• Actors Chuck Norris, Patrick Muldoon, Robert Duvall, and James Van Der Beek died in 2026.
• So did "Dilbert" creator Scott Adams, Grateful Dead's Bob Weir, and painter David Hockney.
• Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, mogul Ted Turner, and NASCAR star Kyle Busch also died.

Below, we look back at those we lost in 2026, listed in alphabetical order.

Scott Adams, 68

Adams based the character in his beloved "Dilbert" comic strip on his coworkers at the telephone company he worked at in the 1980s. By the end of the decade, the character and his satirical office humor began appearing in comic strips.

At its peak, "Dilbert" was syndicated in over 2,000 newspapers. A cartoon series debuted in 1999 and ran for two seasons.

Adams gained notoriety when he began writing blog posts praising Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential run. In 2023, "Dilbert" was pulled from newspapers across the US following racist comments made by Adams.

Adams died on January 13 following a bout with metastatic prostate cancer.

Brad Arnold, 47

As the lead singer of 3 Doors Down, Arnold launched the group into fame with the 2000 rock anthem "Kryptonite," which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year.

The success led to other hits like "Loser," "Here Without You," and "When I'm Gone." Arnold's vocal range and lyrics focused on love and love lost, which fueled the group to stardom.

Arnold died on February 7 after a battle with cancer.

Afrika Bambaataa, 68

Regarded as a pioneer in hip-hop during the 1970s and 1980s, Lance Taylor, known professionally as Afrika Bambaataa, would go on to influence the likes of Queen Latifah and A Tribe Called Quest throughout his career.

First gaining attention as a DJ in the Bronx, Bambaataa signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1981 and released landmark songs like "Jazzy Sensation" and "Planet Rock."

Bambaataa founded the hip-hop awareness group, Universal Zulu Nation, in the 1970s to steer kids away from gang life. Bambaataa stepped down as the head of the organization in 2016 after accusations of sexual abuse.

Bambaataa denied all claims.

He died on April 9 due to prostate cancer.

Rob Bass, 59

One of the pillars that brought hip-hop to the mainstream, Rob Bass crafted the iconic track "It Takes Two" alongside DJ E-Z Rock.

The track, released in 1988, reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Songs chart and later went certified platinum. In 1989, Spin magazine voted it the greatest single of all time.

Bass died on May 22 following a battle with cancer.

Nicholas Brendon, 54

Brendon played the beloved character Xander Harris in all seven seasons of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

Brendon also starred in other TV shows, including "Criminal Minds" and "Kitchen Confidential."

Brendon died in his sleep on March 20. According to his family's statement, the cause was natural. In 2023, Brendon suffered a heart attack and was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. He also had cauda equina syndrome, which led to several spinal surgeries.

"While it's no secret that Nicholas had struggles in the past, he was on medications and treatment to manage his diagnosis, and he was optimistic about the future at the time of his passing," the statement to The Hollywood Reporter read. "Our family asks for privacy during this time as we grieve his loss and celebrate the life of a man who lived with intensity, imagination, and heart."

Peabo Bryson, 75

Two-time Grammy winner Peabo Bryson is responsible for some classic love ballads.

Bryson began putting out music in the late 1970s, but one of his first major hits was opposite Roberta Flack on the 1983 duet, "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love." He continued hitmaking a year later with the smash "If Ever You're in My Arms Again," and in 1991, he topped the R&B charts with "Can You Stop the Rain."

Bryson found global stardom with his renditions of two Disney classics. In 1991, he released the pop version of "Beauty and the Beast," alongside Céline Dion, and a year later, he duetted with Regina Belle on "A Whole New World" from the 1992 release of "Aladdin."

Bryson died on June 2. No cause was given.

Kyle Busch, 41

A star on the NASCAR circuit, Busch was a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion considered one of the greatest racers of all time.

On May 21, Busch was hospitalized and it was announced he'd miss two upcoming races. Hours later, he was pronounced dead. No cause of death was given.

Robert Carradine, 71

As a member of Hollywood's famed Carradine family, Robert was destined for a career on screen.

He got one of his first screen credits starring in his brother David Carradine's popular 1970s TV series "Kung Fu" and went on to land roles in everything from Samuel Fuller's World War II classic "The Big Red One" to the "Lizzie McGuire" series that made Hilary Duff a star.

But for a generation, Robert Carradine will always be known as the king of the nerds, embodying the iconic geek Lewis Skolnick in the 1980s franchise "Revenge of the Nerds."

Carradine's family shared statements with Deadline that emphasized being open about his struggles with mental illness.

"We are bereft at the loss of this beautiful soul and want to acknowledge Bobby's valiant struggle against his nearly two-decade battle with Bipolar Disorder," Carradine's family said. "We hope his journey can shine a light and encourage addressing the stigma that attaches to mental illness."

Carradine died by suicide on February 23.

If you or someone you know is experiencing depression or has had thoughts of harming themself or taking their own life, get help. In the US, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Help is also available through the Crisis Text Line — just text "HOME" to 741741. The International Association for Suicide Prevention offers resources for those outside the US.

Bud Cort, 77

Cort's baby-faced looks, combined with his wit and sophisticated persona, led to him becoming the epitome of 1970s counterculture when director Hal Ashby cast him as the lead in the 1971 movie "Harold and Maude."

The dark comedy stars Cort as Harold, a twenty-something who is obsessed with suicide until he meets 79-year-old eccentric Maude (Ruth Gordon). The movie would go on to become a cult classic thanks to Cort and Gordon's unique on-screen chemistry.

Before that, Cort scored bit parts in Robert Altman's "M*A*S*H*" (1970) and "Brewster McCloud" (1970).

After "Harold and Maude," Cort worked steadily for the rest of his life, occasionally showing up in hit movies like Michael Mann's "Heat" (1995) and Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" (2004).

Cort died on Feb. 11 following a long illness.

Eric Dane, 53

Long before becoming one of TV's most recognizable heartthrobs, Eric Dane was building his career with guest roles on series like "Saved by the Bell" and "Married… with Children."

He later gained wider attention with appearances on "Charmed" before landing his breakout role as Dr. Mark "McSteamy" Sloan on "Grey's Anatomy." He most recently starred in HBO's "Euphoria," where he played Cal Jacobs, the father of Jacob Elordi's character, Nate Jacobs.

Dane has two children with his wife, Rebecca Gayheart. In April 2025, the actor said that he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

Dane died on February 19 at age 53 after battling the disease, his publicist confirmed in a statement to Business Insider.

"He spent his final days surrounded by dear friends, his devoted wife, and his two beautiful daughters, Billie and Georgia, who were the center of his world," his publicist said.

Robert Duvall, 95

Robert Duvall built a career of timeless cinema classics: "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II," "Apocalypse Now," "THX 1138," "The Natural," "Days of Thunder," "The Apostle," and the list goes on.

Duvall will be best remembered for starring in three of director Francis Ford Coppola's iconic films: playing Tom Hagen in the first two "Godfather" movies and playing Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore in "Apocalypse Now," in which he delivers one of the most memorable lines in movie history: "I love the smell of napalm in the morning."

Duvall was lauded for his acting talent, from not saying a word while playing Boo Radley in his first big screen role in the 1962 classic "To Kill a Mockingbird" to his portrayal of a country singer dealing with alcoholism in 1983's "Tender Mercies," which earned him an Oscar.

He died on his ranch in Virginia on February 15, no cause was given.

Mark Fuhrman, 74

Fuhrman cemented his place in popular culture as one of the lead LAPD detectives on the 1995 murder case of O.J. Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Fuhrman found the famed bloody glove on the Simpson estate, and during the trial, he gained infamy when Simpson's defense team used his past racist language to discredit him as a witness.

Fuhrman retired from the LAPD after the Simpson trial and moved to Idaho, where he wrote true crime books.

Fuhrman died on May 12 of throat cancer.

Valentino Garavani, 93

For over six decades, one name has been synonymous with women's high fashion: Valentino.

The Italian designer launched his fashion business in Rome in 1960 and never looked back. Soon, every star wanted to be seen in his creations. They've been worn by icons like Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Collins, Jackie Kennedy, Princess Diana, Sharon Stone, and more.

Though Garavani retired from designing in 2008, his label is still a red carpet staple, as is his famous shade of bright red dubbed "Valentino Red."

Garavani died on January 19. No cause was given.

Donald Gibb, 71

No one defined a bully for a generation more than Gibb's hulking fraternity character Orge in the "Revenge of the Nerds" movies of the 1980s.

Since the original raunchy comedy was released in 1984, Gibb's intimidating size and loud yells of "NERDS!" have become as memorable as the pocket protectors worn by the movie's geeks.

Gibb went on to star opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme in his classic 1988 action movie "Bloodsport." He also landed guest star roles through his career on shows like "Quantum Leap," Magnum P.I.," "MacGyver," "Night Court," and "Cheers."

Gibb died on May 12 following health complications.

Anthony Head, 72

Rising up through the UK stage scene in the 1980s, Head found fame when he was cast as Rupert Giles, who became a father figure to Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy Summers in all seven seasons of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

Most recently, he played the bitter former owner of AFC Richmond on "Ted Lasso."

Head's death was announced by his family on June 5. They stated the cause was "complications due to pneumonia."

David Hockney, 88

British painter David Hockney was renowned for his striking portraits and figurative pop art. Many of his best known paintings, including 1966's "The Splash" and 1972's "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)," were inspired by the bright colors and sun-dappled pools of Los Angeles.

Hockney moved to Los Angeles in the late '60s, and his work became synonymous with the warmth and leisure of Southern California. He was also one of the few popular artists at the time to depict openly gay scenes, and Hockney was outspoken about anti-gay legislation in his lifetime.

Throughout his career, Hockney split time between California, England, and France. He died at his home in London on June 12 at age 88, his publicist confirmed to The New York Times. No cause of death was given.

Jesse Jackson, 84

The Rev. Jesse Jackson was a leader of the Civil Rights Movement, a minister, and an activist icon who twice ran for president.

Born on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, Jackson experienced Jim Crow segregation on public buses and at school firsthand. It would shape the rest of his life.

His fight for civil rights began in the 1960s, when he helped organize protests and demonstrations across the US and worked closely alongside civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

His decadeslong career as a leading civil rights activist included support for modern national movements, such as the push for voting rights, the fight against racism, and a higher minimum wage.

Jackson ran for president twice, both times as a democrat. He placed third for the party's nomination in 1984 and second in 1988. This marked the most successful presidential runs of any Black candidate prior to Barack Obama.

Jackson announced in 2017 that he'd been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. In November 2025, Jackson was treated in a Chicago hospital after complications from progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare neurodegenerative condition.

Jackson died on February 17.

Patrick Muldoon, 57

In the 1990s, you couldn't escape the piercing eyes of Patrick Muldoon.

He played Austin Reed on "Days of Our Lives" for most of the decade, and when he wasn't on the soap, he was over on "Melrose Place" playing the villain role of Richard Hart.

If being on two iconic shows wasn't enough, he also showed up on "Saved by the Bell" and had a role in the cult classic movie "Starship Troopers."

Muldoon died on April 19 after a heart attack.

Tom Noonan, 74

Standing at a towering 6' 5", Tom Noonan was born to play the bad guy. And he did just that, starring as the villain in movies like "Manhunter," "RoboCop 2," and "Last Action Hero."

But this actor had more to show off. He showcased his comedy chops as Rodney Dangerfield's degenerate gambling friend in the 1983 comedy "Easy Money," and set up the heist for Robert De Niro in Michael Mann's 1995 classic "Heat."

His knack for storytelling also translated behind the camera. Noonan wrote, directed, and starred in the drama "What Happened Was," which won the grand prize at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival.

Noonan died on February 14; no cause was given.

Chuck Norris, 86

Few action stars Chuck Norris' credentials.

Before he ever stepped in front of a camera, he was a martial arts champion and a black belt in Karate, judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Taekwondo, and Tang Soo Do.

His talents would become known the world over in 1972, when he faced off against Bruce Lee in "The Way of the Dragon."

Through the 1980s, Norris became one of the biggest action stars in the world thanks to movies like "A Force of One," "The Octagon," and the "Delta Force" and "Missing in Action" franchises.

In the 1990s, he took over the small screen, playing the lead in the "Walker, Texas Ranger" TV show, which aired in over 100 countries during its run from 1993 to 2001.

Norris was hospitalized on March 19 in Hawaii and died the following day, according to his family. No cause was given.

Catherine O'Hara, 71

O'Hara, who was best known for her roles in "Beetlejuice" and "Home Alone," got her start in the Canadian comedy scene, appearing in the now-legendary cast of "SCTV."

It would mark the beginning of a fruitful partnership with fellow actor Eugene Levy, who became her frequent costar and collaborator in memorable appearances in Christopher Guest films like "A Mighty Wind" and "Best in Show" and television series like "Schitt's Creek," which earned her an Emmy Award for outstanding lead actress in 2020.

O'Hara's representation confirmed her death to Business Insider on January 30. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed in a death certificate viewed by People that O'Hara died of a pulmonary embolism, with rectal cancer listed as an underlying cause.

Valerie Perrine, 82

Perrine found herself cast alongside the biggest stars of the 1970s.

She played the love interest opposite Jeff Bridges in 1973's "The Last American Hero" and Robert Redford in 1979's "The Electric Horseman." She earned an Oscar nomination for starring alongside Dustin Hoffman in 1974's "Lenny."

For most, she'll be remembered best for sharing the screen with Gene Hackman as the secretary to his evil Lex Luthor in 1978's "Superman." She also starred in the sequel. As Ms. Teschmacher, her loyalty to Luthor is questioned when she rescues Superman (Christopher Reeve) after he's chained with Kryptonite.

Perrine died in her home in Beverly Hills on March 23. She was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2015.

Sonny Rollins, 95

One of the most influential jazz musicians in history, Rollins recorded more than 60 albums over his seven-decade career.

His live album, "A Night at the Village Vanguard," is considered one of the greatest jazz albums ever made.

Rollins died on May 25; no cause was given.

Neil Sedaka, 86

Sedaka is responsible for some of the biggest pop songs of the 1960s and 1970s.

The Brooklyn native wrote over 500 songs, including classic hits like "Laughter in the Rain," "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do," "Bad Blood" and the Captain & Tennille song, "Love Will Keep Us Together."

Sedaka died on February 27; no cause was given.

Kiki Shepard, 74

In her 15-year tenure as a co-host on "Showtime at the Apollo," Kiki Shepard was considered royalty at Harlem's famed Apollo Theater.

Known in the building as "Apollo Queen of Fashion" thanks to her dazzling outfits, Shepherd was a fixture on the show from 1987 to 2002.

Throughout her career, Shepard also appeared on TV shows like "Baywatch," "A Different World," "NYPD Blue," and "Grey's Anatomy."

Shepard died on March 16 after suffering a heart attack.

Béla Tarr, 70

Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr became a legend in the arthouse world for his unflinching work featuring several-minute-long takes.

With movies like "Family Nest" (1979) and "The Turin Horse" (2011), Tarr showcased his slow cinema style while focusing on marginalized characters living bleak lives. Tarr pushed the envelope with his style when he made "Sátántangó" in 1994, which had a run time of 450 minutes.

His work influenced several arthouse filmmakers, including Jim Jarmusch and Gus Van Sant's "Death Trilogy" ("Gerry," "Elephant," and "Last Days").

Tarr died on January 6 following a battle with a "long and serious illness."

James Tolkan, 94

You might not recognize the name, but if you're a movie fan, you know the face.

Tolkan's tough-guy persona made a mark on movie history in films like "Top Gun" and the "Back to the Future" franchise.

In "Top Gun," he played Commander Tom "Stinger" Jardian, who famously gives Tom Cruise's character a tongue lashing, saying, "Your ego is writing checks your body can't cash."

In "Back to the Future" and its sequels, he played Principal Strickland, who had zero tolerance for "slackers."

Other credits include "Serpico," "WarGames," "Masters of the Universe," and "Dick Tracy."

Tolkan died on March 26; no cause was given.

Ted Turner, 87

Ted Turner changed the television landscape thanks to his maverick maneuvers to harness the 24-hour news cycle.

After taking over his father's advertising company in the 1960s at the age of 24, Turner embarked on a path to change the media landscape by buying up radio and TV stations around the South. He even bought sports teams including the Atlanta Braves MLB team and the Atlanta Hawks NBA team.

All of that programming would eventually become part of TBS, a "super station" that showed old movies, reruns, and Braves and Hawks games.

Turner then set his sights on the news. He founded CNN, the first 24-hour news channel, in June of 1980.

Over the decades, Turner gained celebrity status, particularly after marrying with Jane Fonda, a union that lasted from 1991 to 2001. In 1991, he was named Time's "Man of the Year." He sold his networks to Time Warner for $7.5 billion in 1996.

Turner died on May 6; no cause was given.

James Van Der Beek, 48

Van Der Beek was beloved all over the world for his role as the titular teen Dawson Leery on the WB series "Dawson's Creek."

The series, which ran from 1998 to 2002, turned Van Der Beek into a star and a teen heartthrob. While "Dawson's Creek" was still airing, he'd cement his stardom playing the lead role of high school quarterback "Mox" Moxon in the 1999 coming-of-age drama "Varsity Blues."

Van Der Beek found steady work the rest of his career in movies like "Texas Rangers" and "The Rules of Attraction, and memorably played a fictional version of himself on the TV series "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23," and performed on "Dancing with the Stars" in 2019.

Van Der Beek learned he had stage 3 colon cancer in 2023, and publicly announced his diagnosis in late 2024.

Van Der Beek previously told Business Insider that the news came as a shock, given the subtleness of his symptoms and his efforts to stay as healthy as possible.

"I was doing everything," he said. "I was doing sauna, cold plunge, weightlifting, Pilates. I would dance and also do football training."

Van Der Beek died on Feb. 11.

Bob Weir, 78

Weir was one of the founding members of the Grateful Dead.

The singer-songwriter wrote and/or sang on songs like "Sugar Magnolia," "Playing in the Band," "Truckin,'" "I Need a Miracle," and "The Other One."

After the Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995, Weir went on to form several other bands, including Kingfish, Bobby and the Midnites, RatDog, The Other Ones, and, alongside John Mayer, Dead & Company.

In the summer of 2025, Weir was diagnosed with cancer.

Weir died on January 10.

Frederick Wiseman, 96

For over five decades, Wiseman's brand of non-fiction storytelling put a spotlight on everyday people.

From high schoolers to hospital workers to Air Force cadets training for nuclear war, Wiseman's close to 50-film catalogue is an unvarnished reflection of America over the last half century.

