• Pocket is an AI notetaker hardware startup that went through Y Combinator this year.
• It told Business Insider it reached a $100 million run rate eight months after launching its product.
• The tech graveyard is already littered with failed AI devices, but Pocket hopes it can endure.

AI hardware has had more misses than hits. Pocket wants to change that.

The AI notetaker hardware startup says it has reached a $100 million run rate eight months after launching. While the tech graveyard is already littered with failed AI devices, Pocket is betting its thin recorder, which snaps onto the back of smartphones and transcribes conversations, is not just a fad.

"It's only going to go up from here," cofounder and CEO Akshay Narisetti told Business Insider. "We have so much money coming in from subscriptions."

Run rate is a popular way for young startups to describe growth, but it is not the same as actually generating $100 million in revenue over the previous 12 months. Instead, it takes a company's current revenue pace and projects it over a full year.

Narisetti said Pocket is growing roughly 50% a month and believes it could reach a $1 billion run within two years. He said the company has only 12 employees and has sold more than 200,000 devices.

Pocket was part of this year's Y Combinator accelerator class. Its two cofounders, Narisetti and Gabriel Dymowski, first met at The Residency, a San Francisco hacker house backed by Sam Altman.

They initially built an app for taking meeting notes, but later found that users, such as busy doctors and salespeople, preferred dedicated hardware so they could seamlessly record back-to-back appointments and meetings.

"Every single time they tried to unlock their phone, they could rather press a simple button," Narisetti said.

After trying glasses and pendants, some similar to the $700 pin that Humane AI released in 2024 and discontinued after poor reviews and sales last year, Pocket landed on a credit card-sized device costing as little as $129. A basic subscription is free, while premium plans offering more advanced AI models start at $16.59 a month.

Criticism in Silicon Valley

Pocket and other AI notetakers have become so popular that they have led to criticism that people no longer ask for permission to record every conversation in Silicon Valley

Narisetti argued that a visible device is preferable to a covert recording on a phone because the Pocket has to be placed on a desk and requires pressing a button to start recording. He contrasted that with always-on wearable devices, which he said people "inherently hated" because they are constantly listening.

Pocket faces plenty of competition. Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and other major platforms increasingly offer AI-powered note-taking, while startups such as Granola compete for users seeking automated meeting notes. OpenAI is planning to release a much-anticipated device as early as next year, designed by former Apple legend Johnny Ive.

Narisetti believes Pocket's advantage lies in offline conversations, where no single platform automatically controls the experience.

Pocket says most growth has come from direct-to-consumer sales, referrals, and word of mouth. Amazon represents less than 5% to 10% of revenue, Narisetti said, and roughly 85% of its business still comes from the US. The company plans to expand into retail and international markets and move beyond conversation notes into personal note-taking and dictation.

In the first half of 2026, global venture funding in physical AI totaled $47.4 billion across 521 deals, according to new Crunchbase data. That's a fourfold increase compared to the second half of 2025, when physical AI startups raised $12 billion across 470 deals.

Pocket last raised $11 million of venture funding in a deal led by Accel in June, according to Pitchbook data. Other backers include Y Combinator and Guillermo Rauch, cofounder and CEO of Vercel. Narisetti declined to put a new valuation on the company, but said Pocket prefers raising based on where the business is today rather than pricing in years of expected AI-driven growth.

"We don't like to grow into valuations," he said.

Google's newest line of Pixel smartphones is here, and the Pixel 11 Pro XL looks to be a promising upgrade on previous iterations. Even as durability improves generation by generation, I always recommend investing in a case to keep your device safe and scratch-free. With that in mind, I've rounded up the best Google Pixel 11 Pro XL cases you can buy now.

Unlike other new releases, there is a plethora of options to choose from right now, making it overwhelming to sort the good from the bad. Tons of no-name brands are saturating the market, hoping to snag your money with subpar designs and sparkly product photos. Based on research, product reviews, and our team's personal testing experience, I've compiled a list of Pixel 11 Pro XL cases I'd actually buy, spanning a range of prices, designs, and feature sets.

The best Google Pixel 11 Pro XL cases

• See more cases: Amazon | Dbrand | OtterBox
• Order the Google Pixel 11 Pro XL and Google Pixel Watch 5 now.

What is the best Google Pixel 11 Pro XL case?

As with any smartphone, the best case for the Google Pixel 11 Pro XL depends on your priorities as a user. The most protective option you can invest in is OtterBox's Defender Pro, while the most budget-friendly option is a Spigen clear case or an Fntcase frosted-color shell.

The overall best balance of price and protection is the Spigen Tough Armor Case. We also love the brand, having tested it multiple times on older devices.

Will Pixel 11 Pro XL cases fit the Pixel 11 Pro?

As the XL name suggests, the Pixel Pro XL is larger than the Pixel 11 Pro. Because of that, cases designed for one cannot fit the other. Pixel 11 Pro cases often do fit the Pixel 11, though.

Will Pixel 10 Pro XL cases fit the Pixel 11 Pro XL?

Despite their identical measurements, Pixel 10 Pro XL cases are not a perfect fit on the 11 Pro XL. Some options may make the cut, leaving a small gap around the camera bar, but for the most part, it's better to buy a case designed for the new generation to ensure a snug fit that'll protect your device.

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• Miami is experiencing a billionaire boom, with wealthy individuals and companies relocating there.
• Coconut Grove is very popular because of the schools, a real-estate broker told Business Insider.
• Ransom Everglades School and Gulliver Preparatory School have state-of-the-art facilities.

Miami's billionaire boom has pushed up housing prices — and intensified competition for the city's elite schools.

State-of-the-art facilities, strong athletics, and impressive college matriculation lists are just some of the features that define Miami's most expensive schools.

Michael Light, Miami-based luxury real estate broker and founder of The Light Group at Douglas Elliman, told Business Insider that a lot of families won't commit to a property until their child is accepted into a school.

"A lot of these titans of industry are moving to South Florida, bringing their employees with them. And it's not stopping," Light said. "They want their kids to go to what is perceived as the best — and that is private schools."

He said the leafy, family-friendly Coconut Grove neighborhood has become the first place clients look to buy because of its elite schools.

These include the Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, Ransom Everglades School, Gulliver Preparatory School, and St. Stephen's Episcopal Day School.

Billionaires who have recently purchased properties in Coconut Grove include Citadel CEO Ken Griffin and Google cofounder Larry Page.

Here's a look inside three of Miami's most sought-after schools.

Founded in 1926, Gulliver Preparatory School is a private PK-12 school.

Admissions to the Gulliver Prep can be a multi-step process. That includes recommendations from English and mathematics teachers, an admissions test for grades PK to 5, and an interview for grades 6 to 12.

For 2026-27, Gulliver Prep tuition fees cost $36,400 for PK to SK, $40,200 for grades 1 to 4, and $56,100 for grades 5 to 12.

But $15.2 million in financial aid was awarded in 2025-26.

Sports are a big deal at Gulliver Prep.

With over 40 athletic teams known as the Gulliver Prep Raiders, Gulliver Prep says that 60% of its students participate in sports.

"If you want your child to go private and you want them to play sports, Gulliver is the school," luxury real-estate broker Light told Business Insider.

Famous sporting alumni include Sean Taylor, Patrick Robinson, and George Lombard Jr.

The campus has state-of-the-art sporting and academic facilities.

Gulliver Prep's upper school campus has facilities, including an aquatic center and newly renovated athletic fields for sports like soccer and lacrosse.

Academically, Gulliver Prep is strong, too.

Gulliver Prep offers the International Baccalaureate program, a balanced yet rigorous curriculum recognized by universities worldwide.

The class of 2026, consisting of 247 students, had 125 acceptances to colleges that Gulliver Prep categorized as most competitive, highly selective, or Ivy Plus.

The school also offers a digital mass media academic program, complete with a broadcast control room, student shows, and publications.

Founded in 1903, Ransom Everglades is a private college prep school.

Ransom Everglades says on its website that it seeks "students who demonstrate above-average ability and interest in a broad and challenging educational program."

Spear's named Ransom Everglades as one of the top private schools in North America in its 2026 index.

Tuition fees are $57,300 for 2026-27, with 17% of the student body receiving financial aid.

College prep is not taken lightly at Ransom Everglades.

With multiple college counselors on staff, college prep is serious business.

College admissions prep begins in the 9th grade with a series of seminars to familiarize students with the process. By the 12th grade, counselors assist students with their applications.

"The children are going basically to an Ivy League school that is really a high school — that's what Ransom is," Light said.

Ransom Everglades has a state-of-the-art STEM center.

The Constance & Miguel Fernandez STEM center is a 45,000-square-foot facility equipped with classrooms, an assembly hall, and labs for students.

Ransom Everglades is now building a $45 million humanities center, which will include a rooftop terrace and flexible classrooms.

The school offers many extracurricular activities, from athletics to academic clubs.

Though it has a strong academic track record, Ransom Everglades also prides itself on its athletics.

The school says that over half of its students play on one team or more every year, with 15% of the athletes going on to play at the college level.

For families living in the north of the city, Miami Country Day School is popular.

Miami Country Day School is a private PK3-12 school located farther north of the city.

Tuition fees for 2026-27 start at $43,600 for the early childhood program and rise to $56,400 for grades 9 to 12. The school offers financial aid.

The school prides itself on its arts programs.

Miami Country Day School offers programs in dance, drama, music, and the visual arts.

For students interested in the dance industry, the school offers the Miami Dance Experience, a three-day professional performance intensive, while for drama, students are coached on auditioning.

But its athletics programs are also important.

Miami Country Day School has 36 Spartan teams in sports such as water polo, cross country, and baseball.

The teams have won two national championships, six state championships, and 19 regional championships.

Some students in the class of 2026 were accepted at Ivy League and international colleges.

Miami Country Day School offers a personalized college application service, with counselors assigned to each student.

Students in the class of 2026 are attending a range of colleges, from Ivy League schools such as Harvard and other elite schools like Stanford to colleges outside the US — including those in the UK and Europe.

• Moderna stock surged as much as 160% on Wednesday on news of a successful late-stage cancer-drug trial.
• The drugmaker is developing a personalized mRNA vaccine with Merck that targets melanoma.
• Moderna has been looking for its next blockbuster drug after a wildly successful COVID era.

After making its name as a vaccine-maker during the COVID era, Moderna has been looking for its second act as a major drug developer. Investors seem to think it's landed on something.

Moderna stock surged as much as 160% to $163.47 on Wednesday after reporting successful results in a late-stage trial for a melanoma drug, in partnership with Merck.

"These Phase 3 findings represent a pivotal moment for the field of cancer research," Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, said in a press release on Wednesday. "For many years, the idea of creating an mRNA treatment designed specifically for an individual patient's cancer was aspirational. We are now helping turn that vision into a reality."

The vaccine's effectiveness is in reducing the recurrence of melanoma and is given alongside Keytruda, an immunotherapy drug from Merck.

The jump in Moderna's stock price comes after a difficult five-year stretch following COVID-era heights. Even after the triple-figure surge on Wednesday, shares are still down roughly two-thirds from a peak of $484 reached in August 2021.

Still, Wednesday's gain brings the company's year-to-date gain to 445%. Things are moving in the right direction for the vaccine giant.

• We were invited to a destination wedding and decided to meet up with my in-laws, who live in Europe.
• I enjoyed spending time as a family of 10, but our travel styles are very different.
• Once they left, my family of three explored the Dolomites, a bucket-list destination of mine.

When my husband, brother-in-law, and I were invited to our mutual friend's destination wedding in Tuscany, we promptly RSVP'd "yes!"

My husband, brother-in-law, and I all live in the United States, but my husband's parents live in Belgium, so we don't see them often. We invited my mother and father-in-law to join us in Italy so they could spend time with our 1-year-old son. My mother-in-law suggested that my sister-in-law, her partner, and their 1-year-old daughter, who also live in Belgium, join the trip.

Before I knew it, our trip turned into a multi-generational family vacation with a group of 10 ranging in age from 1 to 71.

I was grateful that we were able to coordinate getting so many family members together at once, but I'm also glad my husband and I planned dedicated time for our family of three after the festivities.

Traveling with a large group was an exercise in logistics

We looked for accommodations that were large enough to comfortably house all of us but also within our budget. We found an agriturismo, or traditional farm stay, in a small town called Santa Fiora. The town was cute, but it was about an hour away from our friend's wedding location and most of the region's attractions.

We had to plan strategically about transportation. The few options we found for a vehicle that would seat 10 people were more expensive than renting two normal-sized cars that seat five people. Once I saw the narrow, winding cobblestone roads throughout Tuscany, I was glad we didn't choose a large van, which would have been challenging to maneuver in medieval towns.

My husband and I are "get out early to beat the crowds and heat" type of travelers. Our son regularly gets up at 6 in the morning and doesn't care if we're on vacation.

On this trip, the rest of our family woke up hours after us and were lackadaisical about getting out the door. We often didn't leave the house until around 11 in the morning. By the time we arrived at a town, it was time for lunch, and it was the heat of the day. This isn't how our family of three usually operates.

Then there was the food

My father-in-law doesn't eat pizza, pasta, or sauces — and we were in Italy. Another member of our group was lactose intolerant. On the other hand, my husband, son, and I are adventurous eaters and love experiencing a culture through its cuisine. We sometimes had to pass several restaurants before we found one with a menu diverse enough to satisfy everyone's dietary preferences.

On one occasion at a pizzeria, I had already requested a table for 10. The wait staff was rearranging the tables to seat our group, while I awkwardly asked in broken Italian whether the pizzeria only served pizza. Answer: yes. We moved on to another restaurant that offered more options. It turned out to be the unexpected universal favorite meal of the trip for the entire family: donkey stew.

Extending the trip without the extended family was the right move

After a week, the rest of the family headed back to their respective homes. My husband, son, and I stayed for another week to explore the Dolomites in northern Italy, a bucket list destination of mine.

During this time, we had the freedom to get up as early as we wanted to hit the hiking trails. Our active family hiked over 20 miles in 3 days without having to account for the rest of the family's stamina levels.

We loved stopping at a refugio, a mountain hut with a restaurant and sleeping accommodations along the hiking trails. In the middle of our hike, we could sip espressos, eat a warm meal, and use a bathroom with indoor plumbing. The Dolomites have been one of my favorite hiking trips to date.

I'm glad we did a big family vacation while my in-laws are still healthy and active enough to travel. Because we live far from my husband's family, I cherish the time my son gets to spend with them. I'm also glad we reserved part of the trip for our smaller family unit. It gave us a chance to choose activities we enjoyed without compromise.

• Danni Duncan, 40, had IBS since early childhood. Her symptoms improved when she changed her diet.
• When she started experiencing changes in her bowel movements, she assumed it was due to her IBS.
• She was diagnosed with colon cancer after experiencing extreme fatigue caused by severe anemia.

From a very young age, Danni Duncan struggled with IBS symptoms.

"I remember being maybe around 5 or 6 and really being in so much pain, literally on my hands and knees in the bathroom," Duncan, 40, told Business Insider. She was put on elimination diets throughout primary school and diagnosed with IBS when she was around 11.

Duncan, who lives in the Gold Coast of Australia, said she grew up eating McDonald's, frozen pizzas, and Pop-Tarts. As an adult, her IBS symptoms improved as she filled her diet with whole foods and cut back on alcohol. She also began training for marathons and became a fitness and nutrition coach.

Then, in her late 30s, she struggled to go to the bathroom again. She chalked it up to IBS and started taking Metamucil, a fiber laxative, to reduce constipation. She also felt persistent bloating for months after giving birth to her fourth child in September 2024.

Eventually, at 39, she was diagnosed with stage 2 colon cancer.

"It was like I was coming out of my own body," Duncan said. "I kind of giggled and said, 'This can't be true. I'm supposed to live to be 100. That's how healthy I am.'"

Severe anemia got her diagnosed

When Duncan was about 20 weeks pregnant with her fourth child in 2024, her iron levels were the lowest they'd ever been. Even after an iron infusion, her levels remained low. Still, she said her doctor explained it away as a pregnancy symptom and suggested iron supplements.

In early 2025, about five months after giving birth, Duncan started training for a marathon that March. She felt winded like never before.

Even when she had slept and fueled well, she couldn't get her speed up. Come marathon day, she dropped out of the race when she was three-quarters finished. At the gym, she couldn't finish her sets and experienced dizzy spells in her kitchen.

The breaking point was a month later, in April 2025, when she sensed she was going to faint one morning and stumbled onto her couch.

A blood test at the doctor's office revealed she had a hemoglobin level of 70 g/L, indicative of severe anemia (a normal level is considered 120 to 160 g/L for adult women). She was scheduled for another iron infusion the next day and a colonoscopy two weeks later, in May 2025, to rule out colon cancer.

The colonoscopy showed a tumor in her colon.

Duncan, whose 37-year-old friend died from colon cancer the year prior, initially thought of her kids growing up without her. "That thought broke me — I had a tear for a second, and then my mind just switched to like, 'What are we doing?'" Duncan said. "'I have to fight this because I have children.'"

Exercising through chemo side effects

Less than two weeks after learning she had colon cancer, Duncan underwent surgery to remove the tumor, including a right hemicolectomy in which part of her colon was taken out. She also had 17 lymph nodes removed outside her bowel wall, the tissue structure that forms the small and large intestines.

While cancer wasn't found in her lymph nodes, it was found in the lymph node channels, leading to her stage 2B diagnosis. It put her at higher risk of recurrence because she was closer to stage 3, when the cancer would have officially spread to the lymph nodes. Her doctor wanted her to do four rounds of chemotherapy, considered a standard amount of chemotherapy for earlier-stage cancers, to reduce that risk.

She tried to stick to her routines, including regular walks, light bodyweight exercises, and runs on the weeks she didn't have chemo. Still, extreme fatigue and nausea sometimes wore her down.

She also developed cold sensitivity, a common side effect from oxaliplatin, her chemo medication. "Everything seizes up," she said. "Your throat seizes up, you can't breathe; your face seizes up like you're having a stroke." She wore gloves to open her fridge door or hold weights at the gym.

The hardest part, she said, was not being able to breastfeed, as chemo drugs can be passed on to the baby through breast milk. Duncan was diagnosed when her daughter was 7 months old and had planned on breastfeeding for far longer.

"I just loved it and we had such a great connection," she said. "It's broken my heart and it still breaks my heart."

A major marathon to celebrate the end of treatment

As of November 2025, Duncan's CT scans and colonoscopy no longer showed signs of cancer. Going forward, she has three more monthly blood tests and will have yearly CT scans and colonoscopies every two years.

In some ways, Duncan said life after cancer has been more challenging than the treatment itself. "When you're in the throes of cancer, you've got such a focus," she said. "Once it's finished, people stop checking in because you're cancer-free now. That's when the mental struggle is probably harder."

Duncan, who turned 40 during treatment, is now training for the New York City Marathon, which she planned to run in 2025 but was forced to postpone. It's a longtime dream of hers because she found out she was pregnant with her first child in New York City.

Duncan will run it with her husband on behalf of the Jodi Lee Foundation, a colon cancer organization in Australia.

From both her personal experience and advocacy work, Duncan said she's become more aware of the rising rates among young people and the importance of getting symptoms like changes in bowel movements checked out if they're unusual for you.

"Stand up for yourself. Be like, 'I'm not too young,'" she said. "If you've got symptoms, push, find another doctor."

• Elon Musk has long wished to have Warren Buffett as a shareholder.
• Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway now holds an indirect stake in Musk's SpaceX via Alphabet.
• Berkshire owned nearly 1% of Alphabet, which in turn owned about 4% of SpaceX, recent filings show.

Elon Musk has wanted Warren Buffett as a shareholder for years. His wish has finally come true, in a sense.

As of June 30, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway indirectly owned about 0.04% of SpaceX, a stake worth over $800 million, according to Business Insider's calculations.

This "look-through stake" — a term coined by Buffett — is based on Berkshire owning part of Alphabet, which in turn owns part of SpaceX.

Berkshire reported a roughly 0.9% stake in Alphabet, worth about $38 billion, in its second-quarter portfolio update on Friday.

Alphabet revealed in its portfolio filing that it owned about 4%, or $94 billion worth, of SpaceX on June 30.

Berkshire's stake in Alphabet represents a proportional claim on Alphabet's assets, including its SpaceX holding.

Its piece of the $94 billion position was worth about $815 million at the end of June, but closer to $700 million at Tuesday's market close, following share-price declines for both Alphabet and SpaceX this quarter.

That's a tiny financial interest for Berkshire, which owned about $1.3 trillion of assets at the end of June, including $324 billion of stocks.

But Alphabet's stake in SpaceX is worth about $79 billion today, or roughly 2% of Alphabet's market value, making it a material asset for the search, advertising, and AI giant. Berkshire will be monitoring the holding closely, given how much money it has riding on Alphabet.

Buffett — who stepped down as CEO at the turn of this year, but remains Berkshire's chairman and largest shareholder — established the Alphabet stake during the third quarter of 2025. Less than 12 months later, on June 30, Berkshire counted Alphabet as its third-biggest stock holding after Apple and American Express.

Tesla, SpaceX, and Berkshire didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

'Maybe Buffett should invest in Tesla haha'

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has been clamoring for Buffett's backing on X for years.

"He should take a position in Tesla. It's an obvious move," Musk posted in 2024.

"Too bad he didn't invest in Tesla when it was 0.1% of today's value lol," Musk wrote in 2023.

"Munger could've invested in Tesla at ~$200M valuation when I had lunch with him in late 2008," Musk said in another post that year, referring to Buffett's late business partner, Charlie Munger.

"Maybe Buffett should invest in Tesla haha," Musk tweeted in 2021.

Yet Buffett refrained from buying into Tesla, preferring to back the EV maker's Chinese rival, BYD, for about 17 years, from 2008 to 2025.

There's also no sign that Berkshire has directly invested in SpaceX, which had its blockbuster public-market debut in June.

Buffett's restraint isn't surprising, as he's a renowned bargain hunter known for investing in mature, predictable businesses that he understands deeply.

Tesla and SpaceX both trade at punchy valuations, and between them, they're racing to build everything from humanoid robots and self-driving cars to spaceships capable of transporting people to Mars.

Even with Buffett out and Greg Abel in as Berkshire CEO, a direct SpaceX bet looks unlikely anytime soon, as it would mark a huge departure from Buffett's school of investing.

Buffett and Musk go way back

Over the years, Musk has praised Buffett's work, recognized his expertise, and quoted him multiple times on Tesla earnings calls.

But he's also questioned some of Buffett's investing principles, and championed his own focus on building businesses and products, while dismissing Buffett's focus on studying companies and allocating capital as "super boring."

Buffett has also jabbed at Musk in the past. But he's also applauded him for Tesla's success and for taking on momentous challenges.

"It's a dedication to solving the impossible, and every now and then he'll do it," Buffett said about Musk during Berkshire's shareholder meeting in 2023. "But it would be torturous to me or Charlie."

Munger also hailed Musk's taste for difficulty, joking, "Warren and I are looking for the easy job."

Musk welcomed the pair's comments in an X post: "Appreciate the kind words from Warren & Charlie."

Betting on SpaceX

Berkshire's indirect bet on SpaceX doesn't carry the usual weight of Buffett's vote of confidence, given it's an unavoidable product of its Alphabet investment, and neither Buffett nor his team has publicly acknowledged the look-through stake.

But Musk's company was clearly an attractive play for Alphabet when it originally invested $900 million in 2015, and Alphabet was evidently a compelling wager for Berkshire given how quickly it has amassed a big stake in the business.

For now, assuming Alphabet and Berkshire haven't altered their stakes since the end of June, Musk can at least say Buffett is one of the biggest shareholders in one of his biggest shareholders.

• Prices for TV sports deals almost always go up.
• That's the rationale for Bob Iger and Josh Kushner paying a record amount for the LA Lakers.
• But over at the NFL — the dominant force in TV — there are signs that the rise won't go on forever.

Bob Iger and Josh Kushner plan to buy the Los Angeles Lakers at a record-setting price of $12.5 billion. The best argument for that price: The value of sports TV deals is the one thing that keeps going up, even as the rest of TV contracts.

But even though that's been true for years, it doesn't mean it will always be true. One hint that things might be changing: The all-powerful NFL — the thing that keeps TV afloat — is starting to see some pushback from its TV partners, led by Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch's Fox.

In 2026, it is very hard to imagine a world where the NFL isn't the most powerful force in media. But John Ourand, who covers sports media for Puck, makes a case that its power could at least be checked in the years to come.

You can listen to our entire conversation, which also includes a look at Apple's sports strategy, and the WNBA's approach to media deals, on my Channels podcast. The following is an edited excerpt of our chat:

Peter Kafka: If Bob Iger and Josh Kushner are buying the Lakers at a $12.5 billion valuation, that means they think it will be worth even more in the future. What's the argument for that?

John Ourand: In the past, all the valuations of [pro sports] teams were heavily weighted by the fact that media rights deals keep going up by 10%, 20% per year.

But media executives I talk to say, "If they're basing [the Lakers] valuation on future media rights deals, that's a mistake."

The Lakers make $200 million a year from their local rights. And the NBA just got a new deal (for national rights) that pays $7.6 billion a year.

Their point is those numbers aren't going to go up anytime soon?

They're saying, "The NFL will get more money. Cord-cutting's still happening. Broadcast TV is in distress. They're not seeing nearly as much money coming from streaming. So the media companies are saying, you know, "We could be at the apex of it."

But when you talk to bankers and PE folks — this won't surprise you — they say, "No, it's still going to keep going up."

This is the question people have been debating for years — how much longer can sports rights go up, when everything else in TV is contracting? But they have continued to go up.

It is still mainly an advertising play. Sports is the last bastion of people watching live. It's been that case for a while, and it's the reason that broadcast networks and even cable networks are still profitable right now.

So the bull case for sports rights continuing to move forward is … maybe the broadcast networks don't stay healthy, but they still exist. And they have to have sports.

We're seeing another version of this debate right now with the NFL, where Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch recently made news by saying he's not currently negotiating a new deal with the league.

As of a few months ago, most people in the media world thought the networks were going to renegotiate their existing deals with the league and pay more per year, for more years, so they could keep the NFL locked up.

What Lachlan finally said was, "You know what? We're gonna see this through to the end. So we can negotiate now, but we're not opening our deal up early. It's gonna run through to the end of the decade."

That seems like a pretty reasonable stance, but it's being treated like a bombshell. Is the NFL's grip on media rights weakening?

There were some early numbers of, like, an [rights fees that would cost an] extra billion per year per network that were floated. That number would put some of the networks out of business.

Look: The NFL is still No. 1, and none of the networks want to live without the NFL.

But one thing that's interesting is that the NFL is talking to Paramount/CBS about their deal because of the change of control.

So let's say the NFL says, "OK, you know what? We can't come to a deal with CBS. This package is open for bidding." And it's a package of Sunday afternoon games with up to six games each afternoon.

Who's stepping up for that package? There aren't a lot of other networks.

Every single broadcast network has a package, and there's nobody else that's bidding it up. And even as powerful as the NFL is, that's a problem.

You need more than one bidder for the price to go up. They have just enough bidders for just enough packages. And I think right now we're seeing where the limits of that power lie a little bit.

It almost feels like a détente. Is that the right analogy?

The NFL is still going to get what it needs to get. It just isn't going to get its reach goal, I think.

After the NFL did $110 billion in TV deals in 2021, the networks were crying poor. But then they paid the NBA $76 billion.

And the NFL said: "Wait, I thought you were crying poor?" And then they see that Fox finds like a couple quarters in the cushion to buy Roku. So they're like, "Wait: How can you be crying poor on one hand, and then, then on the other hand, you do have this money?"

So the NFL wants to test those limits.

• Gwyneth Paltrow is investing in AI startups and embracing the tech at Goop.
• Even Goop's podcast, once mostly about wellness, is increasingly focused on AI.
• The actor and wellness tastemaker appears to have found her latest obsession.

Gwyneth Paltrow, who is synonymous with wellness, at-home coffee enemas, and jade yoni eggs, is making a name for herself in another, very different world: AI.

She is investing in AI startups, lending her voice to an AI product, and making it a recurring theme on The Goop Podcast. On Tuesday, Puck reported Paltrow is planning a "private, off-the-record al fresco dinner" at her home in honor of Sam Altman. Paltrow's representatives didn't immediately respond to an out-of-hours request for comment from Business Insider.

It is perhaps no coincidence that Paltrow is among the celebrities cashing in on AI after a rocky period at Goop marked by layoffs and strategy changes. And for an actor who reinvented herself as one of the earliest celebrity wellness influencers, her pivot into AI isn't entirely out of character. Silicon Valley's fixation on optimization and longevity feels Goop-adjacent.

Gwyneth Paltrow has invested in AI for years

Paltrow's interest in AI goes back to at least 2021, when she invested in the customer service automation startup Forethought AI, which she later joined a $25 million funding round for. That year, she and the beauty industry entrepreneur Moj Mahdara launched their VC fund, Kinship Ventures, which lists "AI-enabled tools & consumer tech" as one of its current investment areas.

Since 2023, the text-to-speech platform Speechify, which she is invested in, has used her voice. Her other bets include investments in the beauty-tech startup Potion AI, and the AI-powered meditation app Moments of Space, which she became a co-owner of in 2024.

Nowadays, Paltrow's interest in AI has extended beyond her investment portfolio and has become increasingly public.

Last year, following the Coldplay kiss-cam scandal involving Astronomer, the company hired Paltrow to front a tongue-in-cheek online video promoting its latest AI products.

Goop's fast-casual dining offshoot, Goop Kitchen, meanwhile, moved closer to AI's center of gravity this year by signing a lease for a ground-floor space at San Francisco's 405 Howard Street, which makes up part of Anthropic's HQ. Soon, Anthropic workers won't need to leave the building to get their fix of Goop Kitchen's organic turmeric-spiced chicken bone broth.

