This week, tech companies were either melting down in real time or promising a future where computers are smarter than we are. Investors panicked, calmed down, panicked again, and then bought T-shirts for sea otters. We saw a giant internet outage that reminded everyone just how dependent the modern world is on one company. We also saw a stock that most people had basically pronounced dead suddenly rip higher like it was 2021 again.
There was drama in Washington, too. The White House leaned even harder into AI content as a political weapon, raising a question that has been building all year, which is: Are we entering the AI misinformation era for real, or are we already in it and pretending we aren’t? At the same time, Meta cut jobs in the name of moving faster on artificial intelligence, and Apple gave Wall Street something to cheer about by proving that, yes, people will still buy a new iPhone if you make it fast, thin, and expensive.
But the biggest optimism play of the week came from someplace totally different. Taylor Swift wore a vintage aquarium T-shirt, and her fans turned that into millions of dollars for sea otter rescue in a matter of hours. There are very few forces on Earth that can move money that fast. Central banks. Oil markets. Taylor Swift.
AWS outage hits much of the internet
An overnight outage at Amazon Web Services took down big parts of the internet, including apps and sites like Reddit, Lyft, and McDonalds. The problem was tied to AWS systems in one U.S. region, but because so many companies run through that same infrastructure, the impact went global. Amazon said the root issue was a DNS problem that it has mostly fixed, but a lot of users still saw slowdowns and random errors long after the first alert. The outage was another reminder that a huge amount of the modern economy sits on top of someone elses server.
Beyond Meat stock suddenly rips higher
Beyond Meats stock shot up more than 60 percent after spending the past few weeks in penny stock territory. The spike does not mean the business is suddenly healthy. Demand for plant-based meat has cooled, sales have dropped, and the company is still deep in trouble. What actually happened is a classic short squeeze in which traders who were betting against the stock got forced to buy shares back fast, which pushed the price higher.
Trump responds to protests with AI video
After the nationwide “No Kings” protests, President Trump posted an AI-generated video of himself in a fighter jet dumping sewage on protesters. He also dismissed the nearly 7 million people who showed up, saying they do not represent the country. Vice President JD Vance boosted a matching AI-style meme of Trump in a crown. Critics say this kind of content is basically making the protesters point for them and also shows how comfortable the administration is with pushing AI-altered media at scale.
Meta cuts 600 jobs from its AI lab
Meta said it is cutting about 600 jobs in the new AI superintelligence lab that it launched this year. Leadership says the smaller team will be able to move faster and make decisions with less internal debate. The company has been pouring tens of billions of dollars into artificial intelligence and high-end infrastructure, including new data centers and ad tools. The layoff news barely moved the stock, which suggests investors see this as normal cost control for a company that is still planning to spend heavily on AI.
Quantum computing stocks pop on takeover rumors
Shares of several U.S. quantum computing companies jumped after reports that the Commerce Department is talking to them about possible government investments. The basic idea is that Washington may want a financial stake in these firms in exchange for federal funding. Traders read that as a sign that quantum is getting treated like strategic tech, similar to chips and rare earth minerals. The result was a fast rebound for names like IonQ and Rigetti after a rough day in the broader market.
Gold and silver prices fall hard
Gold and silver both dropped sharply after hitting record levels earlier in the week. Prices for gold fell back toward the low $4,100 range per ounce, and silver slid under $50. The pullback suggests investors are feeling slightly less panicked about things like tariffs, inflation, and the government shutdown. In plain terms, money moved out of crisis mode and back toward risk.
Iceland finds mosquitoes for the first time
Scientists confirmed that mosquitoes have now shown up in Iceland, a country that’s basically never had them in human history. Warmer average temperatures are making the island friendlier to insects that could not survive there before. The specific species they found is cold-tolerant, which means it might be able to last through Icelandic winters and stick around. It is a small discovery with big implications because mosquitoes carry disease, and climate change is helping them expand north.
Egg recalls keep growing
More than 6 million eggs have now been pulled over salmonella concerns tied to Black Sheep Egg Company and others. The FDA escalated the recall to its highest risk tier and keeps adding new affected lots and brands. Experts say the spike in recalls is not only about farms doing something wrong. It is also about better, faster testing that can spot contamination earlier and force products off shelves before people get sick.
Apple hits a record high on iPhone 17
Apple stock hit an all-time high, at around $264 a share, after early data suggested the iPhone 17 lineup is selling faster than last years iPhone 16 launch. The standout this cycle is the new iPhone Air, which is thinner, lighter, and still priced as a flagship. Strong demand in both the U.S. and China helped fuel the rally and gave investors fresh confidence heading into Apples next earnings report.
Taylor Swift raises millions for sea otters
Taylor Swift wore a vintage Monterey Bay Aquarium T-shirt in her latest concert film, and her fans did the rest. The aquarium brought the shirt back, priced it at $65.13, and raised more than $2.3 million for sea otter rescue and rehab. The campaign ran on Tiltify, which let the aquarium process tens of thousands of orders almost instantly. It was a case study in what happens when fandom, nostalgia, and e-commerce all hit at once.
