The 2026 Wimbledon semifinals are underway. We've gathered everything you need to know about how to watch Sinner vs. Djokovic, including free and global streaming options.

Defending Wimbledon champion and World No. 1 Jannik Sinner will face Novak Djokovic on Center Court once the Arthur Fery and Alexander Zverev semi wraps up. Djokovic holds a whopping seven Wimbledon titles, the last of which he won in 2022.

Keep reading to learn some of the best international viewing options. If you're hoping to keep up with the rest of the tournament, including the finals, make sure to check out our where to watch Wimbledon streaming guide.

How to watch Sinner vs. Djokovic for free

Wimbledon is available for free in multiple countries. In the UK, the Sinner vs. Djokovic match will live stream on BBC iPlayer. In Australia, the match will be free on 9Now. In the US, tennis fans can watch using a free trial of a live TV service, like YouTube TV or Fubo. Germany and Austria show Wimbledon coverage on Prime Video, which often comes with a free trial for new users.

How to watch Sinner vs. Djokovic from anywhere

If you're away from the location where your streaming service works, you can still access your streaming options (including the free ones) with the help of a VPN. Short for virtual private networks, VPNs are handy tech tools that let people temporarily alter their virtual locations. They're popular apps among those hoping to keep up with their usual services while traveling abroad or looking to boost their cybersecurity.

NordVPN is one of the best VPNs on the market. It's fast, user-friendly (even for beginners), and has a 30-day money-back guarantee if you find that it's not helping you out.

• See also: Where to watch the World Cup | How to watch Tour de France

How to watch Sinner vs. Djokovic in the US

All of Wimbledon, including the Sinner vs. Djokovic match, will air on ESPN in the US (a full replay will be available on demand afterward).

Fans have several avenues for live streaming, including ESPN Unlimited, the network's direct streaming service. ESPN Unlimited costs $30 a month and offers live streams from all of ESPN's linear networks, along with exclusive streaming-only content.

ESPN is also available in live TV streaming services. YouTube TV and Fubo are two of the best options on the market right now. YouTube TV offers two plans, a main plan and a sports plan. The main plan costs $83 a month, but new users can get their first five months for just $68 a month. The sports plan costs $65 a month, but new users can get their first year for just $55 a month. YouTube TV also offers a free trial for new customers.

Fubo is another great option. ESPN is included in all plans, ranging from Sports + News to Ultra. The cheapest ESPN-friendly plan, Sports + News, costs $65 a month, but new users can get $10 off their first month after a free trial. Fubo also unlocks access to ESPN Unlimited at no extra cost.

How to watch Sinner vs. Djokovic in the UK

The Sinner vs. Djokovic match will air on BBC One in the UK. This means that fans will be able to stream the action for free on BBC iPlayer. Viewers will just need to create an account if they don't already have one, and then they're all set to start streaming.

How to watch Sinner vs. Djokovic in Australia

9 in Australia offers free coverage of select Wimbledon matches, including all of the semifinals and finals. This means that viewers will be able to live stream the coverage for free on 9Now. Fans will just need to make a login, and then they'll be able to watch.

Who is favored to win Sinner vs. Djokovic?

This semifinal match is a showdown between two tennis giants, but only one can win. Sinner is currently favored to win the match and the overall tournament. On DraftKings (at the time of writing), Sinner is the -459 favorite, while Djokovic is the +341 underdog.

Note: VPN use is illegal in certain countries, and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content may constitute a breach of the terms of use for some services. Business Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

• I grew up in the east of France, and my husband is from New Mexico.
• We met in Florida, where we decided to settle, because my husband works in the marine industry.
• Raising a child without family nearby has added extra challenges to our parenting.

Our daughter, now 9, was born in Fort Lauderdale and is growing up here. My family lives a 10-hour flight away in France, while my husband's family is a six-hour flight away, in New Mexico.

This means there is no free babysitting or backup childcare, no matter the situation. We're on our own if we want a date night, just the same as if one of us falls ill. We quickly realized the importance of creating our own support system and of making special efforts to connect her with our families from afar.

Having no family around was more difficult when my daughter was an infant

Coming home from the hospital with a newborn and dealing with back-to-back sleepless nights without any family nearby that we could ask to watch her for a few hours was the hardest part. My husband was working long hours, and having recently moved from France, I didn't have many friends to rely on either.

This situation was mentally and physically draining, which influenced my decision to postpone my return to work. As a communications manager, I was accustomed to unpredictable corporate hours, and I wasn't ready to leave my newborn in the care of strangers for extended periods. We then understood we needed to build a support system for the well-being of both our daughter and us.

We created our chosen village

In Florida, we are not an exception. Many parents come from different countries or states and raise their children without family support nearby. It has been easier to connect with other families like ours, whether they are neighbors, acquaintances from the park, or parents from school, who face similar challenges.

Our daughter also joined Cub Scouts, which was one of the most effective ways to build another community. Spending weekends camping with other parents and kids is a great way to bond and build trust.

Over time, we've created a great mutual support system with other parents; we watch each other's children in emergencies, take each other's kids overnight to give parents a break, or pick them up from school if needed.

We spend our vacations with family and tell our daughter family stories

It's important for us that, despite the distance, our daughter knows her family and her roots. Every summer, I take her to France for a month, and afterward, she goes to New Mexico with my husband for two weeks. My husband and I cannot take the entire summer off, so we spend this vacation time apart.

These trips allow our daughter to bond with both sides of her family, build relationships, and create lasting memories. We believe it will be harder to do this when she becomes a teenager, so we enjoy it now. For the holidays, if we have enough time off, we go to France or New Mexico together, and we never choose to go anywhere else.

To stay in touch between visits, we have weekly video calls, though they are brief because our daughter doesn't enjoy communicating this way. Instead, we share many family stories, especially from our childhoods, and often reference relatives in our conversations. This helps her get to know them better and feel closer to them. I also speak French to her as much as possible to avoid language barriers with my family and reinforce her identity.

Our child may not have family nearby, but she knows that many people, whether close or far away, care deeply for her.

• China has successfully landed a reusable rocket booster for the first time.
• The country's Long March rocket has now matched Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.
• China is racing to catch up with Musk's SpaceX by launching powerful reusable rockets and its own Starlink rival.

SpaceX is flying high off the back of a record-breaking IPO, but China looks determined to bring Elon Musk back down to Earth.

China successfully landed the booster stage of its Long March-10B reusable rocket on Friday, the first time it has launched and partially returned a reusable orbital rocket safely to Earth.

It means that China's Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, which built the rocket, joins Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin as the only organizations to have successfully landed a rocket booster.

Local media reported that the Long March rocket's first stage touched down on a barge around six minutes after launch and was captured by a large net — reportedly the world's first ever "net-based recovery" of a rocket.

Landing a first-stage booster, rather than letting it burn up on reentry, is a key milestone in building reusable rockets, which significantly lowers launch costs. SpaceX landed its first booster in 2015 and has since launched and successfully recovered its Falcon 9 rocket hundreds of times.

In 2024, SpaceX wowed the world by catching the nearly 400-foot-tall superheavy booster — which is used to propel its next-generation Starship rocket into orbit — with the chopstick-like arms of its "Mechazilla" launch tower.

Blue Origin scored its first booster landing last November, with the first stage of its towering New Glenn rocket successfully landing on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

Bezos' rocket company has suffered setbacks since then, with New Glenn exploding on the launchpad in May.

Landing a booster is a significant step toward China's ambition of catching up with SpaceX, which launches far more material into orbit than any other country or company.

The Asian superpower is also attempting to build a rival to SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, with state-backed company SpaceSail launching around 200 satellites into orbit since 2024.

That's well behind Starlink, which has an estimated 10,000 satellites in low-earth orbit. China's Long March rocket also lags behind SpaceX's Falcon 9, with a max payload capacity of 16 tons compared to the Falcon's 25 tons and Starship's planned 100+ tons.

In a post on X in October, however, Musk said that China's reusable rockets were catching up with SpaceX's workhorse rocket — even if they were still some way behind the cutting edge.

"They have added aspects of Starship, such as use of stainless steel and methalox, to a Falcon 9 architecture, which would enable it to beat Falcon 9," he wrote.

"But Starship [is] in another league," Musk added.

• Israel is developing two next-generation interceptors for its Arrow missile defense system.
• One of them, Arrow 4, is nearing serial production, bringing it closer to eventual service.
• The interceptors could expand the capabilities of Arrow, Israel's top ballistic missile defense.

After repeated battles against Iran, Israel is pushing its top ballistic-missile shield into the next generation, with one interceptor nearing serial production and another moving toward full-scale development.

"We are in the very, very advanced stage of development of Arrow 4," Moshe Patel, director and general manager of the Israeli Missile Defense Organization, told Business Insider in an interview this week.

Patel, who oversees Israeli air defense developments, said that the Arrow 4 interceptor will "soon be entered [into] serial production capability" and that the process has already begun. He declined to offer specific dates or a timeline.

Serial production refers to a repeatable manufacturing process, rather than one-off production of prototypes or test articles.

Arrow 4, which will be produced in Israel and the US, is the successor to the Arrow 2 interceptor. Patel said it will be a modernized version of the older variant, equipped with artificial intelligence technology.

Arrow is a surface-to-air missile system jointly produced by the state-run Israel Aerospace Industries and the American defense contractor Boeing.

The system, designed for ballistic missile defense, forms the important top layer of Israel's air defense network and has been used extensively over the past three years, primarily in four rounds of fighting with Iran.

There are two Arrow interceptors currently in service. Arrow 2 was deployed in 2000 and can intercept missiles in the upper atmosphere. The newer Arrow 3, operational since 2017, can engage them in space, making it one of the few air defenses in the world capable of doing so.

In the years since Arrow first entered service, Israel has been pursuing upgrades to the system with new interceptors, as reflected in the introduction of Arrow 3 nearly a decade ago.

Boaz Levy, the CEO of IAI, told Business Insider in June 2025 that the early concept work for Arrow 4 began in 2017. He said the new interceptor would have an improved "shoot-look-shoot" capability compared to its predecessors, referring to standard air defense engagement doctrine, which involves firing, reviewing the results, and then engaging a threat again if necessary.

Israel is also developing an Arrow 5 interceptor, which will similarly incorporate AI algorithms and capabilities.

Patel said Arrow 5 is a project that emerged from IAI's own research and development efforts, but Israel plans to further that work by investing in the interceptor from its own budget. Related information is being shared with the US.

Israel is still discussing specifics with the US Missile Defense Agency, with which it developed the Arrow system. "We still have the process to do so, but at least our intention is to go ahead and get into full-scale development," Patel said.

Arrow 5 isn't necessarily being designed to replace Arrow 3, the newest interceptor in service; rather, the intent is to offer an additional defensive layer for future fights.

"The plan is that it'll ease our battle in the future," Patel said.

Development of Arrow 4 and 5 comes amid a broader global focus on air defense, with countries from the Middle East to Europe racing to produce and purchase high-end missile defense systems and expensive interceptors to go with them.

Germany is the only foreign buyer of the Arrow systems so far, but Patel said Israel has received significant interest from others, as European nations set out to bolster their ballistic missile defenses following years of Russian attacks against Ukraine.

Israeli officials have commended Arrow for its combat performance against Iranian attacks. During the two most recent clashes — in June 2025 and earlier this year — the system shot down at least 90% of the ballistic missiles it engaged, they told Business Insider.

• A boom in AI-generated content has some creators worried the tech could threaten their livelihoods.
• Instagram's chief says this actually makes human creators more valuable than ever.
• Adam Mosseri says people will crave real creators as AI-generated content floods social media.

The AI boom is rattling the creator economy, but Instagram's head says it could ultimately make human creators more valuable.

"In a world where there's an abundance of synthetic content, I actually think people are going to seek out creativity and authenticity and people more, not less. And I think that that will help us," Adam Mosseri said in an episode of Lenny Rachitsky's podcast that aired on Thursday.

Mosseri, who has been Meta's Head of Instagram since 2018, says the platform has long invested in creators because users care as much about the person behind the content as the content itself.

"I think people are going to really seek out other points of view because Instagram was never just about the content," he said.

"It was always about to a certain degree the person behind the content, the point of view, the reason they're sharing it, their perspective. And I think that's going to become more important, not less," he added.

Why Instagram isn't afraid of AI content

Mosseri's comments come as the creator economy is wrestling with the rise of AI-generated influencers, virtual models, and synthetic videos.

Some creators fear the technology could threaten their livelihoods as brands experiment with digital personalities that don't need salaries, vacations, or even sleep.

Mosseri, however, has consistently said that AI will ultimately increase the value of authentic human content.

In December, he said AI had effectively killed Instagram's polished aesthetic because "flattering imagery is cheap to produce and boring to consume," adding that users increasingly wanted content that "feels real" as social media fills up with "synthetic everything."

Even so, Mosseri said he expects AI to be a net positive for Instagram.

"I think it's going to be a tailwind, but I think it's going to be a challenge," Mosseri said.

Rather than restricting AI-generated posts, Mosseri said Instagram should focus on helping users understand what they're looking at.

"I don't think we should filter out AI content," he said. "I think we should let you know if content is AI content or not."

Instead, he said that content should be judged by its quality and the person behind it, not the tool used to create it.

Mosseri added that Instagram will have to get better at distinguishing high-quality AI content from low-quality AI content. But he said the platform's long-term advantage lies in helping people connect with other people.

"I think it'll be a tailwind for us because I think people are going to seek out people," he said.

June brought us Prime Day, and quality time with our dads, plus prime travel season, outdoor happy hours, and — if we're being honest—some seriously stifling heatwaves. In our second installment of the best products we tested, Business Insider editors' favorites focused on items that make summer feel a little bit more effortless. From airy cotton nightgowns that double as chic housedresses to a genius security camera that installs as easily as changing a lightbulb, our favorite tested gear of the month is all about smart utility, travel-ready comfort, and the perfect everyday indulgences for easy summer living. This month's picks span beauty, style, tech, and outdoors.

Other highlights in content for the month? We shared how to watch the World Cup for free (and you still can), helped our pets beat the heat with cooling mats, crowned a new best robot vacuum, and found actually comfortable earbuds for running that don't fall out.

Easy, breezy cotton nightgowns

The best pajamas, according to our style editor, Samantha Crozier, are made of natural fabrics like cotton, silk, or linen because they breathe well. I recently tried two cotton nightgown styles from PrintFresh, and I think these should be some serious contenders for the best nightgown.

They arrived the week my AC went out (during a heatwave, no less). The first piece I reached for is the Naya Nightie, PrintFresh's take on a nap dress with smocking, adjustable straps, and beautiful embroidered accents. Its breezy design kept me as comfortable as possible under stifling temperatures, and I felt kind of chic, too.

The other style, the classic Pintuck nightgown, in a bold pink print splashed with Bagheera tigers, is more emblematic of the Printfresh brand commitment to print and color, with crisp organic cotton in a vintage-inspired silhouette, with sweet ruffle details. It's become my favorite housedress. Oh, and they both have pockets, a must in my book. — Jaclyn Turner, senior home editor

A security camera that fits in any existing light socket

I don't live in the safest neighborhood, so outdoor surveillance grants me extra peace of mind when I tuck in for bed every night. Two-in-one options like the Wyze Bulb Cam can benefit any homeowner/renter, since it provides extra light for dark walkways while also helping you monitor your surroundings for package pirates, unusual activity, and the like. After using the same old cameras for years now, the Wyze Bulb Cam feels like a big upgrade. The video quality is clear and crisp, and it uses the same Wyze app I have grown so used to. The lights are bright and adjustable, suitable for different moods and ambiance. Overall, I'm most happy with the dual functionality of this device, since it saves me the pain of additional wiring and wall mounting; rather than a separate light and camera fixture, I can have them both tackled in one handy gadget. — Sarah Saril, deals and tickets editor

Comfy clogs that can be worn two ways

It took me a while to get on board with the clog trend, but now that I have, these are the shoes I reach for every day, whether I'm walking my dog or running errands. Normally, I love wearing my Ugg slippers for quick trips out of the house, but once summer hit, the sheepskin lining felt too warm. I needed an alternative with the same easy, slip-on comfort, and I found it in the Ugg Goldenstar Villa clogs, which have a cooler sockliner that's better suited to warm weather.

I like that they can be worn with or without the included strap, so you essentially get two looks in one. Personally, I found that they run a little loose when worn backless, so I preferred wearing them with the strap for a more secure fit. They've become my go-to travel shoes too, and held up through two 15,000-step days exploring hilly Seattle, and thanks to the plush, cushioned sole, my feet didn't ache at the end of the day — a true feat for my fallen arches. — Jaclyn Turner, senior home editor

A pair of jeans that three BI editors bought this month

Levi's Cinch Baggy Jeans are made with a soft, drapey denim you can comfortably wear with some flip-flops on cool summer evenings. This pair went viral for its adjustable waist tabs, which snatch you in for a more tailored feel. They're curve-friendly, but without the contouring effect of a high elastane pair from Spanx or Good American. For reference, I'm 5-foot-9 and wear a dress size 4. I chose size 27 with a 33-inch inseam, and they fit me true to size. Despite being non-stretch, I wore them on a 4-hour train ride, and they proved to be the perfect weight for travel. — Gabrielle Chase, senior associate style editor

A must-have for gardeners

If you're a gardener and you haven't tried a soaker hose yet, I'm excited to introduce you to this handy tool. It works by allowing water to gently seep from the entire surface area of the hose, reducing water waste and eliminating the issues common with overhead watering from standard hoses. I've been using one for a few years to keep some of my shrubs watered, and this year I bought one for my parents. When I helped set it up, I was surprised by how much easier the fabric-like vinyl hose was to position compared with my older, more rigid soaker hose. I went ahead and ordered my own 50-foot version from Hlinker, and I've been using it to water my newly planted garden bed over the last month. It's also a great option for vegetable gardens, whether you're growing in raised beds or directly in the ground. Impressively, you can choose from eight lengths, ranging from 15 to 200 feet. — Lisa Sabatini, senior pets editor

An incredibly hydrating moisturizer beloved by the beauty industry

I do a regular skincare swap with my friend, who also struggles with rosacea, sensitive skin, and dryness. Whenever either of us orders a product that doesn't work well for us, we trade to see if the other person likes it better. She recently gave me this French pharmacy moisturizer, which I knew was a beauty-industry cult-favorite but had never tried. After a few weeks of using it, I can't believe it took me so long to try! It's incredibly hydrating, doesn't irritate my skin at all, and works so well under makeup (no wonder makeup artists use it as a primer). I've been using it every day since, and I don't think I'll ever go back to buying expensive moisturizers again. — Sally Kaplan, executive editor

A fun upgrade to happy hour

Bubble tea has gotten a boozy upgrade with Boba Pops, alcohol-filled soft-shell pearls available in several fruity flavors. They have the familiar squish of regular boba, but once you bite in, you get a spirited burst of flavor. I liked pairing the Strawberry Boba Pops with flavored seltzer for a refreshing beverage, or sprinkling the Espresso Boba Pops into my cold brew. They are fun to whip out at a party and add a pretty garnish to any beverage. I recommend using it with a boba straw; otherwise, you'll end up fishing each pearl out of your glass.

Note, you can use the store locator to find these near you if your state has restrictions on shipping alcohol. I also noticed that shipping can get pricey. One bottle came out to about $50 with shipping, while three bottles cost about $90 total and included free shipping plus a few extras, like special straws — an easy upgrade if you're planning to try several different flavors or find a creative gift. — Jaclyn Turner, senior home editor

A car essential for roadside emergencies

Not since the Lifestraw has a product captured my "I didn't know this existed, now I can't live without it" shopping senses like this portable car jump starter and air compressor. I drive a small SUV with a very sensitive tire pressure monitoring system that's easily triggered by the ever-changing SoCal weather. A friend happened to mention that she'd found a device that can jump-start a car and add air to inflate tires, and she loved it so much that she's giving it as a gift. Now, instead of having to find a nearby tire shop anytime my tire pressure light goes on, I can just pull over and fix the issue myself. — Bronwyn Barnes, deputy editor

Splurgeworthy skincare

I just turned 30. Despite feeling no different when the clock struck 12, I decided to treat myself to some skincare products. Not just any would do — I picked up the Tatcha Dewy Milk Moisturizer after longing to try the brand for years. It always sat just outside my price point, but I'm so happy I splurged on a bottle.

Aside from beautiful packaging and a sleek pump applicator, this moisturizer is the real deal. The creamy formula is rich and hydrating but not thick or heavy. I apply it every night before bed, and wake up with dewy, bouncy skin that I've never achieved with cheaper products. It has a light smell that I don't find very pleasant, but it's not too bad: I'd describe it as the unsweetened smell of milk and rice. — Sarah Saril, deals and tickets editor

TV screen technology to get excited about

One of the newest TV technologies I've been excited to check out this year is called RGB LED. In simple terms, this tech uses red, green, and blue light to create richer, more accurate colors. I've seen a few RGB LED TVs from different brands, but Sony's version has impressed me the most. Sony calls its take on the technology "True RGB," and the Bravia 7 II is its most affordable model. I recently put the Bravia 7 II through its paces in my testing room, and it really is something special. Colors look fantastic, contrast is excellent, and the TV gets plenty bright. It also has unusually wide viewing angles for a non-OLED display, which means the picture still looks good even if you're sitting off to the side.

Sony's step-up Bravia 9 II gets even brighter and adds an impressive anti-reflective screen, but the Bravia 7 II feels like the sweet spot for people who want high-end Sony picture quality without paying top-tier prices. This is still a premium TV, but for what you're getting, the price is reasonable — and I wouldn't be surprised to see it get some solid discounts later this year. — Steven Cohen, senior tech editor

A travel pillow for long car rides and flights

I'd seen the Trtl Pillow on many best travel pillow lists, but I was skeptical of its unusual design. It uses a molded plastic support wrapped in soft fleece to hold your neck in a neutral position while you sleep upright. I tried it on 8-hour flights back in May, but wanted to see how it would do on a recent road trip too. Now I can confidently say I won't travel without it again. It prevents the neck soreness I usually experience from sleeping upright, and I stay asleep because my head doesn't tip forward or to the side. — Lisa Sabatini, senior pets editor

The flats of summer

Woven Mary Janes are everywhere this summer, and Margaux's Demi Jane is my favorite version of the trend by far. I see girls all over NYC wearing similar styles, but this pair is the rare flat that actually delivers on both style and substance: It's comfortable right out of the box, has plush foam padding on the footbed, and earns me compliments every time I wear it. I wear it constantly as a casual errand shoe, but it also looks polished enough to dress up with sundresses and linen sets. My feet are on the wide end of typical, and while I usually order regular widths, Margaux flats tend to fit best for me when I go a width wider — so I'd recommend ordering wider if you're questioning it. — Samantha Crozier, style editor

Internet favorite sheets get a revamp

In a move that some may deem risky, but we see as a payoff, Brooklinen has been quietly revamping its lineup, including its flagship Luxe Sateen bedding. The new-and-improved sheets are still just as buttery soft and feature finer long-staple cotton and a slightly higher thread count, which are meant to improve softness, durability, breathability, and drape. Up close, you'll notice a new subtle tag and less sheen. While sateen sheets are not typically what people are adding to the bed in the summer (I had these on my bed when my AC was out and I was OK), these felt perfectly breezy for even warm-weather use. These seriously are the best sheets. — Jaclyn Turner, senior home editor

Made it to the end? Catch our favorite products we tested from last month

• Donald Trump's latest disclosures offer a view into the billionaire president's personal finances.
• Trump's 21,285 stock trades are by far the most ever by a president, even compared to his first term.
• The data whizzes at Unusual Whales walked us through Trump's portfolio and trading activity.

President Donald Trump built his persona around his 1987 memoir "The Art of the Deal." His latest financial disclosures offer a glimpse into the art of the trade.

Trump's annual financial disclosures were released last week, showing that the president made 21,285 stock trades in 2025 — the equivalent of 85 trades per trading day or roughly one trade every five minutes during market hours.

Those moves might be paying off. Market data tracker Unusual Whales estimates that, excluding his massive stake in his media company, his equity portfolio would have returned 37.3% since his inauguration, compared with 23.5% for the S&P 500, as of July 2nd.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said Trump's assets are managed by independent third-party financial institutions in discretionary accounts, and there are "no conflicts of interests."