The Goop Podcast, which once mostly focused on topics like motherhood, holistic medicine, and careers, has taken on an unexpected AI flavor, too. Of its 11 most recent episodes, five have featured AI in the title or episode descriptions.

While her interviews with the psychotherapist Esther Perel about AI and dating, and with the chief medical officer of an AI-powered longevity clinic feel on brand, her June conversation with the cofounder of the AI-powered defense company Anduril raised some eyebrows online. The outlet Mother Jones said Paltrow had "goopified drone warfare."

Paltrow also uses AI to run Goop itself. In May, she said during an interview at the Meltwater Summit in New York that AI tools were driving efficiency at the company, from managing workflows to creating media assets. She said her own suite of AI tools had effectively become a "chief of staff" for Goop.

"The train's left the station," she said of AI at the summit. "We're in a time of incredible upheaval."

• Heena Patel is the James Beard-nominated chef of Besharam in San Francisco.
• Patel shared the underrated Indian dishes she believes everyone should order.
• Khandvi is a popular savory snack, and khichdi is a classic comfort dish.

Naan and butter chicken are undoubtedly delicious, but there's so much more to explore in Indian cuisine than these menu staples.

That's what James Beard-nominated chef Heena Patel set out to prove with Besharam, her regional Gujarati restaurant in San Francisco.

"Just as my guests step outside their comfort zones, I do the same with them, trusting they'll embrace my menu with an open mind," Patel told Business Insider. "That's how I hope to put Gujarati food on the map."

Patel believes the biggest mistake people make at Indian restaurants is playing it too safe. So, if you're looking for a little inspiration, here are three underrated dishes Patel thinks you should order the next time you're craving Indian food for dinner.

Bhindi masala 'allows okra to shine'

One of Patel's favorite okra dishes is bhindi masala, which typically features okra cooked with tomatoes, onions, and herbs.

"This dish is very special because it allows okra to shine with its crisp texture," Patel said.

When Patel sees okra and bitter melon on the menu at an Indian restaurant, she knows she's found an authentic spot.

"Produce like okra, bitter melon, and opo squash are common in Indian cooking," Patel said. "So if you see these ingredients on a menu, you're in for a treat."

Khichdi is a classic comfort dish

Patel said khichdi is typically made with rice and lentils, adding that "one bowl is never enough."

She recommends pairing khichdi with a "swirl of warm ghee and a drizzle of sour pickle" on top of a crunchy papadam.

"Indian food isn't just about individual dishes; it's about building each bite with different flavors," Patel said. "A curry or dal on its own is just one part of the experience. The real magic happens when you layer flavors by adding chutneys, pickles, rotis, and rice."

Khandvi is a popular Gujarati savory snack

"Khandvi are spiced and seasoned tight rolls served with yogurt," Patel said. "It's a simple yet elegant dish, full of technique that truly showcases a chef's skill."

If you want to explore more Gujarati-specific dishes, Patel also recommends…

• Dhokla: A savory sponge cake. Patel has made it with lentils and a cranberry chili glaze at Besharam.
• Kadhi: A spiced yogurt-based dish similar to curry that can be used as a sauce with rice or fritters.
• Ladoo: A sweet treat in the shape of a ball. There are many versions, but the classic variety is made with chickpea flour fried in ghee with cardamom and sugar.

No matter what you decide to order at an Indian restaurant, Patel advises you not to stick to just one dish.

"Mix and match textures, spice levels, and accompaniments," she said. "You'll walk away with a meal that's not just delicious but full of depth and surprises."

• I've traveled to over 70 countries and have spent time in some truly incredible places.
• However, there are a few cities I always tell friends and family members to visit.
• Some of my favorites include Valletta, Malta, and Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Every few months, I get an irresistible urge to pack my backpack and send myself to a new environment.

Having grown up between multiple cultures and countries, travel awakens a part of my identity that stays dormant at my home base in New Jersey.

My love of travel has brought me to over 70 countries during my 33 years of life, and some places have really stuck with me. Here are five of my favorite cities around the world that I always tell my friends and family to visit.

Valletta, Malta, transported me to a fairy tale.

I visited Malta without knowing much about the country, and left with a new favorite European destination. Nestled between North Africa's coast and Italy's southern islands, I've found that Malta too often gets overlooked by tourists.

The capital, Valletta, is an enchanting seaside maze of cobblestone streets that transported me to the Baroque period. It was a great city to explore on foot.

I loved starting my mornings here with a coffee from Coffee Circus, a cozy café that looks like a cave. At the end of the day, I spent time watching the sunset from windswept clifftops in St. Elmo Bay.

Taipei, Taiwan, really comes alive at night.

As a former New Yorker, I thought I'd lived in the ultimate 24-hour city — until I visited Taipei. After the sun sets over the humid subtropical capital city of Taiwan, Taipei really comes alive.

The Ximending Walking District's bustling neon-lit pedestrian-only streets are lined with restaurants, street performers, and stores. Strolling through Ximending, sipping on bubble tea, and grabbing street food became my nightly routine.

I loved spending time in beautiful Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Almaty's walkable city center allowed me to hit multiple cultural landmarks with a single stroll around beautiful tree-lined streets.

The most memorable sites I visited were Ascension Cathedral, a colorful Russian Orthodox Church primarily built out of wood, and the Memorial of Glory, a powerful sculpture commemorating World War II (known locally as the Great Patriotic War).

But in my opinion, the best part about Almaty lies about an hour outside the city center at Shymbulak Mountain Resort. I visited in October and was blown away by the fall colors during the 20-minute scenic cable car ride to the resort base.

Ilulissat, Greenland, is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.

"Ilulissat" means "icebergs" in Greenlandic, and as soon as I arrived and saw the massive iceberg-filled Disko Bay, I understood where the city gets its name.

On my first day in town, I ventured down three hiking trails, all of which were a short walk from the city center. On them, I found some of the most spectacular views of my life.

As I hiked, the Ilulissat Icefjord slowly revealed itself, until I reached the cliff edge where it felt like I witnessed two worlds meet — one a sheet of ice across the bay, and the other a lush moss vegetation that I stood on.

After my hike, I enjoyed local halibut and mussels at Inuit Café, a cute family-run restaurant.

In my opinion, Helsinki is the perfect summer destination.

If you're looking to visit a place that just feels like vacation, summer in Helsinki is for you.

I may be biased, having spent my childhood summers in Finland, but in my opinion, nothing beats cycling under the near-constant sun, eating fresh berries, and enjoying a sauna.

After enduring the cold and dark winter months, Finns often take several weeks off work in the summer to make the most of the extra daylight.

My favorite part about about the city is how urban life exists in harmony with nature. In the same day, you can catch me hiking in Nuuksio National Park, located about 40 minutes outside Helsinki by car, and attending Helsinki Festival, an arts festival typically held between mid-August and early September.

• I was born and raised in London, where I've seen tourists make mistakes and waste money.
• Instead of spending a ton on taxis, navigate the London Underground or walk (when it makes sense).
• Prepare for all types of weather, and don't forget to order a Sunday roast at a local pub.

As someone who was born and raised in London, I've seen tourists make their fair share of mistakes — from unwittingly missing out on one of the best British dishes to clogging up traffic on escalators.

However, with some planning and strategizing, newcomers can make the most of their time in London — and save some money while doing so.

Here are the major mistakes I see visitors make when exploring my home city, along with how to avoid them.

Paying to see panoramic skyline views that they can find for free

Whether you're paying for admission to an observation deck or a rooftop bar, going to the top of a skyscraper in any major city will probably cost you money. For the most part, London is no exception.

Many people go to The Shard, a 1,016-foot skyscraper with panoramic views of the city. Tickets start at £32, or about $44.

However, visitors can get a similarly fantastic view at the Sky Garden, which is right across the River Thames from The Shard. London's highest public garden offers some of the best views of the city's skyline and comes complete with an indoor garden, restaurants, and bars. The best bit? Entry is free. 

Time slots for Sky Garden can book up quickly, so plan ahead if you want to see the breathtaking views.

Standing on the left side of escalators — especially in London Underground stations

If you have no intention of walking down or climbing an escalator, make sure you stand on the right side. That way, those who don't want to stand still have the option to pass you on the left, keeping you from running into a scorned Londoner.

It's an unwritten rule in this city (and many other cities), and everyone — visitors and locals alike — should follow it. 

Keep this in mind when you're getting on the London Underground (also known as the Tube), especially if you want to avoid strangers angrily telling you to move as they rush to make their train.

Preparing only for rain and not other types of weather

One common misconception about London is that it always rains. It isn't entirely wrong, but it isn't exactly correct either. 

The reality is that you need to prepare for all four seasons, regardless of the time of year.

You probably don't need to bring a winter jacket if you're visiting in July, but pack versatile clothing that will give you options in case you encounter unexpected temperatures.

If you're planning to go out at night, note that the temperature tends to drop a fair bit, even in the summer, so bring a layer.

Taking the Tube around Central London instead of walking short distances

When you're in Central London, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking you need to take public transit everywhere you go. However, it can be a waste of time and money. 

Take Leicester Square and Covent Garden, for example. They're one Tube stop apart, so the ride between the two takes about one minute. 

However, that doesn't account for the time it takes to get in and out of the stations, especially since Covent Garden has stairs and an elevator instead of an escalator.

If you're willing and able to walk, I recommend avoiding the chaos inside two of London's busiest stations and instead enjoying a five-minute stroll down Long Acre, a street home to numerous shops and restaurants.

Overpaying for airport taxis and cars

Tourists often spend a fortune on taxi rides from the airport to wherever they're staying, which is a big no-no.

Sadly, London's iconic black cabs are usually overpriced, and rideshare apps tend to be no different when it comes to the trek from the airport to the city. 

Alternatives — such as coaches (buses) and railways, including the Heathrow Express, Gatwick Express, and Elizabeth line — are cheaper and will usually get you where you need to go in less time than a car.

Local tip: The Elizabeth line is an air-conditioned rail service that leaves from the same platform as the Heathrow Express and costs about half the price.

Only shopping on Oxford Street

Oxford Street is one of the best places to shop in London, but it's also one of the city's busiest streets. It's often a bit chaotic, but the activity level really ramps up on weekends. 

For a more peaceful shopping experience with options just as good as those on Oxford Street, visit stores on King's Road in Chelsea or Marylebone. You can also explore the high streets in areas like Camden Town and Hampstead. 

Branching out beyond Central London will increase your chances of finding local, independently-owned businesses selling goods you can't get outside the UK.

Overlooking London's free museums and galleries

From the Tate Modern to the British Museum, London is home to some of the world's finest museums and galleries, and many of them are free to visit. 

Visiting the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum is a great way to spend an entire day, as all three museums are within walking distance of each other.

They're also located right by the Royal Albert Hall, meaning you can end a day of museum-hopping by watching a fabulous show at the historic concert hall. Just make sure you book tickets in advance.

It's also worth noting that some museum exhibitions, even the free ones, require you to reserve a time slot in advance. So take a look at the places you're interested in visiting before your trip to ensure you don't miss out.

Splurging to stay in the center of London

It can be tempting to book a luxurious hotel right in the heart of Central London, but in my opinion, that's not the best way to spend your travel budget.

Thanks to London's amazing public transportation system, almost anywhere you stay will have excellent connections to most parts of the city. 

Staying in areas such as Camden, Islington, and Stratford will give you a more authentic experience and get you a lot more value for your money. 

Leaving London without ordering a pub-made Sunday roast

Going to the pub is a rite of passage during any trip to the UK, let alone a visit to its capital city. It is steeped in history and home to some of the country's oldest and finest watering holes.

But many tourists don't realize pubs serve some of the best food in London, too. 

No trip to London is complete without trying a Sunday roast, a traditional meal typically made up of roasted meat (or a meatless alternative), roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, gravy, and a variety of vegetables.

This story was originally published on May 12, 2023, and most recently updated on August 19, 2026.

• Tuomas Malinen thinks the next US recession could be just around the corner.
• The Finnish professor says two of the three economic variables he analyzed are flashing warnings.
• His view is in the minority on Wall Street, where most forecasters expect growth to hold up.

A professor who has spent years studying financial crises thinks the US economy is on the verge of trouble.

Tuomas Malinen, an economist who specializes in geopolitics and and financial crises, is laying out a grim outlook for the US. In a post on Substack this week, the Finnish professor said he analyzed several key barometers in financial markets and the economy. The findings ultimately supported the idea that the US is precariously close to another downturn, despite booming stocks and strong surface-level growth.

Malinen said he didn't have a concrete timeline for when a recession could start.

"But we need to acknowledge that the bottom can fall beneath the US economy, practically, in any minute," he warned.

Here are the three variables that Malinen analyzed:

US bankruptcies: Corporate bankruptcies remain well below their peak in the years following the Great Financial Crisis and the dot-com crash, but have climbed significantly since their post-COVID low.

In the 12 months leading up to June, the US recorded more than 600,000 new bankruptcy filings, up 12% from the 12 months leading up to June 2025, according to the US Courts office. It also marks the highest number of new bankruptcies the US has seen since the pandemic.

Bond yields: Corporate bond spreads are also flashing a potential warning for the US, Malinen said. He pointed in particular to the private sector yield curve, which he measured as the spread between Baa-rated corporate bonds with maturities of at least 20 years, and the bank prime rate, the interest rate that banks charge their most creditworthy institutional clients.

The private sector yield curve is close to uninverting, which means that corporate yields are close to suprassing the bank prime rate. That can happen if investors demand a higher yield due to perceived risks of holding corporate debt, or because overall interest rate expectations are rising, which can hurt risk-asset prices.

The curve is now signaling "an imminent onset of US recession," Malinen said, referring to how the private sector yield curve turned positive leading up to the COVID-19 recession, the Great Financial Crisis, and the recession of the early 2000s.

Manufacturing new orders: The ISM's manufacturing New Orders Index rose to 56.7 in July, marking its seventh straight month of expansion. This is the only variable flashing a positive signal for the economy, Malinen said, which he said may be attributable to the boom in data centers.

Even then, the signs are pointing to two troubling things about the US economy, Malinen said: 1), that only a small corner of the US economy is thriving, and 2) that the success of this area could "break suddenly," he said, referring to fears that AI is the latest market bubble.

"If the above holds, it would indicate that the US economy is very close to the onset of a recession, which can start abruptly from the collapse of the AI-trade (little like after the implosion of the Dotcom bubble)," Malinen wrote.

Malinen, who has issued bearish warnings for the US economy for the past several years, is in the minority on Wall Street, where most forecasters are expecting growth to hold up and the AI boom to last for at least several more years. Economists at the Atlanta Fed are estimating that GDP will expand another 4% over the third quarter, indicating the US is far from tipping into a technical recession.

• My husband and I moved into a condo when we became empty nesters, but we started craving more space.
• We moved into a home in a suburban cul-de-sac — but worried we'd be much older than our neighbors.
• Surprisingly, we built beautiful friendships with our younger neighbors.

When my husband and I first became empty nesters more than 20 years ago, we moved from our suburban Maryland home to a two-bedroom condo in Arlington, Virginia. We hoped to make some new friends as we started this chapter of our lives.

The city itself was fun, and the living environment was pleasant, but the proximity made it hard to connect with neighbors; it felt like everyone was protective of their privacy and space.

Fast forward 17 years, and our family looked a lot bigger with in-laws and four grandchildren. Family gatherings at our condo started to feel tense and stifling: Aside from our small, not-toddler-friendly terrace, there was nowhere to comfortably escape if someone needed space.

Add retirement to this picture, and we started to realize we needed more breathing room — both for ourselves and our hobbies, and to host sleepovers with our youngest family members.

So, we moved to a four-bedroom home in the suburbs of Maryland near where we had previously resided, and closer to where our children and grandkids lived.

We weren't sure how we'd fit in with our neighbors

My immediate fear was that we would be outsiders, just the "old couple on the block."

With the exception of a few homeowners who had held onto their property despite being longtime empty nesters, everyone else on our cul-de-sac — and many people in the community itself — seemed closer to our children's ages. (In fact, we'd later discover that one neighbor was in our daughter's high-school class.)

I didn't expect to befriend our neighbors, and instead focused my energy on renewing relationships we'd had when we previously lived nearby. I also started playing mah-jongg and pickleball to try to cultivate new ones.

We quickly discovered, though, that our immediate community members were very friendly. We had just adopted a cock-a-poo, so when we noticed neighbors going on long morning walks, we started casually joining them.

I was surprised by how natural it felt to spend time together. Regular dog-walking outings eventually graduated to happy hours and dinners.

Not only are we from different age groups, but we also have different cultural and ethnic backgrounds — some of the best times we've had include sharing foods from our different cultures.

Together, we've eaten Dominican stewed meat, arroz blanco, and habichuelas, Trinidadian roti, and New York-style matzo-ball soup and potato pancakes, all while having long talks about politics, movies, family relationships, travel, and more.

Of course, as adults of different ages, we don't always share the same outlook on every topic — but we've learned to listen, appreciate, and respectfully disagree when our opinions diverge.

About 3 years later, these are some of my closest friendships

Naturally, as neighbors, our friendship has benefited from the proximity. We can get together on short notice, and my husband and I have been able to count on our neighbors for help with dog walking, snow shoveling, and more.

We've also become close with our neighbors' kids. One of them plays piano beautifully, and used to come to our house to practice before his family bought a piano of their own. Another shoots hoops with my husband.

One of our grandchildren has become a good playmate of one of our neighbors' children, and runs to her house whenever she comes to visit us.

Many people in our age bracket might choose to spend retirement in a homogenous, 60-plus community where everyone's a bit more generationally appropriate. I'm glad we decided otherwise.

I don't believe "age is just a number," but I do believe it's rewarding to put yourself out there. My husband and I have learned we can communicate with people of all different ages and backgrounds if we stay open and willing to connect.

• Without adjusting for inflation, 17 superhero movies have made at least $1 billion at the box office.
• Using data from Box Office Mojo, we compiled the highest-grossing superhero movies worldwide.
• "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" became the latest addition to this list in August 2026.

Did someone say "superhero fatigue"? Because after the record-breaking smash success of "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," we don't see any signs of audiences giving up on comic books just yet.

Since "The Dark Knight" became the first billion-dollar grosser to star a hero wearing a mask and tights, it's been a steady stream of caped crusaders, super-powered beings, and web-slinging spider-men.

However, it's still no easy feat to make seven figures at the box office. As Marvel and DC have seen over the last seven years since "Avengers: Endgame," audiences won't show up for just anything that's ripped from the pages.

But "Brand New Day" proved that some masked vigilantes still have the juice. It made $1 billion in six days — and $2 billion in 19 days — proving that your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has worldwide appeal.

Here are all 17 superhero movies to cross the billion-dollar threshold.

17. "The Dark Knight" (2008)

Worldwide gross: $1,008,480,203

16. "Joker" (2019)

Worldwide gross: $1,078,958,629

15. "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012)

Worldwide gross: $1,085,429,532

14. "Captain Marvel" (2019)

Worldwide gross: $1,131,416,446

13."Spider-Man: Far From Home" (2019)

Worldwide gross: $1,131,927,996

12. "Aquaman" (2018)

Worldwide gross: $1,152,028,393

11. "Captain America: Civil War" (2016)

Worldwide gross: $1,155,046,416

10. "Iron Man 3" (2013)

Worldwide gross: $1,215,577,205

9. "Incredibles 2" (2018)

Worldwide gross: $1,243,225,667

8. "Deadpool & Wolverine" (2024)

Worldwide gross: $1,338,073,645

7. "Black Panther" (2018)

Worldwide gross: $1,349,926,083

6. "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015)

Worldwide gross: $1,405,018,048

5. "The Avengers" (2012)

Worldwide gross: $1,520,538,536

4. "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (2021)

Worldwide gross: $1,921,426,073

3. "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" (2026)

Worldwide gross: $2,022,543,660 (as of August 18, 2026)

2. "Avengers: Infinity War" (2018)

Worldwide gross: $2,052,415,039

1. "Avengers: Endgame" (2019)

Worldwide gross: $2,799,439,100

Editor's note: This story was first published in October 2022 and most recently updated in August 2026. Kirsten Acuna contributed to a prior version of this story.

• There have been 89 theatrically released movies based on a Marvel comic property to date.
• From "Howard the Duck" to "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," the quality has ebbed and flowed.
• Here's how all the Marvel movies — so far — compare.

It's been 40 years since audiences saw their very first theatrical movie based on a Marvel comic — would you believe that 1986's "Howard the Duck" was the first major motion picture based on a character from Marvel?

Since that inauspicious start, Marvel has become one of the most recognizable and successful brands in the movie business (though the studio was going through a rough patch until "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" was released this summer).

The Marvel Cinematic Universe alone has grossed over $30 billion worldwide, and that's not including mega-hits like "X-Men," "Men in Black," or the "Spider-Verse" films.

While most of these movies made significant chunks of change at the box office, not all were beloved by critics. Here's how each film was received by critics, from worst to best, according to Rotten Tomatoes.

89. "Fantastic Four" (2015)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 9%

"Fantastic Four" is the second on-screen iteration of the famed Marvel family consisting of Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Miles Teller), his love interest Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Kate Mara), her brother Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Michael B. Jordan), and their friend Ben Grimm/The Thing (Jamie Bell).

After they travel to a different dimension and acquire fantastic, if gruesome, powers, they face off against Doctor Doom, played by Toby Kebbell, a former friend turned homicidal maniac.

"A poorly constructed, ineptly executed, flatfooted piece of Branded Product that plays as though it were written by a piece of software fed every superhero movie script to date and instructed to synthesize them," wrote Flavorwire's Jason Bailey.

88. "Madame Web" (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 10%

"Madame Web" stars Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb, a paramedic living in New York City who somehow gains clairvoyance.

She teams up with three young women — Julia (Sydney Sweeney), Anya (Isabela Merced), and Mattie (Celeste O'Connor) — who each have spider-powers in their future to take down a mysterious foe, Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim).

"Even Johnson has her limits, and 'Madame Web' blows so far past them that you can practically guess which scenes were shot last based on the degree to which its star has given up," wrote Allison Wilmore for Vulture.

87. "Elektra" (2005)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 11%

After dying at the end of "Daredevil," Elektra, played by Jennifer Garner, is revived by her mentor, Stick, to become a force for good. Eventually, she abandons this lifestyle and becomes a contract killer until an evil organization known as The Hand attempts to kill her.

Tim Robey of The Telegraph called the film "Studio dross of the lowest grade."

86. "Howard the Duck" (1986)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 14%

As you might've guessed from the title, Howard is a duck. Specifically, a resident of the planet Duckworld, which is like Earth, but inhabited by ducks. When Howard finds himself on Earth in the state of Ohio, he must team up with a woman, Beverly Switzler (Lea Thompson), to try to get home.

"Sound the horns, light the speakers, and cue the marching band, because 'Howard the Duck' is here ... and bad movie historians could not ask for a more mallard-droit venture than this," wrote Michael Burkett of the Orange County Register.

84 (tie). "Morbius" (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 15%

In "Morbius," Jared Leto stars as Dr. Michael Morbius, a highly intelligent doctor dying from a rare blood disease. In his quest to find a cure, he accidentally turns himself into a "living vampire," a being with enhanced strength, sonar capabilities, a psychic connection with bats ... and the unending desire to drink blood.

"'Morbius,' at best, will be remembered as the latest effort on Sony's part to make its nascent Sinister Six franchise happen. And, like 'fetch,' it's hard to see that happening," wrote Liz Shannon Miller of Consequence.

84 (tie). "Kraven the Hunter" (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 15%

What seems to be the final film in Sony's ill-advised SSU (Sony's Spider-Man Universe) is "Kraven the Hunter," which stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the titular Kraven. In the film, Kraven works to free his brother Dmitri (Fred Hechinger) from the villainous Rhino (Alessandro Nivola).

"'Kraven the Hunter' is a terrible movie, but you almost feel sorry for it," wrote Peter Howell of The Toronto Star.

83. "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" (2011)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 18%

Nicolas Cage returns as stuntman-turned-flaming-skeleton Johnny Blaze, who has been in hiding since the events of the first film. When he finds out that the devil himself has fathered a child and is planning to raise him, he rides again as the demonic Ghost Rider in exchange for getting his soul back.

With the announcement of Ryan Gosling as the star of a new "Ghost Rider" film, this is officially the last appearance of Cage's bizarre (but fun!) turn as Johnny.

"Cage appears to find his role as this second-tier Marvel Comics antihero alternately silly, tremendously fun, and the means to a decent paycheck for not all that much work," wrote the Austin Chronicle's Marc Savlov.

82. "Dark Phoenix" (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 22%

Sophie Turner plays Jean Grey, who begins to lose control of her psychic abilities, unleashing what's called the "Phoenix Force." The rest of her mutant teammates and some enemies assemble to try to help Jean control her powers, leading to tragedy.

As the recent D23 announcement confirmed a new version of the X-Men, this is the last we'll see of this version of the team of mutants, which is a shame, since it's such a bad final note.

"Outgunned on the action front by box-office rivals and too nervous to tell a more intimate story, 'Dark Phoenix' leaves the franchise running on empty," wrote Michael Hale of Sight & Sound.

81. "Men in Black: International" (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 23%

Yes, the "Men in Black" franchise is based on the Malibu Comics run of the same name. Malibu was then acquired by Marvel in 1994.

The 2019 stand-alone sequel sees Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson take over for Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, playing two new agents, Agent H and Agent M, who are paired up in London to uncover a mole within the agency.

"For all its oddball aliens and fantastical technology, the most unbelievable thing about 'Men in Black: International' is just how thoroughly it wastes Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth," wrote Mashable's Angie Han.

79 (tie). "Blade: Trinity" (2004)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 24%

Until Mahershala Ali's "Blade" film is released (whenever that may be), Wesley Snipes will be the only big-screen version of Blade, a human-vampire hybrid who has dedicated himself to hunting vampires. In the last film of the trilogy, Blade, played by Wesley Snipes, teams up with two new vampire hunters (Ryan Reynolds' Hannibal King and Jessica Biel's Abigail Whistler) to defeat Dracula.

"This has all the appeal of reheated, congealed blood," wrote Time Out's Nigel Floyd.

79 (tie). "The Punisher" (1989)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 24%

Not long after "Howard the Duck," the next Marvel movie was released: "The Punisher." In it, Lundgren plays Frank Castle, a presumed-dead former detective whose family was blown up by a car bomb placed by the Mafia. However, Castle survived the bombing and has now dedicated his life to getting revenge on everyone involved.

This film never got a theatrical release in the US, but it was released internationally, thus qualifying it for this list.

Time Out's Suzi Feay called the film "destructive, reprehensible, and marvelous fun."

77 (tie). "Fantastic Four" (2005)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 28%

Years before he became Captain America, Chris Evans took on the role of Johnny Storm, better known as the Human Torch, in "Fantastic Four." He was joined by Jessica Alba as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, and Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm/The Thing.

Instead of traveling to a parallel dimension, this version of the Fantastic Four's origin story sees them interact with a cosmic cloud in space, giving them their powers. But, like in the reboot, their primary nemesis is Doctor Doom, this time a former classmate of Reed and Sue's, played by Julian McMahon.

On the AV Club, Keith Phipps simply called the movie "A garish mediocrity."

77 (tie). "Ghost Rider" (2007)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 28%

In "Ghost Rider," viewers watch as Cage's Johnny Blaze descends into hell as the literal devil's bounty hunter, a power he received after trading his soul to spare his father's life. Now, when he's around an evil spirit, he becomes the Ghost Rider, a flaming skull demon who rides a motorcycle. He gets into a race against the son of a demon to prevent him from unleashing hell on Earth.

"Nic Cage seems comfortable in the role of the flaming-skulled biker, but the plot holes are too deep even for his Herbie-like arachnid motorcycle to negotiate," wrote David Jenkins for Time Out.

76. "Punisher: War Zone" (2008)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 29%

"War Zone" saw its titular role re-cast with Ray Stevenson, whose version of Frank is now five years into his career as the vigilante, The Punisher.

This time, Frank goes up against one of his most famous adversaries in the comics, Jigsaw (played by Dominic West), while evading the police, who have created a "Punisher Task Force" dedicated to bringing him in.

"You couldn't call it shoddy, exactly, and the actors take it painfully seriously; it's just dispiriting to see all this endeavor in the service of something so humorless and disgusting," wrote Andrew Pulver of The Guardian.

75. "The Punisher" (2004)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 30%

"The Punisher" stars Thomas Jane as Frank Castle, a former FBI agent whose entire family is murdered after his cover is blown by the vengeful Saint crime family, the head of which is played by John Travolta. Frank then dedicates his entire existence to getting revenge on those who were involved in the death of his wife and children.

Nev Pierce of the BBC called it a "comic-book action movie with an unpleasant edge."

74. "Venom" (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 31%

In "Venom," Tom Hardy plays journalist Eddie Brock, who loses his job, his fiancée (played by Michelle Williams), and his reputation after he steals confidential documents and confronts a powerful CEO, played by Riz Ahmed. Simultaneously, he is exposed to an alien symbiote who calls itself Venom, and the two bond together to protect the Earth.

"Not since 'Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance' has a Marvel Comics adaptation centered on such a splendidly weird lead performance," wrote the Chicago Reader's Ben Sachs.

73. "Kick-Ass 2" (2013)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 33%

"Kick-Ass" and its sequel are based on the series of the same name, which was initially published by the Marvel imprint Icon Comics. It has since moved to Image Comics, the third-largest comics brand behind Marvel and DC.

