a warranty; in some cases, negotiations were underway when Proterra declared bankruptcy. Now, it’s not clear whether the bankruptcy estate or Phoenix, the company that took over the business, can honor those warranties. Several agencies are in the middle of lawsuits and declined to comment on those proceedings. Others chose not to continue trying to wrangle compensation or repairs. “We would probably spend a lot of legal fees and probably not get anything, even if we did get a judgement,” says TCAT’s Rosenbloom-Jones. “Is it really in the public interest to chase someone around? Or do we just want to wash our hands and be done?” When we spoke, TCAT, like several other agencies, had been waiting for a federal waiver that would allow it to auction the buses. (The waiver is necessary in cases where agencies used some federal funding; some of the proceeds from the auction will go back to the government.) Since the buses aren’t functional, they’ll be sold for parts and scrap. In the meantime, across the country, the sleek, nearly new vehicles have sat unused for months or years. In TCAT’s case, they were moved to a field after the agency determined that they were a fire risk and could cause more even more problems. “We made the decision to get them off the property and far away,” says Rosenbloom-Jones. View the full article

Schools with “bell-to-bell” phone bans are pushing students to bring back old-school methods to chat with friends—much to their teachers’ amusement. “Schoolkids are creating a Google Doc with their friends that they all have real-time access to, and they just type into it during class,” one teacher explained in a recent TikTok video. The clip had since racked up over 4.4 million views. “They basically reinvented the AOL chat room.” Other teachers have shared similar stories. “It’s like we are back in the nineties,” one said. “That’s what we did.” Rather than get mad, many teachers praised the students’ ingenuity. “Kids will always find a way, but honestly, the creativity involved is a skill worth developing,” one commented. The idea of pulling up a Google Doc to communicate with friends in class is not new, as many in the comments pointed out. But it is new to Gen Alphas, many of whom have grown up with phones never far from their fingertips. “Do they put BRB when they won’t be able to respond for a bit?” one joked. A growing number of states—including New York, Florida, Oregon, and Virginia—have limited, and in some cases outright banned, cellphone use in schools. In response, students are looking back to the early 2000s and asking, “What did my parents do?” Along with the AOL chatroom, they are resurrecting Sony Discmans and iPod Shuffles as well as old-school games and puzzles, like Connect Four and Pac-Man, to keep them entertained while without access to phones. Concerns about distractions in class, worsening mental health, and cyberbullying are behind the bans. More than 70 percent of high school teachers say student phone distraction is a “major problem,” according to a 2024 survey by the Pew Research Center. Recent research also found that students who were made to hand over their cellphones while in class performed better academically than those who weren’t. That doesn’t mean banning phones is a perfect solution. Parents have voiced concerns about reaching their kids in an emergency, and a recent Pew Research Center survey found that while 74 percent of U.S. adults support banning phone use during class, only 44 percent back all-day bans. One European study also found that classroom phone bans did not noticeably improve health, well-being, and focus in lessons and, instead, needed to be coupled with bigger-picture regulations to make social media platforms safer and nonaddictive to children. Problems like cyberbullying are also not exclusive to smartphones. As one commenter warned: “Google Docs is a gateway drug to severe bullying.” In 2024, Bark, a risk-monitoring service that scans students’ school-administered Google and Microsoft accounts, reported more than 8.5 million documented cases of school cyberbullying via Google Docs since 2019, according to The New York Times. As any parent will know, for teens determined to chat with friends, where there’s a will, there’s a way. As one commenter wrote: “Wait until they rediscover passing notes.” View the full article

Anti-The President rallies are scheduled for Saturday, October 18 in all 50 states at over 2,500 community events, which have been dubbed “No Kings” protests. The event’s organizer, Indivisible, is calling it “the biggest day of peaceful protest in modern U.S. history.” The pro-democracy demonstrations are organized by Indivisible and a coalition of partners including: the ACLU, American Federation of Teachers, Common Defense, 50501, Human Rights Campaign, League of Conservation Voters, MoveOn, National Nurses United, Public Citizen, SEIU, and United We Dream. “Together, millions will send a clear and unmistakable message: We are a nation of equals, and our country will not be ruled by fear or force,” No Kings organizers said in a statement emailed to Fast Company. “As the president escalates his authoritarian power grab, [our] nonviolent movement continues to rise stronger. We are united once again to remind the world: America has No Kings and the power belongs to the people.” Organizers estimate million of Americans will turn out, building on the momentum of the first No Kings protests in June, which drew over 5 million people. The October 18 day of action marks the latest chapter in a growing movement of Americans spanning all ages, across red and blue states and in both rural areas and urban centers. Protestors have said they’re concerned with the current state of the U.S. democracy. Currently, the federal government is imposing mass layoffs and worker furloughs amid a government shutdown; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents’ raids on immigrants are growing more violent; and National Guard troops are being deployed into U.S. cities and against American citizens in the name of crime reduction. (Although judges have stalled President Donald The President’s plans to deploy the National Guard in Chicago and in Portland, Oregon, troops are now patrolling in Memphis, Tennessee.) A complete list of locations for the No Kings events can be found at nokings.org. View the full article