Wiseman died on Februay 16, no cause was given.

• Widespread outages were plaguing Facebook and Instagram Friday.
• A spokesperson for Meta confirmed platform issues in a post on X: "We're working on it."
• Users of the social media sites reported issues, according to DownDetector.com.

Facebook and Instagram were suffering from widespread outages on Friday morning.

Outage reports spiked on the third-party website DownDetector.com.

"We're aware people are currently having trouble accessing our services," Meta's communication director, Andy Stone, said in a post on X. "We're working on it."

Meta's systems dashboard page also showed "high disruptions" for its Facebook Ads Manager, Messenger API, Messenger platform, and WhatsApp Business Platform on Friday.

Meanwhile, users were quick to take to X to complain about the disruptions.

"This is the third time Facebook has gone down this week. Every time, it takes Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger down with it," one user said.

Another added, "Anybody else just been logged out of Facebook messenger and can't log back in? Unknown error."

Others took the opportunity to make light of the moment.

"QUICK EVERYONE GO OUTSIDE AND TOUCH GRASS," user Peter Czepiga said.

Then there were the memes. "Everyone's yearly instagram down drill to X," one user shared with a GIF of a crowd.

This is a developing story…

• Over a year into our relationship, my boyfriend and I were planning on moving in together.
• For the first time, we had to have some awkward conversations about money and a rent breakdown.
• Our different attitudes led us to pause our moving plans, and we broke up four months later.

My boyfriend and I floated back to my apartment after dinner and a comedy show, feeling the warmth of pizza and laughter. As we cuddled up on the couch, we began to talk about moving in together.

By then, we'd only been together for six months. We knew this was fast, but the beginning of our relationship had felt idyllic, with a sense of ease that neither of us had experienced before.

We agreed that if things continued to progress, we'd move in together when my lease was up. A little over a year into our relationship, we were finally about to make it happen.

Our initial goal had been to rent a two-bedroom house, but the Denver housing market was more competitive than we'd expected. So, after months of searching with no luck, we decided that he and his cats would temporarily move into my 700-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment instead.

Excitement and nerves coursed through us as we told all our friends that he was moving into my space. I made plans to reconfigure the living room, hunted for a credenza to house his vinyl records, and even found a cat tree for his furry friends.

We never ended up moving in together at all.

Planning for our future felt easy until we had to talk about money

When planning to move in together, I knew we needed to have a direct conversation about finances; how we'd split rent and our bills.

As excited as I was about our future, I noticed myself feeling anxious to broach this topic with him. For the first time in my life, I was in a relationship where I made more money than my partner, and talking about this discrepancy in our incomes felt fragile and vulnerable.

He was paying astronomically low rent in his current apartment, so moving just about anywhere would mean shifting his budget — a reality I thought he seemed ready for and comfortable with.

When we decided he'd move into my apartment, we discussed splitting rent 50/50. I would also pay for utilities and some other household expenses to account for our income gap.

Then, the day after I thought we'd agreed on this, my partner asked if we could have a talk.

I sat down at my dining room table to meet his gaze. His leg was bouncing rapidly, and his face was pale as he told me that he didn't feel comfortable splitting the rent 50/50.

He explained that he didn't feel it was "fair" that I would be saving so much money and he wouldn't. Then he shared a rent breakdown he felt was more equitable, but I wasn't on board.

I tried renegotiating terms to a 60/40 split based on our actual incomes — one that would still lower his rent — but that didn't work for him, either.

Our breakup wasn't because of money, but because of values

The conversation shook me, unearthing doubts about our relationship.

It felt like living together wasn't "worth it" for him if he wasn't saving money, or upgrading to a larger home, that I wasn't worth it. I felt alone in fighting for a future I thought we had planned together.

The whiplash of his words and choices burst the pink cloud of our relationship, leaving a smog of confusion behind. I couldn't understand how he could sound so excited about our plans, then change his mind so quickly.

It dawned on me that this conflict wasn't just about money, but rather about a fundamental difference in our values, and what it actually means to commit.

I paused our plans to live together while we tried to heal from the rupture in our relationship, but my trust in him was fractured. Four months later, we agreed it was best to part ways.

In this relationship, I had tried to ignore the discrepancies in how we viewed money and the tensions between us when the subject arose. I now realize the importance of being able to lean into this vulnerability — and plan to address financial concerns more directly with my next partner, in hopes that we'll share a similar vision for our lives.

• Miami is known for its sandy beaches, energetic nightlife, and devotion to Cuban cuisine.
• I tried the classic Cuban sandwich from Sanguich, a popular spot with tourists, locals, and critics.
• After trying the rich, satisfying sandwich, the hype feels justified.

Miami is home to countless eateries serving up classic Cuban sandwiches, all claiming to be the best in town.

On a recent trip to Miami, I stopped by Sanguich in Bayside Marketplace to try what locals and critics have dubbed the best Cuban sandwich in the city.

Every year since 2022, Sanguich has been recognized by the Michelin Guide with a Bib Gourmand designation, an honor awarded to restaurants that serve exceptional food at a great value.

The Infatuation named Sanguich as the restaurant that "ended the debate about who makes Miami's best Cubano," and lines at the original outpost in the heart of Little Havana reportedly often stretch out the door.

Sanguich's popularity extends beyond food critics. In 2024, Axios Miami readers voted the restaurant's Cubano the best Cuban sandwich in the city, a sign that the shop has earned a devoted following among locals.

Since opening as a pop-up in 2015, the Cuban sandwich shop has expanded to five locations across Miami: Calle Ocho, Little Haiti, Coral Gables, Bayside Marketplace, and Aventura Mall.

After seeing years of praise from locals, tourists, and food critics, I decided to see whether Sanguich's Cuban sandwich lives up to its reputation as the best in Miami.

Here's what it was like to try Sanguich, widely called the best Cuban sandwich in Miami.

I arrived at the Bayside Marketplace in Downtown Miami on a cloudy, humid morning.

Despite the gloomy weather, the waterfront shopping center was already awake with people, including commuters grabbing coffee before starting their day.

Vendors were opening their shops, many of which sold tourist items, including bathing suits and souvenirs. It felt a bit like a tourist trap, so I was eager to see if Sanguich would live up to the hype.

The restaurant had a few bistro tables for outdoor seating, but was mainly a walk-up storefront.

I placed my order at the counter, found a table, and waited while my sandwich was prepared and delivered to me.

Other Sanguich locations, like the Coral Gables Flagship and Little Havana location, offer indoor dining.

Unlike the Little Havana location — which the Michelin Guide notes "almost always" has a line of diners waiting for a table — the Bayside Marketplace outpost was relatively quiet during my mid-morning visit, and I didn't have to wait long to order or find a seat.

It was pretty humid out, and there were no indoor seating options.

On a particularly hot or humid Miami day, this may not be the most comfortable environment. However, the slight breeze off the marina, right across from the restaurant, made it bearable.

It also made for a nice view while I was eating.

The menu was small but offered options from classic Cubans to turkey sandwiches.

Alongside the signature Cuban sandwich were several other handhelds, including a turkey sandwich, various pork sandwiches, and classic Cuban sides like croquetas.

After about 10 minutes, my order was delivered to my table.

I ordered the Cuban sandwich and the only iced coffee on the menu, called La Rosita. The total for my order, including tax, came to $26.69.

The iced coffee was the ideal start to my day and my meal.

It's made with espresso, milk, and caramel drizzle, and costs $6.89, excluding tax. It was sweet and creamy, and paired well with my sandwich.

Sanguich's Cubano sandwich is served on Cuban bread baked by the restaurant.

The sandwich is made with house-made city ham, garlic confit pork, mustard, Ammerlander Swiss cheese, and house-made pickles, all served on preservative-free Cuban bread.

It cost $14.99, excluding tax.

The ingredients were layered perfectly to ensure a balanced bite.

The sandwich was expertly assembled, with each ingredient layered so that no single flavor overpowered the others.

Every bite delivered the perfect combination of pork, ham, cheese, pickles, and mustard.

I could see why this has been named the best Cuban sandwich in Miami.

The crispy Cuban bread provided a satisfying crunch, while the garlic confit pork added richness and depth.

Tangy pickles and mustard cut through the savory meat and melted Swiss cheese, creating a well-balanced bite that showcased why the sandwich has earned such a devoted following.

The sandwich's balance starts long before it's assembled. Sanguich marinates its pork butt for a full week in garlic and spices before roasting it, resulting in meat that is deeply flavorful and remarkably tender.

The house-made bread added a satisfying crunch and crispiness to each bite, while the pickles, mustard, and melted Swiss cheese brought the ideal amount of acidity and richness.

It was savory and rich, without being heavy. The next time I'm back in Miami, Sanguich will be among my first stops.

• I used to work at Meta and now work closely with college students.
• The students I meet are among the most talented workers I've ever met, especially in AI.
• But they can't find jobs because companies keep prioritizing AI over entry-level employees.

A couple of years ago, I witnessed three USC students present a fully immersive VR experience that might have taken my Meta team two to three months and about $200,000 to produce. It took them just under two weeks. For no cost. My jaw dropped.

At the time, I was a global creative director at Meta and was asked to judge a student project. That moment changed how I view this new wave of Gen Z talent. I now lecture on college campuses across the country, and I'm seeing this type of "Redefines Expectations" output time and time again.

I get to see what most corporate hiring managers can't see from their standing desks, far away from college campuses. I can see that this is the most technically gifted, most technically sound graduating class in a generation.

Yet somehow, the word isn't getting out. It's being drowned out by all the ruckus AI is kicking up these days.

The news cycle is missing a big part of the story

We all see the headlines. Graduates can't find jobs. Worst job market in a generation. In the next column, Company X is laying off 1,000 in the name of efficiency. CEOs are declaring that entry-level head count is being cut because AI can now handle entry-level tasks.

It's not hard to see why decision-makers are wooed by the allure of AI-infused efficiency.

I can see the logic. Margins jump high. Revenue gets a bump. The productivity engine throttles up. Leadership feels cutting-edge. Investors nod.

But a huge piece of the story is missing: the talent looking for jobs right now. The best of the Class of 2026 are feeling their confidence, excitement, and life-force drain away after months of ghosting, automated rejections, and a news cycle that says they're being left behind.

Today's graduates aren't built to be entry-level employees

When I graduated, I landed my first role at an ad agency in Boston. I was expected to run reports, attend meetings, and handle small client tasks. My baseline was low-lift. It took me a full year to move the needle meaningfully.

Things are different now. Many of today's graduates leave school with years of real-world internship experience (not the fetching coffee kind). They also now have access to Silicon Valley-level tools and facilities.

This generation didn't have to adapt to technology because they grew up in it. They've played with tech the way I played with "Star Wars" figures.

To me, it's clear; AI shouldn't be their greatest threat. For many, it's their most productive playmate. I've realized they come as a dynamic duo.

Companies and careers are inherently human

Take a minute to think back on the defining moments of your own career — the moments that shaped you. Chances are, there was a human in every single one of them.

To me, these human moments are how company culture is built and how careers are made. Entry-level talent feels the excitement and opportunity in their bones — unlike your favorite LLMs.

I think that organizations that replace entry-level roles with AI won't just lose efficiency when the model gets it wrong. They'll also lose the human element. They'll lose their next generation of leaders who grow up inside their walls, learn from their mistakes, breathe life into their values, and carry them forward.

Talented recent graduates will invest in your company

Most companies are looking right past young, talented people. That's not just a tragedy for the graduates. I think it's a miscalculation by the companies.

Someone is going to bet on the best of this generation. I feel like the ones who do will access something AI can never replace: top talent with genuine skin-tingling excitement to onboard on Monday, proudly grab a company t-shirt, and wholeheartedly dedicate themselves to your company's mission.

Tom Gilmartin is the founder of Gilmartin Career Launch Coaching and lives in Los Angeles. Connect on Linkedin.

• Portland Leather Goods' five-person social media team struggled with an influx of social media engagement.
• To better manage user comments and DMs across platforms, the company employed Nectar Social's AI platform.
• The centralized approach and automated drafting feature helped reduce response times to one hour.

Portland Leather Goods has amassed nearly one million followers across Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Until this past summer, the company's five-person social media team struggled to manage and respond to a backlog of direct messages, comments, mentions, and tags across platforms.

"All of these conversations are very fragmented," MacCoy Merkley, the chief marketing officer at Portland Leather Goods, told Business Insider. He said the social team received 70,000 monthly messages, comments, and mentions across social media platforms and typically took up to nine hours to resolve them. Sometimes, it took up to 48 hours to work through the mounting backlog. Social media managers toggled between several software tools to get the job done.

Last year, the 11-year-old manufacturer of handbags, wallets, passport covers, and other leather goods went on the hunt for a centralized, artificial intelligence-enabled social media tool that could consolidate all of these conversations and responses. Merkley told Business Insider that a daily necessity, plus a leadership mandate to infuse more AI into the leather goods maker's business processes, led the Oregon-based company to collaborate with the Silicon Valley AI startup Nectar Social, which secured $10.6 million in venture capital funding in June 2025.

Merkley said the company evaluated multiple vendors, but went with Nectar Social because it would work across a wide variety of social platforms and cover varied methods of communications like direct messages, comments, responses to Instagram Reels, and content creator-generated videos for products listed on TikTok Shop. He also liked that the platform kept humans in the loop and didn't require full automation.

Since kicking off a relationship with Nectar's founders in July 2025, Merkley's team has gained access to a centralized command center to manage the brand's multi-platform social presence and track social media conversations on a single screen, rather than toggling between apps. Portland Leather Goods' social media managers can also use Nectar's AI to draft responses, helping them keep up with the constant influx without hiring additional staff.

The tech

At the start of this past summer, Merkley asked Scarlett Stack, the company's director of social media, to rethink vendor relationships and find a new way to add more AI to the social media team's workflows. "It's a sweeping directive for us, the whole company, to look for AI tools," Merkley said of the company's workforce, which totals 75.

The company had already deployed a few lower-stakes AI use cases, like using Google's Gemini to record meeting notes and help the marketing department speed up the creation of visual and copywriting assets.

In July 2025, Stack was browsing LinkedIn in search of tools to make it easier for the company to respond to social media conversations. Stack reached out to Nectar Social, which was co-founded by a pair of siblings who previously worked at Meta; Misbah Uraizee serves as the company's CEO, while her sister, Farah, is the chief technology officer.

During her four-year tenure at Meta, Misbah said she observed that people were spending less time posting photos and videos on platforms like Facebook and Instagram and spending more time responding to comments or engaging with brands through DMs. "A lot of purchase decisions on TikTok are happening in the comment sections," she told Business Insider of the thinking behind her startup.

Nectar Social acts as a community manager, helping manage and facilitate these actions through data partnerships with Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, X, and, most recently, Reddit in April 2026. By plugging into these social networks with APIs, Nectar's AI can identify brand-specific conversations and track when online engagement leads to a direct sale. The AI can also generate reports to help brands better understand how they are discussed online.

In August 2025, Nectar Social launched a one-month pilot program to upload Portland Leather Goods' brand guidelines so AI could craft social media responses that mirror the brand's voice and tone. For example, some companies type only lowercase, while others can be restrictive about emoji use. Nectar Social said this pilot period is key for training AI to accurately handle customer questions and respond to different tones of conversation, ranging from enthusiasm to criticism. The pilot also helps determine when AI should act autonomously and when it should require human review; the latter policy may differ across brands.

After the pilot, Merkley said the social media team fully deployed Nectar Social's tools in September 2025. He said the tool will scan content before his team sees it, consolidate it into a dashboard, and craft initial responses or comments that the social media team approves.

"We are not interested in having a team of robots come in and do work for us," Merkley said.

The outcome

Typical social media response times are now a little over one hour during business operations, Merkley said. He added that having Nectar Social in place helped Portland Leather Goods navigate its recent launch on TikTok Shops.

In March 2026, the company had a viral moment: more than 4,000 TikTok videos mentioned the brand within a 36-hour period, driven by posts from content creators who earn commissions by promoting and selling products on the platform.

"Previously, that's a nightmare," Merkley said. Using Nectar Social, Merkley said the brand could more rapidly engage with consumers and answer their questions in the comments section of those videos.

• The college you attend can affect how much you earn after graduation.
• The Department of Education's College Scorecard tracks former students' earnings by school.
• Business Insider listed the US colleges with the highest-earning graduates in every state.

At some schools, investing in higher education pays off more than in others.

Business Insider recently identified the 34 US colleges with the highest-paid graduates four years after completing their degrees across all US states, based on Department of Education data.

To map earnings across state lines, we went a step further and used the same data to identify which colleges have the highest-earning graduates in every US state.

The department's College Scorecard outlines net college costs, student debt, completion rates, and earnings outcomes across US colleges and universities for the 13 million students receiving Title IV federal aid. (According to the department's latest data, approximately 55% of undergraduate students in the 2019-2020 school year received some form of federal financial aid.)

Using the College Scorecard's median annual earnings data, which measures how much former federal-aid-receiving students earn four years after completing their degrees, we identified the colleges with the highest-earning graduates in each state.

For this list, which features a range of schools from smaller specialized programs to large universities, we focused on public or private nonprofit four-year schools. We also included the location and the most popular majors at each school — as reported by Niche for each institution — which can often significantly affect graduates' earnings.

Like most college ranking methodologies, the list has caveats: The earnings data applies only to former federal-aid recipients, and specialized schools may be more likely to top some states because graduates in certain fields tend to earn more. Still, it helps map the big picture of college graduates' earnings across the US.

See which school had the top-earning federally aided graduates in your state.

