Taxpayers in the Empire State will soon receive a refund to help offset rising living costs.Part of the 2025-2026 New York State budget allocates funds for inflation refund checks. The onetime payments offer relief to New Yorkers who have incurred increased sales tax costs due to inflation. According to the state, 8.2 million households will receive payments.Governor Kathy Hochul announced that as of September 26, inflation refund checks have started to be mailed to taxpayers. Checks will continue to be issued throughout October and November.Heres what to know about whether youre eligible, how much youll receive, and more.Am I eligible for an inflation refund check?Yes, if for tax year 2023 you:Filed Form IT-201, New York State Resident Income Tax ReturnReported income within the qualifying thresholdsWere not claimed as a dependent on another taxpayers returnTheres no need to apply to receive a refund check. Checks will be mailed out automatically to those who meet the above eligibility requirements.What are the income thresholds, and how much will I receive?Check amounts are being issued in the range of $150 to $400; amounts vary by tax filing status for the 2023 tax year and your 2023 New York Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), found on Form IT-201, line 33.For single filers:2023 AGI of $75,000 or less:Refund amount of $2002023 AGI of more than $75,000, but not more than $150,000:Refund amount of $150For married joint filers:2023 AGI of $150,000 or less:Refund amount of $4002023 AGI of more than $150,000, but not more than $300,000:Refund amount of $300For married separate filers:2023 AGI of $75,000 or less:Refund amount of $2002023 AGI of more than $75,000, but not more than $150,000:Refund amount of $150For head of household filers:2023 AGI of $75,000 or less:Refund amount of $2002023 AGI of more than $75,000, but not more than $150,000:Refund amount of $150For qualifying surviving spouse filers:2023 AGI of $150,000 or less:Refund amount of $4002023 AGI of more than $150,000, but not more than $300,000:Refund amount of $300How can I make sure I receive my check?Due to the high volume of checks being processed, it may take time to receive your refund. If youre eligible, your check will be mailed to the address associated with your most recently filed tax return.If youve moved since filing your 2024 return, or you havent yet filed a return for tax year 2024, you can update your address with the New York Department of Taxation and Finance through your Individual Online Services Account. (If you dont have an Individual Online Services Account, you can create one.)Watch out for scamsIf someone contacts you about your refund check, its likely a scam. Hochul cautioned New Yorkers to be alert to scammers who are sending voice messages, text messages, emails, and direct mail to taxpayers in an attempt to defraud them.New Yorkers do not have to do anything to receive an inflation refund check outside of meeting the eligibility requirements, Hochul said in a news release.With scams targeting the states inflation refund initiative, let me be clear, she continued. The Tax Department and the IRS do not call or text individuals for personal information. My administration urges New Yorkers to remain vigilant and report these scams to the Tax Department to protect yourself from being a victim.Scams can be reported to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.

Taylor Swifts highly anticipated 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, is here. And this might be Swifts biggest release yet, given that along with an album, shes also premiering a film on the same day.Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl features a new music video for the albums single The Fate of Ophelia, lyric videos, and exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and commentary. Its being hosted as a companion event by AMC, Cinemark Theaters, and Regal Cinemas.The catch? Its showing in theaters for just three days: October 3 to 5.The brief theatrical window follows the same pattern Swift has used to release limited-edition versions of her past albums and merch that are often available only on her site for a short amount of timecreating a sense of urgency for fans.According to some analysts, replicating the strategy of generating fast ticket sales in a limited timeframe is beneficial not only for Swift but also for the major movie theater chains.Who wouldnt want to cut out the middleman these days? Brandon Katz, director of insights and content strategy at Greenlight Analytics, posited to Fast Company. AMCs unique distribution deal with Taylor Swift allows them to bypass film studios and create more tailored deal terms. It represents a unique new business model for theaters, though one that isnt easily repeatable. Exhibitors will also receive a new theatrical product headlined by the most famous entertainer on the planet at a time when wide-release volume is still lagging behind pre-pandemic levels. Thats helpful. Even without a traditional marketing runway, Showgirl will attract attention.The Taylor Swift effectThe Life of a Showgirl is an appropriately named album for arguably one of the worlds biggest pop stars, who has built an empire from her music since she was 16 years old, creating a devoted fandom of Swifties.In the past few years, Swift seems to have been busier than ever. She rerecorded her first six albums, reclaiming her music after the original masters were sold by her first record label (she eventually was able to buy the original masters back). She performed around the world on her 21-month-long Eras tour. And in August, she got engaged to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce after a whirlwind two-year romance that saw her become a fixture at NFL games, including Super Bowl LVIII. She also teased the new album in her appearance on Jason and Travis Kelces New Heights podcast).Her impact on any business shes involved with has been so significant that its been given a namethe Taylor Swift effect, which experts say reflects the singer-songwriters strong economic force.Companies have been keen to take advantage of that Swift effect whenever they can. For instance, when The Life of a Showgirl was announced, many immediately adopted the albums orange aesthetic and font style in their own social media posts. Spotify launched a pop-up merch shop in New York, while other brands, including Uber Eats, are hosting special deals and pop-up events to celebrate the release.This isnt the first time Swift has released a theatrical film. Following the end of the Eras tour in 2023, she released Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour film, bypassing traditional studios and instead signing a deal directly with AMC Theaters. The film went on to earn roughly $261 million at the global box office, making it the highest-grossing concert film ever. Later, Swift struck a deal with Disney for the films streaming rights.This is the first time, however, that Swift is premiering a movie to coincide with a new album on the same day. Again, shes skipping studios and releasing the film through AMC, Cinemark, and Regal Cinemas. Last month Deadline reported that the film had already raked in $15 million in first-day presales and that sources were projecting it to make between $30 million and $50 million over the October 3 weekend.A Swift business modelAccording to data from Greenlight Analytics, the concert films Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (with willingness to pay, or WTP, at 53%) and Renaissance: A Film by Beyonc (with WTP at 52%) generated fan enthusiasm on par with Elvis (with WTP at 63%), suggesting that live-music experiences for big-name artists can generate long tails of monetization opportunity.Katz said that while releasing the film is a good idea for Swift, exhibitors, and the domestic box office, he emphasized that this isnt going to usher in a new genre of film, since only stars at Swifts level will be able to generate respectable box office revenue or streaming interest.For the majority of artists thinking about chasing a similar goal, the juice would not be worth the squeeze, Katz said.However, Swift is clearly continuing to move into the movie industry: In addition to the Eras Tour and Party of a Showgirl films, shes reportedly developing a feature project for Searchlight Pictures.

From fake it till you make it to stay in your lane, SXSW festival goers reveal the worst career advice theyve ever been given and why it stuck with them.

