Author: Staff Writer

For the 100 million homes that currently use a Roku TV or streaming player, things are about to look a lot different. This week, Roku is rolling out a major redesign of its home screen, replacing the grid of static app tiles that has defined the platform for the past 13 years. The new design puts recommendations of movies and TV shows at the top of the screen and adds more direct links to Roku’s other menus, such as its Sports page and Live TV guide. The update will arrive in waves on Roku devices in the U.S., with testing…

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Lizzo’s latest song has a familiar, almost too-catchy riff. “I want my baby back, baby back, baby back . . . ” That’s right, Chili’s beloved “Baby Back Ribs” jingle is making a comeback. The “About Damn Time” and “Juice” singer stars in a new Chili’s advertising campaign that debuted on YouTube and depicts Lizzo preparing to serve ribs, using kitchen tongs as a makeshift microphone, and playing a flute that was custom designed to look like a Chili’s Baby Back Rib. The Grammy Award-winning singer recorded a classic, a cappella rendition and also cowrote and coproduced her own extended…

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Eric Ries’s The Lean Startup changed how a generation of entrepreneurs build companies. In his new book, Incorruptible, Ries takes aim at some of the most sacred business assumptions and explores why he believes the current system is failing the very people it’s supposed to serve. Plus, Ries shares what he witnessed firsthand in the clash between Anthropic and the U.S. government. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by former Fast Company editor-in-chief Robert Safian. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with today’s top business leaders…

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Construction has begun on a giant, temporary fighting ring on the White House grounds. President Donald Trump announced earlier this month that construction would soon start on an open-air mixed martial arts venue for a UFC fight, which is ostensibly to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. on July 4, but conveniently will be held on his 80th birthday on June 14. Cranes and crisscrossing arches taller than the White House now stand on the South Lawn with an American flag pattern covering the lower half of the temporary structure. The venue is expected to seat about 5,000 people.…

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Curiosity is one of the most consequential forces in human history. Every scientific breakthrough, technological leap, and cultural advance begins not with knowledge, but the desire to know. At its core, curiosity drives us to close the gap between what we know and what we want to know, a cognitive itch triggered by uncertainty and resolved through learning and the pursuit of meaning. Curiosity as an evolutionary advantage Early humans who explored their environments, experimented with tools, and learned from novel stimuli were more likely to secure resources, avoid threats, and pass on their genes. As a result, curiosity became…

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Being critical of AI is far from a fringe position in the United States. Recent polling shows that half of U.S. adults feel more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life. And among Gen Z specifically, excitement and hope around artificial intelligence are falling while anger over the tech increases, with 42% of Gen Zers saying AI makes them anxious. But those increasingly common AI-critical sentiments are reportedly raising flags with the federal government. More than a thousand pages of unpublished reports acquired by Wired show a worrying trend across America: Federal intelligence agencies and…

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There was a time when people could still speak privately. You could sit across from a therapist, talk about your marriage falling apart, your depression, your fears, your finances, or the darkest moments of your life believing those conversations would remain between two human beings. That world is dying rapidly because everything now must be digitized, stored, analyzed, and monetized. A woman using the therapy app Talkspace discovered that transcripts from her therapy sessions ended up being produced in court during litigation involving her former employer. Let that sink in for a moment. These were not vague notes scribbled down…

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Given its profound implications for the workforce, the environment, and humankind as a whole, it’s no surprise that almost everyone has an opinion on artificial intelligence these days, including the pope. Less than a year after his election, Pope Leo XIV just released his first encyclical, a pastoral letter aimed to offer guidance. Titled Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence, the 42,300-word letter offers a glimpse into the pope’s stance on AI, highlighting various concerns over the dangers of technology as well as a need for safeguards to be put in place. “Calling for prudence,…

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Congress is pushing nationwide year-round E15 gasoline because they are worried about fuel supply disruptions and soaring prices as the war cycle intensifies. They call it “consumer choice” and “energy independence,” but when you strip away the political marketing, what they are really doing is diluting the fuel supply because they are terrified of shortages and price spikes. The House just passed H.R. 1346, the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act, by a vote of 218-203. The bill would permanently allow year-round sales of E15 gasoline nationwide. E15 is gasoline blended with 15% ethanol instead of the standard 10%.…

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As 7.4 million Americans sit unemployed, the path to employment has completely changed. Amid fake listings, AI filtering of candidates and widening talent pools, job seekers believe that they’re competing against a hiring ecosystem that penalizes honesty and rewards perception. The result? A hiring environment where the signals employers have traditionally relied on to evaluate candidates have become deeply unreliable. Now, both sides are operating with diminishing trust in each other. What’s Driving the Deception? Hiring today is not facing a character problem, but a structural one. When candidates believe that presenting themselves accurately will cost them a job offer,…

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