This week, President Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his secretary of health and human services, suggested a link between Tylenol use during pregnancy and autism. The claim, which has been widely debunked by experts and is not backed by medical science, became instant social media fodder.
Trump and Kennedys announcement included a graphic featuring the words Autism Announcement, splashed across a blue background. It quickly became repurposed as a meme by many in the Autism community.
How it feels telling the group chat I dont want to eat at the restaurant they planned because I dont like the texture of the food they serve, one X user posted. When Im on a date and they ask me about my hobbies, another wrote. Summing up the weeks online discourse, one put: “The Tylenol memes have been incredible. What a gift Trump gave us.”
In his address, Trump suggested that pregnant people in America should instead tough it out rather than resort to taking the common pain reliever. Unsurprisingly, many pregnant people did not welcome his unsolicited advice and instead responded to his comments by filming themselves popping pills in defiance.
I have a list of things I would be worried about if I were pregnant now in the US but taking Tylenol for my fever wouldnt be one of them, reads the caption to one video. Dear RFK. kindly go away. Sincerely, a 36-week pregnant person with terrible hip pain, reads another.
To avoid stoking the moral panic thats since circulated online, its worth mentioning many of the videos dont even show pregnant women taking the drug; if they do, they are taking the recommended dosage. Most have since been taken down, likely due to backlash.
Many conservatives failed to see the funny side.
Democrats are now chugging bottles of Tylenol on TikTok, Calley Means, Kennedys health adviser and a key figure in the MAHA movement, claimed in an X post viewed over five million times. If Trump said that oxygen was good, I am convinced there are people out there who would suffocate themselves, Riley Gaines, the conservative activist known for campaigning against trans women in college sports, said in a video.
While the reactions and memes are fun, the problem of health misinformation being peddled across social media is a growing problem.
As Forbes reported this week, citing data from the platform analytics company Zelf, TikTok videos about acetaminophen, vaccines, and autism received more than 100 million views in the 48 hours following Trumps announcement. The four most popular of those videos picked up more than 33 million cumulative views. None of the videos included the crucial context that medical science does not support Trumps allegations.
As one X user joked, “I’d like to congratulate Tylenol on their upcoming multimillion-dollar lawsuit settlement.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune is rejecting Democratic demands on health care as unserious but says a government shutdown is still “avoidable” despite sharp divisions ahead of Wednesday’s funding deadline.“I’m a big believer that there’s always a way out,” the South Dakota Republican said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday. “And I think there are off-ramps here, but I don’t think that the negotiating position, at least at the moment, that the Democrats are trying to exert here is going to get you there.”Thune said Democrats are going to have to “dial back” their demands, which include immediately extending health insurance subsidies and reversing the health care policies in the massive tax bill that Republicans passed over the summer. Absent that, Thune said, “we’re probably plunging forward toward the shutdown.”It’s just the latest standoff in Washington over government funding, stretching back through several administrations. President Donald Trump was the driving force behind the longest shutdown ever during his first term, as he sought money for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. This time it is Democrats who are making demands as they face intense pressure from their core supporters to stand up to the Republican president and his policies.Democrats have shown little signs of relenting, just before spending runs out Wednesday. Their position remained the same even after the White House Office of Management and Budget on Wednesday released a memo that said agencies should consider a “reduction in force” for many federal programs if the government closes meaning thousands of federal workers could be permanently laid off.Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the OMB memo was simply an “attempt at intimidation” and predicted the “unnecessary firings will either be overturned in court or the administration will end up hiring the workers back.”Thune stopped short of criticizing the White House threat of mass layoffs, saying the situation remains “a hypothetical.” Still, he said no one should be surprised by the memo as “everyone knows Russ Vought,” the head of the Office of Management and Budget, and his longtime advocacy for slashing government.“But it’s all avoidable,” Thune said. “And so if they don’t want to go down that path, there’s a way to avoid going down that path.”One way to avoid a shutdown, Thune said, would be for enough Democrats to vote with Republicans for a stripped-down “clean” bill to keep the government open for the next seven weeks while negotiations on spending continue. That’s how Republicans avoided a shutdown in March, when Schumer and several other Democrats decided at the last minute to vote with Republicans to great political cost when Schumer’s party then revolted.A seven-week funding bill has already passed the House.“What would eight Democrats be willing to support?” Thune asked. “In terms of a path forward, or at least understanding what that path forward looks like.”Republicans in the 100-member Senate need at least seven Democrats to vote with them to get the 60 votes necessary for a short-term funding package, and they may lose up to two of their own Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky both opposed it in preliminary votes last week. A competing bill from Democrats also fell well short of 60 votes.Thune suggested some individual bipartisan bills to fund parts of the government for the next year could be part of a compromise, “but that requires cooperation from both sides,” he said.Democrats say they are frustrated that Thune hasn’t approached them to negotiate and that Trump abruptly canceled a meeting with Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York that had been scheduled for this week. Trump wrote on social media, “I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive.”Thune said he “did have a conversation with the president” and offered his opinion on the meeting, which he declined to disclose. “But I think the president speaks for himself, and I think he came to the conclusion that that meeting would not be productive,” Thune said.Still, he says he thinks Trump could be open to a negotiation on the expanded health care subsidies that expire at the end of the year if Democrats weren’t threatening a shutdown. Many people who receive the subsidies through the marketplaces set up by the Affordable Care Act are expected to see a sharp rise in premiums if Congress doesn’t extend them.Some Republicans have agreed with Democrats that keeping the subsidies is necessary, but Thune says “reform is going to have to be a big part of it.” Democrats are likely to oppose such changes.By Monday, when the Senate returns to session, lawmakers will have just over 24 hours to avoid federal closures.Thune said he intends to bring up the bills that were rejected last week. “They’ll get multiple chances to vote,” he said, before a government shutdown begins at midnight Wednesday.He said he hopes “cooler heads will prevail.”“I don’t think shutdowns benefit anybody, least of all the American people,” Thune said.
Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press
The last thing you want when dealing with a hot oven is any added burn risk. But some owners of Osters countertop ovens have experienced just that.
Osters parent company, Sunbeam Products, is recalling over a million units of Oster French Door Countertop Ovens due to its doors unexpectedly closing. The company has received 95 reports of this occurring, leading to burn injuries, two of which were second-degree burns.
Where and when was the product sold?
According to a notice from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the recall includes about 1,290,000 units in the United States and another approximately 104,195 units in Canada.
In the U.S., the ovens were sold nationwide in stores such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Costco, and Walmart. The products were sold from August 2015 to July 2025 for $140 to $250.
They were also available online through Amazon.com and Overstock.com during this time.
Four model numbers are included in the recall:
TSSTTVFDXL
TSSTTVFDDG
TSSTTVFDMAF
TSSTTVFDDAF
The model number is available on the original packaging or on the back of the oven.
How dangerous is this product?
According to a separate recall notice posted to the Oster website, 95 injuries have been reported.
Of those, 93 were minor burns that required no medical treatment and were “consistent with first-degree burns, such as sunburn or friction-related irritation.” The remaining two were second-degree burns that resulted in the victims seeking treatment.
Oster says it has received no reports of hospitalizations as a result of using the ovens.
What should I do if I have this product?
First, stop using it.
If your Oster French Door Countertop Oven is part of the recall, then you can contact Sunbeam Products to receive a free repair kit. You can reach the company through one of three options:
A toll free call to 800-334-0759 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday.
On Osters recall page.
On Osters website by clicking the recall banner at the top of the homepage. It will bring you to the recall page.
The repair kit is made up of a clip-on device that provides additional holding force to help keep the doors in the open position when reaching in the oven.
It also has repair instructions and QR code that leads to an installation video. No tools should be necessary to attach the clip-on device.
The meteoric rise in artificial intelligence and its usage in nearly every facet of our daily life is leaving a profound mark on the job market. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, more than 76,000 jobs were lost to automation, as AI-powered analytics platforms replaced junior data analysts. Nearly 40% of employers expect to cut staff in areas where AI can handle tasks, according to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025.
Now, with the rise of generative AIs successor, agentic AI, many in the tech industry fear that AI will soon claim coding and tech jobs. After all, if AI-powered coding assistants can write, debug, and refactor code in seconds, what use is there for human developers?
But leaders inside OpenAI see the moment in almost opposite terms. Thibault Sottiaux, engineering lead for Codex at OpenAI, argues that coding isnt dyingits evolving. Rather than rendering developers obsolete, he believes AI is transforming coding by amplifying human strengths in creativity, reasoning, and problem-solving.
If you look at todays AI tools, its clear theyre far from perfect. Theres still so much capacity in the world to absorb better, more powerful, and more delightful software, Sottiaux says. These coding tools, he says, are radically reshaping the learning curve for young coders. I see new graduates on my team picking up programming at a speed I havent witnessed before.”
Developers are spending less time on line-by-line debugging, freeing them up to what should be built, how systems should be structured, and what kind of impact software can have in the world. OpenAI predicts that human roles will increasingly shift toward oversight and orchestration, with AI serving as both collaborator and accelerator: handling background work, surfacing errors early, and enabling engineers to explore ideas faster.
OpenAI recently introduced an upgraded version of Codex, a specialized model designed for the long, messy work of coding and software development. Now powered by GPT-5, Codex can adapt its reasoning effort based on task complexity. It can breeze through a simple bug fix in seconds, or run for more than seven hours to reengineer an entire subsystem.
That balance between being fast on simple tasks and going deep on harder problems is a distinctive trait of GPT-5-Codex, Sottiaux added. The quality of its code reviews and its ability to think dynamically over longer periods are key differentiators. GPT-5-Codex also pushes further on code quality overall.
Now available in the Codex Responses API, and for use through Codex in various environments, including IDE extensions, terminal, web, and GitHub integrations, it can review an entire codebase, execute unit tests, validate dependencies, and even catch subtle vulnerabilities before they become production headaches.
Codex was built to work alongside developers, and humans still stay in control, Sottiaux explains. For newcomers, its a collaborator that can help explore languages like Rust, navigate codebases, and grasp core concepts much faster. For senior developers, it provides leverage at a higher level. By setting the right context, guardrails, and structure, they can take on more ambitious problems and ultimately achieve more impact than before.
OpenAI isnt the only big player arguing that AI isnt the IT job killer many feared. According to Googles latest DORA: State of AI-assisted Software Development report, 90% of tech professionals now use AI in their workflows, highlighting a 14% jump from last year, for coding, testing, and security reviews. Likewise, Udemy, one of the worlds largest online learning platforms, reports that the rise of AI integrations within enterprises has sparked a surge in enrollment for AI-related courses.
Every minute, five to eight people sign up for a generative AI class on our platform, Hugo Sarrazin, CEO of Udemy, tells Fast Company. Designing code requires critical thinking, which is fundamentally a human trait. Of course, AI will generate a lot more software, but you still need analysis, judgment, and testing. Thats why its so important to teach the foundations of coding and development, whether or not someone ends up relying heavily on AI.
Coding as a foundation
Skeptics often warn that due to AI-driven automation, coding roles will disappear,leaving fewer opportunities for junior developers to gain experience. Thats not how OpenAI sees it.
Some will use AI to go deep, building technical expertise at an accelerated pace, Sottiaux says. At OpenAI, more of the effort is shifting into code review and planning, while much of the coding itself is automated. Software engineering is about making an impact, and this shift allows us to create more in the same amount of time. He added that coding literacy remains vital for training the next generation of engineers, researchers, and entrepreneurs and stressed that the shift to AI-augmented development is a natural progression.
In practice, many of OpenAIs customers are actively deploying Codex in production. Popular language-learning app Duolingo, for example, uses it to review back-end Python code for the platform. In benchmark tests, the company found that Codexs upgraded version was the only system able to catch subtle backward-compatibility issues and consistently flagged bugs that other automated reviewers overlooked.