ALABAMA: University of Alabama in Huntsville

Top majors: Nursing, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, and computer science

Median earnings four years after graduation: $81,000

ALASKA: University of Alaska Anchorage

Top majors: Mechanic and repair technologies, nursing, psychology, business management, and administration

Median earnings four years after graduation: $69,000

ARIZONA: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott

Top majors: Aeronautics, aviation technology, and aerospace engineering

Median earnings four years after graduation: $94,000

ARKANSAS: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock

Top majors: Medical laboratory technician, nursing, radiation therapy, and dental hygiene

Median earnings four years after graduation: $77,000

CALIFORNIA: California Institute of Technology in Pasadena

Top majors: Computer science, mechanical engineering, and physics

Median earnings four years after graduation: $153,000

COLORADO: Colorado School of Mines in Golden

Top majors: Mechanical engineering, computer science, chemical engineering, and electrical engineering

Median earnings four years after graduation: $100,000

CONNECTICUT: Yale University in New Haven

Top majors: Economics, information science, liberal arts and humanities, history, political science and government, and cellular biology

Median earnings four years after graduation: $113,000

DELAWARE: University of Delaware in Newark

Top majors: Finance, research and experimental psychology, marketing, and nursing

Median earnings four years after graduation: $78,000

FLORIDA: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach

Top majors: Aeronautics and aviation technology, aerospace engineering, and mechanical engineering

Median earnings four years after graduation: $94,000

GEORGIA: Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta

Top majors: Information science, mechanical engineering, business, and industrial engineering

Median earnings four years after graduation: $119,000

HAWAII: University of Hawaii at Manoa

Top majors: Psychology, marketing, nursing, finance, kinesiology, and exercise science

Median earnings four years after graduation: $62,000

IDAHO: Boise State University in Boise

Top majors: Business, liberal arts and humanities, nursing, communications, health professions, and psychology

Median earnings four years after graduation: $65,000

ILLINOIS: University of Chicago

Top majors: Economics, computer science, mathematics, and biology

Median earnings four years after graduation: $128,000

INDIANA: University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame

Top majors: Finance, economics, political science and government, information science, mathematics, neuroscience, and neurobiology

Median earnings four years after graduation: $101,000

IOWA: Allen College in Waterloo

Top majors: Nursing

Median earnings four years after graduation: $74,000

KANSAS: Baker University in Baldwin City

Top majors: Business and nursing

Median earnings four years after graduation: $70,000

KENTUCKY: Thomas More University in Crestview Hills

Top majors: Business, liberal arts and humanities, nursing, and psychology

Median earnings four years after graduation: $70,000

LOUISIANA: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans

Top majors: Nursing

Median earnings four years after graduation: $81,000

MAINE: Maine Maritime Academy in Castine

Top majors: Engineering, marine science, engineering technician, and international business

Median earnings four years after graduation: $113,000

MARYLAND: Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore

Top majors: Information science, cellular biology, public health, neuroscience, and neurobiology

Median earnings four years after graduation: $117,000

MASSACHUSETTS: Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge

Top majors: Computer science, mathematics, and mechanical engineering

Median earnings four years after graduation: $162,000

MICHIGAN: Kettering University in Flint

Top majors: Mechanical engineering and computer science

Median earnings four years after graduation: $100,000

MINNESOTA: University of St. Thomas in St. Paul

Top majors: Finance, marketing, and business

Median earnings four years after graduation: $82,000

MISSISSIPPI: Millsaps College in Jackson

Top majors: Business, biology, accounting, neuroscience, neurobiology, and psychology

Median earnings four years after graduation: $67,000

MISSOURI: University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis

Top majors: Pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences

Median earnings four years after graduation: $132,000

MONTANA: University of Providence in Great Falls

Top majors: Nursing and medical assistant

Median earnings four years after graduation: $89,000

NEBRASKA: University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha

Top majors: Nursing

Median earnings four years after graduation: $86,000

NEVADA: Touro University Nevada in Henderson

Top majors: Nursing

Median earnings four years after graduation: $122,000

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Dartmouth College in Hanover

Top majors: Economics, political science and government, computer science, engineering, and environmental science

Median earnings four years after graduation: $112,000

NEW JERSEY: Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken

Top majors: Computer science and mechanical engineering

Median earnings four years after graduation: $113,000

NEW MEXICO: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro

Top majors: Mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer science

Median earnings four years after graduation: $85,000

NEW YORK: Columbia University in the City of New York

Top majors: Computer science, economics, political science and government, research and experimental psychology, and history

Median earnings four years after graduation: $116,000

NORTH CAROLINA: Duke University in Durham

Top majors: Computer science, liberal arts and humanities, nursing, biology, economics, and public policy analysis

Median earnings four years after graduation: $116,000

NORTH DAKOTA: University of North Dakota in Grand Forks

Top majors: Aeronautics and aviation technology, psychology, medical laboratory technician, and nursing

Median earnings four years after graduation: $70,000

OHIO: Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland

Top majors: Biology, computer science, bioengineering and biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering, and psychology

Median earnings four years after graduation: $94,000

OKLAHOMA: University of Tulsa in Tulsa

Top majors: Behavioral sciences, biology, mechanical engineering, kinesiology and exercise science, computer science, and nursing

Median earnings four years after graduation: $79,000

OREGON: Oregon Health & Science University in Portland

Top majors: Nursing

Median earnings four years after graduation: $110,000

PENNSYLVANIA: Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh

Top majors: Computer science, electrical engineering, business, statistics, systems science and theory, and mechanical engineering

Median earnings four years after graduation: $133,000

RHODE ISLAND: Brown University in Providence

Top majors: Computer science, economics, computational and applied mathematics, international relations, and biology

Median earnings four years after graduation: $95,000

SOUTH CAROLINA: Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston

Top majors: Nursing

Median earnings four years after graduation: $90,000

SOUTH DAKOTA: South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City

Top majors: Engineering and information science

Median earnings four years after graduation: $88,000

TENNESSEE: Vanderbilt University in Nashville

Top majors: Social science research methods, liberal arts and humanities, economics, computer science, mathematics, and political science and government

Median earnings four years after graduation: $101,000

TEXAS: University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth

Top majors: Health administration, medical and biomedical sciences, osteopathic medicine, and public health

Median earnings four years after graduation: $119,000

UTAH: Western Governors University in Salt Lake City

Top majors: Nursing, education, business, computer and information systems security, accounting, and computer science

Median earnings four years after graduation: $87,000

VERMONT: Norwich University in Northfield

Top majors: Intelligence, criminal justice and law enforcement administration, nursing, business, computer and information systems security, and international relations

Median earnings four years after graduation: $76,000

VIRGINIA: Washington and Lee University in Lexington

Top majors: Business, political science and government, accounting, research and experimental psychology, economics, and history

Median earnings four years after graduation: $101,000

WASHINGTON: City University of Seattle

Top majors: Business, information science, security science and technology, and liberal arts and humanities

Median earnings four years after graduation: $84,000

WEST VIRGINIA: University of Charleston

Top majors: Business and nursing

Median earnings four years after graduation: $69,000

WISCONSIN: Milwaukee School of Engineering in Milwaukee

Top majors: Mechanical engineering, nursing, electrical engineering, computer science, civil engineering, bioengineering, and biomedical engineering

Median earnings four years after graduation: $91,000

WYOMING: University of Wyoming in Laramie

Top majors: Psychology, nursing, criminal justice and safety studies, elementary education, marketing, and kinesiology and exercise science

Median earnings four years after graduation: $62,000

• Soccer stars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are both billionaires.
• The highest-paid players in the World Cup have business dealings and sponsorships off the pitch.
• These include ownership of other teams, real-estate ventures, and brand ambassador deals.

The 2026 World Cup — expected to be the most profitable in the tournament's history — kicked off on Thursday.

FIFA said it could generate $13 billion in revenue from the four-year cycle that concludes with the roughly five-week-long tournament. It estimated that the World Cup could add about $17.2 billion to US GDP, and extensive infrastructure investments have been made across the country in preparation for the tournament and its festivities.

But the wealth extends onto the field, too.

Multiple players earn over tens of millions of dollars each year. Forbes recently compiled a list of the highest-paid players at the World Cup, taking earnings both on and off the field into account, and we've listed the top five below.

Forbes did not include investment income in its off-field totals, apart from earnings from equity stakes that were sold.

We also listed the players' other business ventures, such as brand deals and their own companies, that contribute to their wealth beyond their record-breaking club contracts.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Ronaldo, 41, is heading into a record sixth World Cup with Portugal.

His earnings have broken multiple records, too. His current deal with the Saudi club Al-Nassr earned him $235 million in the past 12 months, Forbes reported, making him the highest-paid athlete in the world.

His large contracts with various clubs over his 24-year career have played a major role in his $1.2 billion net worth, per the publication's estimate.

With many business ventures rounding out his portfolio, Forbes also estimates that he earned $65 million off the field in the past year.

His CR7 brand sells products from underwear and shoes to fragrances, while a partnership with the hospitality company Pestana has resulted in hotels in New York City, Lisbon, Madrid, and Marrakesh. Another partnership with Crunch Fitness has produced CR7-branded gyms.

Ronaldo also co-founded Insparya Group, a company focused on hair health and research, the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia reported.

Lionel Messi

Messi, 38, is hoping to lead his team, Argentina, to back-to-back World Cup wins. This will also be his sixth time playing in the tournament.

Forbes reported earlier this month that Messi had achieved billionaire status. He earned $70 million on the field in the past 12 months and $70 million off the field, the publication estimated.

While his contract with Inter Miami "only" earns him a yearly $28 million, Bloomberg reported that his earnings are closer to $80 million when accounting for his ownership stake in the club.

Like Ronaldo, Messi has also gotten in on the hotel business. He founded MiM Hotels in 2017. Now operated under the brand Meliá Hotels International, the chain has six hotels across Spain and Andorra, Forbes reported.

Soccer fans will also recognize Messi in commercials for various brands. He has maintained partnerships with companies including Adidas, Lowe's, Michelob Ultra, and Lay's.

The Argentine also founded an energy-drink company, Mas+, as well as his own production company, 525 Rosario, per ESPN.

Kylian Mbappé

Mbappé, the 27-year-old captain of the French team, made $70 million in the 2025-2026 club season from his contract with Real Madrid, Forbes reported.

He also reportedly brought home an additional $25 million in the past year for off-field ventures.

Many of Mbappé's money moves have been in sports. Through his investment company, Coalition Capital, he became the majority shareholder of the soccer club Stade Malherbe de Caen in 2024, ESPN reported. The club now plays in France's third division.

Mbappé has also invested in France's team in SailGP, a professional sailing league founded by Larry Ellison in 2019, according to the league.

In 2022, Mbappé invested in Sorare, a virtual sports card game that uses blockchain. He also became the company's first player ambassador.

Erling Haaland

Haaland, Norway's star striker, made $60 million on the field over the past year, thanks to his massive 10-year contract extension with Manchester City, Forbes reported.

The publication also estimated that the 25-year-old earned $20 million off the field over the past 12 months.

His most notable investments have been in chess — he has a large stake in the Norway Chess tournament, according to ESPN.

Norway Chess is also developing an international tournament known as the Total Chess World Championship, which is set to have a prize pool of at least $2.7 million.

Vinícius Júnior

Forbes estimates Vinícius Júnior earned $40 million on the field over the past year. The 25-year-old Brazilian has been at Real Madrid since he was 18.

Off the field, he reportedly earned $20 million in the past year.

Vinícius Júnior is part of a group of investors that acquired a majority stake in the Portuguese soccer club FC Alverca.

According to Sports Illustrated, he's had a sponsorship deal with Nike since he was 13, and has other deals with brands such as Gatorade, EA Sports, and Pepsi.

• After attending pastry school in France, I've learned the secrets to making the best cookies.
• I've found that using a kitchen scale and buying a pricier butter leads to delicious results.
• For decadent chocolate chip cookies, I always like to add an extra egg yolk to the dough.

I'm a full-time baker who has attended pastry school in France, completed a baking course in China, and worked in several bakeries in New York City.

Needless to say, I've made my fair share of cookies over the years.

Whether it's a matcha-flavored crinkle option or a take on a classic chocolate chip, I've learned what works and what doesn't.

Here are eight tips and tricks I've gathered along my baking journey for making the best cookies.

Using a kitchen scale instead of a measuring cup keeps my batches consistent.

Measuring cups are convenient, but the measurements themselves can vary depending on how tightly an ingredient is packed, how it's scooped, or even the type of cup being used.

This is especially true for ingredients like flour and sugar, where too much or too little can affect the final texture. Too much flour can make cookies dry, dense, or cakey, while too little can make them spread too much or feel greasy.

So, for the most accurate results, I like to convert all my measurements from cups to grams and use a kitchen scale to weigh the ingredients.

Measuring by weight gives me more control, reduces guesswork, and makes it much easier for me to recreate the same results every time I bake.

Bringing ingredients to room temperature creates a smoother dough.

Regardless of what kind of cookie I'm baking, I always make sure my eggs, butter, and milk are at room temperature before mixing the dough together.

This helps the ingredients combine more smoothly and create a more stable emulsion, allowing the fats and liquids to blend together evenly without the dough separating or appearing curdled.

A strong emulsion also allows the dough to aerate, creating a lighter, more even cookie texture.

I like to splurge on higher-quality butter for richer cookies.

One of the easiest ways to improve a cookie's flavor is to use higher-quality ingredients. In my experience, the butter I use is especially important.

Since butter typically makes up a large part of the dough, using one with a richer flavor can make the cookies taste that much more decadent.

Overmixing the dough can lead to a tougher texture.

Once the flour is added to the dough, I recommend mixing only until the flour streaks are no longer visible.

When the dough is overmixed at this stage, too much gluten is developed in the flour, resulting in a tougher final cookie.

Overmixing also incorporates extra air into the dough, which can cause a cookie to lose its definition and tender texture after baking.

When I'm using a stand mixer, I like to remove the dough and mix in the remaining flour by hand to prevent any excess stirring.

Resting the dough in the fridge is an important step.

Many recipes will call for chilling the dough in the fridge before baking. I know it can be tempting to just throw them in the oven, but I promise, they'll be worth the wait.

Resting the dough helps the flavors deepen and gives the flour time to fully hydrate, creating a richer, more developed cookie.

Additionally, chilled dough ensures cookies hold their shape and spread more evenly during baking.

But before the dough graces the inside of my refrigerator, I like to form it into individual-sized scoops, since it can be difficult to do so after it's chilled.

I recommend spacing out cookies on the baking sheet before placing them in the oven.

Once the dough is ready to go, I like to give each cookie scoop about 2 inches of space on the baking sheet, so that once they're in the oven, the heat can evenly distribute around each one — creating a crispy edge.

Another tip: I like to place the tray on the center rack of the oven so the cookies bake evenly on the top and bottom.

Underbaking is better than overbaking.

Nothing is worse than pulling out burned cookies from the oven. To prevent this, I like to take them out one to two minutes before they are fully baked.

Removing them from the heat slightly early will create lightly golden edges.

Even though the center may seem a little soft, the cookies will continue to cook as they cool due to the residual heat from the baking tray.

The result: a perfectly-cooked dessert that looks like it's straight out of a bakery.

Adding an extra egg yolk is my secret to chewy chocolate chip cookies.

Whenever I'm making chocolate chip cookies, I love to add an extra egg yolk.

The yolk adds extra fat and richness to the dough without much additional water, resulting in a softer, chewier cookie with a richer overall flavor.

• Rory Phillips-Hunter was determined to go to the US to watch Scotland play in the World Cup.
• After seeing that hotel prices in Boston were far too high, Phillips-Hunter decided on Providence.
• He joined a group chat for Scots staying in Providence, which has helped lower the overall cost.

This as-told-to essay is based on several conversations with Rory Phillips-Hunter, a 37-year-old estate and maintenance manager at a farm in North West England. Born in the Scottish Borders, he is a Scottish national soccer fan, known collectively as the Tartan Army.

I was at the game when Scotland beat Denmark and qualified for the World Cup.

I was 9 the last time we qualified for the World Cup, so it was just an outpouring of emotions after 28 years. I started crying.

I turned to my fiancée at the time, as soon as the full-time whistle went, and I said: "We're going. I don't care what it takes. We're getting across to America."

But hotel prices in Boston were beyond what I could afford, and my tickets were already going to cost over $1,000.

That's when I joined a WhatsApp group that changed everything.

I decided to stay in Providence

I saw that two of Scotland's games were at Gillette Stadium. So, the first place we had looked at for a place to stay was Boston, but unfortunately, hotels had raised their prices.

For my fiancée and me, eight days in Boston would have cost about £6,000 ($8,000). With those prices, I just wouldn't have been able to go.

I had even considered going to the US, not getting tickets for the games, and instead watching them at a bar. But it would have been pointless.

It was at that point that I thought we needed to look for an alternative. That's when we stumbled across Providence, Rhode Island.

It was a fraction of the price, and it's actually closer to the stadium than Boston is. It quickly became a no-brainer.

The Providence Tartan Army

I found this WhatsApp group, called the Providence Tartan Army. It was a very small thing when I joined — around 25 people casually discussing hotels and transport to the stadium.

Then it snowballed. Many of us follow the Scotland team all over the world, so it was inevitable that there would be a big number of us heading to the World Cup.

The WhatsApp group is well over 1,000 people now, and there are thousands more staying in Providence to see Scotland play.

We've not only found ways to keep costs down, but also raised thousands of dollars for charity.

Public transport to the stadium was very expensive, costing almost $100 for a round-trip ticket. So we organized yellow school buses, which came out nearly $40 cheaper per person.

We reached out to hotels and local government departments to help organize cheaper accommodation. The Marriott offered us a deal, so I'm spending $288 a night for two people for my stay in Providence.

It's still a financial stretch

I'm spending about $6,000 total on the trip, including travel and accommodation for my fiancée and me.

To afford to go to the World Cup, I sold my pickup truck to get a BMW, as it's a cheaper-running car. I maxed out a credit card, and I'm on a shoestring budget.

I earn about £33,000 ($44,000) a year in my day job. Without the Marriott deal and school buses, it would have been extremely touch-and-go whether I could go. I would've found a way to go, but it would have left me in financial peril, far more so than I already am.

But it's worth it. For Scotland, Scotland fans, and Scottish people all over, this is a love story 28 years in the making.

• Russia wrapped a building linked to weapons production in anti-drone cages, satellite imagery shows.
• This type of protection is common for vehicles on the battlefield, though unusual for buildings.
• Ukraine said it struck the building with cruise missiles this week.

Russia attempted to shield a weapons production facility with anti-drone cage armor. Ukraine came for it with its new cruise missiles.

A satellite image, collected by the US spatial intelligence firm Vantor in late May and shared with Business Insider, shows a cage surrounding part of the VNIIR Progress plant in Cheboksary, located more than 550 miles from the front lines in western Russia's Chuvashia Republic.

Cage armor is common on the battlefield, often used to provide tanks and armored vehicles with added protection against drones. For infrastructure such as buildings and supply routes, anti-drone netting is becoming more widespread. Russia has used these nets to shield energy facilities, frequent targets for Ukrainian deep strikes.

It is, however, unusual to see cage armor wrapped around a building. Vantor said that the cage has been in place for at least a year. It's unclear when it was installed, though.

On Wednesday, Ukraine launched a major attack on the plant, which produces electronic components for Russian munitions, hitting it with domestically produced FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles.