Every year, new productivity hacks promise to save us from burnout, inefficiency, and disconnection at work. We reorganize calendars, color-code to-do lists, and install apps that track keystrokes and hours. And yet, despite all the hacks, employees are exhausted, disengaged, and creatively stuck. What if the problem isn’t that we need more productivity tools—but that we need more play? That’s not a metaphor. I mean literal play. The kind that is open-ended, imaginative, and unconcerned with outcomes. In my decades as a play designer and educator, I’ve watched executives, engineers, and designers from companies like Google, Nike, and Lego light up when they are given permission to play again. Not because they suddenly “learned” to be creative—but because they remembered they already are. Play as Permission, Not Performance Play is not the opposite of work; it is the antidote to burnout. Free play—spontaneous, nonhierarchical, and outcome-free—requires us to embrace possibility, release judgment, and reframe success. Those three elements are exactly what today’s teams are missing. When I lead workshops, I don’t hand out another strategy framework or ask people to brainstorm. I hand them Rigamajig planks or a pile of cardboard and say, “Create something.” That’s it. No rules, no rubric. At first, people fidget, waiting for the “point.” Then they loosen up. They laugh. They collaborate without titles or hierarchy. They invent. What I’ve really given them is not a toy but permission—to stop performing professionalism, and to start playing again. I think of myself as a play coach. Like a sports coach, I help people unlearn the stiffness of adulthood, the belief that play is frivolous, and retrain their instinct to experiment. The difference is that play is not about winning. It’s about rediscovering curiosity. Why Hacks Fail and Play Works Productivity hacks focus on controlling the process and outcome: more efficient emails, tighter schedules, and measurable success. But outcomes aren’t the only reason we work, and controlling the process usually kills any joy in the work. Play demands the opposite of control: letting go. Consider what happens in my sessions. At first, people compare credentials and second-guess every move. Then they start tinkering. Soon they’re laughing too hard to judge one another. Some even take off jackets and shoes. The shift is unmistakable: They move from performance to presence. Play is also radically egalitarian. In a room where the CEO and an intern are both building oddball contraptions out of wood planks, hierarchy fades. Everyone is invited to contribute, not for efficiency, but for the diversity of talents that play reveals. That leveling effect fosters the kind of psychological safety that research shows is essential for innovation. The Playful Mindset From my research and practice, I’ve found that adult teams thrive when they adopt what I call the Playful Mindset: Embrace Possibility. Ask “what if?” and treat the workplace like an adventure playground. Release Judgment. Let go of worrying about looking silly or wasting time. Play is a judgment-free zone where odd ideas aren’t embarrassing but essential. Reframe Success. In play, success isn’t about hitting a metric—it’s about the experience itself. The fun is the point. And paradoxically, that freedom often produces the very innovations teams are chasing with their hacks. Be Your Own Play Coach The good news: You don’t need an outside facilitator to begin. You can become your own play coach. Start small. Turn the next team meeting into a tinkering session with random office supplies. Walk the long way to lunch and make a game of it. Bring in an activity that has no deliverable attached. Play doesn’t ask you to stop working—it asks you to work differently. It invites teams to reconnect as humans, to experiment without fear, and to rediscover the joy that fuels real creativity. If you want better collaboration, stronger resilience, and more authentic innovation, don’t download another productivity app. Hire—or become—a play coach. Because your team doesn’t need another hack. They need to play. View the full article

Google's Robby Stein explained what creators should consider in terms of AEO/GEO The post Google Answers What To Do For AEO/GEO appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