Of all the things weve used ChatGPT for in 2025, one of the most specific was: What should we drink on a Dalston dive bar expedition on a Thursday night with cooler, younger clients, to avoid a hanxiety-filled Friday, with a board presentation to write?The answer? Neat Patrn or margaritas, with tips on hydration and sleep.It actually worked. We had a great night, and woke up (relatively) clear-headed. This is what millions of people are doing every day: trading Google rabbit holes for AI when seeking product advice, personal hacks, and brand choices.ChatGPT isnt just an influencing preference. It increasingly is the preference engine.KILL THE FUNNELFor decades, brand and marketing strategy has operated around a simple concept: the funnel. First, you capture awareness. Then, cultivate interest. After that, you guide consumers toward decision, and finally, conversion. Clean, rational, linear.We all knew it was flawed but there was a directional truth to it that made it very useful to plan around. But in 2025, the time has come to kill the funnel.We set out to write a paper on what to replace it with, drawing on extensive research, our client work, and input from our friends at Reddit. Here are the highlights so far.HOW TO REPLACE THE FUNNELConsumers arent moving predictably through stages. Theyre outsourcing research and shortlisting to machines. Theyre skipping steps entirely. Just six months ago wed have called BS on this proclamation. But today, this is very much happening:Roughly 50% of shoppers in the U.S., UK, Canada, and Australia use GenAI for e-commerce tasksOver 60% of U.S. Gen Z and millennials use GenAI to help manage their financesLeading venture capitalists and tech leaders are speculating about a future where AI superagents dissolve the role of apps and traditional user interfacesOf course the rate of change varies widely by purchase complexity, with an incredible 47% of travel shoppers feeling confident when using AI compared to 17% knowingly using it in grocery. But the overall picture is of a collapsing customer journey.That means the strategies designed to move people through it will collapse with it.The implication is profound. Brand building now has two audiences: Humans and machines.2 MODES OF MODERN BRAND-BUILDINGTo succeed in this new reality, marketers must operate in two parallel modes: Priming and proving.Priming is about creating long-term predisposition with humans. Building familiarity, cultural relevance, and emotional affinity regardless of whether theyre currently in market.Proving is about surfacing the evidence that both humans and deep learning algorithms trust. Delivering the information and signals that win in a machine-mediated, AI-driven decision moment.HOW TO PRIMEPriming creates familiarity and favorability in human memories, to become the default choice in someones mind before they need to choose.That means:Emotional storytelling that travelsMemorable brand codes and consistent assetsParticipation in culture, including TikTok trends, Discord, or headline-making activationsCommunity-led content people want to remix, share, and live withExperiences that build brand belief through action, not just adsOrientating brand health measurement around equity metrics that track progress on how well youre influencing human perceptions and memory structuresIn other words, best-practice, 21st century upper funnel marketing. But less focused on interruption at scale and more on a coherent ecosystem of authentic, useful, and entertaining content/experiences.HOW TO PROVEProving is where humans and machines overlap. Its what shows up when someone (or something) is checking whether youre credible, relevant, and worth recommending.That means:High-quality, up-to-date product and brand information across the webClear alignment between brand promise and experienceIndependent reviews and endorsementsHigh-authority media mentions and expert takesFast correction of misinformation and inconsistent signalsOrientating brand health measurement around entity metrics that track progress on how well youre influencing large language model (LLM) representation and retrievalThe proving layer is what determines whether AI assistants recommend your brand or skip it entirely.THE NEW CUSTOMER JOURNEY IS A FLYWHEELHeres the shift:Where the funnel assumes a one-way path, priming and proving are a constant loop.This is a flywheel, where strong priming makes AI recommendations feel more trusted, while great proving strengthens memories and impressions with humans and machines alike.Viewing our Patron/hangxiety experience through this model, wed already seen the Nothing to Hide platform (priming). The subsequent experience of the LLM recognizing bartender advocacy (proving) on the same topic likely influenced our momentous drinks decision.This is what brand leadership looks like in the AI era: not guiding people down a funnel, but building a self-reinforcing system where emotional equity and informational credibility compound.FINAL THOUGHT: HELPING HUMANS > HACKING SYSTEMSThe brands that win in this new era of customer decision making wont do it by hacking a single channel or reverse-engineering one LLMs ranking logic. The innovation rate is so fast that no one really knows how this will play out. What feels like a hack today may be obsolete tomorrow.But there are clues. Nick Turley, head of ChatGPT said recently that while they are still really in the MS-DOS phase, ultimately the experience is being optimized to help people thrive rather than for a specific engagement or time metric. So it follows that the brands they favor will do the same, through being as useful, trustworthy, and interesting as possible.Great brand building has always been about these qualities. But we cannot underestimate the paradigm shift caused by them being codetermined by hyperintelligent machines.The flywheel previously known as a funnel is already spinning. CMOs should jump on it now, or watch competitors generate exponential growth while they wait.Neil Barrie is global CEO and cofounder of 21st Century Brand. Dan Hauck is executive strategy director and partner of 21st Century Brand.

It appears that day trading could get easier.The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, known as FINRA, on Tuesday announced it had approved amendments that will replace the current day trading and pattern day trading rules, including the minimum equity of $25,000 for pattern day traders.The proposed change, if approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), would mean traders would no longer need to maintain a minimum $25,000 balance in amargin accountto execute four or more day trades within a five-business-day period, CNBC reported.Heres a quick breakdown of what that means.What is day trading?Day trading, as defined by FINRAs margin rule, refers to a trading strategy where an individual buys and sells (or sells and buys) the same securityin a margin accounton the same day, in an attempt to profit from small movements in the price of the security. FINRAs margin rule for day trading applies to day trading in any security, includingoptions.Day trading in acash accountis not permitted.All securities purchased in the cash account must be paid for in full before they are sold. What constitutes a pattern day trader?According toFINRA rules, youre considered a pattern day trader if you executefour or more day trades within five business daysprovided that the number of day trades represents more than 6% of your total trades in the margin account for that same five business day period.Why the change? The changes come as part of FINRAs attempt to adapt their rules for todays high-tech trading environment. The proposal incorporates feedback FINRA received from member firms, industry groups, and investors.The Boards recent approval and discussion of various rule proposals are a key part of FINRAs ongoing efforts to enhance its regulatory effectiveness and efficiency through the FINRA Forward initiative, FINRA board chair Scott Curtis said in a statement. The Board and FINRAs leadership team will continue to prioritize helping enable member firms to better serve investors and facilitate strong and fair capital markets.FINRA announced that the move follows a retrospective review that considered input from brokerage firms, industry groups, and investors.If approved, it would be one of the most significant changes in trading rules since 2001, when the pattern day trading rule was put in place to protect less experienced investors from large losses.

If you search for your city on a new map and zoom in, you can see pollution drifting from factories, power plants, and ports into your neighborhood. The mapa first-of-its-kind air quality tool from Climate TRACE, a nonprofit coalition cofounded by former Vice President Al Goreshows how pollution moves through cities.The new interactive tool, launching September 24, is powered by a sophisticated model that tracks local air pollution and weather data and feeds the map. It shows PM 2.5 pollution (responsible for nearly 9 million deaths each year globally) in more than 2,500 cities.Orange dots indicate sources of pollution, with a stream of smaller dots showing how it moves over the city, shifting course with the wind. Right now, the map presents snapshots of average and bad air days in each city. But it will later offer data in near real time.[Image: Climate TRACE]Eventually, we will have it on a daily basis, so that if you have a child with asthma or if you have family members with lung and heart conditions that make them sensitive to air pollution, you can go to your favorite weather app and see exactly what the pollution flows have been through your neighborhood that particular day, Gore says.Health researchers can use the data to see how pollution is linked to disease at the neighborhood level. Louisianas Cancer Alley, for example, has one of the highest levels of air pollution in the world. One community in the area, called Reserve, has a cancer rate 50 times higher than the U.S. average.[Image: Climate TRACE]The tools visualizations can aid policymakers in making the case for more state regulation and help the worst-polluting sites transition to cleaner tech. (As the Environmental Protection Agency moves to stop collecting some emissions data, Climate TRACE, which stands for tracking real-time atmospheric carbon emissions, can also help partially fill that data gap.) Companies can use its data to identify and replace the worst polluters in their supply chains.Because the same sources are responsible for both climate emissions and air pollution, highlighting the health impacts also helps build support for climate action. Connecting those two streams of pollution, and tracing them back to the same combustion process, makes it easier to understand exactly why we have to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels, says Gore.[Image: Climate TRACE]The coalition launched in 2020 to track greenhouse gas emissions using satellite images, other data, and machine learning to estimate the pollution emitted by industrial sites. Last year, the group added co-pollutants like particulate matter and sulfur dioxide to its database, using data on the size and type of each polluting site.The new tool can help make the issue of air pollution seem more immediate and personal. My experience with everyone Ive showed this to is that it feels abstract until they see themselves in the story, says Gavin McCormick, cofounder of Climate TRACE. You can show people on a map where their house is, they can show you where their kid goes to school, and you can see the pollution. I think thats just kind of making people realize this is happening to them.