It marked a rare disclosure of the use of the Flamingo, a 40-foot-long missile made by the Ukrainian company Fire Point, said to have a range of more than 1,800 miles and a 2,500-pound warhead.

Video footage captured at street level and shared on social media on Thursday showed significant damage to the caged building.

The Ukrainian military said that the VNIIR Progress plant is "one of the key manufacturers of navigation equipment for high-precision weapons of the Russian Federation," responsible for making satellite navigation receivers and antennas for Shahed-type attack drones, Kalibr cruise missiles, Iskander ballistic missiles, and glide bombs.

Ukraine also targeted an oil refinery in Russia's Samara region during the Wednesday attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said "we continue to apply Ukrainian long-range sanctions against Russian military facilities and the oil industry."

Ukraine has launched several attacks on VNIIR Progress over the past year as part of an effort to cripple the supply chain of critical parts that end up in Russian weapons. It's unclear to what extent the recent strike affected the plant's operations.

Conflict analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank, said the Wednesday strike — which follows an identical one in early May — "demonstrates Ukraine's increasing ability to sustain and intensify long-range strikes against key Russian military facilities."

The expansion of anti-drone cages and netting inside Russia underscores a growing concern about the efficacy of Ukrainian deep strikes targeting these facilities, strikes that may only get worse with the addition of new missiles into what has largely been a long-range drone operation.

Ukraine has been building up a proven arsenal of homemade missiles and drones for long-range strikes targeting weapons production factories, air bases, refineries, oil terminals, and other important sites inside Russia.

• Owning a pool can be quite expensive, but I'm glad we can host our friends.
• I've realized that the pool is the draw; I don't need to handle everything for our guests.
• When friends come for a swim, I ask them to bring a snack to share. It keeps costs down for me.

Seven years ago, we finally made our family's dream of having a pool in our backyard come true. Then, after several summers of enjoying splashing around in a cheap, blow-up pool, we had an in-ground saltwater pool installed, after agreeing we wouldn't be moving from our family home for the foreseeable future.

We had dreams of hosting family and friends. The kids would splash or play water basketball, adults could float and chat while keeping an eye on the kids, and, of course, we'd have snacks, plenty of snacks.

Now that we've been hosting our friends and family for a few seasons, I've learned that if I want to keep my budget in check, I need a little help from time to time. Sure, you can use my pool, but can you please bring some snacks to share?

Pools are not a one-time bill

Pools are expensive. We knew this going into things. There's the cost of the pool design and construction, and then there are the ongoing costs of things like landscaping and the continuous upkeep of the pump, chemicals, and yearly opening and closing costs.

Of course, once installing a pool, we had to find pool furniture, pool toys, goggles, swim caps, and floats. Each family member needed multiple swimsuits, and then we also acquired sun hats, sunscreen, pool sandals, and towels. Cha-ching.

I try to save where I can

I consider myself to be a fairly price-conscious shopper. Even buying most of our pool gear and attire on sale, there was no way of getting around pool ownership costs. All of our outdoor furniture was purchased at the end of the summer season on mega-clearance, for example.

We want to be amazing hosts, providing anything and everything our guests could want. However, we quickly learned that hosting costs made owning a pool even more expensive. We had to put some guest expectations in place, and fast.

Our guests don't mind the ask

Our dreams of hosting elaborate barbecues or even ordering pizza quickly gave way to understanding that kids get very hungry after time in the water, and we were already providing the venue and entertainment. Our pool is clean, surrounded by lounge chairs, and we have plenty of towels to share. I decided that the food needed to be our guests' responsibility.

When I issue pool invites, I always ask guests to bring "a snack to share." We also don't host pool parties during meal times, simply because no one wants to be cooking or grilling instead of enjoying the pool. They're welcome to bring whatever they want. I have a good friend who always brings an elaborate fruit-and-veggie tray, for example. Other friends show up with a large bag of veggie chips or popcorn.

I have found that despite my preconceived notions that I needed to provide the total package for our guests, giving them an unnecessarily elaborate experience, my guests had no problem showing up with a culinary contribution.

We have also hosted pool parties for our kids' sports teams. One time, we ordered pizza, and we asked each guest to bring $8 to cover the cost. Again, I was pleasantly surprised that no one batted an eyelash over contributing cash. Some of the teammates also showed up with drinks, chips, cupcakes, and fruit to share with the group.

I guess I was working too hard to make sure my guests didn't have to lift a finger when they came over to swim. I've had to adjust my mindset. I am not running a five-star, luxury resort. That's not what most folks care about anyway.

Summer swim time is about making memories, soaking up the sun, and having fun. An elaborate meal won't make-or-break that experience. Snacks — the ones you bring — are perfectly satisfying.

• Jennifer Lopez has also been acting since the 1980s.
• Her lowest-ranked films, according to critics, are "Gigli" (2003) and "The Boy Next Door" (2015).
• Her latest film, "Office Romance," is a hit with Netflix viewers.

Jennifer Lopez has been a triple threat since she showcased her dance skills on "In Living Color" in 1991.

A successful acting and singing career followed, earning her accolades and honors, including Golden Globe nominations, Grammy nominations, the Super Bowl Halftime Show, an Emmy nomination, and nine Billboard Latin Music Award wins.

While her acting career has had some high highs, there have also been low lows, at least according to critics.

We used Rotten Tomatoes to rank every Jennifer Lopez movie from worst to best. Here's how her filmography stacks up.

Ni'Kesia Pannell contributed to a prior version of this article.

39. "Gigli" (2003)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 6%

Lopez's worst film, according to critics, is also one of her most notorious. It's one of her three on-screen collaborations with her on-again, off-again partner Ben Affleck — though, by the time this film came out, the two were just one month away from calling off their (first) wedding.

In the film, Affleck plays a low-level criminal, the titular Larry Gigli, who is so unreliable that his boss hires another criminal, Ricki (Lopez), to help Larry carry out a kidnapping scheme.

"After the schadenfreudian thrill of watching beautiful people humiliate themselves wears off, it has the same annihilating effect on your will to live," wrote Jeff Giles of Newsweek.

37 (tie). "Feel the Noise" (2007)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 12%

Lopez has a small cameo in this film as herself, which she also produced. It stars Omarion as an aspiring rapper who moves to Puerto Rico to escape neighborhood criminals. Along the way, he meets his father, Roberto (Giancarlo Esposito), and falls in love with a young woman, CC (Zulay Henao).

"No one will mistake director Alejandro Chomski's 'Feel the Noise' for great drama. But there's an undeniable sweetness to the characters, the performers are highly appealing, and the music sizzles," wrote The Hollywood Reporter's Frank Scheck.

37 (tie). "The Boy Next Door" (2015)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 12%

In "The Boy Next Door," Lopez plays a single mom who has a regrettable one-night stand with her new neighbor, who just happens to be 19. If you've seen "Fatal Attraction," you can probably guess what happens next.

"Jennifer Lopez has serious beefcake issues in this lazy, low-budget, not-as-much-fun-as-it-should-be potboiler," wrote Tom Huddleston for Time Out.

34 (tie). "Jack" (1996)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 17%

Lopez worked with two greats in "Jack": its director, Francis Ford Coppola, and its star, Robin Williams. However, "Jack" was a low point in the careers of all involved. It stars Williams as a young man born with a condition that makes him age four times as fast as a normal human. Lopez plays one of Jack's teachers, Miss Marquez.

"Williams works hard at seeming to be a kid inside an adult body, and some of his inspirations work well. But he has been ill-served by a screenplay that isn't curious about what his life would really be like," wrote Roger Ebert.

34 (tie). "The Wedding Planner" (2001)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 17%

Lopez and Matthew McConaughey star as a wedding planner and one of her clients; however, it gets messy when Mary (Lopez) begins to fall in love with Steve (McConaughey), even though both of them are engaged to other people.

"If you took 'My Best Friend's Wedding,' showed it to a bunch of kids and then asked them to make the same film, they might come up with something like 'The Wedding Planner,'" wrote the Orlando Sentinel's Jay Boyar.

34 (tie). "Atlas" (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 17%

"Atlas" has an all-star cast of Lopez, Sterling K. Brown, and Simu Liu, but that didn't stop critics from tearing it apart.

"Atlas" takes place in a dystopian future where humans and AI have been fighting for years. Lopez plays Atlas, our hero who is dedicated to stopping the AI terrorist Harland (Liu), with whom she has a personal relationship.

"J. Lo may be fighting for the very existence of the human race, but there's nothing at stake between you and the screen," wrote Slate's Sam Adams.

32 (tie). "The Back-Up Plan" (2010)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 18%

In "The Back-Up Plan," Lopez plays a woman, Zoe, who has decided she is done waiting for the perfect man and is instead going to become a single mother via a sperm donor and artificial insemination.

Of course, right after making that decision, she meets Stan (Alex O'Loughlin), who seems like he's truly her Mr. Right.

"But by the time 104 minutes of off-putting pregnancy dramas are up, you may wonder if the film's goal isn't so much about entertainment as population control," wrote Anna Smith for Metro.

32 (tie). "Ice Age: Collision Course" (2016)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 18%

Lopez returned for her second "Ice Age" movie with "Collision Course," the fifth film in the "Ice Age" franchise.

In this film, her character, Shira, and Diego (Denis Leary), are debating whether they want to have kids, as saber-toothed tigers aren't the friendliest animals.

"The fifth entry in the 'Ice Age' series is a loud, lazy, laugh-starved cash grab that cynically exploits its target audience (I use the term advisedly) by serving them scraps and calling it yummy," wrote Peter Travers for Rolling Stone.

31."Monster-in-Law" (2005)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 19%

Lopez plays Charlie, who falls in love with the seemingly perfect Kevin (Michael Vartan), but, of course, there's a catch: His mother Viola (Jane Fonda) does not approve of Charlie and will stop at nothing to derail their coming nuptials.

"In a movie about diva-to-diva warfare, each diva is miscast," wrote Stephen Hunter for The Washington Post.

29 (tie). "Money Train" (1995)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 22%

Lopez has a smaller role in "Money Train," which is really a film about the unlikely bond between brothers John (Wesley Snipes) and Charlie (Woody Harrelson) as they decide whether to rob the "money train," the train used to transport subway revenue.

"Even if they only charged a token, it would be too much," wrote Hal Hinson for The Washington Post.

29 (tie). "Enough" (2002)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 22%

"Enough" is the story of an abusive relationship. Lopez plays Slim, a wife and mother who is being manipulated and abused by her husband, Mitch (Billy Campbell). Instead of giving in, she trains in Krav Maga to defend herself and her daughter, Gracie.

"The crassness of this reactionary thriller is matched only by the ridiculousness of its premise," wrote the BBC's Jamie Russell.

28. "What to Expect When You're Expecting" (2012)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 23%

Loosely based on the iconic '80s pregnancy guide, "What to Expect When You're Expecting" is an ensemble film in the vein of "He's Just Not That Into You" and "Valentine's Day." In Lopez's segment of the film, she plays Holly, who is in the process of adopting a child with her husband, Alex (Rodrigo Santoro).

"Those who don't have children would find it rather agonizing, while those who do might not wish to pay a babysitter for the pleasure of seeing a film about nappies and epidurals," Jenny McCartney wrote for The Telegraph.

27. "El Cantante" (2007)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 24%

Lopez and her real-life then-husband Marc Anthony costar in "El Cantante," a biopic about Héctor Lavoe, one of the most influential Puerto Rican salsa singers ever. Lopez plays Lavoe's wife, Puchi.

"There is something entirely dead about Lopez's performance. No matter how superficially lively she makes it, she is always simply mouthing the lines. Never mind Jenny from the block. Jenny is the block. Of wood," wrote The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw.

26. "Angel Eyes" (2001)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 32%

"Angel Eyes" is the story of Sharon (Lopez), a cop, and Catch (Jim Caviezel), the man she falls in love with — and a man she had a life-changing encounter with that neither of them quite understands.

"Together, Lopez and Caviezel make quite a pair. Sorrowful yet hip, they seem to be inventing a new mood: designer melancholia," wrote New York Magazine's Peter Rainer.

24 (tie). "Maid in Manhattan" (2002)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 37%

Perhaps one of the best of Lopez's rom-coms, "Maid in Manhattan" stars Lopez as Marisa, a maid at one of Manhattan's most expensive hotels. In a modern-day Cinderella story, she meets Chris Marshall (Ralph Fiennes), a man running for the US Senate … and lets him believe she's a socialite.

"The rags-to-riches plot should keep hopeless romantics happy, but you just can't help wondering what Hugh Grant, Sandra Bullock, and a team of decent joke writers might have achieved with this one," wrote Anna Smith for Empire Magazine.

24 (tie). "Ice Age: Continental Drift" (2012)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 37%

Lopez joined the "Ice Age" franchise in this film, in which she plays a female saber-toothed tiger named Shira who falls in love with Diego (Denis Leary).

"In the end, this latest 'Ice Age' movie is about as surprising and unpredictable as a glacier. And not much more fun," wrote Stephen Whitty for the Newark Star-Ledger.

22 (tie). "Anaconda" (1997)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 41%

In "Anaconda," Lopez plays Terri Flores, a director and leader of a film crew who has traveled to South America to film a documentary on a long-lost indigenous tribe living somewhere near the Amazon River.

As you can imagine, things are complicated when a giant anaconda comes out to feed.

"The monster looks like a maniacal garden hose in a couple of sequences. Still, it delivers the necessary thrills and chills," wrote Carol Buckland of CNN.

22 (tie). "Lila & Eve" (2015)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 41%

Viola Davis and Lopez star as Lila and Eve, respectively, two women who meet in a support group for mothers with murdered children. As Lila struggles to get over the death of her son Stephon, she chooses Eve as her sponsor, and the two become determined to solve Stephon's murder.

"'Lila & Eve' deteriorates into a tawdry shoot-'em-up whose screenplay takes an ill-advised surreal twist that propels the movie deep into the ozone," wrote Stephen Holden for The New York Times.

19 (tie). "Jersey Girl" (2004)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 42%

In Lopez's other collaboration with Ben Affleck, she has a small role as Gertie, the first wife of Affleck's character Ollie, who died in childbirth. The rest of the film is Ollie attempting to move on and be a better parent to their daughter, also named Gertie.

"Inspired by [writer and director Kevin] Smith's own awe and amazement at being a father, the movie is modest and entertaining, with a minimum of sentimental goo, and it demands little of us except a good-natured willingness to go with it," wrote Salon's Stephanie Zacharek.

19 (tie). "Parker" (2013)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 42%

"Parker" is based on the long-running book series of the same name, and stars Jason Statham as the titular character, a professional thief. Lopez plays Leslie, his accomplice in a jewel heist.

"We like you, Jason. You're perfectly acceptable in near-silent, pseudo-Asian action nonsense. But you, sir, are no Lee Marvin," wrote Donald Clarke for The Irish Times.

19 (tie). "The Mother" (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 42%

"The Mother" is one of Lopez's recent attempts at being an action star. She plays an unnamed government operative known only as the Mother, who, after becoming an FBI informant, decides to waive parental rights of her newborn daughter to keep her safe. Twelve years later, the Mother is once again targeted, and so is her tween daughter, Zoe, which forces her out of exile in Alaska.

"This is a come-for-Lopez, stay-for-Lopez endeavor, and she's on fine, movie star form in this serviceable, if forgettable action thriller," wrote Empire Magazine's Amon Warmann.

18. "Second Act" (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 44%

After being denied a promotion yet again due to her lack of a college degree, Maya (Lopez) enlists the help of her godson to redo her résumé — unbeknownst to her, he lies and gives her a Harvard degree. But the scheme works, and Maya begins to climb the corporate ladder.

"Even the boundless charms of Jennifer Lopez cannot overcome a mess of a script in 'Second Act,'" wrote Nell Minow for RogerEbert.com.

15 (tie). "Shotgun Wedding" (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 46%

Lopez costars with Josh Duhamel as a couple preparing for a destination wedding in the Philippines, whose party is hijacked when pirates hired by an ex-fiancé take the guests hostage. Darcy (Lopez) and Tom (Duhamel) must come together to save friends, even though they've been having doubts about their relationship.

"There is a serious theme under all the silliness: no couple is perfect. We all do things that other people, even those who love us, find annoying," Stephen Romei wrote for The Australian. 

15 (tie). "The Cell" (2000)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 46%

Bear with us; "The Cell" is a complicated film to explain. Lopez plays Catherine Deane, a psychologist who works with an experimental technology that allows her to enter the minds of comatose patients.

When a serial killer, Carl Stargher (Vincent D'Onofrio), falls into a coma with one of his would-be victims still alive (but missing), Catherine is asked to enter his mind to find out the location of Julia, the missing woman. But it soon becomes difficult for Catherine to differentiate between Carl's mind and the real world.

Slant Magazine's Jake Cole wrote, "The film at times feels like an assembly of images that strives primarily for visceral impact, throwing cohesiveness to the wind."

15 (tie). "Shall We Dance?" (2004)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 46%

"Shall We Dance?" is a remake of a 1996 Japanese film of the same name. In it, Lopez plays Paulina, a dance instructor and an object of fascination for John (Richard Gere), a lawyer who decides to take dance classes to stave off a midlife crisis.

"Offers attractive, inoffensive characters and a smattering of broad laughs, but it fails to use its potential to explore weightier themes such as John's mid-life crisis," wrote Amy Simmons for Time Out.

14. "Office Romance" (2026)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 51%

In "Office Romance," Lopez plays airline CEO Jackie, who falls in love with her company's new lawyer, Daniel, played by "Ted Lasso" star Brett Goldstein. However, Air Cruz's strict no inter-office-dating policy makes things tricky.

Scaachi Koul of Slate called it "saucy, silly, stupid, and fun."

13. "Home" (2015)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 52%

"Home" is the story of an alien, Oh (Jim Parsons), whose species has invaded Earth and moved the entire human race to Australia. However, one lone human girl, Tip (Rihanna), has been left behind and is frantically searching for her mom, voiced by Lopez. Tip and Oh must work together to get Tip home.

"Aside from Parsons' initially amusingly mangled Yoda-like English, which gets a tad repetitive, Home doesn't stand out as fresh or particularly funny," wrote Linda Barnard of the Toronto Star.

12. "An Unfinished Life" (2005)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 53%

Lopez costars with Robert Redford in "An Unfinished Life." In the film, Redford plays a gruff Wyoming rancher named Einar, who is estranged from his daughter-in-law Jean (Lopez). After years of no contact, Jean shows up at Einar's doorstep with his granddaughter, Griff, whom he didn't know existed.

The three bond and become a family, but not without some bumps along the way.

