A “click-to-cancel” rule, which would have made it easier for consumers to end unwanted subscriptions, has been blocked by a federal appeals court days before it was set to go into effect. But there are ways to end those subscriptions and memberships, even if they take some work.The rule would also have required companies to disclose when free trials and promotional offers would end and let customers cancel recurring subscriptions as easily as they started them. But even without the new federal guidance, here are some ways to stay on top of subscription and membership fees.
Use calendar reminders and regularly review your bills
Experts at the Consumer Federation of America recommend setting calendar reminders for whenever a free trial period ends, to alert yourself to cancel promotional offers before the real recurring costs kick in. The auto-enrollment process, in which the company does not remind the consumer via email that a trial is about to end and higher monthly payments will begin, was also at the heart of the FTC’s rule.“No subscription business model should be structured to profit from a gauntlet-style cancellation process,” said Erin Witte, Director of Consumer Protection for the Consumer Federation of America, in a statement on the click-to-cancel rule.Regularly reviewing your credit card and debit card bills can also help you keep track of any recurring chargesincluding price increases you may have missed or that you didn’t anticipate when trying out a new membership or subscription.
Know the terms and conditions of a given subscription
“Companies make it easy for consumers to click to sign up and easy for the companies to automatically withdraw funds from consumers’ accounts,” said Shennan Kavanagh, Director of Litigation at the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) in a statement on the FTC’s click-to-cancel rule. “People should not (have to) spend months trying to cancel unwanted subscriptions.”Given the FTC’s vacated rule, though, companies may still legally require that customers cancel memberships or subscriptions by phone, even as they permit signing up, enrolling, and paying bills online. Consumer advocates say this places an extra burden of time and energy on the consumer to stop an unwanted recurring fee, but sometimes knowing the terms of the subscription and getting on the phone is worth the trouble.
There are some services that unenroll you
Apps like Rocket Money and services like Trim, which is accessed through a browser, can keep track of your recurring monthly fees and subscriptions, for freeor for a feeand can help you catch new ones or even unsubscribe from some services.For parents, especially, a service like Trim could help inform them that a child has started a new subscription, game or membership before the fees recur. And Rocket Money will actively work to end unwanted subscriptions for you, for a monthly price. If the company can’t successfully end or cancel the subscription or membership, it will give the customer the information needed to do so. Trim also provides this service, in its premium form, for an additional fee.
Resist deals when canceling
The FTC is currently moving forward with preparations for a trial involving Amazon’s Prime program, which accuses the retailer of enrolling consumers in its Prime program without their consent and making it difficult to cancel subscriptions.Often, when a consumer tries to cancel a subscription for something like Prime, which offers free delivery and streaming video, the company will offer a month or more of the subscription at a promotional ratehalf off, or at other, better-seeming values, to entice a customer to stay. Staying strong in the face of what may appear to be a good deal can help you stop recurring monthly fees before you forget to cancel them again.Agreeing to yet another trial or promotional rate, which is another on-ramp to auto-enrollment, just continues the cycle, according to consumer advocates.
What would the FTC’s rule have done?
The FTC’s rule would have required businesses to obtain a customer’s consent before charging for memberships, auto-renewals and programs linked to free trials. The businesses would have also had to disclose when free trials and promotional offers would end.The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said this week that the FTC made a procedural error by failing to come up with a preliminary regulatory analysis, which is required for rules whose annual impact on the U.S. economy is more than $100 million.The FTC said that it did not have to come up with a preliminary regulatory analysis because it initially determined that the rule’s impact on the national economy would be less than $100 million. An administrative law judge decided that the economic impact would be more than the $100 million threshold, and the court decided to vacate the rule.Former President Joe Biden’s administration had included the FTC’s proposal as part of its “Time is Money” initiative, which aimed to crack down on consumer-related hassles.
The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.
Cora Lewis, Associated Press
If you havent yelled DRAW FOUR across a sticky bar table lately, Mattel wants to change that.
This weekend in Las Vegas, the company behind one of the worlds most iconic card games is launching something totally new: UNO Social Club, a real-life version of game night with a serious glow-up. The first one opens July 18 at the Palms Casino Resort, turning a suite into a full-on UNO-themed playgroundcomplete with a private bowling alley, color-drenched décor, and more versions of the game than you knew existed.
The launch event is part of Mattels larger strategy to turn UNO into a lifestyle brand. Designed for what the company calls the socially distant generation, UNO Social Clubs are meant to create new touch points for younger players who might be less interested in family game night and more interested in turning game play into a night out.
Gen Z already loves UNO, Ray Adler, Mattels VP and Global Head of Games tells Fast Company. Theyve been playing it online, at parties, everywhere. What they dont always have are opportunities to connect in the real worldso we asked: What if game night could be a whole experience?
The answer? A rainbow-colored suite at the Palms packed with UNO-inspired décor and stocked with specialty decks like UNO Golf, UNO Show Em No Mercy, and UNO Teams. Theres even a dedicated UNO host to keep the games flowing and the trash talk civil.
But the Vegas suite is just the opening hand.
UNO, but make it nightlife
Starting in August, UNO will be taking over bars in five major citiesfrom L.A. to Austinwith pop-up Social Clubs designed to turn everyday hotspots into the ultimate competitive hangout. Think: UNO-themed décor, tournament-style gameplay on official tables, and selfie-friendly backdrops.
