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Listen, I dont know about you, but Im generally not so big on listening. I tend to be more of a words in front of my eyes kind of guy when it comes to taking in information (which, as Ive come to learn, also means Im an old person by modern-day standardshey, Im okay with that). Sometimes, though, theres something to be said for sitting back and enjoying an aural experienceor, as the cool kids call it these days, a podcast. Whether youre seeking out important info or just casually checking out a conversation about tech, comedy, or whatever floats your dinghy, oceans of options are out there that exist only in the form of audio. But what happens when you hear something especially noteworthy and you want to remember itmaybe even have it in writing as words in front of your ever-blinky eyes? Thats where todays tool springs into action. And lemme tell ya: Its simple, smart, and something youll absolutely appreciate having available. This tip originally appeared in the free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. Get the next issue in your inbox and get ready to discover all sorts of awesome tech treasures! Your 2026 savingand sharingsupertool The next time youre listening to a podcast and want to make a note of something youve heardto share, revisit, or even just save for future referenceremember a handy-as-can-be resource called Podcast Magic. Podcast Magic is positively brilliant in its simplicity and effectiveness. In fact, you dont even need to open the websiteor any special app, ever. Heres how it works: You snap a screenshot of your full-screen podcast player at whatever moment you want to remember. On Android, the easiest way to do that is by pressing your power and volume-down buttons at the same time. (But youve got plenty of other options.) On an iPhone, youll press the side button and volume-up button togetheror the side/top button and home button, if youre on an older model. You send that screenshot in an email to podcastmagic@sublime.app. You can use your phones built-in sharing command, if you see that pop up on-screen after you snag the screenshot. Just share it over to whatever email app you use, then type or paste in that address in the To field and hit Send. It doesnt matter what the subject is or if theres any text in the body of the email. Within a few minutes, Podcast Magic will respond to that same email with a complete transcript of the very same moment you just heard. So, for instance, I sent over this screenshot: Just a regular ol’ screenshot, captured mid-listen. And I got back this transcript and direct link to the moment Id heard: Podcast Magic’s transcriptions really do feel like magic. The whole thing takes maybe 20 seconds to do. And its free for a while, though if you use it enough, the service will eventually prompt you to pay $20 once for lifetime unlimited access. (Although, if you really wanna be wily, you could always use the + sign to change to new and different email addresses endlessly in Gmail, thus making the system see you as a new and different user every time you do so.) Now, technically, Podcast Magic is meant to work with Spotify or Apple Music. But Ive been using it with both YouTube Music and Pocket Casts on Android, and it works perfectly well with those, too. As long as the name of the podcast, the name of the episode, and the specific time youre at in the timeline are all visible on your screen when you capture your screenshot, it doesnt really matter which specific app youre using to listen. With YouTube Music, though, you do have to watch for the way the title of the episode sometimes scrolls to make sure its mostly visible when you capture the screenshot. Otherwise, Podcast Magic has no way of seeing what youre listening to. Even if you just rely on it once in a great while, its a cool tool thats well worth keeping around for anytime the right moment arises. Podcast Magic works entirely via email, simply by sending screenshots to podcastmagic@sublime.app. Its free to use with any given email address up to a point, after which youll be asked to upgrade to a premium plan for a onetime $20 fee. The service doesnt require any downloads or sign-ins, and the company behind it says it never shares the limited amount of info (essentially just your email address) that it does see. Treat yourself to all sorts of brain-boosting goodies like this with the free Cool Tools newsletterstarting with an instant introduction to an incredible audio app thatll tune up your days in truly delightful ways.