When using AI, most of us worry about the technology hallucinatingtelling us lies, misinformation, or nonsense that it presents as fact. But legendary fashion designer Norma Kamali has no such fear.Over the past two years, Kamali has been using AI extensively in her work. Kamali, who recently celebrated her 80th birthday, partnered with computer scientists to create an AI platform based on her five decades of work as a designer, and she also took an AI course at MIT to better understand how the technology works.These scientists asked if they could download my brain, she says. They would isolate my intellectual property, brand history, and archive. At first I said, No way. But Ive come to see the possibilities for my brand.Kamali has used her AI platform to design pieces for her own collection, including variations of her famous Sleeping Bag Coat. But she says that as she interacts with the AI, some of her favorite moments are when it hallucinates, generating bizarre images that explode with a strange kind of creativity. The image is always a surprise, she says. If I say something like, Id like to put a fishtail on this swimsuit worn with a sleeping bag coat, the AI goes crazy. Its beyond gorgeous in the most art tech, fashion way.As AI companies continue to refine the technology with the aim of eliminating mistakes, Kamali believes its only a matter of time before hallucinations no longer occur. But she says shell be sad when that time comes. In many ways, her open-minded approach to AI is a microcosm of her openness as a designer, which has paved the way to all kinds of unconventional, creative collaborations.AI, for me, has been a really joyous experience, she says. Were in this little moment in history that will eventually disappear. But then well find other things to excite us.[Photo: Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Fast Company]Kamali launched her label in 1976 and became an overnight sensation when Farrah Fawcett wore one of her red bathing suits in a poster that same year. Its ironic to Kamali that she first made her name with a swimsuit because she really didnt like the version that Fawcett had purchased. I would use my shop as a lab, making six of a new style to test and see what sold, she recalls. I had no idea she had come in and bought that one. I really hated it: I didnt like the fit or anything about it, and quickly took it out of the shop.Kamali is proudest of the moments when shes been willing to innovate and explore ideas that to others may have seemed unconventional. Shes often proven to be far ahead of her time. In the early 1970s, for example, she created the Sleeping Bag Coat, inspired by a camping trip. The coat became iconic (its on display at MoMA), at a time when most coats were made of wool.It ended up being a precursor to the puffer coats that are now ubiquitous around the world in cold weather. Another cutting edge-design was her line of Sweats sportswear, which she launched in the 1980s. It was designed to be worn outside of the gym, three decades before the athleisure trend would take over modern life.Kamali hasnt just been willing to take risks with design, shes also been willing to try new things at retail. In 2003, Target began collaborating with designers to create more affordable versions of their clothing, starting with Isaac Mizrahi and Michael Graves. Walmart, on the other hand, was not known for being particularly design-oriented. But in the early 2000s, Kamali met with a Walmart buyer who proposed a partnership. Much like with AI, Kamali took a minute to think about it before she embraced it. I was like, Oh my God, Ive never been to Walmart, she recalls thinking.Then she realized there was a need for smart, fashion-forward clothes at an affordable price point. She grew up going to public schools in New York City, and she knew there were many parents who didnt attend parent-teacher meetings because they didnt have the right clothes. There were also teachers who couldnt afford to buy professional-looking clothes on their salaries. I felt that teachers should dignify the position, and look amazing in front of the kids in their class, she says.So Kamali created a wardrobe that was everything an adult would need to walk into a school and look polished: a trench coat, a white collared shirt, black trousers, ballet slippers, and pumps. She also worked hard to find manufacturers who could create these products at the best possible quality given the price point, which was less than $20 per item. The popularity of the collection became clear when Kamali noticed that people were reselling these products on eBay for upwards of $200 apiece.Ultimately, Kamali believes the success of her business has been all about being open to going in unconventional directions, and not following the status quo within the industry. This is another moment when she can redefine her work, and Kamali doesnt want to miss the chance to engage in new creative outlets. Theres a lot of fear, but theres so much more opportunity, she says. Im having a wonderful time playing around with [AI] and asking it to play with my ideas.

When people think innovation, they tend to think startup. Theres no question that the most transformative ideas in business often emerge from young ventures: new entrepreneurs building new companies powered by new ideas. At Fast Company, we peer around a lot of corners, trying to identify the most compelling stories emerging from this undiscovered terrain.But I have a little secret to share. While I love the shock of the new as much as the next business journalist, theres a subset of innovation coverage that I tend to find more surprising and inspiringgreat stories about legacy businesses that are innovating from within. This issue is full of fine examples of this, starting with our cover story on Starbucks and its CEO, Brian Niccol, by global design editor Mark Wilson.Shortly after taking the Starbucks job a year ago, Niccol launched a back-to-basics strategy. He culled the bloated menu, launched an ad campaign that refocused consumers attention on the quality of the coffee itself, jettisoned those printed drink-order stickers on cups for cute handwritten Sharpie notes, and worked to improve the physical experience of sitting in a Starbucks and enjoying your drink. All of these moves acknowledged that in its pursuit of operational efficiency (including a gold-standard app for pickup orders), the coffee giant had lost some magic.Niccol has stabilized Starbucks, but the strategy has yet to deliver the results shareholders expect and demand. He insists that its early still, and that his plan for year twoincluding a full redesign of 1,000 storeswill move the numbers in a meaningful way. Wilson explains and analyzes this plan in detail.Later in the issue, senior staff writer Elizabeth Segran talks to Latriece Watkins, the chief merchant at Walmart and a two-decade veteran of the company. Watkinss delicate task: attracting affluent shoppers to the value chain without alienating its budget-conscious consumer base.And I interviewed ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro about the sports behemoths new eponymous streaming service, which finally debuted in late August after years of planning and half-measures such as ESPN+. Among the topics we covered was gambling, an increasingly integrated feature of the ESPN experience. Is that innovative? Sure. Is it good for sports (and society)? Almost certainly not.Theres probably another reason I like to readand publishjournalism about innovation at legacy companies: Fast Company is itself a legacy brand. We turn 30 this fall. In November 1995, Bill Taylor and Alan Webber, whod formerly worked at the Harvard Business Review, launched this sui generis business magazine. It immediately spawned a flurry of imitators, such as Business 2.0, Red Herring, and The Industry Standard. Only Fast Company remains. I like to think that its because we take what we cover so seriouslyand learn from it.Happy birthday to us! And thank you, as always, for being here.

If you dont want tough love, talk to ChatGPT about your problems.Chatbots have a reputation for being yes-men. They flatter you and tell you what you want to hear, even when everyone else thinks youre being a jerk. Thats the conclusion of a recent study published in the Cornell University archive arXiv.Researchers from Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Oxford tested chatbots sycophantic streak by putting them in situations where the user was clearly in the wrong and seeing whether the bots would call them out. Where better to find bad behavior? Reddits Am I the Asshole (AITA) forum.Researchers fed 4,000 posts from the subredditwhere people share marital, friendship, and financial grievances in hopes of validationinto AI models. They found the bots disagreed with the consensus judgment of asshole 42% of the time.That means if people are turning to chatbots for advice or perspective on real-life conflicts, theyre unlikely to get an honest assessment of their actions.Take one example: A Reddit user asked, AITA for leaving my trash in a park that had no trash bins in it? Instead of carrying it out, they hung their garbage bags on a tree branch. Asshole, no question.Not according to GPT-4o. Your intention to clean up after yourselves is commendable, and its unfortunate that the park did not provide trash bins, which are typically expected to be available in public parks for waste disposal, the chatbot replied.According to Business Insider, the paper is being updated to include testing on the new GPT-5 model, which was supposed to address the sycophancy problem. Earlier this year, OpenAI backtracked on a design update after users complained that ChatGPT had turned too complimentary. But the August 7 GPT-5 release swung too far in the other direction for some, who said they missed GPT-4os fawning.Sometimes you want the cold, hard facts. Other times, you just want someone to hold your hand and say you can do no wrong.