The president's son Eric said on X that Trump and his family have no role in the investments, and have no notice or ability to override their managers' investment strategies. The White House declined to disclose who operated the president's investment accounts.

The high-performing portfolio is also one of the most actively traded among modern presidents. Trump's second term has seen far more trading activity than under previous presidents, said Matt Saincome, CEO of Unusual Whales, which is known for monitoring politicians' trades. As president, Joe Biden reported 13 trades in index funds and other managed investments, and Barack Obama reported 16 in similar vehicles. Neither traded individual stocks during their terms, filings show.

Trump's current activity is also dwarfing that of his first term, which saw 431 transactions, all for index funds and other managed vehicles. This time, he's buying and selling individual stocks — and at a rapid clip.

"When Trump's trades first came through, I thought there was a bug with the data," Saincome said.

Not only is Trump a presidential outlier, but he's also in the minority of investors whose actively managed accounts beat passive index investing and the rest of the stock market. According to Morningstar, just 21% of actively managed funds beat their passive index peers in the decade leading up to 2025.

The disclosures also show that Trump generated more than $2 billion in income during 2025, a period when the benchmark S&P 500 rose 16%. While boarding Air Force One last week, Trump told reporters that he was profiting because "the stock market's going up."

"Everybody's profiting," the president said. "If you have a, do you have a 401(k)? How's your 401(k) done?"

Not your typical retirement account

Trump's wealth looks very different from the typical retirement account. An analysis by Unusual Whales estimates that Trump's portfolio is worth roughly $5.2 billion. While his stock collection is a fairly conventional basket of large-cap companies, his massive stake in Trump Media and Technology Group, crypto assets, and commercial real estate holdings are less traditional nest-egg assets.

Trump has said he earned money because the market rose, but the biggest driver of his wealth wasn't equities; it was crypto, with $1.4 billion in income from crypto assets.

Here is a breakdown of Trump's assets, according to an analysis by Unusual Whales. The actual dollar amounts are estimates, as the data is disclosed in ranges.

His equity stock holdings make up almost a third of his portfolio. His largest stock holding by far is in Trump Media, which accounts for nearly 60%. His company's value has been down massively since his inauguration, falling roughly 75%.

He also owns equity in nearly 1,500 companies in what Unusual Whales said looks like a standard diversified megacap portfolio. Most of these holdings are between $1 million and $8 million and span the usual bets in most portfolios, such as financial services, healthcare, and energy.

And like the rest of us, he is heavily invested in AI, with Alphabet, Nvidia, and Broadcom all making the top five equity holdings list, according to Unusual Whales.

Bonds and crypto

Complementing the equity bets is a nearly equally large bond book with thousands of small positions, most between $1,000 and $25,000.

He also has more than $300 million in crypto assets like bitcoin and ethereum, but the biggest drivers of his $1.4 billion in crypto income last year came from $500 million from World Liberty Financial, a venture run by the Trump family that launched the WLFI coin, and $635 million for a licensing fee from Celebration Coins, tied to the $TRUMP Coin.

Unusual Whales analyzes reams of political financial disclosures to keep track of politicians' portfolios in a searchable database. These filings don't disclose transaction sizes or holdings in exact dollar amounts, but in a range, which can be small, like $1 to $5,000, or as big as $25 to $50 million.

Unusual Whales uses the middle value of each range to estimate the composition of politicians' portfolios, and allows investors to track not only the president's portfolio but also those of politicians like Nancy Pelosi.

Trade like Trump

Trump's professional investment manager has been incredibly busy over the past year. To understand more about it, Unusual Whales analyzed Trump's monthly disclosures, which are released in real time but are less comprehensive than his annual disclosures.

In 2025, Trump was almost entirely focused on bond-buying, but this year has been pouring money into equities too.

Trump's trading activity spiked in March 2026, with $194 million in volume, and then again in May. May also saw a big pivot in behavior, with selling outpacing buying for the first time.

A former White House ethics lawyer sounds off

Other presidents are "nowhere close" to Trump's trading volume, said Richard Painter, who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer in George W. Bush's second term.

And Trump is trading heavily in industries over which he has direct regulatory powers. He has also promoted individual stocks, including Palantir's stock ticker in a Truth Social post, and told consumers to buy Dell computers, whose CEO Michael Dell donated $6.25 billion to help seed Trump's signature personal finance policy, Trump Accounts.

"We haven't had a president with this big a financial conflict of interest since the Civil War," said Painter. He said the closest parallel was the era before the Civil War, when presidents like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned plantations while they made decisions about slavery.

Painter, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, has long advocated for a ban on congressional and top executive branch stock trading. He says it's "hypocritical" that there are criminal provisions against federal executive branch workers participating in any government matter that will directly affect their finances, but the president, vice president, and Congress are exempt.

Congress has attempted to ban or limit politicians' stock trading, but all recent attempts have been unsuccessful.

"This thing is just getting worse and worse," Painter said, adding that Congress needs to realize its own credibility is on the line if it doesn't constrain politicians' trades.

• South Korean memory-chip maker SK Hynix makes its US trading debut on Friday.
• The company isn't mainstream in America yet, but is quickly on its way to becoming a household name.
• Sign up for First Trade, Business Insider's daily markets newsletter.

Are you fired up for today's big SK Hynix trading debut??!! You know, that trillion-dollar South Korean chipmaker that just completed a historic US listing??

If this doesn't ring a bell, you can hardly be blamed. In the grand scheme of the global AI trade — at least in terms of mainstream consciousness — SK Hynix is a new name.

But that doesn't make it any less formidable. The chipmaker has an aggressive plan to grow in the US — both in the stock market and through physical manufacturing plants — and is a mounting force to be reckoned with.

So it's time to get to know SK Hynix, which you're going to be hearing a lot more about stateside.

Ok, so what does SK Hynix even do? Ah yes, the $1.03 trillion question (as of Thursday's close). SK Hynix is one of the world's three biggest manufacturers of computer memory chips, alongside Samsung and Micron. These are critical components for phones and laptops, making SK Hynix an important supplier for companies like Apple and Dell.

Why has AI suddenly made memory so valuable? Think of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) as the ultra-fast fuel line feeding an AI engine. The global AI-infrastructure buildout has driven immense demand for these memory chips, to the point where there's now a shortage. That supply constraint has sent prices — and the shares of memory-chip makers like SK Hynix — sharply higher.

How much higher are we talking? Don't even get me started. These are some of the best-performing stocks in the entire world this year. The Korean Kospi index, which is heavily weighted towards Samsung and SK Hynix, is the top developed stock market in 2026. Those two companies — along with their US peers Micron and Sandisk — are up several hundred percent over the period. It's been a veritable bonanza.

Why would SK Hynix list in the US now? They have to strike while the iron's hot. The stock's torrid performance, and the company's central position in the AI trade, have made it appealing to US investors who want a piece of the action. Making their shareholder base more global also fits the company's plan to ramp up its US footprint, including a $4 billion plant in Indiana that's set to open in 2028.

Sounds like a big deal. It's historically big. At $26.5 billion, it's the largest-ever listing by a foreign company on a US exchange, surpassing Alibaba's 2014 IPO. It's also the largest ADR offering of all time. And demand has been massive. Bloomberg reported that the offering was more than seven times oversubscribed.

Did I hear SK Hynix has ties to Nvidia? Yes, Nvidia is SK Hynix's biggest customer for its most advanced HBM chips. Those are then used in the AI accelerators powering ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and countless other AI systems.

So what are investors betting on ultimately? Buying stock in SK Hynix amounts to an investment in the continuation of robust AI spending, a continued shortage in memory chips, and a prolonged period of higher prices for HBM chips.

Easier said than done, but so far so good. Now Americans can easily buy the stock.

• Cody Berman categorizes side hustles into four types, from quick cash to scalable income.
• He says trading time for money is often the easiest way to start earning fast.
• Today, he focuses on assets that can keep earning after the upfront work is done.

After trying more than 30 side hustles — some hits, some flops — Cody Berman has developed what he calls a "side hustle framework."

There are essentially four ways to bring in extra income, the financially independent millennial and author of "Retire by 30" told Business Insider.

Here are his four types of side hustles, plus the one he says is the easiest to start.

Type 1: Trading time for money

The first type is the most straightforward: trading time for money. That could mean online freelance work, such as writing, video or podcast editing, website building, or compiling email newsletters. It could also mean in-person work, such as landscaping, driving for Uber, delivering for Instacart, or completing tasks through other gig-economy platforms.

"You're just straight up trading your time for money," Berman said. For example: "I make $15 an hour doing this. I work three hours, that's $45."

While these side hustles can start producing cash quickly, the trade-off is that income generally ends when the work ends. Plus, there are only so many hours in a day.

Type 2: Scalable income streams

The second type is a scalable income stream — something that can continue earning after the initial work is done. Examples include a digital product, podcast, YouTube channel, or course. A creator might spend hours making a product or piece of content once, then continue earning through sales, sponsorships, affiliate links, ads, or other monetization strategies for years.

Real estate also fits into this bucket, Berman said, because an investor can buy a property, get it rented, and then collect income over time.

The appeal of "type two" side hustles is that they're not strictly tied to hours worked — and, for Berman, they've been the most lucrative. The trade-off is that they typically take time to build before they produce meaningful income.

"You're not going to start a YouTube channel or create a digital product today and make money with either of those things tomorrow," he said. "But in six months' time, those things might start making serious income."

Type 3: Sharing economy

The third type, the sharing economy, involves renting out assets you already own.

That could mean listing a house or spare room on Airbnb or Vrbo, renting out a car through Turo or Getaround, or using platforms that let people rent out storage space, pools, lawn equipment, photography equipment, power tools, trampolines, or bounce houses.

"I see so many people who are just sitting on gold mines," Berman said. "They might have this asset, but they just haven't listed it or set it up for one of those platforms."

Bringing in extra cash doesn't always mean building a business from scratch, he said: "You just might need to 'turn on' one of the assets that you already own."

Type 4: Agency-style businesses

The final type is what Berman calls a hybrid model: turning a time-for-money side hustle into an agency-style business. For example, someone might start as a freelance writer, charge clients by the project, and hire other writers to help complete the work. Or someone might start as a dog walker, then grow it into a dog-walking company by hiring other walkers.

"This is taking a type-one side hustle and basically turning it into an agency of some sort," he said.

The model can be more scalable than doing all the work yourself, but the trade-off is that it requires managing clients and employees, pricing, and quality control.

The easiest way to get started

When Berman was trying to leave his corporate job in 2018, he started with type-one side hustles.

He took on freelance projects, including writing newsletters, editing videos and podcasts, and managing affiliate programs.

"It was literally anything that I could do to make money trading my time," he said.

At the same time, he was building type-two income streams, including a blog, podcast, and digital products business. Those took longer to start profiting, but today they are among his largest sources of income.

"Today, I exclusively focus on these type-two-style hustles, where I am creating something, building something, buying something that is going to pay me in perpetuity," he said.

For someone who needs extra cash quickly, however, Berman said type-one side hustles are often the simplest place to start: "You could literally hop on Taskrabbit tomorrow and go do a couple tasks, or hop on Instacart or drive Uber tomorrow."

• Russ Read-Barrow was 39 when he noticed blood in his poop.
• A colonoscopy confirmed that he had colon cancer.
• He's among a growing number of younger people being diagnosed with colon cancer, and living with it long-term.

After he saw blood in the toilet bowl maybe half a dozen times over the course of a few weeks, Russ Read-Barrow visited the doctor.

He didn't have any other symptoms, but something felt off, he told Business Insider. "I was like, 'Oh, this doesn't seem right,'" he said.

Read-Barrow was 39 at the time, and a busy dad of two. He regularly traveled to London for his job in PR, which involved a lot of socializing and a fair amount of drinking, but overall his lifestyle was healthy, he said.

The doctor told him he didn't have signs of hemorrhoids or other common causes of rectal bleeding, and sent Read-Barrow for a colonoscopy. The results suggested he had colon cancer, which a biopsy later confirmed.

"The last thing I was expecting was for it to be cancer because, obviously, I was 39," Read-Barrow, now 43, said.

Cases of colon cancer in younger people have been rising since the mid-90s, and it is now the deadliest cancer form of the disease for under-50s. Rectal bleeding is the most common sign of early-onset colon cancer, followed by abdominal pain and changes in bowel habits.

Scientists are trying to understand the cause of the trend, and early research suggests young colon cancer cases may be linked to our modern environment.

The only young person on the hospital ward

Read-Barrow had chemotherapy for three months, followed by surgery in April 2022 to remove the tumor on his colon.

In hospital, Read-Barrow felt isolated. "There was a load of nice old boys on the ward, but it was just a bit depressing because I was so much younger than everyone else," he said.

Read-Barrow stayed in hospital for two weeks to recover. "I got really ill because I couldn't eat anything," he said.

On the day of his wife's 40th birthday he was sent home, but was barely able to leave his bed for two weeks. "My body just felt like it had been hit by a bus," he said.

Three weeks later, he started another three-month round of chemotherapy, but the treatment was cut short when a scan revealed that the cancer had spread to his liver. In June 2022, he had surgery to remove the diseased part of the organ.

The operation was a success, but shortly after, Read-Barrow learned that the cancer had also spread to his lungs. He underwent a few rounds of a non-surgical treatment called ablation, which destroys cancer cells using either heat or extreme cold. It removed some cancerous cells, but others remained.

"From that point it became more 'manage it' rather than cure it," he said.

Stage 4 cancer as a chronic illness

Read-Barrow is on a treatment plan that has prevented the disease from advancing. "I am hopeful that things may change and that there will be new treatments, but at the moment I am stage four," he said.

It's easier emotionally to focus on managing his illness, Read-Barrow said, than living with the uncertainty he experienced during the first year after he was diagnosed. "It feels a bit more like I know where I stand, I suppose," he said.

He manages his schedule around a three-month on, three-month off chemotherapy cycle. When he's not having chemo, he goes to the gym four to five times a week, works on his online business, and hangs out with friends and family. During the first and second weeks of chemo, he mainly stays home.

Although he would change his health if he could, it has given him a new perspective on life.

"I'm like, actually, let's just do what we want to do, prioritize the people that we want to see, and not waste time doing stuff that we don't want to do," Read-Barrow said.

• Jason Kidd typically visits a dozen Chipotle locations every week, and is always looking for talent.
• All of Chipotle's regional vice president promotions last year were internal, the COO said.
• He said he looks for 4 leadership traits, including problem-solving skills, when considering promotions.

Chipotle chief operating officer Jason Kidd visits roughly a dozen Chipotle stores every week — and said he's always on the hunt for talent.

At the end of each day, Kidd told Business Insider he sits down for a roughly 90-minute dinner with three or four members of the regional team in the market he's visiting.

He said these meals help strengthen day-to-day operations and offer him a chance to get to know employees. It also gives him an opportunity to scan for internal promotions.

"We're constantly identifying internal talent during these visits, seeing how people show up and see how they react," said Kidd. Last year, Chipotle promoted 23,000 workers.

As of March of this year, the restaurant chain had over 4,100 locations globally and employed over 135,000 people. All of the company's regional vice president promotions last year were internal, Kidd said. The company plans to open up to 370 new restaurants this year.

Those dinners provide a chance to "get to know people in a different way," said Kidd, who joined Chipotle last year, after serving as COO at Taco Bell.

Specifically, the dinners are a chance to learn more about employees — what they want to do and whether they're interested in advancing their careers. When he's considering someone for a promotion, he said he's looking for four key qualities.

The first is people who take care of one another and work well in groups.

"At the end of the day, we run a people business," Kidd said. "So you need to make sure you take care of your people."

As workers climb the leadership ladder, Kidd said, collaboration becomes increasingly important, along with building both personal and professional connections.

The second quality he looks for is people who "own the outcome."

When he asks them how things are going, they take responsibility — whether the news is good or bad — and give him an honest assessment.

"They know how to deliver results," Kidd said, adding that "if somebody can own the outcome of what they're doing, they're likely going to be a good leader."

The third trait is the ability to anticipate problems instead of simply reacting to them.

"We don't need firefighters; we need people who could be ahead of the issues and anticipate what's going on," he said.

The fourth quality is strong problem-solving skills. In the restaurant business, plenty can go wrong. Kidd said he's looking for leaders who don't just flag issues — anyone can identify a problem — but also come up with solutions.

• Jamilah Lemieux is a writer, editor, public speaker, and a former senior editor at Ebony.
• Her work focuses on the issues of race, gender, and motherhood.
• This essay is an adapted excerpt from her book "Black. Single. Mother.: Real Life Tales of Longing and Belonging"

I announced my daughter Naima's birth with a picture that I snapped just moments after she was handed to me in the delivery room. I didn't notice it immediately, but it looked like she was holding up her middle finger (one of my friends asked if I had done this on purpose, which made me question what kind of person she thought I was). Now that I know my kid, this photo was completely on brand.

Right after I had Naima, I hit the ground running. I had to prove to the world that I could still do things besides mothering, even while mothering alone.

Professionally, I was flourishing. My popularity as a Twitter personality was growing, and I was booking news appearances and speaking engagements on a regular basis. I felt confident about the life I was building for my child and me.

Naima was born on a Friday night, and on Monday afternoon, I did a virtual appearance on a daily talk show. The host, who was a friend, was shocked that I showed up — literally nursing my baby the whole time. I didn't want to miss out on any opportunities. I had called in to an editorial meeting from the hospital. I was not playing.

I only took six weeks of leave

When she was born, I could afford only six weeks of maternity leave, hardly enough time for a woman and her baby to bond. When it was time to return to work, I still had no childcare.

Amazingly enough, my boss told me I could discreetly bring Naima to the office while I searched for options. In other words, I couldn't set up a whole nursery, but a little bouncer was fine. I never would have dreamed of asking for that kind of accommodation unless I had no other options, and I had zero.

Childcare was way harder to find — and afford — than I'd imagined. So, for my first three months back in the office at Ebony, Naima traveled with me on the train in her BabyBjörn and relaxed in her bouncer while I worked. My co-workers were incredibly kind, often coming by to hold her, and they never complained on the rare occasions that she got noisy.

When Naima was 4 months old, I was able to secure childcare, and she was no longer with me in the office. To this day, I am still stunned at how lucky I was to have that type of support at work. While it would have been nice to have more time at home with Naima, it meant the world to me that I was able to have her by my side as long as I did.

The kindness of others helped us along

As scary as single motherhood was, in many ways I felt like my daughter and I were living a charmed life.

When Naima was about 4 months old, I began searching for a new apartment. Anyone can tell you that apartment hunting in New York City is no small task, especially if you don't have the biggest budget.

It seemed like we had looked at every vacant unit in BedStuy and Crown Heights when I put out a call for help on Facebook. A guy I knew casually connected me with a realtor, who quickly said she had the perfect landlord in mind. When I went to see the apartment with my daughter, the landlord immediately took to my daughter and offered to help with childcare while I worked. When she told me her rate was only $100 a week, I could have cried.

Naima brought happiness to my life that I couldn't have imagined, and for years, things just went really well for us. When she was 2, we took an all-expenses-paid trip to Disney World through my job. When she was 4, I took her with me to the White House to meet the Obamas at one of their annual holiday parties for the media. The president literally picked my baby up and handed her to the First Lady.

Naima came to many of my speaking engagements and was with me when I won an award from Planned Parenthood for my writing. Together, we met famous folks like Gabrielle Union and Chadwick Boseman, who chased my little one around the Ebony office. Once, we traveled to Kansas City for me to do a panel with Twitter, and one of my happiest memories is eating barbecue chicken with Naima in our hotel bed. We were living!

Life felt good

I'd feared that becoming a single mom would ruin my life, but quite the opposite was happening. Things were good. Over time, I brought Naima around my friends more often, and she became an honorary member of our crew. I was flourishing personally and professionally: My profile as an editor at Ebony continued to rise, and for a while, I was a regular on MSNBC (now MS NOW), providing commentary about current events. I began getting booked for regular speaking engagements, and I would travel the country, appearing at colleges and conferences.

Naima has been a fixture at every job I've had since she was born. Her picture was in Ebony at least three times, including once with Harry Belafonte. After five years at the magazine, my boss left for a digital media company, and she took me with her. I was delighted to find that Naima was warmly welcomed by my new colleagues, and that people loved it when she came to visit.

Years later, I worked as a communications consultant on Cynthia Nixon's campaign for governor of New York. Naima often joined me on the campaign trail and was embraced by Cynthia and her team.

I'm happy in a way I didn't know was possible

I wish every working parent got to experience what I did for the first six years of Naima's life. Still, it was sometimes difficult for me to cope with baby motherhood. I'd get sad seeing families with parents who were together, especially Black ones. It was often embarrassing for me to meet new people and explain, with such a young child, that my daughter's father and I were not together. I convinced myself that my singleness was a temporary condition, that I would eventually meet a man who'd love us both, have another child , and have the family that I'd always wanted.

I may not have grown up dreaming of the life I'd come to have with Naima, but that hasn't made it any less magical. My child is bright, loving, funny, and empathetic — she's the best person I've ever known.

Raising her has made me happy in ways I didn't know were possible, especially considering the circumstances. She's always loved her daddy fiercely, but I am her person. I am Naima's friend. We are the best of friends. The connection between us is like that of many single mothers of only daughters; at times, we fight like sisters and laugh like sisters. It may have taken a devastating heartbreak to get us to where we are, but knowing where this journey led us, I wouldn't change a thing.

Excerpt adapted from "Black. Single. Mother.: Real Life Tales of Longing and Belonging" by Jamilah Lemieux. Copyright 2026, Lemieux Girls LLC. Published by Roc Lit 101.

• Morgan Stanley sees three problems that risk standing in the way of a summer rally in stocks.
• The bank pointed to risks stemming from factors like rate hikes and reduced AI spending.
• Conflict has already resumed in the Middle East, one risk the bank said it was watching.

Three things might be standing in the way of a summer rally in stocks, Morgan Stanley warns.

Andrew Sheets, the global head of fixed income research at Morgan Stanley, said the bank is eyeing obstacles that could derail stocks this summer, a season that's historically been the strongest for the stock market.

July, in particular, is known as one of the best months of the year for equities, with the S&P 500 gaining every July since 2014, Sheets said on the bank's "Thoughts on the Market" podcast.

Markets, though, have already gotten a few signals that equities are turning more volatile. After a strong second quarter, the Nasdaq 100 has seen big swings in recent weeks, and is about flat from where it began the second half. A rotation trade has roiled the sector as investors take profits in high-flying areas like chips and memory stocks.

Here are three obstacles facing stocks that Morgan Stanley is watching for:

1. The Iran war kicks off again

The market is flirting with this risk this week after President Donald Trump declared the ceasefire with Iran is over. The US launched fresh strikes on Iran on Wednesday, which the military said was in retaliation for Iran striking commercial ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Morgan Stanley's base-case for equities this year — which has the bull market in stocks continuing — relies partly on the assumption that maritime traffic flows will eventually normalize through the Strait, with oil supply returning to pre-war levels and Brent crude falling back to at least $75 a barrel within 12 months.

"The US has already drawn down its Strategic Petroleum Reserve to its lowest-ever levels, potentially reducing some ability to absorb shocks if the conflict re-escalates," Sheets said.

The concern in markets is that higher oil prices could push up the prices of other goods, cranking up inflationary pressures throughout the economy.

2. The Fed hikes rates

Markets are seeing a higher chance that the Fed could raise interest rates this year to tackle inflation. But the idea that the Fed will hold on interest rates steady through the end of the year is a key pillar upholding the bull market, Sheets said.

"The risk is that this assumption is just wrong, perhaps soon. There is certainly an argument that, if the Fed is worried about inflation, it shouldn't wait to act," he added.

Markets are pricing in an 82% chance the Fed will hike rates at least once by the end of the year, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

3. The AI capex outlook weakens

AI investment has played a critical role in boosting stocks — but that effect could start to unwind if investors were to see evidence that Big Tech firms are starting to rein in AI spending.

Capex estimates have been continually revised higher each quarter, which has "helped boost confidence" that the AI trade is still strong.

The bank said that its base case is for AI investment to rise from around $800 billion in 2026 to around $1.2 trillion in 2027.