Each local UNO Social Club will bring its own twist. In L.A., the party lands at Club Tee Gees open-air patio in Atwater Village. In NYC, its taking over the downtown favorite Cowgirl. Chicagos Empty Bottle will transform its dance floor into a card-slinging arena. Atlantas Ormsbys will host in its basement bar, and Austins Murrays Tavern will close out the summer tour with cocktails and custom card games under the Texas sky.
These arent family-friendly sit-downs with juice boxestheyre designed with Gen Z sensibilities in mind. Attendees can win custom UNO merch, product packs, and exclusive giveaways while battling it out over classic UNO, UNO Golf, and UNO Teams. The point is less about who wins and more about the connection and memories made along the way.
Mattel chose venues specifically for their Gen Z appealplaces that already host game nights, trivia, or other community eventsso UNO fans dont have to shift their habits to show up.
No ticketing system, no velvet rope, Adler explains. We want people to stumble upon it, hang out, maybe discover a new favorite way to playand then take that energy with them.
Each pop-up is tailored to the local scene, bringing in unique variations of the game and adapting to each locations vibe. While the Vegas suite leans into spectacle, the bars will focus on accessibility and cultural relevance.
UNO is growing upbut staying chaotic
The brand has been on a hot streak. UNO was the top-selling traditional game during the pandemic, as people rediscovered old favorites while stuck at home. Now, Mattels aim is to keep that momentum goingwith variations that bring chaos, strategy, and, yes, pain.
People asked for something more brutal, Adler says. So we made Show Em No Mercy. That deck includes game-changing twists and double-digit draw penalties that can knock players out of the game entirely.
While the classic version still sells strong, its the newer spinoffslike UNO Flip or UNO Attackthat are resonating with gamers who crave novelty. Mattel now views the brand as a cultural bridge: a game you played with your family, yes, but also one that evolves with you as you grow upand grow more competitive.
The ultimate goal? Make UNO something you never outgrow.
UNO goes lifestyle
Mattels bet on UNO as a lifestyle brand is part of a larger push happening across the $19.5 billion tabletop games market. That market is projected to grow to $34.1 billion by 2030 according to Research and Markets, with a nearly 10% annual growth rate. And while big names like Mattel and Hasbro still dominate the space, smaller indie brands are gaining traction thanks to clever design and grassroots followings.
Strategy games, in particular, are fueling the boomespecially those that combine competitive chaos with social connection. Its exactly the niche UNO is now trying to own.
A new kind of brand loyalty
This isn’t just about nostalgia. The surge in tabletop gamingfueled by Euro-style strategy games, hybrid digital-analog formats, and board game cafésreflects a growing appetite for IRL interaction in a screen-saturated world. Educational games, RPGs, and collectible card games are all seeing major traction, especially in North America and Europe, with APAC quickly catching up thanks to a booming interest in social gaming and game cafés.
If Barbie was Mattels all-pink lifestyle moment, UNO is aiming to become the game night version. But instead of museum-style installations or scripted nostalgia, this is about high-energy interactivity. Its less about buying the product and more about stepping into its worldeven if just for a drink, a draw four, and a photo op.
We want to create spaces that feel familiar but elevated, Adler says. If a bar was built with UNO in mind, what would it look like? Thats what were trying to answer.
What UNO is doing fits squarely into that trend. Its social. Its competitive. And its chaotic in the best way. And if the Vegas launch goes welland enough people show up ready to shufflethis could be the beginning of a very colorful new era for game night.
Two milestones revealed this week illustrate the diminishing power of broadcast television in the media worldone fueled by the habits of young people and the other by their elders.During June, viewers spent more time watching streaming services than they did for broadcast and cable television combined. That happened for the first time ever in May, by a fraction of a percentage point, but the Nielsen company said on Tuesday that gap widened considerably in June.Also, for the third straight week, Nielsen said that Fox News Channel had more viewers in prime-time on weeknights than any of the main the broadcast networks ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox entertainment.For years, the mantra of media executives was that streaming represented the future for in-home entertainment. Now, that future has clearly arrived.
Broadcast TV slips below 20% of total
In June, 46% of Americans’ TV time was spent on streaming services, led by YouTube and Netflix. Cable television networks represented 23.4% and broadcast was 18.5%, for a total of just under 42%, Nielsen said. It was the first time broadcast TV had ever slipped below 20% of total TV viewing.“It kind of felt like the right time,” said Brian Fuhrer, Nielsen’s senior vice president for product strategy and thought leadership. “A lot of people thought it would happen more quickly.”The driving force in June was school ending for young people, meaning they had more time to watch TV, where Netflix series like “Ginny & Georgia” and “Squid Game” were big hits. Roughly two-thirds of people aged 6 to 17 watched streaming ahead of conventional TV, Nielsen said.In June 2024, the numbers were roughly reversed47.7% of people were watching conventional TV in an average minute, with 40.3% logged on to a streaming service.While the direction is clear, it’s not a death knell for conventional TV. June and July are fallow months, and their viewing will increase when football season begins and original episodes of comedies and dramas return, Fuhrer said.
Content is distributed over more platforms
It’s also not a strict either-or situation; media companies are doing a better job spreading their content out on different platforms to give viewers a choice, he said. The growth of YouTube, which many consumers can access for free and is a portal for “traditional” TV, has also fueled streaming services.Fox News has occasionally eclipsed the broadcast networks in viewership before, but last week represented the seventh week it has done so in 2025, already more than 2024 and 2023 combined. It averaged 2.4 million viewers in prime time on weeknights last week, Nielsen said.Fox News is also taking advantage of what is traditionally the least-watched time of the year for broadcast networks, when summer nights and barbecues keep people outside. The difference this year is it has won a few weeks outside of the summer, during President Donald Trump’s inauguration week in January, for example.Its audienceamong the oldest of all television networkstends to stay pretty steady throughout the year.