You dont have to be an avid reader of restaurant industry trade publicationsthough I can attest that they are oddly fascinatingto realize that everythings getting more expensive.
The good news is that theres an easy way to counteract those rising menu prices. By purchasing discounted gift cards, you can defray the cost of fast-food, fast-casual, and sit-down chains, and maybe even some other retailers that have nothing to do with stuffing your face.
All you need is a place to find authentic, cheap gift cards and a little foresight on when to buy them.
This tip originally appeared in the free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. Get the next issue in your inbox and get ready to discover all sorts of awesome tech treasures!
Gift cards for less? Yes, please!
To buy gift cards for less than their actual cash value, head to CardCash.com. It presently only handles orders from within the United States.
CardCash connects people who want to sell their unused gift cards with those who want to buy them.
It takes just a few seconds to see what gift cards are available, though youll need an account to make a purchase.
Most of CardCashs gift cards are digital and arrive via email, so you can start using them instantly.
When you search for a retailer on CardCash, youll see a list of available gift cards, with the biggest percentage discounts appearing at the top. You can also sort the list by value and cost.
The discounts on CardCash range from pennies to several dollarsor sometimes even moreper card.
If youre not looking for anything specific, you can also check out CardCashs Epic 20% Discounts and Deals pages. There youll find cards with greater-than-usual percentage discounts.
You can save yourself time and see only cards with especially significant discounts.
When looking at discount percentages, keep in mind any cash-back offers youd normally get at the store by paying with your credit card. If your card offers 3% back at restaurants, for instance, a gift card with a 3.5% discount probably isnt worth the trouble.
After buying a gift card, youll get a couple of emails from CardCash: One is your order receipt, while the other contains your digital gift card as a PDF attachment. The PDF will show the gift card number, PIN (if necessary), and barcode to scan in-store.
All the info you need for any purchased cards comes to you via email.
Waitis CardCash actually legit?
Ive used CardCash on four occasions over the past few weeks, and on three out of those four occasions, everything went smoothly.
A problem arose, though, after purchasing a Five Guys gift card immediately before eating there. The card, which cost $57.65, had an advertised value of $65.29but when I tried to pay, it only showed a value of $11.57. Using that amount drew the balance down to $0.
After getting home, I contacted CardCashs customer service and did not identify myself as a journalist so as to avoid getting special treatment. I received a response and a refund for the difference in balance the next day.
As CardCash notes on its website, this is an inherent risk with buying gift cards on its platform, which merely serves as a marketplace between buyers and sellers. Theres nothing to inherently stop a seller from using a gift card after selling it, or from selling a stolen gift card that later gets deactivated.
For these kinds of situations, CardCash says it guarantees the value of gift cards for 45 days, so you can contact them and get a refund. But it also suggests confirming gift card balances yourself immediately after the purchase, which Ill absolutely be doing in the future.
Either way, my experience underscores an important caveat with CardCash: Dont spend more on gift cards than you expect to spend in a 45-day period. For one thing, you might end up accruing so many cards that itll be hard to keep track of them allbut more importantly, youll be out of luck if something happens to the cards value.
While Ill keep using CardCash personally, Ill be sure not to stockpile more gift card credit than I need.
CardCash is completely web-based. Itll work in any browser, on any deviceno downloads or installations required.
Its free to use as a buyer, with the only cost being whatever price you pay for a card. The person doing the selling pays the sites fees.
You do have to create an account in order to make a purchase. You can either sign in with your Google account or with any valid email address. The sites privacy policy is clear that no personal info is ever sold or shared in any shady-seeming wa.
Treat yourself to all sorts of brain-boosting goodies like this with the free Cool Tools newsletterstarting with an instant introduction to an incredible audio app thatll tune up your days in truly delightful ways.
Like many ambitious tech companies before it, OpenAI introduced itself to the culture at large with big claims about how its technology would improve the worldfrom boosting productivity to enabling scientific discovery. Even the caveats and warnings were de facto advertisements for the existential potential of artificial intelligence: We had to be careful with this stuff, or it might literally wipe out humanity.
Fast-forward to the present day, and OpenAI is still driving culture-wide conversations, but its attention-grabbing offerings arent quite so lofty. Its Sora 2 video platformwhich makes it easy to generate and share AI-derived fictionswas greeted as a TikTok for deepfakes. That is, a mash-up of two of the most heavily criticized developments in recent memory: addictive algorithms and misinformation.
As that launch was settling in (and being tweaked to address intellectual property complaints), OpenAI promised a forthcoming change to its flagship ChatGPT product, enabling erotica for verified adults. These products are not exactly curing cancer, as CEO Sam Altman has suggested artificial intelligence may someday do. To the contrary, the moves have struck many as weirdly off-key: Why is a company that took its mission (and itself) so seriously doing . . . this?
An obvious risk here is that OpenAI is watering down a previously high-minded brand. There are multiple major players in AI at this point, including Anthropic, the maker of ChatGPT rival Claude, as well as Meta, Microsoft, Elon Musks Grok, and more. As they seek to attract an audience, they will have to differentiate themselves through how their technologies are deployed and what they make possible, or easy. In short, what the technology stands for. This is why slop, memes, and sex seem like such a comedown from OpenAIs carefully cultivated reputation as an ambitious but responsible pioneer.