Specifically, "Kick-Ass 2" reunites viewers with the vigilante duo of Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass and Chloë Grace Moretz as Mindy Macready/Hit-Girl as they once again face off against Christopher Mintz-Plasse's Chris D'Amico, who has an NSFW alter ego.

"Although the film has the cheap veneer of female empowerment that comes from having a girl assassin, it is rotten with misogyny," Jenny McCartney for The Telegraph.

72. "The New Mutants" (2020)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 36%

Now that Disney officially owns Fox, the next X-Men movie we get will likely be an entirely different continuity. For a franchise with high highs and low lows, it's just unfortunate that this was the last hurrah.

"New Mutants" stars Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Blu Hunt, Henry Zaga, and Adam Beach as a group of teenage mutants living in a hospital. They were all sent there after causing horrible accidents (or even deaths) with their powers, only to discover that things at the hospital are not what they seem.

"The concept behind 'The New Mutants' is a solid, intriguing one that could've reinvigorated the familiar origin superhero story. Instead, Boone opts for genericism, ending the 'X-Men' franchise with an angsty-teen whimper," wrote Meagan Navarro for Bloody Disgusting.

71. "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" (2009)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 37%

The 2009 film focuses on Logan, or Wolverine, as played by Hugh Jackman, and what his life was like before he became the X-Man that we knew and loved in the three previous movies. It follows him from the Civil War to the 1970s.

"'Wolverine' starts with a roar before sliding into a chaotic, preachy mess," wrote The Irish Times' Donald Clarke.

69 (tie). "Men in Black II" (2002)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 38%

After the events of the first film, Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) has retired and subsequently had his memory wiped of all things alien, but Agent J (Will Smith) drags him back into duty to confront their biggest threat yet.

"This is effective button-pushing sci-fi entertainment, but you won't need to be neuralized to forget it," wrote Andy Jacobs for the BBC.

69 (tie). "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" (2007)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 38%

The cast from the first film all return, joined by Doug Jones and Laurence Fishburne, who provide the physical form and voice, respectively, of the Silver Surfer, a herald from outer space who serves to warn a planet of its incoming destruction at the hands of the planet-killing Galactus.

"An off-brand superhero movie, the cinematic equivalent of one of those generic breakfast cereals with a badly drawn squirrel for a mascot," wrote Slate's Dana Stevens.

68. "Venom: The Last Dance" (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 40%

"Venom: The Last Dance" is exactly what it sounds like: a trilogy-capping film. It stars Tom Hardy as both the human reporter Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote best frenemy, Venom. In "Last Dance," Eddie and Venom must make difficult decisions regarding their relationship and the safety of the planet.

"At least the film ends with a fittingly poignant/ridiculous tribute to the greatest love story ever told about a man and his symbiotic alien goo," wrote Indiewire's David Ehrlich.

67. "The King's Man" (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 41%

"The King's Man" is based on the Icon Comics series "Kingsman" (originally titled "The Secret Service"). It tells the story of the very first members of the Kingsman, including Ralph Fiennes' Orlando Oxford, his son Conrad (played by Harris Dickinson), a maid/spy Polly (played by Gemma Arterton), a butler/spy Shola (played by Djimon Honsou), and more as they go up against Russian sorcerer Rasputin, as played by Rhys Ifans.

"It is downright diabolical for Vaughn to make audiences even imagine a sequel to this unnecessary prequel simply to see if can be as outlandish as promised," wrote the Los Angeles Times' Mark Olsen.

66. "Daredevil" (2003)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 42%

Affleck plays Matt Murdock, a blind lawyer with preternaturally sensitive senses and a healthy helping of Catholic guilt who decides to save Hell's Kitchen by becoming Daredevil, the Man Without Fear.

He's joined by Jennifer Garner as Elektra, an assassin with a heart, and Jon Favreau as Foggy Nelson, his best friend and fellow lawyer. They go up against the crime boss Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin, played by Michael Clarke Duncan, and the unstable assassin Bullseye, played by Colin Farrell.

Joe Morganstern of The Wall Street Journal wrote, "It isn't a great film, or even a greatly original one. Still, it has many grace notes, and interesting oddities."

64 (tie). "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 46%

It's been a tough time for the MCU over the last couple of years, and "Quantumania" seems to be a nadir for the long-running franchise.

In this film, Ant-Man (or Scott Lang), played by Paul Rudd, travels to the microscopic Quantum Realm to save his daughter, Cassie (Kathryn Newton), who was sucked in there by a mysterious device. Along for the ride are his girlfriend Hope/The Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), her mom Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), her dad Hank (Michael Douglas), and various other citizens of this new plane of existence.

Kyle Smith of The Wall Street Journal called it "another lackluster blockbuster."

64 (tie). "Captain America: Brave New World" (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 46%

We may never know what, exactly, went wrong with "Brave New World," which follows the new Captain America, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) as he goes up against President Thunderbolt Ross (Harrison Ford), who just so happens to turn into Red Hulk.

We do know, though, is that this movie was plagued by reshoots and was more than likely hacked to pieces in the editing room.

"If 'Brave New World' is a sign of things to come, then the MCU is in more trouble than we thought," wrote the Chicago Reader's Ben Kaye.

63. "X-Men: Apocalypse" (2016)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 47%

"Apocalypse" is the ninth "X-Men" film overall, and the third installment in the prequel trilogy that stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicholas Hoult as younger versions of mutants from the original three films.

In "Apocalypse," the team must unite to defeat the world's first mutant, En Sabah Nur, or Apocalypse, as he tries to remake the world when he is awoken after thousands of years.

"This is one of the big dangers for the extended franchise model of filmmaking, that characters and series will be kept alive not because there's a story to tell, but because the franchise must be kept alive," wrote Peter Suderman for Vox.

62. "Eternals" (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 48%

"Eternals," directed by the Oscar-winning Chloé Zhao, attempted to introduce an entirely new team of superheroes, an alien race called the Eternals, to the MCU and followed them from prehistoric times through the present day. Your mileage may vary on how successful she was, but "Eternals" did introduce Harry Styles to the MCU, so there's that.

"Zhao ultimately robs the artist's comic of its sweep by constantly turning a space opera into a repetitive character drama," wrote Ed Gonzalez for Slant Magazine.

61. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" (2014)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 50%

Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone reunite as Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, and his doomed girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, in this over-stuffed sequel that sees Peter going up against Jamie Foxx's Electro, Dane DeHaan's Green Goblin, and Paul Giamatti's Rhino.

"Over-stuffed with plot and consequently struggles to invest the audience in any of it, since there's so much to get through and so many future films and spin-offs to set up," wrote The Atlantic's David Sims.

60. "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 51%

"The Golden Circle" stars Taron Egerton once again as Eggsy, a newly minted member of the secret spy organization, the Kingsman. After many of its members are wiped out, Eggsy and his colleague Merlin (Mark Strong), travel to the US and meet their American equivalents, the Statesman.

David Edelstein simply wrote, "What a mess it is" in his review for Vulture.

59. "X-Men: The Last Stand" (2006)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 56%

"The Last Stand" is another interpretation of the "Dark Phoenix Saga," this time focusing on Famke Janssen's version of Jean Grey after she's resurrected following her death in "X2." Like the 2019 version of the story, Jean is unable to control her powers and kills people that she cares about until she is ultimately taken out by Logan.

"'The Last Stand' pretty much looks and plays like the first films, though perhaps with more noise and babe action and a little less glum," wrote Manohla Dargis for The New York Times.

58. "Blade II" (2002)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 57%

"Blade II" might be a little tough to watch post-2020, as its plot focuses on a pandemic that turns vampires into Reapers, aka rabid vampires, but the additions of Ron Perlman and a young Norman Reedus are worth the watch. 

Plus, it was directed by horror visionary Guillermo del Toro, which means, at the very least, that it's never boring.

As the AV Club's Nathan Rabin wrote, "The world can always use another entertainingly trashy B-movie, and 'Blade II' fits the bill."

57. "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 58%

"Venom: Let There Be Carnage" is a lean, mean, killing machine. Ostensibly, the movie is about Venom and Eddie working together to defeat the serial killer Cletus Kasady, played by a dialed-in Woody Harrelson ... but, in actuality, it's a romantic comedy between Venom and Eddie trying to figure out how to live together in one body.

"A love story written in blood, sweat, and the slime of half-eaten brains," wrote The Independent's Clarisse Loughrey.

56. "Blade" (1998)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 59%

Wesley Snipes makes his debut as Blade, a vampire-human hybrid who has dedicated his life to hunting down vampires in the seedy underworld of his home city, using his unique advantages, like the ability to walk in the daylight.

"'Blade's' stomach-turning special effects, bone-crunching martial arts and cynical humor will more than satisfy any action-film addict's need for a fix of eye-popping escapist adrenaline," wrote the Washington Post's Michael O'Sullivan.

55. "Spider-Man 3" (2007)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 62%

"Spider-Man 3" made the mistake of trying to cram too many villains into one film, a mistake that "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" replicated a few years later. In the film, Peter, as played by Tobey Maguire, faces off against his best friend Harry Osborn (James Franco) as the new Green Goblin, Flint Marko/Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), and Eddie Brock (this time played by Topher Grace), aka Venom.

He also infamously dances down the streets of New York City with the most emo haircut of all time, which is later referenced in "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" a decade later.

"Too many villains, too many pale plot strands, too many romantic misunderstandings, too many conversations, too many street crowds looking high into the air and shouting 'oooh!' this way, then swiveling and shouting aaah!' that way," wrote Roger Ebert.

53 (tie). "Hulk" (2003)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 63%

Eric Bana took on the role of Marvel's not-so-jolly green giant in Ang Lee's version of "Hulk" in one of the most faithful comic-book movies, at least aesthetically speaking, even if the character's origin wasn't exactly the same as on the page. A supporting cast of Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, and Nick Nolte also elevates this movie.

"Where so many comic-book movies feel as disposable as Kleenex, the passionate, un-cynical 'Hulk' stamps itself into your memory. Lee's movies are built to last," wrote Newsweek's David Ansen.

53 (tie). "The Marvels" (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 63%

After saving the universe, Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) has once again left Earth to continue saving the rest of the galaxy — but when her powers get entangled with her best friend's daughter, Monica (Teyonah Parris), and a Captain Marvel superfan who has nicknamed herself Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), she must return to her home planet to see what exactly is going on, and confront the mistakes of her past.

"It's silly and makes little sense, but it's such a fun time at the movies. And isn't that why we go to see movies in the first place?" wrote Kristen Lopez for The Wrap.

52. "Thor: Love and Thunder" (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 64%

The follow-up to smash hit "Thor: Ragnarok" and the first-ever fourth solo film for an MCU hero didn't live up to expectations, at least according to critics.

But we did get to see Natalie Portman return to the MCU as her version of the Mighty Thor, a couple of screaming goats, and a jaw-dropping post-credits cameo.

"Though Chris Hemsworth, as usual, has a lot of fun in the title role, the film around him too often strains to provide excitement and laughs," wrote Wall Street Journal's Kyle Smith.

50 (tie). "Men in Black 3" (2012)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 67%

A decade after we last saw Agents J and K, viewers were once again treated to the comedic duo of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, but with a twist.

The film focuses on an alien who travels back in time to kill a young Agent K (Jones) in the 1960s, leading Agent J (Smith) to also travel back and team up with the young Agent K, played by Josh Brolin, to fix the future.

"The movie represents at least a partial return to form, not as inventive as the first, but surely better than the recycled materials that made up the second," wrote The Atlantic's Christopher Orr.

50 (tie). "Thor: The Dark World" (2013)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 67%

"Thor: The Dark World," the 2013 sequel to the 2011 film, stars Chris Hemsworth as the titular Norse god, Tom Hiddleston as his mischievous brother Loki, and Natalie Portman as Thor's Earth-bound love interest Jane Foster. It wasn't as well-received as its predecessor, but it has its defenders.

"This feels like a really, really, expensive episode of 'Doctor Who.' In a good way," wrote Larushka Ivan-Zadeh for Metro.

49. "The Incredible Hulk" (2008)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 68%

Edward Norton took over for Eric Bana in "The Incredible Hulk," which was plagued with rumors of behind-the-scenes drama, including that Norton rewrote much of the movie while it was shooting, and that there were many clashes between Norton, director Louis Leterrier, and Marvel Studios.

Those dueling visions led to a moderately received comic-book film.

"The climax is a bit of a yawn, but most of what precedes it is vigorous and sharp," wrote Tom Charity of CNN.

48. "The Wolverine" (2013)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 70%

"The Wolverine" separates Hugh Jackman's Wolverine from the rest of the X-Men for his own little side quest in Japan. In it, he wrestles with the consequences of his actions (aka killing Jean Grey in "X-Men: The Last Stand") and with his "curse" of immortality.

"Director James Mangold's film features some breathtakingly suspenseful action sequences, exquisite production and costume design and colorful characters, some of whom register more powerfully than others," wrote Christy Lemire for RogerEbert.com.

47. "The Amazing Spider-Man" (2012)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 71%

Released just five years after Tobey Maguire hung up his spider-suit in 2007, "The Amazing Spider-Man" had its work cut out for it. And, largely, the movie succeeds at introducing a new take on our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and his second-most iconic love interest, Gwen Stacy (played by a luminous Emma Stone), while attempting to introduce new lore regarding Peter's parents' disappearance.

"The casting is just right. As if moving back in time, Andrew Garfield is the Spidey Sean Connery, as opposed to Tobey Maguire's Roger Moore," wrote The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw.

46. "Iron Man 2" (2010)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 72%

In retrospect, "Iron Man 2" had an impossible job: to build upon what is still regarded as one of the finest superhero films of all time.

Perhaps that's why critics weren't too kind to "Iron Man 2," which focused on Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, being rude to everyone around him while covering up his impending death. Oh, and Mickey Rourke is there playing Whiplash, a Russian villain who loves his bird.

"Casting the likes of Downey and Rourke and then imprisoning them in jointed refrigerators is resource-squandering of the highest order," wrote Dana Stevens for Slate.

45. "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 73%

After the events of the Disney+ miniseries "WandaVision," Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff has been taken over by the dark forces of the Scarlet Witch, putting her on a collision course with Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Stephen Strange as he works to protect a new teenage friend, America Chavez (played by Xochitl Gomez), from Wanda's plans.

"It might be Marvel's multiverse, but 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' is [director Sam] Raimi's plaything. And we wouldn't want it any other way," wrote Kristy Puchko for Mashable.

43 (tie). "Kingsman: The Secret Service" (2014)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 75%

"Kingsman," based on the Icon Comics run of the same name, is a far bloodier and funnier movie than anything viewers have seen from a comic book movie in some time. Taron Egerton stars as Eggsy, a petty criminal and Royal Marines dropout who is turned into a super-spy with the help of his mentor, Harry, played by Colin Firth.

"On Day One of filming, they must have thrown away the moral compass and taken a group vow to splatter our sensibilities with stylish, gratuitous violence and one 'Wait, what?!' moment after another," wrote Richard Roeper for the Chicago Sun-Times.

43 (tie). "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 75%

The Avengers team up once again in "Age of Ultron" to take down the nihilistic AI known as Ultron, designed as a "suit of armor around the world" by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, aka Iron Man and the Hulk, who is hell-bent on destroying the planet at all costs.

"The sharp, interpersonal dramedy that made the first movie such a delight is again present in flashes, but not infrequently it is drowned out by the noisy, inevitable need to Save the World," wrote Christopher Orr for The Atlantic.

41 (tie). "Thor" (2011)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 77%

Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston were both essentially unknowns when they were cast as Norse gods Thor and Loki (as evidenced by their casting announcement in Deadline), and this movie catapulted them both to the A-list almost immediately.

Both Hemsworth and Hiddleston still have a future with the MCU in 2026 — both have been announced as part of the cast of "Avengers: Doomsday." Seeing their chemistry as brothers in this first film explains why we still love them, 15 years later.

"The new Marvel Comics movie 'Thor,' directed by Kenneth Branagh, is equal parts trippy, tacky, and monumental, the blend surprisingly agreeable, a happy change from all those aggressively down-to-earth superhero flicks like 'Iron Man,'" wrote David Edelstein for Vulture.

41 (tie). "Deadpool & Wolverine" (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 77%

"Deadpool & Wolverine" was released on July 26, 2024. Eleven days later, it had made $852 million worldwide, out-grossing the $782 million of the first film and the $785 million of the second film, according to Box Office Mojo. It eventually topped out at $1.3 billion.

Besides being a team-up between Deadpool, the Merc with a Mouth, and Wolverine, the best-known X-Man by a mile, "Deadpool & Wolverine" is a love letter to the 20th Century Fox era of superhero films, with cameos from Jennifer Garner, Wesley Snipes, Chris Evans (as Johnny Storm!), Dafne Keen, and more.

"Dotted in among the quips and Easter eggs is the superhero equivalent of 'Toy Story 2,' a mournful goodbye to the things we once held dear, even if some of those things weren't that great to begin with," wrote Slate's Sam Adams.

40. "Kick-Ass" (2010)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 78%

Some of our current beloved antiheroes predate this Icon Comics character, but without the on-screen success of "Kick-Ass," it's hard to tell when those adaptations would've come to pass.

"Kick-Ass" stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson — who suited up for his third comic-book movie as Kraven the Hunter in 2024 — as Dave Lizewski, a normal teenager and comics super-fan who decides to become a vigilante called Kick-Ass. He inspires a movement and teams up with other vigilantes like Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) and Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) to take down organized crime.

"Everything you've likely heard about 'Kick-Ass' is true, providing you've heard it's profane, outlandish, ultra-violent, shocking, funny and wildly entertaining," wrote Tom Long of The Detroit News.

37 (tie). "Iron Man 3" (2013)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 79%

"Iron Man 3" focuses on Tony Stark dealing with his PTSD after the events of "Avengers," like his near-death experience flying a nuclear bomb through a wormhole in space. But the big twist of this movie, the bait-and-switch identity of the Mandarin, played by Ben Kingsley, remains this movie's biggest legacy.

"A thrilling film and a somewhat satisfying conclusion to the 'Iron Man' trilogy," wrote Nicolás Delgadillo for Discussing Film.

37 (tie). "Captain Marvel" (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 79%

Brie Larson stars as Carol Danvers, a former US Air Force pilot who is exposed to a blast of cosmic energy in the '90s, experiences memory loss, and is taken in by an alien race called the Kree. As Carol tries to remember her past, she's introduced to a young(er) SHIELD agent, a digitally de-aged Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.

"The main strength is a core of female friendship: Carol Danvers is the only Marvel hero you could imagine getting hammered and belting out songs by No Doubt," wrote The Observer's Wendy Ide.

37 (tie). "Black Widow" (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 79%

Set between the events of "Captain America: Civil War" and "Avengers: Infinity War," and exactly a decade after her introduction as Natasha Romanoff in "Iron Man 2," Scarlett Johansson finally stars in her own solo film with "Black Widow."

The film also introduced actors Florence Pugh and David Harbour to the MCU, and we're so happy to continue seeing them on screen.

"In all the ways that matter to an MCU fan, 'Black Widow' the film meets or exceeds all expectations. It is a killer action flick, and a unique viewing experience... in that I loved it, and the fact that I loved it also makes me livid," wrote Salon's Melanie McFarland.

36. "Captain America: The First Avenger" (2011)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 80%

Simply put, Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, is the role that Chris Evans was born to play. Audiences see Evans first as a digitally altered scrawny kid from Brooklyn who, against all odds, is chosen to receive a "super soldier serum" and become Captain America due to his pure heart. With anyone else, it'd be unbearably cheesy, but Evans sells it.

"No clever messages here, just bang-on romance and action, with another fresh twist on 20th-century history woven in for the kids to dive into after the credits have rolled," wrote Ed Gibbs for The Sydney Morning Herald.

34 (tie). "X-Men" (2000)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 82%

"X-Men" gave us Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Halle Berry as Storm, Famke Janssen as Jean Grey, James Marsden as Cyclops, Anna Paquin as Rogue, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique ... the list goes on.

While the film is a pretty straightforward origin story/team-up film, the action set the template for what the next 20-plus years of movies would look like.

"The 'X-Men' comic books have spawned a cottage industry of mutant characters, and the movie helps make sense of these legions while offering the established fan base something new to cheer," wrote Jami Bernard for the New York Daily News.

34 (tie). "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 82%

After the galaxy-saving stakes of the first two "Guardians" films, it was refreshing to watch our favorite rag-tag group of heroes come together to just save one of their friends, Rocket (Bradley Cooper), after he was gravely injured by a new threat, Adam Warlock (Will Poulter).

Of course, the film also deals with Peter/Star-Lord's (Chris Pratt) trauma of having to see a new version of his dead ex-girlfriend Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) — a sentence that only makes sense if you've seen "Infinity War" and "Endgame" — but if this is the last we see of our nice space friends, it was a great run.

"Now that nearly every other cinematic release reads like a holding pattern until they finally get around to mutants, 'Guardians Vol. 3' is the first sign in a while that Marvel might actually have some genuine enjoyment left in the tank," wrote Jackson Weaver for CBC News.

32 (tie). "Ant-Man" (2015)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 83%

Rudd plays Scott Lang, a white-collar criminal who is enlisted to take on the mantle of Ant-Man, a shrinking superhero who used to be Michael Douglas' Hank Pym.

But, as Pym is too old to suit up, he and his daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) teach Lang how to control ants, shrink and grow at will, and later break into Pym's lab to take down Darren Cross (Corey Stoll).

"Paul Rudd stars in a formulaic but consistently entertaining and likable Marvel summer blockbuster," wrote NME's Nick Levine.

32 (tie). "Deadpool 2" (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 83%

"Deadpool 2" expanded the universe of Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool, a mutant mercenary who has a tendency to break the fourth wall. In addition to bringing back Teenage Negasonic Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), Colossus (Stefan Kapičić), and Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), "Deadpool 2" adds Josh Brolin as Cable and Zazie Beetz as Domino, two welcome additions.

In "Deadpool 2," Deadpool teams up with an X-Force (of sorts) to find young Russell Collins, a mutant with fire capabilities, who is the target of the time-traveling assassin Cable, who wants to kill Russell as a teen before he becomes a serial killer in the future.

"'Deadpool 2' goes bigger than the first, but the shockingly touching family theme pulls all of the new characters and big set pieces together well. Another wild, hilarious ride for the character with just enough honesty and heart," said Perri Nemiroff in a Collider video review.

31. "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 84%

After the tragic (and unexpected) death of Chadwick Boseman in 2020, the highly anticipated "Black Panther" sequel was rewritten to be a story of grief and mourning, while also setting up the future of Wakanda in the MCU for years to come.

Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong'o, Letitia Wright, and Winston Duke all put in stellar performances, while Tenoch Huerta introduced viewers to the underwater king Namor with a bang.

"A thoughtful and mature exploration of communal grief in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' is a fitting tribute to the legacy of Chadwick Boseman," wrote Chicago Reader's Sheri Flanders.

27 (tie). "X2: X-Men United" (2003)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 85%

The whole gang reunited in 2003 for "X2," which sees the X-Men go up against Brian Cox's William Stryker, an anti-mutant military scientist who is planning to commit genocide against all mutants.

"'X2' is pretty much all that you'd ever want out of a comic book movie. It's smart, it's breathlessly paced, the characters have at least 2 1/2 dimensions, and the action sequences are jaw-droppers, even on the small screen," wrote The Advocate's Alonso Duralde.

27 (tie). "Deadpool" (2016)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 85%

After playing Deadpool in the 2009 "X-Men" spin-off "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," Reynolds was determined to do the character justice in his own film with a completely redesigned version of him.

Seven years later, Reynolds starred in "Deadpool," which tells the story of mercenary Wade Wilson, who embarks on a journey to cure himself of terminal cancer with some unintended consequences, like when he becomes immortal and scarred across his entire body.

"'Deadpool' is obnoxious and puerile and infantile and has an irritating meta tone so snide that it's constantly in danger of nullifying the entire movie, and I still got a pretty big kick out of it," wrote Will Leitch in The New Republic.

27 (tie). "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 85%

"GOTG Vol. 2" delves into the true parentage of Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, as played by Chris Pratt. In addition to the rest of the stellar returning cast, Kurt Russell was added to play Peter's biological father, Ego the Living Planet, and Pom Klementieff joined the team as the empathic alien, Mantis.

"In Marvel lingo, 'Guardians 2' feels like a great six-issue arc, the kind of storytelling that used to be the backbone of superhero comics," wrote The Atlantic's David Sims.

27 (tie). "Avengers: Infinity War" (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 85%

"Avengers: Infinity War" is the first part of the culmination of the first 10 years of the MCU, which concluded one year later in "Avengers: Endgame."

"Infinity War" follows Thanos, an alien who is dedicated to erasing half of the universe's population, as he scours space for the six Infinity Stones. Meanwhile, the Avengers stop at nothing to prevent him from getting all six with disastrous consequences.

"The conclusion of 'Infinity War' is so shocking because it doesn't feel like a cliffhanger, more like a drastic wiping clean of the slate before the whole cycle starts again, with whatever reversal of fortune or comprehensive reboot it may be," wrote Film Comment Magazine's Jonathan Romney.

25 (tie). "X-Men: First Class" (2011)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 86%

"First Class" will go down in history as the film that introduced audiences to young Professor X and Magneto, played by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, respectively.

The film takes place in the '60s, as a young Magneto tracks down the Nazi scientist who killed his mother, and a young Professor X has yet to be confined to his wheelchair.

"For reasons arising from the way the 'X-Men' film franchise has developed, this is the first Marvel movie set in the period when the characters were created, and thus able to embrace the Rat Pack cool that was part of their original charm," wrote Kim Newman of Sight & Sound.

25 (tie). "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 86%

Third time seems to be the charm with Marvel's First Family, as the MCU's version of the Fantastic Four has been the most popular with critics by a mile.

This interpretation of the team stars Pedro Pascal as Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as the Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as the Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as the Thing. In this story, our heroes go up against Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds (Ralph Ineson), and his herald, the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner).

"It's probably not easy to make a good 'Fantastic Four' movie. The newest version has enough actor-based charm to distract from its jankiest effects, plus a damn cool Silver Surfer," wrote The AV Club's Jesse Hassenger.

24. "Ant-Man and the Wasp" (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 87%

By adding the Wasp to the title of the film, Evangeline Lilly is the true first woman to play a titular superhero in the MCU, though she still shares top-billing with Paul Rudd as Ant-Man.

In "Ant-Man and the Wasp," the two insect-themed heroes reunite to rescue Hope's mom, played by the radiant Michelle Pfeiffer, from the mysterious quantum realm after an accident decades prior.

"Its intent is limited to amusing and diverting for a couple of hours of high-summer fun. That it does," wrote Matthew Norman of the London Evening Standard.

23. "Thunderbolts*" (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%

The Thunderbolts (or should we call them the New Avengers?) are a ragtag team of antiheroes and rejects — but we love them anyway, right? With standout performances from Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Sebastian Stan, and Lewis Pullman, it only took us one movie to get invested in these losers.

A plot that hinges on conquering depression and loneliness, instead of a giant beam in the sky, also helps this movie stand out from the crowd.

"'To my shock, 'Thunderbolts*' is the best thing Marvel has put out in ages — a well-acted piece of popcorn entertainment that balances zippy humor with actual depth. Is it a cinematic masterpiece? No. Will it restore your faith in the franchise? Maybe yes," wrote Esther Zuckerman for Bloomberg News.

22. "Doctor Strange" (2016)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 89%

Cumberbatch joined the MCU to play Dr. Stephen Strange, a hot-shot surgeon who loses the use of his hands after a brutal car crash and seeks out sorcerers who can help him regain his strength.

As Richard Bailey wrote in The New Yorker, the film "lives up to its title, in mostly good ways."

16 (tie). "Spider-Man" (2002)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%

For a generation of movie fans, Tobey Maguire will forever be their Spider-Man, and director Sam Raimi's trilogy, beginning with 2002's "Spider-Man," will always be the best on-screen representation of the most famous wall-crawler in movie history.

"Spider-Man" stars, as previously said, Maguire as Peter Parker, and he's supported by an all-star cast of Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe, Cliff Robertson, Rosemary Harris, and more. The story watches Peter go from a gawky teenager to the super-powered, spandex-clad Spider-Man as he faces off against the Green Goblin (Dafoe), who is determined to take away everything that matters to Peter.

"At its best, 'Spider-Man' takes the adolescent yearning at the heart of most superhero sagas and gives it a lovely swing. The script, by David Koepp, isn't inspired, but it keeps the emotional beats clean, and director Sam Raimi treats his hero tenderly: He gives him space to watch and think as well as act," wrote Slate's David Edelstein.

16 (tie). "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (2014)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%

If "Captain America: The First Avenger" was Marvel's take on a WWII drama, "Winter Soldier" is the MCU's version of a tense, political thriller as Cap uncovers multiple layers of conspiracy within the US government, and must go on the run from his presumed-dead best friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), now brain-washed into the murderous assassin the Winter Soldier.

"'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' delivers the superhero movie goods, but it does so with a grin and a wink, and that seems more and more like the right way to approach these things," wrote Jason Bailey for Flavorwire.

16 (tie). "X-Men: Days of Future Past" (2014)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%

"Days of Future Past" reunites the original "X-Men" cast from the first three movies with the younger versions of themselves introduced in "First Class" by taking Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and sending him back in time to prevent a great tragedy in the present day.

"A pleasingly coherent, plot-driven action movie, positively streamlined by the standards of today's superhero blockbusters," wrote The Independent's Laurence Phelan.

16 (tie). "Big Hero 6" (2014)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%

Yes, "Big Hero 6" is based on the Marvel team of the same name, which began in the late '90s. When Disney purchased Marvel in 2009, it was only a matter of time before the House of Mouse merged their two powerhouses, animation and Marvel.