David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social
David Bauder, AP Media Writer
It looks like the GENIUS Act might advance through the U.S. House of Representatives after all, following some arm-twisting from President Donald Trump.
On Tuesday, the cryptocurrency legislation looked dead in the water, with 223 lawmakers voting against moving forward with the bill and 196 for it. Thirteen Republicans joined Democrats in the nays. But it seems things are unlikely to stay that way following a White House meeting later in the day.
I am in the Oval Office with 11 of the 12 Congressmen/women necessary to pass the GENIUS Act and, after a short discussion, they have all agreed to vote tomorrow morning in favor of the Rule, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. House Speaker Mike Johnson phoned into the meeting and apparently plans to introduce another vote swiftly.
Highly watched ‘Crypto Week’
If passed, the GENIUS Act would regulate stablecoins, or those tied to stable assets like the dollar. Its one of three bills blocked in Tuesdays vote and is appearing during the Houses Crypto Week. The term was coined by the U.S. House of Representatives leadership to highlight the proposed crypto-friendly legislation.
Theres also the CLARITY Act, which would allow the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to regulate cryptocurrencies, thus continuing to legitimize the industry, while the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act would block the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (i.e., a digital dollar), the bill states.
The trios uncertainty has led to some turmoil in the stock market for crypto-adjacent companies.
For example, the relatively newly public company Circle Internet Group stock (NYSE: CRCL), which issues stablecoins, lost about 5% of its value following Tuesdays vote.
However, Wednesday morning saw Circles stock rise again, increasing by nearly 4% in premarket trading as of this writing.
This story is developing…
President Donald Trump says he has finally found a way to achieve his goal of removing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, accusing him of mismanaging the U.S. central bank’s $2.5 billion renovation project.The push comes after a monthslong campaign by Trump to try to rid himself of the politically independent central banker, who has resisted the president’s calls to slash interest rates out of concerns about the administration’s tariffs sparking higher levels of inflation.The president indicated Tuesday that Powell’s handling of an extensive renovation project on two Fed buildings in Washington could be grounds to take the unprecedented and possibly legally dubious step of firing him. “I think it sort of is,” Trump said.“When you spend $2.5 billion on, really, a renovation, I think it’s really disgraceful,” Trump said, adding that he never saw the Fed chair as someone who needed a “palace.”The project has been underway for years, going back to Trump’s first term. But it only recently caught the White House’s attention. Trump maintains that Fed rate cuts would lower the costs of government borrowing, while Powell has warned that a premature rate cut could worsen inflation and ultimately raise those borrowing costs.The risk of the Fed losing its political independence could undermine America’s financial markets, possibly leading to a meltdown in stocks and investors charging a premium to lend to the U.S. economy.Here’s what to know:
Ousting Powell risks setting off market panic
The Fed chair has been an obstacle in Trump’s efforts to gain total control over the executive branch.Powell and his board have the dual mandate of maximizing employment and keeping prices stable, a task that can require them to make politically unpopular moves such as raising interest rates to hold inflation in check. The general theory is that keeping the Fed free from the influence of the White Houseother than for nominations of Fed officialsallows it to fulfill its mission based on what the economy needs, instead of what a politician wants.An attempt to remove Powell from his job before his term ends in May 2026 would undercut the Fed’s long-standing independence from day-to-day politics and could lead to higher inflation, higher interest rates and a weaker economy.The Supreme Court recently signaled that the president can’t fire Powell simply because Trump disagrees with him on interest rates. But legally he could do so “for cause,” such as misconduct or dereliction of duty.Trump’s workaround appears to be that Powell misrepresented the renovation project in congressional testimony and that the cost is excessive, thus meriting his dismissal.
The Fed’s main headquarters is over 90 years old
The Fed says its main headquarters, known as the Marriner S. Eccles building, was in dire need of an upgrade because its electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems, among others, are nearly obsolete and some date back to the building’s construction in the 1930s.The renovation will also remove asbestos, lead and other hazardous elements and update the building with modern electrical and communications systems. The H-shaped building, named after a former Fed chair in the 1930s and ’40s, is located near some of Washington’s highest-profile monuments and has references to classical architecture and marble in the facades and stonework. The central bank is also renovating a building next door that it acquired in 2018.The Fed says there has been periodic maintenance to the structures but adds that this is the first “comprehensive renovation.”
The renovation costs have ballooned over the years
Trump administration officials have criticized the Fed over the project’s expense, which has reached $2.5 billion, about $600 million more than was originally budgeted.Like a beleaguered homeowner facing spiraling costs for a remodeling project, the Fed cites many reasons for the greater expense. Construction costs, including for materials and labor, rose sharply during the inflation spike in 2021 and 2022. More asbestos needed to be removed than expected. Washington’s local restrictions on building heights forced it to build underground, which is pricier.In 2024, the Fed’s board canceled its planned renovations of a third building because of rising costs.The Fed says the renovations will reduce costs “over time” because it will be able to consolidate its roughly 3,000 Washington-based employees into fewer buildings and will no longer need to rent as much extra space as it does now.