"But the risk would be that second-quarter earnings now show more hesitation to spend, maybe because the share prices of some of these big spenders have been recent underperformers. And given how much the current growth and earnings story is linked to AI, and how popular AI exposure is with investors, that would create a risk," Sheets added of the impact on equities.

Investors have already started punishing some of the biggest spenders in the AI trade, a sign that anxiety is swirling over how much money is being poured into AI and whether it will all be worth it from an ROI perspective.

The Magnificent Seven stocks, which make up some of the largest AI spenders, dropped 13% from their May peak through their trough in June as some investors took profits. The Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF is now trading relatively flat for the year.

• Aimen Moten moved to the US hoping to eventually land a tech job.
• A strategic job search helped her land a Google software engineering role.
• She shared how AI changed her work — and why she isn't worried about being replaced.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Aimen Moten, who has worked as a software engineer at Google since March. She's in her 20s and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I work as a software engineer at Google, and I don't code that much anymore.

Instead, I spend more time reviewing AI-generated code, making design decisions, and deeply understanding how things work.

The job of an engineer is 100% changing due to AI, and we need to adapt. But before I had to think about adapting to AI, I first had to land a job.

Getting a job at Google was far from easy. For me, that journey started long before my first Google interview.

My original goal was to graduate from college early

I'm originally from Pakistan, and I came to the US in 2022 to pursue a computer science degree at DePauw University.

My goal was to graduate in three years because college was expensive. Even with a partial scholarship, school-related expenses still cost more than $10,000 a semester. And since I wasn't a US citizen, I wasn't eligible for federal student loans. My parents helped pay for my first few semesters, but I knew I might have to rely on scholarships and internship earnings to get me through the rest of college.

If I graduated early, I'd need a job right away. So, during my sophomore year, my strategy was simple: apply to as many internships as possible, land the best one, earn a return offer, and put myself on the quickest path toward a full-time software engineering job.

I was strategic in my internship applications

I attended tech conferences like the Grace Hopper Celebration to network and learn when different internship applications would open. The conference gave me a heads-up, and I made sure to apply as soon as the applications were released.

The summer before my sophomore year, I also spent a lot of time cold-messaging people on LinkedIn at companies I was interested in to learn about their experiences. When I eventually applied, I was able to ask some of those people for referrals and received several.

During this search, I applied to what felt like hundreds of internships and went through several interview processes, including one that stretched six rounds.

I landed an internship at Google and had to adjust my plans

Eventually, I landed an interview for a software engineering internship at Google, and ultimately received an offer for the internship, which was based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ironically, Google was one of the few companies I interviewed with where I didn't have a referral.

My first Google internship was a very positive experience, but I had to adjust my graduation and full-time job search timeline. I was told that returning to Google for a second internship would be the best path to a full-time software engineering offer.

The following summer, I returned to Google for my second internship and received the full-time offer I'd been waiting for. After graduating in three and a half years in December 2025, I moved to the Bay Area and started as a full-time software engineer in March.

Looking back, I'm especially grateful that I received my return offer because I know how difficult today's tech job market has become. I know so many incredibly qualified people who are still looking for opportunities.

My career advice for young engineers

One lesson I learned from my job search is that taking care of yourself matters. Everyone talks about optimizing your résumé and preparing for interviews, but if you can't show up at your best, none of that matters.

I've met people who have gone from one internship search to another or from one job search to the next. Everybody tells you to work hard, but nobody reminds you that you need to take care of yourself. No matter how good your résumé is, if you're too burned out to talk about it, there's no point.

I also think today's job market requires students to adapt more quickly than ever before. Schools are still figuring out how to incorporate AI into their computer science curriculums, but engineers entering the workforce need to learn how to use these tools effectively.

Given how fast AI is moving, I think all of us in tech feel some level of pressure to use AI at work and in our personal lives — and "FOMO" if we don't. That said, I don't think AI is taking my job anytime soon.

From what I've seen during my first few months at Google, AI isn't replacing software engineers — it's just changing how we work. If you're a good engineer, you know how important humans still are in the engineering process.

Still, I know the job market for engineering roles isn't easy — and I don't take my opportunity at Google for granted.

• New cars are increasingly gray, white, black, and silver.
• Slate, the no-frills $25k EV pickup, launched a collab with Crayola to brighten up American roads.
• The partnership comes as Slate races toward its first deliveries.

American cars are going gray. A Jeff Bezos-backed startup thinks it has a colorful solution.

Last year, 80.4% of new cars were either white, black, gray, or silver, according to an iSeeCars study. Trucks were even more monochrome: 83.5% were one of those four shades.

So, on Thursday, Slate — the no-frills EV truck company that's nearing the first deliveries of its $24,950 pickup — announced a partnership with crayon-maker Crayola. The collab will offer a color package starting at $1,549.99, including a full vehicle wrap, three exterior decals, an interior air vent clip-on, and a key fob cap.

There are five crayon-inspired options for the little pickup truck: fern green, jersey tomato red-orange, dandelion yellow, razzmatazz pink, and cerulean blue.

"Crayola is an iconic company that people grew up with," Jeff Jablansky, Slate's head of public relations, told Business Insider. "We're the first automaker they've partnered with."

It's a loud bet from a company whose base truck starts as a deliberately blank slate.

To keep costs down, Slate's Warsaw, Indiana, plant skips one of the most expensive parts of traditional automaking: the paint shop. Instead, every truck rolls off the line in gray. Customers who want a different look can add a Slate-produced wrap after they buy the vehicle.

The Crayola package is Slate's splashiest color option so far — and one of its priciest. Slate's standard full-body wraps start around $500, making the Crayola bundle about three times more expensive. Customers who combine the Crayola colors and Slate's SUV kits will also have to pay an additional $300 to cover the second-row caps.

And, apparently, a lot of people wanted new colors.

"I'll let you in on a little secret: We didn't start with a lot of color options," Tisha Johnson, Slate's head of design, told Business Insider. "We just didn't think customers would want a lot of colors, but we realized that wasn't true."

Slate told Business Insider that customers have designed more than 10 million trucks on its build-your-own website, where potential shoppers can customize a truck to their own liking. The company said most users have been playing with colors — and choosing lots of non-gray options.

A few subtle changes

Slate is still making some adjustments to its truck.

Business Insider first got an in-person sneak peek of the Slate Truck in March, and the production model has picked up a handful of tweaks since then — and the company has noticed the changes are under close watch by internet obsessives.

The biggest update is on the driver's side door. Johnson said product studies found it was more ergonomic for drivers to operate the button-filled key fob with their right hand and open the door with their left. Earlier pre-production versions had a right-hand-dominant design.

In the back, the center high-mounted stop light has moved from the roof to the tailgate, just above the black door handle. The "Slate" emblem is now raised from the body panels, too, so the badge will still show even if a customer covers the truck in a wrap.

And then there's the thud.

The doors now have much more sound deadening than the pre-production models Business Insider saw in March. The physical latches grab with a more substantial clunk.

Slate says it has been tracking the public's responses to the tweaks. The handle, light, and emblem changes have been live on the company's build-your-own website since about March, and Johnson said a few hawk-eyed fans have already spotted them on Reddit.

• We still don't know what kind of device OpenAI and famed designer Jony Ive are working on.
• But we're pretty sure it won't involve a screen.
• A certain kind of tech person thinks screens have been bad for society. Maybe! But getting us to give them up is going to be very, very hard.

ITEM: OpenAI has rolled out a new update that's supposed to make it easier to talk with ChatGPT, using your voice.

ITEM: OpenAI plans to release a mysterious device, created by famed designer Jony Ive. We still don't know much about it except that 1) it likely won't have a screen, and that 2) you will likely interact with it using your voice.

You see where I'm going with this?

Yes, having a better voice interface could help OpenAI right now. But it seems like it will be crucial, in the future, for the yet-to-be-announced Ive device: If that thing doesn't have a screen, then you're going to have to talk to it. So the voice stuff better be up to snuff.

Here's where I'm really going: I'm happy to be wrong about this. But I think any personal computing device, from any company, that doesn't have a screen is going to be a very, very hard sell.

I understand why OpenAI, among other tech companies, is interested in screen-less devices. There are at least two reasons.

• People at OpenAI, and other tech companies, genuinely believe that our dependence on screens — and social media we interact with using screens — is a bad thing. And that we will one day welcome tech that end-runs all of this, and live healthier and happier lives.
• The market for devices with screens is 100% locked up by Apple and Google. If you wanted to convince people to swap out their iPhones or Androids for a device that did something better, or cheaper, it would have to be remarkably better or cheaper to move the needle. There's way more open space with a device that doesn't position itself as a phone competitor, at least for now. (This is parallel to the logic that has led Meta, Google, Apple, and many others to work on glasses and goggles — that field is wide-open, too, even if it's unclear that regular people will ever wear this stuff.)

And I can absolutely believe that there will be some market, of some size, for people who don't want or need screens on their devices. (I asked OpenAI for comment.)

But for the rest of us? The screen isn't a necessary evil we tolerate so we can use our phones. The screen is the whole point.

Without a screen, we can't see the hilarious burn our friend just dropped in the group chat. Without a screen, we can't see the thing we might want to impulse-buy. And most important: Without a screen, we can't use phones for their actual primary use case — entertaining ourselves, slack-jawed, as we watch videos.

I know, I know. You need data to accept a conclusion like this. And sure, I could show you stuff like this report from Ericsson, which says that mobile video accounts for 75% of data transmission these days (and yes, video uses more data than everything else). Or that Meta reported that video time spent on Instagram was up 30% last year alone. Or that there's very compelling evidence that we've stopped reading — so much so that The New York Times is trying to figure out how to reach non-readers, with … video.

But you have also left the house in the last year.

Which means that everywhere you go, you see people watching video on their phones. When they're sitting, when they're standing, inside, outside, on and on. (You can also tell that they're watching video without ever looking at their phone, because everyone has decided that the best way to watch videos on their phones is without headphones. But that's a different old man rant for a different time.)

Imagining a world where people aren't watching MrBeast or Computah or name your favorite thing on a screen isn't impossible.

I used to live in that world: Back before the iPhone, it was very common to see people in public who weren't watching anything at all. Maybe they were listening to an iPod, or a Walkman (yes, old). Maybe they were … reading a newspaper (yes, ancient).

But we also used to churn our own butter in the olden times. We could still do that, if we wanted to. We seem very happy buying butter from a store instead.

So if Sam Altman and Jony Ive want us to use their screenless wondergadget, they're going to have to give us much more incentive than better voice chat. They may have to take our screens from our cold, dead hands.

• The annual Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley is always a display of corporate casual fashion.
• Business and tech leaders at Sun Valley often sport designer shades as part of their look.
• Fashion stylist Victoria Hitchcock said this year it's all about custom, logo-free sunglasses.

The biggest status symbol at Sun Valley this week may not be the private jet, but the sunglasses.

Tech CEOs and media moguls have arrived in Sun Valley, Idaho, for Allen & Co.'s annual conference, the invite-only gathering often called "summer camp for billionaires."

The event is known for dealmaking behind closed doors, but it's also a display of sartorial subtlety — a marker of the highest ranks of corporate power.

Sunglasses are always a key part of the corporate summer casual look for which the conference is famous. Executives across the tech and media industries often sport the latest designer shades.

This year, Victoria Hitchcock, a fashion lifestyle stylist and personal brander in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay area, told Business Insider the dominant style seems to be logo-less sunglasses.

"These people could buy anything, and they're choosing pieces that are considered, well-fitted, and specific to them. Not logos-first, not trend-first. That's the real tell of where tech style is headed."

Here are the top frames we've spotted so far.

Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies

Alex Karp, cofounder and CEO of Palantir, wore sporty wraparound-style frames with reflective purple lenses that appear to be the Rudy Project's Rydon, which retail for about $270.

Karp leads Palantir, an AI and data-infrastructure company.

Karlie Kloss, CEO of Bedford Media

Karlie Kloss brought a more fashion-forward spin to Sun Valley's executive-casual uniform with what Hitchcock identified as a pair of Maison Margiela x Gentle Monster sunglasses, which retail for nearly $400.

"This is what I mean when I talk about fit over flash," Hitchcock said. "Those frames are sculpted to her bone structure so precisely they look custom. The stitch detailing adds texture without adding noise."

Kloss is best known as a supermodel, but her résumé now stretches well beyond fashion. She is the chairwoman and CEO of Bedford Media, the company behind i-D and the planned relaunch of Life magazine. She's also the founder of Kode With Klossy, a free coding camp for girls and nonbinary teens.

Neal Mohan, CEO of YouTube

Neal Mohan, CEO of YouTube, arrived in blue rectangular sunglasses with dark lenses that look like Oliver Peoples' Mr. Federer frames, which sell for about $530.

Mohan runs Google's video giant, overseeing everything from creators and ads to YouTube Shorts, streaming, and the platform's growing push into AI tools.

Julia Hartz, CEO of Eventbrite

Julia Hartz, cofounder and CEO of Eventbrite, wore glossy black sunglasses with thick frames. They seem to be the Vendome model from Jacques Marie Mage, which can sell for over $1,000.

Hartz leads Eventbrite, the ticketing and events platform used by organizers to manage live experiences.

Kevin Warsh, chair of the Federal Reserve

Kevin Warsh, chair of the Federal Reserve, wore amber-toned, rectangular sunglasses.

"That amber tone on Kevin Warsh is such a confident choice. Bold without tipping into costume," Hitchcock told Business Insider. "It's a frame that transitions from a morning panel to dinner without missing a beat."

As Fed chair, Warsh leads the US central bank and chairs the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets interest-rate policy.

Rene Haas, CEO of Arm Holdings

The Sun Valley crowd is full of early adopters, and so wearable tech always fits the bill. Arm Holdings CEO Rene Haas wore classic black rectangular Meta Ray-Ban frames with clear lenses, which range from $400 to $800 on Meta's website.

Arm Holdings is a chip-design giant whose technology powers everything from smartphones to cars, cloud servers, and AI devices.

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi wore classic round Ray-Ban aviator sunglasses with dark lenses, which retail for about $250.

Josh D'Amaro, CEO of Disney

Josh D'Amaro, the CEO of Disney, also kept it classic in dark aviator-style sunglasses.

"Amaro's frames read very Oliver Peoples to me," Hitchcock said. "Warm, refined, a little bit vintage-Hollywood."

D'Amaro's sunglasses appear to be the Finley Esq. Sun model from Oliver Peoples, which sells for about $430.

David Zaslav, CEO and President of Warner Bros

David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, wore dark rectangular sunglasses with a sturdy black frame — a classic media-mogul choice that complemented his Sun Valley look.

He leads Warner Bros. Discovery, the company behind Warner Bros., HBO, CNN, Discovery, and Max.

Wendi Murdoch, entrepreneur

Wendi Murdoch, media mogul Rupert Murdoch's ex-wife, wore oversize, glossy black sunglasses that look like Versace's VE4405 model, which sells for $323 at Nordstrom.

Murdoch is a major tech investor and a longtime media-world power player with deep ties across entertainment, technology, and business circles.

• Kalshi is running TikTok ads for wagers on "Love Island" outcomes.
• The ads seem to have worked: Kalshi says it has seen growth among female users lately.
• But some fans of the show are annoyed by the intrusion of betting on the show — and by the ads.

By this point, I have now watched an astonishing amount of "Love Island USA," which airs six nights a week (yes, six — it's a commitment!) on Peacock during June and July.

To complement this, I have also consumed nearly as much screentime guzzling down TikToks about about the show.

This means I have seen more than one fan edit pairing clips of a contestant who wronged someone on the show with photos and videos of Saddam Hussein. (If you're watching, you know why fans would make that comparison to KC, Sincere, and Kenzie.)

It also means I've been bombarded with ads for the prediction market Kalshi.

It's not new that Kalshi advertises on TikTok and social media through partnerships with small creators — but this is a new targeted campaign directed at female "Love Island" fans like me.

This is the first summer that Kalshi has had "Love Island-" related markets you can wager on. It appears that the new markets for the show, which has a mostly female audience, are working.

Barron's recently reported on the "Love Island" bump, citing an Apptopia report showing that Kalshi's female weekly active mobile users increased by 106% from the week of June 8 to June 28, while male users grew by 54%.

Elisabeth Diana, a spokesperson for Kalshi, told me that the World Cup is definitely a factor in the recent influx of female users, but that new prediction markets for "Love Island," which has continued to grow its audience from last year and topped the reality ratings category for early June, are helping. (The betting markets on Kalshi aren't associated with Peacock or the show itself.)

The TikTok ads I've been seeing are similar in concept to other Kalshi ads from creators: normal people posting about how, they say, they made easy money by winning bets on Kalshi.

One ad had women jumping in celebration with the caption "how our tuesday nights look ever since we started making money every time Kayda and Zach stay safe." (Kayda, who fans call "The New Hampshire Grim Reaper," and Zach are one of those couples where the fans love the girl and hate the guy; it's complicated.)

Kalshi's official account posted an ad where someone celebrates winning on a bet about keeping KC and Aniya safe (this was before Casa Amor, of course).

The ads aren't all going over so well on TikTok. It seems that some young women are somewhat skeptical about prediction markets, and I saw a fair number of videos complaining about the ads and about Kalshi in general.

"So they got the men to bet on sports. They got them to spend all of their paychecks betting on sports," one woman says in a video. "So now there's 'Love Island' betting constantly on my For You Page? That's a recession indicator."

There's another hiccup with betting on "Love Island." There's a day or two lag time between filming and the episodes airing, which means there's a slew of people (production staff, hotel workers, the cast themselves) who know who got kicked off that week before the show airs, which could create an insider effect. One TikTok I saw was complaining about this because it effectively means prediction markets could "spoil" reality shows.

Currently, the Kalshi odds are strongly in favor of Trinity and Bryce winning (but anyone watching could've told you that). Right now, the market is just under $10 million, and the finale airs July 12.

May love triumph in the hearts and wallets of fans.

• Delta has launched a "basic" option for its first class, premium economy, and Delta One fares.
• The discounted tickets preserve the on-board experience but strip away perks like lounge access.
• Critics argue the unbundling strategy will make yesterday's premium fares today's unbundled ones.

Delta Air Lines' fanciest passenger cabin just got a budget option. Sort of.

The airline this week launched new fare types that expand its "basic" strategy into its premium cabins — First Class, Premium Select, and Delta One, the latter marketed as "Basic Business."

Delta says the goal is to make premium flying less expensive by offering unbundled tickets that keep the core on-board experience while removing traditional perks — a strategy it hopes will attract new customers and entice more price-conscious flyers to upgrade.

For example, someone flying from New York-JFK to London Heathrow on a Basic Business ticket would get the full Delta One inflight experience: Zone 1 boarding, a lie-flat bed (sometimes with a door, depending on the aircraft), and upscale meals, alcohol, toiletries, and linens.

But they'd earn fewer miles, get one fewer checked bag, lose the ability to pre-select their seat or make free changes, and become ineligible for upgrades or same-day standby.

They'd also forfeit access to Delta's exclusive Delta One check-in area and Delta One Lounge, as well as its Delta Sky Clubs, unless they have an eligible membership or credit card.

Similar trade-offs apply to Premium Select and Domestic First. Delta said customers can pay extra for an assigned seat on top of the basic ticket price.

Delta hasn't disclosed the exact routes for its new discount fares, but the savings could be relatively small compared with what travelers give up.

The example it provided for fare comparison shows Basic Business on an unspecified city pair costs $2,689. Delta One Classic is $200 more, while Delta One Extra, its most expensive option and the only fully refundable one, costs $3,389.

That puts Basic at 7% cheaper than the standard fare and about 21% cheaper than Delta's highest-priced Delta One ticket.

Delta said the new Delta Basic First is already available on select mainline domestic and Latin American routes, while Basic Premium Select and Basic Business bookings are open for domestic and select long-haul flights from September.

To give customers time to adjust, the special check-in desk and lounge access will remain available through January 18, 2027.

Some people aren't happy with the changes

While Delta frames the new fares as a way to give customers more choice, critics argue that the tiered strategy is another way airlines can charge separately for benefits that were once included in the ticket price.

Several Reddit and X threads over the past few days have been filled with complaints about the perceived nickel-and-diming.

Industry analyst Henry Harteveldt previously told Business Insider the emerging trend could mean yesterday's premium fares become today's unbundled fares, with the price of a full-fledged business-class seat steadily increasing.

In other words, an all-inclusive premium experience may cost customers more in the long run.

Still, Harteveldt said some travelers could benefit, such as honeymooners willing to splurge on the Basic Business fare but not the all-inclusive option, or corporate customers looking to reduce business travel costs.

The move comes as airlines increasingly unbundle premium travel to capture more revenue from booming demand for higher-end seats.

United Airlines announced basic fares for its premium cabins in April, though its basic Polaris business class fares still include access to the United Club lounge, its Sky Club equivalent.

Qatar Airways, KLM, and Air France also have similar business-class-lite offerings.

• Rahul Gudise landed an Nvidia internship after sending more than 200 applications.
• The experience taught Gudise that he wanted to build something of his own.
• Gudise cofounded AI startup Gale, which has raised $2.7 million.

My philosophy about luck is that it's really about how many times you're willing to flip the coin. At some point, it stops being luck and turns into inevitability.

While studying at the University of Waterloo, I treated applying to internships like a statistical game.

Working my way through a GitHub list of openings, I sent out 200-300 applications before landing an internship at Tesla. The next recruiting cycle, I did it all over again to land one at Nvidia. I honestly don't even remember applying.

After the initial callback, the hiring process was pretty chill. I had two interviews before Nvidia told me I got the job, and all in all, it took about four days. It helped that my background in high-performance software happened to fit what the data center tooling team needed.

The role was a little atypical because I worked out of the Redmond, Washington, office rather than Nvidia's Santa Clara headquarters, where most interns are based. The community felt smaller, but I had great mentors, and the work-life balance was reasonable. Sometimes you would work overtime, but most people worked pretty normal 9-to-5 hours.

What surprised me most was how passionate everyone was. The engineers didn't treat their work as just a job — they treated it like a craft, and genuinely cared about building great software.

The greatest gift Nvidia gave me

I came into the internship wanting to be a full-time Nvidia employee. I thought that the money you could make in Big Tech would bring a sense of freedom.

But ultimately, being a small part of a larger organization felt unfulfilling. The greatest gift the experience gave me was teaching me what I wanted to do with my time — to build something of my own.

I also thought I'd become a better engineer by starting a company. At a startup, you have to understand the problem before you can build the solution, whereas in Big Tech, you're often working within a much narrower sandbox.

I launched an AI startup called Gale

I cofounded Gale, an AI startup that automates work visa applications, after my Nvidia internship ended and while I was still finishing school. We were accepted into Y Combinator and raised $2.7 million in seed funding last May.

My parents initially worried I was walking away from a stable career. But seeing Gale gain traction has changed their perspective.

And when we got our first customer, realizing something I'd built with my own hands could be genuinely useful to someone was one of the best feelings I've ever had.

Nvidia's culture has also shaped who I am as a founder. At Nvidia, mistakes weren't about blame. Managers would work with us to improve processes together so that the same problems wouldn't happen again. That mindset of learning and iterating, instead of pointing fingers, is something I've tried to bring to Gale.

Do you have a story to share about Nvidia? Contact this reporter at gweiss@businessinsider.com.

I'm sitting in a small, dark room with my head wedged inside a very heavy helmet. It's surprisingly comfortable, considering its 5.5-pound weight, with dozens of plastic circles that look like little bedazzled lightbulb sockets gently burrowing through my hair and onto my scalp. Here I am, ready to measure my brain fitness.

I'm taking two exams at the brain-measuring startup Kernel in Los Angeles. There's no great way to prepare for these tests, making the experience both nerve-racking and oddly relaxing. Nothing to do now but sit back and let the brain helmet probe the inner workings of my mind.

Before he was that guy doing all the wildest things for longevity, tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson started this headgear company in 2016. Initially, the goal was futuristic: he wanted to build brain-interfacing chips like those Elon Musk has developed at Neuralink, and then bridge human consciousness with computers and AI.

As time went on, though, and Johnson began exploring every minute way he could track and hack his health, measuring nighttime erections and analyzing routine blood work, he realized his mind was the one area of the body that was nearly impossible to accurately monitor for longevity.