"There's a touching subplot about Redford's relationship with Morgan Freeman's crippled ranch-hand, and some nonsense about the capture and liberation of an enigmatic bear," wrote Mark Kermode for The Guardian.

11. "U-Turn" (1997)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 59%

"U-Turn" is a twisty thriller starring Lopez, Sean Penn, and Nick Nolte in a messed-up love triangle, each in a competition to steal the other's money.

"Penn turns in a crisp, unfussy comic performance, Lopez vamps like a scorpion in heat, Nolte sustains a pretty good John Huston impression, and [Billy Bob] Thornton is mighty peculiar as the mechanic from hell," wrote Time Out's Geoff Andrew.

10. "Marry Me" (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 61%

In one of the most delightfully unhinged rom-com premises of all time, Lopez plays pop star Kat Valdez, who discovers that her fiancé and fellow pop star Bastian (Maluma) is cheating on her just moments before they're set to get married onstage during a concert.

Like any sane woman, Kat does not call this off, and instead picks a random concertgoer to marry instead. Enter Charlie (Owen Wilson).

Mick LaSalle wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle, "'Marry Me' is so close to being really good that it's frustrating. Still, it's close to being really good."

9. "Blood and Wine" (1997)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 63%

"Blood and Wine" stars Jack Nicholson as Alex Gates, a wealthy Miami businessman who's up to his eyeballs in debt. To get himself out of the red, he decides to rob a client with the help of his mistress, Gabriela (Lopez), and his stepson, Jason (Stephen Dorff).

Variety's David Rooney called the film "amusingly caustic" and a "straight-up serving of film noir staples spiced with star charisma."

8. "Selena" (1997)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 67%

Lopez's breakout role was playing the iconic Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla, who, before her tragic murder at age 23 by a fan, was on her way to becoming one of the greatest crossover stars of all time.

Lopez earned her first Golden Globe nomination for this film.

"What makes this movie work is Jennifer Lopez's electric performance as Selena, capturing the charismatic aspects of Selena's stage persona and the essence of her maturity as a growing woman," wrote Duane Byrge for The Hollywood Reporter.

7. "Kiss of the Spider Woman" (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 75%

One of Lopez's most recent films is "Kiss of the Spider Woman," a musical and a film-within-a-film. It stars Tonatiuh as Molina, a gay man imprisoned for "public indecency" in 1980s Argentina. To pass the time, he explains the plot of his favorite movie to his cellmate, a political prisoner named Valentin (Diego Luna).

His favorite film stars Ingrid Luna (Lopez) as Aurora, a magazine publisher. In his retelling, Molina casts himself and Valentin in the film as well.

"The rockiness can drag some of the film's two hour-plus runtime, but there's something fascinating about the unusual, overstuffed, indefinable mess of it all," wrote The Guardian's Benjamin Lee.

5 (tie). "This Is Me… Now: A Love Story" (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 76%

"This Is Me… Now: A Love Story" is a film co-released with her studio album "This Is Me… Now" (which, in turn, was a follow-up to her 2002 album "This Is Me… Then").

In it, Lopez plays a fictionalized version of herself, only known as the Artist, who has been unlucky in love. Her then-husband, Ben Affleck, appears once again in a few scenes as a figure in her dreams.

"It's an absurd, chaotic, indefinable mess. I loved it," wrote Slate's Nadira Goffe.

5 (tie). "Unstoppable" (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 76%

"Unstoppable" is a biopic about NCAA wrestling champion Anthony Robles, who achieved the highest honor in college wrestling despite being born with one leg. Robles is played by Jharrel Jerome, while his mother Judy is played by Lopez.

"We're cheering for Anthony and his unwavering determination to reach the top. Rocky would be proud," wrote Richard Roeper for The Chicago Sun-Times.

4. "My Family" (1995)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 79%

Lopez has a small role in "My Family," a drama about three generations of one Mexican-American family, the Sánchezes, who live and work in Los Angeles from the 1930s to the 1980s.

"This Hollywood effort at unspooling this seldom heard American story is long overdue," wrote the Philadelphia Daily News' Mark de la Viña.

3. "Hustlers" (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%

Lopez received her second Golden Globe nomination (but not her first Oscar nomination!) for "Hustlers," in which she plays Ramona, the leader of a group of strippers who drug their clients and steal their money.

"The hard-boiled exchanges between the women have a genuine exuberance, recalling Hollywood movies of the 1930s where showgirls trade wisecracks backstage," wrote Jake Wilson for The Age.

2. "Antz" (1998)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%

The best-reviewed animated film of Lopez's career to date (and the second-best film overall) is "Antz," an animated film starring Woody Allen as Z, an anxious ant who is desperate for something more. Lopez voices Azteca, Z's coworker, who begins dating his best friend, Weaver (Sylvester Stallone).

"Visually striking and dynamically shot, this has strong characters and no shortage of incident," wrote Geoff Andrew for Time Out.

1. "Out of Sight" (1998)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%

The highest-reviewed film of Lopez's career is "Out of Sight," a crime thriller directed by Steven Soderbergh and costarring George Clooney. Lopez plays Karen Sisco, a US Marshal with bad taste in men. During a prison break, she meets career criminal Jack Foley (Clooney), and the two bond, even as Karen becomes determined to arrest him.

"The characters all seem to have known each other for years, referring to long-held grudges and resentments that only gradually are revealed to the audience. They're a seedy, petty, dangerous, and delightful bunch," wrote Michael O'Sullivan for The Washington Post.

Note: All scores were current on the date of publication and are subject to change. Films without critical scores were not included.

Editor's note: This story was originally published in October 2025 and most recently updated in June 2026.

• I spent eight hours on TikTok last weekend. That's about a full day of work.
• I got hooked on TikTok's "mini games," which it recently added to the app alongside micro dramas.
• It's an advertising play and a clever way to keep us glued to our screens.

I spent over eight hours on TikTok last weekend.

Why? I've been busy playing dozens of TikTok's new mini games — popping pimples, running an oil company, and giving very hairy women makeovers.

If I open TikTok now, within a few flicks of the thumb through the main feed, I'm getting ads for "TikTok Minis," one of the platform's recent additions that includes both micro dramas and mini games. Micro dramas, bite-sized soap operas (sometimes made using AI), have become a popular format on TikTok.

One selling point of the games: They can be played without ever leaving the TikTok app.

I got hooked.

What exactly are these games? They range from simulation games (like building a house) to ASMR-themed puzzles, though many are carbon copies of each other.

In one game, a grandma character is on a stripper pole, and the player has to "tidy up before grandpa's back." Another riffs on online dating themes of getting catfished, while others are more mundane cleaning tropes. I must have cleaned a dozen feet, ears, and bathtubs in my TikTok gaming bender.

The games — all of which are rated 18+ on TikTok — are made by third-party content companies (similar to TikTok's growing army of third-party micro-drama suppliers).

These games are part of TikTok's expansion into a super app. TikTok is now a shopping platform, a purveyor of soapy micro dramas, and even a travel agent that helps you book hotels.

The super app strategy is popular in China, where TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, is based. Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, has had gaming on its app since 2019.

TikTok isn't the only social media or entertainment company getting into gaming. LinkedIn, Netflix, The New York Times, and many more media companies have embraced games. (Business Insider also recently launched our own games.)

Companies are "adding games as a component to help increase engagement," Scott Purdy, a lead partner covering media at KPMG US, told Business Insider.

"A lot of it is now just part of the battle for attention," Purdy said.

Games are for fun — and ad revenue

These games could become an ad bonanza for TikTok.

Most of the time, I start playing a TikTok game after being served an in-feed ad for it. Then, while playing the games, there are ads in between rounds (which you can easily skip) and ads that unlock in-game perks like hints.

Game developers can earn some of the ad revenue from in-game ads, while TikTok keeps the rest. They can also boost their games using TikTok's Growth Max ads program. Some of the ads are shoppable, too, and leverage TikTok's native shopping tools.

Business Insider sister company EMARKETER estimated that US mobile game ad spending will hit $8.28 billion this year. The firm predicts that by 2030, the market will grow to $9.66 billion.

"The ecosystem for video game ads has been a little bit fragmented," said Frank Albarella, KPMG US's media sector leader. "Traditionally, there's an ad, you have to go to the App Store, you have to install the game, and then you play it."

TikTok is keeping that all in the family with its own market of third-party apps and ads.

"That really gets into a better experience for the user, more engagement," Albarella said, which can result in "better advertising performance."

Here's an idea for what could make it an even better, more engaging experience: a split-screen!

Imagine you're scrolling through TikTok, you hit a gaming ad, start playing the game, and can still scroll through the videos you came there for.

I'd play even more games if this were possible.

"It's probably coming," Albarella said.

• A US counter-drone task force tested a new autonomous counter-drone system at the border.
• The SkyValor system is capable of sensing and disabling drones at long ranges.
• The southern US border is becoming a proving ground for counter-drone systems.

A US task force focused on defeating drone threats recently put a new autonomous counter-drone system to the test at the US southern border.

The Joint Interagency Task Force 401, or JIATF-401, is an Army-led counter-drone effort created to help the Pentagon and other federal agencies move faster on systems for detecting, tracking, and defeating small drones.

The task force's recent test of a new system in southern Arizona proved successful, validating it for operational use as the task force builds its defensive arsenal.

According to a press statement, JIATF-401 and some of its partners evaluated the SkyValor counter-UAS system at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma in Arizona, near the US-Mexico border. SkyValor is a long-range platform that can autonomously sense drones around the clock.

SkyValor has a range of non-kinetic methods for countering drones, including electronic warfare. Non-kinetic, in this case, means that the system can disrupt or disable a drone without physically shooting it down. During the two-day test, JIATF-401 found that the system could detect, track, identify, and defeat small uncrewed aerial systems at extended ranges.

"During our visit to Yuma, we evaluated the SkyValor system against rigorous threat scenarios based on feedback from warfighters and border agents at the southern border," Jose Gonzalez, a Customs and Border Protection liaison officer embedded with JIATF-401, said. "Having an effective non-kinetic defeat option is a crucial component of strong, layered, counter-drone capabilities at the southern border."

These capabilities can be layered with kinetic options, offering more flexible response options. In Ukraine, where drones are a defining element of the modern battlefield, both sides use solutions that range from jamming to shooting drones out of the sky with shotguns.

The US is experimenting to find the counter-drone solutions it needs, and military leaders have identified the southern border as a "sandbox" of sorts for testing.

"If you're willing to bring it down to the southern border, we'll put it to use. We'll tell you if it works," Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander of US Northern Command, said recently, calling the border area a "literal and figurative sandbox."

A mixture of US agencies is involved in defending against drones at the US southern border, where the systems are seeing rising use in drug trafficking activity. DoD has been using the border as a testing ground for new counter-drone technology amid a broader operation involving mounted and dismounted military patrols.

JIATF-401, which replaced the Department of Defense's previous counter-drone force, has taken notes from the conflict in Ukraine and sought to accelerate the adoption of counter-drone capabilities across DoD and the federal government. It has also worked on a drone marketplace for partners and allies to buy a range of systems.

Drones lower the barrier to entry for surveillance and strike and represent a challenge in the hands of state and non-state actors alike. To meet the threat, the US is racing to field new counter-drone systems, but many aren't widely available or combat-proven.

Incidents and attacks, however, have added urgency. Hostile drones killed six US service members in Kuwait in March and three soldiers in Jordan in 2024. An investigation into the latter, obtained by Business Insider, found that the military was insufficiently prepared to defend against the threat. Efforts are currently underway to change that.

• This post originally appeared in the Business Insider Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

I'm not sure if you've heard, but a company is making its public market debut today.

The company is Elon Musk's SpaceX, and the debut is set to be historic. Thursday afternoon, SpaceX priced 555.6 million shares at $135 each, making history as the largest public offering of all time. The deal raised $75 billion for Elon Musk's rocket company and valued it at $1.75 trillion.

You can follow all our coverage on the SpaceX IPO here.

The high-profile nature of the IPO has sparked plenty of debate, but it ultimately boils down to a single question: Should you buy the stock on its first day of trading?

First Trade's Joe Ciolli and I are breaking down all things SpaceX IPO at 12:30 p.m. ET today. You can tune in here.

In the meantime, I broke down the points that supporters and critics are making about buying the stock on Day One.

Valuation

Supporters — Have you seen what investors are paying for AI these days? There are plenty of tech giants that looked expensive at the time, only to turn out to be a bargain. That size also means it'll be included in major indexes, in some cases almost immediately, which means lots of forced buyers.

Critics — $1.75 trillion is an astronomical number. According to one investing pro, SpaceX would need to grow revenue by 30x in four years to justify it.

Elon Musk

Supporters — When it comes to investing, I like having the world's richest man on my side. Bonus points for the fact that he's heavily financially incentivized to make this work. Will there be some ups and downs? Sure. But in the long run, Musk has been a good bet for Tesla investors on ambitious projects.

Critics — What about in the medium-to-short term? At Tesla, he's had a hard time landing some of its more grandiose plans recently. Also, you're not buying Musk circa 2016. This is a much more politically active and volatile guy. And don't forget the key-man risk factor.

The government risk

Supporters — NASA and the Department of Defense are key SpaceX customers. Government contracts are an asset, not a liability. Especially when it comes to literal rocket ships. That's not the type of thing a startup can easily spin up to compete with them on.

Critics — Musk's aggressive push into politics has ruffled plenty of feathers. Good luck navigating government contracts and regulations if and when the current administration changes and he's negotiating with less-friendly faces.

What even is SpaceX?

Supporters — Starlink might be SpaceX's key business line, but it's a lot more than that. Rockets? Satellites? AI? Social media? Whatever your preference, SpaceX has you covered thanks to its xAI acquisition earlier this year. And the beauty is that there is a lot of overlap, which allows for operational efficiency.

Critics — No, it's a Frankenstein's monster that's stitched together. If you're trying to be everything, you end up being nothing. Have fun explaining that to future investors.

Incoming IPOs

Supporters — Wait, you're giving me grief about SpaceX's valuation, but you're touting OpenAI and Anthropic? Have you seen those projected numbers? And who knows when they'll ultimately hit the market. In the meantime, I can mint returns riding the SpaceX rocket.

Critics — Buying SpaceX on Day One is like filling up on bread at the restaurant. The best stuff is yet to come. We've got OpenAI and Anthropic right around the corner. Why tie up all my money in the first big IPO out the door?

Pitching the "dumb money"

Supporters — Investing in SpaceX is about democratizing finance. Musk is allocating a lot more shares to retail investors than typical. He's trying to let the little guy in on the action! Mom-and-pop investors have shown out for Musk before, and often proven the "smart" money wrong in the long run.

Critics — There's an old saying, "I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member." Retail isn't getting access to this IPO out of the goodness of Wall Street's heart.

• My daughter Cameran and I had been close all throughout her childhood.
• When she entered high school and became a teenager, it was a new phase, and we drifted apart.
• We've finally reconnected, and now, we're friends as well as mother and daughter.

My daughter Cameran was an easy baby and an even easier child. She slept through the night and often carried a book at daycare, even while she was playing. Books held special meaning for both of us. As a toddler, she'd back into my lap and say, "Read a book," before she could form full sentences.

Our shared love of reading brought us together, making us both bibliophiles. People would comment, "She really is your daughter," as she went off to read. Our connection felt easy, an extension of interests and lineage. Our love of books grew into a shared interest in true crime shows.

This perhaps somewhat macabre obsession strengthened our relationship when middle school rolled around. With middle school came chaos: for her, friendship trouble, and for me, career changes. But each night we'd connect doing homework or watching "Criminal Minds." Our dark, biting humor made true crime a natural fit and another shared connection.

Each night she'd ask, "You ready to watch?" We'd grab snacks, sit together, and watch an episode. At the end, she'd say, "Let's just watch the beginning to see what happened." We made it through 13 seasons.

Our relationship changed over time, and growing apart hurt

High school brought a new phase. Cami started her freshman year during the pandemic. The transition was tough. She disliked online learning. When her school went hybrid, she struggled again to find her footing, jostling between home and in-person learning.

Those years were tough. We tried to stay close, but distance grew. Nights of "Criminal Minds" and daily check-ins turned into arguments and miscommunication. I worried about surviving the next few years.

Parents of adult children told me that the teen years were tough. Teens test boundaries. Parents push back — out of fear and love. Teens want freedom. We want them safe. Sometimes, those needs clash. They certainly did for us.

"They'll come back to you," a friend said. She had survived the teen years. "They mature." Her bond with her own daughter had deepened over time. It had become a friendship.

I held out hope, but each day, we navigated one issue after another. I was afraid things wouldn't work out for us as they had for others.

The other parents were right — they do come back

In her late teens, as my daughter moved from high school into early adulthood, our relationship evolved once again. Change came slowly, but we started talking more and spent several summer evenings gardening together.

It felt like she finally understood — I only wanted to help her. I realized something, too. Sometimes, she just couldn't let me. She had to experience things herself. Even if that meant making mistakes.

This year has been a turning point. As Cami gets ready to graduate with her two-year college degree, Friday movie nights are our new tradition. She brings her dog, and we cook, work out, and laugh together. Our bond goes beyond mother-daughter. We are friends.

When Cameran recently moved in with her boyfriend, we found even more to share — talking about jobs, bills, and life over the phone and at lunch.

Now that my daughter is preparing to leave for Arizona to finish her forensic psychology degree, I know things will change again. I'll miss our Friday movie nights, but I'm grateful we reconnected and became friends. I can't wait to visit for an Arizona movie night.

• SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell didn't rule out a mega-merger with Tesla.
• "That might make Elon's life a little easier, actually," Shotwell told CNBC.
• Analysts have speculated that Elon Musk could combine his two public companies after SpaceX's IPO.

The noise around a Tesla-SpaceX mega-merger is growing louder.

In an interview with CNBC that aired Friday, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said the two Elon Musk-led companies are working toward the same goals — and didn't rule out a merger in the future.

"That might make Elon's life a little easier, actually," said Shotwell, who has been SpaceX president since 2008.

"There's no question that there's synergies between Tesla and SpaceX in our futures, definitely, there's a convergence of a kind of what we're all trying to accomplish in the future," she said.

However, Shotwell added that right now she was focused on "keeping the lights on" at SpaceX and the company's ambitious expansion plans, rather than a tie-up with Musk's other major public company.

"I'm not focused on that part of the future, at least," she said.

Musk has hinted at streamlining his sprawling business empire for years, and the possibility of Tesla and SpaceX merging has been increasingly floated by analysts and investors in recent weeks.