White House budget director calls renovations ‘ostentatious’
Russ Vought, the administration’s top budget adviser, wrote Powell a letter last Thursday that said Trump is “extremely troubled” about the Fed’s “ostentatious overhaul” of its facilities.The Fed’s renovation plans call for “rooftop terrace gardens, VIP private dining rooms and elevators, water features, premium marble, and much more,” Vought said in his letter.Powell has disputed the claims, which were given wide circulation in a paper issued by the Mercatus Center, a think tank at George Mason University, in March 2025. The paper was written by Andrew Levin, an economist at Dartmouth College and former Fed staffer.“There’s no VIP dining room,” Powell said last month during a Senate Banking Committee hearing. “There’s no new marble. . . . There are no special elevators. There are no new water features. . . . And there’s no roof terrace gardens.”Some of those elements were removed from initial building plans submitted in 2021, the Fed says.But the White House also takes issue with the Fed reducing its renovation costsThe Fed’s changes to its building plans have opened it up to another line of attack: White House officials suggest the Fed violated the terms of the approval it received from a local planning commission by changing its plans.In its September 2021 approval of the project, the National Capital Planning Commission said it “Commends” the Fed for “fully engaging partner federal agencies.” But because the Fed changed its plans, the administration is indicating it needed to go back to the commission for a separate approval.Essentially, White House officials are saying Powell is being reckless with taxpayer money because of the cost of the renovation, but they are also accusing him of acting unethically by scaling back the project to save money.James Blair, the White House deputy chief of staff whom Trump named to the commission, said last Thursday in a post on X that Powell’s June congressional testimony “leads me to conclude the project is not in alignment with plans submited to & approved by the National Capital Planning Commission in 2021.”Speaking last Thursday at the planning commission meeting, Blair said he intends to tour the construction site, review materials from the Fed on how the approved 2021 renovation plans have changed and circulate a letter among his colleagues on the commission that would go to Fed officials.
The Fed has asked for an independent review of the project
The central bank says, in a series of frequently asked questions on its website, that it is “not subject to the direction” of the commission and has only complied with its directives voluntarily.Instead, the Fed said it is accountable to the Senate and House of Representatives, and is also overseen by an independent inspector general, not the White House. Powell has asked the inspector general to review the costs of the renovation project.
Christopher Rugaber and Josh Boak, Associated Press
One of the most critical companies in the chipmaking industry is seeing its stock price drop precipitously today.
Dutch semiconductor company ASML Holding N.V. (Nasdaq: ASML) reported its second-quarter 2025 results, beating on its most critical metrics, but its stock price is still declining in premarket trading. The reason? Executives made comments about its upcoming 2026 fiscal year that have investors concerned. Heres what you need to know.
The most important non-chip company in the chip industry
ASML Holding N.V. is headquartered in Veldhoven, Netherlands, and is arguably the most important technology company within Europes borders. Given that ASML is critical to the worlds chipmaking supply chain, the company is also one of the most important tech giants in the world.
ASML is not a chipmaker itself. However, it produced the machines that make the chips inside your devices. These machines are known as extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) photolithography machines, and they use light to etch patterns into the silicon wafers used in chipmaking.
While the world has several photolithography machine companies, ASML is the worlds only maker of EUV photolithography machines. EUV technology is critical in the worlds most advanced chips, including those made by Apple for its Apple Silicon chips and the chips produced by Nvidia, which are crucial for artificial intelligence servers.
ASMLs customers include Nvidia and TSMC, the maker of Apples chips. The Dutch company sells its EUV machines to these companies, enabling them to produce their own chips. As noted by CNBC, ASMLs most advanced photolithography machines can be the size of a double-decker bus and cost as much as $400 million each.
Without ASMLs machines, the world’s semiconductor manufacturing capability grinds to a halt.
ASML beats, but 2026 comments worry investors
Thanks to the rise of artificial intelligence, chipmakers are pumping out more advanced chips than everchips that require the EUV photolithography machines that ASML offers. Given that, its little surprise that ASML exceeded investor expectations in its most recent financial quarter.
Today, the company announced its Q2 2025 results, in which it reported:
7.7 billion (about $8.9 billion) in net sales
2.3 billion (about $2.6 billion) in net income
Gross margin of 53.7%
Earnings per share of 5.90 (about $6.85)
To put those net sales and net income figures into greater perspective, CNBC notes that analysts were expecting net sales of 7.52 billion (about $8.7 billion) and net income of 2.04 billion (about $2.3 billion).
In other words, ASML handily beat expectations.
The company also reported net bookingsa metric that indicates customer demandof 5.5 billion (about $6.3 billion), of which 2.3 billion (about $2.6 billion) is for its most advanced EUV photolithography machines. Analysts had been expecting net bookings of 4.19 billion (about $4.8 billion).
Why is ASML stock falling?
However, despite the welcomed Q2 results, ASMLs stock price has plunged in premarket trading after the company announced its latest financials. That fall has to do with two main factors.
First, ASMLs Q3 forecast disappointed investors. The company said it expects to post total net sales of between 7.4 billion (about $8.6 billion) and 7.9 billion. It also expects its gross margin to be between 50% and 52% for the period. The company also said it expects its full fiscal 2025 total net sales to equate to an increase of 15%.
As noted by CNBC, analysts had been expecting Q3 net sales to be around 8.3 billion (about $9.1 billion). ASMLs 15% growth forecast for full-year sales was also lower than what it had previously forecast.
However, the second factor may be the primary reason for ASML’s share price decline this morningcomments made by ASML executives regarding its 2026 outlook.
Announcing its Q2 results, ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet touched on expectations for 2026.