And, with the success of "Big Hero 6," there's a strong argument for more Disney Animation comic-book movies. This one focuses on Hiro Hamada, a teenage robotics prodigy living in San Fransokyo.

After the death of his older brother Tadashi, Hiro connects with Tadashi's invention, a healthcare robot named Baymax, to save the city, along with Tadashi's friends Fred, Go Go, Wasabi, and Honey Lemon.

"An origins story ripe with innocence and loss, this anime-inflected treat harks back to Disney's big-hearted heritage even as it looks forward towards new worlds of innovation," wrote The Observer's Mark Kermode.

16 (tie). "Captain America: Civil War" (2016)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%

Essentially an "Avengers" movie, "Captain America: Civil War" sees Captain America team up with his friends Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), and Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) to save his friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) from getting wrongfully convicted for a bombing at the United Nations.

Cap goes up against Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Vision (Paul Bettany), and War Machine (Don Cheadle) to save his friend.

Of course, this movie is also famous for introducing Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa, aka Black Panther, and Tom Holland as the MCU's version of Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man.

"It is one of the best movies to ever come out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, balancing engaging action set pieces and witty dialogue with intelligent character studies and ethical debates," wrote Salon's Matthew Rozsa.

16 (tie). "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" (2026)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%

The fourth installment in Tom Holland's "Spider-Man" saga was a huge hit with both fans and critics. So far, it's made over $2 billion at the box office — only the seventh movie in history to do so— and has a high critics' score.

The film picks up with Peter after he convinces Doctor Strange to cast a spell that makes everyone forget who he is. Now, he's fighting crime full-time as Spider-Man, while dealing with a new, shall we say, mutation that's causing him to lose control of his powers.

"Beneath the MCU obligations and superhero spectacle lies something surprisingly heartfelt: a Spider-Man movie about loneliness and the struggle to be an adult," said Adam Kempenaar on his podcast, "Filmspotting."

12 (tie). "Men in Black" (1997)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%

"Men in Black" follows Will Smith as James Edwards, an NYPD officer who becomes convinced that aliens are real, leading him to join the Men in Black, a secret government organization dedicated to monitoring and protecting alien refugees that live on Earth. He's partnered with Agent K, played by Tommy Lee Jones.

It's a loose adaptation of the Malibu comic series of the same name.

"'Men in Black' is the wryest, sharpest, most entertaining special effects film in recent memory, a simultaneous participant and mocking parody of the more-bang-for-your-buck behemoth genre," wrote CNN's Paul Tatara.

12 (tie). "The Avengers" (2012)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%

After four years of teasing out the six main Avengers (Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, Hawkeye, and Hulk), they all met up on the big screen for the first time in "The Avengers."

Under the watchful eye of Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury, viewers saw Earth's mightiest heroes team up for the first time to take out Thor's brother Loki as he attempted to conquer the world on behalf of a mysterious purple alien.

"A mega-budget action extravaganza that succeeds on just about every level, and it's one you should certainly go and see as soon as possible," wrote Luke Holland for NME.

12 (tie). "Guardians of the Galaxy" (2014)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%

At the time, it was a huge swing for Marvel to entrust writer/director James Gunn with bringing one of the lesser-known superhero teams into the MCU. But, as we know, it was one of the smartest gambles Marvel ever made.

"Guardians," led by the ever-charming Chris Pratt as Peter Quill, combines hilarious jokes with a genuinely sweet story about found family: In this case, Peter finds Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), Drax (Dave Bautista), Groot (Vin Diesel), and Rocket the Raccoon (Bradley Cooper).

"Blessed with a loose, anarchic B-picture soul that encourages you to enjoy yourself even when you're not quite sure what's going on, the scruffy 'Guardians' is irreverent in a way that can bring the first 'Star Wars' to mind," wrote Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times.

12 (tie). "Spider-Man: Far From Home" (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%

Picking up a few months after the events of "Avengers: Endgame," Peter Parker/Spider-Man must figure out how to balance his life as a web-slinging superhero and a simple teenager with a crush on his friend MJ, played by a delightful Zendaya.

Add in a truly unhinged Jake Gyllenhaal performance as Quentin Beck/Mysterio, and you have the makings of a solid Spidey film.

"The stakes this time turn out to be considerably lower, and your friendly neighborhood Spider-Teen is arguably just the guy to bring things down to Earth and reestablish a human scale," said NPR's Bob Mondello.

10 (tie). "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%

Simu Liu tweeted Marvel back in 2018 asking if they were "gonna talk or what #ShangChi." Three years later, Liu debuted as Shang-Chi in "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings."

In it, Shang-Chi comes to accept his past as a member of his father's (played by the always wonderful Tony Leung) criminal organization, the Ten Rings, while protecting his mother's village from the attacks of a demon known as the Dweller-in-Darkness.

"It's a good movie. It's got a plausibly fearsome villain by way of Leung, a nice ensemble of heroic personalities, and a dose of actually-poignant family drama undergirding all the rest," wrote K. Austin Collins for Rolling Stone.

10 (tie). "Spider-Man: Homecoming" (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%

"Spider-Man: Homecoming" was the third reboot of Spider-Man in 15 years, but somehow, once again, the powers that be managed to find a third actor who was just as qualified as his predecessors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield to bring Spidey to life.

After his introduction in "Civil War," "Homecoming" focuses on Peter Parker's sweet bond with Tony Stark/Iron Man, and his realization that being a hero is about more than a cool suit.

"The youthful vibe of this character reset, with its sense of humor and its light touch, makes 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' one of the most enjoyable Marvel movies in years," wrote Chesapeake Family Magazine's Roxana Hadadi.

6 (tie). "Spider-Man 2" (2004)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%

For many years, "Spider-Man 2" was considered, at least by critics, to be the best Spider-Man movie. From the iconic subway fight against Alfred Molina's Doc Ock to the tear-jerking hero speech by Aunt May to an almost exact replication of one of Spider-Man's most iconic comic panels, "Spider-Man 2" remains genuinely enjoyable, even 21 years later.

"It's unusual and gratifying to find a multimillion-dollar movie that's been put together with some thoughtfulness, that doesn't neglect subtlety in between delivering the smash-bang-wallop," wrote Anthony Quinn of The Independent.

6 (tie). "Thor: Ragnarok" (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%

"Ragnarok" was one of the most impressive feats in MCU history. After all, two "Thor" movies are among some of the lowest-rated MCU movies, while "Ragnarok" is in the top 10 of all Marvel movies, period.

This comes down to director Taika Waititi, who was able to infuse his signature style and tone into the MCU in this cosmic adventure that's also a straight-up comedy, following Thor on his journey to prevent the destruction of his home world, Asgard.

"Beautifully filmed with serious kinetic energy by director Taika Waititi, with a crackling script, 'Thor: Ragnarok' is a heap of fun. Cue 'Immigrant Song,'" wrote Kristen Lopez for Culturess.

6 (tie). "Logan" (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%

At this point, you've probably heard that "Logan" is more of a Western than a traditional superhero movie, which is correct.

"Logan" follows a beaten-down Logan whose powers are leaving him, all his friends are dead or dying, and he's living in secret as a limo driver. But when a mysterious young mutant with powers like his shows up, he musters his strength one last time to help her escape.

This was supposed to be Hugh Jackman's last hurrah as Wolverine, but you might have heard of a little movie called "Deadpool & Wolverine," which made Jackman change his tune.

"Make no mistake, 'Logan' earns its tears. If Jackman and Stewart are serious about this being their mutual 'X-Men' swan song, they could not have crafted a more heartfelt valedictory," wrote Rolling Stone's Peter Travers.

6 (tie). "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%

"Spider-Man: No Way Home" now has the distinction of sharing the third-best Spider-Man movie crown with "Spider-Man 2" (more on the top Spidey films later). But "No Way Home's" charms are impossible to deny, even if the plot has more holes than Swiss cheese.

For Marvel movie fans, it's hard to imagine something more satisfying than seeing Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire together on screen, discussing their rogues' galleries, Tobey's weird web situation, or how with great power comes great responsibility.

"Throughout all of it, the weird and complex history of Spider-Man as a cinematic icon isn't a hindrance to the story; instead, it's an enhancement, using the quirks of the character's legacy as a source of illumination into why he has endured so long," wrote Liz Shannon Miller of Consequence.

4 (tie). "Iron Man" (2008)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%

The reason that pop culture is what it is today can be boiled down to the mega-success of this movie, which set up an entire cinematic universe, revived Robert Downey Jr.'s career and boosted director Jon Favreau's status so high that he's now basically one of the auteurs of the entire "Star Wars" universe.

But this film is simple: Billionaire weapons manufacturer Tony Stark (Downey) is kidnapped by a group of terrorists, which leads him to discover his weapons are landing in the wrong hands. So, he builds a suit of armor and becomes a superhero.

"Led by Downey's career-resurrecting performance as billionaire weapons peddler Tony Stark, it proves just as indispensable to the movie's giddy escapist appeal as the seamless CGI effects and eye-popping pyrotechnics," wrote Craig Outhier of the Orange County Register.

4 (tie). "Avengers: Endgame" (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%

"Endgame," as a movie, is a magic trick. Somehow, this movie crams in 11 years of MCU storytelling and every major character from all of the films, and travels back in time to essentially walk through the universe's greatest hits, has real stakes, and makes a three-hour movie fly by.

When the Avengers decide to try to undo Thanos' universe-shattering snap, the original crew from the 2012 movie (with a few notable additions like Karen Gillan's Nebula, Paul Rudd's Ant-Man, and Don Cheadle's War Machine), travel through Marvel history to find the Infinity Stones.

"Eleven years of Universe building, and this is the crescendo. It really pays off, I've never seen anything quite like it," said James Luxford on the BBC.

3. "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%

"Across the Spider-Verse," the sequel to "Into the Spider-Verse," takes the story of Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and levels it up in every way.

Now, Miles is up against not just an extra-dimensional villain known as the Spot (voiced hilariously by Jason Schwartzman), but also an entire society of spider-people, including his old friends Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) and Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), as they are told by Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac) that Miles isn't even meant to exist.

"'Across The Spider-Verse' truly explodes the idea of what a comic book movie can be. This is thanks to the boundlessly exuberant and adventurous way it both constructs and captures its world(s) during this jaunt through the multiverse," wrote Uproxx's Jason Tabrys.

2. "Black Panther" (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%

After Chadwick Boseman, who died in 2020, was introduced in "Captain America: Civil War" as Black Panther, fans were waiting with bated breath for his solo film, and they weren't disappointed.

"Black Panther" is a riveting story in which the "villain" (a supremely cast Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger) has a compelling point and even gets the hero, T'Challa, to change his mind.

Supported by all-stars like Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Daniel Kaluuya, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, and Sterling K. Brown, along with newer finds like Letitia Wright and Winston Duke, "Black Panther" is special.

To date, it's the only Marvel movie to be nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards.

"'Black Panther' is a revelation, the first film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe that truly feels like an of-the-moment masterwork that also happens to be a comic-book movie," wrote Roxana Hadadi of Chesapeake Family Magazine.

1. "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 97%

"Into the Spider-Verse," which took home best animated feature at the 2019 Oscars, is a movie that has to be seen to be believed. Spider-Men (and -Women!) travel from all over the multiverse to help teenager Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) grow into his own as his universe's new Spider-Man.

It proves you don't have to be Peter Parker to be Spider-Man, anyone can wear the mask, as Miles says. The coming two-part sequel has a lot of hype to live up to, but we'll always have the greatness of "Into the Spider-Verse" to fall back on.

"Maintaining a breathless pace, the filmmakers pile up sci-fi conceits, one-liners, and a melange of animation styles; as opposed to lots of other comic book adaptations, this actually captures the sensation of getting absorbed in a comic book," wrote the Chicago Reader's Ben Sachs.

• Concorde, the first and only supersonic commercial jetliner, operated from 1976 to 2003.
• Flown by royals, celebrities, and executives, it was discontinued because of high operating costs.
• A Concorde plane is open for public tours at the Intrepid Museum in New York City.

Supersonic passenger air travel is a thing of the past, but you can still tour the plane that made it possible.

In 1962, the governments of Britain and France signed the Anglo-French Agreement, pooling their money and resources to develop a supersonic commercial jet. The name "Concorde" was chosen because it means unity or harmony in both English and French.

The first test flight was conducted in 1969, and Concorde flew commercially for the first time in 1976.

Concorde's ability to cross oceans at twice the speed of sound attracted high-profile passengers, including celebrities, business executives, and members of the royal family. But its high operating costs and a deadly crash led to its retirement in 2003.

Modern aviation startups are working to revive supersonic passenger air travel with new technology, but they also face challenges around economic viability and safety.

Since Concorde jets are no longer operational, the planes have become museum pieces, providing visitors with a taste of the luxurious flight experiences they once provided.

In May 2024, I toured a Concorde jet at the Intrepid Museum in New York City. The sea, air, and space museum is housed on a 900-foot-long aircraft carrier. Take a look inside.

The last Concorde flight took off in 2003, and the Intrepid Museum added one of the jets to its collection that same year.

A total of 20 Concorde planes were built, and 14 flew commercially through British Airways and Air France, with most routes flying between New York City and London and New York City and Paris. Concorde's supersonic speed caused loud sonic booms upon breaking the sound barrier, which limited its routes to those above water.

Concordes were ultimately discontinued because of high operating costs and safety concerns. British Airways spent about £1 billion a year on its fleet of Concorde jets, which proved unsustainable, according to the Intrepid Museum.

In 2000, a Concorde flying from Paris to New York burst into flames and crashed shortly after takeoff when a blown tire ruptured the plane's fuel tanks, killing 113 people. All Concordes were grounded for a year and rebuilt with stronger fuel tanks, but the business never recovered, contributing to Concorde's retirement.

Concorde's record flight time from New York City to London was 2 hours, 52 minutes, and 59 seconds, making it a popular choice for frequent travelers.

Celebrity passengers included Queen Elizabeth II, Christie Brinkley, Phil Collins, Paul McCartney, and the British oil executive Fred Finn.

Touring Concorde's cabin at the Intrepid Museum requires a separate timed reservation.

Regular admission to the Intrepid Museum costs $38 per adult, and the Concorde tour costs an additional $15. Tickets can be purchased on the Intrepid Museum's website.

I didn't realize that Concorde tickets were sold with timed admission for tours every 30 minutes, so I missed my slot while exploring the USS Growler, the only nuclear-missile submarine in the US open to the public. A manager was able to rebook me on the next Concorde tour at the museum's box office.

Boarding the plane at the Intrepid Museum felt just like boarding a regular flight, except without the noise of a busy tarmac or jet engine.

Before boarding, Concorde passengers would relax in a special Concorde lounge with an open buffet.

The overhead bin space on the Concorde looked standard to me.

Concorde passengers would drop their luggage off in the Concorde lounge.

On the tour, I got to sit in Concorde class, which was a tier above first class.

At 204 feet long and with a fuselage that was 9 feet 5 inches wide, Concorde planes held up to 100 passengers, though full flights were rare. For comparison, a Boeing 737-700 measures just more than 110 feet long with a 12-foot-4-inch-wide fuselage and seats 149 passengers, according to Boeing.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, tickets cost up to $12,000 round-trip, which would equal about $20,000 today when adjusted for inflation.

Queen Elizabeth always sat in seat 1A.

As the window seat in the first row, 1A was one of the most private seats on the plane.

My seat felt more like a comfortable armchair than a plane seat.

The seats used on the tour were covered in plastic to help preserve the luxurious leather.

Concorde's cruising speed was Mach 2, or about 1,350 mph.

Each of the Concorde's four engines featured 38,000 pounds of thrust and could take the plane from zero to 250 mph in under 30 seconds, our guide said.

The Concorde's windows were smaller than other aircraft to prevent them from cracking under the pressure of the plane's supersonic speed.

I was surprised by how small the windows were compared with the windows on commercial flights I'm used to.

Our tour guide passed around scans of Concorde artifacts, such as a ticket from 1997.

Dolores Peterson paid $6,703.04 for an Air France Concorde flight from New York to Paris in 1997.

The guide also shared a 1976 refueling sheet showing how much fuel a Concorde plane used, contributing to its exorbitant costs.

"Upon takeoff, this plane weighs about 408,000 pounds. More than half of that, 209,000, is in fuel alone," our guide said. "It burns about 2 tons of fuel, about 1,800 kilos, just taxiing. It's an extremely thirsty bird."

After the short presentation concluded, we were free to wander the cabin.

Concorde's logo was displayed near the door of the plane.

A set of custom Concorde china dishes was on display — no plastic cutlery here.

Food was prepared by a gourmet chef. Seasonal menus included beef Wellington, venison, and quail with wine pairings chosen by a sommelier.

The lavatory looked like a standard airplane bathroom with a bit more space and a few extra amenities.

The bathroom was decorated with faux-marble finishes and extra toiletries.

For me, the highlight was peeking inside the flight deck once occupied by a captain, a first officer, and a flight engineer.

Before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Concorde passengers could mingle with the pilot and crew in the cockpit as part of the exclusive flight experience.

The flight engineer sat in the seat on the right in front of the large instrument panel.

The flight engineer was responsible for every system on the plane, including fuel management and landing gear, and had the most extensive training of any crew member.

"He's forgotten more about Concorde than most people will ever know," our tour guide said of flight engineers.

After my tour of the Concorde concluded, I climbed higher on the USS Intrepid to get a better view of the historic aircraft.

While many contemporary celebrities and executives opt to fly on private jets, Concorde offered record-setting flights across the ocean at twice the speed of sound, seemingly making it worth their while.

• Some states, like Florida, California, and Hawaii, are known for their beautiful beaches.
• Others have lesser-known but equally breathtaking beaches, including Michigan and New Hampshire.
• If you're looking for a beach getaway before summer is over, check out some of these options.

Temperatures are high, everyone's tanned or out of town, and the end of summer is knocking at our door: If you haven't gone to a white-sand beach yet, it's about time you do.

If a big all-inclusive trip to the Caribbean or a European getaway just isn't in your cards this summer — as they aren't for many US travelers this year — it doesn't mean that you can't enjoy a sunny beach day while the summer lasts.

More than half of the US states lie on at least one of the country's coasts, with domestic spots featuring all kinds of coastal sights, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, and even the Great Lakes, which offer ample seascapes.

While beaches in Florida and California attract tourists from across the world, many other states are home to shores with stunning views, offering ample opportunities for waterfront relaxation.

Here are some of the prettiest beaches in the US.

Sand Beach in Acadia National Park in Maine

Sand Beach in Maine doubles as the perfect day and nighttime getaway, where visitors can swim seaside all day and then lie back, relax, and stargaze by nightfall.

The beach is also close to three of the park's most popular hiking trails: The Beehive, Great Head Trail, and Ocean Path.

Cannon Beach in Oregon

Famous for its expansive shoreline and the towering Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach in Oregon offers spectacular views and a serene atmosphere.

Visitors can explore tide pools brimming with marine life, stroll along sandy stretches, or hike the nearby Ecola State Park trails for panoramic vistas. If you visit the nearby town, check out the boutique shops, art galleries, and cozy cafés.

Kā'anapali Beach in Hawaii

Hawaii's "postcard perfect" Kā'anapali Beach is the "crème de la crème of beaches," according to Hawaii Magazine, which named it the state's No. 1 beach this year.

Thanks to its crystal clear waters, this Maui beach is perfect for underwater exploration, making it a snorkeling hot spot. It's home to a variety of sea creatures, including Hawaiian green sea turtles, colorful corals, and, in winter months, humpback whales.

Marconi Beach in Massachusetts

The beach, located on the shores of Cape Cod, has stunning natural surroundings, including a 50-foot ridge with stairs leading down to the shore.

It was named after Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian inventor who successfully communicated a message via wireless connection from President Theodore Roosevelt in the US to King Edward VII across the Atlantic in 1903.

Shackleford Banks in North Carolina

Shackleford Banks is well-known for its crystal-clear waters and picturesque views. The island is also home to a herd of wild horses that roam freely along the beach, grazing on the shoreline grass.

It's an ideal spot for anyone hoping to escape the daily hustle for some seaside quiet.

Kiawah Island in South Carolina

In 2024, US News & World Report called Kiawah Island "the closest you'll come to paradise in South Carolina." This year, the beach was ranked as the seventh-best in America by Dr. Beach.

Kiawah, which overlooks the Atlantic, is a barrier island that's popular for its 10-mile coastline, wildlife, and golf resort. Visitors can spend the day at either its East or West beach, where they can birdwatch or, in summer, spot sea turtles.

Siesta Key Beach in Florida

Previously ranked as the best beach in the US by outlets like TripAdvisor and US News & World Report, Siesta Key Beach is a peaceful and unique beach to visit if you're looking to stay cool under the Florida sun.

The beach, located on Florida's Gulf Coast, features pure quartz sand that remains cool even on hotter days. This white-sand beach is also family-friendly, as the waves are calm and visitors — mostly families or older local residents — aren't as rowdy as they might be in other destinations.

Driftwood Beach in Georgia

Driftwood Beach in Georgia offers a one-of-a-kind landscape, with weathered trees scattered across the shore.

The beach, famously featured in "The Walking Dead" and "X-Men: First Class," was shaped by decades of erosion. It transformed from a lush maritime forest into a sand-lined shore with sun-bleached tree trunks and branches.

Hammonasset Beach State Park in Connecticut

Nestled along the shores of the Long Island Sound, Hammonasset Beach State Park features 2 miles of pristine beachfront.

From walking trails and a nature center to areas for fishing and camping, the park has something to offer every type of traveler.

The beach's incredible views, combined with well-maintained facilities, make it a favorite for families and outdoor enthusiasts looking to explore Connecticut's coastline.

Cape May in New Jersey

On the southern tip of New Jersey sits Cape May, a seaside city that's well known for its striking Victorian-era architecture.

Notable landmarks include the Emlen Physick Estate, a preserved Victorian house museum, and the iconic Cape May Lighthouse, which offers views of Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

Sandbridge Beach in Virginia

The remote Sandbridge Beach in Virginia is one of the state's most gorgeous beaches.

Its peaceful surroundings and stillness make it the perfect place to visit when you wish to slow down. Other activities that you can indulge in include fishing, kayaking, and hiking in the nearby False Cape State Park.

Sandy Point State Park in Maryland

Sandy Point State Park is one of Maryland's best beaches because of the gorgeous views of the bay.

It is located on the northwestern shore of the Chesapeake Bay and is a popular spot for swimming, picnicking, and lounging. For those who prefer outdoor activities, the park also offers plenty of hiking trails and fishing spots.

Laguna Beach in California

Lined by the Pacific coast on one side and acres of wild trails on the other, the 7-mile-long Laguna Beach is best for surfing, swimming, and, on sunny days, sunbathing.

A popular beach spot in California, the beach is full of beautiful coves, one of the reasons US News & World Report named it one of the state's best beaches.

Biloxi Beach in Mississippi

This white-sand beach, situated by the 26-mile-long Mississippi Gulf Coast, offers a refreshing getaway during Mississippi's hot summers.

In Biloxi, water sports enthusiasts can paddleboard or canoe, while those who prefer to relax can picnic by the shore. There are also plenty of restaurants where you could sample some delicious Southern-style seafood, or if you prefer, take a shrimping trip for a live catch of your own.

Ruby Beach at the Olympic National Park in Washington

Named after the red mineral almandite, which is found in the sand here, Ruby Beach is among the country's most famous yet unspoiled beaches.

Located in Kalaloch, a three-hour drive from Seattle, unlike traditional sand beaches, the shore at Ruby Beach is covered in stones and sea stacks. Those visiting should stay until sunset for stunning views of the Olympic Peninsula.

Rotary Beach in Alaska

Ketchikan's oceanfront is home to varied sea life and has an average temperature of 56 degrees, which means that kids — and adults — wishing to swim had to find an alternate source.

According to Alaska.org, until the 1970s, the city did not have a swimming pool, so Rotary Beach became the go-to spot for kids — and adults — to learn and enjoy swimming. Visitors stopping by this pond can take a dip in the waters or picnic by the shore while enjoying views of Nichols Passage.

Zoni Beach in Puerto Rico

Located in Puerto Rico's Culebra Island, which is full of breathtaking beaches, Zoni Beach is a perfect travel destination if you're hoping to avoid big tourist crowds. The peaceful beach features turquoise water and is surrounded by Caribbean nature.

The beach is also a major turtle nesting site, so you might be able to spot a few wild sea turtles on your visit.

Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware

Cape Henlopen State Park, where the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean merge, is home to pine forests and more than 6 miles of coastline.

The park is also home to many marine animals, shorebirds, and scenic bike trails, with access to quiet and buzzy areas. History enthusiasts can enjoy a guided tour of nearby Fort Miles, an important World War II site.

Mohegan Bluffs in Rhode Island

Secluded and serene, Mohegan Bluffs in Rhode Island provides stunning views from 150-foot cliffs that line its shore.

Getting to the beach involves a bit of a hike, but it is worth the effort — as you will see — once you step onto the sandy shores and watch the gentle waves of the Atlantic glide back and forth. Nearby, the Southeast lighthouse is also worth visiting.

Park Point in Minnesota

Park Point, with beautiful views of Lake Superior, is Minnesota's No. 1 beach, according to TripAdvisor.

A popular summer destination, the beach offers more than just a space to relax or swim. It also includes access to volleyball courts, grill stations, and pavilions for picnics.

Harris Beach State Park in Oregon

Located on Oregon's south coast, the Harris Beach State Park offers beautiful sights along various trails. The beach's soft sand and rocky views give visitors a unique taste of the Pacific coast.

The park is also home to the largest island off Oregon's Pacific coast, as noted by Oregon State Parks. The island houses rare birds and marine animals, making the beach a perfect spot for nature watching.

Weirs Beach in New Hampshire

A visit to New Hampshire's Lakes Region is incomplete without a trip to Weirs Beach by Lake Winnipesaukee.

One side of the beach features a boardwalk, where visitors can explore the entire beach on foot, while the sandy areas closer to the shore are perfect for those looking to unwind or dip in the water. Across the boardwalk, on Lakeside Avenue, there are a variety of game shops and food outlets, including a mini-golf station.

Key Biscayne Beach in Florida

The drive to Key Biscayne is just as scenic an experience as spending time there.

The coast, which extends 4 miles across Barrier Island, is popular among tourists for its soft sand and crystal clear waters. It's shared by two main beach parks, Crandon Park to the north and Cape Florida Beach to the south.

This year, Travel + Leisure named Crandon Park one of Florida's best beaches in Key Biscayne.

Kohler-Andrae State Park in Wisconsin

Kohler-Andrae State Park in Wisconsin has dunes, clear blue water, and over 2 miles of sandy beaches.

Set along the shores of Lake Michigan, this park offers abundant natural beauty and activities for visitors to enjoy. Spend the day hiking, swimming, or exploring nature trails, and as evening falls, try stargazing, camping, or attending wildlife presentations.

Gulf Shores in Alabama

Florida might be the go-to for a seaside vacation, but if you're looking to switch it up this year, Alabama's palm-lined and pristine Gulf Shores are a hidden gem worth exploring.

Named one of the top beach destinations in the US and the No. 1 spot in Alabama by US News & World Report last year, this beach offers something for everyone. It's conveniently located near a boardwalk and has plenty of restaurants and shops nearby. It is also ideal for activities like beach volleyball and bodyboarding.

Honokalani Beach in Hawaii

Known as the Black Sand Beach, Honokalani Beach in Maui is one of the island's most distinctive spots.

The sand is made of eroded lava pebbles, and the beach is surrounded by hiking trails and volcanic sights, making it the perfect adventure for those looking to explore the island's breathtaking nature.

McWay Falls in California

California's Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park features some of the state's best views of the Pacific coast, including a unique beachside waterfall.

The 80-foot waterfall at McWay Falls gives visitors a one-of-a-kind view.

While the park does not allow beach access, visitors can enjoy the view of the waterfall and the beach's fragile environment while hiking the Big Sur trails.

Washington Park and Beach in Indiana

Washington Park and Beach in Indiana is home to 2 miles of sandy shoreline, a historic lighthouse, and a zoo.

With its soft sand, clean waters, and a space free from crowds, the beach offers a serene respite from everyday city life. It's close to restaurants and charming boutiques, and if you're up for more adventure, a short drive west will take you to the Indiana Dunes National Park, where you can explore even more natural beauty.

South Padre Island in Texas

Situated in southern Texas, close to the Mexico border, South Padre Island is "beloved by generations of spring breakers," Travel + Leisure reported earlier this year.

The island has space for both people who love dining at buzzy beach bars and restaurants and those who prefer to be left undisturbed in a quiet corner while on vacation.

Grand Haven State Park in Michigan

In 2024, Thrillist described Grand Haven State Park in Michigan as "arguably the grandest Michigan beach town of all."

Just west of Grand Rapids, Grand Haven has a stretch of soft, sandy shoreline and a picturesque lighthouse pier. There's a dog-friendly section of the beach and the town features several quaint coffee shops, rooftop bars, and family-run restaurants.

Huntington Beach in Ohio

Visitors to Ohio's Huntington Beach can swim in the vast, beautiful Lake Erie.

Known for its clean shoreline and stunning lake views, this beach offers a peaceful retreat for visitors. It's perfect for swimming, sunbathing, or picnicking with family and friends. The walking trails nearby are ideal for those who wish to explore the natural beauty of the area, while the picturesque sunsets over the water make for the perfect photo backdrops.

Presque Isle State Park in Pennsylvania

Presque Isle State Park in Pennsylvania is a natural escape on the shores of Lake Erie.

This 3,200-acre peninsula is home to a collection of beaches, offering plenty of space for swimming, sunbathing, and picnicking. It's also a haven for outdoor enthusiasts, with opportunities for kayaking, hiking, and biking along scenic trails. Birdwatchers will love the park's diverse wildlife, as it's a key stopover for migratory birds.