The two companies have shared employees and board members in the past and are already collaborating on a $55 billion "Terafab" chip-making moonshot that will build semiconductors for SpaceX's AI satellites, as well as Tesla's robotaxis and humanoid robots.

Tesla has also integrated xAI's Grok AI model into its vehicles and made a $2 billion investment in Musk's AI startup last year, which was converted into a stake in SpaceX when the company merged with xAI in February.

Wedbush Securities analyst and longtime Tesla bull Dan Ives wrote in a note on Thursday that he expected Tesla and SpaceX to merge into one company next year. He argued that combining the two trillion-dollar companies would be the "holy grail" that would allow Musk to capture a significant stake of the AI economy.

Shotwell's comments came as SpaceX prepared to begin trading on Friday after raising $75 billion in the largest IPO in history. The rocket company was priced with a $1.75 trillion valuation, compared to Tesla's market cap of $1.25 trillion.

SpaceX's IPO means Musk is in the rare position of running two publicly listed companies.

The world's richest man, who is CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, as well as the founder of brain implant startup Neuralink and tunneling firm The Boring Company, has faced criticism from Tesla investors in the past for spending too little time at the EV giant.

Musk was awarded a gigantic pay package by Tesla shareholders last year that could be worth as much as $1 trillion if he meets a series of ambitious targets. The near-trillionaire also has a similar pay package at SpaceX, which hinges on the company establishing a human colony on Mars.

• Ukraine says drones have made parts of the front nearly impossible to survive.
• One official said the drone kill zone now reaches up to 50 kilometers in some areas.
• Zelenskyy has described it as a "death zone" where vehicles quickly burn.

The "kill zone" along Ukraine's front has grown substantially with the drone threat in some areas, a defense official said.

Davyd Aloian, the deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, said that "we have a kill zone in some of the areas, which is 50 kilometers."

He called it "a kill zone of drones, it's a dead zone."

Speaking at a drone summit in Latvia, Aloian said the "kill zone" is not that deep everywhere; it is often described as roughly 20 kilometers deep and growing. But where drone coverage is dense, he said, "any vehicles there, they will be demolished and destroyed in several minutes."

The kill zone is the area near the front where surveillance and attack drones are so prolific that soldiers, vehicles, and equipment are at much higher risk of being spotted and struck.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it a "death zone" where any tank, armored vehicle, or motorcycle that enters it "burns." He said that "everything is destroyed by drones."

The concept of a kill zone has long existed in warfare. These are areas where an army may find itself trapped or exposed, making it vulnerable to attack.

In Ukraine, the zone is different from past wars because drones have made it much larger, more persistent, and harder to avoid. It also spans a large area along a deep front that is under constant surveillance. It's not a space that forces can simply go around. It's at the very center of the fight.

Oleksandr Mischenko, Ukraine's deputy minister of foreign affairs, offered a slightly more conservative estimate. He said in Latvia that "drones have created a kill zone" that extends 20 to 40 kilometers. "Drones have fundamentally changed warfare," he said.

A drone battalion commander said in February that his unit had created a kill zone several dozen kilometers deep where almost any Russian movement was impossible.

The new descriptions show how much the zone has expanded. Zelenskyy said in August 2025 that the zone spanned 10 to 20 kilometers from the front lines.

Dmytro "Liber" Zhluktenko, a former drone pilot who is now a lessons-learned analyst with Ukraine's 413th Unmanned Systems Regiment "RAID," spoke to Business Insider about the kill zone on Wednesday, saying that "obviously it's getting wider."

Ukrainian soldiers told Business Insider in November that the front-line kill zone was expanding and that both militaries had moved high-value targets like artillery, logistics centers, and command-and-control nodes further back.

Analysts have also said the kill zone is expanding. Conflict analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank, wrote last month that it was an "expanding area" and described it as an area where "the saturation of tactical strike and reconnaissance drones poses an elevated risk to any personnel or equipment operating within."

The zone isn't an empty no man's land. Both militaries have positions within it, and small groups on both sides have also infiltrated the zone. It's just a particularly difficult place to hide in and rotate out of.

Zhluktenko said that he "wouldn't go as far as saying" that if you enter the kill zone, "you will get killed, 100%."

"Obviously, there are risks, and they are getting higher," he said. How close drone operators can go depends on the area and the mission they're conducting.

"There are people holding the line in there for a very long period of time. Sometimes they're even able to rotate," he said. "Let's just say that the risks get higher the closer you get to the direct front line." But ultimately, "it's still very dangerous. The possibility to lose human life is high."

The zone has come about as both sides saturate front-line areas with drones to stop the other from progressing. Zelenskyy described it as a tactic both sides are pursuing, saying of Russia that "they're doing the same thing we are."

Ukraine's defense ministry has called it a deliberate tactic, announcing last year that it was launching a large-scale project called "Drone Line" to create a "kill zone" where Russia could not advance without heavy losses. The project involved some of Ukraine's best drone units.

ISW analysts said that the kill zone has stopped both Russia and Ukraine from making major breakthroughs, with neither side able to mass infantry or heavy equipment within 30 kilometers of the front line to achieve an operational breakthrough.

Mischenko also said that the kill zone was "making large-scale offensives more difficult."

Large buildups of troops or armor are quickly spotted and attacked by surveillance and strike drones, making it difficult for either side to mass forces for a major assault.

Ukraine is making some progress here, though. It has managed to bring some mechanized equipment within the kill zone, ISW analysts said, calling it "a significant feat given that deploying mechanized equipment this close to the Russian drone kill zone was categorically impossible in 2025."

The overwhelming proliferation of drones has fundamentally reshaped the war in Ukraine, with Zelenskyy saying in March that his country's drones cause 90% of Russian losses at the front. The West is paying attention, wanting to learn as much as it can from the fight and investing in its own drone and counter-drone arsenals.

After seven years of tracking Prime Day pricing, testing products, and analyzing shopping behavior — and buying more than my share of actual deals — I've learned that behind the deal banners and countdown timers lies a game of digital chess, and, with the right strategy, you can score some memorable deals.

The real secret to navigating early Prime Day deals isn't waiting around for the official launch, it's out-shopping the competition by knowing which items have already hit their lowest prices, and which ones you should avoid until the sale starts. This way, you can unlock the exact moment the math swings in your favor.

After a deep dive on the pricing history of some of the most popular Prime Day deals and BI product recommendations, I've found three great early deals to shop now and 6 to wait for until Prime Day starts on June 23.

Buy now: 3 early Prime Day deals that are worth it today

Anker Nano Power Bank

Why it's in my cart: After seeing tech writer Tyler Hayes' review go viral, I finally understand why a solid power bank is a must-have for travel. The absolute game-changer is the built-in USB-C cable that completely eliminates the need to dig through your bag for a separate cord, and between the 45W fast-charging power source (enough to keep a phone, tablet, or compact laptop running) and the display that shows charging status. It's more than a battery pack; it's one of those rare gadgets that simplifies a routine instead of complicating it.

Why buy it right now: Anker pricing on Amazon is relatively stable, with this 10,000mAh model reliably sitting at a standard $59.99 retail price. I have seen it go on sale several times since Tyler's article took off, and it's currently $49.99.

The smart alternative: If you want a portable charger but prefer a design that snaps directly onto your phone for wireless charging, buy the Anker Nano Magnetic power bank instead. It features a magnetic design that's perfect for iPhone users who want to avoid cables completely and is frequently discounted.

Apple AirPods Pro 3

Why it's in my cart: The Apple AirPods Pro 3 are sitting firmly at the top of Business Insider's buying guides as the best wireless earbuds on the market. (Tech reviewer Tyler Hayes calls them "Apple's best AirPods.") While they run on the same H2 chip architecture as the previous gen, Apple has completely overhauled the internal airflow and acoustics. The real-world upgrades are clear: double the active noise cancellation, an on-device heart rate sensor for workout tracking, an improved IP57 dust and waterproof rating, and support for Apple Intelligence Live Translation. That said, some users complain that the updated fit isn't as comfortable as the previous model. Because it's an everyday-carry item, shoppers buy them in huge numbers once a discount hits.

Why buy it right now: The Apple AirPods Pro 3 retail for $249, but a pre-sale window brings them down to $179 (28% off). That's a solid deal worth buying right now.

The alternative: If you are buying replacement AirPods for a tween, teen, or anyone who has a habit of losing them, don't drop $200 on these. Put the standard AirPods 4 in your cart instead. They regularly fall to $99 on Prime Day and offer the same seamless iOS pairing.

FlexiSpot E7 Pro standing desk

Why it's in my cart: If you work from home like I do, a great standing desk isn't a luxury, it's preventative healthcare. I finally added the FlexiSpot E7 Pro to my watch list because the BI Reviews team flags it as the gold standard for WFH setups. Unlike many budget models that wobble at full extension, the E7 Pro's dual-motor frame is a total tank. It also adjusts smoothly and hides all your cords. I'm ready to see if moving more throughout my day finally fixes my afternoon slump and saves my aching lower back from my kitchen chair.

Why buy it right now: The WFH-friendly FlexiSpot setup is currently marked down 21% to $270. Since this price is already competitive for a dual-motor desk of this quality, there's not much benefit to playing the waiting game for Prime Day. Pull the trigger now rather than risking inventory sell-outs or delivery delays when the sale rush launches on June 23.

The smart alternative: If you already have a standing desk you love but want to be more active during the workday, skip the furniture swap and put your money towards a compact under-desk treadmill or a walking pad instead. Designed to absorb shock, the Goyouth 2-in-1 Treadmill is safe to use for both walking and running, with speeds ranging from 0.5 to 6 miles per hour.

Related: Is Prime Day the best time to buy a TV?

Hold off: 6 items to wait for until June 23

Yeti Rambler 20 oz. travel mug

Why it's in my cart: I am fiercely loyal to my Peace Corps-era Nalgene bottle, but trying to drink hot coffee out of a wide-mouth plastic bottle is a recipe for disaster. I'm not looking to start a collection of trendy tumblers, but I do need one rugged upgrade for my morning caffeine. If it goes on sale, I'll give the Yeti Rambler 20 oz. travel mug a shot because it's dishwasher safe, insulated enough to keep my coffee hot until lunch, and has a heavy-duty lid that seals shut.

The target price: Don't wait around expecting a 50% off Prime Day miracle. Instead, look for Yeti to temporarily slash prices on discontinued seasonal colors (like cosmic lilac or camp green) by up to 25%. If you see a color you like, hit that buy button, but do it before the inventory clears out.

The smart alternative: If you're not a member of team Yeti, try the Owala SmoothSip tumbler. It has an ultra-comfortable sipping spout, triple-layer insulation, and is currently sitting at a great baseline discount of $24, which is 20% off the usual retail price.

Tineco Floor One S7 Pro wet-dry vacuum

Why it's in my cart: I love my Miele canister vacuum, but hauling a heavy, corded machine — or a mop and a broom — out of the closet just to clean up daily messes is too much for a Type B like me. That's why I've got my eye on the Tineco Floor One S7 Pro wet-dry vac this year. Tester Alex Temblador rates it as her top-tier pick for hard floors because it clears dry debris and mops up spills at the same time. When you dock it, the unit flushes out its own roller brush, so you'll never have to touch dirty mop water again.

The target price: If you look at the verified product listing, the Tineco Floor One S7 Pro is currently sitting at a peak price of $599, the highest it's been in 30 days. This is the kind of pre-holiday pricing spike I mentioned earlier: anchoring a high baseline so the upcoming discount looks massive. Put it in your cart and wait for the algorithm to drop it closer to the all-time low of $399.

The alternative: If your home is mostly carpeted or your hard floor space is small, skip the Tineco and track the Bissell Crosswave Omniforce wet-dry vacuum instead. It has advanced features like hot-water washing and ultra-fast drying, and is versatile enough for routine kitchen, bathroom, and entryway messes. Plus, it's under $300 and already on sale for 17% off right now.

Medicube Booster Pro

Why it's in my cart: I've tested many of the viral skincare masks and wands that have dominated Prime Day over the last few years, and frankly, most of them delivered zero visible results. (The only skincare tech I've actually stuck with is my TheraFace mask.) Last week, I met Sir John — Beyoncé's former longtime makeup artist — at an industry event in LA. He's the creative director for Korean skincare brand Medicube, and when the guy responsible for the most iconic skin in music tells you a device is worth it, you listen. So I've added the Medicube AGE-R Booster Pro to my Amazon cart. Now that I'm in my 50s, I'm incredibly strategic about my routine, so I'm genuinely interested to see if the tool's deep serum absorption setting lives up to Sir John's hype and thousands of positive shopper reviews. Plus, it comes with high praise from our beauty reviewers.

The target price: If you check the Amazon listing for the Medicube AGE-R Booster Pro, you'll see it listed at $199, a modest 7% drop from its typical $215 list price. Don't fall for this early deal. If the price falls to the $130 to $150 range, buy it. Getting a clinical-grade K-beauty device at this price would be a steal.

The smart alternative: If you already know you lack the patience to spend time gliding a device over your face every night, stick with a hands-free option like the TheraFace Mask by TheraBody. It tackles antiaging goals entirely on autopilot.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 16GB

Why it's in my cart: I bought two of these last year during Prime Day to give as birthday gifts, and they were an absolute hit. As the most popular Kindle model on Amazon, it's my go-to recommendation because it's so lightweight, making it the perfect solution for reading in bed without the arm fatigue that comes from holding a hardback or even a tablet. It's truly a game changer for anyone who's a member of a summer book club.

The target price: Amazon consistently reserves its deepest price cuts for its first-party devices. During major shopping events, the algorithm routinely slashes the price of Amazon gadgets like the Kindle Paperwhite by 30% to 40% to drive ecosystem adoption. Buying a Kindle in the weeks leading up to Prime Day means paying more than you should.

The alternative: If you're not set on having the latest model, an older version of the Kindle Paperwhite is a solid alternative and will likely also be on sale.

Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro

Why it's in my cart: I need an air fryer, but my culinary skills are lacking, and my countertop space is at a premium. So I turned to culinary tester Jennifer Zyman, who just completed a massive round of air fryer testing, for her expert recommendation. Jennifer explained that this multi-tasking workhorse goes beyond the typical air fryer setting to toast, reheat, bake, roast, and even dehydrate a multitude of foods. If it goes on sale for Prime Day, it's coming home with me.

The target price: You'll rarely see steep discounts on this premium appliance, but it is possible we'll see it drop 15% to as much as 25% during Prime Day. That's exactly what happened during last year's Black Friday sales.

The alternative: Jennifer's top choice for best air fryer is the Cosori TurboBlaze, which is frequently discounted. The six-quart capacity is a good size for most households and a practical choice for everyday use.

Ninja Woodfire Grill

Why it's in my cart: When my host's fancy built-in propane grill broke over Memorial Day weekend, she pulled out a Ninja Woodfire grill to cook up our holiday hot dogs and burgers. I was surprised by how well it handled the task. It's much smaller than a traditional grill, heats up in a fraction of the time, and is significantly easier to clean. It's also the perfect size for a small backyard gathering or a quick weeknight barbecue.

The target price: Ninja is a staple brand for Amazon's big sales events, so expect to see this model dip into the $375 to $400 range over Prime Day.

The alternative: If you want the convenience of an electric grill but don't need the built-in smoker or smart app features, or you want to grill year-round, the brand also offers a 5-in-1 indoor grill for under $250.

Save it for later: 2 things I'm waiting to buy on Black Friday

Smartwatches and fitness trackers

Why I'm not buying it on Prime Day: I've learned the hard way that buying a smartwatch in the spring or summer often means paying full price for a device that will be considered "last year's model" by October. Because major manufacturers like Garmin and Apple typically roll out new lineups in the fall, there is a major incentive to clear out stock during the Black Friday season. I'm happy to wait a few months to snag a better deal on the latest model.

If you need it now: If your current tracker dies and you need a new one right now, consider the Fitbit Charge 6, which is currently 38% off at $99. The Charge 6 is impressively accurate in measuring heart rate, sleep stages, and step counts, rivaling more expensive wearables from Apple and Garmin.

Winter apparel

Why I'm not buying it on Prime Day: Right now, every online retailer is fighting for space to hawk cooling fans, hiking boots, and patio furniture. Investing in a heavy parka or specialized snow gear in June is a losing game. The selection is often picked over, and the prices are set for off-season clearance rather than holiday competition. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are when major brands like North Face, Patagonia, and Columbia launch site-wide sales that include their core, high-demand items, not just last season's leftovers. By waiting, I can ensure I get the specific sizes and colors I actually want rather than settling for what's on the rack.

If you need it now: If you've got a trip to a colder climate coming up, look at Amazon's Orolay sale section for reasonably priced outerwear.

How Business Insider covers Prime Day differently

Prime Day doesn't need more deals; it needs more context.

Every year, the internet is flooded with thousands of articles claiming to feature the "best" Prime Day deals. Many are built around what's trending in the moment, but our approach is different.

The BI Reviews team has spent years testing products, updating recommendations, monitoring pricing, and analyzing shopping behavior. We look at what readers click on — and what they ultimately buy. That's important because the products generating the most buzz aren't always the same products that deliver the most value. The Prime Day deals on our lists do both.

Everything on this list has earned its place for a reason. These are the products that have either been thoroughly tested by the BI Reviews team and featured in our buying guides, or products I have personally used and keep buying. They're also backed by real Prime Day shopping behavior, not just clicks.

I'll be updating this article regularly as Prime Day approaches and replacing predictions with real deals as they go live.

FAQs

What are the best products to buy on Prime Day?

Historically, some of the strongest Prime Day deals appear in categories like headphones, vacuums, kitchen appliances, bedding, and Amazon devices. These products often see larger discounts than they do during routine sales throughout the year.

Is Prime Day a good time to buy Apple products?

Yes. Prime Day frequently delivers some of Amazon's best prices on AirPods, iPads, and other Apple devices. Popular models often sell out quickly, but watch out for pre-sale pricing anchors. Check out our Prime Day hub to ensure you're getting the absolute best price.

Is Prime Day a good time to buy a TV?

It can be. According to BI Reviews tech editor Steven Cohen, Amazon Prime Day consistently offers excellent TV deals, but certain models get better discounts than others. Generally speaking, Prime Day is the best time to buy last year's TV models at all-time low prices before stock gets harder to find.

How can I tell if a Prime Day deal is actually good?

Start by identifying the products you actually want before the sale begins, then monitor pricing as Prime Day approaches. Amazon's Alexa shopping features can track products and alert you to price drops, but the most important step is having a plan before the discounts start rolling out.