To underscore the point, rival Anthropic recently enjoyed a surprising amount of positive attentionan estimated 5,000 visitors and 10 million social media impressionsfor a pop-up event in New Yorks West Village, dubbed a no slop zone, that emphasized analog creativity tools. This is part of a Keep Thinking branding campaign aimed at burnishing the reputation of its Claude chatbot. The company has positioned itself as taking a cautious approach to developing and deploying the technology (one thats attracted some criticism from the Trump administration). It has also made Anthropic stand out in what can be a move-fast-and-break-things competitive field.
AI is a field thats spendingand losingvast sums, and lately casting about for revenue streams in the here and now while working toward that promised lofty future. According to The Information, OpenAI lost $7.8 billion on revenue of $4.5 billion in the first half of 2025, and expects to spend $115 billion by 2029. ChatGPT has 800 million monthly users, but paid accounts are closer to 20 million, and these recent moves suggest that it needs to build and leverage engagement. As Digiday recently noted, OpenAI increasingly seems to be at least considering ad-driven models (once dubbed a last resort by Altman).
Writer and podcaster Cal Newport has made the case that developments like viral-video tools and erotica chat are emblematic of a deeper shift away from grandiose economic impacts and toward betting [the] company on its ability to sell ads against AI slop and computer-generated pornography. Its almost like a sped-up version of Cory Doctorows infamous enshittification process, pivoting from a quality user experience to an increasingly degraded one designed for near-term profit.
This is not entirely fair to OpenAI, whose every move is scrutinized partly because its the best-known brand in a singularly hyped category. All its competitors will also have to deliver real value in exchange for their massive costs to investors and society at large. But precisely because its a leading brand, its particularly susceptible to dilution if its seen as straying from its idealistic promise, and rhetoric. A cutting-edge AI pioneer doesnt want to be perceived as an existential threatbut it also doesnt want to be branded as just another source of crass distraction.
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National home prices rose 0.01% year over year from September 2024 to September 2025, according to the Zillow Home Value Index reading published on October 16decelerated from the 2.4% year-over-year rate from September 2023 to September 2024.
This year, the number of major metro-area housing markets seeing year-over-year declines has climbed.
> 31 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (10% of markets) had a falling year-over-year reading from January 2024 to January 2025.
> 42 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (14%) had a falling year-over-year reading from February 2024 to February 2025.
> 60 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (20%) had a falling year-over-year reading from March 2024 to March 2025.
> 80 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (27%) had a falling year-over-year reading from April 2024 to April 2025.
> 96 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (32%) had a falling year-over-year reading from May 2024 to May 2025.
> 110 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (36%) had a falling year-over-year reading from June 2024 to June 2025.
> 105 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (36%) had a falling year-over-year reading from July 2024 to July 2025.
> 109 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (35%) had a falling year-over-year reading from August 2024 to August 2025.
> 105 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (35%) had a falling year-over-year reading from September 2024 to September 2025.
Earlier this year, an increasing number of housing markets slipped into year-over-year price declines as the supply-demand balance gradually tilted more toward buyers. But in recent months, the list of declining markets has begun to stabilize as inventory growth has stalled.
Home prices are still climbing in many regions where active inventory remains well below pre-pandemic 2019 levels, such as pockets of the Northeast and Midwest. In contrast, some pockets in states like Arizona, Texas, Florida, and Coloradowhere active inventory exceeds pre-pandemic 2019 levelsare seeing modest home price pullbacks.
Many of the housing markets seeing the most softness, where homebuyers have gained the most leverage, are primarily located in Sunbelt regions, particularly the Gulf Coast and Mountain West.
Many of these areas saw major price surges during the Pandemic Housing Boom, with home price growth outpacing local income levels. As pandemic-driven domestic migration slowed and mortgage rates rose, markets like Tampa and Austin faced challenges, relying on local income levels to support frothy home prices.
This softening trend is further compounded by an abundance of new-home supply in the Sunbelt. Builders are often willing to lower prices or offer affordability incentives to maintain sales, which also has a cooling effect on the resale market. Some buyers who would have previously considered existing homes are now opting for new homes with more favorable homebuilder deals.
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Of course, while 105 of the nations 300 largest metro-area housing markets are seeing year-over-year home price declines, another 195 are still seeing year-over-year home price increases.
Where are home prices still up on a year-over-year basis? See the map below.
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Google Flights is one of the most popular flight aggregators on the web. The site lets users search millions of flights to find the best routes and prices that meet their needs. Unsurprisingly, millions of people use Google Flights to find the best deals on holiday tickets. And the search for cheap flights has also led to many nuggets of so-called conventional wisdom that, if followed, will supposedly help you find the cheapest fares.
But with the holidays rapidly approaching and finding the best deals on flights at the top of mind for millions of Americans, I wanted to find out if these bits of conventional wisdom were actually trueparticularly when it comes to Google Flights. So, I went straight to the source and asked James Byers, group product manager at Google Search, who leads the Google Flights team and the development of the companys other travel products in search.