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E-Commerce
More than 11.5 million fans signed up for presale tickets to Harry Styles’s upcoming Madison Square Garden residency for the Together, Together tour. But when tickets went on sale January 26, amid the excitement, many fans were left frustrated by lengthy virtual queue waits. For those who made it through, the relief proved fleeting when they encountered ticket prices exceeding $1,000. Many turned to social media to direct their ire at both Ticketmaster and Styles himself. “$1000 for lower bowl at msg is genuinely the most insulting thing ive ever seen. that’s one months rent,” one person posted on X. “Its getting to the point where I feel like im being forced to outgrow concerts because of how inaccessible they are,” another fan wrote on X. Yet another added: “The thing that sucks the most about this is that nothing will be done to hold artists accountable for pricing their tickets this way.” Tickets for the Together, Together tour were reportedly priced between $50 and $1,182.40, including Ticketmaster service fees. Ticketmaster does not determine pricing, nor use surge pricing or dynamic algorithms to adjust ticket prices. On resale platforms like StubHub, a single ticket for the pit area surrounding the stage currently runs over $3,000. “Queue All The Time. Tickets, Occasionally,” one disappointed fan quipped on X, riffing on Styles’s recently announced album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. “Together together but only if you have a lot of money money,” another joked, playing off the tour title. Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher even weighed in, posting HOW MUCH? after presales opened, and noting his ticket prices are reasonable looking back at it now. (Oasis also faced backlash for the band’s reunion tour when some U.K. fans were charged more than 350, or $482, for tickets with an initial face value of 150, or $206, due to dynamic pricing). Fast Company has reached out to Styles for comment. This tour marks the first time Styles will be returning to the stage since his Love on Tour run concluded in 2023, having grossed over $600 million, with an average ticket price of $115, according to Pollstar. The online backlash taps into a wider conversation about soaring resale prices and limited tour dates colliding with a cost-of-living crisis that has left live music feeling increasingly unattainable for modern concertgoers. Last fall, singer Olivia Dean spoke out against exploitative resale prices at her shows. You are providing a disgusting service, Dean wrote on her Instagram story. The prices at which youre allowing tickets to be resold is vile and completely against our wishes. Live music should be affordable and accessible, and we need to find a new way of making that possible. BE BETTER. Ticketmaster backed the singer by capping future ticket resale prices for Deans The Art of Loving Live tour on its platform and refunding fans for any markup they already paid to resellers. The fact Dean was able to get this result by speaking up only adds to fans’ frustrations when it comes to other big name artists and their unwillingness to stand up for their fans. The backlash hasnt seemed to curb Styless ticket sales, however. Styles is also donating 1 from every ticket sold from his U.K. stadium shows to small music venues around the country. For many fans, that’s poor consolation. As one suggested: Harry Styles, i want you to stand in the pit and not let anyone walk in unless they hand you $1200 in cash. look every fan in the eye and ask them for $1200.
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E-Commerce
For many people, the word sabbatical conjures a very specific image: a long break from work, perhaps time spent on a beautiful beach, maybe a few weeks of rest before returning recharged. Its often perceived as indulgent, impractical, or reserved for academics and executives with generous benefits. That image misses the point. A sabbatical isnt a more extended vacation. It isnt an escape from responsibility. And paradoxically, it isnt even primarily about rest. When well executed, a sabbatical is a deliberate interruption that creates the conditions for identity discovery, integration, and renewal. When done poorly, it can leave people just as disoriented as when they left, only with some good photos. Theres growing evidence that intentional time away can meaningfully change how people think, work, and relate to their lives. Research published in Harvard Business Review shows that extended breaks can improve creativity, strategic thinking, and long-term performance when paired with reflection and learning, rather than pure disengagement. Neuroscience research on insight and learning also suggests that novelty, reflection, and reduced cognitive load are essential for sustainable change, not merely rest alone. Weve seen this firsthand, not only in our own travels and explorations, but in the leaders, founders, and creatives we work with. The difference between a sabbatical that changes someones trajectory and one that simply delays burnout has little to do with duration and everything to do with intention. The Sabbatical Paradox Theres a paradox at the heart of meaningful sabbaticals: sometimes we have to step away from our lives to find ourselves inside them. Modern professional life has a quiet way of narrowing identity to fit a job description. Over time, we become knownand rewardedfor our role, capabilities, or reputation. What begins as focus slowly becomes constraint. The narrowing works, until one day it doesnt. Most people dont notice whats been edited out along the way. Not because it disappeared, but because the environments