Keep tabs on our Prime Day coverage to prepare for the huge deal event.

Follow our Instagram and WhatsApp channels for more deals and buying guides

• Dave Lewis spent more than a decade working across Google, Amazon, and Microsoft.
• After his second layoff in three years, he reflected on where the tech industry was headed next.
• Lewis shared his career journey and advice for navigating a challenging job market.

Dave Lewis had what it took to land jobs at some of the most sought-after Big Tech companies. But after getting laid off twice in three years, he found himself grappling with where he fit into the future of tech.

Lewis spent a decade at Google, was laid off by Amazon, rehired by Amazon, and eventually left for Microsoft — where he was laid off again.

After the second layoff, the Montana resident thought hard about what came next. He'd spent much of his career in roles that required regular travel, most recently as a sales executive at Microsoft, and wanted to spend more time at home with his family.

Lewis, who is in his 30s, also wanted long-term career growth. But with AI rapidly reshaping the tech industry, he knew finding the right path wouldn't be easy.

He kept coming back to one question: "How do I make sure that I'm optimizing my career search for the next five years of what the industry's going to be, not the five years that have brought me here?"

Over the past year, I've spoken with dozens of tech professionals like Lewis who have been laid off and forced to navigate a challenging job market. Many were affected by cuts intended to address overhiring during the pandemic and streamline operations.

While the broader labor market has seen slow hiring and low levels of firing, tech has been different. Workers are competing not only with a growing pool of laid-off professionals but also with recent graduates and currently employed tech workers looking for new opportunities.

Looming over everything is AI. While economists have debated what impact the technology has had on tech company layoffs and hiring, it's undeniably reshaping the industry — and influencing how workers like Lewis think about the future of their careers.

Why he left Google after a decade

Lewis said he was excited to join Google as a digital media manager in 2012 because it was one of the leading companies in his industry.

Years later, during the pandemic, Lewis and his wife moved from New York City to Montana — not ideal, as some of his largest clients had been just down the street from the company's New York City office.

At the same time, he was looking for a new challenge.

"I was working on individual, complex problems instead of large industry ones, which is where I do my best work," he said.

He decided the best move for his family was to stay in Montana and find a role that would support remote work. Amazon seemed like a good fit, and the role would help him grow, moving from an individual contributor role in sales into a broader product strategy role.

In July 2022, Lewis joined Amazon as a product lead. Less than a year later, he was laid off as part of Amazon's workforce reductions.

Amazon laid him off — and hired him back

Lewis stayed in touch with his former managers and colleagues who had also been laid off, and learned about a new team that was being formed. In October 2023, Lewis rejoined Amazon as a technical product manager.

"It was different getting hired back versus being hired new because I had some built-up goodwill, and people were familiar with my work," he said.

Earlier that year, Amazon had announced that corporate employees would be required to work from the office three days a week. When Lewis rejoined, he said he was expected to make roughly monthly trips to Seattle, with the understanding that the arrangement would be revisited after his first year.

Why he left Amazon for Microsoft

Shortly before his one-year mark back at Amazon, policy shifted to five days a week in office.

This time, it was clear to Lewis that his exception was going away. He and his wife discussed spending at least a year in Seattle while keeping their home in Montana, but ultimately decided it wasn't the best fit for their family.

At the same time, Lewis was looking for a new professional challenge. His team had reached many of the goals it set out to accomplish.

In January 2025, the same month Amazon's five-day office mandate took effect, Lewis left the company to start a remote partner sales executive role at Microsoft. While the role required some travel, it also offered a new professional challenge.

Ten months later, Lewis' role at Microsoft was eliminated. For the second time in less than three years, he found himself looking for work.

How he found his next role

Fortunately, Lewis had enough savings to be selective about his next opportunity. He spoke with a former Google colleague who had founded the AI startup Emberos, which helps businesses optimize their digital footprint for AI-powered consumer search.

Lewis was already interested in how AI was changing the way people find information online, and soon accepted a full-time position as head of partnerships. He said there is no office requirement for his role, though he expects to make regular trips to the company's office in Los Angeles.

After taking April off to welcome his son, Lewis started working full time in May.

For anyone navigating a layoff, Lewis said it's important to think carefully about what you're looking for before starting a job search.

"The market is drastically changing every day," he said. "Think about roles that leverage your experience, challenge you to learn more about emerging technology, and offer long-term growth potential."

Do you have a story to share about how you're navigating a career crossroads? If so, please reach out to the reporter via email at jzinkula@businessinsider.com, or via Signal at jzinkula.29.

• Ukraine initially developed heavier bomber drones to drop explosives on Russian positions.
• But as logistics missions near the front line have grown deadlier, bombers have begun taking on new roles.
• Ukrainian bombers are increasingly flying logistics missions, replacing human crews.

UNDISCLOSED LOCATION, Ukraine — The heavy bomber drone rose from the ground in a blast of dust and debris, its propellers whirring over the empty training range.

The drone, called "Max," was initially designed for a brutal battlefield task: hovering over Russian positions and dropping explosives. It can carry more than 90 pounds, enough to deliver a devastating blow.

But now its job is changing.

Like other drones made by Ukrainian manufacturer Perun, Max is increasingly being used for logistics missions, carrying supplies instead of bombs across a fiercely contested battlefield where vehicles, troops, and supply routes are under constant threat.

"Bombers are now being used more and more for logistics," a Perun engineer, who requested to be identified as Petro for security reasons, told Business Insider at the range at a secret location in Ukraine last month.

In Ukraine, drones are constantly watching from above, and soldiers have described the front lines as a widening "kill zone" that extends for miles on both sides. Here, any movement can trigger a fatal strike.

Ukrainian officials, recognizing the growing threat to humans, have set out to replace soldiers wherever possible with drones and robotic systems for dangerous logistics missions. The goal is for machines to eventually handle 100% of front-line supply deliveries for Kyiv.

Logistics missions without robots are becoming "simply impossible," Oleksiy Vyskub, Ukraine's first deputy defense minister, told Business Insider during a recent interview.

"There is a hell on the ground where everything is happening," he said, and Ukraine must get as many people out of there as possible.

New roles for bombers

Perun's "Max" drone is not the only heavy bomber being pushed into logistics work.

The "Vampire," another heavy bomber drone developed by Ukraine's Skyfall and introduced in late 2022, has also evolved into a multipurpose aircraft as Russian FPV drones increasingly threaten front-line supply routes, forcing Ukraine to turn to uncrewed systems to avoid putting troops at risk.

"That's where Vampire comes into play," a Skyfall representative, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive developments, told Business Insider, adding that the drone is responsible for "a lot of logistics on the front lines."

Soldiers and vehicles are still a part of these missions. "But when it's possible, the heavy bombers are being used to perform logistics," the representative said.

Petro, the Perun engineer, said roughly 70% of the firm's drone missions are still bombing runs, but the logistics share is growing. For the "Max," the company's largest propeller-driven drone, 50% of its missions are logistics.

"It's very effective for that role," Petro said.

He said the drone is faster and harder to destroy than the uncrewed ground vehicles, or UGVs, that Ukrainian soldiers are also increasingly turning to for logistics missions.

Ukrainian operators and manufacturers have said that UGVs have relatively short lifespans; some can survive only a handful of missions, depending on where on the battlefield they're used.

Some Ukrainian brigades still use the "Max" strictly as a bomber. It can carry defective 155 mm shells that are unsafe to fire from artillery barrels but can be especially destructive when dropped on Russian positions.

Still, the drone's share of logistics missions has increased thanks to its ability to deliver large payloads, such as ammunition and medicine, to troops, Petro said.

Heavy bombers like the "Max" or "Vampire" are a priority for Ukraine's military. Mykhailo Fedorov, the country's defense minister, told reporters last month that deliveries of these aircraft, along with a wide range of other drones, have increased significantly.

"If we compare what we delivered during the first four months of 2026 to the entire previous year," he said, "it is already a completely different scale."

Ukraine's growing reliance on drones and robots is one of several ways it is trying to protect logistics from Russian attacks. In some areas near the front lines, Kyiv has covered key roads with anti-drone netting, though Russian forces have still found ways to break through and strike vehicles.

• AI and tech CEOs are getting an earful from CIOs.
• Uber COO Andrew Macdonald raised concerns that big AI bills aren't delivering enough ROI.
• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that when he talks to companies, he's asked, "Where is the revenue?"

CIOs are worried their AI budgets are starting to max out with nothing to show for the costs incurred.

Uber COO Andrew Macdonald gave voice to the growing concerns when he said in May that he's yet to see direct improvements in line with AI spending.

The rise of budget consciousness stands in stark contrast to the freewheeling "tokenmaxxing" culture some companies adopted as AI agents began to spread. Many companies didn't adopt the leaderboards that made the initial wave of tokenmaxxing go viral, but AI costs are rising across the board.

Here is what tech executives, engineers, and analysts are saying about the brewing backlash:

Andrew Macdonald, Uber COO

Uber COO Andrew Macdonald set off a discussion about a potential reckoning over AI costs when he said the tech giant wasn't seeing productivity gains relative to its overall bill.

"That link is not there yet, right?" he told Rapid Response. "I think maybe implicitly there is more that is getting shipped, but it's very hard to draw a line between one of those stats and, 'Okay, now we're actually producing 25% more useful consumer features.'"

Macdonald's comments came after Uber CTO Praveen Neppalli Naga went viral for saying the company had already blown through its Claude Code budget for the year by April.

Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said it's a fair criticism for companies to ask where their money is going.

"I think this is the most fair contribution — criticism right now of AI, which is, you hear companies saying, I am spending a ton of money on AI," Altman told CNBC during an interview on June 1. 'And I know some great stuff is happening, but I know there's a ton of waste, and you know, when — how long do I have to wait for it to really show up in revenue, and how long do I have to wait to really get the costs under control?"

Altman said that he assumes the AI industry will "figure that out pretty quickly."

Previously, the OpenAI CEO said one of the negative things he hears from companies is that "people feel like they're being very productive," but they aren't seeing actual gains.

"'Where is the revenue, where are the actual productivity gains?'" Altman said during a recent virtual appearance at an AI event in Australia, according to Forbes Australia.

Jeetu Patel, chief product officer, Cisco

Cisco Chief Product Officer Jeetu Patel said the cost of tokens is not sustainable.

"Right now, what's happening, is the cost of tokens are far higher than the actual value these tokens are generating at scale," Patel said recently at a Semafor event.

Patel said the "risk" is what happens if the ROI doesn't increase.

"The big risk in the market is if you don't create an equilibrium there, then people just pull back on using tokens and that's actually not good for anyone."

Marty Kausas, CEO of Pylon

Pylon CEO Marty Kausas said his startup's AI bill is set to rise significantly because the number of seats it needs has crossed into Anthropic's next tier.

"Our Anthropic bill is about to jump from $400K → $1.4M/yr," Kausas wrote on X. "Not because usage exploded, but because we're about to cross 150 seats."

Kausas also shared other thoughts about token spending in general, including that for engineering roles, the extra cost is worth using the latest model.

"For a lot of other roles it's questionable," he wrote. "Apps nobody uses, skills someone already built. No ROI."

Kausas said people need to be vigilant about how they're spending tokens, saying he "accidentally spent $4,000 in 3 days in Claude Code." Companies are also likely to impose spending limits.

"We already require approval for more tokens on our support team," he wrote. "The era of token-maxxing is coming to an end."

Scott Galloway, New York University Stern School of Business professor

Scott Galloway said the current moment "feels like '99," as in right before the dot-com bubble burst.

"I'm waiting for the first CEO to come out and say, 'We have to get procurement involved, and we have to dramatically scale back our expenses here," Galloway said in late May during a live episode of the " Prof G Markets" podcast, which he cohosts.

Galloway said that it's likely "a traditional Fortune 500 company" starts the narrative shift.

"'Okay, this has been fun, but we have to dramatically decrease our AI investment, because we're not seeing the type of ROI we anticipated,'" Galloway said the company would say.

Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban said the issue isn't token spending.

"Companies have long failed at integrating new tech," Cuban wrote on X in response to a story about a CEO slashing token spending.

Instead, companies need to think about, "what can a competitor to start up do, as an ai native company to disintermediate them."

"It's the Innovator's AI Dilemma," he wrote.

Jason Lemkin, founder of SaaStr

Jason Lemkin, sometimes called the "Godfather of SaaS," said not all companies will be equal in a potential cash crunch.

" I do think we're going to enter a world where things are more and more bifurcated, and we will see folks who get more and more gains from AI spend," Lemkin said during an episode of the "20VC" podcast published on May 28.

Lemkin said companies "with well north of a million in revenue per employee" will continue to "tokenmaxx until there is no tomorrow."

"If you're already hyper-efficient, you will find more ways to use AI," he said. "The folks that are less efficient, that are larger organizations and more traditional, I think, as the year goes on, will become more skeptical, especially if prices go up."

Lemkin is the founder of SaaStr, the world's largest community of business-to-business founders.

Shruti Gandhi, General Partner at Array Ventures

Shruti Gandhi, a general partner at Array Ventures, said, "tokenmaxxing" firms sound like companies that would measure productivity by turning on all the lights.

"Spending more doesn't mean producing more," she wrote on X. "Most companies handing out AI access to employees have no real idea what it's being used for, whether it changed any outcomes, or whether those outcomes would have been the same anyway."

She said some companies "will get serious about understanding the ROI," but others will only realize too late that they should have paid closer attention.

"The bigger question is what tools we actually need to start figuring this out, because right now nobody really has a good answer," she wrote.

Richard Socher, CEO of Recursive Superintelligence and You.com

Veteran AI researcher Richard Socher said his company, Recursive Superintelligence, is punching above its weight thanks to its massive token spend.

"It feels like our small team is executing at a level that's like 10, 20x the size," Socher said during a May episode of the "This Week in AI" podcast. "Like we're having research results that I would have expected maybe teams of like hundreds of people to do, but we're teams of several dozens only."

Socher, who was previously the head of AI research at Salesforce, said he expected more startups to have a budget like his, where spending on AI compute exceeds what is spent on actual employees

Recursive Superintelligence is named after the idea that AI may eventually be able to improve itself. Socher said the startup's expenses are the reality if the company hopes to push the future of AI.

Gary Marcus, an AI researcher and professor emeritus at New York University

AI commentator Gary Marcus said that "agent hysteria" drove a lot of initial AI demand.

"Now the critical variable is whether these agents, which are expensive, pay off," Marcus wrote on X in May. "The cases of Uber and Microsoft, the frustrations of GeoHotz (who was all in), etc are possibly signs that the reliability and payoff may not be there for a lot of customers."

The AI industry is in trouble if other companies have the same experience as Uber, Marcus said.

"If enough other companies report the same, the bubble pops. 🫧," he wrote on X.

Michael Burry, investor of "The Big Short" fame

Investor Michael Burry, a frequent skeptic of Nvidia's valuation, has said the "tokenmaxxing" trend won't last.

"Tokenmaxxing is not merely heavy AI use, and it is certainly not sustainable AI use," he wrote in a May post on his Substack. "It is quota-driven, leaderboard-driven, management-mandated overconsumption."

Burry called the unrestrained AI spending a "crazy, rushed, temporary phase." He said it's simply unsustainable for the AI industry.

"Everyone is already using it, and many are using it as frantically and expensively as possible during this mass training phase."

Known for his massive bet against the mid-2000s housing bubble that later led to his Hollywood moment, Burry has become a frequent Substack commentator, where he expresses his views about an AI bubble. In the past, Nvidia has felt the need to push back on his commentary.

Akshat Bubna, cofounder and CTO of Modal

Modal CTO Akshat Bubna said it's hard for companies to know which tokens are simply a waste.

"Pretty sure 50% of internal token spend is completely useless, but right now it's hard to know which 50%," Bubna wrote on X.

Bubna said he would love to have a much better way to track usage.

"As an admin I'd love a dashboard that breaks down each person's spend into summarized clusters," he wrote. "Much easier to spend more when you can draw a clear line to value."

Sundar Pichai, Google CEO

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said he's hearing the concerns directly.

"I've heard anecdotally from a lot of CIOs who are so concerned about how much their companies are blowing through budgets," Pichai recently said at Google's flagship developer conference, I/O. "You can feel it talking to them. And, I think the problem is going to get worse as we go through the year."

Pichai's response isn't to dismiss the bean counters but to pitch them a more efficient AI model. He touted Google's Gemini 3.5 Flash, a model that the company said was "optimized for real-world tasks at a higher speed and lower cost."

"Even accounting for token use," he said, "Flash is remarkably cost-efficient."

• SpaceX priced at $135 per share as expected yesterday afternoon.
• Today is the main event: when shares actually start trading.
• Here's your guide to the key stats and storylines defining SpaceX's record offering.

I have to say … SpaceX's unorthodox decision to fix its IPO pricing ahead of time really sapped a lot of the usual fun out of the proceedings. But the offering is unlikely to stay predictable for long.

SpaceX offered an unprecedented chunk of shares to retail investors — the merits of which I debated earlier this week — and now we're likely in for the usual chaos and volatility that accompanies their presence in a stock.

In the meantime, as we (im)patiently await SpaceX's first trades, we can create our own fun by looking at the offering's most eye-popping numbers and compelling storylines.

Key figures

$1.8 trillion

The post-IPO valuation SpaceX will command once it starts trading publicly at a price of $135 per share. The previous most valuable post-IPO company in history was Saudi Aramco, at $1.7 trillion.

$100 billion

The total amount of SpaceX share orders submitted by retail investors, according to Bloomberg. Elon Musk and SpaceX went out of their way to make this IPO more retail-friendly, and day traders seem to have happily obliged.

$75 billion

The proceeds SpaceX will make from the IPO. Let's not sugarcoat it: this is the most lucrative offering in history by a long shot. For context, the next-closest is Saudi Aramco, which raised about $29.4 billion.

$5 billion

The size of the SpaceX IPO order from BlackRock, according to the WSJ. It nearly eclipses the $5.55 billion of proceeds that Cerebras — the previously biggest IPO of 2026 — raised across its entire offering.

Top storylines

Retail is going big. SpaceX allocated a larger-than-usual 30% of its IPO shares to retail. Fidelity lowered the minimum account-size threshold for SpaceX-hungry investors. Are we entering a period of day-trader euphoria, or will the "dumb money" be left holding the bag for institutions?

Cathie Wood's redemption tour. The Ark Invest founder and CEO rose to prominence through her successful bets on innovation companies, then went through a rough patch. Now she's roaring back, and her stake in SpaceX is her latest Elon Musk investment gone right.