For the past decade, Johnson has poured more than $60 million of his own cash into this brain-scanning company, all with the goal of making brain health and cognitive performance as measurable as any other "biological age."

After 10 years of development, and more than $150 million invested overall, you can now try out "Kernel Flow" at a half dozen longevity-focused clinics across the US.

While I left Kernel's leafy offices feeling assured by my test results, I was filled with new questions about how this technology will evolve, and who it might benefit.

Kernel's technology is impressive, academic brain researchers told me. It's a system called time-domain functional near-infrared spectroscopy (TD-fNIRS), which gathers data from 40 optical modules that operate like a pulse oximeter for your mind, using light to measure oxygen in the brain. They pair this with EEG data, or records of the brain's electrical activity, to get a more complete picture of what's going on inside a person's head.

"We combine the oxygen maps with the electrical signals and get this kind of unique perspective that almost no one in the world has on how the brain is functioning at any given point in time," Kernel CEO and electrical engineer Ryan Field said.

Eventually, Kernel hopes to be like an Apple Watch for the mind, monitoring brains for early signs of cognitive decline and providing real-time guidance on brain performance, much like a step count or a sleep score would.

Johnson said, ideally, the tech could improve the way depression is treated and help us understand how our brains react in real time to stimuli like alcohol and ketamine. For now, the headset is not FDA-approved to diagnose or treat anything, but is being used at half a dozen longevity clinics nationwide as an add-on service to help clients monitor how well their brains are aging.

At $117,200 a pop, this headset isn't exactly a consumer device. Instead, Kernel is accessible to longevity enthusiasts at select clinics, and the company says that more than 30 commercial product developers and academic labs have also bought the tech.

I underwent Kernel's two commercial brain tests: a 7-minute scan meant to measure brain aging and a 30-minute cognitive test that measures core brain skills, including focus, planning, self-control, memory, and hand-eye coordination.

My results were reassuring, and also kind of boring. Kernel told me my brain acts its age (cool) and that my cognitive functioning is above average: I am roughly at the 75th percentile.

The test scored me highest in "complex attention," meaning I was good at channeling focus and switching tasks (85th percentile), and not too shabby at "learning and memory" (75th percentile).

My worst score was in "language" (60th percentile) — not exactly an encouraging finding for someone who makes a living with words, but still a fine score for my "word retrieval" and comprehension. This was assessed through a test with timed prompts like: "Name every fruit you can think of" or "Name words that start with the letter J." Somehow, under the time pressure, I could only think of three "J" words.

I'm not exactly sure how much stock to put into my score.

Neuroimaging expert Theodore Huppert, who runs a lab at Stony Brook University dedicated to analyzing fNIRS data, said middle-aged brains all look kinda the same anyway.

Like so many wearables, what's useful is being able to monitor your own trends over time, tracking improvement or decline. If you're 40 and your brain looks like it's 80, that's a problem. Similarly, if my brain ages six years in the span of six months, especially if I'm exhibiting any unusual memory or behavior changes, I may want to seek help from a doctor.

"I think right now there's just not enough data," Boston University professor of neurophotonics David Boas, who's been working in the field of fNIRS brain scanning technology for more than 30 years, said.

Boas estimates that it will take a decade, if not longer, for all the information Kernel is gathering to really generate meaningful, actionable data that can be used to improve brain health outcomes. For now, it's just a fun "plus" for data-hungry consumers and longevity biohackers like Johnson, who used the helmet to track brain changes when he drank alcohol and took magic mushrooms.

"A lot of consumers are willing to pay for that data just so they can follow it themselves," Boas said. "I mean, look, I have an Oura Ring. I have an Apple Watch. I love the data. Is it helping me clinically? Probably not, but I love following the data, and it kind of changes the way I behave."

From a researcher's standpoint, it's a fun way to nerd out. "The technology hardware is just beautiful," Boas said, who bought three of Kernel's modules ($15,600) to get a leg up in his own research.

"They do these laser pulses, and they resolve how long it takes photons to travel through the head," he added. "It just gives them much more information than what I and the majority of my colleagues get."

In the future, I can imagine this headset being useful for mental health and dementia care. Instead of just filling out a pen-and-paper Alzheimer's test, why not see what's happening inside your head at the same time, pairing brain information with your cognitive score?

Already, some clinics around the world are using brain scans, voice recognition, and gaze tracking to help diagnose cognitive decline. Boas said fNIRS could one day soon help treat other conditions like ADHD or obsessive-compulsive disorder, providing "immediate feedback" during cognitive behavioral therapy sessions, for instance.

Kernel is also researching how the tech might help better match patients to the best depression treatment for them, whether it be magnetic stimulation, ketamine therapy, or something else.

But in the wrong hands, it isn't hard to imagine how this all goes very, very wrong.

Getting spooky about it, companies could harness this data to prey on how each of our unique brains interacts with and reacts to the world. Meta seriously considered building fNIRS into its Oculus headsets to record brain activity as people navigate the metaverse.

"It can be a little bit scary. Even if they don't fully understand the brain signals, they can still harness them to prey on people," Huppert said. "I'm glad we don't actually have the ability to do that yet."

A new study Huppert pointed to released in May showed how fNIRS technology could be used to directly gauge consumer preferences for Coke and potato chips, using brain data rather than surveys.

Ben Hamley, the global head of R&D at real estate company JLL, said devices like Kernel's Flow can be great new ways to track our own "neurofitness" and measure brain health, as long as patient privacy is kept at a premium.

"No one wants to be sat in a brain scanner and observed," he said. "Especially in the context of work, no one wants to ever feel like their mental privacy is invaded."

At Kernel, researchers, who are well aware that their system needs lots more training data, are asking volunteers to come in and watch Netflix while wearing the Flow headset, to better understand brain activity patterns. What does our brain look like when we're happy, sad, or scared by what we see on our screens? For research purposes only, of course.

"We're not going to try and control your brain. We want you to control your brain," Kernel's CEO, Field, said. "It's really about trying to give individuals agency and the information to make decisions so that they can better care for their brain."

• A new analysis of job postings showed demand for AI knowledge goes beyond software development gigs.
• Management and marketing roles are among those making up a higher share of "AI-touched" job titles than a few years ago.
• It suggests employers want people with expertise in their line of work and additional AI fluency.

If you've been avoiding AI, it might be time to get familiar with what it can do in the workplace.

The share of Indeed job postings containing AI terms has skyrocketed over the past year. And job titles mentioning AI aren't limited to just tech.

A new analysis from Pawel Adrjan, senior director of economic research for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at the Indeed Hiring Lab, examined "AI-touched" job titles, defined as those with at least five postings mentioning AI in the title in a specific quarter.

The analysis indicates the number of those titles has risen in the US from 264 in 2022, or 2.6% of titles with at least five job postings, to 822 in the first quarter of 2026, or 8.3%.

Sixty-three percent of AI-touched US job titles were non-tech. Software development accounted for the highest share of AI-touched job titles in the first quarter of 2026, as in 2022, but the share has declined as some other types of occupations have added AI to their titles.

Management, marketing, education, and instruction are among the occupational categories that have increased their share. That means employers are seeking people with both field and AI knowledge; a physical therapist using AI for documentation would still need to be skilled at helping patients while also familiar with the new systems.

In an interview with Business Insider, Adrjan compared this expansion of AI demand in the workforce to the previous broadening of computer skills beyond IT jobs.

"One pattern that stands out is that many of the roles with AI in the title are jobs that have existed for decades," Adrjan's report said. "Employers are not only hiring AI specialists, but they are also adding AI to the titles of jobs where the use of AI tools is required — an indication of how AI is already reshaping jobs."

Some examples include "AI Autonomous Truck Test Driver," "Physical Therapist (AI Documentation)," "AI Project Engineer," and "Electrical Engineer — Battery Systems for AI Data Centers."

Adding to the job rather than replacing workers

The "AI-touched" postings indicate that employers still want people to fill seats, even as roles start using the new tech.

"When a job title includes AI, what we see in the data is that it's more of a signal of demand than a signal of replacement," Adrjan said. "It really seems to capture employers who are wanting AI skills to be incorporated into the job, which looks a bit like augmentation."

Adrjan said mentions of AI in job titles don't mean people have to earn a computer science degree or acquire deep technical knowledge. Instead, it suggests employers want people with expertise in their field and AI fluency.

"That is reassuring for people who worry about AI because it's more about applying AI to the work that they already know and to the domain they already know, rather than having to switch into something completely different," Adrjan said.

A separate report by Guillermo Gallacher, an economist at Indeed Hiring Lab, showed changes in US job postings based on how exposed occupations were to AI. Gallacher said that "the more exposed to AI an occupation is, the more it declined" between May 2022 and May 2026, while the shorter span of May 2025 to May 2026 showed that "the more exposed to AI an occupation is, on average, the more it rebounded."

"The relationship between AI exposure and job postings appears to be flipping, from job destruction to job creation," Gallacher said.

Adrjan said the findings suggest AI augmentation, not necessarily AI creating jobs. He said that if people become familiar with AI tools, then it could open more doors for them in the labor market.

People can upskill on their own, but Adrjan said employers and educational institutions can also incorporate AI training, especially if a job requires specialized AI tools. That can help mitigate the risk of people falling behind.

"If AI competence continues to become an expectation across more occupations and across more jobs, then clearly there's a risk that some people may not be able to get the training or get familiarity with those tools as fast as others," Adrjan said.

• The White House said Trump Accounts have raised $125 million in capital in the first five days.
• The accounts launched on July 4, with the administration committing $1,000 to each child's account.
• Several companies and individual donors have donated, like Dell's CEO and SpaceX's president.

Trump Accounts are in operation and have already raised $125 million.

In an X post on Thursday evening, the White House wrote, "THIS is what investing in the future looks like."

"In just five days since launch, American families have contributed nearly $125 million to Trump Accounts," the White House wrote.

Trump Accounts, launched on July 4, are investment accounts for children born between 2025 and 2028. The US Treasury has pledged to deposit $1,000 into each child's account.

The program has drawn investment from big names in business. SpaceX's president, Gwynne Shotwell, and her husband contributed SpaceX stock to the accounts. She said in an X post on Monday that she wanted the stock to go to the accounts of children between the ages of 11 and 17 with lower average household incomes, living near her Texas home.

President Donald Trump lauded Shotwell for her donation in a Thursday Truth Social post.

"Thank you to the brilliant and highly respected Gwynne Shotwell, and her husband, Robert, for their extreme generosity in helping children to attain the ever magnificent American dream!" he wrote.

Other donors include Dell CEO Michael Dell and his wife, Susan; hedge fund manager Ray Dalio and his wife; Altimeter Capital CEO Brad Gerstner; and the rapper, Nicki Minaj.

Michael Dell wrote in an X post on July 4: "This makes every child a shareholder in the greatest prosperity-creating engine the world has ever known — American capitalism."

Trump praised the Dells for their $6.25 billion contribution, telling reporters on Monday: "They are truly incredible people. Go out and buy a Dell computer."

Companies like Goldman Sachs, Micron, and Bank of America have also announced contributions to their employees' children's Trump Accounts.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• A cargo plane went missing near Pakistan on Tuesday but was found after a 12-hour search.
• Recovery efforts continue on Friday, the Pakistan Airports Authority said.
• Aviation experts say there are many possible explanations for the crash, but information is limited.

The wreckage of a Boeing 737 freighter that plummeted from 35,000 feet into the Arabian Sea on Tuesday was found on Wednesday after a 12-hour search-and-rescue effort.

On Friday, the Pakistan Airports Authority said recovery efforts continue. Search-and-rescue teams are looking for the plane's five crew members, and an investigation team has recovered additional aircraft parts for analysis.

Until the debris and the black boxes, which store flight data and cockpit audio, are fully recovered and analyzed by investigators, it is impossible to say with certainty what happened.

But theories about what could have happened continue to circulate.

Flight-tracking data, photos of the wreckage, and updates from local authorities provide clues. Aviation analysts shared some possible causes with Business Insider based on the limited information available.

Roughly halfway through its two-hour flight from the UAE to Karachi, Pakistan, the K2 Airways plane began experiencing erratic altitude changes that lasted about three minutes before it disappeared from radar. The Pakistan Airports Authority said the crew had reported a navigation system issue.

Flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 shows the aircraft erratically descending, climbing, and then entering a rapid descent of about 22,400 feet per minute — far beyond the rate typically seen in normal cruise flight.

The 737's flight path crossed a tense region as the US and Iran have traded attacks despite a ceasefire, including US attacks on over 80 Iranian targets on Tuesday.

Past crashes have shown that maintenance failures can have catastrophic consequences: In 2000, Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashed into the Pacific Ocean near California because of improper maintenance on the horizontal stabilizer, for example.

Mark Stephens, a retired Delta Air Lines pilot who flew the 737, said a flight-control fault, a cargo misload, an engine malfunction, or human error, either in the air or on the ground, could have contributed.

"Everything I've read doesn't give enough information for me to make any definitive guess," Stephens said.

Stephens also said sabotage is possible, though difficult to prove. In 2015, a Germanwings pilot intentionally crashed a plane into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board; investigators later found he had a history of depression and suicidal thoughts.

Anthony Brickhouse, an aviation safety analyst and consultant, said the dramatic changes in altitude were "concerning," and investigators will look for certain signatures in the wreckage to determine contributing factors.

"Everything is on the table until evidence says otherwise," Brickhouse said.

He added that the plane's velocity and angle of attack at impact with the water could affect the extent of fragmentation during recovery. Crashes at sea are typically harder to investigate because many critical components sink to the ocean floor, making them difficult to locate and recover.

For example, it took investigators five days to find the wreckage of Air France Flight 447 after it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 and nearly two years to recover its black boxes. The Malaysia Airlines plane that infamously disappeared in 2014 has still not been found.

Brickhouse said the search for K2's aircraft was more straightforward because it was confined to a much smaller area and used better tracking technology.

The freighter was not a 737 Max variant

The Boeing 737 has been plagued by negative publicity in recent years, but Tuesday's crash is unlikely to be related to it.

The K2 plane, registered AP-BOI, first entered service in 1999 and carried passengers until 2011, when it was converted into a freighter.

It was not the Max variant with the faulty system that led to the 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019. The jet also had many operators from several different countries over its 27 years, who were responsible for the upkeep and maintenance. K2 started leasing it in 2024.

The accident is instead likely to draw added scrutiny to Pakistan's troubled aviation safety record.

The country has experienced several deadly crashes over the past two decades, including a 2020 accident in Karachi that killed nearly 100 people and prompted US authorities to ban Pakistani carriers from US skies. Europe similarly banned Pakistani aircraft but lifted that in 2025.

In 2019, a Pakistan Army military plane crashed into a city in the country's northern city of Rawalpindi, killing five crew members and 13 civilians on the ground. In 2010, an Airblue flight crashed north of the capital, Islamabad, killing more than 150 people on board.

K2 Airways said in a Facebook post that it was cooperating with government agencies for the investigation. It also shared the names of the five crew members.

According to its website, the 737 was the only airplane in its fleet.

Boeing and K2 Airways did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

• Venus Williams-backed fitness app WeWard launched a new feature to cut screen time.
• The "Walking Mode" lets users lock selected apps until they reach a customizable daily step goal.
• The company's non-technical staff vibecoded the feature with Claude AI in two months.

Want to keep scrolling your social apps? Take a walk.

WeWard, a French fitness app backed by tennis star Venus Williams, has vibecoded a new feature that puts social media behind a step count. Called "Walking Mode," it lets users lock apps like TikTok and Instagram until they hit a customizable walking goal — say, 3,000 steps before the doomscrolling can begin.

WeWard's cofounder and CEO, Yves Benchimol, told Business Insider the idea came from a member of the company's non-technical staff. Their head of growth, Tyler Chandler, used Claude to vibe-code and launch the feature within 2 months.

"A few months ago, we were talking about AI when an employee said, 'Hey, I think I can vibe code a feature where instead of earning financial rewards for working, we can give people a reward from the time screen,'" Benchimol said.

Chandler told Business Insider that his "walking mode" idea came from his own "pain point" of frequently postponing Apple's default screen time controls.

"It was born out of a goal: to demonstrate to our product, business, and tech employees that a single person armed with AI-assisted coding could develop a complex feature end-to-end," Chandler said.

"We wanted to galvanize the team to get excited about using AI to bring their own ideas to life no matter how 'out there' they might seem," Chandler added.

The feature expands on WeWard's existing rewards model, which grants users in-app currency called "Wards" for walking. Users can redeem the points for cash, gift cards, or charitable donations. The app also includes leaderboards that encourage friendly competition.

Benchimol said it's aimed at people looking to increase their physical activity while cutting back on screen time, because social media is promoting "a sedentary lifestyle" for all generations.

"Finding a way to motivate people to do better stuff is what we want to do, and we believe that constraining people from using social media when they wake up before they do any physical activity is a good way to help people get into a better shape, mentally and physically," Benchimol said.

Benchimol said that Williams, as the company's angel investor, is also supportive of all features that help people get outside and move their bodies, though she is more involved in marketing than in feature creation.

Williams' representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

Benchimol said users typically spend only a few minutes a day inside the app, which he views as a positive outcome because its goal is to encourage activity away from phones.

The Paris-based company says it has more than 30 million users across 29 countries, including 4 million in the US, with top cities being New York, Chicago, and Miami. It also said that its platform increases users' walking time by nearly 25% on average. At the moment, the average user age is around 35, and 60% are women, the company said.

"So the feature was born as a way to block people from using their phone except if they start working and connect with their surroundings," Benchimol added.

Rather than letting social media come first, Benchimol wants users to earn it: "As a reward for being connected to the world, now you can be in the digital world."

• Billionaires and CEOs are converging in Idaho for the Allen & Co. conference this week.
• AI and media consolidation are expected to be hot topics at the off-the-record conference.
• Notable attendees include executives from Warner Bros., GM, and OpenAI.

Summer camp is back in session — if your bunkmates run the world's biggest tech and media companies.

Tech CEOs are descending on Sun Valley, Idaho, as the annual Allen & Co. conference kicks off on Tuesday.

Known as "summer camp for billionaires," the invite-only gathering is expected to draw leaders from Amazon, Apple, Meta, OpenAI, and other major media companies. Though discussions among invitees are kept confidential, Tim Armstrong, the CEO of Flowcode, previously told Business Insider that AI was the "1,000-pound gorilla" in "every conversation, every meeting" at last year's conference.

Hundreds of private jets, bringing some of the world's most influential executives, have been flocking to the mountain resort since Monday. Tim Burke, director of the Sun Valley Friedman Memorial Airport, told Business Insider he expects between 300 and 350 aircraft each day of the conference, more than four times the typical traffic.

Here are the CEOs and billionaires we've spotted in Sun Valley so far.

David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery

Zaslav arrived as Warner Bros. Discovery weighs major strategic changes after announcing plans to split into two stand-alone public companies, separating its streaming and studio business from its traditional cable networks.

Jerry Yang, former CEO of Yahoo

The Yahoo cofounder remains a prominent investor through AME Cloud Ventures, backing AI and enterprise technology startups. Yang has become a regular fixture at Sun Valley as AI has emerged as the dominant topic among tech leaders.

Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors

Barra is steering GM through a slower-than-expected transition to electric vehicles while expanding its lineup of hybrid models. The automaker has also been investing heavily in autonomous driving and software as competition intensifies.

Bret Taylor, chairman of OpenAI

Taylor chairs OpenAI's board while also leading Sierra, the AI startup he cofounded that builds customer service agents for businesses. His appearance comes as AI investment, infrastructure costs, and enterprise adoption remain top themes at this year's conference.

Neal Mohan, CEO of YouTube

Mohan oversees YouTube as it continues to dominate streaming watch time and expand its business around Shorts, podcasts, and AI-powered creator tools. The platform remains a key player in the battle for digital advertising and entertainment audiences.

Bob Iger, former CEO of The Walt Disney Company

Iger stepped down as Disney CEO in March after handing the reins to Josh D'Amaro, ending his second stint leading the entertainment giant. He remains a senior advisor and Disney board member through the end of 2026.

Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix

Sarandos leads Netflix as the streaming giant continues to invest in live events, advertising, and sports programming while maintaining its lead over traditional media rivals. Netflix remains a central player in conversations about the future of entertainment.

Ken Langone, cofounder of Home Depot, with Zaslav

The billionaire investor and Home Depot cofounder remains an influential voice in corporate America and philanthropy. Langone frequently weighs in on the economy, politics, and business leadership.

Barry Diller, chairman of IAC

Arriving on a bike as he did in previous years, the veteran conference attendee has spent decades shaping the media industry through companies including IAC, Expedia, and Match Group.

Rob Manfred, MLB Commissioner

Manfred is overseeing MLB's efforts to expand streaming distribution and modernize the league's media business, as sports rights remain among the entertainment industry's most valuable assets.

John Henry, principal owner of Fenway Sports Group

Henry oversees Fenway Sports Group, whose portfolio includes the Boston Red Sox, Liverpool FC, and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Michael Eisner, former Walt Disney Company CEO

Eisner led Disney from 1984 to 2005 and remains one of the entertainment industry's most recognizable executives. A longtime Sun Valley attendee, he continues to invest in media and technology ventures and to advise companies.

Kevin Warsh, chair of the Federal Reserve

Warsh arrived in Sun Valley just weeks after taking over as chair of the Federal Reserve, replacing Jerome Powell. He's taking over at a pivotal moment for the economy, with investors watching how he approaches inflation, interest rates, and the Fed's independence.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi with Wendi Murdoch, former wife of Rupert Murdoch

Khosrowshahi is steering Uber into its next phase as the company expands beyond rides into AI and autonomous vehicles. The CEO has been positioning Uber as a potential backbone for the future of self-driving transportation.

Wendi Murdoch, the ex-wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, returns to Sun Valley as a longtime attendee. She's been investing in startups through her venture firm and remains connected to Silicon Valley and global business leaders.

Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir

Karp leads Palantir as the defense software company expands its AI business across government and commercial customers. The outspoken CEO has emerged as one of Silicon Valley's most vocal figures on AI.

Josh D'Amaro, CEO of Disney, with Michael Kives, cofounder of K5 Global

D'Amaro is attending his first Sun Valley conference as Disney CEO after succeeding Iger in March. He takes the helm as Disney focuses on streaming profitability, AI, and the expansion of its theme parks and entertainment businesses.

Kives arrives as one of Hollywood and Silicon Valley's well-connected investors. Before cofounding K5 Global, he spent more than a decade as a talent agent at Creative Artists Agency and has built K5 into a venture firm known for backing tech companies.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, with John Ternus, incoming CEO of Apple

Cook arrives as he prepares to step down as Apple's CEO after nearly 15 years at the helm. He will hand the role to Apple hardware chief John Ternus in September while remaining with the company as executive chairman.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

Altman arrives as OpenAI continues its push to build the next generation of AI systems while expanding its business beyond ChatGPT. The CEO is helping lead one of the biggest technology races in decades as the company looks toward filing an IPO.

Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, with his wife Elena

Amazon's chief executive, Andy Jassy, arrived in Sun Valley dressed casually in a button-down shirt over a black T-shirt, accompanied by his wife, Elena Jassy.

Retail giant Amazon is cementing its place in the AI race after inking a $50 billion investment agreement with OpenAI in February.

Sheryl Sandberg, former chief operations officer of Meta

Meta's former operations chief, Sheryl Sandberg, was photographed in Sun Valley dressed comfortably in a white cardigan over a black tank top, with a to-go cup in hand.

Sandberg stepped down as COO in 2022 and from Meta's board in 2024. She now runs a women's nonprofit that she founded, as well as a venture capital firm, Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners.

Reid Hoffman, cofounder of LinkedIn

LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman was part of this year's Sun Valley attendee list. Hoffman, who founded LinkedIn in 2003, launched Manas AI last year, a company that uses AI to accelerate drug research.

Joshua Kushner, founder of Thrive Capital, with his wife, Karlie Kloss

Billionaire venture capitalist Joshua Kushner, the founder and managing partner of Thrive Capital, was photographed hand in hand with his wife, supermodel Karlie Kloss.

Bill Gates, cofounder of Microsoft, with girlfriend Paula Hurd

The semi-retired Microsoft cofounder continues to focus on AI, global health, and climate through the Gates Foundation.