Claim #1: Clearing cookies or using incognito mode will help you find cheaper fares
The idea behind this claim is that airlines and flight aggregators use cookies on your computer to track how many times youve visited a site to search for tickets. Frequent returns by the same user to a site suggest they may be preparing to buy tickets, so airlines or site operators raise prices. To get around this supposed tactic, conventional wisdom says to clear your browser’s cookies or just use incognito mode when shopping for tickets.
But Byers says that, when it comes to Google Flights, this is a myth.
Whether you have cookies set or incognito, it doesn’t make any difference on Google Flights. You see the same results as anyone else, says Byers. But he also understands why people believe this one.
He notes that due to the networked nature of the flight ecosystemthere are trillions (yes, with a T) of possible flight combinations a person could take, and a price change in just one flight, say, departing from Paris, can result in price changes in seemingly unrelated flights.
These price changes can happen stunningly rapidly, Byers sayswithin secondsand the rapid nature of these price changes can make people believe the price changes they see when returning to a ticketing site even a few minutes after their first visit are being done to purposely target them, when, in fact, it isn’t.
Claim #2: Using a VPN will help you find cheaper fares
Another bit of conventional wisdom is that, depending on your actual location, you should use a VPN when shopping for flights. This is because airlines sometimes offer the same flight at different prices depending on where in the world you are located.
If you are in a country with a relatively high GDP, the flight you want may be listed at $1,000. But those in countries with lower GDPs may see cheaper fares for the same flight. In short, airlines think people in wealthier countries will be able to pay more for the same flight than people in developing countries.
Byers says this isnt exactly a mythbut a VPN may do little good in the end. He notes that airlines do tend to offer different prices based on the country youre purchasing the ticket from, so setting your VPN to show youre in a different country may help you see lower fares initially.
However, this tactic often fails because usually, when you go to book that flight, you also need a billing address and a payment instrument, a credit card, or some other means of payment in that country.
If you dont use a payment method native to that country, youre unlikely to get the local fare. In the end, Byers says the VPN hack is not a strategy we recommend.
Claim #3: Book your flight tickets on a Tuesday to get the cheapest fares
This is probably the oldest bit of conventional wisdom. The idea is that airlines generally have the lowest fares on Tuesdays, so if you buy your tickets on that day of the week, they will be cheaper than if you buy them on any of the other six days.
Surprisingly, Byers says Googles data backs this up. But theres a catch.
Tuesdays are a little bit cheaper, Byers says, but it’s 1.3% [less], compared to Sunday, which is the most expensive day.
What that means is that if you find the perfect flight on a Sunday, you can wait until Tuesday to see if the price declinesbut even if it does, expect to see savings of only around 1.3%, at most. Thats less than seven bucks on a $500 ticket. And if you do wait until Tuesday to get that possible discount, the ticket you want could be gone by then.
The difference is so small that we recommend that once you see a price [you like] . . . you should [grab] it regardless of what day you happen to book on, advises Byers.
When you can actually find the best prices on holiday flights, according to Google Flights
Conventional wisdom examined, I asked Byers if he had any tips for finding cheap holiday fares, based on Google Flights rich trove of data. Surprisingly, he told me that despite the holidays being little more than just two months away, now is a good time to buy your tickets.
We’ve got about 40 days until Thanksgiving, Byers noted when I interviewed him on October 17. I think we have about something like 70 days until Christmas. Believe it or not, we’re just about at the point where prices historically are the lowest.
Byers says that, for Thanksgiving, the sweet spot for finding the lowest fares is 35 days before the holiday, which puts the prime buying date at October 24 this year. But he notes that there is some latitude there, which includes between about 24 to 59 days before Thanksgiving. Once you get past that window, prices can go up quickly, he says.
As for Christmas and the end-of-year holidays, Byers says the peak time to buy your tickets is about 50 days before. That’s the lowest, based on our data.
Googles head of flights had two other suggestions for finding great flight prices throughout the year. The first is to set Google Flight price alerts. When we tell you it’s a great price,” he says, grab it. “We have some pretty great data and AI behind that to give you confidence that it’s time to book.
The second: be flexible. The more wiggle room you have with your dates, times, and destinations, the better deals youll likely find. “Flexibility is always the name of the game, if you have it.”
By noon on a recent Tuesday, my calendar had already decided what kind of manager I would be. Back-to-back 1:1 meetings until the end of the day. Nothing was on fire, yet nothing was moving either. That might be fine in a slow cycle. It is not fine when you are releasing new features in real time and your best engineer has three recruiters in her inbox. In this market, teams dont just compete on comp alone. They compete on how much freedom they have to actually create and build.
We ran a simple test at my company. We canceled the standing 1:1. We kept space for new hires and anything sensitive, like a performance review. Everything else moved to an as needed basis.
The first worry was trust. Would people feel like they lost access to their manager? They did not. Access improved because help arrived at the right moment: in the middle of a decision, during a roadblock, or on a draft that needed real feedback. Not next Tuesday at 2:30.