On a major software engineering test called SWE-bench Verified, GPT-5 Codex beat its predecessor by a wide margin. It solved more than half of the code-fixing challenges it was given, compared with about one-third for the earlier GPT 4.5 integrated model. For simple bugs, Codex used far fewer resources, cutting the workload by 94%. And when faced with tougher problems, it didnt just work faster; it applied roughly twice the level of reasoning to reach a solution.
Likewise, companies including Gap Inc., Vanta, and Virgin Atlantic are also using Codex for specific applications. “During planning and development, the Extension can be tuned to the right level of reasoning (the ability to solve problems), and its ability to utilize Model Context Protocol (MCP) allows the right tools to be called directly from engineers’ IDEs, Richard Masters, VP Data & AI at Virgin Atlantic, said in a statement.
Surviving the AI era
The shifts suggest that coding is becoming just one part of a much larger transformation, as AI tools weave themselves into both work and daily life.
Jan Chorowski, CTO at Pathway and a former deep learning researcher at Google who worked alongside Geoff Hinton at Google Brain, says coding is one of the few areas where AI is already delivering on its promise. While workflows are undeniably shifting as teams look to maximize productivityWho looks up Stack Overflow by hand these days? he notes.
Chorowski says that while AI enables a deep understanding of coding, from low-level machine tasks to grasping entire problem domains, it often falls short on the basic nuances that human developers handle instinctively.
The key differentiation we have today, as humans, is the ability to come up with new ideas that are well-grounded in a specific context. For developing software, the required context is particularly broad, he explained. AI lacks such contextualized judgement. Changing this is the challenge for the next decade. An important question is if AI tools will reach the deep understanding to be able to innovate and go beyond the capabilities of current Codex models.
OpenAI maintains that coding holds a unique place: it cultivates reasoning, the very skill on which AI itself depends. If that vision proves true, the story of coding will not be one of extinction but of expansioninto a future where software is crafted through the partnership of human creativity and machine intelligence.
Theres never been a better time to learn, especially for students and recent graduates, says Sottiaux. Id recommend picking a coding agent and starting a couple of projects. You can even use ChatGPT to generate creative ideas for what to build. Then start learning, engage with curiosity, and treat the agent as a true collaborator.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday declaring that his plan to sell Chinese-owned TikTok’s U.S. operations to U.S. and global investors will address the national security requirements in a 2024 law.
The new U.S. company will be valued at around $14 billion, Vice President JD Vance said, putting a price tag on the popular short video app far below some analyst estimates.
Trump on Thursday delayed until January 20 enforcement of the law that bans the app unless its Chinese owners sell it amid efforts to extract TikTok’s U.S. assets from the global platform, line up American and other investors, and win approval from the Chinese government.
The publication of the executive order shows Trump is making progress on the sale of TikTok’s U.S. assets, but numerous details need to be fleshed out, including how the U.S. entity would use TikTok’s most important asset, its recommendation algorithm.
“There was some resistance on the Chinese side, but the fundamental thing that we wanted to accomplish is that we wanted to keep TikTok operating, but we also wanted to make sure that we protected Americans’ data privacy as required by law,” Vance told reporters at an Oval Office briefing.
Trump’s order says the algorithm will be retrained and monitored by the U.S. company’s security partners, and operation of the algorithm will be under the control of the new joint venture.
Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping had indicated approval of the plans. “I spoke with President Xi,” Trump said. “We had a good talk, I told him what we were doing and he said go ahead with it.”
China’s foreign ministry on Friday reiterated that the government “respects the will of enterprises and welcomes them to conduct business negotiations on the basis of market rules to reach solutions that comply with Chinese laws and regulations and achieve a balance of interests.”
“We hope the U.S. will provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies investing in the United States,” ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a press conference, without giving further details of the deal.
TikTok did not immediately comment on Trump’s action.
Trump has credited TikTok, which has 170 million U.S. users, with helping him win reelection last year. Trump has 15 million followers on his personal TikTok account. The White House also launched an official TikTok account last month.
“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said.
He said that Michael Dell, the founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies; Rupert Murdoch, the chairman emeritus of Fox News owner Fox Corp and newspaper publisher News Corp, and “probably four or five absolutely world-class investors” would be part of the deal.
The White House did not discuss how it came up with the $14 billion valuation.
TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, currently values itself at more than $330 billion, according to its new employee share buyback plan. TikTok contributes a small percentage of the company’s total revenue.
According to Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, TikTok was estimated to be worth $30 billion to $40 billion without the algorithm as of April 2025.
Alan Rozenshtein, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, said the executive order left unanswered questions, including whether ByteDance would still control the algorithm.
“The problem is that the president has certified the deal, but he has not provided a lot of information on the algorithm,” he said.
Chinese media on Friday also painted a different picture of the TikTok agreement, suggesting ByteDance would continue to play a major or operational role.
ByteDance will set up a new U.S. company as part of the restructuring of TikTok’s U.S. operations, Chinese media outlet LatePost reported, citing sources.
The new company to be set up by ByteDance will be responsible for e-commerce, branding operations and interconnection with international operations, the report said.
The report also said the joint venture, as described by the White House and valued at $14 billion, would be responsible for U.S. digital security, safeguarding content and software as well as related local businesses.
Another Chinese financial magazine, Caixin, also reported, citing people close to the deal, that ByteDance planned to set up a TikTok U.S. entity that will receive some revenue from the new TikTok joint venture.
Both reports were taken down from their respective websites later on Friday.
The White House and ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
ORACLE AND OTHERS TO OWN TIKTOK IN THE U.S.
A group of three investors, including Oracle and private-equity firm Silver Lake, will take a roughly 50% stake in TikTok U.S., two sources familiar with the deal said on Thursday.
A group of existing shareholders in ByteDance will hold a roughly 30% stake, one of the sources said. Among ByteDances current investors are Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic and KKR.
Given intense investor interest in TikTok, the 50% stake may still shift, the source noted.