Looking at 2026, we see that our AI customers’ fundamentals remain strong, Fouquet said. At the same time, we continue to see increasing uncertainty driven by macro-economic and geopolitical developments. Therefore, while we still prepare for growth in 2026, we cannot confirm it at this stage.
In other words, ASMLs CEO is admitting he does not know if the company will grow in 2026. His comments suggest that the main uncertainty surrounding its growth potential are related to President Trumps tariffs.
ASML is a foreign company that sells a significant amount to American companies, yet it does not have widespread operations in America, making it a potential target for retaliation from Trump and his goal to bring manufacturing back to the United States.
Fouquet did not say there would not be growth, but given the tariff uncertainty, he seems to feel it’s more prudent to prepare investors for that possibility.
But thats a cautionary message investors have not taken well.
As of the time of this writing, ASML shares are down over 7% in premarket trading to $764 per share. Yesterday, shares had closed above $823. As of yesterdays close, ASML shares were up over 18% since the beginning of the year.
Stage fright is not a term youd associate with Elvis Presley, but in 1968 he was all shook upwith nerves. Ahead of his make-or-break comeback special after years floundering in Hollywood, the King had cold feet. He told the specials director, Steve Binder, he was terrified, adding, “I dont know if I can do this . . . just me and a guitar in front of people?” He half-joked to his entourage about retreating to Hawaii.
Apart from a few close confidants, no one has ever witnessed these intimate moments of reservation. But starting July 17 in London, guests at Elvis Evolution will see an AI-generated Elvis play out these fears, and other key moments of his life. The immersive event will be powered by various types of tech, but the creators want to ensure that none of them get in the way of the magic of being transported back in time.
Layered Reality puts on experiential events comprising three layers: tech, theater, and physical elements. The tech is multifaceted, from augmented reality to 3D audio effects; the theater comprises traditional sets and live actors; the physical elements are sensory stimulants like touch and taste. Thats a really intoxicating combination, says founder and CEO Andrew McGuinness. Often they’re kept in separate worlds. We firmly believe they belong together.
The company has deployed this mix of elements for Londoners three times before, including in retellings of War of the Worlds, and The Gunpowder Plot, hosted in the eerie vaults below the Tower of London. The new endeavor is far from a 17th-century plot against a kingthough, this one also has a king, or rather, the King.
Elvis records the soundtrack to Love Me Tender in a Los Angeles studio in August 1956. [Photo: Courtesy of Elvis Presley Enterprises, LLC/Layered Reality]
Back in time with theater and tech
Guests will be escorted through a story-based experience of Presleys life, from a young boy, through the rebellious leg shakes of the 50s, through the opulent Vegas years, all on purpose-built sets at Immerse LDN, a new immersive entertainment complex on the River Thames waterfront.
Groups will walk through scenes like a 50s diner and a dressing room. At times, walls and sets will move around them. Theyll take on different points of view. You are literally going to walk in his shoes at one point, says Simon Reveley, head of studios, not indicating if those shoes are blue suede.
[Image: Courtesy of Layered Reality]
Different scenes will employ different tech tactics. We are very deliberately technology agnostic, McGuinness says, stressing that tech is simply a tool to enhance the experience. When it’s at its best, the technology gets out of the way.
In past Layered Reality shows, tech ranged from subtle to sensory: in one scene in The Gunpowder Plot, for example, guests hide in pitch dark from priest hunters, with spatial audio and LED floor lights simulating creeping footsteps; in another, a VR-enhanced boat ride layers motion effects with water sprays, cool air, and the salty scent of the seablending physical cues with digital immersion to trick the brain into believing the experience.
[Image: Courtesy of Layered Reality]
For Elvis, they dont want to give away too much to ruin the element of surprise. Of course, music will be central. Through it all, artificial intelligence helps to remaster sounds, and upscale fotage quality.
AI Elvis
But AIs starring role is in AI Elvis himself. Guests will come face to face with the recreation of Presley. Layered Reality trained the AI on hours and hours of footage, feeding an algorithm concert clips, Cine 8 films, and thousands of photos.
AI Elvis has been done before in 2022, on Americas Got Talent. An actor served as Elvis deepfake double, creating movements to make it look as if Presley were performing Devil in Disguise (with a deepfake Simon Cowell).
Reveley explains that with more advanced facial generative AI, you can now tune the algorithm to lean more into the original source material than the human actor. AI can pick up on minute nuances, vital for someone whose expressions, like the lip curl, were so iconic. We all know them so well, and so does the machine learning algorithm, Reveley says.
Much of the purpose of AI Elvis is to unearth footage that happened but wasnt capturedlike the nerves before the 68 TV special.
Ethics and delays
Recreating imagined scenes raises ethical questions, of whether a person no longer living would want to share their most intimate moments with the world. But the team insists its project is different from the Simon Cowell duetor the AI Anthony Bourdain that was controversially made to narrate part of a documentarybecause they arent fabricating something that never happened. AI [is] being a digital archivist rather than an originator, McGuinness says. The Presley estate is also heavily involved, and granted the team access to all the footage. (The Presley estate did not respond to Fast Companys request for comment.)
Still image from Singer Presents ELVIS, known as the Kings 1968 comeback special. [Photo: Courtesy of courtesy of Elvis Presley Enterprises, LLC/Layered Reality]
To create AI Elvis, Layered Reality partnered with the Mill, a visual effects agency that won an Oscar for bringing Oliver Reed back to life in Gladiator. The Mill was a subsidiary of the postproduction giant Technicolor Group, which since 1915 set the industry standard for color entertainment. But in February, after years of financial struggles, Technicolor went bust. (Fast Company reached out to the Mill to confirm it was also affected, but didnt hear back.)