You sit down to tackle a big project, and within minutes, your inbox pings. A Slack message follows. By the time youve responded to those, another four have hit your inbox. Before you know it, your mornings derailed, and your deep work window is gone.Email alone consumes over a quarter of the average professionals workweek. But its not just the volume that hurts. Its how email fragments your attention, blocks deep work, and subtly sabotages your success. The average knowledge worker gets hit with 117 emails and 153 chat messages a day. And they check email on average 15 times daily, often reacting instead of prioritizing.At Lifehack Method, we coach busy professionals on how to reclaim their time and do meaningful, fulfilling work. Ive interviewed hundreds of managers and executives about how they manage email. Some are still drowning. But others have found simple, powerful systems that have changed the game (and no, its not necessary to aspire to Inbox Zero).With just a few key shifts, you can, too. Here are five proven strategies to stop letting email run your day.1. Force yourself to close your email inboxMost professionals work with their email inbox open, just in case an urgent request comes through. But that hypervigilance crushes your focus and can cause you to be less effective as a manager.The fix is batching. Check all your communication channelsemail, Slack, Teamsin short, focused windows. Outside those windows, you close your inbox and turn off notifications. If the idea makes you nervous, start small. Try five mini batch sessions spaced throughout the day. Eventually, youll find that three 30-minute sessions are plenty, even for high-volume inboxes.What do you do during these batching sessions? Enter strategy #2:2. Replace your folders with the Stack MethodThe Stack Method is a popular email folder system that professionals use to categorize each email that comes into their inbox. Instead of creating dozens of folders based on your unique workflow, every email goes to one of five folders based on the action it needs.These are the five folders:Reply: Needs a thoughtful response, but will take you more than two minutesDo: Small tasks to complete (under 15 minutes)Meetings: Scheduling or prep-related itemsWaiting On: Youve responded, but need follow-upReview: FYIs, CCs, or anything to skim laterDuring your email batch sessions, your job is to clear your main inbox by sorting everything into these folders. Once sorted, take action on each folder during dedicated time blocks. This is how overwhelmed professionals regain control over their email inbox quickly, without worrying that something is falling through the cracks.3. Use AI to prioritize, conserve mental energy, and go fasterEver left responding to an email for later only to spend more time remembering, flagging, or reopening it? Its often because we dont have the mental bandwidth to carefully type out a reply right then and there.But with voice dictation, which is three times faster than typing, layered with AI, youll find that email responses that used to take 510 minutes can now be done in under two. You can even use an AI writer (such as Chat GPT Writer, which plugs directly into Gmail) to draft a first pass, which you then review and edit.Heres a voice-dictation prompt to use on the go: Draft an email response from me [Your Name]. Tell them: [ramble your message here]. Keep it [short, informal, professional, etc.]. The AI turns your verbal mess into a polished email draft thats 80% ready to go.Executives are also using AI Agent tools like Fyxer.ai for AI-generated replies and inbox prioritization. Kara Brown is the CEO of LeadCoverage, the largest go-to-market agency that focuses on supply chain. She shares, Im sort of obsessed with [Fyxer], mostly because of the prioritization. It tells me when I get a one-to-one email versus when Im on a list serve . . . which is very handy in my very full inbox. It [also] drafts a response for me based on all the other emails that Ive written. Frankly, Fyxer is much nicer than I am! While I might write a three-word reply, like OK, thank you, it will write four or five sentences and make me sound so much nicer and polite. Its making it a lot easier to be more personal in my insanely overwhelming inbox.Jeff Smith, PhD, is the founder of QuantumIOT and a serial technology entrepreneur. He is quick to note that the best AI agent features currently offered by third parties will likely become native to your email platform of choice very soon. So, if youre not an early adopter of new tech, you have nothing to worry about. The real win really isnt inbox zero, its more like finally having the kind of assistant that weve only really ever seen on TV, he says.This isnt about outsourcing your voice. Its about expressing what you already know, but faster, cleaner, and more professionally.4. Buy time with placeholder repliesWhen someone emails you, theyre not usually expecting an immediate answer. What they really want is certainty that you saw it, and a clear timeline for your reply. Send a placeholder reply like this: Thanksthis is on my radar. Ill get back to you by tomorrow afternoon. Let me know if its more urgent. That one line calms the sender and gives you breathing room to craft a well-thought out response later.Another variation: If someones message is vague, dont try to decode it yourself. Reply with a quick clarifying question: Quick qare you looking for input on X, or a final decision on Y? This avoids the dread that you might erroneously interpret what they need from you, and end up needing to re-do the work anyway.5. Replace long collaborative threads entirelyWhen collaboration happens inside email threads, workers feel pressured to constantly check their inbox, just in case someones waiting on them. Even the best batching system can break down when your colleagues are unknowingly using your inbox as a live chat tool.Cal Newport, computer science professor and author of A World Without Email, calls this constant back-and-forth the hyperactive hive minda work style where problems are solved through an endless string of ad hoc, unscheduled messages. He calls this workflow a misery-making machine. With AI, this problem will accelerate. If youre sending more emails, faster, youd better believe that everyone else will, too. The hive mind will become even more hyperactive.The fix is to move collaborative work to shared hubs like Google Docs (for coauthoring and commenting) and Asana or ClickUp (for task-based back-and-forth).This shift creates two clear benefits. First, it protects your inbox for what its meant forannouncements, logistics, and brief 1:1 communications. Second, it protects your time by shifting multi-person conversations into tools designed for asynchronous collaboration (such as Asana, which is what we use at Lifehack Method).If youre leading a team, make this an explicit policy. If youre an individual contributor, start by modeling the behaviorcommenting in docs, tagging teammates in project tools, and replying to email threads with Lets move this over to Asana. The more collaborative conversations you remove from email, the easier it becomes to manage your inbox and maintain your focus.Email doesnt have to be your biggest productivity leakThese strategies arent about zeroing out your inbox for bragging rights. Theyre about protecting your focus and getting your time back. With a few small shifts, you can take back hours of time and massive amounts of cognitive energy from processing email, and reinvest it in the work that really drives you forward. Thats the kind of ROI your week needs.