Oracle and Silver Lake did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
CNBC reported earlier, citing sources, that Abu Dhabi-based MGX, Oracle and Silver Lake are poised to be the main investors in TikTok U.S. with a combined 45% ownership.
MGX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the CNBC report.
Republican House of Representatives lawmakers said they wanted to see more details of the deal to ensure it represented a clean break with China. “As the details are finalized, we must ensure this deal protects American users from the influence and surveillance of CCP-aligned groups, said U.S. Representatives Brett Guthrie, Gus Bilirakis and Richard Hudson.
The agreement on TikToks U.S. operations includes the appointment by ByteDance of one of seven board members for the new entity, with Americans holding the other six seats, a senior White House official said on Saturday.
ByteDance would hold less than 20% in TikTok U.S. to comply with requirements set out in the 2024 law that ordered it shut down by January 2025 if ByteDance did not sell its U.S. assets.
Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom and Brenda Goh
Jeff Mason, Dawn Chmielewski and David Shepardson, Reuters
Fans of Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant will be disappointed to learn that the beloved restaurant and pub chain has abruptly closed all of its locations across multiple states. Heres why and what you need to know about Iron Hill Brewerys closure.
Whats happened?
Yesterday (Thursday, September 25), Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant made several announcements. Effective immediately, it was closing the doors to all its locations, the company revealed.
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant was founded nearly 30 years ago. Its first location opened in Newark, Delaware, in 1996. Since then, it had expanded to multiple states along the countrys eastern coast, including Georgia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and South Carolina.
According to Nations Restaurant News, Iron Hill Brewery had 19 locations as of the end of 2024. That same year, the companys sales increased by 4% to $104.1 million.
Yet the modest sales growth apparently wasnt enough to keep Iron Hill Brewery going.
Last week, the company announced it was closing three of its locations, including its original Newark location.
At the time, an Iron Hill Brewery spokesperson told NRN that the three closures were part of the companys ongoing efforts to adapt to a changing business landscape while focusing on strengthening its long-term growth and success.
But just a week later, Iron Hill shocked customers and employees by announcing that its remaining 16 locations would be closing as well.
Iron Hill Brewery notifies employees of bankruptcy via email
On September 25, Iron Hill Brewery sent an email to employees notifying them that the business would be closing all locations for good.
In the email, which was obtained by the website Breweries in PA and also shared on social media forums like Reddit, Iron Hills leadership said, It is with a heavy heart that I must announce the closure of all our restaurant locations effective immediately.
The email went on to explain that it had made the difficult decision to file for bankruptcy.
It cited ongoing financial challenges as the reason for its decision. The company went on to explain that it had been trying to secure new funding to keep the chain going, but presumably, that funding was not achieved.
The same day of the email to employees, Iron Hill posted a brief notice on its website, letting customers know of the developments. USA Today reports that this same notice was posted to the doors of some of the shuttered Iron Hill restaurants.
After many wonderful years serving our communities, all Iron Hill locations have closed, the notice read in part. It has been our pleasure to serve you, and we are deeply grateful for your support, friendship, and loyalty over the years.
The notice ends by noting that the company sincerely hope[s] to return in the future.
Full list of closed Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant locations
With the three closures on September 18, and the additional 16 closures on September 25, Iron Hill Brewery has now closed all of its 19 locations. Here is the list of those locations:
Delaware
Newark
Rehoboth Beach
Wilmington
Georgia
Atlanta
New Jersey
Maple Shade
Voorhees
Pennsylvania
Chestnut Hill
Exton
Hershey
Huntingdon Valley
Lancaster
Lehigh Valley
Media
Newtown
North Wales
Philadelphia
West Chester
South Carolina
Columbia
Greenville
A busy time for restaurant bankruptcies
Unfortunately, Iron Hill Brewery isnt the only restaurant chain that has announced bankruptcy recently.
Since 2024, several established chains have announced bankruptcy plans, including Buca di Beppo, Hooters, Red Lobster, Roti, BurgerFi, and Tijuana Flats. Many of these bankruptcies have resulted in store closures.
While each company will have different factors influencing its decision to file for bankruptcy, many restaurant chains have been experiencing similar problems in recent years, which often contribute to their bankruptcy.
These problems include higher costs, inflationary pressures that lead diners to cut back on their discretionary spending, and foot traffic that has yet to recover to its pre-pandemic norms.
Hi, everyone, and welcome back to Fast Companys Plugged In.
Our new print issue features How YouTube Ate TV, an oral history of the video-sharing sites impact on entertainment, culture, and business as told by dozens of eyewitnesses past and present. As we stitched sound bites together into a story, it became clear that our interviews had provided an embarrassment of riches. Indeed, we had too many great stories and insights to cram into one magazine article.
So we expanded the online version of the article into five oral histories. Two are live on our site now, covering the companys earliest days and acquisition by Google. Three more will roll out next week, bringing the story up to 2025and, in the case of AIs sweeping impact on the platform, beyond.
One of the joys of working on this project with my colleagues and fellow interviewers, María José Gutiérrez Chávez, Yasmin Gagne, Steven Melendez, and David Salazar, was having an excuse to think back to what the web was like 20 years ago. Its not just that YouTube was brand new and rapidly becoming a necessity of everyday life. At the time, the whole proposition of being able to easily watch videos on the internet at all was a novelty. The technology that made itand sites like YouTubepossible at all was Macromedias Flash.
By the time YouTube came along, Flash was more than a decade old. Initially known as FutureWave SmartSketch, it morphed from a drawing app for pen-based computers into a browser plug-in that allowed websites to offer more motion and interactivity than the early web could muster on its own. Flash jazzed up the internet without requiring much in the way of bandwidth or computing cyclesa critical virtue back in the days of pokey dial-up connections. A whole universe of Flash-enabled animations and games sprung up.