That caused delays; though Layered Reality had ownership of AI Elvis, it had work to finish. They scrambled to hire artists from The Mill on contract to complete the final phases. They pushed back the start date twice, from the original planned date of March.
A post-pandemic events boom
Its now on course to welcome guests, to experience what McGuinness views as part of a live entertainment revolution. It views its competitors not as other tech or AI companies, but anything else you could be doing that night, from a musical, to mini golf, to that Italian restaurant on the corner of your street [where] youll end up spending 130 pounds.
Given that comparison, McGuinness thinks 75 pounds ($102) for a standard ticket is fair. Were in the memory business, [and] too much of our money is still spent on immemorable things, he says.
The business banks on a rising demand for these types of events. The term experience economy has existed since 1998, when it appeared in Harvard Business Review, but COVID-19 accelerated the allure, boosting the popularity of experiences like Cosm in Los Angeles and the Sphere in Las Vegas.
With that backdrop, Elvis Evolution hopes it can usher in a modern-day comeback. Of course, the 68 one turned out to be a tour de force, full of raw vocals and black leather. Nerves dissipated, and gave way to humor. “I sang to turtles and palm trees for years, Elvis told the audience about his movie career. This is a lot better, dont you think?”
When he was 38, Fast Company senior editor Jon Gluck was diagnosed with an incurable blood cancer, multiple myeloma, and given just 18 months to live. Unbelievably, he has survivedand managed to thrivefor more than 20 years.
In his new book, An Exercise in Uncertainty: A Memoir of Illness and Hope, Gluck details how he has lived with chronic illness for the past two decades. Gluck joined the Most Innovative Companies podcast to discuss getting diagnosed, how working helped him cope with his illness, and the workplace accommodations that enabled him to keep going.
Your book follows your journey with a rare type of blood cancer. What is the condition?
I have a blood cancer alternately referred to as a bone marrow cancer called multiple myeloma. It’s an incurable cancer but one that has fortunately, in my case, been treatable. I will never not have it, but fortunately I’ve been in a position where my doctors have been able to manage and control it quite nicely. There have been times when I’ve been very sick and then I’m treated and I go into a remission and then I’m sick again and I go into a remission. That’s been the story of the last 20 years. A portion of my book proceeds are going toward multiple myeloma research.
In the book, you mention that the first person you called after your initial diagnosiswhen you were given less than two years to livewas your boss. Why?
I think I was trying to create a sense of normalcy for myself. I think part of it was denial. I just didn’t want to really admit that anything was so wrong that I had to do anything differently than I normally would. Part of it was just the strange sense of duty I have sometimes as an individual. I was like, well, I better report to the boss that I won’t be there today, even though I’ve just received life-changing information. Its very Boy Scout behavior. I was also avoiding calling people for whom it would be a much bigger deal.
You write that you encounter three types of responses when you disclose your cancer diagnosis. Some say they know someone who died from the same condition. Others immediately try to help and find solutions. Then theres a third type who just listens to you and is empathetic. What advice do you have for people whose friends or relatives share a diagnosis with them?
It’s a tricky thing. Most everybody is well intentioned, and so whatever people say or do I understand. That said, I’m going to give a never, sometimes, always answer to your three buckets. So the never is, Boy, I just knew somebody who had that and they died yesterday. I think it’s pretty unhelpful. Probably the person who just told you they’ve been diagnosed with the same disease is not the best person to talk to about that.
Sometimes I think wanting to help is complicated. The criteria I’d use there after 20 years of dealing with this is . . . are you offering something that’s genuinely helpful and that the person probably hasn’t already heard? If you are, then go for it. I think there’ve been people I know who said, Listen, I happen to know my wife’s uncle is really close friends with an amazing myeloma doctor at such and such a hospital. If you ever want to reach out to them, I can put you in touch. That’s helpful.
Then the always category of basic empathy or sympathy. I’ve been really struck over the years by how powerful just somebody simply saying, I’m really sorry to hear that [can be]. Honest to God, those words alone are wonderful and more powerful than you think they are. One of the first people I told in my office, a colleague I remember very vividly simply said, You poor guy. I am really sorry. That was so moving and it wasn’t even someone I was particularly close with. It was just somebody who knew the right thing to say.
While many people, when they get a diagnosis like this, rethink their whole lives, you looked back on your life and realized you were pretty happy with your job and your situation. How has work helped you throughout your illness?
I have been working this whole time. I’ve hardly missed a day of work, even when I’ve been hospitalized, [thanks to] remote work and Zoom. Sometimes people say, That’s so brave or courageous or wonderful of you to have worked the whole time. Believe me, it has nothing to do with bravery in my case, its just an incredibly great distraction. The pressure and deadlines we deal with in our business were great for me because it was like whatever the problem is here at work, it’s not as big as that [cancer] problem.
People often talk about getting that kind of perspective when they’ve received a diagnosis like mine. That’s absolutely been true in my case. I really came to see that I love what I do, and so there was just pleasure and enjoyment in doing the work. When you’re sick and not feeling well all the time or getting treatment and feeling even worse, pleasure and enjoyment are in short supply.
You can still get burned out though. You wrote about leaving New York magazine after a while because you needed a break.