I can’t think of anything better than assembling Lego blocks. Except assembling gigantic Lego that I can actually walk, jump, and nap on. Which is precisely what Lego and Nike did at Baoshan No. 2 Central Primary School in Shanghai.​ The school has 1,400 students who previously had insufficient sport and play facilities. Nike, which is building 100 playgrounds in schools all around China, decided to partner with Lego to fix that (the two are already partners in a series of cross-branding Lego sets and sports gear). According to the companies, the design was deeply collaborative and student-driven—and it shows: Instead of the previous sad concrete playground there’s now a bright orange-and-yellow shock-absorbent bouncy surface. On it, drawn in white, a 2-by-3 brick outline marks play areas, serving as a blueprint for students to arrange giant blue or white Lego pieces of different shapes in obstacle courses and any other structure they can imagine. The concept originated from students at Baoshan No. 2 who participated in a Lego China “Build the Change” workshop, where they used Lego bricks to design their ideal playground. Several student insights directly shaped the final architectural design, according to the company. “Children are our role models and creativity is their superpower,” a Lego spokesperson told me. “They have an endless imagination and can think outside the box.” OLA Shanghai then translated the children’s miniature prototypes into a playground layout and full-scale modular structures, which are giant interlocking Lego pieces that could be easily assembled, reconfigured, and stored. Lego’s golden 2-by-3 rule The architects decided to build the playground’s layout around the geometry of a standard 2-by-3 Lego brick, a plastic block with two lines of three studs, much like the Danish company’s own Lego House. The 2-by-3 shape is painted on the ground, which serves as a blueprint for students to organize the Lego blocks that they can assemble for their own training and play circuits with bricks big enough to climb on. There are infinite configurations for the playground; the bricks can be stored when they’re not being used so the space can serve other purposes. In practice, the whole thing works like a life-size Lego set that allows children to become the architects of their own space. The playground features more than 10 dynamic zones—from athletic activities to imaginative spaces—designed specifically for China’s “10-minute breaks,” the government-mandated rest periods between classes designed to promote athletic and social interaction. Nike says that within these breaks kids are invited to move freely, play boldly, and unleash their creativity. The zones include adaptable climbing structures, balancing and exploratory elements, interchangeable routes and obstacle zones, and seating. Recycled sneakers The playground is made from recycled sneakers; Nike used approximately 4 tons of Nike Grind to build it. This is a material made from manufacturing waste and consumers’ old shoes, all processed into rubber granules at a facility developed and managed by Nike’s technology partner Tongji University.​ The entire buffer coating layer, which is the safety surface kids land on when they fall, was paved exclusively with Nike Grind. This playground is number 50 in Nike’s Sport Access for All initiative, which is committed to building 100 sustainable courts in Greater China by 2030 as part of the company’s Move to Zero sustainability program. Nike has been partnering with athletes, artists, and designers across China to create these spaces. Previous collaborations included the “Bufferfly Court” in Yunan province with fashion designer Susan Fang, the “CR7 Court” in Gansu province with footballer Cristiano Ronaldo (where limited-edition football boots were auctioned to fund construction), and the “FIBA Pigalle Basketball Court” in Beijing with Parisian designer Stéphane Ashpool. Nike told me the company partnered with Lego “because both brands share a deep belief in the power of creative play and movement to unlock kids’ potential.” The court at Baoshan No. 2 Central Primary School, Nike tells me, marks a “significant milestone” in combining youth sport, creative play, and sustainability in a single collaborative model. Lego says the company was “glad to join hands with Nike to support their Move to Zero initiative and help create an active play themed playground and bring the Lego play experience to more children,” which is marketdroid speak for “We made a playground where kids can finally build something bigger than themselves.” The playground is something they can actually use. And it’s something that doesn’t require batteries, screens, or a subscription service. Just imagination, rubber granules from old shoes, and blocks big enough to prove that sometimes the big ideas come from the people small enough to dream them up. View the full article

Fewer restrictions on financial sector pay following changes by central bankView the full article

A single stream of income is simply not cutting it for today’s young professionals. Instead, “income stacking” is the new way young people are weathering an unstable job market and rising cost-of-living. The annual Next Gen of Work survey from freelancer services company Fiverr polled over 12,000 respondents from both Gen Z and Gen Alpha across the U.S., the U.K., France, and Germany. It found that for almost half of Gen Z (46%), their biggest career fear is not making enough money to live comfortably. Cue income stacking. “Gen Z is watching the single-paycheck model wobble, and instead of waiting for it to steady, they’re building safety nets of their own design,” Michelle Baltrusitis, Fiverr’s associate director of community and social impact, told Fast Company. “Income stacking is their response to a volatile economy—a way to diversify risk and create stability on their own terms.” While it’s not unusual for young people to work multiple jobs through college and early in their career, Gen Zers are stacking jobs on top of jobs as a way to DIY their own careers. (One Gen Zer, Carissa Ferguson, says she’s earned more than $144,0000 selling voiceovers, content creation, and copywriting on Fiverr’s platform.) Of those surveyed, 67% said that