Flash was so manifestly useful that Netscape and Microsoft bundled it with their browsers. Eventually, the plug-in added support for video playback, dramatically simplifying a process that had formerly required clunky software such as RealPlayer. Instead of video being something you watched in a separate app with its own interface, it could be rendered right inside sites. Thats why YouTube was so easy to use. It also permitted the fledgling site to make its videos embeddable on any web page, spreading them all over the internet.
If you were online back then, you may recall all this. But Im afraid Flashs reputation was tarnished by what happened well after it helped YouTube become, well, YouTube.
A couple of months after YouTube was founded, Adobe agreed to acquire Macromedia. Once Flash came into its portfolio, the software giant aggressively stuffed the plug-in with new features. What had begun as a complement to the plain-vanilla web became a platform unto itself.
As Flash got more powerful, it lost its original spritely nature. Increasingly, it was a bloated resource hogsomething you reluctantly allowed onto your computer because a sizable percentage of the web wouldnt work without it. In 2011, I wrote about how Flash had mucked up my MacBook Air, and how much better the laptop worked with the plug-in disabled. Did I mention that Flash also had some pretty significant security issues?
By the time I banished Flash from my Mac, the PC-centric web that had given us Flash in the first place was receding into history. Apples introduction of the iPhone in 2007 and iPad in 2010 had put browsers onto new classes of gadgets with smaller displays and touchscreen interfaces. But Apple didnt give Adobe the kind of technical access it needed to put Flash on an iPhone or iPad. On those devices, Flash content showed up as empty boxes.
In 2010, Steve Jobs published an open letter, Thoughts on Flash, that argued that Adobes software was rife with problems and Apples platforms were better off without it. Adobeand a fair percentage of technology enthusiastssaw Apples exclusion of Flash as being about locking out competition, not enhancing the user experience.
Now, Googles Android mobile operating system could run Flash. And for a time, makers of Android devices considered that a major advantage. BlackBerry, the maker of the PlayBook tablet, even ran TV commercials trumpeting Flash support as a defining feature.
The only problem was that mobile Flash was awful. It taxed the devices of the period beyond their breaking point. Even if it had been more efficient, much of the worlds Flash content simply didnt work well on a tiny touchscreen.
In 2011, Adobe gave up on mobile Flash. Then a suite of open web technologies known as HTML5 largely replicated Flashs features as part of web browsings basic functionality, no plug-in required. Many big sites started abandoning Flash, period. Adobe decided to wind down the technology in 2017 and stopped supporting it altogether in 2020. Todays internet is entirely Flash-free.
I dont miss Flash in the sense of thinking we were better off when it was central to our computing lives or fantasizing about it coming back. Even in the days when Flash was quite pleasant, a single company bearing so much responsibility for how websites worked was never ideal. That became painfully clear when Adobe lost track of the values that had made Flash popular in the first place. When it finally died, I was able to reallocate the brain cells Id dedicated to wrestling with it to happier pursuits.
Nevertheless, it was nice to remember the days when Flashs impact on the web was largely positive. As a startup, YouTube got a lot of things right, such as seeing its users as a community, not just a morass of eyeballs. But none of that would have mattered if the internet had still been stuck in the RealPlayer era.
As Billy Biggs, a software engineer whos been at Google and YouTube since 2006, put it when I spoke with him for our YouTube history, Flash video is what made this all possible. It was the right technology at the right time. Thats as much a part of its legacy as its later regrettable evolution and descent into obsolescence.
Youve been reading Plugged In, Fast Companys weekly tech newsletter from me, global technology editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this edition to youor if you’re reading it on FastCompany.comyou can check out previous issues and sign up to get it yourself every Friday morning. I love hearing from you: Ping me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters. I’m also on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, and you can follow Plugged In on Flipboard.
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Whats the biggest company in the world? Apple? Amazon? Microsoft?
No. Its Nvidia, which in early August became the worlds first $4 trillion company, overtaking both Apple and Microsoft. Last weeks results were eagerly awaited by the worlds markets and actually helped push the S&P 500 and Dow Jones to all-time highs. By the end of August, Nvidia accounted for more than 8% of the S&P 500, the largest weighting for a single stock in the indexs history.
Yet, Nvidia isnt a household name. It doesnt make the devices in your pocket or the apps you use every day. Nvidia makes chips. Excellent chips, yes, but not unique in the way we tend to assume a $4 trillion product must be. Its success is not just a product story; its also a brand story.
B2B is often treated as B2Cs poor relation. When budgets are tight, brand is first to be stripped back, reduced to a logo refresh or a new color palette. Nvidias rise proves thats a mistake. Its transformation from graphics chipmaker to the engine of the AI revolution shows how brand strategy can create enormous value.
Here are six lessons B2B brands can take from Nvidias playbook.
1. More than a logo
Nvidias brand identity hasnt changed much since the 1990s. The typography has been updated, but the odd, retro eye-and-square graphic remains. Many organizations would have dropped it long ago, worried it looked dated or alienating. Nvidias decision to keep it reflects confidence in what the brand stands for and in the loyalty of its audience, especially the developers and gamers who value its heritage.
Many B2B brands struggle here. A new CMO arrives and the instinct is to refresh the logo. These changes are often driven more by internal pressure than by real market insight. In doing so, companies risk eroding recognition and alienating the very customers that anchor their brand.
Companies need to ask: What do our core users value from us? What signals show continuity and confidence? Consistency builds familiarity, and that in turn builds trust.
2. Own a story, not just a product
Nvidias two main rivals, AMD and Intel, have longer histories and strong product reputations. Yet Intel is seen as legacy computing and AMD as fast and affordable, while Nvidia is synonymous with the future.
This isnt because Nvidia started AI, but because it positioned itself as the essential platform for enabling it, shifting from being a graphics processing unit manufacturer to the company powering the AI revolution, and framing its value in terms of possibility rather than price or speed. That positioning has contributed to a market cap 15 times AMDs and 47 times Intels, despite smaller revenues.