I happened to be working at a place that was extremely demanding and I had been there for more than 10 years. As my disease became more complicated and my treatment became more aggressive and the side effects therefore were more debilitating, many people said to me, Do you really want to work this hard? Stress is bad for you. I was like, well, stress is bad for you if it’s bad stress or if it’s an excessive level of stress, but as I was saying a minute ago, a certain amount of stress I found really good in the sense that it kept my mind off of my illness. But that reached a tipping point somewhere in my 10th year of working. I realized I need a job that’s not so demanding minute to minute, day to day.
There are constant layoffs in the media industry, which can be stressful when your medical insurance is tied to your job. What kind of insurance battles have you had?
I’ve become an unwilling example of this new category of people I call cancer zombies. And what I mean by that is people who are half sick and half well. Theres a growing number of us because of the advancements in biomedical research and the treatments for many kinds of cancers. Instead of either you’re treated and you survive and you’re good to go for the rest of your life, or you’re treated and unfortunately the treatments don’t work and you pass away, there’s this whole cohort of us who are living for really long periods of time with varying degrees of illness and debilitation. Unless you’re independently wealth, that means you need to work for a lot of years and you need insurance for a lot of years, even while you’re struggling with your illness and your treatments.
I learned that the leading cause of personal bankruptcy is unexpected medical expenses. Because of all that [my wife and I] felt like we really needed a sort of belt-and-suspenders approach, and for both of us to have insurance in case either of us got laid off because we were both in the media business and layoffs had been happening for many years at an alarming rate.
In terms of dealing with insurance companies, it’s maddening. The system is so broken that what it comes down to is just getting lucky. What I mean by that is getting somebody on the other end of the phone who’s a human being, not a machine, and who actually cares and wants to help solve your problem. Whether that happens or not is just a crapshoot. You just have to keep going at it.
What was the pandemic like for you?
It was tough. Part of both my illness and my treatment have left me quite immunocompromised. We were in the city and we had no other logical place to go. We didn’t want to move in with family and expose them to extra risk. We followed all the precautions to a T. But then oddly enough, we went back to living the way most people were living. At some point I just decided, what’s the point of staying alive if you don’t live your life?
One of the interesting things that happened toward the end of the first, most serious wave of the pandemic is that I wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post. The title was something like, It’s great that everybody’s getting back to normal. Now, please keep in mind that there are some of us who are immunocompromised who still need to take these precautions. Most of the comments I got were lovely and supportive, but [it was also] met [negatively] by some people. One of the comments I think was, That’s the luck of the draw. We don’t owe you anything, stop whining.
How important are accommodations, like the ability to work remotely, for you?
It’s been tremendously important. One of the other things that is interesting about the pandemic is that in some ways, people sort of sympathize more with everybody who has ever been through [illness] and has to worry constantly about germs. That was normalizing in a strange way. The best part was being able to work remotely. It allowed me to keep my job without going on disability. It allowed me to keep the constant distraction of working in place so that I didn’t lose my mind. It became a lifeline.
Have you experienced any workplace discrimination?
It’s a really tricky question. I’m not the kind of person to knee-jerk see that sort of thing everywhere, but I’ve had glimpses of it. When I was getting ready to leave New York magazine and interviewing for jobs at other places, a recruiter said to me, I read the story you wrote [about your illness] in New York magazine. How are you doing? On the one hand, she seemed like an extremely nice person and I’m the kind of person who’s inclined to give people the benefit of the doubt. On the other hand, I wondered, Is she fishing for information about my health status so she can figure out if Im a wise hire? I’ll never know.
I’m not here to give people advice [about] whether or not they should share information about their illness. I will say once you do decide to, there’s no putting it back in the bottle. So just be super sure that if you want to share this information, you are potentially opening yourself up to what can be a very serious problem.
[Photo: Oscar Gluck]
Although less familiar than many of its tech rivals, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is kind of a big deal. Its valuation, north of $1 trillion, ranks the chipmaker ninth globally among publicly held companies, and its strategic significance in the silicon arms race led New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof to label it the most important company in the world.
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) fabrication plant in Phoenix on Monday, March 3. [Photo: Rebecca Noble/Bloomberg/Getty Images]
So when TSMCs massive new manufacturing plant (or fab, as those in the semiconductor business like to call it) arose recently in the desert north of Phoenix, Arizonans might have expected to see a polished logo adorning the buildings facade. Instead, many were likely flummoxed by the TSMC symbol. Was it supposed to be a crossword puzzle? A disco ball? A badminton racquet? A screen door replete with dead houseflies?
[Image: TSMC]
In fact, the logo, which debuted in 1988, one year after the companys founding, represents a stylized semiconductor wafer design, as a TSMC trademark application puts it. A wafer is a thin, circular slice of silicon which is cut into rectangular dies that are used to make computer chips. The flat section of the wafer, visible at the bottom of the TSMC logo, is called, well, a flat and is used for orientation in the manufacturing process.
1st column: Integrated Device Technology, 1982, Wacker MSCE, 1986. 2nd column: Integrated Device Technology, 1998, Zoran Corporation, 1983, Cirrus Logic, 1996. SemiTex, 1999. 3rd column: Silicon Valley Engineering Council, 1990, National Security Agency, 1990. [Images: courtesy of the author]
The black rectangles in the logo seem to represent defective dies as they would appear on a wafer map, a diagram outlining the usable sections of the silicon disc. One might find this an odd design element to include, but it appears to have been a bit of a convention among ’80s wafer logos. San Jose semiconductor maker Integrated Device Technologys 1981 logo featured two such defective dies. When it reversed the coloring of its logo in the ’90s, did it realize the resulting implication was that an overwhelming majority of its dies were duds?