Leaders I admire do this already. Jensen Huang. Marc Andreessen. Doug Leone.
The weekly 1:1 is a relic of calendar-driven management
The weekly check-in is a habit from an office-first, synchronous work environment. In a remote, product-driven organization, the cost of context switching is high, and most collaboration starts in writing. Recurring 1:1s often slide into status updates or meandering chats. This can be useful at times, yes, but its a poor default. I want conversations that are tied to goals, decisions, and growth, within the project timeline.
What replaced the weekly 1:1
We switched to a shared doc and a few well-named Slack channels. Now we use short notes that say what changed, what is blocked, what needs a decision, and tag the right people. Because it is written, we skip the catch-up meeting and we have a record of how and why choices were made.
When we need to make a decision in the moment we jump into a quick huddle. These are small and focused. We leave with one owner and one date. If the topic is fuzzy, we pause and write a brief doc or build a tiny prototype first. Better to spend five minutes getting clear than 30 minutes wandering.
We show work instead of describing it. Rough prototypes carry more information than long explanations. A two-minute screen recording usually gets sharper feedback than a half hour of narration.
I hold open office hours every week for growth, feedback, and sticky problems. People come when they need it instead of me trying to guess who might benefit from the time. It works like a help desk for humans.
Some topics do need group discussion, so we have small group sessions for things like what to prioritize or writing cleaner product requirement documents. We record them so the advice becomes reusable, and people can learn from one another instead of hearing me repeat the same paragraph 10 times.
We also created a simple rubric so everyone knows what kind of communication to use: async for status updates and FYIs, huddle for a decision, office hours for coaching, immediate 1:1 for anything sensitive.
What actually improved
Focus came back first. With fewer standing meetings people had real blocks of time to build. Writing forced clarity and huddles only happened when a live discussion would change the outcome, which meant we got faster at making decisions. Coaching got better. Instead of delivering the same guidance across 10 separate 1:1s I deliver it once at higher quality and make it accessible to all. Documentation improved because conversations start in writing and end with visible decisions.
You can feel these gains. The calendar is lighter. The work moves.
There is a talent angle, too. People choose environments where progress beats ceremony. Protect attention and show up at the right moments, and you keep great teammates. Waste it, and you teach them to take recruiter calls.
Guardrails that keep it human
This only works if its humane. New hires keep a weekly 1:1 for the first month or two, then we taper as they find their footing. Anything personal goes straight to a private conversation: performance, compensation, and hard sensitive feedback.
The cadence is variable because the work is variable. Sometimes I need to meet someone three times in two days. Other times, we are on separate tracks, and a check-in every few months is enough, or we cover it in a larger group.
We rotate huddle times across time zones and publish response expectations so access is not personality-based. And the managers job does not shrink. You still watch for quiet voices, stuck work, and moments to recognize people. If you miss hallway moments, create them on purpose. Light coffee chats. Demo open houses. The occasional in-person day. Serendipity scales better with a little planning.
This isnt about being contrarian or cutting meetings for sport. Its about building a system that gives people time to do meaningful work and gives managers better ways to support them.
Run the 30-day test with your team. Protect the obvious exceptions. Hold yourself to the same standards you set for others. If your calendar feels lighter, your writing is sharper, and decisions arent stalling, keep going. If not, bring the weekly 1:1 back.
The point isnt the ritual. The point is building a way of working where smart people can do their best work and feel supported while they do it.
The rules for collecting Social Security are changing in 2026.
Two of the most important things to know if you’re collecting benefits: Your monthly check payments will increase, and if you’re planning on collecting benefits before retirement age and still plan to work, your checks could be reduced or even paused.
For more on this, read on.
The 2026 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will increase benefits
Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments for 75 million Americans will increase 2.8% in 2026, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced on Friday.
However, due to inflation and the skyrocketing cost of living, many retirees might not actually be getting more for their hard earned dollars.
Each year the SSA announces a cost-of-living adjustment, known as COLA. Over the last decade, the COLA increase has averaged about 3.1%. This year’s increase is 0.3% greater than 2025’s 2.5% cost-of-living-adjustment, but far smaller than previous years with higher inflation, as CNN noted.
So, how much does that add up to? For an average payment of $2,071, that’s an additional $56 a month, which will kick in this January, according to the SSA.
Social Security is a promise kept, and the annual cost-of-living adjustment is one way we are working to make sure benefits reflect todays economic realities and continue to provide a foundation of security, Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano said in a statement. The cost-of-living adjustment is a vital part of how Social Security delivers on its mission.
What other changes are coming to Social Security in 2026?
Also changing in January: The maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable maximum) is slated to increase to $184,500 from $176,100.
And another noticeable change is on the horizon for working seniors who are collecting Social Security.
Given the high cost of living, an increasing number of older Americans are still working into their golden years. Those who have reached full retirement age (FRA) can work without penalty.
However, those who have applied for Social Security before reaching full retirement age (FRA) and are still collecting a paycheck may see those payments either reduced or paused in 2026, depending on how much they earn, and at what point they reach FRA, according to The Motley Fool.