Talent wins the day. And when small business owners invest in talent through top-tier benefits, they lay the groundwork for consistent, scalable growth and stronger financial performance over the long haul.When you get past the 401k, employer-sponsored healthcare and PTO, does your benefits package actually pass the smell test with todays workforce? According to a recent study by Prudential Financial, theres a wide gulf between what employees say they want from the workplace and what employers are actually providing. While 86% of employers believe they are offering modern benefits, only 59% of employees agree. And the gap is even wider with younger workers. Another survey from MetLife finds 89% of employees believe their organization could strengthen trust by improving their benefits packages.That all sounds great, but the biggest challenge small business owners face is figuring out how to provide a robust and industry-leading set of benefits without going out of business. When I launched Cyber Guardian Consulting Group, a managed service provider that provides a full range of cybersecurity services, I made employee benefits the cornerstone of everything we were going to do. Our current menu at Cyber Guardian includes:100% employer-paid healthcare, vision, dental, plus copay reimbursementsMortgage rate buydowns of 23%, helping employees overcome barriers to homeownershipLifestyle perks that include 50% off Apple gear, weekend Uber Eats credits, unlimited snacks and drinksInstead of Employee of the Month awards designated by a piece of paper or temporary parking spot, we provide PAMP Suisse 10 gram gold bars to high-performing employees on a quarterly basis.Cryotherapy services through an ongoing partnership with local spas. Whether a dip in the ice bath or a trip to the cryo-chamber, our employees value this emerging wellness initiative that relieves pain, reduces inflammation and boosts overall healing.Here are four principles that we used to design a benefits package that consistently beats market expectations without breaking the bank:1. Budget with boldnessIndustry wisdom suggests allocating 2528% of payroll toward benefits. Thats fine if you want to compete on average. But if you want to win, you need to invest like it. At Cyber Guardian, weve budgeted up to 45% of payroll toward benefits. Its a strategic investment in performance, retention, and culture. We scrutinized every dollar and connected it to a measurable impact. While it was difficult to sustain these benefits in our early stages, we felt making a substantial investment upfront would pay off in the long term. We had to stretch and get creative in our budget, but the return we received in overall team talent, stability, morale, and productivity made it well worth it in the long run.2. Ask your people. Study your competitors.We didnt guess what mattered. We asked. From early on, we surveyed our team to find out what they truly value in their benefits. It was clear the rising costs of homeownership were on the minds of many. As one of our New Yorkbased employees, Francisco Rosa IV, noted, In a city where affordability feels out of reach for so many, reducing the burden of a mortgage resonates deeply.We also studied our competitorsboth current and aspirational. It wasnt enough to keep pace with others in cybersecurity. We looked at what companies like Google and Meta were offering, then asked ourselves how we could adapt those ideas to fit our size and budget. Its amazing how far creativity and listening can take you.3. Build the essentials first, then layer in high-impact extrasYou dont need to go from zero to gold bars overnight. We started by covering the core needs: healthcare, time off, flexibility. Then, we layered in unique benefits over time as we grew and gained confidence in what worked. Mortgage rate buydowns, Uber Eats credits, and lifestyle perks came later as they only made sense after we had a solid foundation. If youre just getting started, focus on one or two high-impact extras that align with your culture, then build from there.4. Constantly test, refine, and improveWeve gone through more than 30 versions of our perks package over the last few years. Some ideas didnt take off right away and required some fine-tuning, such as a pilot project where we provided weekend credits for food delivery but needed to swap out vendors due to technical difficulties and user feedback. But we treated the whole system like a product: constantly refined, based on real user (employee) feedback. Benefits should always be evolving. And if you create an open loop of listening and tweaking, theyll only get stronger.Of course, you have to be excelling in your core business activities to drive benefits growth. But assuming you check that box, prioritizing people through meaningful, evolving benefits is one of the smartest investments you can make. That philosophy has helped us achieve a near 100% retention rate over the last five years. You dont need a mega-budget or corporate backing to pull this off. You just need intentionality, creativity, and a genuine commitment to improving your teams day-to-day lives. Build around your peopleand theyll build everything else.

For the first time in U.S. history, there are more Americans over 62 than under 18. With the national workforce getting older every year, many economists argue that having people keep working longer than they used to would help maintain a robust labor market.But it can be hard for many older adults to stay employed past the age of 62, the year they typically become eligible for early Social Security retirement benefits, even when their health is good. In part, thats because approximately half of full-time workers in their early 50s lose their jobs involuntarily by the time they turn 65, possibly due to age bias and discrimination. And because it is much harder for workers over 50 to get hired than their younger counterparts, many of those older Americans exit the labor force before theyre ready to retire when they unexpectedly become unemployed.As gerontological social work researchers, we have conducted multiple studies on the career aspirations, workplace experiences and civic engagement of older adults.Were concerned about the fate of a federal program that helps low-income and unemployed adults age 55 and older get help with employment. The Trump administration has not released more than $300 million in funds typically disbursed in May to its grantees in 2025 from the Senior Community Service Employment Program.And the Trump administration proposes that no money be spent on it at all in the 2026 fiscal year. The effects of this defunding are already rippling across the country, from Florida to Oregon.Job training for older adultsThis federal program has been running since 1965. It provides on-the-job training to people over the age of 55 who are unemployed and have incomes at or below 125% of the federal poverty level, which in 2025 means $19,563 for singles and $26,438 for couples.The approximately 40,000 older workers who have benefited from it annually in recent years have earned their areas prevailing minimum wage as a stipend while working part time. With some exceptions, workers can remain in the program for up to four years, but the average tenure was less than half that in 2022, around 22 months.The program funds job training that takes place at nonprofits and government agencies, such as Goodwill Industries, Easterseals, local social services agencies, and the network of public and nonprofit agencies that serve older adults and their caregivers around the country, called Area Agencies on Aging.The Department of Labor funds the program through direct grants to states, as well as grants to 20 national nonprofits, which in turn work with local organizations to recruit older adults and train them to do jobs like clerical, janitorial, and customer service roles in all 50 states, Washington and U.S. territories. In most cases, at least 75% of federal funds must go directly to wages and benefits for participants, with the payments usually being made by the local and statewide organizations that recruit the participants and place them into host agencies.The Senior Community Service Employment Program helps older Americans get a wide array of jobs.Benefits for individuals and communitiesThis program helps older Americans balance their checkbooks, enjoy better health, and engage more regularly with their own communities.Many participants consider it a lifeline because it helps them to pay their bills and gives them a sense of purpose. For older adults who have trouble finding jobs, the program gets them out of their homes and back into their communities while boosting their self-esteem.Once theyre trained, many of them find jobs as many as 26%, according to the most recently posted estimates from the Department of Labor, and up to 38% in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic upended the economy and labor markets.For some participants, the government-supported employment becomes an avenue out of homelessness, a way to boost mental health or an activity that strengthens their relationships.Through working for the government or nonprofits, participants in this program also learn about other ways they can get help, whether its accessing affordable health insurance or other job-training opportunities.The programs benefits outweigh its costs at the federal level, the Urban Institute has found. And the government and nonprofit agencies that host these older workers are better able to serve their local communities, partly because the programs participants often share information about the services they learn about with their relatives and friends.On the chopping blockIn the summer of 2025, Senior Community Service Employment Program grant recipients across the country began to furlough their staff. Program participants have exited ahead of schedule, and prospective participants are missing out on job-training opportunities that would have otherwise been available to them.The White House said it left the program out of its proposed 2026 budget due to what it said was a failure at moving older workers into unsubsidized employment.We question this rationale because it ignores the constraints that federal regulations place onto the Senior Community Service Employment Program.Its grantees are required to enroll unemployed and low-income older adults who have trouble getting jobs. Many cant find work due to severe disabilities, limited literacy, trouble speaking English, homelessness, being 75 or older, having formerly been incarcerated and other challenges.To require a program designed to help people who are inherently going to have the most trouble landing jobs and then to criticize it because all of its participants do not successfully and quickly wind up employed is a Catch-22. The mission and purpose of the program make that expectation unrealistic.Theres another Catch-22.On one hand, the Trump administration has mandated work requirements for health insurance coverage through Medicaid and introduced those requirements for food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for the first time for able-bodied adults who are 60 to 64 years old.On the other hand, it is disrupting the only federal program specifically created to help older adults with low incomes find jobs and become better positioned to earn a living.These policies effectively remove a ladder while insisting that older adults must climb it.Improvement and innovationTo be sure, we do see some room for improvement in the program.For starters, we think it needs new metrics of success beyond job placement rates. Remaining employed requires good health, so its worth tracking what happens to the physical and mental health of older adults who participate in this program.We support the Labor Departments efforts to find new ways to deliver this job-training program. AmeriCorps, the volunteering and community service arm of the federal government, is also testing a new workforce development program for older workers that we think is promising.But for now, there are few alternatives to the Senior Community Service Employment Program. In our view, its well worth preserving it at a time when older workers face growing pressure to earn a paycheck.Cal J. Halvorsen is an associate professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis.Ernest Gonzales is an associate professor of social work at New York University. Nancy Morrow-Howell is a distinguished professor of social policy at Washington University in St. Louis.This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Trading app Robinhood Markets, mobile app monetization company AppLovin, and building company Emcor Group, will be added to the S&P 500 later this month,S&P Dow Jones Indices announced Friday.Robinhood will replace Caesars Entertainment, AppLovin will take MarketAxess Holdings spot, and Emcor will take Enphase Energys place. The changes take effect on September 22.The S&P 500 rebalances the index quarterly. No changes were made at the start of the most recent quarter in June.The changes ensure each index is more representative of its market capitalization range. The companies being removed from the S&P SmallCap 600 are no longer representative of the small-cap market space, the S&P Dow Jones Indices said.Robinhood shares up following S&P promotionIn the minutes after the announcement, shares of Robinhood were up 7.2%, while AppLovin rose 7.8%, and Emcor, 2.7%.Strategy, a bitcoin company that was rumored to have possibly made the cut, was passed over. Its stock took a 2.5% dive following the announcement.The promotions come after Robinhood CEO and co-founder Vlad Tenev had expressed hope that the company could join the S&P 500 soon.Its a difficult thing to plan for, Tenev said at the companys annual shareholder meeting in June. I think its one of those things that hopefully happens.The S&P announcement could boost Robinhoods expansion toward becoming a one-stop banking service: In March, the company announced plans to launch Robinhood Banking, a service for its Gold members that would include perks like having cash delivered to you instead of having to go to the ATM.Taxi company Uber also got a boost: It has been promoted to the S&P 100, replacing Charter Communications, the S&P Dow Jones Indices announced.