Grand Isle in Louisiana

A "perfect getaway for camping, picnicking, and surfing," Louisiana's Grand Isle offers beautiful views over the Gulf of Mexico, according to Travel + Leisure.

Alongside classic beach activities like swimming, this barrier island has also become a hot spot for surfing enthusiasts.

Jones Beach State Park in New York

With over 6 miles of white-sand beaches, Jones Beach State Park is the perfect spot for seaside strolls and swimming.

The park features a 2-mile boardwalk lined with snack stands and shops, where visitors can eat on the go while enjoying beautiful views of the Atlantic Ocean. Other outdoor activities like mini golf, fishing, and biking are also easily accessible.

Marble Beach State Recreation Area in Iowa

Marble Beach State Recreation Area in Iowa is a peaceful retreat on the shores of Big Spirit Lake.

The park is perfect for outdoor enthusiasts, with a beach nearby, designated spots for fishing, and shaded campsites for overnight stays. Boaters can enjoy easy access to the lake, while nature lovers can explore scenic trails, including one that covers the whole park.

• Unwell and fearing burnout, Tina Bonnano considered retiring from KPMG after 10 years in the job.
• However, she wasn't ready to "jump off the cliff" and proposed a "soft retirement" plan to HR.
• The IT specialist works 20 hours a week for half her old salary. She has time to relax and reflect.

This story is based on an interview with Tina Bonanno, 68, a KPMG information architect, from Northern New Jersey. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I was seriously ill in 2022 and 2023, which led me to having a knee replacement removed and a revision after being treated for an infection.

It meant five months of disability leave from my IT job at KPMG, but I pushed through and returned to my position.

However, the sickness had taken its toll. I suffered extreme brain fog and was unable to concentrate. It became harder to manage up to 10 projects at a time during my typical 50 to 60-hour workweek.

I was heading toward burnout and considered full retirement when I reached my Social Security age of 66.

Still, I had to acknowledge that I was woefully unprepared monetarily and had no one else's income to rely on.

I'd talked to my financial advisor at the end of 2024 and said, "How do I look for a retirement?" We came up with a number of what I'd need in replacement income plus Social Security.

He said I'd be good as long as I didn't live past 87. Longevity runs in my family, and I was reluctant to take the risk.

I retained my benefits

I didn't feel comfortable jumping off the cliff after 10 years at KPMG, so I said, "I need a ladder." That ladder came in the form of a so-called "soft retirement."

I'm a great believer in putting forward solutions, rather than complaining to your manager. And after a lot of research, I found that my company would keep on someone who wanted to reduce their hours to about 20 hours a week.

I bothered HR more times than I can admit. They told me I could earn half my regular salary and receive half of my PTO while retaining my benefits.

So I devised a career plan by demonstrating my continued value to them. I'm a subject-matter expert in several areas and have legacy knowledge. I framed the change as meeting the firm's needs.

My proposal was reasonable and gave a lot of thought to business continuity. I said I'd work eight hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and a half-day on Wednesday in the afternoon.

If they needed me for meetings outside those times, I'd be willing to attend, within reason.

My hobbies included DIY projects

They agreed to my terms in January 2025, which coincidentally lined up with my house move to an adorable place that needed some TLC.

My newfound four-day weekends allowed me to unpack pretty quickly. Three months in, people were asking how many years I'd lived there because I seemed so settled.

The yard was completely bare with 14ft hedges. I'm really into gardening, and the landlord was delighted. "Go crazy, and do whatever you want to do," he said.

One of my other hobbies was DIY, specifically woodworking, and I made little tables and shelves. The house really took shape.

The half-in, half-out arrangement has mostly been embraced by my clients and colleagues. I typed my working hours in red under my email signature, and people usually respect them.

We rarely have meetings outside those designated times.

Recently, I started my pet project of writing a book. It's early days, but I'm disciplining myself and enjoying the challenge.

I needed to decompress

The dramatic change in my schedule had allowed me to breathe again. My anxiety levels have diminished, and I've found peace.

I have a zero-gravity lounge chair where I sit out on my deck. I look up at the trees and use an app to identify bird song. It makes me happy.

Working five days a week no longer suited me because I needed more than Saturday and Sunday to decompress. I get stimulation and a decent wage from my job Tuesday through Thursday, and the rest of the time is mine.

• Last year, I moved back home to Australia after living in New York for five years.
• I thought my familiarity with Sydney would make returning easy, but it's been harder than expected.
• I'm still getting adjusted, but I'm embracing the slower pace of life and being closer to my family.

When I moved from Australia to New York City in my mid-20s, I had no idea it would be the best five years of my life.

I couldn't have scripted my time living in the city if I'd tried. I'd lived through the COVID-19 pandemic, learned a lot about my professional craft in communications, and made new friends who have truly cemented a place in my life.

During my time there, I'd stood beside a best friend as her maid of honor, watched others welcome their first children and navigate a new season of parenthood, and built a day-to-day that was ordinary in the best sense — weekly pickleball matches, dinner parties, and girls' nights watching "The Bachelorette."

In the summer evenings, I'd frequently take walks to Brooklyn Bridge Park from my apartment. Looking out at the Lower Manhattan skyline from the pier, I'd always feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude and awe — that this was really my life, a dream I had for over a decade, finally coming true.

As great as it was living there, after five years of soaking in the city, I made the tough decision to return to my hometown of Sydney.

Even though I loved New York, I was finding it hard to plant roots, especially since my work visa was tied to my employment, which made settling down long-term feel risky.

I thought going back home would be relatively simple. Unfortunately, settling back in has been more complicated than moving away.

I thought the familiarity of Sydney would be enough to help me immediately feel at home

When I returned to Sydney in 2025, I wrestled with a quiet unease for many months. I was home, but it didn't quite feel like I was yet.

I knew it would be difficult coming back, but I had hoped that the familiarity of Australia — and all the memories of growing up there — would make this transition effortless on its own.

Even though it was challenging to stay in touch with people in Sydney while I was in New York — the 14-hour time difference did not help — I hoped it would be easy to reconnect once I started living there again.

But after years away, reaching out to old friends felt strangely transactional, like I was asking for something rather than picking up where we'd left off. And because many people in Sydney move in the same circles they had formed in high school and college, making new friends has been tough, and it's become tricky for them to relate to what I experienced while in New York.

When friends or extended family did ask about my time in New York, their questions mainly revolved around how much my rent cost or whether the city had the same food as Sydney.

The surface-level chats and lack of curiosity frustrated me, as if that formative period of my life just didn't exist. At times, it made me wonder if I'd made a mistake in coming home.

Aside from the logistical elements, like needing to drive more often to get to and from destinations, the emotional and mental parts of adjusting have been the hardest.

Returning to Australia presented me with a paradox: a slate that wasn't completely blank, but not worn with its own grooves either. I found myself see-sawing between the hopeful possibility that accompanies new beginnings and the pragmatic cynicism that comes with having lived this story before.

I wanted a life here that felt as deliberately built as the one I'd left, but I wasn't sure if that was possible in Sydney.

I worried whether I would need to form a completely new social circle or if I could find a workplace that would enable me to thrive in the same way as my roles in New York.

Overall, one question kept flooding my mind: Was I holding on too tightly to a chapter of my life that had closed?

I still haven't adjusted to being back, but I've learned to embrace the in-between

Even though I haven't returned to Australia as a completely new person, holding both the me that was and the me that I am now has been a humbling, eye-opening journey.

I had previously assumed that the familiarity of coming home would be enough for me to adjust. Turns out I needed to put in the hard work, grit, and follow-through — all qualities that had served me well in New York — to rebuild the kind of life I wanted in Sydney, which didn't look the same as it had when I'd left.

Now, I'm being more intentional with my friendships, seeking out communities to rebuild a professional network, and taking the time to consider which neighborhoods I could actually see myself in for the long term.

On the bright side, there's a slower pace of life here that allows me to breathe, along with the elimination of stressing over the unpredictability of my visa.

Plus, I'm now a short drive away from my family and can celebrate milestones together instead of just hearing about them over FaceTime.

It hasn't been easy, but I'm giving myself the time, space, and grace this new chapter requires and embracing the messy, in-between realities that come with it.

Most of all, I'm learning to carry both places with me at once: the pieces of myself shaped in New York, and the ones still taking shape here.

• Tech workers are showing off rare watches customized for their companies.
• Employees at OpenAI, Uber, and Palantir all flexed their limited-run Tudor watches on X this week.
• Watches from Tudor, a Swiss brand, tend to retail for around $4,500.

Some Silicon Valley workers are taking their résumés off LinkedIn and putting them on their wrists, showing off rare, customized watches from Swiss manufacturer Tudor.

The latest round of wrist-flexing began when a post highlighting custom watches made for Googlers circulated on Monday. The post attracted other tech workers sharing their own customized timepieces.

Boris Power, OpenAI's head of applied research, responded with a picture of the custom OpenAI version, complete with the phrase "Good Research Takes Time," engraved on the back.

Eliano Younes, Palantir's strategic engagement head, jumped in to note that some of the data giant's staff got customized Tudors, saying they were a limited run of 468.

The watch face in the image shared by Younes features an inconspicuously small Palantir logo.

Uber software engineer Alex Feng also posted Uber's custom model. The caseback is marked '1/100,' indicating it is the first watch in a limited run of 100.

Sebastian Speier, a former Instagram employee who now works for Perplexity, also shared a picture of a customized watch. Nate Lorenzen, who worked at Facebook for six years, said employees had custom watches made while he was at the company, adding that he was "dumb to not buy every single one of these.

The watches aren't typical corporate swag handed out by management, like Wall Street's once much-vaunted Patagonia gilets.

Instead, they are generally commissioned by employee-run collector groups, whose members organize enough interested buyers to meet Tudor's minimum order.

Tudor's customization program requires a minimum order of 40 watches, and production can take about six months, according to Powerfunk, the managing editor of Grey Market, a luxury watch news site.

Buyers generally pay full retail price. The Pelagos model, used for Google's custom watches, retails for about $4,500.

Tudor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Each customized Tudor watch design is rare by default and often available only to members of the group that commissioned it, meaning the watches can become valuable collector's items once they reach the resale market.

A Google-themed Tudor featuring the Chrome dinosaur sold for more than $10,000 at auction earlier this year, while an Apple "pirate" edition attracted a $13,500 bid.

Comparable standard models typically resold for a fraction of those prices, Business Insider previously reported.

Luxury watches have become increasingly visible status symbols among tech's biggest names. Mark Zuckerberg owns rare pieces worth millions, while OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been spotted wearing an ultra-limited-edition $480,000 Greubel Forsey, produced in a run of just 33.

• The team behind livestreaming platform Kick is launching a new app for creators.
• Called Club, it offers creators direct payment and community-building tools.
• Social media analysts said it'll be tough for Club to get users to come over to a new platform.

The team behind the livestreaming platform Kick, which has become a haven for controversial creators, is launching a new app. On Club, creators can earn money through direct payments and build fan communities.

The pitch: At a time when social media has become riddled with bots and AI slop, Club can help creators — particularly livestreamers — build stronger relationships with their fans and diversify their businesses.

"We launched Club to create a more human form of social media," said Henrik Pohlmann, Club's 30-year-old CEO.

Club, which is launching out of beta this week with iOS and Android apps, is entering a crowded market, with big players like Patreon, Substack, and adult-focused OnlyFans.

Club is betting that its emphasis on community and discovery features can help set it apart. For example, fans have profiles, can earn rewards such as participation badges, and can interact with creators and fellow fans.

Club plans to be ad-free, Pohlmann said. It makes money by taking a 20% cut of the payments creators collect, the same percentage that OnlyFans takes (Club doesn't allow explicit sexual content). That's higher than Substack's 10% take on paid subscriptions, and Patreon's 10% platform fee (though Patreon has other fees, including for processing).

Club has been operating in beta for a few months and said it's signed up roughly 3,000 creators, mostly livestreamers from Kick.

Club comes from founders Bijan Tehrani and Ed Craven, who also operate Kick and the crypto gambling site Stake.com. Australia-based Kick, established in 2022, has earned a reputation for having lighter content moderation than some of its rivals. The content moderation approach, along with big payouts, has made it a destination for some inflammatory personalities like looksmaxxer Clavicular. Kick has said it has increased its human moderation team over the past few years, and it has just opened up to advertising.

"If they're trying to attract mainstream creators, they're going to ask, 'What is the philosophy behind the platform?'" Matt Navarra, a social media industry analyst, said of Club.

Pohlmann said Club was created with livestreamers in mind. He said the member overlap between Club and Kick is significant now because Club did only limited marketing while it was in beta, but that the platform has ambitions beyond Kick livestreamers. He added that Club is independent of Kick, with its own mission and content moderation policy.

"We are focused on building a platform that supports creators across all types of content and communities," he said.

Social media analysts say it'll be tough for Club to get users to come over to a new platform.

Creators are multiplatform now, so there's less incentive for fans to follow them from one platform to Club unless it can offer a better experience than YouTube, Twitch, and the like, said Ben Woods, head of creator economy at Enders Analysis.

"If it's the same type of thing, I have a question mark as to how effective that can potentially be," he said. "It's got to have a defining feature."

• Three execs who sold their company to Martin Sorrell's S4 Capital are suing the ad firm.
• The lawsuit alleges they're owed millions of dollars and shares.
• S4 declined to comment on ongoing litigation.

Three executives who sold their company to S4 Capital are suing the agency group helmed by advertising mogul Martin Sorrell, alleging it has withheld millions of dollars and shares owed to them.

The former CitrusByte execs allege in the lawsuit that S4 engaged "in a campaign of obfuscation and delay" and raised "unfounded claims and arguments" to avoid payment, allegedly withholding at least $7 million in escrow funds and delaying or withholding millions of S4 shares tied to the deal.

S4 declined to comment on ongoing litigation. The company has not made a legal response to the claims in the lawsuit, which was filed earlier this month.

UK-based S4 was launched in 2018 by Sorrell, following his acrimonious exit from WPP, where he had served as CEO for more than 30 years. The company, which focuses on digital marketing, grew in size rapidly through more than 20 acquisitions in its early years.

S4 acquired CitrusByte, a tech consulting firm later known as TheoremOne, in 2022. It sits within S4's Monks Technology Services division.

The lawsuit highlights the friction in Sorrell's empire-building strategy, in which S4 typically acquires agencies and tech businesses for a mix of cash, stock, and future earnouts. A public court battle risks creating a distraction and could complicate future deals at a time when it's trying to turn around its business.

S4's rapid expansion in its first four years was followed by a more difficult period, as major tech clients cut marketing spending and some of its agencies underperformed.

The company has since been focusing on reducing its costs, including cutting its head count to 6,150 as of June this year, down from more than 9,000 at its largest. S4 Capital's stock has fallen by around 94% since its 2021 peak. Its market capitalization stands at about 347 million pounds, around $470 million.

The complaint, filed in Delaware Superior Court this month, was brought by Brady Brim-DeForest, CitrusByte's former CEO; William Jessup, who was previously the firm's head of services delivery; and David Kullmann, its former head of staffing.

The lawsuit says that a year after the transaction closed, S4 said CitrusByte had met the standards required by its purchase agreement and agreed to make a "maximum contingent payment" to the CitrusByte security holders. The exact details are redacted in the filing.

The lawsuit alleges that S4 has refused to release at least $7 million held in escrow accounts after anniversary payout deadlines in 2025 and 2026.

S4 said it had the right to withhold the money to cover costs related to a separate legal dispute with a former CitrusByte executive, Yoav Cohen, the lawsuit says.

Cohen served as chief commercial officer of S4's Formula.Monks tech services division after S4's CitrusByte acquisition. He sued S4 and CitrusByte in March 2025, alleging they had failed to pay him two-thirds of $940,000 in incentive payments owed following a settlement. A week later, the parties agreed to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning that the same claim can't be refiled.

Brim-DeForest, Jessup, and Kullmann countered that the Cohen matter arose after the deal closed, arguing the deal's contract only made them financially responsible for liabilities created before S4 took ownership. Brim-DeForest, Jessup, and Kullmann also allege that S4 settled Cohen's claim without obtaining their contractually required consent, which they argue meant that they were off the hook for costs associated with the dispute.

The suit also claims S4 didn't deliver shares in a timely manner that were due to the executives in 2025. It says S4 did eventually issue the shares owed to Jessup and Kullmann in November that year, but hasn't released the shares owed to Brim-DeForest.

The former CitrusByte executives are seeking at least $7 million in cash payouts related to the escrow accounts, damages for the withheld and delayed equity, and legal costs.

• Shares in Chinese robotics giant Unitree soared more than 600% after the company's blockbuster IPO.
• Unitree, known for its boxing and backflipping humanoid robots, ended the day with a $50 billion market cap.
• China is going all in on humanoid robots, and the country's robotics firms have raced ahead of their US rivals.

Chinese investors are going wild for humanoid robots.

Shares in Unitree, a Chinese robotics company known for its dancing and backflipping humanoid robots, soared as much as 629% on Wednesday in its trading debut, before closing at 845 yuan ($125), up 460%.

The Hangzhou-based tech firm raised 6.1 billion yuan ($904 million) in mainland China's first major IPO of a humanoid robotics company. The price of its shares skyrocketed to about $163 from the IPO price of $22 before paring back gains to close with a market cap of around $50 billion.

The frenzied demand for Unitree's shares is a signal of just how red-hot China's humanoid robot industry is.

The Chinese government has designated the technology as strategically important, and local firms like Unitree and AgiBot have leveraged the country's tech supply chain to outpace their US rivals in shipments.

Chinese firms accounted for about 97% of global shipments of humanoid robots in the first half of 2026, according to data from Smart Analytics Global, with Unitree capturing around 31% of the market.

Unitree's massive share price surge is a sign of how investors are betting on an industry with a lot of potential and strong backing from the Chinese government, even though the prospect of humanoid robots taking over factory jobs and serving as robotic butlers is still a long way off.

Broad adoption of humanoid robots in real-world environments has been limited by the complexity of the AI systems needed to navigate messy factory and home environments, and the difficulty of creating robotic hands as dexterous as a human's.

In its IPO filings, Unitree reported around $41 million in net profit and $252 million in revenue last year, and at its IPO price, Unitree was valued at 219 times its 2025 earnings.

Earlier this month, Trace Cohen, the cofounder of US venture capital firm Six Point Ventures, wrote in a note that Unitree's valuation already reflected considerable optimism as it faced the difficult task of converting rising robot shipments into durable commercial demand. "Growth from a tiny base is easy," he wrote.

Unitree also faces additional headwinds from the US government's ban on certain new foreign-made imported humanoid robots. US sales accounted for 13% of the company's revenue last year, per its IPO filing.

Unitree has become a source of national pride in China, with a troupe of the company's $13,500 G1 humanoids performing a display of kung fu at China's annual Spring Festival Gala earlier this year.

Unitree's other robots include a "Superman" humanoid that the company says can run faster than Usain Bolt, and the $650,000 GD01, a giant rideable mecha.

The blockbuster IPO attracted some of the biggest names in Chinese AI, with AI startup DeepSeek investing about $20 million.

It also propelled Wang Xingxing, Unitree's 36-year-old founder, into the ranks of China's ultra-rich, with his stake in the company worth around $15.9 billion at market close.

• The US Army is outsourcing training for up to 1,500 new helicopter pilots a year to a private company.
• The new, civilian-run flight school could run for 26 years under a contract worth up to $10 billion.
• Army leaders have previously said such a plan could build better flight skills and save money.

The US Army is moving to outsource the first stage of helicopter pilot training in a substantial shift that will hand a role long filled by military aviators over to a private contractor.

M1 Support Services, a Texas-based aviation contractor, will provide entry-level helicopter training, the Army announced last week.

The new "Flight School Next" program will provide the aircraft, equipment, simulators, and classroom, as well as the flight training for between 800 and 1,500 new pilots each year at Fort Rucker, Alabama, for up to 26 years as part of a deal worth up to $10 billion. The service says that the shift is intended to modernize training and save money.

The change comes as Army leaders have questioned whether the current training model is sufficiently preparing junior pilots for more advanced flight training. Turning the training over to a private company upends a foundational piece of Army aviation training. Traditionally, senior Army helicopter pilots have trained their junior counterparts, serving as instructors in yearslong assignments.

"Flight School Next delivers a critical improvement in our Initial Entry Rotary Wing Training model. Simply put, it delivers new military helicopter pilots with far better foundational skills," Maj. Gen. Clair Gill, the commanding general of the Army's Aviation Center of Excellence, said in a press release. "The fact that it delivers this increased capability at a significant long-term savings to our Army is a great added benefit."

While M1 Support Services will handle the early flight training, the Army will continue to oversee follow-on training for pilots, depending on what type of helicopter they'll eventually fly. All military aviators, whether they're destined to fly jets, cargo aircraft, or attack helicopters, begin with basic rotary-wing or fixed-wing training before moving on to learn to fly specialized military aircraft that require advanced skills.

The new Army announcement did not say when the new program would begin training students.

The Army has said it wants a simpler training aircraft to help new pilots develop fundamental flying and aircraft maintenance skills before progressing to the military's advanced helicopters.

The service currently uses the UH-72 Lakota for basic training, but Army aviation leaders have previously said that the aircraft is too easy for inexperienced students to master, according to Army Times reporting.

Speaking of Army transformation, Gill, who is overseeing changes associated with the new contract awarded to M1 Support Services, said earlier this year that the Lakota basic training helicopter produces pilots who are "good systems managers but not good stick and rudder pilots."

"We really need to go to something simpler to teach the fundamental skills of our pilots," the general said last year of flight training, adding that the Army had hit an "inflection point where we either need to recapitalize what we have and do more of the same, or we can look at ourselves and say, are we delivering the capability the Army needs in the most effective and efficient manner here?"

The new helicopter pilot training contract comes as the Army, Navy, and Air Force are offering large bonuses, in some cases up to $280,000, to retain some of their most experienced aviators, even as the services increasingly invest in uncrewed aviation.

• This post originally appeared in the Business Insider Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

AI is running into a data dilemma, and it needs your help.

Technically, it doesn't need your help. It just needs your emails, your internal messages with coworkers, and any documents you created.

Consider this the newest stage of the great education of AI.

AI companies have run the well dry training their models with internet text and people rating their chatbot responses. Now they want AI to get hands-on job experience, and they're doing it with simulated workplaces.

(Alistair Barr, author of the great Tech Memo newsletter, has a fantastic breakdown on how these reinforcement learning environments work.)

These training grounds need real data and workflows that models can study.

AI companies can leverage their own workforces for that. Elon Musk recently told SpaceX workers their data will be used to train Grok. "It will inherit your thoughts and ideas," is a totally normal thing Musk said at a recent all-hands meeting.

But some employees don't take kindly to their mouse movements and keystrokes being used for AI training. (See: Meta.)

Which brings us to Google. The tech giant just paid $10 million for corporate data from bankrupt Spirit Airlines. And it wasn't alone. AI training startup Mercor also bid $7.5 million for the info.

It's an important reminder, lawyers told BI, that your work data isn't as private as you might think.

If AI companies are in the market for work-related data, are you selling yours?

That's the question Handshake AI is asking. The AI training firm is offering up to $30,000 for "high-quality written documents."

The request raises plenty of compliance questions. (Handshake AI stipulated that you must own the documents and be authorized to share them.)

But setting aside the legality of it all, the pitch brings up an interesting debate about how much you value your work-related data in the AI era.

Last year, when Meta was paying people to smile on camera, I posed a similar question: What's your price for training AI models on something you're highly skilled at?

The results were split. Some were willing to accept as little as $25 an hour. Others outright refused to do it.

Handing over some data is a lot easier than spending hours training a model. But AI has made a lot of progress over the past year, potentially giving people pause.

You also need to factor in what others might do. Just because you choose to shun AI over fears it'll eventually automate your job away doesn't mean your colleague will make the same choice.

So, I'll ask again, are you selling? And if so, what's your price?

• Microsoft AI's chief marketing officer, Andréa Mallard, is leaving the company.
• She joined Microsoft's AI unit in January.
• Her exit reflects a strategy shift, with Microsoft recently merging its consumer and business Copilot apps.

Microsoft AI's chief marketing officer, Andréa Mallard, started transitioning out of her post about six months after being appointed to the role, Business Insider has learned.

In an internal email, Microsoft announced that Mallard, who joined Microsoft's AI unit from Pinterest in January, plans to leave the company.

In the June 30 memo, viewed by Business Insider, Microsoft executive Yusuf Mehdi said Mallard planned to relocate her family to Europe in August to be closer to her father, who was unwell, and that this would result in her stepping back from her role.

Microsoft confirmed Mallard's departure plans and said she'll stay on until early next year as an advisor.

"I'm grateful for the incredible energy and consumer-centric ethos she's brought to turbo-charging our Copilot marketing efforts;  Andrea has played a key role in advocating for a more unified approach, including the single app experience," the memo said.

Two people familiar with the matter said Mallard's departure also reflected a recent change in strategy at Microsoft AI as the company rethinks consumer marketing. Microsoft is merging its consumer and business Copilot apps into a single application. Copilot, Microsoft's flagship generative AI product, generally lags behind other AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude.

Copilot marketing is being consolidated under Microsoft executive Jared Spataro. Microsoft AI doesn't plan to directly replace Mallard's role.

Microsoft AI, the unit where Mallard was hired as CMO, has undergone a transition in recent months. Microsoft moved Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman to a new role focused on a superintelligence team in March, and consolidated its various commercial and consumer Copilot teams under a new executive.

Mallard has an extensive consumer marketing pedigree, having served as Pinterest's chief marketing officer for over seven years. Prior to that, she oversaw marketing at Gap's athleisure brand, Athleta, and served as CMO at the virtual care company Omada Health.

Marketing efforts during Mallard's short tenure included a Super Bowl spot showing how NFL teams could use Copilot in Excel to analyze athlete performance data and build profiles of their top prospects. Microsoft has also been working with influencers like Alix Earle, who has posted video content using Copilot on her social media accounts. Work on both these projects began before Mallard joined the company.

Writing on LinkedIn in January to announce her move to Microsoft AI, Mallard said she would be hiring talent and was on the lookout for people who were passionate about "humanist AI." She described AI as the most consequential technological shift of her lifetime.

"We have an enormous responsibility to get this right," Mallard wrote.

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• Chloe Steinberg left her venture capital job after having her second child.
• She said she struggled with the loss of her professional identity and re-learned to trust her instincts.
• Now a mother of four, Steinberg has redefined what ambition and meaningful work mean to her.

Chloe Steinberg, 34, is a venture capital investor who was a seed investor in Canva and led Equinox Ventures, the VC arm of the Equinox Group of brands. Steinberg is a mother of four and lives in Connecticut. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I left my firm about four years ago after I had my second child. I was raised as a chronic overachiever. You go to an Ivy League school. You go to an investment bank.

Power to my parents for raising me to have that kind of ambition, but when I had my daughter, I had this anxiety over, "I don't want her to have my nervous system." I'm proud of everything I've accomplished, but I really just want her to chase joy.

While I was in the delivery room, I inked a life-changing exit from an investment in a tech company, where I was an early-stage investor. I wrote that check when I was in my early 20s. Ten years later, I had the opportunity to exit a portion of my holdings. It's a crazy realization that one investment can change your entire life.

It afforded me the opportunity to leave my job and think about who I wanted to be for the next evolution. I knew I didn't want to raise my kids from an airplane. Having breakfast with them on a Tuesday matters more than any deal I would close.

The same brain I always had

My identity crisis started after I left because I moved to Connecticut, where I didn't know anyone. When I met people, the first thing they asked was, "What do you do?" In the beginning, I said, "I was a VC."

I was suddenly a stay-at-home mom. Nobody knew I had accomplishments. I don't know why that matters, but after I quit my job, I was still trying to prove myself. Stepping back from a title, you want the room to know you've still got it. The hardest part of leaving my career was my ego.

Part of the identity crisis of becoming a mom is that I didn't want my kids to view being a mother as not being ambitious. I didn't stop working; I took the same brain I've always had — I just shifted what I was using it for. The fact that it doesn't count, because I don't have a fancy title, is stupid.

How do you show that you can be a mom and be ambitious, or you can be anything and be ambitious? At the same time, ambition doesn't define a person. It's a tool for navigating life. It shouldn't be about how hard you can grind. It's about how effectively you can live.

Where did that brava go?

At one point, a good friend of mine, who is the CEO of a well-known consumer company, said, "I know you're not working right now, but why did you go quiet? You used to publish articles. You're such a thought leader." My answer was, "I'm quiet because I don't know what to say."

It had started before I left my job. The more senior I got, the more I let people talk me down from my own certainty. We're born certain. Kids are pure instinct, no apology. They know what they want, and they don't check it against the room. By the time we're called experienced, we have been trained to distrust what was loudest in us when we were young.

Part of what makes a great investor is having that intuition. You don't have groupthink when you go with what you feel. The best investments are the ones 99% of people thought were wrong.

I'm Puerto Rican, and my mom always says, "My daughter is so brava." Where did that bravery go after years of being beaten down in a boardroom, years of learning the reasons not to do something, of over-diligencing, of not trusting my gut?

That's when it clicked. I was thinking about how badly I would never want my daughter to be quieted. How ashamed would I be as a mother if I let that happen to her?

What's worth my time?

I recently invested in a Silicon Valley startup after reaching out to the founder. I had lunch with him to explain my interest in the company. Sitting across the table, talking about why I love the product, what I envision for the future — it reminded me that I did that. The firm didn't do that. It was validating to believe in something enough to chase it down.