In 2025, the full retirement age was 67 (for those born in 1960 or later). People collecting Social Security while working, who were under the FRA for their age, lost $1 in benefits for every $2 they earned over $23,400 (or $1 for every $3 they earned above $62,160).
However, in 2026, that threshold limit is expected to slightly increase from $23,400 to $24,360, and the $62,160 limit is increasing to $64,800meaning people can earn another $960 more next year without being penalized, per The Motley Fool.
One of Hollywoods crown jewels is on the block: WarnerBros. Discovery, the parent company of HBO, CNN, and major movie franchises like Harry Potter and the D.C. universe, officially confirmed this week that it is open to a sale. The company has already received multiple offers, but wouldnt disclose any of the parties bidding for its assets; potential acquirers reportedly include Paramount Skydance, Netflix, Comcast, Amazon and Apple a who’s who of the modern streaming landscape.
The disclosure followed public overtures from Paramount, which reportedly was willing to pay as much as $24 per share, or around $60 billion total, for the publicly traded media company. WarnerBros. Discovery rejected that offer as too low, and hopes to drum up additional interest by publicly putting itself up for sale. Any potential deal, regardless of the ultimate identity of the winning bidder, will almost inevitably reshape the streaming landscape, which in turn could have major consequences for consumers.
The proposed sale is also a testament to how much the media landscape has changed since the pandemic, when consumers flocked in droves to streaming, abandoning traditional pay TV in the process. 83% of consumers now watch streaming TV, according to a recent Pew survey. Within just a few years, streaming has become ubiquitous and at the same time a victim of its own success, with little room to grow any further.
A lot of the major streaming services are looking at slowing subscriber growth, says Omdia media & entertainment analyst Paul Erickson. If you really are looking to substantially grow your presence, youll have to make a big move. Like buying a $60 billion entertainment giant, for instance.
This wont stop the decline of traditional TV
Not all potential bidders are willing to pay as much as Paramount, or take over all of Warner Bros. Discovery, for that matter. We have no interest in owning legacy media networks, said Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos during his companys earnings call this week. Sarandos didnt directly comment on his companys talks with WarnerBros. Discovery, but the streamer is said to be interested in getting its hands on big HBO shows and movies and the studio that produces them, not the companys TV networks.
The same is likely true for potential big tech buyers like Apple and Amazon, and for good reason. Traditional TV networks have been shedding viewers for years, and are increasingly losing advertisers to streaming as well. Thats why WarnerBros. Discovery had planned to spin off its own TV networks into a separate company next year, something that Comcast subsidiary NBCUniversal is also doing.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has expressed more confidence in the future of traditional TV. Ellison has said that he wants to revitalize the linear side of the business at Paramount, says Erickson.
But even that likely wouldnt change the broader shifts in the entertainment industry. Media companies have already begun to consolidate and shutter a number of traditional TV networks — WarnerBros. Discovery closed four networks this summer alone. UniversalKids, a network run by Comcast subsidiary NBCUNiversal, shut down earlier this year, and Paramount will shutter five MTV channels in the UK by the end of the year. Additional closures are likely as eyeballs and investments continue to move to streaming.
Apps may also start to disappear
But consumers shouldnt just get ready for TV networks to disappear from their program guide. Any acquisition of WarnerBros. Discovery will likely also lead to some streaming services consolidation, with fewer app icons vying for our attention when we turn on the TV.
All of the reported bidders already operate their own streaming services. The company theyre looking to buy, WarnerBros. Discovery, not only runs HBO Max, but also Discovery+, with both services already sharing overlapping catalogs. Its unlikely that any buyer would want to operate three or more paid services that all compete with each other.
Financially, it makes sense to not maintain development staff for separate apps, says Erickson. It would be better, long-term, to merge them together. If not merging the brand, at least functionally merging [the services] within a single experience, a single app.
Instead of having a separate HBO Max app on their TV, consumers may in the future find all of HBOs content within a dedicated section of another streaming service. However, getting such integrations right can be challenging as well.Easy to say, hard to do, , Erickson concedes.
A merger could make TV viewing more confusing
WarnerBros. Discovery is itself no stranger to those challenges. Back in 2020, when the company was still known as WarnerMedia, it launched the HBO Max streaming service as a way to more directly compete with Netflix. The thinking at the time was to position HBOs brand, and hugely successful shows like Game of Thrones, as the services crown jewels, while also adding a bunch of other stuff from the companys other TV networks and massive back catalog shows like Friends, South Park and Rick & Morty. HBO, and then some: Thats what the Max part of the branding was supposed to stand for.
Following the merger with Discovery in 2022, HBO Maxs value proposition got even more muddled, as the service also started to stream reality TV fare from HGTV and TLC, documentaries from the Discovery Channel and cooking competitions from the Food Network all formats that had little in common with HBOs trademark high-profile dramas.
The company tried to reflect that change by dropping HBO from the services name, rebranding it as just Max. WarnerBros. Discovery tried to unite too many worlds, says Tracy Swedlow, co-producer of The TV of Tomorrow Show (TVOT). Stretched thin and without a clear vision, it became a patchwork of brands with no identity.