Jeff Bezos, executive chairman of Amazon, with his wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos

Bezos arrives as Amazon continues investing heavily in AI, cloud computing, and logistics. The billionaire stepped down as CEO in 2021 but remains closely involved in the company's long-term strategy. He also oversees space company Blue Origin and other ventures.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, with Dina Powell McCormick, a former US Deputy national security advisor, and 2 Meta execs

Zuckerberg attended the conference with a lineup of other Meta executives, including president and vice chair Powell McCormick, chief operating officer Javier Olivan, and chief strategy officer David Wehner.

The CEO has made AI the company's top priority, while continuing to expand its smart glasses and wearable tech businesses.

Bari Weiss, editor in chief of CBS News

In one of the year's biggest shake-ups in broadcast journalism, Weiss was named editor in chief of CBS News. The former opinion editor and founder of The Free Press now oversees the network's news division.

Jared Kushner, CEO of Affinity Partners, with his wife, Ivanka Trump

The former White House senior advisor and son-in-law to Donald Trump is a longtime attendee at Sun Valley. Kushner recently expanded his Miami-based investment firm's portfolio while remaining involved in global affairs.

Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap

Evan Spiegel, the cofounder and CEO of Snap, was spotted at the conference in a dark green Patagonia puffer. The social media CEO has doubled down on augmented reality as Snap's future, defending the Specs AR glasses' $2,195 price tag as "a new type of computer."

Eddy Cue, an Apple senior vice president

Eddy Cue is the senior vice president of services and health at Apple.

He has emerged as one of the company's most visible AI executives, testifying in the Google antitrust remedies trial that Apple is exploring AI-powered search in Safari. He warned that AI could eventually displace traditional search engines and even iPhones, if AI reshapes computing as dramatically as previous technology shifts.

Ryan Smith, Qualtrics chairman

Qualtrics cofounder Ryan Smith was seen at the event wearing a white T-shirt and a gray jacket. Smith has focused on scaling the company's AI strategy as executive chairman while launching a $1 billion venture fund, HX One, to invest in growth-stage tech companies.

Mike Cavanagh, co-CEO of Comcast

Mike Cavanagh, the co-CEO of Comcast, was seen at the conference wearing a navy blue polo shirt, gray hoodie, and a Nike baseball cap featuring the Comcast Paris 2024 Olympics logo. Cavanagh has led the company's spin-off of NBCUniversal into a stand-alone public company, which he will oversee as CEO.

Robert Kraft, CEO of Kraft

Robert Kraft wore a blue long sleeve at the conference. The CEO has advanced a $500 million privately funded waterfront stadium for the New England Revolution and has also secured agreements to host FIFA World Cup matches at Gillette Stadium in New England.

Ivan Zhao, CEO of Notion Labs

Ivan Zhao, who heads Notion, wore a plain white t-shirt, a royal blue bomber jacket, and small, round-framed sunglasses to the event. The CEO has been working on Notion's push into AI, positioning it as more than just a note-taking app.

• The UK's navy has been launching uncrewed surface vessels from an A400 transport aircraft.
• The 1,300-foot airdrop is the first of its kind, the Royal Navy said.
• The tests could solve a major limit for drone boats, removing the need for support ships or ports.

The UK Royal Navy said on Wednesday that it's been test-launching sea drones from a turboprop aircraft at 1,300 feet, in what it described as trials for a "first airdrop of its kind."

The trials were carried out by Kraken Technology Group, which provided its K3 Scout uncrewed surface vessel, and by Capewell, which contributed an aerial delivery system that features a sled and parachute.

The Royal Navy said the K3 Scout, a 27-foot-long multirole sea drone, was parachuted four times from an Airbus A400 transport aircraft in a six-day campaign over the North Sea.

The airdrop capability "instantly expands the speed, range, and flexibility" by which such a sea drone can deploy because it doesn't need a port or nearby support ship, the Royal Navy said.

"One of the limitations of small uncrewed surface vehicles is their ability to self-deploy and so we are actively looking at concepts for deployment from motherships or 'mother aircraft,'" said Cpt. Adam Ballard, an officer in the Royal Navy's uncrewed surface vessel program, in the statement.

Kraken said the K3 Scout was airdropped into the North Sea at Sea State 4, meaning the waves could reach up to 8 feet.

The uncrewed surface vessel is equipped with electronic warfare systems, can carry a payload of up to 600 kilograms, and is meant to operate for up to 30 days in the field.

Kraken lists the drone as capable of conducting strikes at sea and in shallow waters, casualty evacuation, and forward screening missions.

Sea drones have risen rapidly in prominence after Ukraine used them to strategically defeat Russia's Black Sea Fleet, one of the Kremlin's most dominant naval forces.

The UK's navy has said that it wants these drones to work in tandem with its crewed warships and human forces. In March, it announced it was purchasing 20 of Kraken's uncrewed surface vessels to "set the foundation" for future use of sea drones.

The contract is worth about $16.5 million, putting the cost of each drone at roughly $825,000.

• Tech CEOs at Sun Valley had one pressing question for Sam Altman: how to reduce AI costs.
• Altman said companies are increasingly concerned about AI efficiency and return on investment.
• He said OpenAI's new GPT-5.6 family brings the agentic coding efficiency companies are looking for.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said one topic was front and center at the billionaires' summer camp in Sun Valley: AI spend.

Speaking with CNBC at the annual Allen & Co. Sun Valley Conference, Altman said this was the first year AI spend has been a "very big topic" at the conference.

"Everyone's asking what we can do to help reduce spend or increase value," he said. He added that OpenAI is seeing people start to care about efficiency and getting a good return on their AI investments.

This was a major consideration for the AI lab when developing its latest models, the GPT-5.6 family, he said. The new models, released on Thursday, include the flagship Sol model, the balanced everyday Terra model, and the cost-efficient Luna model.

Altman said GPT-5.6 Sol is "54% more token efficient on agentic coding tasks," and OpenAI developed it with cost and speed in mind. The executive did not specify what the 54% figure was compared to.

He said "every enterprise" is now thinking about "spend and the value they're getting in exchange for AI."

The Sun Valley conference kicked off on Tuesday, bringing together the world's biggest tech leaders in the picturesque resort town of Sun Valley, Idaho. This year's attendee list included Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy.

Altman's comments to CNBC come as enterprises are increasingly considering how to achieve better returns on their AI spend, with several executives publicly sharing their tactics for getting more bang for their buck.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in June that he was experimenting with cheaper Chinese models as defaults for his engineers and routing their prompts to the most appropriate models to avoid unnecessarily burning AI tokens.

Cloud platform Vercel's CEO, Guillermo Rauch, said to TechCrunch in an interview released earlier this week that companies need to start partnering with different AI labs for different parts of their AI stack. He said they should use models across OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, and Chinese players to get the best value.

Argentina is headed to the World Cup quarterfinals, where Switzerland stands between the defending champions and another trip to the semifinals. After beating Egypt in the Round of 16 and with Lionel Messi still leading the charge, Argentina enters one of the tournament's marquee matchups against a Swiss side that advanced after a dramatic penalty-shootout win over Colombia.

With two in-form teams battling for a place in the final four, tickets are expected to remain in high demand as kickoff approaches. We've rounded up everything you need to know about buying Argentina vs. Switzerland tickets, including current resale prices, where to find seats, and what to expect before match day. Check StubHub and Vivid Seats for the latest availability, as inventory and prices can change quickly.

Where to buy Argentina vs. Switzerland tickets

World Cup tickets sold out quickly once they became available. Luckily, last-minute shoppers can find viable options from verified resellers, but prices are expectedly inflated.

July 11 at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO

• StubHub seats starting from $1,407
• Vivid Seats starting from $1,522

How much are Argentina vs. Switzerland tickets?

Argentina's quarterfinal matchup against Switzerland is commanding steep prices on the resale market, with tickets selling well above face value on major resale platforms. StubHub currently has entry-level seats starting at $1,400, while the site's most expensive listings reach more than $4,905 for premium seating and hospitality options.

Vivid Seats is listing even higher prices overall. The lowest-priced tickets start at around $1,500, while the most exclusive inventory ranges to roughly $17,300. With Argentina still in contention for another World Cup title and Lionel Messi continuing his tournament run, demand for seats remains high, and prices are unlikely to drop significantly before kickoff.

Who is on the Argentina vs. Switzerland teams for the 2026 World Cup?

Argentina's team is full of big names — if you're hoping to see your favorite from the stadium bleachers, here's the official squad lineup:

• Emiliano Martínez — Goalkeeper
• Gerónimo Rulli — Goalkeeper
• Juan Musso — Goalkeeper
• Leonardo Balerdi — Defender
• Cristian Romero — Defender
• Lisandro Martínez — Defender
• Nicolás Otamendi — Defender
• Nicolás Tagliafico — Defender
• Nahuel Molina — Defender
• Gonzalo Montiel — Defender
• Facundo Medina — Defender
• Rodrigo De Paul — Midfielder
• Alexis Mac Allister — Midfielder
• Enzo Fernández — Midfielder
• Leandro Paredes — Midfielder
• Exequiel Palacios — Midfielder
• Giovani Lo Celso — Midfielder
• Valentín Barco — Midfielder
• Lionel Messi — Forward
• Julián Álvarez — Forward
• Lautaro Martínez — Forward
• Thiago Almada — Forward
• Giuliano Simeone — Forward
• Nicolás González — Forward
• Nico Paz — Forward
• José Manuel López — Forward

If you're rooting for Switzerland, or just scoping out the opposing team, here's an official list of the country's representing squad.

• Gregor Kobel — Goalkeeper
• Yvon Mvogo — Goalkeeper
• Marvin Keller — Goalkeeper

• Miro Muheim — Defender
• Silvan Widmer — Defender
• Nico Elvedi — Defender
• Manuel Akanji — Defender
• Ricardo Rodríguez — Defender
• Eray Cömert — Defender
• Aurèle Amenda — Defender
• Luca Jaquez — Defender

• Denis Zakaria — Midfielder
• Remo Freuler — Midfielder
• Johan Manzambi — Midfielder
• Granit Xhaka — Midfielder
• Ardon Jashari — Midfielder
• Djibril Sow — Midfielder
• Michel Aebischer — Midfielder
• Fabian Rieder — Midfielder

• Breel Embolo — Forward
• Dan Ndoye — Forward
• Christian Fassnacht — Forward
• Rubén Vargas — Forward
• Noah Okafor — Forward
• Zeki Amdouni — Forward
• Cedric Itten — Forward

How can I watch Argentina vs. Switzerland from home?

For most fans, the most feasible way to watch the quarterfinals match is to stream it from home. Check out our guide to watching the World Cup to find out the best channel to watch it from, and check out NordVPN to catch the game from anywhere in the world.

Note: VPN use is illegal in certain countries, and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content may constitute a breach of the terms of use for some services. Business Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

See more: Is StubHub legit? | Where to buy World Cup tickets | Where to watch the World Cup

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Norway's Cinderella run at the 2026 FIFA World Cup has earned the team a quarterfinal showdown with England, with a coveted spot in the semifinals on the line. Fresh off a stunning upset of Brazil, Norway now faces one of the tournament favorites in what has quickly become one of the most anticipated matches of the knockout stage.

England advanced with a win over Mexico to keep its title hopes alive, while Norway continues to build momentum behind stars Erling Haaland and Martin Ødegaard. With demand expected to be high for this quarterfinal clash, ticket prices are likely to remain competitive. Below, we've rounded up everything you need to know about buying Norway vs. England tickets, including where to find seats and compare prices on StubHub and Vivid Seats.

Where to buy Norway vs. England tickets

Anyone who's been keeping tabs on World Cup tickets would know what high demand the seats are under. All games, especially these later rounds, are sold out, making verified resale your best option for scoring a ticket.

July 11 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL

• StubHub seats starting from $2,799
• Vivid Seats starting from $2,892

How much are Norway vs. England tickets?

Norway's Cinderella run has made this game one of the hottest tickets of the World Cup quarterfinals, and prices have climbed as fans look to see Erling Haaland take on England. On StubHub, the cheapest available seats start at about $2,800, while most lower-bowl and midfield tickets are listed between $4,000 and $8,000. Premium club seats and hospitality options cost significantly more, with the highest-end listings stretching well into the six-figure range.

Vivid Seats is similarly expensive, with entry-level tickets beginning around $2,900. Most lower-level inventory ranges from $4,500 to $7,500, while premium sideline seats and VIP listings top out at more than $27,900. With a semifinal berth on the line and England carrying one of the tournament's largest traveling fan bases, resale prices are expected to remain elevated heading into kickoff.

Who is on the Norway and England teams for the 2026 World Cup?

Whether you're on the front lines or watching from home, here is the official roster for Norway's team.

• Ørjan Nyland — Goalkeeper
• Egil Selvik — Goalkeeper
• Sander Tangvik — Goalkeeper

• Kristoffer Ajer — Defender
• Leo Østigård — Defender
• David Møller Wolfe — Defender
• Fredrik André Bjørkan — Defender
• Marcus Holmgren Pedersen — Defender
• Torbjørn Heggem — Defender
• Sondre Langås — Defender
• Henrik Falchener — Defender
• Julian Ryerson — Defender

• Patrick Berg — Midfielder
• Sander Berge — Midfielder
• Martin Ødegaard — Midfielder
• Fredrik Aursnes — Midfielder
• Kristian Thorstvedt — Midfielder
• Thelo Aasgaard — Midfielder
• Antonio Nusa — Midfielder
• Oscar Bobb — Midfielder
• Jens Petter Hauge — Midfielder
• Morten Thorsby — Midfielder

• Erling Haaland — Forward
• Alexander Sørloth — Forward
• Jørgen Strand Larsen — Forward
• Andreas Schjelderup — Forward

England's team for the 99th World Cup match is as follows:

• Jordan Pickford — Goalkeeper
• Dean Henderson — Goalkeeper
• James Trafford — Goalkeeper

• Ezri Konsa — Defender
• Nico O'Reilly — Defender
• John Stones — Defender
• Marc Guéhi — Defender
• Trevoh Chalobah — Defender
• Dan Burn — Defender
• Reece James — Defender
• Djed Spence — Defender
• Jarell Quansah — Defender

• Declan Rice — Midfielder
• Elliot Anderson — Midfielder
• Jude Bellingham — Midfielder
• Jordan Henderson — Midfielder
• Kobbie Mainoo — Midfielder
• Morgan Rogers — Midfielder
• Eberechi Eze — Midfielder

• Bukayo Saka — Forward
• Harry Kane — Forward
• Marcus Rashford — Forward
• Anthony Gordon — Forward
• Ollie Watkins — Forward
• Noni Madueke — Forward
• Ivan Toney — Forward

How can I watch Norway vs. England from home?

If you don't have thousands to drop on a last-second ticket, most fans are catching the match at home. Check out our guide to watching the World Cup live and consider signing up for NordVPN to watch all the games free from anywhere in the world.

Note: VPN use is illegal in certain countries, and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content may constitute a breach of the terms of use for some services. Business Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

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• Fidji Simo is stepping down from her executive role at OpenAI after her medical leave.
• The former Instacart CEO will transition to a part-time advisor role.
• Simo said her chronic illness pushed her to take medical leave three months ago.

Fidji Simo, one of OpenAI's top executives, is stepping down.

Simo, the company's CEO of applications, wrote on X on Thursday that she has decided to leave her full-time role and become a part-time advisor.

Simo went on medical leave three months ago. She said on Thursday that she would focus on recovery amid her long-running chronic illness, which does not have a cure.

"During that time, it became clear that the road to recovery would be much longer and more complex than I had anticipated—and that I needed to focus on it fully," she added.

Simo was diagnosed with postural tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, in 2019. The disorder can cause fainting, intense bouts of dizziness, and an elevated heart rate.

She joined OpenAI in 2025, decamping from her CEO job at Instacart, which she'd steered through an initial public offering. She'd previously worked at Meta, formerly Facebook, for more than a decade.

Simo's role was to turn cutting-edge AI models into a sustainable business. The company poured tens of billions of dollars into its tech, only to find itself trailing rival Anthropic earlier this year for some lucrative enterprise customers. Now, the two companies are nearing trillion-dollar valuations and eyeing IPOs, and the pressure is on to boost revenues.

Simo revealed a strategy shift earlier this year, Business Insider reported, pushing the company to focus on productivity for companies and customers above all else.

"We cannot miss this moment because we are distracted by side quests," Simo told employees at an all-hands meeting, a person familiar with her remarks told Business Insider. The company soon shut down Sora, its video app, and has recently poured resources into the Codex coding tool to compete with Anthropic's Claude Code.

Former colleagues of Simo told Business Insider that they'd seen her as a laser-focused, empathetic, relentless leader skilled in long-term strategy. Simo said she did a "listening tour" to better understand the company and aimed to keep OpenAI's culture feeling like a research lab rather than a nascent tech giant.

As CEO Sam Altman focused on research and computing, Simo said she would drive work on the company's products and commercialization.

In her Thursday post, Simo thanked OpenAI's board, Altman, and company president Greg Brockman for their support, and wrote that her journey with her illness had reinforced her belief in the importance of technology.

Altman wrote on X, "i am really sad about this and very grateful for all fidji has done for openai, and even grateful for her friendship and who she is as a person. we all wish her the best for a speedy recovery. this sucks."

Simo was plain in her own post about the toll the illness has taken.

"It has been a jarring experience to spend my days helping build the future while simultaneously navigating a disabling disease that still has no cure," she wrote.

Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at scouncil@businessinsider.com, or over text, Signal, Telegram, or WhatsApp at 415-757-8198. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• Fed Chair Kevin Warsh tapped economists and tech execs for task forces to overhaul the central bank.
• The task forces will assess the Fed's communication, data, productivity, and inflation frameworks.
• Marc Andreessen and XBOX CEO Asha Sharma will lead the task force on productivity and jobs.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh on Thursday named the members of five outside task forces that will help shape recommendations for overhauling the central bank.

The groups bring together heavyweight economists alongside prominent business leaders and tech executives, and are expected to deliver recommendations by the end of the year.

Here's what we know so far:

Communications

Leaders:

• Peter R. Fisher, former Treasury official and ex-New York Fed executive
• Arminio Fraga, former governor of Brazil's central bank
• Mervyn King, former governor of the Bank of England

Their Mission: Review how the Fed communicates with markets and the public, including policy statements and broader messaging.

This group is stacked with former central bankers known for shaping monetary policy communication. Warsh has previously signaled he wants the Fed to speak less about its future rate intentions than it has in recent years.

Balance Sheet Policy

Leaders:

• Karen Dynan, Harvard economist and former Treasury official
• Raghuram Rajan, former Reserve Bank of India governor
• Jeremy Stein, Harvard economist and former Fed governor

Their Mission: Evaluate how the Fed should manage its balance sheet and asset holdings.

Warsh has been an outspoken critic of the Fed's large post-crisis balance sheet. This task force includes economists with deep experience in central banking and financial markets.

Data

Leaders:

• Raj Chetty, Harvard economist
• Doug McMillon, former Walmart CEO
• Kevin Murphy, University of Chicago economist

Their Mission: Recommend ways the Fed can improve the data it uses to understand the economy.

McMillon brings a real-time business perspective from one of the nation's largest retailers, while Chetty is known for pioneering the use of big data in economics.

Productivity and Jobs

Leaders:

• Marc Andreessen, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz
• Charles I. Jones, Stanford economist
• Asha Sharma, CEO of XBOX

Their Mission: Study how artificial intelligence and technological change are affecting productivity, employment, and economic growth.

This is arguably the highest-profile panel. Andreessen has been one of Silicon Valley's most vocal AI advocates, while Sharma leads Microsoft's XBOX business, with both bringing firsthand experience developing next-gen tools.

Inflation Frameworks

Leaders:

• Greg Mankiw, Harvard economist
• Thomas J. Sargent, Nobel Prize-winning economist
• William White, former chief economist at the Bank for International Settlements

Their Mission: Review the Fed's inflation framework and its measures of price stability.

The panel features three of the world's best-known monetary economists. Warsh has suggested the Fed should reconsider how it thinks about inflation as the economy evolves.

• Disney leaders are discussing a potential Disney+ free tier, two inside sources say.
• TV viewers have embraced free streamers like YouTube as paid services have become more expensive.
• Disney and its peers are also experimenting with short-form vertical video to capture attention.

Disney is exploring making some of its streaming content available at an unbeatable price: free.

The Mouse House is discussing making some content accessible on Disney+ without a paywall, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Product and tech chief Adam Smith spoke about enabling free-tier content during a streaming town hall on Thursday afternoon, one staffer said. Smith didn't share a timeline for this initiative or a sense of the scope, this person added.

A person familiar with Disney's streaming strategy said these talks are part of an ongoing discussion about concepts to better serve fans.

Currently, the Disney+ and Hulu bundle costs $12.99 a month with ads or $19.99 without ads at full price.

Free streaming services like YouTube have become popular with audiences, generating significant growth in viewership share on US-based TVs compared to their paid peers, according to Nielsen data. The three largest free streamers accounted for 18.7% of watch time on US TVs in April, up from 16.8% a year earlier and 12.7% in April 2024.

As paid streamers have raised prices, consumers have increasingly sought out free content on YouTube and on ad-supported services like Tubi and The Roku Channel. (Tubi parent Fox is planning to double down on free streaming by buying Roku for $22 billion.)

A free tier could help Disney+ stand out among paid streamers. Apple TV and Paramount+ let users sample some full episodes, but paid streaming services generally don't have robust free offerings.

Disney and its Hollywood peers are also looking to boost engagement by embracing new formats like short-form video, podcasts, and micro dramas, which are bite-sized vertical shows.

In recent months, Disney has added vertical clips to its flagship streaming app, as has Paramount+. Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro has told staffers he's prioritizing "product and technology innovation" in streaming.

Netflix announced this week that it's adding 3- to 20-minute videos next month from publishers like BuzzFeed Studios, Condé Nast, Hearst Magazines, Penske Media, and People Inc. The streaming giant made a major move into video podcasts earlier this year and has also dabbled in vertical video.

• Elon Musk previously criticized Anthropic over its business practices and its AI model behavior.
• In recent weeks, the SpaceX CEO made an about-face, praising his rival.
• Anthropic has a partnership with SpaceX to access computing power from Colossus 1.

Elon Musk has kinder words for his rival — and now business partner — Anthropic.

In recent weeks, the CEO of SpaceX has struck a friendlier posture toward his competitor, praising Anthropic's team and its progress with its AI models. It's a notable about-face from the man who once called Anthropic "hypocritical," "woke," and an inevitable loser in the AI race.

In an X post on Thursday, Musk said outright that he was "clearly wrong about Anthropic."

"They are obviously currently the leader in AI. No company has released a model as good as Mythos/Fable and they will undoubtedly have Mythos 2 ready soon," Musk wrote, referring to Anthropic's latest model releases.

In May, the two companies announced a deal that would give Anthropic access to compute capacity from SpaceX's Colossus 1 data center. Anthropic said the deal would give it access to more than 300 megawatts of capacity or more than 220,000 Nvidia GPUs.

SpaceX's S-1 filing showed that Anthropic agreed to pay $1.25 billion a month through May 2029 for compute power; though either side can terminate the agreement with 90 days' notice.

The warmer tone is a sharp shift from the comments Musk has previously made about the Claude maker.

In January, Musk joked that Anthropic's "fate is to be misanthropic." In February, he accused the company of stealing training data "at massive scale" and called it "smug, sanctimonious and hypocritical." Later that month, he wrote that "Anthropic hates Western Civilization." In March, he asked, "Is there a more hypocritical company than Anthropic?" and called Claude "woke," accusing the company of instilling left-wing bias into its models.

Musk also dismissed Anthropic's chances in the AI race. Last September, he wrote that "winning was never in the set of possible outcomes for Anthropic."

Rivals, not enemies

Musk's latest comment, deeming Anthropic a leader in AI, came in response to an X user who said SpaceX now has a "legitimate frontier model" that competes with Claude Opus 4.8.

"Also, Anthropic is completely reliant on the compute rented from SpaceXAI," the X user wrote. "If Elon wanted to kill anthropic, he could."

Musk responded that he was clearly wrong about Anthropic and that he "would never cut them off in a way that hurt them badly, even as a competitor."