Many B2B firms struggle to look this far ahead. Brand vision often gets tied to short sales cycles and annual budgets. The challenge is to set an ambition that stretches beyond the next quarter. Microsoft did this successfully with its cloud-first pivot. Intel seemingly failed to capitalize on the AI growth wave, falling behind AMD and Nvidia. Although it is reportedly working hard on a comeback, will it be enough to make up for lost time?
The lesson: dont just describe what you make, own the bigger shift your products make possible.
3. Be more peacock
Brands are regularly the victims of trends. The more established and reputationally safe they are the harder it is for them to stay connected to new audiences while remaining true to themselves.
However, Nvidia has remained remarkably true to its central vision. It uses its core brand assetsthe logo, the greeneverywhere. This consistency reinforces recognition, particularly among its most loyal audience: a technically minded, brand-aware community that values the companys history. Where some brands tone down their heritage as they grow, Nvidia has leaned into it.
Salesforce and Slack have both succeeded by sticking with distinctive, even playful, visual identities in a category prone to beige professionalism. In contrast, many brands caught up in the 2018 blanding epidemic traded characterful logos and flourishes for neutral sans-serifs, diluting their identities in the process. Often B2B brands should have the courage to lean into the brand assets that make them distinctive and unique, rather than feeling they need to follow the latest trend.
4. Make the brand an experience
Nvidias GTC (GPU Technology Conference) has been described as the Super Bowl of AI, stadium-scale events wrapped in the brand, bringing together developers, researchers, and business leaders. These conferences position Nvidia not just as a supplier of hardware but as the platform powering whats next.
Most B2B brands dont think about experience in this way. Customer experience is often a trade show booth or a sales meeting. Yet experience is where brand comes to life: through service design, digital platforms, physical spaces, and above all, people.
Not every business needs stadium events, but every B2B brand can look at the moments where clients interact with them and ask: does this experience reflect who we are? Does it build confidence? Deloitte is a good example here. Its investment in connected digital and service experiences has made it the highest-valued commercial services brand by Brand Finance.
5. Partner for relevance
Nvidias partnershipsfrom Tesla to Disney Research to Google DeepMindhave put it at the center of conversations about robotics, art, graphics, and AI. Each collaboration reinforces the companys relevance far beyond chips.
B2B companies often fall into one of two traps: chasing partnerships haphazardly without alignment, or avoiding them altogether for fear of losing control. But the right partnerships extend credibility, and relevance.
The lesson is to find partnerships that complement your brands value and purpose. Co-branded thought leadership, for example, can build credibility for both parties. Deloitte and Apples collaboration to accelerate enterprise mobility is a good example. The misstep comes when brands partner without clear alignment.
6. Build a human figurehead
Nvidias CEO, Jensen Huang, has become a brand asset in his own right. Known for his leather jackets and unscripted keynote style, hes built a followingeven a nickname for his fanswhich is unusual in the world of B2B hardware. His visibility has amplified Nvidias vision while keeping the brand rooted in the community that uses its products.
Most B2B leaders arent visible in this way. Either they avoid the spotlight, or they show up only in highly scripted investor calls. Yet charismatic leaders can create strong brand momentum. Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce uses his personal platform to advance the companys narrative. Deloitte CEO Joseph Ucuzoglu has also become a recognizable voice on leadership and the future of work.
For B2B brands, the takeaway isnt to manufacture celebrity. Its to encourage leaders toshow up authentically, in ways that reflect the brands values and ambitions.
Brand is the differentiator
From the outside, many B2B products can look more alike than they really are: another chip, another service, another platform. Thats when brand becomes the differentiator.
Nvidias rise to the top wasnt just about cutting-edge engineering. It was about confidence: sticking with distinctive assets, claiming ownership of the future, showing up consistently, building meaningful experiences, partnering with intent, and amplifying it all through visible leadership.
The lesson for B2B brands is simple. Dont treat brand as decoration. Allow your brand to be vision-led. Nvidia shows that even in categories that seem invisible or interchangeable, brand confidence can drive both growth and value.
For years, Mercedes-Benz has relied on touchscreens as the command center of its vehicles. Is it too hot? Tap the screen to set the AC temperature. Want to listen to the news? Tap. Defrost the rear window? Tap, tap, tap. While the automaker has retained some physical controls in its cars, its modern user experience is effectively built around the screen.
But that’s about to change.
Magnus Östberg, chief software officer for Mercedes-Benz, recently announced that the company would be centering future car design around physical controls instead of screens. “The data shows us physical buttons are better,” Östberg told Autocar at the Munich motor show. He says Mercedes will begin integrating more physical controls into its digitally focused cabins starting in 2026.
Mercedes’ announcement is part of a bigger industry trend…
with carmakers like Hyundai leading the charge to bring back knobs and buttons to its cars. Earlier this year, fellow German automaker Volkswagen, also announced plans to fix its touchscreen problem, saying that it was “taking a step back to move forward.”
After more than a decade of car screens growing bigger and brighter, the auto industry finally seems to be acknowledging what drivers (and science!) has known all along: physical buttons are safer and more pleasant to use.
Why automakers went crazy for screens
You can partly blame Buick for this mess. The General Motors’ brand introduced the first 3-by-4-inch car touchscreen with the 1986 Buick Riviera. It turned out that drivers found the design distracting and cumbersome, so Buick eventually cancelled it. Still, it serves as an early glimpse of how automakers would eventually come to think about integrating technology into the driver experience.
Throughout the ’90s and early 2000s, automakers like BMW and Lexus began to integrate small, low-res screens into their cars to handle functions like navigation. But the touchscreen revolution didn’t happen in earnest until 2012 when Elon Musk installed cheap vertical 17-inch displays in his Model S. The sleek, tech-forward design intrigued other automakers, who realized they could cut costs by reducing the number of expensive physical controls in their cars.
And sure enough, lots of car companies followed suit. Throughout the 2010s, touchscreens became the default mode of interaction for carmakers across the price spectrum. But screens were not without their problems. Tesla’s reliance on electronic controls has lead to some high profile issues. The screens themselves started failing, leading to a 158,000-vehicle recall for the company.