Consumers were extremely confused by the name change, with some wondering whether they had lost access to HBO altogether. WarnerBros. Discovery also realized that most subscribers just didnt care all that much about the non-HBO content hosted on the service. This May, WarnerBros. Discovery backpedaled and renamed the service HBO Max again, with executives committing to refocus on HBO as its core strength.
An acquirer will have to walk a fine line between maximizing the value of the HBO brand while keeping things simple for consumers. There is considerable brand equity in the HBO brand, says Erickson. It culd be that the HBO Max service goes away, but the HBO brand lives on.
I am hopeful well see a reinvention of this legendary brands remaining extraordinary assets, Swedlow adds.
Streaming is bound to get more expensive
Any potential buyer will have to put up a lot of money for WarnerBros. Discovery money that shareholders will ultimately want to see recouped. That will almost inevitably lead to further price increases for streaming services. There’s a lot of upward pressure on pricing in streaming, Erickson says.
Consumers have already faced multiple price increases in recent months. HBO Max announced just a few days ago that it is raising the cost of its streaming plans by $1-$2 per month. Prices for Disney+ went up by $2-$3 per month this week; Apple and Netflix also increased prices for their services this year.
A lot of those price increases are due to increased investments in live sports, which tends to be one of the most expensive content segments for streamers and TV networks alike. However, with streaming services reaching a point of market saturation, and consumers still feeling the pinch from inflation, theres a limit to what any acquirer will be able to pay for a future streaming service that includes HBOs shows.
Price rises will have to stop someplace, before they alienate consumers, Erickson says.
This week, news reports revealed that Meta would be cutting hundreds of jobs in its AI division. The layoffs will impact employees who work on AI products, research, and infrastructure. They come after Meta went on a hiring spree to shore up its AI efforts.
But despite the job cuts, Meta’s chief AI officer told the Wall Street Journal that the company would, however, continue hiring “AI native” talenta term that seems to have quietly slipped into the corporate lexicon amid the AI arms race.
For the last decade, the term “digital native” has been circulating to describe Gen Z, as many of them don’t know life without the internet. The cohort following them, Generation Alpha, is already being called “generation AI.” But surely that’s not what Meta means by “AI native,” given the oldest in that group is only around 15 years old. (Meta did not respond to a request for comment.)
So what exactly does “AI native” mean?
“I’ve noticed that popping up more and more,” says JR Keller, a professor of human resource studies at Cornell University’s ILR School. “My sense is what these companies mean when they talk about this are workers who integrate AI into every facet of their lives,” Keller says.
“It’s almost like each one of these workers has a little invisible AI companion with them at all times.”
Even in a tough job market, many companies are willing to pay top dollar for young workers who are deeply familiar with AIunlike senior employees who may need to be cajoled into adopting it.
According to Keller, these workers practically speak a different language when it comes to their relationship with AI. “The way that I think of AI is: When are particular times when it would be useful?” he says. “When should I use ChatGPT? When should I allow Copilot to look at my emails? Or when should I turn Grammarly on? But it is always on with AI native people.”
Jeffrey Bussgang, a general partner at the venture capital firm Flybridge, has said he frequently uses the term AI native to describe people who are “wildly adept at using a wide range of modern AI tools,” which in term enables to be far more productive than their peers. “AI-native companies are made up of a collection of AI-native employees who infuse AI into everything they doevery function, every process, and every role,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
So if you’re seeing the term “AI native” circulate more and more in the discourse, it’s likely just referring to workers who look at everything through an AI lens first and foremost. And it’s not just AI startups or big tech companies like Meta who are seeking out “AI native” talent.
For traditional employers who are struggling to adopt AI or use it effectively, bringing on workers with AI experience can be invaluable. And while they’re not as young as Gen Alpha, of course, they do tend to be the younger people in the workforce. Pew data released in June found that 58% of people ages 18 to 29 have used ChatGPT, the highest share of any age group.
“The concept of the ‘AI native’ is increasingly real,” former Deloitte Consulting CEO Dan Helfrich said recently. “Leading organizations are empowering and unleashing AI nativesemployees who, by definition, are adept with AI but are typically among companies less experienced and less tenured employees.”
Keller says it’s just a matter of time before more workers embrace the term to better position themselves while job hunting.
“As you see companies use this, many people are going to start including that terminology in their LinkedIn profile, [like] ‘I’m an AI native programmer,'” he says. ‘Because they know then they’re going to pop up to the top of the search results.”
This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Subscribe here.Not everything creative needs a prompt. The Web is increasingly flooded with AI-generated images and videos, much of it aimed at kids. Sometimes its nice to break free of that synthetic media.
As a dad of 10 and 12-year-old daughters, I appreciate resources for kids and families that celebrate human imagination, curiosity, and hands-on exploration.
I had a fruitful recent conversation about resources for kids with a fellow dad, Kevin Maguire, who writes the great newsletter The New Fatherhood. If youre a dad looking for great reads and a sense of community, check out Kevins newsletter. (Also read Recalculating, by Ignacio Pereyra). Kevin wrote the section below about simplifying screens and shared the tip about muted.io.