multiple streams of income were essential for a sense of financial security. Many are already striking out on their own, with 38% already freelancing or planning to start—the average age to start being just 19. The rising cost of living is just one part of the picture. Gen Z also isn’t buying into what they see as a broken social contract, where a linear path up the career ladder is seen as the most reliable route to success and financial stability. It’s also a generation in which freelance employment has been modeled in the form of influencers, content creators and podcasters online. As career paths grow less predictable, 56% of GenZ predict traditional employment will be rendered obsolete in the future. By forging their own paths, younger workers are no longer at the mercy of big companies that can lay them off at the drop of hat. In fact, the desire to work for a household name corporation ranked as one of the lowest career ambitions for Gen Z, at just 14%. Early-career workers are not trusting anybody else to take care of their future. For the first time, Gen Alpha was also included in Fiverr’s survey, despite the oldest being just 14 years old. Rather than lemonade stands, social media has made it easier than ever for the next generation of workers to start their own side hustles. Of the more than 4,500 13- to 15-year-olds polled, 31% said they wanted to freelance, with 30% crediting social media for introducing them to different career paths. Their screentime is already paying off. A recent survey by social commerce platform Whop found Gen Alpha are pulling in an average of $13.92 per hour from their online side hustles—nearly double the U.S. federal minimum wage of $7.25. Based on those hourly earnings, that equates to a $28,000 full-time annual salary, all before turning 16. How’s that for pocket money? View the full article

Below, Marc Brackett shares five key insights from his new book, Dealing with Feeling: Use Your Emotions to Create the Life You Want. Marc is the founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a professor at Yale’s Child Study Center. He is the author of the bestselling book Permission to Feel and over 200 scholarly articles, with his research featured in the New York Times, Good Morning America, and Today. Together with Pinterest cofounder Ben Silbermann, Marc launched the award-winning How We Feel app. He is also the producer of the documentary America Unfiltered: Portraits and Voices of a Nation and host of the podcast Dealing with Feeling. What’s the big idea? Emotion regulation is one of the most important skills for both personal and professional success. With the right training, we can all replace poor habits (yelling, isolation, blame) with better strategies (breath, positive self-talk, reframing) that strengthen connection and well-being. 1. We need to give ourselves permission to feel. Most of us grew up hearing things like: “Stop crying.” “Don’t be so sensitive.” “Shake it off.” And so, we learned—explicitly or implicitly—that emotions are problems to avoid, not signals to explore. But ignoring or suppressing emotions can lead to anxiety, chronic stress, headaches, digestive issues, sleep disturbances, and even long-term impacts on physical and mental health. It also makes it harder to connect with others and regulate emotions effectively. Giving yourself permission to feel means embracing all emotions with curiosity, not judgment. It means saying to yourself: “This is how I feel right now, and it’s okay to feel this way. Let me understand it.” That moment of acknowledgment is the gateway to healing, growth, and making wiser decisions. Emotions are not weaknesses. They are data. When we approach emotions with empathy—for ourselves and others—we create the conditions for insight and resilience. The challenge is that only a third of people report having “permission to feel” when they were young. What will make us all feel that we have permission to feel? 2. Emotion regulation is 100 percent learned. Where did you learn how to manage emotions? Was it through watching your parents? Was it from teachers? Friends? Maybe no one ever taught you directly, but you still learned. We all did. Ask yourself, on a scale from one to five, how much emotional education you received growing up. And how much of that education helped you develop effective regulation strategies? My research shows that only about 10% of people feel as if they had a solid education in emotion regulation. Common default strategies (especially in moments of stress) include avoidance, yelling, eating, scrolling, numbing, blaming others, or blaming yourself. These are not character flaws. They are just what you learned. But the good news is that because emotion regulation is learned, it can also be relearned. “My research shows that only about 10% of people feel as if they had a solid education in emotion regulation.” You can upgrade your emotional regulation strategies to include techniques such as deep breathing, accurately labeling emotions, practicing positive self-talk, reframing situations, or seeking support. These are teachable, learnable, and they work. But they require intention, practice, and sometimes unlearning what no longer serves you. 3. Breathing is necessary but not sufficient. Breathing is a powerful tool, and I teach it to everyone, from kindergartners to CEOs. Conscious breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system, helping us move from the fight-or-flight response to the rest-and-digest state. It deactivates our stress response and creates space for wiser choices. That’s why I call it the “master strategy.” But breathing is only the beginning. The real transformation happens after breath. Once you’ve calmed your body, what do you do with your mind? What story do you tell yourself? What action do you take? Breathing helps you press pause, but it doesn’t solve the problem. That takes reflection, strategy, and sometimes courage. The other day, I visited a middle school classroom and asked a student what he’d do if someone were mean or hurtful to him. He said, “Take a deep breath.” I replied, “That’s great, but what’s next?” He couldn’t answer. Breath is only the bridge that takes you to the side where real emotion regulation work can begin. 