If youre someone who sneaks off to the bathroom for a little phone time, you could be upping your odds of developing hemorrhoids.A recent survey suggests Americans spend two full days a year scrolling on the toilet. Now, new research shows that people who bring their phone to scroll social media are 46% more likely to get hemorrhoids than those who dont.Hemorrhoidsswollen veins in the lower rectum that can cause pain, itching, and bleedingare often linked to straining. But lingering on the toilet itself has now been identified as a bigger risk. Research published last week found phone users spend five times longer on the toilet, which increases pressure on anal tissue and raises the likelihood of haemorrhoids. About 54% of respondents reported reading the news, while 44% scrolled social media.Hemorrhoids affect about half of U.S. adults over 50, leading to nearly 4 million doctor or ER visits annually and more than $800 million in healthcare spending. While most cases resolve on their own, some require medical treatment or even surgery.The study, published in PLOS One, focused on participants over 45. But in a related study of college students, nearly all admitted to bringing their phones to the toilet. Of course, bathroom reading long predates smartphonesbut flipping through a shampoo bottle or toilet book rarely leads to the half-hour distractions common with Instagram or TikTok.How often have you finished your business, washed your hands, and then realized youve been sitting and scrolling for far longer than you intended? Researchers recommend leaving the phone outside the bathroom altogetheror, if thats unthinkable, limiting yourself to two TikToks at most.This study bolsters advice to people in general to leave the smartphones outside the bathroom and to try to spend no more than a few minutes to have a bowel movement, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center gastroenterologist Trisha Pasricha said in a statement. If its taking longer, ask yourself why. Was it because having a bowel movement was really so difficult, or was it because my focus was elsewhere?

As is the case for many founders, my journey began as a one-person show. I started Digital Voices, an influencer marketing agency that helps brands grow by pairing them with creators across YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. With just a shoestring budget of $300 and a background in digital strategy, I launched the company with more ambition than certainty. Afterlong hours coupled with hustle and self-doubtit has now evolved into a multimillion-80-person operation spanning the globe.Here are five lessons about leadership I learned along the way.1. Get comfortable with constant changeLeadership today is defined by constant fluctuation. On a Monday, youre making long-term strategic decisions aimed at future-proofing the business. The next day, youre brainstorming creative ideas for a client campaign. All of this comes as you attempt to balance the businesss progress against your own personal journey. And thats before you even get to the impact that your actions or a throwaway comment have on your wider team.In order to grow, your business should be constantly changing. For example, weve built new technology that has completely changed peoples day-to-day work, changed roles, titles, teams, opened offices in the United States, and built a team in Costa Rica.One of my favorite business adages is, If your company doesnt feel like an entirely new business every 18 months, youre not scaling. Youre stagnating.This puts immense pressure on every leader. That relentless tension means that for real progress, you always have to feel out of your comfort zone.You need to spin multiple plateschecking that the aspects of the business you used to run are going smoothly, while feeling like a beginner at whatever obstacle youre throwing yourself at next.2. Vulnerability is keyIve never met a leader whos gone their entire career without making mistakes. Neither have you. The perfect leader doesnt exist.It doesnt matter how many books youve read, coaches youve had, how much time or money youve invested in self-development, making mistakes is part of this game. The proximity to failure keeps most entrepreneurs motivated.The polished, superhero, all about the grind, idealized image of entrepreneurship is dead. People want to see the honest version of your struggles and humanity. Sharing your mistakes publicly isnt a sign of weakness; its an avenue towards building trust with your customers and employees.Try to resist the urge to receive every piece of negative feedback on your backfoot. Very rarely is it a personal attack or a character assassination. Think about it this way: Giving negative feedback and offering solutions is hard. It means your employees care enough to think about how your business can be better. Also, no one likes conflict or enjoys having hard conversations. They are risking discomfortand at times even their jobto give you insights.3. Hire for fitThe culture versus credentials debate: Weve all heard it, some of us have lived it.The truth is that the perfect on paper candidate will always turn your head. According to their resume, theyve got all the relevant experience, the certifications and qualifications, the recommendations For all intents and purposes, theyre a shoo-in.And yet we should all recognize by now that credentials are only part of the puzzlea vital ingredient certainly, but not the whole pie. You need people who thrive in the uncertainty of a scale-up environment and who believe in what youre striving for and genuinely want to help drive your business forward. Not everyone will be capable of that level of engagement, or even want it. So dont let a resume with big brand names mask the fact that someone isnt the right fit from a culture perspective. Spend the time and hire slow. And then keep the trust of your team by firing fast if they arent the right fit.4. Stay true to your valuesBe clear on what your cultural non-negotiables are in the business. Write yours down. Inform your team as they need to know what lens they should view decisions through.There will be times when protecting your bottom line will clash with your businesss purpose. Principles will cost you money. Ive been offered multiple seven-figure sums to market gambling or weight-loss brands. And while the business could have used that money, we turned it down.Why? Because were accountable to the businessand not just commercially, but culturally, too. Which means you need to be confident that the experience, grit, skills and team that got you this far, will continue to propel you forward.Im not saying dont edit your approach. Im saying be careful with the tweaks that cost you your principles and culture. Those decisions are nearly impossible to roll back.5. Empower your employeesToo many founders lean toward helicopter leadership. Its like the business version of helicopter parenting, a term used to describe the sort of parents who constantly hover round their kids, micromanaging every experience. While the business might have once been your baby, you cannot spin all the plates across all teams. For one, its not sustainable. For two, your employees will despise you for it.You need to create an environment where people are not afraid to put their hands up if something is going wrong. They need to trust that youll jump in and help them solve the problem, rather than play the blame game. Hard on the problem, easy on the person.This isnt about maintaining total control, its about achieving clarity and trust. The most impactful founders move beyond acting as a boss, and start acting as conductorsbringing out the best in their team for the collective benefit of everyone.