Why do we have to talk about who we used to be? People will say, "What's your plan when your kids are all in school again?" I'm like, "I don't know. I'm going to do something meaningful." If nothing is more meaningful than raising these little people, why is it worth my time? I understand that's coming from a position of privilege. I'm so fortunate to be here because of my hard work, but ambition for the sake of ambition feels stupid now.

Do you have a story to share about your career? Contact this reporter at tparadis@businessinsider.com.

• Buyers who have waited patiently for the housing market to improve see little relief in sight.
• New construction data shows things are still moving in the wrong direction.
• Sign up for First Trade, Business Insider's daily markets newsletter.

When mortgage rates hit multi-decade highs in 2023, the prevailing wisdom was that the housing market would eventually become more affordable. Buyers who stayed patient would be rewarded. The market would self-normalize.

Three years later, prospective buyers are still waiting for that relief. And there are recent signs of a housing market going in the wrong direction.

The latest bad news came on Tuesday, when data showed new residential construction fell 12.4% in July. Not to be outdone, single-family housing starts fell to their slowest pace since 2022.

For a major reason why, look no further than the 30-year mortgage rate, which has stayed stubbornly high for the past few years. It did fall below 6% early this year, but the Iran war quickly derailed hopes for further declines. As oil prices surged, stoking fears of inflation, any optimism around cheaper borrowing evaporated.

The 30-year Freddie Mac mortgage rate is down just moderately from its 7.8% peak reached in October 2023 — a far cry from the COVID-era low of 2.7%.

Add in home prices that have been on a steady chug higher since COVID-era lows, and you have a difficult mix of forces that all point towards the same end result: you not getting a house. (Disregard the seasonal peaks and valleys in the chart below. Instead note the multiyear upward trend.)

Taken together, these headwinds recently prompted the macro research firm Capital Economics to forecast the slowest year for home sales since 2011. What's more, the firm also predicts that mortgage rates will stay above 6% for another two years. So much for near-term relief.

The housing-market gridlock is also spilling into the home-improvement industry. On Tuesday, Home Depot posted an earnings beat, but its stock fell as CFO Richard McPhail acknowledged that "frozen housing conditions" are impacting large-scale home projects — aka the ones most linked to homebuyers.

A slowdown in construction risks making affordability even worse. Fewer homes being built means less supply, which could keep upward pressure on prices.

That leaves buyers with few good options. Mortgage rates remain high, home prices haven't meaningfully declined, and there's little reason to expect either to change dramatically in the near term.

For buyers who decided to wait out the housing market three years ago, patience hasn't paid off. And there's little evidence yet that it will anytime soon.

• Multiplier, formerly known as WithAI, is a young AI company that works with hedge funds' stockpickers.
• The firm raised $6 million from Y Combinator, Lux Capital, and Bridgewater's chief investment officers, among others.
• The firm is run by a former Bridgewater investment associate, Ian McInnis.

Smaller hedge funds outgunned by deep-pocketed rivals believe artificial intelligence can help level the playing field — and former Bridgewater analyst Ian McInnis raised millions to do just that.

The startup, which is changing its name from WithAI to Multiplier, pulled in $6 million in new capital from existing investors such as Y Combinator and Bridgewater co-chief investment officers Greg Jensen and Karen Karniol-Tambour, as well as big names like Lux Capital, Opendoor CEO Kaz Nejatian, Fortress chairman Pete Briger, and Google DeepMind chief strategy officer Jas Sekhon. Several of the firm's clients are also a part of the fundraise, according to a press release shared exclusively with Business Insider.

Multiplier is one of several startups founded by former hedge funders that hope to either automate or supercharge parts of the investment process. CEO Ian McInnis, a Princeton grad who just turned 27 years old, worked at Bridgewater under Jensen on large language model projects.

The firm currently counts six long-short equity funds as clients, as Multiplier specifically focuses on fundamental stockpickers' investment processes and builds its product within its clients' own clouds, to prevent potential leakage of funds' secret sauce.

"You still need domain specialization, but you also need firm specialization," McInnis said in the release.

"Now that the AI's getting woven so deeply into your firm, your security demands go way beyond compliance box-ticking. Investors are legitimately concerned about their edge being stolen."

The startup's goal is to build AI agents that can "research every stock on Earth, every day, watching for setups or updating projections," according to the firm's website. With more mundane parts of the job now outsourced to AI, the theory is that investing teams can spend more time on the parts of the job where human intuition can lead to outperformance.

The backing from Bridgewater's leaders — and McInnis's former bosses — is notable given the investment giant's push into artificial intelligence. The manager has partnered with Mira Murati's Thinking Labs to create an LLM that can sift through text with "expert-level taste and judgment" and runs a fund that is primarily run by AI and machine learning algorithms.

Additionally, Jensen has personally invested in OpenAI and Anthropic.

• Techies coined a new term for performative posting about hard work on social media. They call it "grindslop."
• Business Insider spoke with the grindslop accused — and accusers.
• Who is it all for? Three founders said that grindslop posts were meant to impress venture capitalists.

Han Wang insists his intentions were pure.

The 25-year-old cofounder of Mintlify is a prolific X poster, sending off his snippets of management philosophy to the platform's techies. One of his essays fanned the flames of Silicon Valley's hardcore workplace debate. He called it: "Remember to not smile."

Wang said that the essay's lesson was "challenging yourself and seeking discomfort." Commenters took it differently: they saw a piece of performative overwork, telling employees to labor until they're miserable. Founders whom Wang looked up to criticized him; his friends publicly posted their reasons for disagreeing with him.

Critics of his post called it "grindslop."

"It's this sentiment against saying these crazy work ethic buzzwords," Wang said. "For those two weeks, I became the vessel for that disdain."

The AI era has brought a relentless new standard of work: 996ing, Celsius-fueled all-nighters, and nonstop vibe coding. Some call it committing to a once-in-a-generation opportunity; others call it unhealthy.

As tech workers chafe against an increasingly extreme work schedule — and the public posturing behind it all — "grindslop" has grown into a rallying cry.

What is grindslop?

When Martin Tobias took my call, he had no idea what grindslop was.

The 62-year-old venture capitalist posted on X that, after taking on investments, founders can't use the excuse of being tired. "A dog can sleep all day," he wrote. "It has no cap table." In his comments, a user leveled the "grindslop" accusation.

I explained the term's generally understood definition. Grindslop refers to people who share publicly just how hard they work, or expect others to work. Sacrifice is a theme. Most often, these folks are in tech.

While its exact origin isn't clear, the term was popularized by Will Manidis' essay about founder hagiography. For grindslop companies, Manidis wrote, "the documentation of those hours and the performance of suffering is the product."

So, did Tobias think his don't-be-tired post was grindslop? No, he said, because it was about hard work. "I don't want you having a long to-do list and ticking off a bunch of random things," Tobias said. "I want you doing high-leverage things."

While far from mainstream, the word is spreading. Monthly references to "grindslop" on X shot up from 21 mentions in January to 422 mentions in April, according to the social intelligence company Sprout Social. It peaked at 453 mentions in July, Sprout Social said.

When a founder posts about their long work hours or extreme routines, other founders may feel pressure to adopt those habits to stay competitive.

"It was sad to me when it started happening in real life," said Dhravya Shah, the 20-year-old founder of the AI agent startup Supermemory.

While "slop" may sound like an allusion to AI slop, it's more about the perceived low quality of the content than how it was created. Mintlify's Wang said that he asked AI to review his essay, which "in hindsight made it sound less genuine."

And there's clear incentive to be a grindslopper: internet clout can help your business grow. While Wang insists that he wasn't chasing virality, he certainly got it — and it resulted in signups and some job applications, he said.

"A lot of our investors, in hindsight, were really excited about this whole thing because of the amount of attention that we were getting," he said.

The rise of performative hustling

Justin Banusing thinks grindslop is the result of a "massive pendulum swing."

The 26-year-old cofounder of the social media distribution startup Clouted called it a reversal on "remote slop." This was the content du jour during the COVID-19 pandemic, when people posted about working while traveling or poolside.

Things are different now.

"Everyone's trying to say: 'Hey, everyone should be inside the office, inside your company, 996ing,'" he said.

Ruby Justice Thelot, a 30-year-old professor of design and media theory at New York University, compared it to gym posts.

"You'll have a very, very jacked guy, waking up early in the morning, going to the gym, telling you that you can do it, too," he said.

He charted a path to grindslop. First, there was "conspicuous consumption," in which wealthy people flaunted the leisure they had purchased. Then there was "conspicuous creation," he said, where the act of creation was the leisure. Think of the trad wife, making their homemade cookies.

Now we're in an era of "conspicuous production," Thelot said, where there's no leisure at all. "You're just working," he said. "That is also a symbol of virtue."

The VCs (and other founders) watching

Who are these posts for? Three founders said that the grindsloppers were courting venture capitalists. "All of these are targeted toward investors," Shah said. "Users don't care."

Not all VCs are on board. Tobias said that he was turned off by the founders who post about their long hours. He'd rather they post about customers.

Sarah Catanzaro, a Bay Area-based general partner at Amplify Partners, said that her opinion of grindslop ranges from "don't care" to "hazardous."

Though she said her portfolio companies don't post grindslop, some emulate its habits: 996 schedules, air mattresses. "I've had conversations with these companies about the cost of it," she said, such as talent retention.

She worries about longevity, too. Sure, you can hustle hard in your early years, Catanzaro said, but at some point you have to get off the hamster wheel. "It is getting dangerous," she said.

There's another audience for this content: other founders. "People are just trying to impress each other," said Saarth Shah, the 23-year-old cofounder of the corporate investigations startup Sixtyfour.

It's depressing, he said.

"Initially, startups were basically a bunch of nerds working on hard problems that they found fun," Shah said. "Now, it's becoming this whole circle jerk."

• Bill Bengen advises retirees on a 65% stock, 30% bond, and 5% cash portfolio strategy.
• Within stocks, he says to invest across large caps, mid caps, small caps, micro caps, and international.
• Rebalance portfolios regularly to avoid risk and fund expenses, Bengen says.

The 4% rule for retirees is easy enough to understand in theory: withdraw that much of your portfolio per year, and your money should last you through retirement.

(Well, now it's more like the 4.7% rule, but you can read more about that here).

But what does that look like in practice? Bill Bengen, the rule's creator, recently shared with Business Insider what the optimal investment portfolio looks like and how investors should go about withdrawing their money.

First, let's get into the portfolio structure. Bengen, a former financial advisor and the author of "A Richer Retirement: Supercharging the 4% Rule to Spend More and Enjoy More," said that younger investors more than five years from retirement should allocate 100% of their portfolios to stocks.

That's because stocks have historically offered higher returns than other assets, and younger investors can stomach the higher risk.

But once an investor nears retirement, they should gradually reduce their stock allocation, eventually settling at 65%. Another 30% should be in fixed income, specifically intermediate-term bonds (which should include an allocation to Treasury inflation-protected securities, or TIPS), he said. And another 5% should be in cash.

Within the allocation to stocks, he shared five areas of the market to have equal exposure to.

Here's exactly how his optimal portfolio shapes up:

Exchange-traded funds are one easy way to gain exposure to these pockets of the market.

Examples of those that represent these trades include the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), the iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF (IJH), the VB (Vanguard Small-Cap ETF), the First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap Index Fund (FDM), the VXUS (Vanguard Total International Stock ETF), the Vanguard Intermediate-Term Bond ETF (BIV), and the State Street SPDR Bloomberg 1-10 Year TIPS ETF (TIPX).

You might also consider keeping a chunk of your cash allocation in a money market account to keep earning on it before spending.

Bengen said this portfolio construction works equally well for both younger and older retirees. Safe spending levels, however, differ by how long you intend a portfolio to last. For a timeline of 30 to 35 years, 4.7% is a safe withdrawal rate. For 60 to 70 years, 4.1% is appropriate, he said.

Some experts like to recommend an even higher allocation to stocks in retirement, Bengen said. But his optimal portfolio tends to resemble more closely the classic 60/40 model, as it can provide more security if equity markets crash.

"If you get a really bad bear market like in 2008 or 1929, your portfolio can be devastated," Bengen said.

How to actively manage your portfolio

Unfortunately, you can't just set and forget your investment portfolio. Some investments will outperform others, and you'll need to rebalance.

Doing so is crucial, Bengen said, so as not to take on unnecessary concentration risk that makes your portfolio particularly vulnerable to a pullback in one area of the market. It will also be part of how you fund your living expenses.

For example, small caps and international stocks have outperformed recently. So, if they've grown to more than their 13% allotments, you should sell part of those positions to bring them back down to the appropriate levels.

The proceeds of those sales can then be put to work across other areas of your portfolio. Some of them will go into your cash position, which you'll use to fund your spending.

"At the end of the year you'll be selling off investments that have done well and placing money into cash, and so it should work kind of automatically just through rebalancing," Bengen said.

Another way to raise cash will be through stock dividends and income from your bond positions, he said.

"Have all the income dividends from your various investments paid into that fund, so it's constantly replenished, so you don't run out of money there," Bengen said.

• Brannon Potts uses a 'build-to-rent' strategy, designing and building each of his rentals.
• The real estate strategy is setting him up for early retirement.
• Recently, rents have fallen, but he's increased his profits by cutting major expenses.

Brannon Potts has watched rents soften in North Texas over the past few years.

"Especially in the last three years, rents have come down a little bit here," the Fort Worth-area real estate investor told Business Insider.

Potts attributes the decline partly to an influx of new rental supply.

"There's been multiple hundreds of new properties coming online in the last couple of years, so it's pushed down rents a little bit, even with the growth in the area," he said. Still, "my overall profit has gone up."

Potts, 54, started investing in real estate five years ago as part of a plan to create enough passive income to retire in his 50s. As of mid-2026, he owns 14 units across eight properties, and plans to grow his portfolio to about 20 units.

Rather than buying existing rentals, he uses a build-to-rent strategy and constructs his own properties. He documents the building process on his YouTube channel, where he also breaks down the numbers behind his investments.

Rather than relying on rising rents to improve his per-door profit, Potts has focused on reducing costs. He said his overall operating expenses once represented a little over 30% of his rental revenue, while today, they account for about 26%.

To cut costs and improve his bottom line, he's focused on three of his biggest expenses: mortgage payments, property taxes, and insurance.

1. He refinanced mortgages when rates gave him an opportunity

Financing is Potts' largest expense. Over the past year, he said he refinanced several properties when rates dipped, locking the new loans in for 30 years.

"I moved some of those notes from 7.5% — one down to 5.3%, and several of them at 5.9%," he said.

The lower rates reduced his interest costs and allowed him to increase the amount of principal he was paying down each month. He highlighted this additional benefit on his YouTube channel: "Because that rate went down by 2%, I'm getting an increased return on the capital that I'm using because I'm now paying more principal per month."

2. He learned to challenge his property-tax assessments

Next, Potts started paying closer attention to property taxes. In Texas, property owners receive an appraised value from their local appraisal district. He initially thought he had to accept that value, but over time, he learned how to file a protest and make a case for a lower valuation.

In 2022, he said property taxes consumed 16.6% of his rental revenue. By 2024, that had declined to about 15%, and today, "my property tax bill represents 11.7% of my revenues."

He stopped letting the appraisal system simply tell him what his properties were worth and "became proactive," he said.

3. He raised his insurance deductibles and started shopping around

Potts has also reduced insurance costs, which once accounted for about 6.2% of his rental revenue. He said they now represent about 5.2%.

His first move was raising his deductibles. Because he already had a substantial cash reserve for repairs and vacancies, Potts decided he didn't want to pay higher premiums to insure against smaller losses he could afford to cover himself.

"I really just wanted to insure for something catastrophic," he said.

He increased his deductibles from 1% to 5%. A higher deductible generally means the policyholder assumes more of the cost when filing a claim, which can lower the premium. It also means an owner needs enough cash on hand to absorb a larger unexpected expense.

Potts also began shopping his policies more aggressively. Rather than working with an agent who represents only a limited number of insurers, he uses a broker who can compare policies from multiple companies.

Using 'common sizing' to find opportunities to cut expenses

Potts has learned that he can't necessarily count on rising rents to improve his returns. Lowering expenses is another important part of the equation.

One way he identifies cost-cutting opportunities is through "common size analysis," a technique that converts dollar amounts into percentages relative to a base figure. In Potts' case, he's tracking each property's rental income and expenses, then calculating how much of its revenue is going toward categories such as taxes and insurance.

That makes it easier to spot outliers. If property taxes consume 19% of the revenue from one property but substantially less at another, for example, he investigates why.

"A good operator is looking at revenues, expenses, the financing piece — they're looking at all of them," he said. "Common sizing helps to show it."

• Trump's student-loan analyst said he was unaware of an error that reported some student-loan borrowers' income as $0.
• It required a corrected legal filing in an ongoing case where borrowers are seeking to restore affordable bills.
• Outside the lawsuit, borrowers have reported a range of repayment glitches since July 1.

Errors in the student-loan repayment system have made their way into the courts.

On Monday, the Department of Education corrected a legal filing in an ongoing case filed by student-loan borrowers to restore the benefits of REPAYE, a precursor to the Biden-era SAVE repayment plan.

The department had previously told the court that five borrowers in the case reported incomes of $0. However, the borrowers said that was wrong; they had already shown the department they earned more than that.

This seemingly-innocuous detail matters because if the borrowers truly had no income, they would likely already qualify for low payments under an existing repayment plan. That would undermine their argument for restoring REPAYE, namely that they need its specific benefits.

In the corrected filing, department loan analyst Anthony Lowery said the mistake came from an error in the National Student Loan Data Service, the federal database the government uses to track student loans. A 2024 NSLDS system update removed some older data, he said, meaning some borrowers' income information was not retained.

"I was not aware that NSLDS records a borrower's income as $0 when the system has no data," Lowery said.

This is the latest update in an ongoing case pushing to make the benefits of REPAYE available to borrowers and to pause the forced transfer of borrowers off the SAVE plan. Beginning July 1, SAVE borrowers began receiving their 90-day timeframe to transition to a new plan. If they do not act within that timeframe, they'll automatically be placed on a standard plan with higher monthly payments.

Borrowers are still awaiting a ruling on whether the involuntary transfer will be paused; the earliest the transfer would occur is September 29.

Aside from the NSLDS error referenced in the corrected declaration, borrowers for months have reported a range of glitches with their payments, including inaccurate bills and erroneous past-due notices. The Education Department said it is aware of the errors and has fixed them as they arose.

Have a story to share about student loans? Contact this reporter at asheffey@businessinsider.com.

• Ultra-processed foods are linked to a higher risk of colon cancer, and some may be worse than others.
• A nutrition researcher explains how he avoids the riskiest kinds of ultra-processed foods.
• Instead, he recommends foods like whole grains and yogurt, which help protect the gut.

For more than a decade since he began studying nutrition, Kenny Mendoza has been paying attention to his food labels, scrutinizing grams of fat, protein, and added sugar.

But people eat food, not isolated nutrients. And, as Mendoza realized while training for his doctorate at Harvard, those foods are often heavily processed before reaching our plates, which can make a huge difference for our health.

"Now, I also pay much more attention to all the ingredients beyond the nutrients in the foods, to see if they're ultra-processed," he told Business Insider. "The evidence says that both things are important, nutrients and food processing."

Today, as a professor of public health at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Mendoza said his research has changed how he eats.

His latest work suggests that small, actionable food choices can make an important difference in colon cancer risk, at a time when the disease has become the leading cause of cancer-related death in younger people.

Mendoza shared two of the most compelling swaps to prevent cancer, as well as his personal strategies to make healthy eating simpler.

The top culprits behind colon cancer risk

Mendoza and colleagues from Harvard wanted to estimate how cancer risk might change if people ate fewer processed foods.

Researchers analyzed decades of dietary and health data from more than 200,000 US healthcare professionals. They modeled what would happen to their cancer risk if they ate more of some foods, and less of others.

They found a small but significantly reduced risk in obesity-related cancers, such as breast and colorectal cancer, was linked to cutting back on ultra-processed foods like refined carbs and packaged snacks by just 10% (measured as a share of total calories).

That's like cutting out 20-ounce soda, a small order of fries, or three to four pieces of bacon from a regular diet of 2000 to 2500 calories a day.

The swaps that matter

Mendoza said not all processed food is equally bad for our health. Two types of processed food are most closely linked to higher cancer risk: processed red meats and sugary drinks. He avoids them completely — and recommends others do, too.

Mendoza's research also found that a specific food swap offers a double whammy for cancer prevention.

His study found that replacing a serving of ultra-processed bread with a serving of whole-grain cereal (such as oatmeal) was associated with a small but significant reduction in cancer risk.

The swap is doubly beneficial because you're replacing preservatives that can harm your health with nutrients that protect it.

Processed bread contains emulsifiers, which are linked to inflammation that drives cancer risk. In contrast, whole grains contain fiber and B vitamins, which help stave off cancer.

And if you're used to a breakfast sandwich with bacon, a good cancer-fighting alternative is yogurt. Research suggests it plays a uniquely supportive role in gut health (in addition to providing key nutrients like protein and B vitamins).

"Despite the fact that some yogurts are ultraprocessed, they still retain active cultures, which are the live bacteria that basically help your gut bacteria to be healthier," Mendoza said.

One caveat: some flavored yogurts are more likely to contain lots of added sugar or thickeners. Your best bet is to pay attention to labels and opt for plain, unsweetened yogurt and mix in toppings like honey, berries, or nuts and seeds.

You may not be able to eliminate processed food — even top nutrition scientists eat them occasionally. But a good first step is ditching the soda, processed meat, and white bread in favor of more whole grains and yogurt for a healthier gut.

• Rick Ross said he installed Starlink in his private jet.
• The rapper said the internet service lets him stay on the phone during his plane's takeoff.
• SpaceX recently highlighted Starlink as its crown jewel. Flyers say they won't travel without it.

He's the self-identified "biggest boss that you've seen thus far." And, apparently, he has a one-bedroom, two-bath private jet equipped with Starlink.

During an episode of Complex's "On Display," released on Monday, rapper Rick Ross showed off his hangar (which he calls the "Eagle's Nest"), including a Gulfstream G550.

He said he integrated SpaceX's Starlink into the private jet.

"It's unbelievable," he said about the satellite internet services. "It's just like you at the crib. I'm on a phone call before I take off, as we take off, the phone call don't stop. FaceTime, whatever it is. Streaming, live, whatever it is."

Right now, Starlink is the crown jewel of SpaceX's business.

The company has deployed thousands of small satellites in low Earth orbit that beam high-speed internet to far-flung areas of the world — including airspace where jets are flying.

It has 12 million subscribers, the company reported earlier this month during its first-ever earnings call. Several airlines have adopted the technology, including American Airlines, Southwest, Virgin Atlantic, Iberia, and Aer Lingus.

Big-spending airline travelers, such as YouTuber MrBeast and angel investor Jason Calacanis, have said they would choose a less convenient flight path if the planes are equipped with Starlink tech. They aren't alone.

"In fact, we heard from one of our airline customers, shockingly, customers are flying shorter hop flights instead of direct, so that they could ensure that they're on a Starlink-activated flight," SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said in her opening remarks on the August call. "They'd never seen this in the business before."

For Ross, his internet-linked plane is a centerpiece of his multimillion-dollar stable of transportation options in his hangar in Miami, which is also filled with custom Lamborghinis, Ferraris, and classics like the 1970s Chevy Impala.

He said he dreamed about having such a fleet when he was a kid.

"I always told myself, once I got the opportunity to, you know what I'm saying, double back, all the shit that I wanted, I was going to get it," he told Complex.

Representatives for Ross didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Jason Shen left Meta in 2023 and began building his executive-coaching business, Refactor Labs.
• After roles at Etsy and Meta, Shen began coaching startup founders full-time in 2024.
• He now works fewer hours and prioritizes family, fitness, and writing a book.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jason Shen, the 40-year-old founder of Refactor Labs based in Brooklyn. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm the founder and CEO of Refactor Labs, an executive coach, and a cofounder conflict expert.

I spent two years at Etsy as a product manager, working on the seller-facing mobile app. After being laid off in a round of mass layoffs, I did contract product work for an early-stage B2B SaaS startup and completed the TED Residency, an ideas incubator, where I gave a TED Talk on the future of hiring.

I founded Headlight, a tech hiring platform, in November 2017 with a former Etsy teammate. In 2019, we did a hard pivot into voice AI products for gaming, renaming the company Midgame. In July 2020, Midgame was acquired by Facebook, now Meta.

I worked as a product leader at Meta for almost three years and voluntarily left the company in June 2023 to take a sabbatical before focusing on growing my company. I had started coaching founders on the side while at Meta, but didn't seriously spin up my business until January 2024.

My cofounder and I weren't planning to be acquired by Meta

It wasn't the outcome we set out for, but with NYC and much of the world still in lockdown, it was a bit like an emergency landing with an out-of-fuel plane.

Working at Meta really expanded my skillset. I learned how to advocate for my team during product reviews with VPs and ship social experiences to millions of people while leading multiple product teams simultaneously. The people were sharp and creative, and I enjoyed working with them.

Over time, my life turned into overcrowded meetings, document reviews, and keeping up with too many feeds. The company was in constant flux: I survived multiple managers, reorganizations, and layoffs. The money was great — my target cash compensation, including salary and bonus, was about $250,000 at the time — but I couldn't see myself doing this for another 20 years.

I stayed longer than I had at any other company

At the time, in addition to my cash compensation, I was vesting 230 Meta restricted stock units, or RSUs, per quarter. Had I stayed another three years at the same vest rate, I would have vested 2,760 more. At a recent Meta share price of about $609, those unvested RSUs would be worth roughly $1.68 million before taxes.

In preparing for leave, I set aside a chunk of money that I was willing to give up to build my coaching business, mostly by selling off my portfolio. That ended up being around $150,000.

The second half of your 30s is when you start to have a clearer sense of what you're suited for and where that will be valued

At Meta, I was running a resilient community of hundreds of people, facilitating workshops, and mentoring folks earlier in their careers. All of that counted toward "organizational impact," which accounted for only 10% of my performance review. What I loved doing most and was best at was not what the company paid me for.

My mom was a gymnastics coach, and my dad was an educator and community leader, so coaching came very naturally to me. I worked with an executive coach at my most recent startup, and he helped make that company more successful than my first. Two of my professional contacts had made the leap to coach full-time in recent years and were happy with their decision, so I thought I could make it, too.

Leaving to start a new business still felt risky. My wife and I were trying to start a family, and I realized I had to take my shot because there was no way I could launch a business while caring for a newborn. If I didn't make it within a year, I planned to get another PM job and receive parental leave before the baby arrived.

I spend about 20 hours working each week and still make a good living

I made $369,000 in revenue in the last 12 months. That sounds pretty good, but I have expenses like credit card fees, marketing, software, coworking space, and health insurance. Most of my clients are on monthly retainers, while my clients navigating cofounder conflict typically buy three-month packages.

Most of my job is joining Zoom calls. By and large, I love and respect my clients, which is a big perk of running your own business. I used to have an executive assistant, but I've learned how to use AI to save time and stay on top of my client work.

Some people love the idea of creating experiences that reach millions, but that feels too abstract. I love seeing my clients find conviction in themselves, grow their businesses, and improve their relationship with their cofounders. That feels like a tangible impact to me.

I get to spend my time on creative projects, fitness, and family

I'm working on a book called "Deep Ambition" about how recovering overachievers can escape shallow ambition and build a remarkable life on their own terms. I'm also training to set a personal best in the Murph challenge.

At 5 p.m. on weekdays, I take my daughter to the playground or for a stroller run. We do dinner at 6 p.m., then bath, milk, and bedtime by 7:30. I promised my wife before we had our daughter that I wouldn't let kids get in the way of her career, which is creative, noncorporate, and very important to her.

I'm grateful that I left Meta when I did

Do I wish I had a few extra million bucks in my bank account? Sure, but it doesn't work like that. I would have had to grind for that money for years. My workweek is now so much less frantic and stressful than it was when I was a PM.

I'm only three years into my business, and there's still room to grow. One of my goals is to surpass the total compensation I earned in Big Tech. I'm aiming to get there by 2028. Hopefully, I'll also be a dad of two by then.

It's a really competitive job market right now, with so many companies laying off workers, and I think some experienced tech workers could find coaching or consulting more satisfying than they expect. It takes courage and nontrivial resources to get off the ground, but in the end, it can be so much more fulfilling.

• Young adults are more concerned about AI than excited about the technology, according to a new survey.
• The Pew Research Center found this is the first time that's happened since they began asking the question in 2021.
• The survey illustrates the degree to which views have declined.

The "AI-native" generation that leading companies are counting on is souring on the technology.

A higher share of adults under 30 are "more concerned than excited" about AI than vice versa, according to a Pew Research Center survey. While Pew reports that overall concern is up, this is the first time a majority of young adults have reported they're "more concerned than excited" since it began asking the question in 2021.

The findings illustrate that betting on an AI-native generation might prove to be more complicated than initially thought.

Leaders of Figma, Reddit, Sierra, and other companies have remarked about how hiring younger employees gives them access to workers who have learned the fundamentals alongside AI tools.

"The kids coming out of college right now learned how to program with AI. They're really good at it, so I think we will go heavy on new grads because they're so much more AI native," Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said in March.

In February, a similar Pew survey found that adults aged 18 to 29 were the largest users of AI chatbots such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Microsoft's Copilot. Chatbots, which are powered by large language models, are not the only way people can use AI, but the survey illustrated just how much AI use had grown across all age demographics.

According to the Pew survey, more Americans (71%) also say that AI will lead to "fewer jobs" than they did two years ago (64%). Adults 18 to 29 are as likely to hold that view as adults 30 to 64, a change from when Pew asked that same question two years ago.

Concerns about job displacement continue to be one of the biggest clouds hanging over AI.