4. You are what you think. When you make a mistake, what’s the first thing you say to yourself? Do you call yourself an idiot, or do you say, “Hey, everyone messes up. It’s okay. I’ll apologize, learn from it, and move on.” That inner voice shapes everything from your emotional state to your behavior to your sense of self-worth. And that voice can be trained. Two of the most powerful strategies are positive self-talk and reappraisal. Positive self-talk isn’t about pretending everything is fine. It’s about being kind and encouraging to yourself, especially in tough moments. It’s even more effective when spoken in the second or third person: “Marc, take a breath. You’ve got this.” That subtle shift—called psychological distancing—helps us regulate better by stepping back from the heat of the moment. Reappraisal, or reframing, means choosing a new lens through which to view a situation. It’s the difference between “This is a disaster” and “This is a challenge I can learn from.” I like to say: reframe instead of blame. “That inner voice shapes everything from your emotional state to your behavior to your sense of self-worth.” For instance, I tend to repeat myself a lot during keynote presentations. There are days when I say to myself, “Really, Marc, this is what you are going to do for the rest of your life?” But I know better than to go on stage with that mindset. So, I reappraise. Recently, I gave a big talk at a tech company, and I switched my internal dialogue to, “Marc, you are going to present your life’s work to over 1,000 engineers, managers, and leaders. Think about the impact you can have on their personal and professional lives.” With that mindset, I gave one of my best talks! 5. Focus on other people. When we’re anxious, angry, or overwhelmed, the instinct is often to withdraw, ruminate, isolate, or spiral inward. But research tells us that reaching out to support others who are suffering is a helpful strategy for healing not only them, but us too. This is a form of co-regulation. When we help others manage their difficult emotions, we simultaneously help regulate our own. Parents do this with their children all the time, but it’s just as relevant in friendships, workplaces, and partnerships. When you show up for someone else with empathy, patience, and presence, then you also create connection. You model emotional intelligence, and your kindness has the potential for ripple effects. Even witnessing someone else being emotionally supportive can inspire others to do the same. Next time you’re feeling low, ask: Who else might be struggling? And how can I help—even in a small way? You might find that helping someone else is the most effective way to help yourself. This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission. View the full article

Amid dramatic disruption, what role should business play in building the future? Airbnb cofounder and CEO Brian Chesky shares his candid perspective on business, politics, creativity, and AI—tracing from Airbnb’s humble beginnings to bold plans for the company’s future. Through a designer’s lens, Chesky also reveals the single question leaders must ask themselves, and explores how best to make tricky decisions in a volatile climate. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by Robert Safian, former editor-in-chief of Fast Company, and recorded live at the 2025 Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with today’s top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode. Your cofounder, Joe Gebbia, now works at the White House as the chief design officer, although you were not among the cohort of tech CEOs who had dinner with Donald The President there. What’s the state of the conversation between you and your peers about how to navigate this new administration, this new environment? I mean, it’s incredibly tricky to know what to do. And I don’t even know how you’re going to answer this question. I don’t know either, actually. So let’s see. Silicon Valley’s gotten more political. And when I came to Silicon Valley, maybe it was more left, but it kind of felt more moderate. And it didn’t feel as much like it was as political. I do think that another thing that I am noticing is people are running toward a certain administration, obviously The President. There’s a very good chance there will be a new administration in three years, maybe not, but let’s say there’s a 50/50 chance of a new administration. And I’m kind of curious: Do they run the other way, and do the worlds swing back and forth? And I think there’s a lot of swinging. There was all this focus on DEI, and then there was all this focus to roll it all back. And there’s all this focus to go here, and now there’s all this focus to go here. And it’s like back and forth and back and forth. I think I try to imagine what will still be true in 20 years. What do we believe in? Because whatever’s true in 20 years are our principles and our values, and everything else is just a trend. Everything else is just trying to fit in. Everyone else is just rushing to