Drivers, meanwhile, didn’t seem to like touchscreens all that much, and science didn’t either. Evidence began mounting that touchscreens, despite their perceived convenience, were actually not all that helpful.
The physical controls of the center console of a third-generation Volvo v70/xc70 [Photo: Volvo]
In 2022, Swedish car magazine Vi Bilägare conducted a comprehensive study of 11 modern touchscreen-equipped cars. It found that physical controls dramatically outperform digital interfaces for driver tasks.
Its testing revealed that a 17-year-old Volvo V70 with only physical controls allowed drivers to complete essential tasks in just 10 seconds, while modern cars with touchscreens took anywhere from 23.5 seconds to a disastrous 44.9 seconds to accomplish the same functions.
But going back to physical controls is not just about convenienceit’s about safety. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says any distraction that requires drivers to look away from the road even for a second is a potential accident. Touchscreens, by nature, require drivers to take their eyes off the road to navigate through multiple menu layers in order to perform simple tasks that once required an easy-to-find single physical button press or dial twist. As design expert Amber Case says, “Because buttons are not fixed to specific locations, screens inhibit muscle memory and findability. Touchscreens compete for attention with the driving process, adding to the dangers of distracted driving.”
Back to basics
All this has lead automakers to reconsider their devotion to the screen. In early 2025, Volkswagen announced a significant policy shift, with the company committing to restore physical controls for essential functions across all future models. Design chief Andreas Mindt acknowledged publicly that the company’s touchscreen-heavy strategy had failed users. He said that cars are not phones, so they require a different interface.
Hyundai also reversed direction in late 2024, when they reintroduced physical controls with its Ioniq 5. It came after a 2023 epiphany, when its internal testing revealed driver frustration with capacitive controls during critical moments. The Korean automaker’s research showed that touch-only interfaces create anxiety when drivers need imediate access to vehicle functions.
I think its great, designer Chris Kernaghan told Fast Company at the time. Im not dismissing touchscreens in cars entirely, [but] there are certain critical controls that are better suited to good old-fashioned buttons and knobs. As a designer, Im all about tactile feedback whenever possible. It just feels natural to push a button and get an immediate response. You dont get that same sense of control with touchscreens.
Manufacturers like Toyota, Honda, and Nissan maintained hybrid approaches throughout the touchscreen boom, preserving tactile controls alongside digital displays rather than eliminating buttons entirely. Chinese brands also offer hybrid a touchscreen-physical button UX, although some, like the Xiaomi SU7, provide it with an optional full physical control system that attaches magnetically to the dashboard, under the main display.
Trend spotting
If I were a cynic (and I am), I would say that Mercedes took these steps mostly because there seems to be a reversal to this useless fad. Plus, regulatory pressure is mounting: Europe’s safety testing organization will penalize vehicles starting in 2026 if they lack physical controls for essential safety systems including climate, signals, emergency features, and driver-assistance functions.
But Östberg explained that the companys real-world usage datarevealed by its own cars electronicspointed out that something needed to change. A Mercedes spokesperson told Fast Company that consumer feedback played a role in the shift: “We’ve listened closely to customer feedback and analyzed real-world usage data from our software-defined vehicles. Physical controls offer superior usability and comfort for many drivers.”
The spokesperson added, “The rollers and these physical buttons are very important for certain age groups and certain populations.” This may be true, but it’s a strange way to frame a decision that is ultimately about making cars safer for everyone.
A solution in progress
The solution Mercedes has chosen starts with a redesigned steering wheel featuring “a host of rockers, rollers, and buttons” that will become standard across all Mercedes models going forward. This wheel will be fitted to all car models already on sale, with implementation beginning early next year.
Mercedes tells me that the manufacturer is reintroducing tactile elements like a rocker for the limiter and Distronic (its cruise control system) and a roller for volume control. These will all be on the steering wheel. The picture of the wheel shows a lot of buttons crammed in its horizontal axis, like an oversize PlayStation gamepada bit complicated, but definitely better than using the display.
Is this the solution to the problem? I always found these types of button-heavy wheel designs problematic. In theory, not having to take your hands away from the steering wheel is good. In practice, I find myself looking down to make sure Im clicking the right button. Or missing the target if I dont look. When asked about usability testing for the new GLC wheel controls, Mercedes told me the new steering wheel had undergone extensive testing as part of its development process, though no specific details about the results were provided.
The interior of the new electric GLC [Image: Mercedes-Benz]
It’s interesting timing for the announcement. Mercedes has just fitted its new GLC SUV model with what is allegedly the biggest screen ever put in a production car: a 39.1-inch display called an MBUX Hyperscreen. It spans the entire dashboard width. As Mercedes-Benz design chief Gorden Wagener acknowledged to Autocar, the company has reached a point where you cannot make the screen much bigger.” Perhaps the industry’s screen-enlargement race has finally reached its logically absurd conclusion.
Mercedes plans to add more physical controls elsewhere in future cabins, though Östberg indicated this will likely be limited to SUVs because “in larger cars we have more freedom to package” and buyers of those vehicles “care more about buttons.”
When asked about expanding changes beyond the steering wheel, the Mercedes spokesperson told me the company doesnt disclose details of future portfolios but continually evaluates customer needs and preferences.” Maybe this is indicative that the company is still trying to balance cost considerations with user experience, rather than committing fully to what its own data shows works best.
Perhaps its FOMO, as the Chinese industry seems to be fully committed to displays everywhere and companies like BYD are poised to dominate the global car industry. In fact, Östberg hinted that different wheel designs might be used depending on location, explaining that “while Europeans like buttons, Asian drivers prefer more touchscreen and voice controls.” This market-specific strategy suggests Mercedes is prioritizing regional preferences over the safety and usability benefits its own data has uncovered.
Can AI fix it?
At the same time, Mercedes says it is investing heavily in voice command technology, with Östberg noting that voice command usage in the CLA has “tripled” among Mercedes drivers, calling the increase “phenomenal.”