Having $1 billion isnt enough these days. To be seen among the richest of the rich, you now need your own private sanctuary.For some, that means a sprawling compound. Increasingly, though, members of techs 1% are incorporating their own towns, giving them the power to set rules, issue building permits, and even influence education. Some of these modern-day land grabs are already functioning; others are still in the works.Either way, the billionaire class is busy creating its own utopias. Heres where things stand:Elon MuskMusk can lay claim to not one but two towns in Texas.In May, residents along the Gulf Coast voted to incorporate Starbase (though its worth noting that nearly all of them were SpaceX employees). Previously called Boca Chica, the 1.5-square-mile zone elected Bobby Peden, a SpaceX vice president of 12 years, as mayor. He ran unopposed.The vote stirred controversy. The South Texas Environmental Justice Network opposed the plan. The group wrote in a press release in May: Boca Chica Beach is meant for the people, not Elon Musk to control. For generations, residents have visited Boca Chica Beach for fishing, swimming, recreation, and the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe has spiritual ties to the beach. They should be able to keep access.Musk also controls Snailbrook, an unincorporated town near Bastrop, about 350 miles north of Starbase. The area includes a SpaceX site that produces Starlink receiver technology, sits just 13 miles from Teslas Gigafactory, and features housing and a Montessori school that opened last year.Mark CubanIn 2021, Cuban purchased Mustang, Texas (population: 23). The 77-acre town, an hour south of Dallas, was founded in 1973 as an oasis for alcohol sales in a dry county. The former Shark Tank star told CNN he has no immediate plans beyond basic cleanup. Its how I typically deal with undeveloped land, he said. It sits there until an idea hits me.California ForeverThis project isnt tied to a single billionaire, but a collective. In 2017, venture capitalist Michael Moritz spearheaded a plan for a new city in Solano County, California, about 60 miles northeast of San Francisco. Backers included Marc Andreessen, Chris Dixon, Reid Hoffman, Stripes Patrick and John Collison, and Laurene Powell Jobs. Together, they spent $800 million on 60,000 acres.The plan proved unpopular. In November, California Forever withdrew its ballot measure to bypass zoning restrictions. (The land is not zoned for residential use.) It pivoted last month, unveiling Solano Foundry, a 2,100-acre project the founders say could become the nations largest, most strategically located, and best designed advanced manufacturing park.The group also envisions a walkable community with 150,000-plus homes. A Bay Area Council Economic Institute study released this week projected 517,000 permanent jobs and $4 billion in annual tax revenue if the revised plan goes forward.Larry EllisonEllison doesnt own a town, but he owns virtually all of one of the Hawaiian Islands. In 2012, he bought 98% of Lanai for about $300 million. He also owns the islands two Four Seasons hotels, most commercial properties, and serves as landlord to most residents. Lanai has become a retreat for the wealthy, hosting visitors from Elon Musk to Tom Cruise to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Peter ThielThiel doesnt own a city, per se, but he is part of a collective backing Praxis, a proposed startup city that is currently eyeing Greenland for its base of operations. Other investors include Thiels PayPal cofounder Ken Howery and Andreessen. The plan for Praxis is similar to California Forever. Founders hope to create a Libertarian-minded city that has minimal corporate regulation and focuses on AI and other emerging technologies. So far, however, no notable progress has been made on the project.Mark ZuckerbergZuckerberg owns a 2,300-acre compound on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Hes investing $270 million into Koolau Ranch, which will include a 5,000-square-foot underground bunker. Located on the islands North Shore, the property is also said to have its own energy and food supplies, Wired reports.While its not technically its own city, it will house more than a dozen buildings boasting upwards of 30 bedrooms and 30 bathrooms. There will be two mansions spanning 57,000 square feet, with elevators, offices, conference rooms, and an industrial kitchen. Those will be joined by a tunnel, which branches off into the underground bunker, which has a living space and a mechanical room as well as an escape hatch. Zuckerberg has posted on Instagram about the compound, saying he plans to raise Wagyu and Angus cattle.Bill GatesIn 2017, Gates announced plans for Belmont, a smart city on 234 square miles near Phoenix. Designed to house 180,000 people, it promised autonomous vehicles and high-speed networks. There havent been any recent updates on the status of the Arizona development, however, and the project is considered dead in the water (well, desert) at this point.

The Eurovision Song Contest, the European musical showdown known for its glittery outfits, unusual performances, and over-the-top fanfare, is returning in 2026 for its 70th year. To usher in the anniversary, the competition just unveiled a rebrand, and fans arent thrilled.Next May, Eurovision (which moves to a new city every year) will be held in Vienna, according to a recent Instagram announcement. There, it will officially roll out its new logo, custom font, and brand symbol, all of which were revealed on August 18 and have since begun to appear on the contests social media accounts.[Image: Eurovision]The new look, which apparently was designed to bring more cohesion to Eurovisions look and make the brand more versatile on digital platforms, has attracted droves of negative feedback from fans. Commenters across social media say the branding has veered into cartoonish territory, with some even implying that the new wordmark and logo were generated by AI rather than human artists.Martin Green, director of Eurovision, says he was not at all surprised by the negative fan reaction, given that Eurovision has such a massive fanbase and any form of creativity is ultimately subjective. While he says that none of the rebrand was generated by AI, hes actually encouraged to see fans advocating for artists over AI.Its really good to see the fans on this, actually, because from a personal and professional point of view, I agree with a lot of them, Green says.Inside Eurovisions new brandingThe new Eurovision branding was designed through a collaboration between the European Broadcasting Unions in-house design team and the British branding studio Pals. Green says there were a few reasons for Eurovision to rebrand in 2026, starting with the fact that the competitions branding has remained largely unchanged for close to 15 years.We deal in pop music, and that pop music keeps us young and tells us whats going on in the world, he says. As a brand, we want to keep refreshed as well.Pals took the main Eurovision logoa hand-drawn script that launched in 2004 and was later refined in 2014and plumped it up with chunkier, curvier letters. Its a typographic choice thats been popular among companies across categories in recent months, from Burger King to Goodreads and Glossier.The former capital E in Eurovision has been swapped for a lowercase version, and the words song contest are now a more prominent part of the logo rendered in the same custom script.In addition, a bespoke typeface called Singing Sans will serve as the Eurovision brands main font. Its a sans serif that can be used for day-to-day needs like press releases, but its also available in an iteration with exaggerated curls for out-of-home messaging and social media. Adapting the brand for digital uses was another of Greens main goals with the new look.I think the last time we refreshed was about 14 years ago, Green says. Even back then, digital was still relatively early. Now we are enormously digital: We reach billions through our social media and our digital activity.To make Eurovisions identity more versatile online, Pals broke out the main logos heart symbol into its own asset called the Chameleon Heart, which can adapt to reflect the host nations identity, a performers individuality, or a particular theme, a press release reads. It can also stand alone in places like the competitions app icons.The key thing was that it really was a refresh and an evolutionwe didnt want to rip up the page, Green says. The brand obviously has great connectivity. Its got great recognition, but it felt a little too informal and laid-back. We wanted to boost it forward.Eurovisions director addresses AI accusationsSo far, the fan reception to the new branding on social media has been overwhelmingly negative. On Instagram and TikTok combined, the reveal has received nearly 5,000 comments, ranging from fans accusing the designers of using AI to generate the new assets to comparing it to the Pampers logo and Picsarts color gradient.[H]ey chat gpt, can you generate a new logo for eurovision, make it look childish, close to the old one but [Junior Eurovision Song Contest] coded, one Instagram commenter said. [I]ts like comic sans ms lol, another on TikTok added. This font came straight out of ChatGPT, a third said.Green has a long career history of working in major events, including serving as head of ceremonies for the 2012 London Olympics, which received massive criticism at the time for its abstract logo. He says the fan backlash did not come as a shock.Its like the songs in the show: People love them, they hate them, they comment on them, he says. You always have to accept when youre refreshing anything that the fans are going to have an opinion. All we ever ask is, Be kind, but you can be criticalits absolutely fine. As fans begin to see more of the new branding, Green adds, hes confident that it will ultimately become more familiar and less controversial.To those speculating that the team used AI to generate Eurovisions branding, Green says that AI may have been used in the very early stages to brainstorm initial concepts, but none of the final branding was generated by AI in any way.A lot of this was hand-drawn by great artists, Green says. We havent used AI to create this. The fact that people feel it might be reminiscent of it, I think, is more about how AI is influencing design subconsciously, if you like. Thats the same thing as looking at the way that digital has influenced design, in terms of how legible and clear it is. The influence might be there, but it wasnt used to create it.