whatever is popular at that current time. And so I think every company just has to ask themselves what do they stand for? What are their values? And I think I try to be pretty clear about what we stand for. And so I try not to wade into too many political topics unless I feel like I have something to add to the conversation, and it’s something that is connected to our vision or our values. I mean, the other thing about politics is, we’re trying to bring the world together. That’s what I’d like to do. The problem with politics—I don’t have a better system, but it’s 50-plus-one. You have to divide them and get plus one. And it is inherently a divisive thing, and Airbnb’s mission is inherently unifying. Do you know the number of The President supporters who stayed in a house of a Kamala Harris supporter over the course of the election? Millions. Do you know the number of Democrats, Republicans that live together and don’t even know they’re Democrats and Republicans? When you travel, it’s one of the few times in your life that you’re truly open-minded. Even prejudice, people with prejudice, don’t have prejudice when they travel because they’re in someone else’s land and they’re now open-minded. You don’t talk to the Uber driver in your own city, but you do in another city. You have a completely different orientation. Travel brings out the best in you. And there’s this ancient hospitality. It started with the ancient Egyptians, started with the Greeks, that the guest is God and we’re going to serve them. And so I try to zoom out. I try to focus a little less on divisive issues and say the best way to change someone else’s mind about other people in a time that’s really divided is to walk in their shoes, to live in their home, and to bring people together and remind people that basically . . . I’ve learned two lessons after having started Airbnb: People are fundamentally good, and we’re 99% the same. And you read the newspaper and you engage in political discourse and you can forget that we’re basically all the same. And if that wasn’t true, we would have been out of business a long time ago. And so that’s why I’m very careful about falling and treading into politics. We will, but very selectively. And these swings that you talk about—where it swings from one way to the other—how do you keep yourself from getting caught up in those? Because there’s a lot of pressure sometimes behind those. Well, I stay off Twitter a little—or X—a little bit. And I mean, there’s this temptation to want to participate in every conversation and to feel like you have to have an opinion and wade into everything. And actually, I try not to have opinions about things that I don’t know a lot about until I learn about them. I think there was a period of time where people in tech felt like we had to have a statement about every single issue. That was quite a burden, though, because either you learn about the issue or you’re just jumping on a bandwagon. You don’t really know, and you’re not really informed. So I just try to make sure I tell the company, “We are going to be thoughtful as a company. We’re not going to swing back and forth. We’re going to do whatever we think is the right thing to do.” Yeah. You talked to me before about the difference between a business decision and a principle decision. A business decision is like trying to gamify the outcome to win. A principle decision is, I don’t know how it’s going to end, so how do I want to be remembered irrespective of the outcome? And if you do that, it’s another way of doing whatever you think the right thing to do is, whatever you think is true. And maybe you lose in the short run, you lose the battle, but you win the war. Because ultimately, you’re rarely going to get out of business because you stick to your principles and your values. And people want to work for a company like that, and we want to buy products from people who lead in that way. What do you think Airbnb’s role is in building the future? And for the folks who are sitting in this room, what’s the role that they should be taking in building the future? I like to ask an entrepreneur a question: “Why does your company deserve to exist?” And the best kind of generic answer I’ve ever heard is: “Because if I don’t do it, no one else will.” And I like to ask that question to myself. What could we uniquely do that if we don’t do it, anyone else will? And I think that we’re just this particular company and we were naive to believe that people are basically good, and it was a good idea to have a stranger in your home. And ultimately, I think that what we’re trying to build, again, is this global community because I think communities are eroding all over the world. I think we have a place in this world to do something unique. I think that design is a hugely underleveraged superpower. I think it’s going to be really important in the age of AI. I think for every business leader, I think that you should ask: “If you never existed, what would be different about the world? What is your unique imprint to do?” I say this because I think a lot of people like to chase trends. And by the way, by the time it’s a trend, sometimes it’s late. Once it has a name, it’s late. Although AI will go on forever, so that one might be different. So then what in AI? What in AI, because everything’s AI at some point? What is not AI? So I think business leaders should focus on a unique contribution they can make. I think we are in building mode. I think it’s going to be so revolutionary. You ask, is it a new house or a renovation? I think it’s a new house. I think that’s exciting. I think it’s slightly scary. View the full article