Almost anywhere in the world, the six-seven hand gesture and the dab are simply nonsensical relics of internet culture. But in public squares and university courtyards across Latin America, these moves are the weapons of choice among teenagers and college students in a new type of contest: aura farming battles.

Lots of people—dare we say most people—hate Flock. And lately, they’ve been going to increasingly creative lengths to make it known. 

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Crypto is having an extended three-day rally, and it looks a lot like what happened back in 2023, according to at least one analyst.

Meta’s smart glasses just keep weirding people out. Renamed “pervert glasses” by some critics, the Ray-Ban smart glasses, made in partnership with EssilorLuxottica, have given rise to “creepy” behavior as users photograph and record people without their permission, then share those images and videos on social media and across the broader internet. The backlash points to a rapidly growing set of privacy, security, and ethical concerns.

End of life for tech devices is kind of a fuzzy line. While people on tight budgets, or those who don’t need the latest and greatest features, often use their smartphones, tablets, and watches until they no longer run, the companies behind those devices eventually stop supporting them, which can open the door for hackers.

Prediction markets let users bet on everything from sporting events to natural disasters and the outcomes of war. But they also set odds on layoffs and staff reductions at some of the largest companies, raising a question: If the market isn’t bullish on your company’s head count numbers for next quarter, should you start looking for a new job?

If hitting your work goals feels more like relief than joy, you might be stuck in the trophy trap. That means chasing achievement to avoid shame instead of pursuing what actually fulfills you. 

New Zealand’s prime minister, Christopher Luxon, has unveiled a proposed law banning children younger than 16 from using social media platforms, citing what he said Monday was “harm being done to a generation” of young people.

Iran’s currency hit a record low on Monday as Washington prepared to announce new sanctions it said would put more pressure on an economy already battered by previous sanctions and a U.S. naval blockade.

Giles Sims, 34, was sick of getting passed over for jobs because he didn’t have a college degree.

Shein Global Holdings, the fast fashion giant, is planning to make its long-awaited stock market debut in Hong Kong next month.

On August 17, Unitree Robotics posted a 30-second video to the Chinese social network Weibo. It showed a headless humanoid named Superman jumping six and a half feet off the ground and sprinting at more than 28 miles per hour—higher and faster than any human in history (Usain Bolt, who holds the record for fastest human, clocked a top speed of 27.78 mph). Two days later, the Hangzhou-based company went public on Shanghai’s stock market. Its stock briefly touched $163.66, a 629% premium over its offer price, valuing the company near $66 billion intraday before it closed at $50.8 billion for the day, an extraordinary valuation for a pure robotics company. It has only one precedent, another Chinese company called UBTech, which was valued at $4.9 billion on its IPO in December 2023.

Nike has been quietly shuttering Nike Well Collective stores, its small-format neighborhood shop concept.

August is quickly coming to a close, but it appears to be ending the way it began: with mass layoffs at some of the biggest tech companies on the planet.

The beginning of the 20th century, much like the beginning of the 21st, was an era of increasing optimism. The financial panics of 1873 and 1893 were in the past, new technologies like electricity and internal combustion were just gaining traction and Morganization was creating trusts insulated from the ravages of competition. 

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. 

Ben Blumenrose has noticed that the floor for AI-generated website design is rising fast. As co-founder and managing partner at the venture capital firm Designer Fund, and a practicing designer for two decades, Blumenrose has been tracking the rapid improvement of AI-generated visuals. He can still spot the difference between a site designed by a professional human and one produced by a model (some tells: the proliferation of “pills,” floating dashboards, and gradients, gradients, gradients), but the AI results are “five times better than what the same kind of tools did a year ago.” He anticipates the trend will continue. “Probably in six months to a year it’s going to be very hard even for me to tell,” Blumenrose says.

One of Designer Fund’s investments is Framer, a no-code website design platform. [Image: Designer Fund]

The multi-trillion-dollar logistics industry runs on trucks and trains, ships and planes. It also runs on calls, texts, and email. 

The fastest way to destroy a premium brand on Amazon isn’t a bad product page. It’s a 20%-off badge that never comes off.