AI CEOs, including OpenAI's Sam Altman, have said that their fears over widespread AI job displacement haven't come to pass. Studies, including one recently published by Stanford researchers, have also found no widespread AI-related job displacement.

At the same time, some companies are citing AI as reasons for laying off workers. Business Insider has found that 17 companies, including Oracle, Cisco, IBM, and Uber, have cited AI as a factor in their layoff decisions.

The Pew Research Center data is based on the organization's American Trends Panel, a nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults. A total of 4,069 panelists were initially selected, of whom 3,488 responded to the survey between June 22 and June 28. The margin of error for the full sample is +/- 1.8 percentage points. Smaller subsamples, including those for age groups, have a larger margin of error. The full methodology can be viewed here.

• Soon after I started taking Zepbound, friends started notice that I was losing weight.
• I guiltily admitted that I had, thanks to starting a popular GLP-1 medication.
• It's strange to apologize for getting healthier. I'm trying to stop treating it like a confession.

"You look great! Did you lose weight?" a friend I hadn't seen in a few weeks asked, barely a beat after saying hello.

I grimace as I guiltily admit that I did.

"Zepbound," I say, the one-word explanation slipping out almost unbidden, like a naughty confession.

It feels strange to apologize for improving my health. And yet that's exactly what I did.

Now, eight months after starting Zepbound, also known as tirzepatide, I'm still learning not to feel guilty about taking care of my body in the way that works best for me.

My body needed more than diet and exercise

I first approached my primary care doctor about prescribing a GLP-1 in 2025 after debilitating foot pain hobbled me. No specialist directly blamed my weight, but I felt certain that added strain on my joints had worsened my plantar fasciitis, resulting in a ganglion cyst.

I won't lie and say the superficial outcome wasn't also welcome. My weight had crept up over a decade, and after I gave birth in 2022, it stubbornly wouldn't budge below what I assumed was my new baseline.

Countless diets centered around the classic "calories in, calories out" proved futile for me. I was simply too hungry to maintain a large enough deficit to lose weight, and working out just made me hungrier. I felt completely disconnected from my body. I was slow, tired, and overwhelmed.

I also struggled with "food noise," although I didn't know there was a name for it until I started Zepbound and joined online forums for users. The medication quieted it. I felt full sooner and stopped fixating on what to eat next. And luckily, my insurance covered it.

It was a major success. I lost 30 pounds in six months (about 18% of my body weight), and the pain in my feet and knees evaporated. So why did admitting it feel like I'd done something wrong?

The social stigma against GLP-1s continues to be infuriating

Media coverage of weight-loss drugs hasn't exactly been nuanced. Before seriously considering one, my predominant association was the infamous viral blind item in 2024 about Gwyneth Paltrow's Hamptons houseguest having an unfortunate bout of Ozempic-induced diarrhea and then fleeing the scene. It seemed like all I read about were the drugs' negative effects (often made the butt of jokes) and none of the positives.

Then there was the body-positivity issue. I've long tried to be, if not body-positive, at least body-neutral — especially as the mother of a savvy 3-year-old who picks up on everything. Yet some body-positive people seem to view GLP-1 users as automatically fatphobic or personally triggering. One particularly upsetting viral essay in The Cut described a woman cutting off a friend for taking Wegovy.

Underneath much of the judgment is the sense that GLP-1 users are "cheating" or "not doing it the right way," as though weight loss only counts if it involves a certain amount of misery. Because suffering is, I guess, noble?

These weren't just amorphous opinions online. Friends and loved ones made similar comments to me — or in front of me — during my early days on Zepbound, before my weight loss became apparent. I hadn't told most of them yet that I was taking it, so they had no idea they were criticizing a choice I'd already made.

I've been lucky to experience relatively few side effects: no gastrointestinal issues or unexpected food reactions. I did have some hair loss, a relatively common GLP-1 side effect likely triggered by losing weight quickly. The drug wasn't magic or without tradeoffs. But it gave me something years of white-knuckling hunger never did: the ability to feel at home in my body again.

Taking Zepbound doesn't mean I believe thinner bodies are morally superior, nor does it invalidate anyone else's choice to embrace their body as it is. Body neutrality should leave room for people to change their bodies for their own reasons without turning that decision into a judgment on everyone else.

When someone asks whether I've lost weight, I still feel an urge to apologize. I'm trying to unlearn it. Taking a GLP-1 was one of the best decisions I've ever made. It improved my health and daily life, and I'm done treating that like a shameful confession.

• NYC moviegoers began showing up at midnight to secure tickets for December's "Dune: Part Three."
• Sky-high demand for premium formats has brought back the art of the movie ticket line.
• To avoid platform crashes and online snafus, movie lovers are returning to queuing.

Twenty-somethings Justin Joseph and Anthony Ortega sat triumphantly on the stairs of Manhattan's AMC Lincoln Square 13, spools of "Dune: Part Three" tickets laid out beside them. They had arrived at 7:15 a.m. to battle the 1500-foot-long line of hopefuls clamoring for tickets to see the film in the rare, premium 70-millimeter Imax format, and won.

Moviegoers at the front of the line told me they arrived at midnight, while other early birds arrived between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. By 11 a.m. — around half an hour before the box office opened — the line wrapped around the block and then some.

Earlier this summer, Imax 70-millimeter Imax tickets for "The Odyssey" spurred a ticket-buying frenzy, leading to platform crashes and resellers flipping seats for $165. After that debacle, some movie lovers realized buying in person was more reliable than battling it out online.

The in-person Dune line marks the reversal of one larger movie-going trend: the rise of advance digital ticketing. At AMC, 73% of tickets were purchased online in 2025, per the company's SEC filings, up from 8.5% in 2013 and 53% in 2020. But as blockbuster 70-millimeter Imax movies like "Dune" and "The Odyssey" become eventized, the industry has reinvented one of the problems advance ticketing was meant to solve: hordes of fans camping out for tickets to the biggest movies.

The lines remain an anomaly in the wider exhibition business, spurred by demand for the 70-millimeter Imax format, which is only shown in around 25 theaters in the US. Daniel Loria, the SVP of content and editorial director at data provider the Box Office Company, noted that this summer's record-breaking "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," which didn't get the same eventized Imax rollout as "The Odyssey" dominated those screens, did not bring the same fervor.

"You want to see Spider-Man, you could see Spider-Man," Loria said. With the Odyssey, he said, fans wanted "one auditorium of one specific theater for one specific movie."

Jerry Walsh, who had tried and failed to get "Odyssey" tickets, arrived at the Upper West Side theatre at 6 a.m. armed with folding chairs. "I'm not going to miss it again," he said. Zac Acton, 27, spent six or seven hours attempting to get online "Odyssey" tickets; to avoid that "nightmare," he used his day off to travel to AMC Lincoln Square and join the line.

"It's pretty insane, but it's also cool," Acton said. When reached for comment, AMC directed Business Insider to an X post from CEO Adam Aron.

"There was much discussion internally ahead of and preparing for the Dune 3 launch," Aron wrote. "We thought we were ready, but we weren't."

Emmanuel Ruiz, 27, and Luis Delcarpio, 32, were both toting laptops and in "work from line" mode. Ruiz said he had gotten two sets of tickets for the "Odyssey" from the ticket kiosks in the AMC lobby and was back for Dune seats.

Ruiz said the last time he camped out for tickets was the "Hunger Games" midnight premiere.

"I feel like it's pretty different because Hunger Games, everybody was dressed up. Everybody was really excited. Here, it's just like everybody's here for business," Ruiz said.

Some of that attitude might come from the simple fact that the film isn't out until December, making ticket purchases now an investment. Today's theaters are also not designed for these rushes.

"Since 2010, very notably, there is no new or even mildly new theater out there that is designed with a massive box office space to accommodate this big footfall in the lobby," said Loria.

For Brandon Herman, 50, the line resurrected a moviegoing model he found himself missing. Herman grew up in the "Star Wars" prequel lines and "Harry Potter" queues, making lifelong line friends.

"I never thought I'd actually see it again, but I got to the end of the line with the biggest smile on my face," Herman said.

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is entering his social media era, using X to explain the AI ecosystem.
• His early lesson plan maps closely onto Nvidia's business interests.
• Huang's teacher persona can help engender trust in Nvidia, experts said.

Jensen Huang is getting more social.

Since joining X last month, the Nvidia CEO has posted about everything from aging chips to financing the AI buildout. But compared to some of his more outspoken peers, Huang likes to explain things.

Other tech CEOs have made social media an extension of their public personas: Elon Musk broadcasts everything from product news to politics, while OpenAI's Sam Altman and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg have shared sweeping visions for the future of AI. Huang talks more like a teacher.

His first post demonstrated exactly that. Huang overcame his "shyness" in joining X because his July 24 post — a letter advocating for open AI models — was "too important to the industry and too important to the world," he said.

Open models, which make their underlying technology widely available, also have serious business ramifications for Nvidia. They mean more companies building AI — and more customers for its chips.

This dynamic runs through Huang's early feed: he's explaining AI while making the case for ideas that benefit Nvidia.

Huang, whose leather jackets and rockstar keynotes have inspired a cult following, made a personal decision to join X, an Nvidia representative previously told Axios — though it comes as the chip giant looks to bolster internal operations.

The company is hiring a senior manager of social media — with a base salary of up to $299,000 — to lead its social team and "turn complex technology and business priorities into stories people want to watch."

Nvidia did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The savvy behind Jensen Huang's teacher persona

Huang is the de facto "pump man for the AI trade," said Luke Lango, chief technology analyst at InvestorPlace, with Nvidia being at the center of countless deals and arguably its biggest beneficiary.

"He does so in a self-deprecating, very kind of shy-man way," Lango said. "But underneath, it's a multibillionaire CEO of the world's largest company making sure his empire stays well-supported."

If that communication style is less bombastic, it's just as savvy, Lango said.

And though he heads the most valuable company in the world, his work culture posts — like thanking interns — reinforce his relatability, said Karen North, a clinical professor of communication at USC Annenberg.

Unlike consumer technology that people interact with in a "tangible way," Nvidia operates in a world many people don't understand, said North.

Therefore, Huang's presence on X serves as a "social media cheat sheet," imparting information that followers can use at the dinner table. His thought leadership also builds trust with investors who congregate on the site, including when the company hits bumps in the road.

"Whatever knowledge you take away, you also take away trust in him and trust in his brand," North said.

Seventeen years after becoming the most legendary bank robber of the internet age, Anthony Curcio was again inside a federal courtroom facing prison. It was January 17, 2026. Dressed in a casual blue suit and loose tie, the 45-year-old still possessed the handsome bad-boy charm that long had Hollywood producers after him.

Once the high school football hero of tiny Monroe, Washington, a college injury left him with a Vicodin addiction he couldn't shake. Then, when the housing crash hit, the desperate father of two made an outlandish play: an armored-truck heist of $400,000 in cash and a getaway down the Skykomish River on an inner tube. In 2013, after serving five years in federal prison, Curcio began his redemption arc: TED talks, TV appearances, and a line of best-selling children's books.

Now, prosecutors alleged, he had been running an elaborate new scheme: defrauding buyers in the booming $15 billion trading card industry. After a two-year FBI investigation called Operation Heist and Holder, Curcio was charged with wire fraud and conspiracy, charges that carry a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. The evidence, prosecutors said, would include texts and recordings of Curcio lying to card buyers, faking his identity, and doctoring labels of rare cards, as well as forgery tools found in his home workshop.

Curcio's defense told a different story: The case wasn't about fraud; it was retribution. The real villain, his attorneys argued, was Professional Sports Authenticator, the card industry's dominant grading company. PSA is the Moody's of the sports card world. A PSA label can mean the difference between a card worth $50 and one worth $500,000. PSA's parent company, Collectors Holdings — which is backed, in large part, by billionaire hedge fund manager and New York Mets owner Steve Cohen — controls roughly 80% of the card grading market.

By the time of Curcio's trial this winter, a New York congressman had demanded a Federal Trade Commission antitrust investigation, writing that Collectors had "effectively dismantled market competition." PSA soon faced a boycott by aggrieved customers over fee hikes and allegations of grade manipulation. Over several months of exclusive interviews, Curcio shared his version of events for the first time. "I don't have nothing to hide," he says. "Those motherfuckers got a lot to hide."

Collectors Holdings and PSA "basically have a horizontally and vertically integrated monopoly," says Remington Ewald, a veteran card dealer who had a fateful encounter with Curcio at an expo in Chicago. "It just sucks that the guy who's bringing it to everybody's attention is a criminal himself."

Long before he was a famous outlaw, Anthony Curcio was just another one of America's 94 million card collectors. Growing up in the tiny logging town of Monroe, he'd bike over to the Red Barn gas station and spend his allowance on the latest packs of Topps cards. As the town's star high school athlete, he was determined to one day have his face featured on his own card.

A nimble wide receiver, Curcio went to the University of Idaho on a full scholarship. Then he tore his ACL, and became addicted to painkillers. To support his habit, he faked prescriptions and ran a side hustle buying and selling trading cards online. He quickly learned there was one company at the heart of the trade.

Founded in 1991 by card dealer David Hall, PSA offered a simple premise: that a card examined by an expert and graded a number was worth more than a card pulled from a shoebox. Collectors would mail their cards to the company, and trained graders would evaluate each one across four criteria — centering, edges, corners, and surface — and assign it a numerical grade from 1 (Poor) to 10 (Gem Mint). The card was then sealed in a clear, tamper-evident plastic case called a slab, with a label bearing the grade and a unique certification number tied to PSA's database. The company charged per submission, and the model was self-reinforcing. "Once the buyers insisted on it," Hall said in 2019, "the dealers had no choice."

In a statement to Business Insider, a PSA spokesperson wrote, "For more than thirty years, PSA has served collectors by authenticating, grading, and protecting items so that collectors can trade with confidence. In our view, that trusted role is precisely why people try to counterfeit our labels and holders." The spokesperson added that "last year alone, our systems intercepted roughly $200 million in potential counterfeit value before it reached the market."

In the trading card community's burgeoning online forums, Curcio made a name for himself — as an alleged fraudster. In 2005, participants on the Trading & Memorabilia discussion thread began warning of the "Seattle boy" attempting to sell a fake 1953 Mickey Mantle. "Anyone on this board get ripped off by this guy??" one user wrote. Curcio denied everything. But in his 2013 memoir, "Heist and High," Curcio wrote about his early card-dealing days in ways that would come back to haunt him. He shared how, after being defrauded out of $12,000 by a con man who reversed a PayPal payment, he got his money back by listing a counterfeit Mantle of his own and pocketing $20,000 from buyers who never got the card. He also detailed learning to trim cards for better centering, yellow them with coffee grounds to fake aging, and crack open sealed PSA cases to swap in higher-grade cards.

After college, Curcio returned to Monroe to marry his high school sweetheart, Emily, and found success flipping houses. When the real estate bubble burst in 2007, he burned through his life savings, and his house went into foreclosure. He found painkillers again. He couldn't support his habit or his family. One day, while eating a hamburger in his car outside a Jack in the Box, he watched an armored truck pull into the Bank of America. It was just another bank, he thought, that had robbed him and millions of Americans. So he felt justified when he decided to rob it.

Curcio spent months planning the heist, testing on himself the bear spray he'd mist the security guard with, and gaming out escape plans of varying risk — a getaway car (too conspicuous), a jet ski down the river (too shallow) — before settling on the seemingly most outlandish, yet practical, option: a black-and-yellow inner tube festooned with a decal of a hornet. For added cover, he took out a Craigslist help-wanted ad, telling prospective workers to show up in the park across from the bank dressed in matching landscaper vests. It worked. He fled with $400,000, and then spent weeks blowing cash on cars and gambling.

But a homeless man in Monroe had witnessed Curcio on a dry run of the heist, and gave the local cops Curcio's license plate number. After pleading guilty, he was sentenced to six years in federal prison in Big Spring, Texas.

That's where I first met with Curcio in 2009, for a GQ story about the heist. He told me then that the robbery wasn't about money, it was about feeling like he needed to be the big man on campus once again. Getting locked up was the first time he'd felt free of that lie.

He echoed this sentiment to me in October 2025, when we sat in a Jersey City hotel café the day before his trading card fraud hearing began. Wearing a zipped-up blue windbreaker and a backward cap, he looked more like a suburban little-league coach than a wizened bank robber. "I was concerned with materialistic shit because I didn't feel good about who I was," he told me about what led to the heist. "I wish I could have calmed down and realized, 'Yes, I got bills, but none of this really is that big a deal.'"

After he was released in 2013, Curcio threw himself into a great American comeback. Back with his family, he became an active youth basketball, baseball, and softball coach. He was "the happiest and most content I've been ever," he tells me. While in prison, he'd written and illustrated "My Daddy's In Jail," trying to explain incarceration to young children, including his own. Then he wrote another book about Steph Curry, which the NCAA selected for a nationwide reading program. Suddenly, Curcio went from making $200 a month to $16,000. Some months, he says, he made more than $100,000.

He bought a local gym, but after tiring of the business, he decided to sell it. The buyer happened to be a card collector, who threw in boxes of valuable cards as part of the gym-sale deal — including a 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie card graded PSA 10, Gem Mint. "I ended up taking tons of cards in on, like, a credit," Curcio tells me, "to keep the fucking tax amount down."

It was a fortuitous time to come into a card collection. During COVID, the sports trading card business exploded in value, joining a pandemic gold rush in other collectibles like Lego sets, rare whiskey, and luxury watches. With collectors stuck at home, and cryptocurrency fattening their bank accounts, they began pouring their money into cards — which swelled as much as 10 times in worth.

Curcio's Gem Mint '86 Jordan was worth about $39,000 when he received it in January 2020. In January 2021, two sold for $720,000 each. As the first widely distributed licensed NBA card to feature Jordan, it became, as PSA described it in its CardFacts database, "the most important modern card from any sport in the entire hobby." That same year, a group of private equity investors — which included hedge fund magnates Daniel Sundheim and Steven Cohen — took Collectors private in a deal worth roughly $853 million.

Flush with money, the company rapidly expanded. It acquired Goldin Auctions, where the cards were sold. It struck a partnership with eBay, handling authentication for the platform's high-value transactions. It acquired rival card grader SGC. It bought the Long Beach Expo, the primary venue where the deals were made, and where every card that passed through it needed PSA's blessing to be worth anything at all.

PSA's practices had already been under scrutiny. In 2019, one of the biggest scandals in the trading card hobby's history broke open. Collectors accused a buyer of purchasing cards already graded by PSA, then secretly trimming their edges and resubmitting them to PSA for a higher grade — evidence, they said, that PSA's own process had failed. Trimming a card's edges by a fraction of a millimeter could transform a PSA 7 into a PSA 9, multiplying its value. The buyer was accused of making hundreds of thousands of dollars this way through an Oregon-based marketplace called PWCC. The FBI subpoenaed PWCC. No charges were filed. In June 2019, Collectors Universe CEO Joe Orlando wrote in a letter to customers that expecting perfection from "human-based opinion services is simply unattainable."

The stress of COVID, parenting, and battling a lifetime of addiction was taking a toll on Curcio. He began spending hours a day in his basement, building an elaborate Lego city. Long suffering from OCD, he found that the bricks soothed him. His obsessions also soon turned to the card market. Given the rarity and value of the Gem Mint '86 Jordan, Curcio decided to take a shot at selling it on the highest-end market he knew: Sotheby's. To be accepted, he had to clear an elaborate verification process. This included ownership records and approximately two dozen photographs of the card taken to precise specifications, several of them under black lights.

On September 12 2021, Eric Hirsch, a Sotheby's specialist in its Modern Collectibles division, emailed Curcio the good news: The Jordan had been verified and approved for an upcoming auction. Though prices had fallen from their early COVID peak, Hirsch estimated a listing between $150,000 and $200,000. "We certainly believe the sale price could go higher depending on the market," he wrote. Hirsch did not return requests to comment.

The auction was still seven months away, and Curcio feared the card's value would keep falling. To hedge, he listed it on eBay for $175,000, and decided to "just see what happens," he told me. Among the dozens of inquiries was a rival seller, Curcio says, who was asking nearly double for his own '86 Jordan, a price Curcio called overinflated. Sotheby's own estimate, based on its review process, was the more credible number, he maintained.

MySlabs had a rule Curcio kept breaking: covering a card's certification number with a black box in the listing photos, so buyers couldn't check it against PSA's database before buying. "Nobody could check to see if the card was authentic," Greaney tells me. His team deleted the listing once. Curcio reposted it. They deleted it again. Then, close to midnight on May 12, it went back up, and sold within minutes for $170,000. "He was hoping basically no one was awake at the wheel," Greaney says, and "he could just sneak it through."

He didn't. Greaney happened to be reviewing the site that night and compared the photos in the listing to those in PSA's own database. "The front picture was spot on," he says, "However, the back photos were off." It was the same trick PSA investigators would later describe at trial: someone had cracked open the case, swapped in a different card, and resealed it.

Greaney messaged Curcio to warn him: "Hold on a second, let's pump the brakes here." Then he called the buyer directly. But the buyer wanted to go through with it anyway. "It looks fine to me," he told Greaney, "I checked it on the PSA website." Four days after the sale, PSA notified Curcio and Greaney that they had determined the "label is not authentic." At the time, the buyer's PayPal e-check was still clearing. The buyer, Curcio says, told him he'd "rather just figure this out, then go from there," and Curcio quickly agreed to send him a full refund. On May 19, 2022, the $168,059.33 refund was complete. Curcio thought giving back the money would make the trouble go away.

Weeks later, Curcio submitted eight of his most valuable cards to PSA for reholdering — a standard, paid service in which PSA transfers already-graded cards into updated cases without changing the grade. Curcio argues that this action proves he had nothing to hide. "I wanted there to be no dispute" about the authenticity of his cards, he tells me, "I wanted PSA to bless them." PSA would have a different interpretation. Once Curcio mailed the cards to PSA, they kept them and, he says, went silent. Curcio maintains he had no idea what was transpiring behind the scenes.

On November 30, 2022, Roxanne Ghezzi, PSA's product integrity manager, emailed FBI Special Agent Christopher Campbell with the subject line, "Counterfeit and Tampered PSA Cards." She flagged Curcio's criminal history and described him as a counterfeiting threat. Jackie Curiel, PSA's senior director of brand protection, would later testify that PSA had physically inspected the cards Curcio sent them for reholdering, noted problems with the holders, and was deliberately withholding them as evidence for a possible case. Less than a week later, Campbell emailed eBay's senior criminal investigator directly, looking to "partner on this investigation."

On December 2, Curcio emailed PSA customer service again, with a threat. "Regardless of the justification for PSA's actions in this matter, it would be unwise to believe that pursuing legal action is where this ends," he wrote. He went on to describe what he had in mind: "Imagine a couple short 3 minute videos" capable of driving PSA's rivals up. "It wouldn't surprise me if networks wanted to make a documentary about the entire thing."

Curcio took the exposé idea to filmmaker Jeremiah Murphy, who was already working on a documentary about Curcio's bank heist and life after prison. Murphy tells me that Curcio was a man on a mission. "He was like 'this is a corrupt industry that is taking advantage of people and stealing," Murphy recalls, "'and they're wielding this powerful influence, and we've got to expose this.'" But evidence of the corruption fell short. "He said 'I have proof, all this stuff,'" Murphy recalls, "but it was never sent to me."

Curcio says that after his eBay account was flagged and his name became radioactive on MySlabs, he needed a new way to move cards. He found one through Joe Bondarchuk, a fellow youth basketball coach who was also going through a divorce. "He was always asking for help," Curcio says. (Bonderchuck declined to comment on this story.) The arrangement was simple: Curcio provided the cards, the photos, the descriptions, and the prices. Bondarchuk listed them on his established eBay account and generated shipping labels. Curcio shipped. He says he didn't see it as hiding, but as the only rational response to what PSA had done to him. "I want the money from these cards," he tells me, but after what happened, "you never, ever, ever want to deal with that reputational bullshit again."

On September 17, 2023, Curcio brought a binder full of cards to a card and memorabilia expo at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

At one of the booths, he met Jeffrey Johnson, who ran a popular ticket resale and sports card operation called Captain Ticket. Johnson pulled out a 10x jeweler's loupe and examined Curcio's cards, including an '84 Jordan rookie card graded by PSA as 10, Gem Mint, and a 1960 Mickey Mantle graded PSA 6.5. The two traded on the spot — Johnson paid Curcio $6,800 for the pair.

After Curcio left the booth, another collector approached Johnson to warn him that Curcio was a counterfeiter. Johnson immediately reported the tip to the FBI, which soon registered him as an informant. Days later, Johnson texted Curcio, pressing him to send more cards on consignment. "No super rush," he texted, "but 'whales' don't grow on trees." Curcio mailed Johnson the cards, including a 1968 Topps Nolan Ryan PSA 9 and a 1981 Topps Joe Montana PSA 10, together worth well over $100,000 if authentic. Curcio and Johnson agreed that Johnson would sell them on consignment and return anything unsold.

Instead, Johnson sent Curcio's cards to PSA. When Curcio demanded them back, Johnson texted him: "The Nolan Ryan card is with PSA and law enforcement, Anthony. It's counterfeit. Why do you want a counterfeit card? That's a felony." Johnson then posted in a 30,000-member Facebook collector group, accusing Curcio of peddling fakes at shows across the country. Curcio sued him for defamation and conversion of property. This time, he was vindicated. On March 11, 2024, a Washington State court entered a default judgment of $123,267 in Curcio's favor. Curcio says he has not been paid by Johnson yet.

With his reputation tarnished among collectors, Curcio started attending shows under pseudonyms. At the Chicago Sports Spectacular in the Rosemont Convention Center in November 2023, a man who introduced himself as Brendan Wooley visited the booth of veteran dealer Remington Ewald. Wooley handed Ewald his business card, and then opened a binder to reveal what looked to Ewald like a gold mine: It was full of 1986 Fleer PSA 10s — Jordans, Montanas, Marinos — and a Jim Brown, well-centered, in a PSA 8, a card that comes up centered maybe 10% of the time. Wooley told Ewald he was going through a divorce and needed to liquidate fast.

Ewald arched his brow. The cards, if real, were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars each. The man was offering them at a roughly 90% discount. "Michael Jordan is more popular than Jesus in Chicago," Ewald told the jury at trial, "and most people don't go around Chicago selling Michael Jordan rookie cards for 10% of value." As Ewald was examining the cards, he took a photo of the slab. PSA holders are designed with a holographic-style symbol that should remain consistent under any light — but in Ewald's photo, the PSA logo shifted colors. "That never happens," he testified. It was the tell. The card inside might have been real. The case around it wasn't. Suddenly, Brendan Wooley said he had a flight to catch, and left.

Five months later, at an expo in Edison, New Jersey, Ewald spotted Wooley again, sitting down across from him with the same binder of cards. "He didn't notice I was the same person from Chicago," Ewald tells me. Once again, the prices were so low, Ewald testified, that "if they were real, you would be a moron not to buy all of them." The binder, if genuine, was worth between $3 and $5 million. Ewald then brought in multiple experts to examine the binder — a veteran dealer of four decades who thought the slabs looked real, and a former PSA employee who wasn't entirely sure. Most glaringly, Ewald said, Wooley was selling more copies of a single card — a Knicks card from 1986 — than existed. "There were more PSA 10s in that folder than there were on earth," Ewald said. He found an officer working a security shift at the show and told him he suspected a counterfeiter. The officer asked for the man's driver's license, which bore his real name: Anthony Curcio.

By 2024, his marriage with Emily was falling apart. That February, she filed for divorce. When I reached Emily by phone, she declined to be interviewed for this story. But when I spoke with her for GQ in 2009, she had told me that Curcio is "the life of the party, until he's the death of the party."

Three months later, on the early morning of May 23, 2024, Curcio was walking through his neighborhood in Redmond. It was quiet — what he called "raccoon hours." Then he heard cars coming up behind him. FBI agents stormed him, guns drawn; he counted around 20. "What the fuck is this about?" he said. "You're here for sports cards?" He told them about the judgment he'd just won against Captain Ticket. They said they knew all about it.

His daughters weren't yet awake. As he sat in a car in custody, he pleaded with the agents to wait until the girls left for school. In exchange, he would give them the combinations to every wall safe in the house. They agreed. Moments after Emily and the girls pulled out of the driveway in their white Toyota, the agents swarmed in.

They recovered what they described as tools for counterfeiting: loose PSA labels, some already erased or partially erased and ready to be reprinted; label printing templates; razor blades, knives, scissors, Q-tips, inks, and a small electric grinding pen. They also found videos the government would present as evidence of him manipulating cards, and a spreadsheet that the government said tracked which cards Curcio had given fake grades and how he had sold them.

Curcio had a different explanation. The videos and tools were research materials, he maintained — proof-of-concept demonstrations intended for the documentary. He said he had been recording himself showing how PSA's security features could be defeated, not to defraud buyers, but to expose PSA's vulnerabilities. "They took screenshots from the videos," he told me. "If they had played the entire clip, you would hear me speaking to the camera, explaining exactly what I was doing and why."

By the time Curcio arrived in New York for the start of his trial in January 2026, he was hoping that mounting controversies around PSA might weigh in his favor. The previous month, collectors had begun documenting cases they said showed PSA purchasing cards back from submitters, upgrading the grades internally, and reselling them at PSA 10 prices. Critics said the company had become both the referee and a player on the field — grading its own inventory by its own standards and profiting from the results. "Our graders evaluate items based on their merit, not their owner or destination," PSA's spokesperson said, "and we maintain strict operational firewalls between third-party partner offer programs and internal quality auditing workflows."