we move through every day no longer reflect it back to us. A sabbatical introduces distance from those mirrors. Stepping away from job titles, expectations, and familiar routines creates a kind of productive disorientation. Without constant reinforcement of who we are supposed to be, something else begins to surface: questions we didnt have time to ask, interests we parked years ago, capacities that never quite fit our professional containers but never stopped calling for expression. This is why sabbaticals often feel unsettling before they feel liberating. They interrupt identity before they clarify it. The discomfort isnt a sign that something is wrong; its evidence that something deeper is loosening. Integration comes later, but only after we allow the disruption to do its work. Why So Many Sabbaticals Fail The most common sabbatical myth is that time alone does the work. It doesnt. Weve met people who took months off only to return unchanged; rested, perhaps, but no clearer about what they wanted next. One senior leader I worked with stepped away for nearly a year, spending the time traveling and in downtime, assuming clarity would eventually arrive. Instead, the absence of structure amplified anxiety. By the time he returned, he felt disconnected from his previous role but equally unprepared to move forward. Yes, you can fail a sabbatical. Failure usually happens when the pause is treated as an absence rather than a practice; when theres no intention beyond getting away, when reflection is optional, when the use of time is accidental rather than designed, or when people expect certainty to arrive without first sitting with uncertainty. A meaningful sabbatical asks something of you. It requires participation, not just permission. Designing a Sabbatical That Actually Matters A powerful sabbatical, whether its three months or three intentional weeks, has a shape to it. It begins with a question, not a destination. Not Where should I go? but What part of myself needs space right now? Sometimes the answer is exhaustion. Sometimes its curiosity. Sometimes its a quiet knowing that the way youve been operating is no longer sustainable. From there, exposure matters. New cultures, unfamiliar languages, and different rhythms of life interrupt habitual thinking. Travel isnt essential, but dislocation often is. Being outside your comfort zone has a way of revealing whats essential and whats been propping you up. Equally important is capture. Insight has a short half-life. Without practices for noticing and recording what youre learningthrough writing, sketching, voice notes, or conversationmuch of the value evaporates on reentry. The sabbatical becomes a memory instead of a resource. And then theres skill-building. The most impactful sabbaticals dont just create space; they develop new muscles. Learning a language, navigating unfamiliar systems, volunteering, or studying a craft can rewire confidence and expand identity in ways rest alone never will. Annettes experience reflects this clearly. During her second sabbatical, focused on purpose-seeking both personally and professionally, she adopted a simple daily practice: creating one sketch each day alongside her morning journaling. The practice slowed her thinking, surfaced patterns, and helped her make sense of complexity beyond words alone. What began as a sabbatical experiment became a lasting integration practice she continues to use to capture insight, navigate uncertainty, and connect more deeply with others. When You Cant Take a Sabbatical, Design a Powerful Pause Not everyone can step away for months, and thats understandable. But skipping the process entirely comes at a cost. A powerful pause can be designed within real constraints: a few weeks between roles, a recurring solo day each month, or even a temporary relocation layered inside your current workflow. What matters isnt the length of time away, but the quality of separation and reflection. We have seen leaders design micro-sabbaticals that changed everything, not because they escaped their lives, but because they stopped rushing through them. They created containers for asking better questions, experimenting with new rhythms, and noticing who they were becoming when performance pressure loosened its grip. The same principles apply: intention, exposure, capture, and learning. The Role of Uncertainty Another common misconception is that a sabbatical should always provide clarity upon completion. Sometimes it does. Often, it delivers something more valuable first: disruption. Plans unravel. New paths appear. Identities loosen before they reassemble. This isnt failure; its the work. A sabbatical creates a liminal space where old narratives lose authority, and new ones havent fully formed. Being open to that uncertainty is part of designing a successful pause. The goal isnt to come back with all the answers. Its to return more integrated, more honest, and more attuned to what matters. At their best, sabbaticals deepen connection to ourselves, to others, and to purpose. They remind us that we are larger than our rols and more capable than our routines suggest. They create space for identity integration rather than identity performance. In a culture obsessed with acceleration, choosing to pauseintentionally, courageously, and with curiosityis a radical act. Whether you call it a sabbatical or a powerful pause, the invitation is the same: step far enough away from your life to see it clearly, and long enough into yourself to decide how you want to return. Because the most meaningful journeys dont just take us somewhere new, they bring us back to ourselves, changed.
Category:
E-Commerce
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