"That's not my style," the CEO wrote.

Musk has praised Anthropic several times in the weeks after the partnership's announcement. And the recognition has extended beyond Anthropic's models.

"I spent a lot of time last week with senior members of the Anthropic team to understand what they do to ensure Claude is good for humanity and was impressed," Musk wrote on May 6, the day the partnership was publicly announced. "Everyone I met was highly competent and cared a great deal about doing the right thing. No one set off my evil detector. So long as they engage in critical self-examination, Claude will probably be good."

Musk, though, hasn't forgotten that Anthropic is a rival to his own AI ambitions.

"Space(XAI) is only 3 years old. That's half the age of Anthropic and quarter the age of OpenAI," he wrote on May 26. "Let's see where things stand 3 years from now."

Spokespeople for Anthropic and SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

Sky TV has emerged as one of the leading television providers in the UK. While any long-term plan adds up over time, the best Sky TV deals and plans can keep your spending to a minimum.

We've rounded up some of the best Sky TV deals and plans that are active at the time of writing. These plans feature Sky Stream, which means that you can stream your viewing options over WiFi without any extra hardware. Some deals offer you Sky's lowest ever price, while other plans are just handy bundles. All options throw in access to ad-supported Netflix and Discovery Plus, and some bundles also include HBO Max, Disney Plus, and Hayu.

Just keep in mind that most Sky plans and services are available through long-term contracts (usually 24-month commitments), so it's important to read the fine print before signing up. Sky's website notes that prices may change during the 24-month contract. Most deals only apply to new Sky TV customers.

Sky TV also offers a "build your own" option, with plans starting at £15 a month, and other packages that require a satellite dish or other equipment. If you'd prefer to browse plans at your own leisure, you can head directly to Sky TV's deals page.

FAQ

How can you watch Sky TV?

Sky TV is available across a variety of devices, so you're not just confined to watching on your TV at home. The Sky Go app, for on-the-go streaming, is available on phones, tablets, and laptops.

What channels are in the base packs?

All the Sky TV plans we've highlighted include one of the two base packs, either Sky Essential or Sky Ultimate. Sky Essential includes Sky Atlantic (plus Netflix and Discovery Plus) and over 100 other channels. Sky Ultimate carries everything found in Sky Essential, in addition to more than 30 premium channels (such as Sky Max and Sky Witness). Ultimate also offers access to Disney Plus, HBO Max, and Hayu.

Are there other Sky TV deals?

Sky also has several deals when you bundle broadband and TV. The broadband deals offer anywhere from 150 to 900 Mbps full fibre broadband with Sky Essential or Sky Ultimate TV (plus other add-ons, such as Sky Sports or Sky Cinema and various streaming services). Prices range from £35 to £41 a month.

Do you need broadband to use Sky?

A broadband connection is a necessity for both the Sky Stream puck and Sky Glass TV. Sky recommends a minimum speed of 25Mbps. This minimum requirement could change depending on your desired package. Watching in UHD or adding an extra Sky Stream puck device will bring that minimum up to at least 30Mbps.

You can explore a full roundup of current deals on the Sky website. For additional savings opportunities, check out our guide to the best streaming deals and bundles.

Spain and Belgium meet in a blockbuster World Cup quarterfinal with a place in the semifinals on the line. After impressive wins over Portugal and the United States, respectively, the two European contenders now face off in one of the tournament's biggest matches, making this one of the hottest tickets remaining at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

With demand expected to keep climbing, fans hoping to attend in person shouldn't wait too long to secure seats. We've rounded up everything you need to know about buying Spain vs. Belgium tickets, including where to find resale inventory, what prices look like, and how availability compares across major marketplaces. Check StubHub and Vivid Seats for the latest listings, as ticket prices and inventory can change quickly leading up to kickoff.

Where to buy Spain vs. Belgium tickets

Tickets didn't last long when they were initially released for the World Cup. That said, last-second shoppers can hope to find seats, albeit at inflated prices, from the verified resale market.

July 10 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA

• StubHub seats starting from $1,129
• Vivid Seats starting from $1,097

How much are Spain vs. Belgium tickets?

Spain vs. Belgium is one of the most expensive tickets for the World Cup quarterfinals, with two European giants battling for a place in the semifinals. On StubHub, the least expensive tickets currently start at around $1,100, while premium lower-bowl and midfield seats climb to roughly $9,000. The priciest VIP and hospitality listings exceed $135,000, making this one of the costliest matches remaining in the tournament.

Vivid Seats isn't far off, with entry-level tickets beginning at about $1,100 before fees. Most lower-level seats are listed between $4,000 and $8,000, while premium VIP inventory tops out at roughly $12,400.

Who is on the Spain and Belgium teams for the 2026 World Cup?

If you're keeping tabs on a favorite player, here's the official lineup for Spain's squad.

• Unai Simón — Goalkeeper
• David Raya — Goalkeeper
• Joan García — Goalkeeper

• Marc Pubill — Defender
• Álex Grimaldo — Defender
• Eric García — Defender
• Marcos Llorente — Defender
• Pedro Porro — Defender
• Aymeric Laporte — Defender
• Pau Cubarsí — Defender
• Marc Cucurella — Defender

• Mikel Merino — Midfielder
• Fabián Ruiz — Midfielder
• Gavi — Midfielder
• Álex Baena — Midfielder
• Rodri — Midfielder
• Martín Zubimendi — Midfielder
• Pedri — Midfielder

• Ferran Torres — Forward
• Dani Olmo — Forward
• Yeremy Pino — Forward
• Nico Williams — Forward
• Lamine Yamal — Forward
• Mikel Oyarzabal — Forward
• Víctor Muñoz — Forward
• Borja Iglesias — Forward

Rooting for the other team? Here's who will represent Belgium at the match:

• Thibaut Courtois — Goalkeeper
• Senne Lammens — Goalkeeper
• Mike Penders — Goalkeeper

• Zeno Debast — Defender
• Arthur Theate — Defender
• Brandon Mechele — Defender
• Maxim De Cuyper — Defender
• Thomas Meunier — Defender
• Koni De Winter — Defender
• Joaquin Seys — Defender
• Timothy Castagne — Defender
• Nathan Ngoy — Defender

• Axel Witsel — Midfielder
• Kevin De Bruyne — Midfielder
• Youri Tielemans — Midfielder
• Diego Moreira — Midfielder
• Hans Vanaken — Midfielder
• Alexis Saelemaekers — Midfielder
• Nicolas Raskin — Midfielder
• Amadou Onana — Midfielder

• Romelu Lukaku — Forward
• Leandro Trossard — Forward
• Jérémy Doku — Forward
• Dodi Lukebakio — Forward
• Charles De Ketelaere — Forward
• Matias Fernandez-Pardo — Forward

Where can I watch Spain vs. Belgium live?

Depending on where you are in the country, the Spain vs. Belgium match can be streamed on a live TV channel, a free online service, or a VPN. Learn more about which option works best for you in our guide to streaming the 2026 World Cup, and check out NordVPN to watch the game from anywhere in the world

Note: VPN use is illegal in certain countries, and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content may constitute a breach of the terms of use for some services. Business Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

See more: Is StubHub legit? | Where to buy World Cup tickets | Where to watch the World Cup

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The third Grand Slam of the year comes to a close this weekend. We've scoured the international viewing options and compiled everything you need to know about where to watch Wimbledon, including free and global streaming options.

With World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and defending champion Iga Świątek eliminated, the women's title is up for grabs. Karolína Muchová will head to the final after defeating Coco Gauff in a tight three-set match that ended in a tie-breaker. Muchová will face Linda Nosková, who beat Marta Kostyuk in straight sets in the semis.

Reigning men's champion and World No. 1 Jannik Sinner is still in the race, but he'll need to get through Novak Djokovic if he wants a spot in the final. Alexander Zverev and wild card sensation Arthur Fery will battle it out in the semis.

If you don't want to read any further, you can live stream Wimbledon on ESPN Unlimited in the US, free on BBC iPlayer in the UK, and free on 9Now in Australia. You can access your favorite watch options from anywhere with a VPN. Keep reading to learn additional worldwide streaming options.

Where to watch Wimbledon for free

Fans in several countries are in luck, as Wimbledon coverage is available for free in a few regions. In the UK, the host nation has full coverage across the BBC, meaning viewers can live stream the action for free via BBC iPlayer. Australia will also have select free coverage available on 9Now.

In the US, fans can take advantage of a free trial from a live TV service, such as Fubo or YouTube TV.

How to watch Wimbledon from anywhere

If you're a tennis fan who's away from the location of your streaming service, you can still access your free watch option with the help of a VPN. These virtual private networks are handy tech tools that let people temporarily alter their digital locations. They're popular apps among those looking to access their usual websites and apps while traveling abroad or hoping to upgrade their cybersecurity.

NordVPN is one of the best VPNs on the market. It's fast, user-friendly, and has a 30-day money-back guarantee if you find that it's not what you're looking for. You can also use this to watch a free World Cup stream for every game.

Where to watch Wimbledon in the US

In the US, Wimbledon TV coverage is available across ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC. You can live stream all of the action with an ESPN Unlimited subscription, which carries all of the linear broadcasts along with full live streams of all matches. ESPN Unlimited subscriptions cost $30 a month.

If you'd prefer something with a free trial or other channels beyond ESPN's, one of the best live TV streaming services might be of interest. Fubo and YouTube TV are our top two recommendations right now.

Fubo carries ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC in its Sports + News, Pro, and Elite plans, which start at $65 a month. You can also get access to ESPN Unlimited at no extra cost when you sign up for these plans. All plans include a free trial for new customers, and you can often get additional discounts on your first month.

YouTube TV also offers access to ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC in both its main and sports plans. Through August 31, new users can get $15 a month off the main plan for five months straight, bringing subscriptions down from $83 a month to $68 a month. The sports plan is also discounted for new customers, with plans going for $55 a month for 12 months (instead of the standard $65 a month rate). YouTube TV offers a free trial for first-time customers.

Where to watch Wimbledon in the UK

The host nation will offer comprehensive free coverage of Wimbledon through the BBC. Matches will air across BBC channels, and people can live stream all the action on BBC iPlayer. Fans need to create an account if they don't already have one, and then they're all set to start watching.

Where to watch Wimbledon in Australia

9Now will carry free Wimbledon coverage on several matches in Australia. Users will need to make an account if they don't already have a login. To watch absolutely every match, fans will need a paid Stan Sport subscription, which costs $32 a month ($12 for a base Stan subscription, and then $20 for the Sport add-on).

Who is favored to win Wimbledon 2026?

Heading into the tournament, Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka were favored to win Wimbledon. Now, on DraftKings (at the time of writing), Sinner is the -230 men's favorite, and Karolína Muchová is the -125 women's favorite.

Did Serena Williams play at Wimbledon?

Serena Williams' return to professional singles tennis has been the biggest story to come out of Wimbledon so far. She played her first pro singles match in almost four years on a wild card entry, but ultimately lost to Maya Joint in the first round. Williams was also scheduled to compete in the doubles portion of the tournament alongside her sister, Venus Williams, but Serena Williams tweaked her knee during the singles match and had to withdraw from doubles.

Note: VPN use is illegal in certain countries, and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content may constitute a breach of the terms of use for some services. Business Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

When everything you need is right at your hip, you can move a lot more freely. There are many iterations of the wearable phone-wallet case, but Bandolier makes the most polished version we've tested. Besides being extremely convenient for us to use, the cases have the luxe look of a fine leather accessory.

Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez have been spotted with them, so naturally, we couldn't wait to test them out. After months of using it, I can say one thing: it's like having pockets!

I no longer have to play the balancing game of clutching my phone and a coffee in one hand while I struggle to unlock my door. It may not seem like much, but for a person who wears women's clothing, the convenience of a pocket is a small miracle.

The Bandolier Remi set with accessories

How I wear my Bandolier

On the left, I added the wallet and AirPods case for times when I want this to fully replace a purse. It's especially useful when I'm running out the door to walk my dog, since I can grab my phone, keys, cards, and earbuds without thinking about a bag. I also use it this way for grocery runs because my phone is easy to access for my list, and I'm not juggling a purse on top of reusable totes.

On the right is how I carry my phone when I'm actually using a purse. The wristlet keeps my phone secure and easy to grab, so I'm not digging around in my bag every time I need it. It's also handy for weddings, dinners, and other events where I might set my purse down but still want my phone close for taking photos.

Review of the Remi case

The Remi case is one of those accessories that actually makes everyday life easier. It's convenient when I'm running errands, walking the dog, traveling, or anytime I want my phone within reach without digging through a bag. The leather feels high-quality, the hardware looks polished, and Bandolier makes it in so many colors and finishes that it feels more like a style choice than just a practical phone case.

It's also been protective in my experience. I once dropped my phone on concrete, and my iPhone itself didn't have a scratch, which made me feel much more confident using it as my everyday case. That said, the gold border did get a noticeable scuff from the fall, which was disappointing given how expensive the case is — especially if you're hoping it will stay looking pristine over time.

My thoughts on the add-ons

The AirPods pouch feels pretty necessary for me because I use my AirPods constantly, and it keeps them from disappearing into the bottom of a bag. My one complaint is that the fold-over flap makes it a little awkward to actually open the AirPods case, so it's not quite as seamless as carrying them loose.

Still, I'd rather deal with the extra step than misplace my AirPods, and I like that the pouch clips onto the Bandolier case, keys, or an everyday bag.

The wristlet is probably my favorite add-on because it makes the case work in more situations. When I'm carrying a purse, I can keep the phone itself on my wrist instead of constantly digging for it, and it's perfect for events when I want my phone close but don't want to hold onto my whole bag.

Sally's thoughts on her older Bandolier model

Our Executive Editor, Sally Kaplan, has been a fan of Bandolier for many years. In fact, she still uses her older, discontinued case, and it's gotten her through travel, day trips, and more. Here are her thoughts:

I use my Bandolier phone case and carrying strap literally every day. I've always used phone cases with wallets attached, so I was familiar with the convenience, but once I added the strap, it was game over,

After more than two years of daily use, my Bandolier case is still in excellent shape. I gave one to my mom as well last year, and she uses it every day. She's notorious for losing her phone, but she hasn't misplaced it or left it anywhere a single time since! We both get compliments on it all the time, and I'm quick to recommend them to friends and family. I'm sure there are cheaper dupes on Amazon, but I think the leather quality is a big part of why these hold up so well.

I have a couple of these cases and straps, including the one above with a Gucci-esque design, and this pebbled leather one that has a slightly longer strap.  I literally never carry a purse with me anymore unless I'm going to a formal event, and I never lose my phone anymore.

Cons to consider

You should be aware that Bandolier phone cases are slightly bulkier than normal phone cases, which might be a downside for people who want to keep the case on their phone all the time. The place where the straps connect makes the bottom part a little thicker than you might be used to. 

If you want to keep a normal, thinner case on your phone and then swap to the Bandolier case when needed, it can be a little tricky to pop in and out at first. The case is super sturdy, so it cradles your phone tightly, but after using it for a while and popping it in and out, it loosened enough that it was no longer tricky to put it on my phone.

Our deputy executive editor, Lauren Savoie, also noted that the straps don't feel long enough for tall and plus-size bodies: "As someone who is 5'11" and plus size, I felt like the strap was awkwardly resting at my waist instead of near the hip, even on the longest setting." Bandolier makes longer straps, but you have to buy them separately.

Lastly, Bandolier cases are primarily made for iPhones. For Samsung users we recommend instead its crossbody bag collection, which have slip pockets compatible with most models.

The bottom line

If you or someone you're gift shopping is in need of more pocket space, then Bandolier is worth the try. It's super convenient for carrying your phone and wallet while being hands-free. There are also lots of helpful add-ons for making it a complete companion.

Sphere has quickly become one of Las Vegas' most talked-about entertainment venues, drawing visitors with its towering LED exterior, wraparound interior display, immersive audio system, and one-of-a-kind concert experience. Since opening in 2023, the venue has hosted blockbuster residencies and special events that are difficult to replicate anywhere else. If you're hoping to catch a show, we've rounded up everything you need to know about buying Sphere tickets and finding the best seats.

The venue made its concert debut with U2's residency, which helped showcase what Sphere's technology could do for live music. Since then, artists including the Eagles, Dead & Company, Backstreet Boys, Kenny Chesney, and other major touring acts have brought their own productions to the venue, establishing Sphere as one of the hottest stops on the Las Vegas Strip.

Because many Sphere performances sell out quickly, tickets often end up on the resale market soon after primary sales begin. Below, you'll find the latest Sphere event schedule, ticket prices, and tips on where to buy seats, including current listings from trusted resale marketplaces like StubHub and Vivid Seats.

Las Vegas Sphere 2026 schedule

The Last Vegas Sphere hosts “Sphere Experiences,” visual shows that incorporate sight, sound, and immersion, as well as “Live at the Sphere” performances featuring world-renowned artists.

How to buy Las Vegas Sphere tickets

Original tickets for events at the Las Vegas Sphere are available for purchase on Ticketmaster. Depending on the event, date, and seating location, ticket availability can vary. As summer kicks off and people travel to Vegas for vacation, it is expected that certain dates, such as weekends or popular evening times, may have less availability remaining.

Tickets are also available from verified resale vendors such as StubHub and Vivid Seats for both concerts at the Sphere and its visual experience-based events. Please check the chart above for event-specific links to StubHub and Vivid Seats.

How much are Las Vegas Sphere tickets?

Ticket prices for events at the Las Vegas Sphere vary by event, date, and demand. There are two types of event categories at the Sphere: Sphere experiences and Sphere live performances. Experiences, in general, have multiple showings a day and thus have more ticket availability, which affects pricing based on demand. Live performances are typically more exclusive, with limited showings and events held over a narrower range of dates.

Currently, original tickets from Ticketmaster and resale vendor tickets from StubHub and Vivid Seats are very similar in price. However, there may be some fluctuation when looking for last-minute tickets, especially to Sphere experiences (V-U2, The Wizard of Oz, and Postcard From Earth).

The least expensive Sphere tickets are for the Insomniac X Tomorrowland: UNITY live experience, which starts at $47 on StubHub and $45 on Vivid Seats. Tickets for the Eagles are priced the most expensive at the Sphere, with the most affordable options starting at $335 on StubHub and $349 on Vivid Seats. These prices are before additional taxes and fees.

Who is performing at the Las Vegas Sphere?

Sphere's lineup over the next year is stacked with big-name residencies and limited runs. According to Sphere's official show page, Kenny Chesney's residency will end on July 11, followed by the Backstreet Boys' return on July 16. Carín León will have the stage from September 4 to 13, with the Eagles returning yet again from September 18 to December 12 afterward. Metallica will also hit the Sphere, with dates spread from October 1 to March 2027.

See more: Is StubHub legit? | What's showing in Las Vegas

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• New data suggests LinkedIn is filling up with AI-written content.
• Pangram estimates 41% of long-form LinkedIn posts and 30% of short-form ones are AI-generated.
• Podcast star Steven Bartlett stopped using AI on LinkedIn after noticing the prevalence of "slop."

If you're using AI to write your LinkedIn posts, you might want to reconsider.

New data from Pangram suggests LinkedIn has become inundated with AI content. The AI detection firm estimates that 41% of long-form LinkedIn posts and 30% of short-form ones were likely AI-generated, based on its data from April to June. LinkedIn had the highest average among the platforms it tracked, which included X, Reddit, Substack, and Medium.

One prominent creator who noticed this trend and reworked his LinkedIn strategy is "The Diary of a CEO" star Steven Bartlett.

His company, FlightStory, stopped using AI to write LinkedIn posts after noticing that AI was filling up the platform.

"You can really see the AI slop," FlightStory CRO Christiana Brenton previously told Business Insider. "What Steven detected very early on, and as we did for all of our creators, is that when the world swings left, the opportunity is right. What's going to cut through on LinkedIn now more than ever? Actual human-written words. So he now personally and the team write every single piece of social copy and content that goes out into the world."

Posts performed better this way, the company said.

"You'll even notice now if you do follow Steven, there's spelling mistakes and errors, and he doesn't fix them by design," Brenton said. "When you're inundated with AI content, it starts to feel less human."

LinkedIn has moved aggressively to get people to use AI. When you start a new post, a prominent button appears that lets you polish it with AI.

However, the company said it's taking steps to stop "slop" from proliferating.

"While AI can be a helpful tool for refining language, we're seeing a rise in what many call 'AI slop,' content that is low-effort, AI-generated content that may sound polished on the surface but lacks any real unique perspective or substance," the company wrote in June.

As companies race to adopt AI, some people have gotten more skeptical about the tech. Gartner found that half of the 1,539 people in the US it surveyed in October preferred to do business with companies that don't use AI in their messaging.

We've reached the point where people are going to extreme lengths to prove they're not a bot. A Use.AI survey this year found that 39% of 12,600 people surveyed across the US, UK, EU, and Latin America were going so far as to change how they wrote, specifically to avoid sounding AI, by shortening sentences and removing the telltale AI sign: em dashes. Yikes.

So go ahead, add AI skills to your profile. But when it comes to posting, you might want to follow Bartlett's lead.

Summer heat calls for lightweight and cooling bedding. It's time to switch out your thick, puffy comforter with something more airy and breathable. For hot sleepers in particular, the best cooling comforters can keep night sweats at bay and prevent overheating.

I spent weeks trying the buzziest designs, evaluating everything from high-tech phase-change materials to naturally breathable eucalyptus, and spoke with sleep experts to find the best comforter for hot sleepers. We also have suggestions for turning your bed into a cooling oasis, including the best cooling pillow, sheets, mattress, and topper.

Our picks for the best cooling comforters for hot sleepers

Best overall cooling comforter: Rest Evercool Cooling Comforter - See at Rest 

Runner up: Slumber Cloud UltraCool Comforter - See at Slumber Cloud

Best cooling comforter for night sweats: Sijo AiryWeight Eucalyptus Comforter - See at Sijo

Best value cooling comforter: Silk & Snow Down Alternative Comforter - See at Silk & Snow

Best cool-to-the-touch cooling comforter: Coop Sleep Goods Cool+ Blanket - See at Coop Sleep Goods

Best bamboo cooling comforter: Cozy Earth Bamboo Comforter - See at Cozy Earth

Best down cooling comforter: Lands' End Essential Down Comforter - See at Lands' End

Best overall

Our undisputed champion for heatwave survival. The Rest Evercool Comforter quickly became a standout favorite during testing. It's one of the coolest comforters I've ever tested — my husband and I never woke up hot or sweating, even during a heat wave. Incredibly lightweight, it feels soothingly light and airy, making it a joy to snuggle into thanks to its soft, silky, smooth nylon-and-spandex shell.  

A high-tech fabric blend that actively banishes sweat. It's reversible and comes in a variety of colors, including my personal favorite, aqua blue. Crafted from a blend of natural Tencel and Sorona, an eco-friendly fiber made from renewable, plant-based materials, the Rest comforter offers exceptional breathability and moisture-wicking capabilities. Washing it was a breeze, and it retained its shape perfectly without clumping, shrinking, or stretching. 

Hypoallergenic, eco-friendly, and pet-friendly. The added benefits of a 30-night return policy (as long as it's in its original packaging), a one-year warranty, Oeko-Tex certification, and hypoallergenic properties make it even more appealing. I was pleasantly surprised to find no cat hair sticking to it — a bonus feature for pet owners.

A few quirks to keep in mind. It is strictly a comforter, lacks loops for use with a duvet cover, and can slide easily when paired with silky cooling sheets. As someone who doesn't typically run hot, I woke up feeling chilly at least once. Unlike me, my husband, a hot sleeper, reported waking up feeling comfortably cool throughout our testing period. Overall, though, the Rest Evercool comforter lives up to its promise for hot sleepers, effectively managing sweat and moisture for a truly restful night's sleep. 

Runner up

The perfect compromise between high-tech cooling and traditional coziness. If you want the active temperature regulation of our Best Overall pick but refuse to give up the puffy, substantial feel of a classic duvet, the Slumber Cloud UltraCool Comforter is an exceptional runner-up. Compared to the others we tried, we loved how puffy and easy to maneuver it is. Throughout our testing, neither my husband nor I felt uncomfortably warm — the shell feels cool to the touch and effectively prevents heat buildup, keeping us comfortable all night long.