That same month, Rep. Pat Ryan of New York wrote a letter demanding that the Federal Trade Commission open an antitrust investigation into Collectors. Beyond the company's 80% share of the card-grading market, Ryan also flagged what he called a conflict of interest with Collectors' acquisition of CardLadder, an industry price-tracking service, and described barriers to entry that effectively shut out any competitors. He called the company "Collectivus Holdings" in reference to what he characterized as its strategy of regulatory evasion.

It made no difference in Curcio's case. Before the trial began, the judge had drawn a clear line: PSA's own conduct was not on trial.

Curcio says he wanted to testify, but his attorneys warned that the government would use his prior conviction and criminal history to destroy his credibility before the jury. The prosecution opened with its paper trail: eBay sales records, shipping logs, buyer complaints, and PSA database comparisons showing that certification numbers on cards Curcio sold corresponded to cards that looked nothing like the ones originally graded.

Then came the government's first central witness, Joe Bondarchuk. The youth basketball coach had pleaded guilty before trial and agreed to cooperate. He testified that he watched Curcio crack open authentic PSA holders, swap cards, modify labels, and reseal the cases more than 20 times.

PSA's Jackie Curiel walked jurors through the physical details she said gave Curcio's Jordan away: a rounded bottom-left corner on the plastic case where a legitimate PSA holder would have a sharp 90-degree angle, and a version of the PSA logo that, according to internal records, didn't exist at the time the card was supposedly graded. The defense's key witness, filmmaker Jeremiah Murphy, said that Curcio wanted to expose what he believed was PSA's corruption. "He said he had evidence," Murphy told me, "but it was never sent to me."

"He claimed other people in the card industry were out to get him, as if he were a victim," Assistant US Attorney Cecilia Vogel said in closing arguments. "None of this stopped him. Instead, he doubled down on the fraud."

On January 28, following four hours of deliberation, the jury returned with the verdict: guilty on all counts.

Afterward, PSA released a statement. "Over the past two years, the PSA Brand Protection team worked diligently with the FBI as it built its case to charge Anthony Curcio," it read. "PSA is focused on making sure its holders, labels, processes, and technology are continuously evolving to stay ahead of the bad actors in the hobby."

Six weeks later in March, Curcio filed a 61-page civil suit against Collectors in King County Superior Court, with allegations that he was not allowed to present at trial: that PSA deactivated his Jordan card without physically examining it; that PSA personnel cracked open his card holders and transmitted the components to the FBI without a warrant or subpoena; that PSA's communications to law enforcement were not good-faith reporting but selective, self-serving disclosure designed to advance the company's commercial interests. The case was removed to federal district court, where it is pending. In a statement, a PSA spokesperson wrote, "We won't comment on the specifics of the pending litigation, other than to state that Anthony Curcio's claims against PSA are without merit. We look forward to affirming our brand and reputation through the legal process."

But Curcio wasn't done yet. In May, he wrote to the judge alleging that his trial counsel, Simpson Thacher, had a hidden conflict of interest with Steve Cohen — the billionaire who helped bankroll Collectors Holdings — through their undisclosed work with Cohen's hedge fund, Point72. Simpson Thacher told the court that their work with Point72 is "wholly unrelated" to the trial. The court denied his motion for a new trial.

Curcio isn't the only one with grievances against PSA. In April, collectors launched a boycott, #NoPSAMay, alleging that PSA upgraded grades on cards it had bought back cheaply from a collector, and resold at a markup. They also claimed that bulk turnaround times had stretched to nearly eight months, and that fees had been hiked twice in a year. Boycotters pledged to route submissions to rival grading companies. None of it slowed the company down. PSA president Ryan Hoge said, "We're not seeing any signs of slowdown on the horizon." The company graded 19 million cards in 2025, up from 2 million in 2020. In May, Collectors announced a $200 million investment, and 1,000 new jobs.

As he awaits his sentencing in October, Curcio has been living in an RV. He says he's been drinking again for the first time in over a decade. He's terrified of spending decades in prison away from his kids. But he insists that he's right about PSA, that the truth is out there, and that he can still win in the end. "I want to fight," he told me. "It's not over."

David Kushner is a regular contributor to Business Insider. His new book, "Ocean of Bones: The Hunt for the Pirate Slave Ship Guerrero," will be published in November.

• Zara Larsson said she agrees with fans that her Bangkok show tickets are too expensive.
• She said concerts shouldn't be something fans have to save up for months.
• The Swedish singer said she wants to be more involved in pricing decisions for her future tours.

Zara Larsson knows what it costs her fans to attend her concerts.

The Swedish pop star said in a Tuesday TikTok that she had gotten feedback from fans saying that her tickets for the Bangkok leg of her "Midnight Sun Tour" were too expensive, and she said she agreed with them.

"And even though they're in line with the market for international shows in Bangkok, it doesn't make them less expensive," she said.

She added that she wished there were a cheaper entry tier to make the concert more accessible, and that concerts shouldn't be this "super exclusive thing" that people need to "save for months for."

Larsson said that she doesn't set her own ticket prices, but she wishes to change that in the future.

"And for the next shows, like, for my next tour, I don't think there's any reason why I shouldn't be a part of, like, ticket pricing, or, like, I just want to be more involved, essentially," she said.

Larsson's Bangkok show is scheduled to take place on November 1. Tickets for the show are priced between 2,800 and 9,000 Thai Baht, or $84 and $270. Aside from Thailand, she also has shows lined up in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines.

Larsson has seen a resurgence of popularity this year, with her old hits like the 2015 "Lush Life" and the 2017 "Ain't My Fault" rising on charts again. She's also gotten a boost via her new songs "Midnight Sun" and "Stateside + Zara Larsson," the latter of which was a collaboration with PinkPantheress.

Expensive concert tickets have become normalized, especially in the wake of concerts like Taylor Swift's "The Eras Tour." The price tag is even higher in secondary markets, where resellers make hefty profits by marking up the prices of highly sought-after tickets.

• Rich Sutton criticized tech's reliance on synthetic data, urging real-world experiential learning.
• Tech giants like Google and OpenAI are going out of their way for real-world data.
• Sutton's Oak Lab focuses on teaching AI agents from experiences, not made-up datasets.

Rich Sutton helped pioneer the technology behind today's AI boom. Now he thinks Big Tech's push to keep AI going is all wrong.

On an episode of Sequoia's podcast released Tuesday, the Canadian computer scientist and Turing Award winner said that the AI industry is headed in the wrong direction because of its reliance on synthetic training data.

"That's just a big mistake," he said when asked about using synthetic data as a way to keep scaling large language models. "Maybe it's the next big lesson."

Synthetic data is information artificially produced by algorithms or AI models rather than collected from original, real-world sources. It has become increasingly attractive as AI companies scour the internet and hunt for new sources of training data. Examples include computer-generated images of cars for self-driving training or fake bank records for AI fraud detection.

On some level, Big Tech agrees with Sutton.

Tech giants are going to increasingly extraordinary lengths to find more of the real thing. OpenAI has publicly sought large-scale, proprietary datasets that aren't readily available online to help train its AI models. Earlier this week, Google agreed to pay $10 million for internal data and software belonging to bankrupt Spirit Airlines, highlighting the growing value of proprietary, real-world information for AI training.

On Tuesday's podcast, Sutton said manufactured data isn't an adequate substitute for real data.

Human behavior is one such example, he said.

"There's no way we can have synthetic data for other people's minds," he said.

His preferred alternative is real experiential data: information an AI agent obtains by interacting with its actual environment, observing what happens, and continuously learning from the consequences.

"You can't get synthetic data on how the drone is going to interact with its environment in the physical world," Sutton said, adding that there are variables such as friction and wear in a robot's motors. "The world is infinitely complex, and any simulation of it is like, microscopic."

That has now become a startup thesis. Last month, Sutton and his former student Khurram Javed launched Oak Lab. The startup is developing agents designed to learn continuously from their own experience rather than relying primarily on large, pre-curated datasets. Oak Lab has not disclosed a funding round or investors.

• Keke Palmer said she makes time to cry alone as a form of emotional release.
• "It's a release of this sadness that you need brought out that you buried," she said.
• Palmer also takes care of herself by practicing Pilates, getting enough sleep, and learning when to cut people off.

Between acting, hosting, podcasting, and raising her son, Keke Palmer, 32, says she has developed her own ways to recharge.

"I cry actually alone quite a lot," Palmer said on Tuesday's episode of the "Good Hang with Amy Poehler" podcast.

Palmer said she's an easy crier and sometimes simply decides, "time to cry."

"But I love to cry alone, and I save space and hold space for it," she added.

Palmer said crying gives her an outlet for emotions she may have been carrying for years.

"It's a release of this sadness that you need brought out that you buried. Maybe it was from yesterday, maybe it was from 10 years ago, but you caught it in the ether of your mind," she said.

Crying can provide emotional relief in the right circumstances, health psychologist Grace Tworek said, per the Cleveland Clinic. She said crying can help the body shift out of its fight-or-flight response, which may leave people feeling calmer and able to think more clearly.

Beyond crying, Palmer also relies on other routines to help her unwind and manage stress.

When it comes to sleep, the actor said she feels "really happy" if she gets to go to bed at 10.30 p.m. She also squeezes in naps during the 30- or 45-minute rides between jobs.

Palmer enjoys Pilates and said it helps her find "balance" and feel less "disembodied."

For things that weigh on her emotionally, Palmer has another practice: She uses a cord-cutting visualization to detach from draining connections.

"I just started visualizing where this cord is," she said. "Every day I was axing it, and it would try to come back. It would try to rejuvenate itself. And I kept axing it, axing it, axing it, and now it's gone."

This isn't the first time Palmer has spoken about the practices she uses to take care of herself.

In a January interview with Marie Claire, Palmer said she tries to keep five hours in the morning for herself, "where I'm waking up early and I'm doing whatever I want to do."

"Those rituals really help me to feel secure in myself because those are things that I'm doing with myself," she said.

In February, Palmer told Women's Health that the most "underrated wellness tip" she lives by is "cutting people off."

"Nobody cares. Not like my baby does. He actually needs me. And it put things into perspective," she said. "It was like a liberation that happened, where it's like you can care, and you can still do less, and everything's going to be all right."

• Hims & Hers CEO Andrew Dudum touted the use of open-weight models to achieve cost savings in AI.
• He said companies that generate large amounts of internal data can save up to 80% using open-weight models.
• This is one of the hottest topics in the tech sphere as enterprises strategize to improve returns.

One executive is touting open-weight models, especially if your company produces lots of data.

In an interview with CNBC Squawkbox, released on Tuesday, Hims & Hers CEO Andrew Dudum said companies that already have large datasets should shift away from using big AI models and toward using open-weight models.

He cited his company, a telehealth provider that delivers prescription drugs and personal care products through a subscription-based service. He said the company has a large closed-loop dataset of patients it has worked with, which he called a "real asset" because it can be used to train AI models.

"I think for companies that have the resources and scale, if they have an independent dataset, that is a path that they will go, no question," he said to CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin. "The cost can be upward of 70, 80% less."

Open-weight models let users access and customize a model's trained parameters, and can be cheaper to run at scale. More importantly, Dudum said models trained on a company's actual use cases would perform better.

"And so what we launched, our first version, immediately outsurpassed what we could get in market," he said. "But the trajectory of what's possible in just six months is transformative because it's continuously learning on every new patient that comes into Hims & Hers."

Dudum's comments come as saving AI costs is one of the hottest topics in the tech and business spheres. Companies are phasing out tokenmaxxing, in which employees were urged to burn as many AI tokens as possible, and are now focusing on getting the most value from their spending.

Many are model routing, referring to matching tasks to AI models based on their complexity. Some executives, like Coinbase's Brian Armstrong, have implemented the use of Chinese models like Kimi K2.7 and GLM 5.2 as default models within their companies.

Kimi K3, an open-weight model developed by the Chinese AI lab Moonshot AI, made waves in Silicon Valley last month for promising to rival the capabilities of models from OpenAI and Anthropic at lower costs.

Meanwhile, data has become one of the most sought-after resources in the AI space, as it is crucial to model training. Earlier this month, Google paid $10 million for internal data from the shuttered carrier Spirit Airlines, which included internal documents, workflows, emails, and millions of Teams messages.

AI training firm Handshake AI has promised to pay $6 per page of "high-quality" work documents, capped at $30,000, in a bid to gain access to more data.

• Taiwan is practicing guarding its crucial Tamsui River with CM-11 Brave Tigers.
• These tanks were first assembled over 30 years ago, from Cold War-era parts supplied by the US.
• Unlikely to stand toe-to-toe against Chinese tanks, they're being used in fixed positions in choke points.

TAIPEI — About a four-minute walk from the metro station, Taiwanese troops slipped into the Tamsui River on an American-made M3 amphibious bridging vehicle, dropping pontoons and clusters of barrels rigged to explode.

On the shore, six retirees in gym slacks and tennis shoes were winding down their early morning Taichi, unaware that a group of main battle tanks — built with designs as old as they are — watched over the scene.

Taiwan deployed at least three CM-11 Brave Tiger tanks during the river drill that Friday morning, as part of the island's 10-day annual Han Kuang exercise.

The Tamsui, about three-quarters of a mile wide, is vital to Taipei's defense because it opens a route from the Taiwan Strait into the heart of the capital, where the island's presidential office, defense ministry, and military command center are located.

The Brave Tigers, stationed less than three miles from the mouth of the Tamsui, had a clear view of the river from their fixed positions on the eastern shore.

First entering service in Taiwan in 1990, they're an amalgamation of parts from Cold War-era tanks supplied by the US decades ago. Each one uses the chassis of an M60A3, first introduced in the 1970s, and a turret derived from the M48A3 Patton, an even older tank dating back to the 1960s.

The Brave Tiger's main armament is a 105-mm M68A1 tank gun, while its fire-control package comes from the M1 Abrams. Both designs are over 40 years old.

Older tanks for a modern fight

Taiwanese forces had these aging armored vehicles sitting in fortified tank bunkers, covered in camouflage netting against a backdrop of trees. The Brave Tiger's main gun, with a direct-fire range of about 1.25 miles, can easily cover the span of the Tamsui, allowing it to ambush or ward off incoming Chinese landing craft or amphibious vessels.

Ben Lewis, an American analyst and founder of the website PLATracker, which monitors Chinese forces' movements in the Indo-Pacific, spotted the tanks on the shore and said they appeared to be providing fire support for the troops and divers laying mines.

"For tanks that are as old as the CM-11, using them for support to engineering units and in static positions is logical," Lewis told Business Insider. "The armor on these tanks is not suitable for protection against modern anti-tank weaponry or tank-to-tank combat."

Lewis said Taiwan has been modernizing its forces, but still keeps older platforms such as towed guns, support vehicles, and tanks in its arsenal.

Taiwan fields about 450 Brave Tigers, which pales in comparison to China's roughly 6,000 tanks, nearly half of which are light enough to be sent over the strait in a landing invasion. Taipei also recently received 108 M1A2T Abrams tanks, serving as a modern spearhead for its tank forces.

But its armored vehicles, outnumbered and likely to contend with Chinese air support, would better serve the island by holding chokepoints or ambushing Beijing's forces, a veteran local analyst told Business Insider.

Business Insider has reached out to Taiwan's defense ministry for comment on its use of the Brave Tigers at the Tamsui drill.

Using aging tanks as static artillery has been proven as a somewhat viable concept. In Ukraine, where drones and a mine-laden frontline have made tank-on-tank combat exceedingly rare, Kyiv's forces put older tanks, such as the T-64, in concealed positions to provide indirect fire from beyond line of sight.

In May, one unit said it used an Italian B1 Centauro tank destroyer to strike a Russian-held house about 11 kilometers away.

In an increasingly complicated digital world, virtual private networks (VPNs) have never been so important. But often, they don't come cheap. Luckily, that's where the vast market of free VPNs can help.

The best VPN services can help boost your online privacy by encrypting your traffic and masking your IP address from the sites or apps you use from your ISP (internet service provider), both at home/mobile, or on public WiFi. It can make some forms of tracking and interception more difficult for bad actors looking to exploit you or your data.

While your real-world location is masked on a VPN, it's important to remember that it doesn't prevent websites or apps from identifying you through logins, cookies, or browser fingerprinting. Your ISP can usually tell that you are using a VPN, too.

But when you're talking about your security, is it best to pay? Not necessarily. Free VPNs have come a long way, and some offer surprisingly strong packages.

Obviously, they come with limits. They often limit the number of server countries, put some features behind a paywall, and offer lower speeds. But there is a clear benefit to using a reputable free provider: you can still get the core privacy and security benefits of a VPN without paying a penny.

In this article, we'll talk you through how a free VPN works, the risks and the benefits, as well as which ones are worth your time.

What is a free VPN?

A VPN reroutes your traffic through one of its servers, so the websites and services you visit usually see the VPN server's IP address instead of your own. For example, you could be in Washington while a site sees you as connecting from Jamaica.

This has a few benefits, including added privacy on untrusted networks and, in some cases, access to services or content that depend on your apparent location, such as streaming movies, live TV, and sports while abroad.

While there are plenty of free VPNs, they differ notably from the more feature-rich paid versions. These differences are usually:

• Speeds: Free VPNs often cap speeds, so while you're using the VPN, your ping, download, and upload speeds can drop.
• Limited options: Paid VPNs can offer digital access to thousands of cities across hundreds of countries. Free VPNs, on the other hand, can sometimes offer as few as 10 pre-selected options, and you can't manually choose which one to join.
• Fewer features: Many advanced features are locked, leaving you mostly with the ability to quickly connect to a random country and hide your IP address.

VPNs can be free for various reasons, but they still need to make money. They could be doing this by serving you ads, trying to upsell you to a paid plan, or, most concerning, selling your data or filling your device with malware.

The hidden risks of free VPNs

Unsurprisingly, free VPN companies aren't exactly in the business of highlighting the risks of free VPNs. While the most reliable and verified ones can be safe, there are some important notes to keep in mind.

The most notable risk is data logging. Many good VPN services have no-log policies. In other words, they don't track or save any of your data or history while using a VPN.

This can't be said of every service, especially of some free VPNs, which make money by selling your data. When researching, look for a provider with a no-logs policy.

Some free VPNs may also use outdated protocols, lack safeguards such as a kill switch, or provide little transparency about how they handle your data. That's different from the free tier of a reputable paid VPN, which may use the same encryption and protocols as its premium plans but instead restricts features, speeds, or server access. Check what protocols a VPN supports, read its privacy policy, and look for independent audits of its security or no-logs claims.

Many free VPNs can throttle your connection speeds due to overburdened servers, making browsing feel sluggish and more intensive tasks, such as large downloads, streaming, or video calls, more difficult. In some cases, you'll only get a limited amount of data before your speeds are heavily capped or cut off.

In some cases, it's not only data selling that is used to make money. Some free VPNs include ads to offset costs. Ads aren't necessarily a security problem on their own, but you should be particularly cautious of unfamiliar free VPN apps with unclear business models. Poorly designed or malicious VPN apps can introduce security risks (like malware) of their own, while an unreliable VPN connection may expose your real IP address or other traffic you expected the VPN to protect.

Finally, while legitimate providers are often well-reviewed and well-backed, there are plenty of options that don't disclose much important information, leaving you in the dark about what you might be giving up by using their service.

The best way to avoid these risks? Stick with big-name providers that are well-reviewed by various established sites by experienced reviewers. You simply cannot rely on user reviews on app stores to vouch for security measures and proper testing. Google and Apple have both let plenty of shifty apps onto their service over the years.

Once you've found a free VPN you've verified, look into its encryption and try to understand why they are offering a free VPN.

Free vs paid VPNs

VPN companies will always try to get you to upgrade to a paid plan, but what is the difference?

Free VPNs often come with trade-offs such as fewer features, fewer server locations, less control over server choice, ads, and lower performance. With reputable providers, the biggest differences are often features and capacity rather than the core encryption itself.

At its core, a free VPN is often intended as a tester or trial. It offers a limited version of the service so you can see what it is like. The limitations usually include speed caps, limits on the number of countries you can use, and fewer features.

If you do plan to upgrade to a paid VPN, the change will often be very noticeable. Free VPNs often cap your speeds, meaning downloads, uploads, and general internet use will be much slower.

You'll also find it challenging if you're trying to use a VPN for a specific country. For example, if you're looking to stream German Netflix while out of the country, a free VPN might not have servers in that country. Or you might be trying to enjoy a local streaming service at home in the US, like Fubo, but you're forced to a French server, which means you won't be able to stream it.

Finally, many free VPNs are often less secure, with weaker encryption or protocols. You also get fewer of the more impressive security features, like split-tunneling and kill switches.

When is a free VPN actually enough?

Whether you need to pay for a VPN largely depends on how often you plan to use it and what you want it for. If you only occasionally need to mask your IP address or want some added privacy while browsing on an unfamiliar network, a reputable free VPN may be all you need. You can still get the core benefits of a VPN without committing to another monthly subscription.

The limitations become more noticeable if you use a VPN regularly. Free plans typically give you fewer server locations and less control over which server you connect to, and some impose restrictions on speed or data usage. That can make them a poor fit if you regularly stream video, download large files, travel frequently, or need to connect through a server in a particular country.

A paid VPN makes more sense if you want to leave it running every day or need more flexibility. Paying generally gets you a larger selection of servers, better performance, and access to additional features. However, paying for a VPN doesn't automatically make it safer: whichever option you choose, it's still important to use a reputable provider with clear privacy policies and strong security standards.

Are any free VPNs safe?

Free VPNs are not all created equal. While some are intended to offer an introduction to their services, showing off what a VPN can do for free, others are mostly looking to acquire your data or sell you a service.

When choosing a free VPN, it is best to select a service from a trustworthy provider. Effectively, this comes down to two questions. Why is it free? And how safe is this particular tool?

In some cases, the lack of a price tag comes down to your data being sold. These are common free VPN tactics: charging you nothing while selling your data for a reward.

The best way to get around this is to look for VPNs with a no-log policy or a clear statement that no data is retained - and then look for a third-party audit that backs this up. Also, aim for one with strong encryption.

A good free VPN is simply trying to get you to upgrade to their full service, showing you what is possible, and hoping you'll spend some cash for more of it.

A safe, free VPN option

There are plenty of good free VPNs out there. One that we've liked in testing is Proton VPN. It follows a freemium model, with a free tier designed to introduce users to the service and a paid plan that unlocks more locations, features, and performance.

In our full Proton VPN review, we were impressed by how much the free version offers, as well as its high level of security and encryption. And, unlike many free VPNs, Proton's free plan has a kill switch (to sever your online connection if your VPN suddenly disconnects), no data limit, no ads, and no logs of user activity - and it has audits to prove the latter.

However, it still has limitations, including fewer server locations and less control than the paid version. You're assigned the closest available free server, which might not always be in the country you want. Speeds from these servers are slower than those on the paid tiers, but still plenty fast enough if you're already starting with a fast connection.

While by no means the only free VPN worth your time, it is a good example of what to look for.

Conclusion

Free VPNs can be useful for basic privacy, especially if you're using one from a reputable provider. But they don't guarantee anonymity or make you automatically safe in all your online activities. Many free apps come with significant trade-offs, such as speed limits, data caps, limited server selection, and fewer features.

There are plenty of free VPNs out there, and a reputable option can still provide the core privacy benefits of a VPN. Free plans generally come with trade-offs, however, whether that's fewer server locations, less control over your connection, lower performance, or fewer advanced features.

We highly recommend thoroughly researching any free VPN you plan to download, including its security, how it makes money, and its stance on data sharing.

If you try a free VPN out and find that you are getting a lot of use out of it, an eventual upgrade to a paid plan could also be worth your time, unlocking a host of extra security features, as well as more choice when it comes to different regional connection options.

If you're leaning more toward a paid VPN to have the widest feature set and avoid the potentially malicious free apps out there, take a look at our roundup of the latest best VPN deals. We've only highlighted those we've personally tested and reviewed, and confirmed that they have passed third-party audits of their no-logs claims.

If you haven't heard of True Classic yet, it's a brand changing the basic apparel game. With thoughtfully designed styles to layer or wear alone, True Classic is becoming a favorite among shoppers, and our team, for top-tier comfort and reasonable pricing. Before placing your order, check for a True Classic promo code to help save on your purchase.

One of True Classic's biggest strengths is its focus on fit and comfort. The brand designs its clothing to feel soft, withstand regular wear, and flatter a wide range of body types. Our style team has tested several of its top-selling pieces, and favorites like the Classic Polo 3-Pack and Bomber Jacket have stood out for their quality construction, comfortable fabrics, and everyday versatility.

Thanks to its budget-friendly bundles, True Classic is already one of the most affordable ways to get premium apparel. That said, you can save money on your cart by tagging a coupon code onto your order before checking out. If any are active, we'll gather all the best True Classic promo codes below.

Today's best True Classic discount codes

Previous True Classic discount codes

Are there any other True Classic sales running at the moment?

You can find a full list of current markdowns on the "Clearance" page of True Classic's website at any time. As of the time of writing, the brand is running the following promotions.

• Follow our Instagram page and WhatsApp channel on mobile to be the first to know about new deals, buying guides, and reviews

How to use True Classic discount codes

It's easy to apply True Classic discount codes to your order. You start by adding coupon-eligible items to your cart, then continue to checkout. On the checkout page, you can add a coupon by pasting the promo code into the "Discount code or gift card" text box and clicking "Apply." The savings will be applied, and the new price will be shown. From there, continue the checkout process by entering your shipping and billing information before placing your order.

Can you stack True Classic discount codes?

True Classic doesn't allow coupons to be stacked together. Only one discount code may be applied per order.

True Classic discount code frequently asked questions

Does True Classic offer discounts for students, teachers, and the military?

True Classic offers a 20% discount for students, teachers, and military members. True Classic also has special offers for first responders and medical professionals. Eligible customers must verify their status to access the discount.

If you're a student or teacher, check out our roundups of the best student discounts and best teacher discounts for more ways to save from your favorite brands.

Does True Classic offer free shipping?

True Classic offers free shipping on orders of $109 or more after discounts are applied.

What is True Classic's return policy?

True Classic allows free returns in-store or via mail within 100 days of the original purchase. Items must be unworn and unwashed to be returned. You can start your return or exchange on True Classic's website.

Can I apply a True Classic discount code after placing an order?

If you forgot to add a promo code before placing your order, you can contact True Classic's customer service team with the coupon and order details, and they will be able to apply the code for you.

Can True Classic discount codes stack with other sales?

Most True Classic discount codes cannot be applied to sale or clearance items. There may be exceptions, though, so be sure to check the specific terms and conditions for the code you want to use.

Can I reuse a True Classic discount code?

Most True Classic discount codes are designed for one use only. However, there may be exceptions, so be sure to check the terms and conditions for the specific code you want to use.

Check out more men's style deals in our roundups of the best Madewell coupons and Abercrombie promo codes.

• A new ad starring Jason Kelce capitalizes on the growing criticism of AI data centers.
• The ad, for Garage Beer and Liquid Death, nods to data center water consumption.
• The ad highlights Americans' concerns about AI and the PR battle AI companies face.

Bashing AI data centers is all the rage, and brands are cashing in.

"AI data centers waste millions of gallons of water," former NFL player Jason Kelce says as he appears to pee into a jar in a new ad for his beer brand, Garage Beer, and the canned water brand Liquid Death.

"We want your pee to cool these data centers," Kelce says, before breaking into a song with lyrics like "please give us your pee" and "let's pee on computers together."

The ad says to have a Garage Beer or a Liquid Death Sparkling Energy drink, then "send your pee to the AI data center of your choice," as a person in the ad drops a jar of pee at a post office.

Small print at the bottom of the ad cautions that "The suits want us to tell you to please don't actually send your pee."

The ad highlights the uphill PR battle AI companies and data center developers face as more Americans report concerns about AI's impacts.

"There are many things that Americans can't agree on, but opposition to AI data centers is the one thing almost everyone can agree upon across the political and cultural spectrum," Andy Pearson, Liquid Death's vice president of creative, said in a statement to Business Insider.

Andy Sauer, CEO and co-owner of Garage Beer, said in a statement provided to Business Insider that both Garage Beer and Liquid Death are "humor-forward brands" that are "also serious about the important things."

"Water is the world's most valuable resource, and data centers are a hot topic, so we got together to have some fun, while raising a little awareness," he said.

Kelce and his brother, Travis Kelce, both co-owners of Garage Beer, have not been vocal critics of AI, but their brand isn't the first to jump on the AI-criticism bandwagon in its marketing.

After the marketing campaign for Friend, the wearable AI companion, faced backlash last year, Heineken put up a billboard in New York City featuring a similar device that said: "The best way to make a friend is over a beer." Legacy camera brand Polaroid's summer marketing has included images of people swimming outside alongside messages like: "Go jump in some water before the data centers drink it all up."

AI companies have been responding with ads of their own. A Meta ad last month promoted a cheerful vision of the AI future and said the company disagreed with negative predictions about the tech's impact. An Anthropic ad also addressed AI anxiety head-on, featuring alarming images such as a house on fire and a voiceover of people questioning AI's impacts. "There's hope in hard questions," the ad said.

AI data centers, in particular, have drawn growing opposition across the country from residents holding protests and filing lawsuits to block proposed developments over concerns about water and energy use, higher utility bills, and noise. A Business Insider analysis last year found the boom in data centers, some of which use water for cooling, was deepening the water crisis.

According to the Data Center Coalition, an industry trade group, data center companies use various cooling methods, including some closed-loop or waterless systems, and prioritize efficient water practices that account for local water availability. The group cites a 2024 report compiled by a government commission in Virginia that found that most data centers use about as much water as, or less than, a large office building, but that some require much more.

As for whether mailing your pee to data centers for use as coolant is a good idea, the US Postal Service did not respond to a request for comment.