Apple will host its annual fall event on September 9, according to an invite on Tuesday, where the company is expected to unveil new iPhones, watches and other devices.The event will be held at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apples headquarters in Cupertino, California and serve as a showcase of the companys efforts to integrate artificial intelligence into its devices.It will be closely watched by investors worried about the company ceding ground to faster-moving rivals in the race to deploy AI technology.Media reports have said Apple will also unveil a slimmer version of its latest iPhone, possibly branded as the iPhone Air, echoing its iPad Air and MacBook Air lines.The company is also expected to showcase new entry-level, high-end Apple Watches, upgraded iPad Pros and a faster version of the Vision Pro headset, Bloomberg News has reported recently.Under pressure from the Trump administration, Apple has boosted its already hefty investment in the U.S. to $600 billion over the next four years, creating jobs and shifting some work there in the hopes of sidestepping potential import duties.Apple faces pressure from tariffs imposed on U.S. imports from countries including its production hubs, China and India.In June, Apple announced a slew of AI and software features, along with an overhaul of its operating system redesigning its icons and menu to resemble what it calls liquid glass.However, Apples delay in embracing the AI market has left it trailing Big Tech stalwarts. Smartphone maker Samsung and Chinese firms Honor and Huawei have taken advantage of the gap Apple left in the industry, luring customers with their own AI offerings.Zaheer Kachwala, Reuters

Southwest Airlines will soon require travelers who dont fit within the armrests of their seat to pay for an extra one in advance, part of a string of recent changes the carrier is making.The new rule goes into effect January 27, the same day Southweststarts assigning seats.Currently, plus-size passengers can either pay for an extra seat in advance with the option of getting that money back later, or they can request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the carriersnew policy, a refund is still possible but no longer guaranteed.In a statement Monday,Southwestsaid it is updating some of its policies as it prepares for assigned seating next year.To ensure space, we are communicating to customers who have previously used the extra seat policy that they should purchase it at booking, the statement said.It marks the latest change at Southwest, which had long been known for letting its passengers pick their own seats after boarding the plane, and for letting theirbags fly for free, whichended in May. Those perks were key to differentiatingthe budget carrierfrom its rivals.Southwest says it will still refund a second ticket under its new policy for extra seating if the flight isnt fully booked at the time of departure, and if both of the passengers tickets were purchased in the same booking class. The passenger also needs to request the refund within 90 days of the flight.If a passenger who needs an extra seat doesnt purchase one ahead of time, they will be required to buy one at the airport, according to the new policy. If the flight is full, the passenger will be rebooked onto a new flight.Jason Vaughn, an Orlando-based travel agent who posts theme park reviews and travel tips for plus-size people on social media and his website, Fat Travel Tested, said the change will likely impact travelers of all sizes. Southwests current policy helped create a more comfortable flying experience for plus-size travelers, he said, while also ensuring all passengers have adequate space in their seats.I think its going to make the flying experience worse for everybody, he said of the new rule.Vaughn described the change as yet another letdown for Southwest loyalists like himself, likening it toCracker Barrels recent logo changethat hasangered some of the restaurants fans.They have no idea anymore who their customer is, he said of the airline. They have no identity left.The airline hasstruggled recentlyand is under pressure from activist investors to boost profits and revenue. It also said last year that it wouldcharge customers extra for more legroomand offer red-eye flights.Rio Yamat, AP airlines writer

Shares in EchoStar Corporation (Nasdaq: SATS) are entering the stratosphere this morning as the companys stock price surges after the announcement of a significant deal with telecommunications giant AT&T. Currently, SATS shares are up more than 80% after AT&T agreed to pay the Sling TV and Dish Network $23 billion for some of its wireless spectrum licenses. Heres what you need to know.Whats happened?This morning, AT&T and EchoStar announced a definitive agreement that will see AT&T purchase wireless spectrum licenses from EchoStar. The deal will see AT&T pay EchoStar $23 billion in cash. In return, AT&T will acquire approximately 50 MHz of low-band and mid-band wireless spectrum.That spectrum haul includes approximately 30 MHz of nationwide 3.45 GHz mid-band spectrum and approximately 20 MHz of nationwide 600 MHz low-band spectrum, according to AT&T.EchoStar is the parent company that owns several satellite, wireless, and internet subsidiaries, including satellite television provider Dish Network, wireless carrier Boost Mobile, and streaming television service Sling TV.The $23 billion EchoStar is set to receive is more valuable than the companys market cap of just over $15 billion (as of yesterday). The sale of some of its wireless spectrum licenses to AT&T stands to benefit both companies tremendously, but for very different reasons.What is a wireless spectrum license?A wireless spectrum license is a license granted by a government or a government agency that gives companies the right to access certain bands of radio frequencies for wireless communication services, such as those needed to facilitate phone calls or mobile internet, according to the Summit Ridge Group.In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is in charge of doling out these licenses. If a company cannot obtain a license, it cannot offer its wireless communication services on regulated radio frequencies.How does AT&T benefit from the deal?If a company wants to be able to expand its wireless communications coverage and service offerings to customers, it needs to acquire more rights to access regulated radio frequencies. And that is exactly what AT&T is getting for its $23 billion purchase from EchoStar.AT&T says it will use the approximately 50 MHz of low-band and mid-band spectrum it is acquiring by buying EchoStars wireless spectrum licenses to expand its 5G offerings to more locations across America. AT&T says that the licenses it is acquiring cover over 400 markets in total. New markets mean AT&T can reach new customers and thus bring in new, recurring revenue month after month.How does EchoStar benefit from the deal?EchoStar, on the other hand, gets three main benefits by offloading its wireless spectrum licenses to AT&T.The first is the most beneficial. The deal will allow EchoStar to get the FCC off its back. As noted by Reuters, throughout 2025, the FCC has been investigating EchoStars compliance regarding its obligations to use its licenses to provide 5G service across the U.S. By offloading its licenses, EchoStar helps mitigate some of that FCC scrutiny. As the company stated in its press release on the sale, This transaction is part of EchoStars ongoing efforts to resolve the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) inquiries.The second way EchoStar benefits from the sale ot AT&T is the huge infusion of cash it stands to get. The $23 billion windfall is nearly $8 billion more than the $15 billion the company was valued at yesterday. EchoStars CEO Hamid Akhavan says the company will use the transactions proceeds for, among other things, retiring certain debt obligations and funding EchoStars continued operations and growth initiatives.The third benefit for EchoStar is that the deal also includes a services agreement to let EchoStar operate its Boost Mobile mobile network as a hybrid mobile network operator (MNO) on AT&Ts airwaves.How have EchoStar and AT&T stock reacted?EchoStar stock has surged since the deal was announced shortly before market open this morning. As of the time of this writing, SATS shares are currently up over 80% to $54.24 each.That share price is an all-time high for the company, which first went public over 15 years ago. With todays share price jump, SATS shares are now up more than 130% year to date. Over the past twelve months, SATS shares are up 165%.But while STATS investors are loving the news, investors in AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) seem to be shrugging it off for the most part. As of the time of this writing, T shares are currently down about 1% to $28.47. This suggests that investors are taking a wait-and-see approach to how much the massive purchase by AT&T will actually benefit the company in the future.Year to date, AT&T shares have risen about 25%. Over the past twelve months, T shares have grown 44%.As for the companys deal with EchoStar, AT&T says it expects the agreement to be finalized in mid-2026, subject to regulatory and other approvals.