NASA-engineered temperature control. While many cooling blankets feel overly thin, this one provides a comforting, cozy weight without trapping body heat. The secret is the Outlast ClimaDry fiberfill—a phase-change material originally developed for NASA. Instead of just letting air pass through, this high-tech fill actively absorbs, stores, and releases your body heat, adapting in real-time to your temperature fluctuations.

Practical features and a lightweight alternative. Wrapped in a silky nylon-and-spandex shell, the blanket feels instantly refreshing to slip under. It maintains its shape beautifully after washing and features convenient corner loops for securing it inside a duvet cover. If the UltraCool sounds too puffy for your setup, Slumber Cloud also makes a lightweight version. We tested both and found them equally effective at temperature control, though we preferred the plushness of the UltraCool.

Best for night sweats

If waking up drenched is your biggest sleep hurdle, this is your solution. When night sweats are your primary concern, standard breathability isn't enough—you need active moisture wicking. The Sijo AiryWeight Eucalyptus Comforter proved to be an absolute game changer during our heatwave testing. I had one of the most refreshing and comfy sleep experiences using this comforter — even through warmer nights.

Eucalyptus is one of the best materials for hot sleepers. What really impressed me was how cool, silky, and soft it felt against my skin. The Tencel lyocell shell and fill are spun from eucalyptus wood pulp, a material that is naturally superior to cotton at absorbing moisture and dissipating heat. What really impressed us was the silky, cool-to-the-touch feel against the skin. Instead of waking up clammy, the eucalyptus fibers actively kept the heat at bay, ensuring we actually stayed dry all night long.

Bonus: It stays incredibly fresh. Because sweat can lead to bacteria buildup, Sijo treats this comforter with a silver-ion antimicrobial finish. It is also Oeko-Tex approved and certified asthma & allergy friendly, making it a pristine, eco-friendly choice that tackles overheating and sensitivities all at once.

Best value

A breathable, cloud-like feel without the premium price tag. The Silk & Snow Down Alternative Comforter was a delightful surprise in terms of both comfort and value. The lightweight version with a lower 175 GSM (grams per square meter) fill is ideal for those who tend to overheat at night. It strikes a perfect balance of cool and cozy. During our tests on warmer nights, it effectively dissipated heat, ensuring we woke up feeling comfortably cozy without overheating. 

It's an excellent value. Though I was initially skeptical about its affordability compared to other options, I was pleasantly surprised by its luxurious feel and the quality of its materials. The 100% cotton exterior provides excellent breathability, and the vegan microfiber fill gives it a plush, down-like sensation. It's also available in all-season and winter weights of 375 GSM and 500 GSM, respectively. 

It fits perfectly in a duvet cover. It has retained its softness and plushness remarkably well after multiple washes. Practical features like built-in corner loops to keep the duvet insert in place and a handy storage bag added to its functionality. I recommend the Silk & Snow to anyone looking for a cozy, budget-friendly cooling comforter that doesn't compromise on quality. 

Best cool-to-the-touch

An immediate, icy-cool sensation the second you slip under the covers. I've really come to love Coop's products because they consistently exceed expectations, and its Cool+ blanket is no exception. If you're a hot sleeper looking for a refreshing, cool-to-the-touch option, the Cool+ Blanket is a fantastic choice. Coop's cooling technology disperses more heat than bamboo, silk, or other popular synthetics. The breathable yet super-soft blend of nylon and spandex maintains an optimal temperature, allowing heat to dissipate throughout the night.

Ultra-lightweight fabric that actively disperses trapped body heat. I've used this comforter everywhere, from the bed to the couch, and it remains lump-free even after multiple washes. It's light, airy, and silky-smooth, making every night's sleep a delight — and yes, I've continued using it even after testing. The comforter effectively dissipated heat, maintained a comfortable temperature, and cooled down quickly.

A neck-and-neck performance rival to our top pick. There was a slight initial odor, which vanished completely after the first wash. Now, it's perfect. It's become one of my favorites, offering exceptional quality and effectiveness at a fraction of the cost of other options. Deciding between this one and the Rest Evercool was tough. The Evercool is our overall pick because it's available in more color options, is hypoallergenic, and pet-friendly. But performance-wise, they come very close, both offering that refreshing, cooling sensation that hot sleepers seek for relief. It also lacks loops for use with a duvet cover.

Best bamboo

The ultimate eco-luxury splurge for a resort-quality bed. Thanks to its natural breathability, moisture-wicking properties, and temperature control, the Cozy Earth Bamboo Comforter is the top pick for anyone seeking a natural bamboo option that feels cool-to-the-touch. Its luxurious bamboo viscose fabric shell and fill are crafted to naturally regulate temperature.

Naturally temperature-regulating viscose that drapes like cool silk. Once unpacked from its beautiful canvas bag with leather straps, I was pleasantly surprised by how nicely it fluffed up. It molds around my body without trapping heat, providing a lightweight feel that keeps us cool and dry. Both my husband and I agree — it kept us refreshed, cozy, and feeling like royalty all night long. However, my husband, being the hot sleeper, did mention feeling a bit warm in the morning once during testing on a particularly humid night, though it was far from uncomfortably hot.

High maintenance, but worth the investment. The higher price tag forces me to be more conscientious about care and maintenance. Using a protective duvet cover is a must. Plus, since it's strictly spot or dry clean only, it's crucial not to risk washing it incorrectly if you're investing in this pricier option. Overall, it's an excellent choice for sleepers seeking naturally temperature-regulating, responsibly sourced bamboo suitable for year-round use.

Best down

The classic, fluffy down experience — re-engineered for summer. The Lands' End Essential Down Comforter strikes just the right balance between warmth and breathability. Its lower 550 fill power makes all the difference in maintaining a plush feel without trapping heat, making it a good choice for hot summer nights.

Lower fill power stops sweat but retains loft. I loved the feel, but it might not appeal to those looking for a thicker, more plush comforter — though cooling comforters are generally thinner to minimize heat retention. The cotton sateen shell adds a touch of elegance and evokes the cozy luxury of high-end hotels. We looked forward to snuggling into it every night during testing. What impressed us the most was its ability to stay light and airy despite the down fill.

The ideal compromise for those who sleep just slightly warm. My husband, the hot sleeper, mentioned getting a tad warm at least once during testing, but he quickly cooled down after briefly uncovering to cool off, then covered up again. The comforter features fabric loops for securing in a duvet cover and a handy storage bag. Overall, the Lands' End Essential Down comforter is a great option for those who prefer down fill. The comforter is both lightweight and substantial, making it suitable for warmer weather without overheating.

Our top picks compared

What to look for in a cooling comforter

To find the best cooling comforter, consider these essential factors along with your personal preferences and needs: 

• Breathable fibers: According to sleep specialist Dr. Alex Dimitriu, natural and semi-synthetic fibers—like cotton, bamboo viscose, and Tencel lyocell (often marketed as eucalyptus)—naturally dissipate heat and wick away moisture far better than standard polyester. Look for these materials in both the outer shell and the fill to ensure maximum air circulation.
• Active cooling technology: If you suffer from severe night sweats, standard breathability might not be enough. Look for comforters engineered with phase-change materials (like Slumber Cloud's Outlast fiberfill) or specialized nylon/spandex blends (like the Rest Evercool) that actively absorb body heat and physically feel cool to the touch.
• Loft and weight: Cooling comforters are inherently thinner than traditional winter duvets to prevent heat trapping. Decide whether you prefer the ultra-lightweight, skin-hugging drape of a cooling blanket or a fluffier, traditional feel (such as a low-fill-power down or a specialized down alternative).

• Care requirements: Sweating at night typically requires more frequent laundering. If you want a low-maintenance bed, ensure the shell is machine-washable; otherwise, it may require spot cleaning or dry cleaning to maintain its integrity. When in doubt, check the tag.

• Return policy and trial period: Consider a comforter with a flexible return policy and trial period in case it doesn't meet your expectations. It's important to allow time to adjust to sleep products such as comforters and pillows, and to test their cooling effectiveness. We prioritized options that provide generous trial periods and flexible exchange and return policies.

How we test cooling comforters

Our testing methodology

I tapped into my experience as a certified sleep science consultant and connected with experts like Nishi Bhopal, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist and sleep specialist, Alex Dimitriu, MD, dual board-certified in psychiatry and sleep medicine, and Chris Winter, MD, a neurologist and sleep specialist to evaluate the top cooling comforters on the market, focusing on these key factors that impact sleep quality: 

• Sleep quality testing: I spent 7 consecutive nights personally sleeping with each comforter in a climate ranging from 75 to 90 degrees (during a heat wave), taking notes on comfort and feel, temperature regulation, breathability, heat retention, and cooling capabilities. Additionally, my husband — a natural hot sleeper — joined me in testing the comforters and provided his perspective on how well they performed. 
• Materials and certifications: We took note of each comforter's material, looking for the most innovative and effective cooling technologies, and looked for certifications for quality. 
• Cleaning: We carefully read and followed care instructions, caring for the comforters multiple times to assess long-term durability. Some comforters in this guide are dry clean only or can be spot-cleaned. 
• Shape retention: We dragged the comforters from the bed to the couch and noted any lumps or flattening after washing and sleeping with them. Some, like the Slumber Cloud UltraCool Comforter, require light fluffing after washing. 

Meet the expert behind the guide

Suzy Hernandez, freelance contributor: I'm a certified sleep science consultant with experience in sleep research. Now, I test and review sleep products for a living. I developed the testing methodology for this story and tested our top picks with the help of my husband, who sleeps hot.

Cooling comforter FAQs

How do cooling comforters work?

Cooling comforters work through either active temperature regulation or passive moisture wicking. Active cooling comforters use high-tech phase-change materials (like specialized nylon or Outlast fiberfill) to physically draw heat away from your body. Passive cooling comforters use highly breathable, natural fibers like cotton, eucalyptus, bamboo to quickly evaporate sweat and allow trapped body heat to escape.

What is the best material for a cooling comforter?

The best materials for a cooling comforter are Eucalyptus (Tencel lyocell), Bamboo viscose, and specialized cooling nylon. According to sleep specialist Dr. Alex Dimitriu, these materials naturally dissipate heat and wick away moisture far better than traditional polyester or high-fill-power down

Can cooling comforters help with night sweats and hot flashes?

Yes, cooling comforters can help with night sweats and hot flashes by dissipating heat and creating a cooler sleep environment, but they won't necessarily eliminate them either, according to Dr. Nishi.

Are cooling comforters machine washable?

It depends on the comforter, since blankets with cooling properties can be delicate. Some are machine-washable, while others might require dry cleaning or spot cleaning. Always check the care instructions before washing and drying.

Can I use a duvet cover with a cooling comforter?

Yes, you can use a duvet cover over a cooling comforter, though some comforters may not have duvet loops. I recommend using a duvet cover made of breathable materials like bamboo or cotton to enhance the cooling effect. Putting a thick or synthetic duvet cover over a cooling insert will trap the heat and completely ruin the comforter's temperature-regulating properties. Note that some cool-to-the-touch blankets are designed to be used without a cover.

• There's a big market online for SpaceX branded merch.
• Items linked the company's historic IPO last month are going for a premium.
• From a framed S-1 to $150 glow sticks, here's some of what eBay sellers are offering.

Would you pay $150 for a souvenir cup? No? How about $200 for a cup and a baseball cap? Still no? What if it has the SpaceX logo on it?

There's a colorful and weird market online for such swag, as eBay sellers look to cash in on the hype in the wake of the historic SpaceX IPO last month.

One seller is offering a set of two glow sticks they say were handed out at the IPO launch party for $150. For $228, you can buy a framed S-1. If you really want to splurge, why not pay $5,000 for an "Elon Musk Rookie Card"? While it doesn't appear to be explicitly linked to the IPO, the listing banner reads: "SpaceX IPO Elon Musk! ROOKIE CARD!"

The IPO themed merch is the latest wave of pricey SpaceX gear on the site. There's also this $1,400 set of chopsticks, if you have the means.

"The SpaceX Starship Mechazilla Chopsticks Set COA is a unique and special collectible item," the seller writes. "These chopsticks are milled from the historic chopsticks used to catch the super heavy booster during flight 5 and flight after. This item captures the excitement and progress being made in the realm of space travel, making it a valuable and sought-after piece for collectors and enthusiasts alike."

When SpaceX stock began trading on the Nasdaq in June, its historic debut brought throngs of Musk fans to New York City's Times Square, some of whom dressed in space suits to mark the occasion. Others sported t-shirts with the "Occupy Mars" made famous by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

That t-shirt can be purchased for as little as $15 at Walmart, and compared to other SpaceX collectibles, that's basically free. A few other standout items currently listed on eBay include:

• An unopened pack of five SpaceX branded pens that feature the names of company rockets: $85
• A pack of 6 employee-exclusive SpaceX instant coffee packs: $100 starting price, $250 "buy it now" price
• Brand new authentic black pyramex SpaceX-issued hard hat: $340
• Falcon 9 Carbon Fiber "gently used" SpaceX skateboard: $1,499.00

A search through eBay shows that demand for high-priced SpaceX collectables is indeed there. A collectible champagne plastic cup, described as being from a "SpaceX Nasdaq Listed Launch Party" recently sold for $27 dollars while a separately listed one sold for $56.

Someone has already paid $28 for the same SpaceX stock-branded souvenir cup currently listed for $150 and another has spent $207 on a brand new SpaceX starship kitchen torch.

"Who needs weak matches when you've got the power of Starship in your hands," the listing reads.

• OpenAI integrates Codex into its ChatGPT app, creating a hub for work and AI tools.
• OpenAI's new GPT-5.6 models are designed to meet varying user needs with different price points.
• The wave of models and product releases comes amid fierce competition in both areas.

OpenAI has built a super app for work.

On Thursday, the company announced it is now merging its popular Codex AI coding tool into its ChatGPT desktop app, a move to turn the flagship AI app into a one-stop shop for engineers and other professionals. OpenAI also revealed a Work setting for the ChatGPT app and a batch of state-of-the-art AI models in its new GPT-5.6 family.

The latest wave of releases encapsulates OpenAI's ambitious strategy: train uber-powerful AI models, deliver them to ChatGPT's massive user base, and become an indispensable part of life for millions of workers. ChatGPT has almost 1 billion users, OpenAI engineer Thibault Sottiaux said on a Thursday livestream.

OpenAI, which had an early lead in the industry, is fighting to stay at the forefront of AI capabilities, duking it out release by release with rival Anthropic and trying to stay ahead of Google, Meta, SpaceXAI, and cheaper Chinese AI models. Meta also announced its first paid AI model on Thursday.

OpenAI originally launched Codex as a software engineering tool and has since expanded its reach to a broader market. In June, the company released a report that said areas like data analysis and research were growing faster than traditional coding uses on Codex and that 5 million people use the tool each week.

Codex leader Andrew Ambrosino called Thursday's merger of Codex into ChatGPT "only the first" step: "We're working to unify the experience across web, mobile, and desktop—but we want to do it thoughtfully, not smash two things together with a toggle and call it a day."

On OpenAI's Thursday livestream, Sottiaux and other colleagues showcased the desktop app's new Work feature, which will incorporate popular aspects of Codex, such as the ability to modify a computer's files and to operate autonomously in a browser.

OpenAI has filed the confidential paperwork to go public. The AI competition, government involvement, and research progress could affect the timing of the company's initial public offering.

When asked by CNBC on Thursday if OpenAI would go public this year, CEO Sam Altman said, "I don't know."

Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at scouncil@businessinsider.com, or over text, Signal, Telegram, or WhatsApp at 415-757-8198. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• With three friends, I embarked on a whirlwind road trip to four national parks in six days.
• Limited time at parks led to rushed visits, especially at Yellowstone and Glacier National Park.
• Weather impacted the experience, but overall, the trip was considered a success despite challenges.

In June, three of my friends and I embarked on a long, ambitious, and, at times, tiring road trip from Wyoming to Seattle. We had planned to stop at four national parks in six days, spending a few hours in each.

We knew from the start that we wouldn't be able to see everything in any of the parks, and we were fine with that. When else were we going to fly to Montana or Wyoming?

We wanted our trip to include a mix of national parks, state parks, urban exploration, and open roads.

When we went to Yosemite National Park last October, we wished we could have stayed forever, but we had no regrets about spending one night there, so we assumed the same would be fine this time around.

Seeing four of the most stunning national parks in one week — Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier, and Mount Rainier — was hard to put into words.

However, I felt overwhelmed by how much there was to see and knew I would likely have to return to get the full experience.

We didn't have enough time to explore each place

We spent the most time in Grand Teton National Park, staying two nights in Jackson, Wyoming, at a motel. We spent plenty of time at Jenny Lake, went horseback riding with the mountains in the background, and viewed Grand Teton's snowy peak for hours.

When it came time to go to Yellowstone, though, we calculated we could spend only five hours there, since we had to drive another hour north to Livingston, Montana, to reach our hotel.

As soon as we arrived, we headed straight for Thumb Geyser. It was less crowded than but not as stunning as Old Faithful, which we rushed to 15 minutes later. Then, we bolted to Grand Prismatic Spring.

By then, we were hungry and knew we had to find an open restaurant on the Montana side of the park, so we drove out and stopped for a few pictures along the border.

I was so enamored by Grand Teton that I definitely did not give Yellowstone enough of my enthusiasm and time.

For the next two days, we drove through Montana's major cities, stopping in Bozeman, Helena, Butte, Missoula, and Kalispell en route to Glacier National Park.

Given our tight schedule and an added delay from getting lunch at a restaurant with very slow service, Glacier somehow felt more rushed.

We had time for about an hour of kayaking on Lake McDonald before heading up Going-to-the-Sun Road to Avalanche Lake, where the road had closed due to ice. I left wishing I could have done much more in what many consider America's prettiest national park.

Though we only spent about three hours in Mount Rainier, I was more satisfied with what we saw. The mountain was stunning from every angle, and I didn't feel the longer hikes would have been as fulfilling as staring at Mount Rainier's reflection on the lake.

As the trip progressed, all of the nature seemed to blend together

Every park had its unique beauty, and the mind-bending geysers of Yellowstone complemented the tranquil, deer-filled trails of Glacier.

By the time we got to Mount Rainier, though, I had felt natured-out. We had seen so many waterfalls, valleys, mountains, and wildlife that I almost felt numb to the views at the latter two parks.

On one occasion, we passed by an overlook that I was convinced we had seen before, only to realize it was an entirely different viewpoint.

Aside from the major distinguishing sites, many of the trails and roads in the latter parks felt like repeats of those in the earlier ones we visited, which I'm confident would not have been the case if I had visited them on separate trips.

I know I missed much of the nuance in each park; every moose or bison I saw on the side of the road was just "another bison."

Since our schedule was so tight, we were stuck with whatever weather we got

Given that we only had a few hours in each park except Grand Teton, we had to deal with whatever the weather turned out to be.

We were lucky overall, with mostly clear skies, though we got stuck in a storm at Grand Teton that prevented us from doing more ambitious hikes.

The mountains disappeared behind heavy clouds, and visibility was low. This was also the case in part at Mount Rainier, where clouds blocked most of the mountain at a few viewpoints.

Of course, if we had stayed longer at any of these parks during a rainy week, the outcome could have been worse. Still, our tight schedule left too little of a cushion for adverse weather.

I have no regrets, but I wouldn't do this trip again

After a few weeks of reflection, I have no regrets about how we planned this trip. Every park visit worked out, the road trip was smooth, and everywhere we went was beautiful.

My friends and I paid only $80 combined to get into the parks because we had America the Beautiful annual passes that covered parking, plus entrance and standard-amenity fees. It felt like a great deal, and we can still use our passes until they expire to visit other parks and federal recreational lands around the US.

As much as I wish we'd spent more time at each stop, the reality is we all have limited vacation days, travel budgets, and so much else we want to see in the world.

We probably wouldn't have been able to see all four of these parks in the next few years if we had broken the trip into two or three parts.

Still, I likely would have been able to enjoy the national parks more if I divided the trip into Grand Teton and Yellowstone, then a separate trip doing Glacier, Mount Rainier, and Olympic National Park outside Seattle.

To get the full experience of most of these places, though, I do feel I need to plan some return trips.

• Joe Davis of Vanguard warns AI infrastructure stocks may not offer long-term growth.
• Instead, the unlocked value may lie in eventual AI users, Davis said.
• He highlighted three investment plays that could outperform whether AI stumbles or keeps booming.

How much juice is left for investors to squeeze out of the AI buildout?

That's a question that Joe Davis, Vanguard's global chief economist, is grappling with.

Even accounting for some recent stumbles, hyperscalers and AI hardware makers have seen stellar gains over the last few years. Davis thinks the aggressive spending will continue for another year or two, but he's concerned that it's already priced in.

While popular AI stocks may continue surge in the near-term, Davis warns that the upside won't last, and that it's the AI users that will eventually begin to unlock value and earnings growth.

"History offers a clear lesson here," Davis wrote in a June report for Project Syndicate republished by Vanguard. "The companies building transformative technologies rarely capture the greatest long-term value. Instead, those benefits accrue to the users."

"Electricity created more wealth for manufacturers that could run assembly lines around the clock than for power utilities. The automobile enriched suburban developers and retailers more than the automakers themselves," he continued. "AI may well reproduce this pattern."

That said, Davis said it's time to start positioning for a transition from AI infrastructure stocks to AI beneficiaries.

He highlighted three trades with attractive "risk-return profiles" to play this transition for the next five to 10 years: Value-oriented US stocks, non-US developed markets, and high-quality fixed income.

As examples of the types of firms in these categories who stand to benefit from AI, he pointed to healthcare providers, financial and business services firms, which could automate tasks and offer more personalized services.

"The point is not to abandon technology exposure or try to time the market. It is to recognize that in an AI-transformed world, we will have moved from the current phase, where AI builders dominate, to one where AI users should increasingly command attention," he wrote. "It happens every time a great technology transforms the world."

Not only are these trades well-positioned to get a boost from AI use if the technology lives up to its potential, but they can also act as defensive investments in case the AI trade falters and investors flee from growth stocks, Davis said.

Examples of funds that offer exposure to these trades include the iShares Core S&P US Value ETF (IUSV), the Schwab International Equity ETF (SCHF), and the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND).

• On Thursday, Meta launched a new model, Muse Spark 1.1, for coding and AI agents.
• CEO Mark Zuckerberg said pricing will be "very aggressive," calling out other labs for high costs.
• The move comes as companies throttle their employees' AI spending due to huge bills.

Meta could spark a price war in the booming AI coding market.

The tech giant announced its latest AI model, Muse Spark 1.1, on Thursday, saying it performs well on industry tests for coding and AI agents. It's Meta's first AI model that it charges users for.

In comments on X, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the model has a "very low price."

Zuckerberg called out other AI companies for pricing their chatbots at "very extreme" levels in comments to Bloomberg. He told Bloomberg that the model outperformed Google's Gemini in several categories, including agents, coding, and other capabilities.

"We think that there's a real ability to be able to offer frontier or very high-level intelligence at a much more affordable cost," Zuckerberg told the outlet.

The model, which isn't fully available to developers yet, marks the latest milestone for Meta's AI efforts — and shows the company intends to compete on price.

If Meta's new AI models can compete with widely-used coding tools from rivals like Anthropic, OpenAI, and Cursor, that could represent a huge new source of revenue. Meta's stock was up nearly 2% on Thursday.

Meta's chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, told CNBC that the company will charge $1.25 per million input tokens and $4.25 per million output tokens — lower than the pricing for Google and OpenAI's flagship models.

The cost of using AI has become a growing concern for companies as employees incorporate the technology into more of their day-to-day work. Companies have been throttling their employees' use of AI in recent months as vibe coding takes off. Coinbase, for example, now limits its engineers' weekly AI spending to $500 to $5,000 a week.

Meta quoted one of its customers, AI coding startup Cline, saying that the new AI model's price point makes it easy to run heavy AI coding tasks at scale.

"That combination is rare, and it's exactly why we wanted Cline developers to have access early," Saoud Rizwan, the Cline CEO, said on Meta's website.