The rest of the apps and resources below are ones Ive enjoyed in recent years with my wife and daughters. From coding with visual blocks to identifying plants on nature walks, these are some of our favorite tools for sparking creativity.
Building brains without bots
Scratch, developed at the MIT Media Lab, is a superb program for learning to code. Its fun and free for kids and adults. My daughters like assembling Scratchs visual blocks on screen to create interactive stories, games and animations. Its designed for kids 8 to 16. ScratchJr is a great alternative for kids 5 to 7. Free
Dash Robot lets kids program it to move, light up, and make sounds. It teaches block coding, like Scratch, and our daughters enjoy making up their own instructions to send Dash on creative adventures. For kids 5 to 14. $180.
Seek is one of our favorite family apps. Point the app at any plant, flower, animal, or bug you see on a walk to learn more about it. Its given us insight into much of the greenery (& critters) around us. iOS & Android. Free
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Words that work wonders
Libby lets you access thousands of free ebook or audiobooks with a free library card. It works for more than 90% of public libraries in North America, and Libby can be found in 78 countries worldwide. Free
Khan Academy is the most robust online spot for helping kids with learning almost any school subject. Its completely free. No ads. Khan Academy Kids has great learning activities and games for kids 2-8. Its also free and ad-free, and its fun for both math and reading. Free
Family screen time that actually works
Common Sense Media | Wondering if a show, movie or video game is age appropriate? Get a quick sense of whether its a good fit for your family. Free
Kanopy is a terrific free resource for educational videos, documentaries and classic films. Access it with your library card. A unique feature: watch Oscar-winning short films you wont find on other streaming platforms. Kanopy Kids is a curated collection for learning, less commercial than the kids section on Netflix. Free
JustWatch | See which platform hosts a particular movie or show. Free
Nex | Like a Nintendo Wii made for 2025, this video game systm gets our bodies moving with fun, non-violent, family-friendly games. It was easy to set up, pluging right into an HDMI port on our TV. Its a little bigger than a Rubiks Cube.
We love playing with the Nex Playground
Four of us can play together. We like the sports, dancing and trivia games. Some titles are just for little kids (e.g. Elmo, Peppa Pig), but most are engaging for older kids and adults. The device costs $249 with five included games. An $89 annual subscription gets you 40+ more games.
Read my Fast Company interview [gift link] with Nexs founding CEO about how his game system has spread.
Making music
Chrome Music Lab Compose little tunes, even if you have no musical experience. Explore digital instruments and sound games. Save your favorite clips to share. Googles MusicFX is a fun alternative for generating music with a prompt. Free
Metronaut This sheet music app lets kids play along with an accompaniment from an phone or iPad. It supports 20+ instruments ranging from strings and woodwinds to piano, guitar, and brass. $27/year on iOS.
Metronaut lets you play with digital sheet music and an accompaniment
Tomplay is another great sheet music app that works well on Android and iOS and includes a wider range of chamber music. I pay $82/year for it.
muted.io has a vibrant collection of interactive tools and visual references to help kids or their parents absorb music theory. Free [by Kevin Maguire]
Art adventures & creative experiments
Tate Kids An Arty Playground. Play art games, watch cute videos, try out little projects, and stretch your artistic mind with this well-designed resource from one of the UKs great art museums. Free
Make an animated drawing. Turn a sketch into a playful moving image. This service from Meta lets you turn coloring into animation. Free
Draw A Fish. This simple, low-fidelity game lets you draw a little fish with your computer mouse, then see it swim on screen. Free
Googles Arts & Culture Experiments include dozens of playful free apps for learning about the worlds of painting, sculpture, music, and more. Free
Spark curiosity
How to Raise a Reader by Pamela Paul and Maria Russo is a wonderful guide to fabulous books for kids. It grew out of this free NYTimes guide (gift link). As of this writing, its $9.51 on Amazon.
The Week Junior is a terrific print magazine. Its aimed at kids 8 to 14, but my wife and I also enjoy reading it. The 32 colorful pages feature short curated stories about the news of the week. It also includes puzzles, a weekly debate, and photography pages. Cost: 25 issues/year for $49, or $59 for print + digital access. (See the magazine layout design)
Simplifying screens, from Kevin Maguire
Consider a Light Phone. Experiment with freeing yourself (and your kids) from smartphone addiction with a full-on dumbphone. Reviews for the 3rd edition have been glowing Wired gave it 8/10. $699 for version 3 or $299 for version 2.
Try the Dumb Phone app. Simulate a simple device with an app that strips away everything but simple links to the core phone functions: camera, maps, calendar, and photos. Imitate a simple device without dropping $500 on the love child of a Nokia and a Kindle. Free or $10/annual; $30/lifetime.
The Dumbest Phone Is Parenting Genius. A landline for kids? If its not too late, consider a tactic from Rheana Murrays Atlantic article: install a landline. Buy that hamburger phone you always dreamed of as a kid; go with a landline as a service company like Tin Can and their gorgeous house phones; or if youre more technically inclined roll your own VoIP line for a fraction of the cost. The bottom line: delay the start of smartphone life.