This AI integration could represent the future solution to the buttons-versus-screens dilemma. If voice recognition becomes really good rather than the current Larry David level of accuracy, drivers might eventually interact with their cars through natural conversation. This mirrors the prediction of usability expert Jakob Nielsen, who believes that user interfaces will eventually disappear entirely as AI anticipates user needs. In such a future, the current debate about buttons and screens might be irrelevant.
Back in the real world, however, things need to change. More manufacturers should embrace the retur to physical controls, even if it will cost them more to make those cars because of the complex electronics that rolling wheels and buttons require. Mercedes deserves credit for acknowledging the touchscreen problem like its VW colleagues have done and attempting to address a real problem with data-driven solutions. But there is still a way to go before we can say automakers are truly prioritizing drivers’ best interests. What will the cars of the future look like? Right now, the industry seems to be hedging its bets.
EV sales just hit a new record in the U.S.: This month, theyre on track to make up 12.2% of new car sales, according to J.D. Power and Associates. Meanwhile, gas car sales dropped compared to the same month last year.
Buyers are racing to get new electric vehicles before the $7,500 federal tax credit goes away on September 30. When the Trump administration pushed to eliminate the credit in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, it inadvertently helped nudge some consumers to switch to EVs earlier that they otherwise might have.
Theres nothing like a deadline to get people paying attention, says Josh Boone, executive director of Veloz, a nonprofit focused on electrifying transportation. The organization has seen a surge of traffic on its digital platform that helps consumers choose an EV.
The end of the credit also helped temporarily push EV prices down. In August, the average transaction cost for an EV was $44,908a little less than the average gas vehicle, at $45,521. Thats because manufacturers added generous incentives to help sell cars before the deadline.
The tax credit has been in place since 2008, under the Bush administration. Now that its disappearing, EV sales are likely to plummet next quarter. Automakers are slowing production and canceling some models. But electric cars arent dead in the U.S., and sales are still likely to grow next year.
How much does the tax credit matter?
Even though the end of the incentive has spurred sales, the tax credit generally hasnt been the deciding factor for most buyers, says Loren McDonald, who runs an EV data and analysis firm called Chargeonomics. I’ve always believed that its importance has been overplayed, he says. For most people, it was more of a discount than it was an actual incentive to get people over the hump.
Most people using the tax credit have had higher incomes, and probably could have afforded the vehicles on their own. Thats still the case now. For a lot of people, if theyre considering the difference of a $50 or $100 a month payment, its like I can deal with that, he says. “What it means is that people with lower income brackets still arent interested.
In a recent survey with Morning Consult, analysts at Cox Automotive found that 65% of respondents who were in the market for a new EV said they would still consider an EV without the tax credit. I thought that was a good data point to show that it’s important, but not for everyone, says Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of industry insights at Cox.
The number of affordable EVs keeps growing
As EV production scales up and battery costs fall, that helps push cost down. The number of more affordable models is growing. The next-generation Chevy Bolt will enter production later this year. The new Nissan Leaf will start at just under $30,000, with a 300-mile range. Slate Auto, a startup backed by Jeff Bezos, will release an electric truck in the mid-$20,000s next year. (With the tax credit in place, it would have been less than $20k.) Toyota is releasing a new electric C-HR next year. Volvo has said that its new crossover, the EX60, is aiming to get as close as possible to price parity with gas cars.
In China, it’s worth noting, EVs are already cheaper than gas cars without subsidies. Plug-in vehicles now make up more than half of new sales in China, with battery electric vehicles alone representing one-third of the market.
Technology continues to improve. CATL, the largest EV battery manufacturer, plans to soon release new sodium-ion packs that cost $40 per kilowatt-hour, 20% less than its current lithium iorn phosphate batteries (which are already cheaper than standard lithium-ion batteries). Automakers are increasingly adopting platforms that support multiple EV models, boosting economies of scale. All of this will help, although automakers are also facing headwinds from tariffs.
If you consider the total cost of ownership, many EVs are already less expensive than equivalent gas vehicles. They need less maintenance, and charging is cheaper than buying gas. Still, that’s harder to communicate than the sticker price.
“The auto industry needs to start educating buyers to be more like fleet buyers, which is they get out their Excel spreadsheet and they calculate the total cost of ownership of the truck over the lifetime,” says McDonald. “They need to do this with electric vehicles. The problem is, if you’re also selling gas vehicles, you’re basically selling against your own cars. And that’s always been one of the problems with the legacy automakers: if they go too far in selling how great EVs are, they’re basically saying, sorry, [gas cars] aren’t that good.”
The number of used EVs is also continuing to grow1.1 million EVs were leased over the last few years and will soon be available for resale. The upfront cost of a used EV is already typically comparable (or cheaper) than an equivalent gas car. Those sales have also been surging.
Some state and utility incentives are also still available. All of this means that even without the tax credit, the cost of EVs may not necessarily be a large barrier. Charging infrastructure is also improving, and the average range of an EV is already big enough that range anxiety isn’t the challenge that it used to be.
Automakers will need to get better at marketing
As the tax credit goes away, automakers may have to rethink marketing. McDonald argues that car brands have overrelied on incentives and rebates from the government and utilities. “They’ve focused on all these incentivesnot that it’s a really great car, and it doesn’t require maintenance, and it’s fast, and convenient,” he says. “My hope is that they’re going to do a better job marketing and targeting.”
One automaker he recently spoke with said that the brand is now beginning to target likely buyers, such as suburban families with a large garage and income. “They’re finally waking up and realized that doing Super Bowl ads is a waste of time,” he says. “What you really need to do is target the people who are considering a Tesla, and get them to buy yours.”
Automakers may continue to offer strong incentives next quarter to help offset the loss of the tax credit. “I think they’ll step in and offer more now,” says Tyson Jominy, senior vice president of data & analytics at J.D. Power. (GM declined to comment on its plans for this story, and Rivian said that it is still working through its incentive plans.)