TSMCÙs 1988 logo (left) and 2001 update (right) [Image: courtesy of the author]
TSMC took the opposite tack, slightly revising its mark in 2001 to reduce the number of those troublesome black rectangles while improving legibility. Otherwise, though, the logo has remained unchanged and, frankly, it doesnt work well in 2025. Not only is the wafer symbolism inscrutable to the modern eye, but by todays standards, its design is overwrought, amateurish, and dated, in keeping with an overall company brand thats as dry as soda crackers.
Beyond employing the most obvious graphic design solution of adopting the companys product as a logo, the firm has named itself using the largely-abandoned tactic of simple descriptiveness, which, if still in vogue, might have resulted in Apple being known as the Northern California Computer Company or Amazon going by Seattle Online Bookstore, Inc.
Until recently, this may not have been seen as a problem for companies that, like TSMC, were not public-facing. There was a sense that branding elements like names and logos were shiny baubles that served only to catch the eyes of the public, and that were irrelevant within the context of B2B relationships. As economic historian Mira Wilkins put it in a 1992 paper, Most industrial organization economists consider the brand name as highly important in sales to the final consumer. They take the view, however, that profit-motivated firms are wiser than individuals, so trade marks are not needed to convey information to producers.”
Such thinking is going by the wayside as modern economists let go of long-held assumptions about perfect human rationality, and it would seem time for even the stodgiest B2B companies to start caring more about their brands. TSMC, in particular, has been embroiled in geopolitical intrigue that has put it in an unprecedented spotlight. The face that it presents to the world matters more than it ever has, and its about time for TSMC to sunset its old wafer.
Earlier this summer, Pepsi did something brands have been doing forever: It took a jab at its rival. In this case, that entailed some snarky satirizing of a popular Coke ad campaign. But it raised an eternal brand-battle question: Is it really a good idea to reference a rival so directly?
Under the right circumstances, yes, according to the latest research on that subject in a recent Journal of Marketing Research paper, coauthored by Johannes Berendt, a professor of economics and communication at Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Germany. His fellow co-authors are Sebastian Uhrich, a professor of sports business administration at the German Sport University Cologne; Abhishek Borah, an associate professor of marketing at INSEAD (Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires) in France; and Gavin Kilduff, a professor of management and organizations at NYU Stern.
For starters, Berendt explains in an email, its important to distinguish between true rivalry and mere competition: Real rivals not only compete against each other in the marketplace, but they also have a special competitive relationship based on a shared history, he says. This includes McDonalds vs. Burger King, Mercedes vs. BMW, Apple vs. Samsung, and, of course, Coke vs. Pepsi. Researchers call it the rivalry reference effect.
Consumers know that this is more than just regular competition, Berendt says. In their studies (which included analyses of 1.5 million social media posts from real brands, as well as controlled experiments involving fictional posts in various brand categories), Berendt and his fellow researchers found that a brand message referencing a rival increases consumer engagementand can even impact purchase intent. Openly contested rivalries have a special appeal, Berendt adds. Messages between rivals are processed differently than between ordinary competitors. (Remember the chicken sandwich wars a couple of years back? It made sense that Popeyes and Chick-fil-A would scrap on social media, but it felt off when Wendys butted in.)
Pepsis recent shot at its longtime nemesiss Share a Coke campaign is a good example of a fresh salvo between true rivals. The Coke campaign, a Gen Z-focused iteration of a past effect, involves limited-edition packaging printed with individual names like David or Mia. Pepsi copied the style but smirked at the sentiment on packaging and billboards, replacing names with shout-outs to burgers, wings, and other Pepsi-friendly grub pairings. Share a Pepsi with, say, pizza, not some bro, goes one example, resonating with the sodas Food Deserves Pepsi pitch.
That said, the specifics of any single critique may matter less than its context within a clearly established rivalry. Between rivals, consumers instantly connect new episodes to a familiar, ongoing narrative, Berendt says. This is because rivalry has two central elements of exciting stories: familiar antagonists, such as Coke and Pepsi, and a classic plot, the recurring conflict. For a consumer who has long since chosen sides, the message can be reinforcing, but Berendt says even neutral consumers seem to enjoy, or engage with, known rivalries.
Of course, there are limits. While deploying brand rivalry messages can play to feelings of consumer-group distinctiveness, it might risk implying an overly aggressive brand personality. But thats generally not an issue if a rival is attacked in a clever/humorous way, Berendt says. A few years ago, for instance, Burger King took a jab at McDonalds with its Every King Needs a Clown campaign in Germany. Occasionally, a rival-focused message can even take the high road, as when Mercedes’ CEO retired and BMW launched a spot thanking him for years of inspiring competition. The ad got 8.2 million views and lots of positive comments on YouTube, Berendt points out, suggesting that this was a classy way to engage with the rival.
Interestingly, the rivalry reference effect works whether its the category leader or the chief challenger calling out its brand enemy. The dynamic seems to be similar either way, playing to longtime loyalties or just widespread familiarity with a competitive history. Its true, Berendt concedes, that social media teasing can escalate if fans get involved and go after each otherparticularly in the context of sports. And sometimes a badly executed attack on a rival can just seem childish. But based on what Berendt and his colleagues found, theres not as much risk as you might think. If done in a clever way, most consumers seem to enjoy a good clash between rivals once in a while, he says.