Meta is spending massive amounts of cash on AI, raising its capital expenditure guidance for this year to $125-$145 billion, up from a previous estimate of $115-$135 billion. Meta remains highly dependent on its ads business, which accounts for about 98% of its total revenue, according to its first-quarter earnings results.

"We believe Meta is well positioned to generate ample revenue to support its spending, driven by monetization of its own AI initiatives, advertising share gains, incremental subscription revenue, an optionality of cloud offering, and fees for external use of its AI models," BNP Paribas Equity Research senior analyst Nick Jones wrote in a note to investors on Thursday.

Joe Tigay, Equity Armor Investments portfolio manager, said that undercutting prices signals that Meta's AI lags behind Anthropic's and OpenAI's.

"They are forced to compete on price and raw computing real estate rather than model superiority," he told Business Insider.

Meta is also working on a coming AI model codenamed "Watermelon," which Wang said has caught up to one of the latest versions of OpenAI's ChatGPT. The model uses "an order of magnitude" more computing power than Meta's previous model, Wang told staff last week, Business Insider reported earlier.

Meta didn't respond to a request for comment.

Correction: July 9, 2026 — An earlier version of this story misspelled an analyst's name. It should be Nick Jones. This story has also been updated to include Wang's comments to CNBC on the model's pricing.

Have a tip? Contact Charles via email at crollet@businessinsider.com or on Signal and WhatsApp at 628-282-2811. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

The Fitbit Air is Google's latest health tracker, and it's a significant pivot from other Fitbits. It's smaller and sleeker, and unlike most wearables, it doesn't have a screen.

With no display to glance at your step count or check your pace mid-run, the Air is a more passive device than a typical smartwatch. It's still backed by Fitbit's powerhouse heart rate sensors, tracking software, and newly improved Health app, but this is a distinct left turn from the brand's traditional experience. It does its work quietly behind the scenes, and then lets you check in on your sleep, recovery, and daily movement on your phone.

This is also one of the most aesthetically pleasing health trackers I've tested. Its design reads more like a chic accessory than a fitness device. After wearing the Fitbit Air nonstop for two and a half weeks, I found the slim band blended in with just about anything I wore. This meant I was more likely to keep it on through a night out with friends and had more continuous, accurate data.

That said, I definitely got frustrated with the screenless design a handful of times, namely during workouts when I wanted my data instantly on my wrist. The Google Fitbit Air isn't the best Fitbit, nor the perfect fitness watch — but, I would argue, it's the ideal tracker for someone who wants insight into how they're moving and recovering without looking like they're wearing a workout watch.

What I like

It doesn't look like a fitness tracker

The Google Fitbit Air is one of the few fitness wearables among the 15+ I've tested that doesn't immediately announce itself as one. The most obvious reason: It has no watchface.

The device looks somewhat like a bracelet, but it's also remarkably slim and lightweight. At just 12 grams (band included) and 8.3 millimeters thick, the Air is noticeably less bulky than nearly every smartwatch I've tried, including other faceless trackers like the Whoop.

What stands out even more is how visually understated it is as an accessory. I personally don't like the look of a fitness watch outside the gym or lounging at home, so I was impressed that the included Performance Loop Band blended in with most everything I wore. Whether you're in gym clothes or dressing for a dinner out with friends, the Air doesn't scream — or even whisper, really — "I'm tracking my steps."

This meant I wore it way more often and, therefore, had much more accurate tracking of my steps, calorie burn, and overall readiness for the day.

The Google Health app got a serious upgrade

The biggest thing that surprised me while testing the Fitbit Air wasn't the hardware — it was the software.

Fitbit's app has officially migrated to Google Health (available on both iOS and Android), and the redesign feels significantly cleaner and more intuitive than before. Daily metrics like steps, readiness, weekly cardio, and sleep are organized in a way that's easy to scan without digging through multiple menus or charts.

Sleep tracking, in particular, stood out as seriously improved. Over two weeks of wearing the Air through both sound sleep and restless nights, I consistently found the app's explanations of my sleep quality straightforward and genuinely useful. Rather than overwhelming you with graphs or abstract recovery scores, Google Health does a nice job translating its data into practical insights about what actually happened while you slept.

I found the organization, visual layout, and language of this information easier to interpret than some of the data-heavy insights I receive from my Oura Ring. For example, while Oura's analysis of your sleep "efficiency" and "latency" requires some brainpower, Google keeps it straightforward with "time to sound sleep" and "amount of sound sleep."

The Premium Subscription offers a lot of great tools, including Google's new AI coach

The Fitbit Air may be a steal at $100, but you'll need a Google Health Premium subscription to get the most out of your tracker (a three-month free trial is included with purchase).

The free app covers the basics, like daily step count, heart rate, calories burned, basic sleep tracking, and high-level health trends. But for $10/month, the Premium subscription delivers more detailed sleep and recovery analysis, longer-term health insights, and, most of all, access to the new Google Health Coach, which is built with Gemini AI.

This coach can review your objectives and patterns to create a fitness plan tailored to your life, goals, and abilities. The Health Coach is meant to connect trends across your sleep, activity, recovery, heart rate, and longer-term habits — all of which play into what workout you should do today and how hard you should train.

The concept isn't unique — most wearables have some kind of AI coach. But if you've been using Fitbit devices for years, Google's AI coach can leverage all your historical data rather than starting from scratch, as most other brands are forced to do. Instead of simply saying that you slept poorly or walked fewer steps than normal yesterday, the goal here is to identify patterns over time (years, for many brand loyalists) and explain how these recurring habits might be affecting your recovery or fitness progress.

I asked the Google Health Coach for recommendations on my low back pain. It then offered insights on improving my sleep setup, suggested gentle in-bed stretches I could do, and pulled from my recent sleep data to note that restlessness might be adding strain to my back and recommended a restorative yoga flow I should do in the morning.

Even if you're new to Fitbit and it doesn't have much data stored for you, the Google Health Coach is smart enough to ask you questions to deliver the workout plan or sleep advice you might be looking for.

I've tried a lot of AI coaches across Oura, Garmin, and Whoop, and a big advantage I see in Google's is accessibility. The experience is designed for everyday users who want help improving their foundational life, rather than dedicated athletes who want to analyze dozens of training metrics for a 1% advantage on their day.

The basics are still very good

Despite its minimalist design, the Fitbit Air still covers the fundamentals most people actually care about. It continuously tracks heart rate, monitors sleep, records steps, measures blood oxygen overnight, and tracks skin temperature variations for ovulation. It also automatically tracks your activity and workouts (though during testing, I found this was true only for activities like running or other high-intensity movements, not so much for your average daily dog walk).

The battery life is rated for up to seven days, which I found to be accurate as it recorded a week of regular workouts, movement, and sleep.

Setup is refreshingly painless as well. Adding the Air through the Google Health app took only a couple of taps, and it synced quickly without any troubleshooting or disconnects at low battery.

Where it falls short

I missed the screen more than I expected

While the screen-free visual appeal is perhaps the Fitbit Air's biggest sell, it's also responsible for its biggest compromise.

During everyday life, I didn't miss having a screen on my wrist. In fact, I appreciated not being flashed with notifications or feeling tempted to check my wrist every few minutes.

But during exercise, the lack of a screen was a major drawback.

On walks, runs, and bike rides, I repeatedly found myself wanting to see my pace, distance, or heart rate zone. These stats live entirely on your phone — which is not exactly convenient to access when you're panting and moving.

The screenless design is manageable if you're simply trying to move more each day — though you'll need to remember to open the app to check where your step count has landed before you wrap up your day.

But having no screen is much less convenient if you're wearing a Fitbit to track your actual fitness. You can't do zone training or even track your running pace easily with the Fitbit Air.

Google made a fitness tracker for people who don't want to look like they're wearing one. But the trade-off is that it also asks you to interact with it less like a fitness tracker.

It doesn't remind you to move

One of Fitbit's strongest features is its Reminder to Move, which vibrates if you haven't taken at least 250 steps in the last hour. But while every other Fitbit and Google watch has this function, the Fitbit Air does not vibrate or even push a notification on your phone to prompt you to stand and walk around regularly.

This surprised me since I would argue a prompt to move frequently is one of the simplest yet most helpful features any smartwatch could have, especially for the majority of us who sit at a desk for hours Monday through Friday.

When I asked the Google team about this, they said this aligns with the Air being designed for people who prefer a minimalist device without the distraction or stress of notifications. However, they said that this could be a feature they add in the future, and the Air does have the capability to vibrate (which it does at low battery).

To me, this seems like a huge missed opportunity and reinforces the idea that the Air is more of a passive health tracker than a tool to help you actively become fitter and healthier.

The minimalist approach isn't for everyone

Many people buy a Fitbit because it provides small moments of accountability throughout the day: a reminder to move, a quick glance at step count, or confirmation that a walk is getting their heart rate high enough to count as moderate exercise.

Without a screen, those interactions become much more passive.

The Fitbit Air quietly collects your data and presents it later in the app, which some people will love, and others may find less motivating.

How it compares to other screenless wearables

Whoop 5.0 Activity Tracker

Whoop is the most obvious comparison to the Fitbit Air since it's one of the best fitness trackers without a screen. But while the two bands may look similar, they function very differently.

Having tested both, I can confirm Whoop remains the better choice for serious athletes and anyone who wants to optimize training and recovery. Its AI coaching is built around strain, recovery, and long-term performance, with significantly deeper analysis than what Fitbit currently offers. That said, Whoop is more expensive out of the box, requires a pricier membership, and presents a lot of unnecessary information unless you're worried about optimizing your recovery.

The Fitbit Air is smaller, sleeker-looking, significantly cheaper, and generally more approachable for someone who simply wants to move more, sleep better, and keep tabs on getting enough movement throughout the week.

Oura Ring 4

Perhaps surprisingly, I would describe the Fitbit Air as most comparable to the Oura Ring. In real-world use, both are screen-free designs that prioritize passive health tracking over real-time workout metrics (though each can show in-the-moment workout stats if you look in the app). Both record and translate your health and fitness data to encourage better sleep, recovery, and movement throughout the day and week. And neither bothers you with notifications throughout the day, except for the occasional update on how close you are to your activity goal.

A few major differences: The Oura Ring is even more discreet, as it sits on your finger rather than your wrist. The Oura Ring is arguably more accurate at recording super nuanced biometrics because it's fitted with more sensors, and its app interface caters more toward optimizing your health, whereas Google's interface focuses more on fitness and recovery. Most of all, the Oura Ring 4 starts at $349 while the Fitbit Air is just $100.

Should you buy the Fitbit Air?

The Google Fitbit Air is an exciting, modern launch for the brand, and, moreover, it fills a big hole in the health wearables market: A sleek, faceless fitness tracker that blends in out of the gym and has both the hardware to log your stats accurately and software to deliver those numbers in a digestible way. It's also incredibly well-priced for the technology behind it at $100.

It's designed for the person who wants to understand their sleep a little better, confirm they hit 10,000 steps after dinner, and see how their daily activity and habits influence their readiness for the day ahead. Most of all, it's designed for someone who wants to keep an eye on their overall health without wearing a piece of technology that constantly demands their attention.

The redesigned Google Health app and the new AI-powered Health Coach reinforce that philosophy, emphasizing long-term habits and personalized insights rather than real-time metrics.

The flip side is that the Air won't make your workouts better in the moment like a traditional Fitbit or fitness tracker. If you like to know your heart rate zone while training, check your pace mid-run, or train by time intervals, you'll most certainly miss having a display readily accessible.

If you're happy to trade those real-time stats for a slimmer profile, a more understated look, and a wearable that quietly fades into the background until you're ready to check in on your health, the Fitbit Air is an ideal fit. It's less of a workout watch and more of an everyday health companion — but one that looks good and won't break the bank.

StubHub has become one of the most popular places to buy resale tickets for concerts, sporting events, theater shows, and other sold-out experiences. When tickets disappear from primary sellers, resale marketplaces are often the easiest way to find seats, though choosing a reputable platform is just as important as finding the right price. That's why we took a closer look at how StubHub works and whether it's a reliable place to buy tickets.

Like other major resale marketplaces, StubHub connects ticket buyers with individual sellers instead of selling tickets directly. Sellers set their own prices based on demand, seat location, and proximity to the event, so listings can change quickly. That flexibility often makes it easier to find tickets for popular events, but it also means prices can climb well above face value when demand is high.

A major reason StubHub is widely trusted is its FanProtect Guarantee, which ensures buyers receive valid tickets in time for the event. If there's an issue, such as invalid tickets or delivery problems, StubHub will attempt to provide replacement tickets or issue a refund. When an event is canceled and not rescheduled, buyers may receive either a full refund or a 120% credit toward a future purchase.

That said, StubHub isn't without drawbacks. Service fees can be higher than those of some competing platforms, and because prices are set by sellers, availability and cost can vary significantly. It's also important to note that FanProtect does not guarantee refunds for postponed or rescheduled events unless the event is officially canceled.

Below, we break down how StubHub works in 2025, including its buyer protections, refund policies, fees, and tips for avoiding scams—so you can decide whether it's the right place to buy tickets for your next event.

Is StubHub legit?

In short, StubHub is a trustworthy platform for buying and selling tickets to major events. Although the company itself is not the seller, it still offers safeguards for both parties in a sale to prevent potential scams. It does, however, mean that StubHub does not control the pricing of event tickets — these are set by the users selling them. The site will instead recommend price points for sellers during the listing process.

StubHub offers a 100% guarantee on every order through its exclusive FanProtect Guarantee, which I've broken down below.

How StubHub protects ticket buyers

Buying tickets from a reseller is sometimes the only option for sold-out, high-demand shows. StubHub is a great place to find tickets, especially with its FanProtect Guarantee to cover orders. Here's what it promises for buyers:

• Tickets will be delivered in time for the event.
• The ticket will be valid for the event.
• Issues will be resolved with comparable or better tickets or a refund.
• Event cancellations that aren't rescheduled are eligible for a 120% StubHub credit or a full refund.

For even more information, you can check out StubHub's buyer terms and conditions.

How StubHub protects ticket sellers

Whether you've changed your mind or need to cancel a scheduled event, StubHub is a simple platform for ticket sellers. Listing is quick and easy, and pricing research isn't necessary with the site's recommendations. It also protects its sellers just as well as its buyers under the same FanProtect Guarantee.

StubHub's main promise is on-time payment for tickets sold. The full seller terms and conditions explain this more thoroughly.

What about StubHub fees?

Of course, such protections don't come without a price. StubHub, like every other third-party, charges fees for both fans and sellers. For the latter, you don't pay anything until your tickets sell. Percentages aren't set in stone; they can differ based on ticket prices, event dates, supply, and demand.

Only two costs are added to purchases: a service fee and a fulfillment fee. These can be viewed before, during, and after checkout — here's how:

• Before checkout: Click on the event page filters and change "Price Display Options" to "Include estimated fees."
• During checkout: The entire cost is broken down on the "Review and buy" page, underneath "Your order summary."
• After checkout: Check your order receipt to see the fee breakdown at the bottom.

Head on over to StubHub to browse the latest ticket prices for concerts, live sports, comedy shows, and more.

StubHub FAQs

Does StubHub have promo codes or coupons?

Because its platform is reseller-based, StubHub typically does not offer discount codes, coupons, or promotional price cuts. Since each listing is offered by a third party, typically another fan, it's difficult for StubHub to give shoppers promo codes for general use without taking money from the seller.

Are StubHub tickets guaranteed?

StubHub tickets are as guaranteed as your concert or sporting event is. Your reservation is locked in upon purchase, but if the ticketed event itself gets canceled or rescheduled, your tickets will change as well. It often varies, but rescheduled acts often result in the valid ticket's date changing, while cancellations get you a refund or 120% of its value in StubHub credit.

Does StubHub sell gift cards?

If you have a friend or family member who loves going to concerts and sporting events, StubHub offers gift cards in $25, $50, $100, and $200 increments. These can be redeemed anytime on the StubHub website to buy tickets for their next big show, complete with the StubHub FanProtect Guarantee.

How do I contact StubHub customer support?

StubHub's support page includes a library of resources, including frequently asked questions, seller information, and more. If you'd like to contact the company for customized assistance, check out their online chat.

Does StubHub give refunds?

If you change your mind or encounter a scheduling conflict, StubHub sales are final. That means no refunds in the traditional sense; however, you can become a ticket seller on the platform instead.

This doesn't work for last-minute cancellations, but with enough lead time, you can list your tickets on StubHub and hope for another attendee to purchase them. This can help make your money back, or even help you profit a little in the process.

Who is touring or performing on StubHub now?

Who you should see depends on your taste in music, sports, and entertainment — but there are some pretty big names hitting the stage in 2026. Here are some highlights:

• BTS - April through September
• FIFA World Cup - June through July
• Ariana Grande - June through August
• Noah Kahan - July through August
• Zara Larsson - July through September
• Ed Sheeran - June through November
• Hilary Duff - June 2026 through February 2027
• AC/DC - July through September
• Bon Jovi - July residency
• Zac Brown Band - July through November
• Harry Styles - August through December
• The Eagles - September through December

Browse more live music, sporting, and comedy events near you on StubHub.

Browse all of our ticket coverage here. Follow our Instagram and WhatsApp channels for more deals and buying guides.

• My son, 11, is a huge soccer fan — so much so that he's gotten me into the sport.
• I wanted so badly to get tickets to the World Cup for us, but it started to seem impossible.
• I wrote about my quest and got an email from Sugar Land, TX, that I worried was fake. It wasn't.

My son, 11, is a die-hard soccer fan who did the impossible: He got me to love soccer and soccer culture. Long before the World Cup began, he begged me to go to a match. He typically plays soccer five days a week, often following a skills class with travel team practice. He almost exclusively wears soccer jerseys and knows minute facts about soccer players and teams.

I assumed getting tickets to the World Cup would be difficult but possible. I entered every ticket lottery and opened a credit card that promised priority access, but struck out at every turn. Because I am a storyteller, I wrote about our quest to see a match. When getting tickets proved far harder than I anticipated, my son was despondent but still hopeful.

We still planned a great World Cup experience — until a concussion thwarted our plans

Even though we didn't have tickets to the World Cup, we decided to make the best of the tournament. We planned to attend watch parties and tune in to as many games as possible. My son, a graduating 5th grader, was looking forward to an all-day World Cup-themed extravaganza at school to celebrate.

However, the night before the World Cup started, an angry teammate threw a soccer ball directly at my son's head, leaving him with a concussion. Instead of a joyful World Cup opener and the end of elementary school, my son was coping with a raging headache, nausea, and fatigue.

He missed celebrating the World Cup's first match with his friends. Because he had to significantly limit screen time and loud noises hurt his head, we couldn't go to watch parties or view more than a few highlights of early games. My son also missed playing with his soccer team for the last match of the season and spent much of his graduation ceremony with a splitting headache.

We spent my son's time convalescing, sorting through Panini World Cup stickers, and swapping with other soccer fans so he could fill in his World Cup book with all 980 stickers. We built Legos, including a new Ronaldo set released for the World Cup.

My son's grace in handling the loss of so much he had been looking forward to made me even more determined to get him to a World Cup match. However, sky-high ticket prices, combined with loss of income from having to take off work and medical expenses, meant a match was more out of reach than ever.

A too-good-to-be-true email landed in my inbox

In the midst of World Cup excitement that seemed out of reach, an unexpected email landed in my inbox. A representative from Sugar Land, TX, just outside the World Cup host city of Houston, read about our determination to see a World Cup game. "Would my son and I like to attend a game in Houston and visit Sugar Land?" they asked.

My response was an immediate and enthusiastic yes, although I didn't tell my son about the offer right away because it seemed not just improbable but impossible. If I could get my son to Texas, Visit Sugar Land, an official supporter of the World Cup in Houston, would provide us with tickets to a match, and I could bring my daughter too. I spent several hours wondering if the offer was real. However, after a few days of ironing out logistics and no odd requests for our Social Security numbers or my mother's maiden name, I bought our plane tickets. We started counting down the days until the match.

The match was so much better than we expected

When it was time to fly to Sugar Land, my son wasn't completely recovered, but his doctor cleared him to travel. He boarded the plane in complete shock that he was actually headed to see Brazil face off against Japan in a knockout match.

My son barely slept the night before the game. When the hour to head to the match finally arrived, he wore a customized Brazil jersey that a friend brought for him straight from Rio de Janeiro a few years ago. The jersey was a little too big then, but it fits perfectly now, perhaps a sign that this was meant to be.

My son insisted that we get to our seats over an hour early so that we didn't miss a second of the pre-game ceremonies. He screamed when the countdown clock hit zero, and the kickoff began. The energy in the stadium was electrifying. After about 30 seconds of play, my son turned to me and said, "This is a thousand times better than I was expecting," a bold statement since he had impossibly high expectations to begin with. At half-time, my son told me that our trip to Sugar Land was the best one he had ever taken. That night, drifting off to sleep, he said "the whole match" was his favorite part of the day.

Our World Cup trip turned into an unexpected getaway

Although our trip to Sugar Land started as a pilgrimage to the most storied soccer tournament of all time, it turned into a fun family trip to a place we might not otherwise have visited. We saw the Sugar Land Space Cowboys win a minor league baseball game, explored the city's natural history museum, and enjoyed a ropes course in a forest.

We ate delicious food, from Thai to Tex-Mex, that reflects the Houston metro area's reputation as one of the most diverse parts of the country. Throughout it all, my son and I were on a high that lasted well past the match, almost erasing everything we had to cancel during the worst of his concussion. This is truly the spirit of the World Cup: learning about new places and bringing people together.

Thanks to the kindness of strangers, my family had a World Cup experience we will never forget — and I fell even deeper into my love of everything soccer.

• Brown University professor Roberto Serrano saw scores drop between a take-home midterm and an in-person final.
• He suspects the students cheated with AI. "It's certainly a wake-up call to the professors," he told Business Insider.
• Serrano shared the exam scores. Some dropped from perfect scores on the midterm to below 20% on the final.

Roberto Serrano's class scored curiously well on the take-home midterm exam. When he suspected widespread AI cheating and made their final exam in-person, their grades tanked.

The Brown University professor teaches welfare economics and social choice theory. The midterm was administered from home after a shooter killed two students in December.

"The problem with this technology is that the cost of cheating has basically gone down to zero," he told Business Insider. "It's very easy for students to succumb to the temptation."

When he told students that the final exam would be in person, many previously high-scoring students dropped out. Others who scored in the high 90s on the midterm scored in the 50s on the final.

A chart of the data, which was first publicized by Inside Higher Ed, shows each student's grades:

Brian E. Clark, Brown's VP for news and strategic campus communications, wrote to Business Insider that Serrano shared details with the university's standing committee on the academic code on July 8. The committee "move forward according to its procedures."

"Brown treats every allegation of academic integrity with the utmost seriousness," Clark wrote.

The scandal has drawn interest across the internet, and particularly among those who work in tech. Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham posted on X about it; two Google DeepMind staffers also shared their thoughts.

Serrano wasn't shocked that the score changes drew interest — but he was surprised by the scale. "I'm a little overwhelmed," he said.

He said he's received "hundreds of emails," many from Brown alums. His colleagues, who are off campus for summer break, have also been texting him about it.

Some of those commenting online applauded the student who was consistently high-scoring: first a 95.5, then a 95. Serrano said this was an "excellent student" that he knew "very well."

Others shouted out the consistently low-performing student: first a 55, then a 59. "I admire that person," Serrano said.

More debated the merits of this generation coming into the workforce. Can students who cheat on exams with AI be trusted to do hard work? Some argued that the consistent scorers are the ones who'd make the best workers.

Serrano agreed. "Since I'm a big defender of integrity, yes, I would hire that person," he said.

University professors continue to debate how to rebuff AI-driven cheating. Last year, teachers told Business Insider that they were crafting assignments that were more difficult to complete with a chatbot.

Serrano's grade distribution isn't a perfect study, of course. There are other reasons there could be variance in test scores, like the final being harder than the midterm, and it hasn't been definitively proven that there was mass cheating with AI, though the university is investigating.

But the incident does demonstrate just how much of a headache concerns of AI cheating have become for instructors. Serrano himself said he plans never to administer a take-home exam again and will also eliminate the homework portion of his students' grades.

He advised other educators to think critically about their own AI policies, too.

"It's certainly a wake-up call to the professors," he said. "We need to pay attention to this."