The first too-big-to-fail IPO. To some investors, the pitch for SpaceX is simple: It's too big not to buy. After all, everyone will probably own a bit of SpaceX — at least indirectly — as it enters major indexes. It's coming to the Nasdaq in just 15 days.

Universities are raking it in. Elon Musk may think that college is "overrated," but that hasn't stopped endowment funds from making a boatload investing in SpaceX before its IPO.

Facebook as a cautionary tale. The tech titan's turbulent debut back in 2012 is an example of what can go wrong with a major tech IPO.

• Firms should focus on AI's business impact, not maximizing tokens workers use, an HR leader said.
• Rewarding AI use alone might not boost productivity or innovation, said Synthesia's Laura Gonzalez.
• More companies are taking a closer look at how workers use the tech — and discouraging tokenmaxxing.

Move over, tokenmaxxing.

Focusing on AI usage rather than what it delivers risks incentivizing the wrong efforts, said Laura Gonzalez, head of people at the AI video company Synthesia‍.

The better goal, she said, is impact. Her view aligns with a sentiment from a growing number of leaders that heavy AI use isn't necessarily a win for business.

Measuring software developers chiefly on token usage would be like evaluating a salesperson based on how many calls they made rather than how many deals they closed, she said.

"It's not the metric for success," Gonzalez said of token use. Instead, she said, companies should focus on the business impact AI delivers.

Rather than looking at how many tokens someone burns, a common metric for measuring AI usage, better questions include whether the tech is helping teams ship faster, prepare better for customer calls, or shorten the time it takes new hires to start making an impact, Gonzalez said.

Synthesia, based in London, develops software that lets businesses create AI-generated videos for training, marketing, and other purposes, so its workers use AI broadly across all roles, she said.

While the company doesn't reward workers for going wild with token use, it still wants to see them use the tech.

"We expect absolutely everyone to leverage and use AI when necessary internally," Gonzalez said.

A shifting tide

Not focusing on tokens marks a departure from the messaging at some companies, where leaders treated burn rates as an indicator of AI adoption. In some cases, leaderboards highlight employees generating the most AI activity.

Now, surging AI costs for some heavy users are prompting some bosses to rethink what they tell workers.

At Coinbase, AI usage spiked in February after Claude rolled out a new coding model. Now, the crypto exchange uses price caps from $500 to $5,000 a week, depending on a worker's level and job, Business Insider previously reported.

Marty Kausas, CEO of the customer-operations platform Pylon, said Wednesday that his company's annual Anthropic bill is set to jump from $400,000 to $1.4 million as it moves to an enterprise pricing tier. Kausas, who said he inadvertently spent $4,000 on Claude Code in three days, predicted that the era of tokenmaxxing is "coming to an end."

Gonzalez said cost concerns don't drive the company's approach to deemphasizing tokens. In January, Synthesia announced it had raised a $200 million series E round, valuing the firm at $4 billion.

Not encouraging going big on token use also doesn't mean forgoing innovation, she said.

"You can still have a culture of experimentation and providing people with the tools to go run with things without rewarding token maximization," Gonzalez said.

When tokens matter

There are still times, like during a hackathon, when the company has used a leaderboard to show token use. Yet those are the exceptions, she said.

The corporate push-pull over token use comes as many employers seek ways to incentivize AI use among their workers to boost productivity. In some cases, managers are using dashboards to track how much staff in roles like software development are using AI. In some cases, employers are considering AI use in how they evaluate workers.

Token allocations can still matter, particularly for new hires who might arrive with different expectations about access to AI tools.

Prospective employees might still want to understand which AI resources they'll have access to, said Jeff Hyman, a recruiter with about 30 years of experience.

He compared asking about token allocations to a question workers routinely asked in an earlier era: "Does the job include a laptop?"

Do you have a story to share about your token use? Contact this reporter at tparadis@businessinsider.com.

• Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities says the AI market is on the verge of a shift.
• He see it moving in a direction that will place higher value on enterprise data.
• The analyst named Palantir, Snowflake, and Salesforce as top picks poised to benefit.

One of Wall Street's biggest tech bulls sees a shift coming for AI.

Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities says enterprise data is the next frontier of the AI boom, and will create a new class of major stock winners.

"The data layer represents both the decisive constraint and the monetization unlock within the enterprise AI buildout while LLMs will become more commoditized over the coming years with the primary value driver of enterprise AI deployments across enterprises reliant on internal company data," he wrote on Thursday.

Here are Ives' top picks for the next chapter of the market's AI story.

Palantir Technologies

Palantir stock has struggled in 2026, falling 22% year-to-date, but Ives says he sees it as one of the best examples of the shift he's predicting: as a platform, it helps turn extensive enterprise data into actionable insights for other businesses.

"The company continues to see unprecedented demand for AIP especially across the commercial & federal landscapes, by taking AI solutions that solve mission-critical use cases at enterprise scale with shorter sales cycles, expanding deal sizes, and faster deployment/ ROI timelines," Ives noted.

Snowflake

Cloud-based data platform Snowflake is often overshadowed by higher-profile AI stocks, but Ives said that he sees it as uniquely positioned to thrive.

Put simply, Ives sees the advantage in Snowflake's platform, which enables users to switch between different AI models, rotating from OpenAI's ChatGPT to Anthropic's Claude or an open-source model without having to rebuild previous data pipelines.

Salesforce

During a December 2025 interview, CEO Marc Benioff floated the possibility of renaming Salesforce Agentforce after the company's wide-ranging AI agent platform, a part of the business that Ives touted as giving it a strong edge. He also highlighted the company's ability to capitalize on its installed base of 150,000 customers.

"Customers can then leverage Agentforce to create and maintain agents across the enterprise, which transforms AI from a threat into the company's most significant monetization catalyst and speaks to the massive TAM," he said.

MongoDB

MongoDB, a database provider, is another AI stock that has struggled in 2026 after a strong showing the previous year. But Ives still sees it as a likely winner of the next chapter of AI, highlighting its appeal to customers whose databases and older tech systems still can't effectively support modern AI tools.

Wedbush isn't the only bank to flag Mongo as a top AI stock pick. Bank of America recently added it to a list of top software stocks to buy before a later 2026 rally, making a similar case to Ives' thesis.

Innodata

The data engineering company has outperformed all other stocks on Ives' list in 2026, rising 98% year-to-date. It refines and processes data, enabling companies to learn from it, which has helped it carve out a niche in a lucrative area of the market.

"With AI moving rapidly from text to multi-modal to autonomous systems and physical AI applications, INOD is prepared to deal with the specialized data engineering and expert judgment required in each phase of the roadmap," Ives noted.

• A tech worker said a joke about stressful meetings turned into a data-backed workplace experiment.
• Pankaj Tanwar used his Whoop data and work calendar to rank which meetings raised his heart rate.
• The project is the latest example of a coding boom, where people build software for personal ideas.

What if you could see a leaderboard of the coworkers who stress you out the most? A tech worker has cobbled together a project that examines just that, leaning on heart-rate data from his Whoop health-tracking wearable.

Pankaj Tanwar, a Bengaluru, India-based tech worker, wrote in posts on LinkedIn and X that he connected his Whoop wristband to his work calendar, pulled per-minute heart-rate data, and matched spikes to meetings and attendees. In the posts, he said he now has "a leaderboard, and I think about it daily."

"We were all joking in a meeting about how draining some of them are," Tanwar told Business Insider in an email. "And it hit me, what if I could actually build something that tells me who's stressing me out?"

The posts include screenshots with some details masked, including a ranking of people or meetings tied to stress spikes. The screenshot suggested a senior developer had a calming effect on Tanwar, while a growth manager was a "prime suspect" for higher heart rates.

When asked if the results surprised him, Tanwar said: "To be honest, not really."

Tanwar's experiment lands amid a broader wave of people building quirky, highly specific software tools. Many new entrants have been using AI coding models to quickly produce new apps.

Tanwar — who has worked as a software developer, according to his LinkedIn — told Business Insider he used Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 and Claude Opus 4.8 to build his coworker stress app.

And he has a taste for other quirky side projects, too.

His personal website lists an assortment of other personal software projects, including a tool that tells airplane passengers which side to sit on to avoid getting baked by the sun, a Chrome extension that makes users scream "I'm a loser" before opening social media apps, and an AI bot that likes his mom's Instagram posts.

"I've got a ton of dumb fun ideas, some of them actually useful," Tanwar told Business Insider. "I mostly build because my brain finds it funny, and sometimes it ends up solving my own problems."

Right now, he says he's building a wearable that will send a small zap if he sits for too long.

• Stock volatility has surged as investors assess the ongoing Iran war and potential rate hikes.
• Equities have been resilient in 2026, but investing pros flag signs of volatility ahead.
• Technical signals in the VIX, tech-dominated gains, and more point to stock volatility ahead.

It's been a wild week of a trading for US stocks, but market pros say investors should get used to it.

Wall Street is seeing volatility resurface, with stocks rocked by a re-escalation in the Iran war and squashed hopes of any interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve in 2026.

The equity market has been surprisingly resilient in the first half of the year, but it's been far from a straight line up.

The S&P 500 has recovered from its Iran-war lows at the end of March and then some, climbing to fresh record highs nearly 100 days into the war.

The mega-IPOs from SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI are expected to add to mounting volatility risks as liquidity shifts and investors flock to the colossal offerings, but beyond the historic IPOs, here are four reasons stock market volatility could continue.

VIX technicals show signs more swings are coming

The Cboe Volatility Index, otherwise known as the VIX, is often considered the stock market's fear gauge.

In recent trading sessions the VIX has surged, seeing its largest year-to-date single day jump of nearly 40%, topping the volatility spikes during the onset of the war in Iran.

Piper Sandler's chief market technician Craig Johnson flagged that the VIX is above key levels, signaling investors are risk-off.

"The VIX rose by 11.8% after recapturing the 50-/200-day MAs, remaining above a critical resistance level of 20. Historically, a sustained level above 20 indicates an increase in equity volatility," he wrote.

Tech-led gains bump up against higher rates

Tech has been one of the top-performing sectors in 2026, second only to energy, which has been driven higher by the historic Iran-war oil disruption.

The outsize influence of tech makes the market all the more sensitive to higher rates.

The market has repriced its expectations for the Federal Reserve to lower rates, pricing in a hold or even a rate hike through the rest of this year, compared to two to three cuts expected at the start of the year.

The 10-year Treasury yield is around 4.52%, above the level often flagged as a negative indicator for the equity outlook, after surging on the onset of the war in Iran. The 2-year yield was at 4.14%, above the current Fed rate, supporting a potential hike.

"Technology stocks are sensitive to interest rates: Higher rates can have a greater impact on growth-oriented sectors such as technology, contributing to larger market swings," Cross Border Wealth explained.

AI spending sets up the potential for more swings

Within tech, AI spending has dominated the market narrative with Big Tech investing billions into AI.

The massive capex has fueled the AI trade on Wall Street and could contribute to heightened volatility.

Goldman Sachs analysts noted that AI spending is likely to exceed tech companies' guides, which implies additional upside for the earnings and stock price of AI infrastructure beneficiaries.

Earnings have dominated tech-driven market moves higher, with some flagging it's creating an AI earnings bubble, but recently valuations have expanded.

"Recent valuation expansion and positioning dynamics suggest additional volatility ahead," Goldman said, adding that the P/E of the median AI infrastructure stock has hit its highest multiple since the launch of ChatGPT.

They outlined, "Rapid price appreciation, elevated valuations, and crowded positioning in some slices of the infrastructure complex increase the risk of volatility."

Midterm election cycle signals a volatile road ahead

Historically midterm election years tend to be volatile for equities.

Since 1970, midterm years have a median return standard deviation of almost 16%, compared with 13% in other years, according to research from Capital Group.

The stock market does tend to follow what Piper Sandler called a "jump, slump, and pump" progression.

This cycle is consistent with a trading pattern that has emerged through Trump's presidencies, outlined by Jeffery Hirsch, a longtime market strategist and the editor of the Stock Trader's Almanac.

Similarly, Oppenheimer analysts highlighted a "sell in July for a big October buy" strategy that also signals stock volatility ahead.

• Kristi Edleson, a startup chief of staff, uses an AI version of herself to help with her workload.
• She said the hardest part is knowing when to do the work herself or outsource it to her AI agent.
• Despite relying on her AI chief of staff for numerous tasks, she refuses to let it handle finances.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kristi Edleson, a 34-year-old chief of staff at Yutori, based in San Francisco. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I work at a startup as the chief of staff, and my company's goal has always been to build an AI chief of staff. It's funny that when I took this role, I was signing up for that. I wasn't nervous about it, though; I actually loved the irony.

A chief of staff's role involves a lot of context switching, and I believe the AI product my company built focuses more on augmenting my skills than fully allowing me to hand things off. The product launched recently, but I don't see the agent as a replacement for my full role.

I think finding the balance of what lives in your head versus what you're willing to outsource is the hardest part of working with AI agents all day.

I'm the only non-tech person at the AI company I work for

I'd been working in recruiting for the past 10 years, and I wanted to make a pivot into something more operational. This role happened by chance spring 2025.

I knew the founders from when I was a recruiter at Meta, and they had a catch-all kind of position they wanted to fill at their startup. I don't think we had even named the job chief of staff yet. As conversations evolved, that's the title we landed on.

I never saw chief of staff as my forever role, but this job felt like one of the most high-impact operational roles I could get. Who better to give product feedback than someone who is living those tasks daily?

I'm the only non-technical person on the staff, and every day can be different. My job is basically anything the founders don't have time for. That can be daily operations, finance, HR, compliance, conversations with different vendors, negotiating contracts, and reading contracts.

I give the AI chief of staff agent my manual work

I have our AI chief of staff connected to all my work tools, like email, Slack, Linear, Granola, etc. So it can pull in all of that context and pick up the things that I forgot about.

The chief of staff agent also pulls from my calendar to alert me of what else is on our plate. From there, I decide which tasks I want to hand off.

Before AI agents, I'd see my task list and know I had to do everything on it. Now I ask myself: what items can I hand off to AI so I can find even more meaningful problems to solve? That means I also need to go find those problems.

One of the things that I like to do in the mornings is switch into voice mode, do a brain dump, and unload everything I'm thinking about in any order of chaos. I'm not someone who's super into having set prompts. That's why I love where agents are at, at this point. I don't have to be perfect with my prompts and can ask whatever is on my mind in a very imperfect way, and it will still work.

I like to challenge myself anytime there's something that feels a little bit manual. How can I have an agent do that on my behalf? That could be anything from drafting emails or Slack messages to having ChatGPT help design our office swag.

I like having reach over what the agent is doing, so it will draft items, like an email, but I approve most of them before it hits send. There haven't been any major mistakes from my agent, but I have this step in there to safeguard against mistakes the agent could make.

AI helps me negotiate vendor contracts and not ask dumb questions

One of the core parts of my job is negotiating with vendors for different kinds of technical infrastructure tools we need to run our models, like compute or inference. I'm non-technical, so I use AI to help me not ask silly questions in these meetings or slow down our timeline.

About 30 minutes before a call, I ask my agent, "What's the latest? What's the sentiment from the team on this tool?" It has my context for how we use certain tools, as well as conversations other teams are having about those tools in a public channel.

I go back and forth with it and sometimes ask questions that I would be embarrassed to ask the team. Then I'm able to show up in vendor conversations, have authority, and get the things we need.

I don't think AI can replace me for financial tasks and strategy mapping

I don't use the chief of staff AI agent for financial tasks right now, probably because I'm risk-averse, and maybe I'm overcautious. I think finances are probably where I, and a lot of people, draw the line. A bad email is annoying but easy to apologize for. You can't un-spend $500.

From a personal perspective of keeping myself sharp, I still like to write and handle a lot of tasks myself, then have agents gut-check them, especially anything strategic.

I like to have a mental map of everything I'm working on, and AI sometimes works faster than my brain can keep up. I'm working on how to keep all that information somewhere in my mind, even if it's getting less attention overall.

There's a lot of buzz about full automation or the end of certain roles, but I've been happily surprised by how much more empowered I feel as a worker now because I have access to basically the world's most patient tutor.

Do you have a similar story to share? If so, please reach out to the reporter at aapplegate@businessinsider.com.

• Kevin O'Leary is backing a massive data center campus in Box Elder County, Utah.
• The project has faced resistance from residents and local officials.
• O'Leary, however, says he doesn't "tap out" when projects become contentious.

Kevin O'Leary is not one to give up.

The "Shark Tank" investor, who also this year took a spin as the villainous businessman in "Marty Supreme," says that despite all the local resistance to his massive Utah data center, he's holding firm.

"I don't tap out. I don't even know what that means. That's never going to happen with me," O'Leary told Business Insider. "Everything I do has challenges. Every deal, every project — it's never easy."

Building a hyperscale data center, the kind that powers the products made by AI companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or Meta, is not easy these days. Numerous proposed data centers across the country have faced opposition, and dozens of towns and cities have either passed moratoriums, outright banned them, or are considering it.

O'Leary's proposed data center in Box Elder County, a rural area of about 60,000 people near the rapidly diminishing Great Salt Lake, is perhaps the most well known, thanks in part to O'Leary's celebrity status.

As soon as details began to emerge publicly about his data center campus, called the Stratos Project, Utah residents began organizing against it. The opposition crowded local planning meetings, circulated petitions, and recently filed a lawsuit to stop it.

The backlash got the attention of the state's governor and senate president, who both initially supported the idea. The two have, in recent weeks, issued new parameters around the development, making it harder for O'Leary to realize his lofty plans.

None of this has deterred O'Leary.

"There are bumps in the road. There's litigation. There's misinformation. There's propaganda. You name it. But if you know what you're doing is right, you make it, you get there," O'Leary said. "Persevere."

Sometimes called Wonder Valley, a reference to O'Leary's chosen nickname, Mr. Wonderful, the data center proposal initially spanned 40,000 acres. When fully online, that plan estimated the campus would have up to 9 gigawatts of power generation capacity.

That's gigantic. Most large-scale AI data center proposals are at their largest 1 gigawatt. Many of them are closer to 300,000-500,000 megawatts. O'Leary Digital and West GenCo LLC are developing the project.

In May, Box Elder County commissioners authorized a project area for the campus, eliciting furor among residents who oppose it.

In addition to its vast size, critics are worried the data center will have an adverse impact on local wildlife, water resources, and air quality. They've also castigated local officials and developers over what they consider a lack of transparency.

O'Leary says all those concerns are not based in reality. He, without providing evidence, blamed a Chinese disinformation campaign for stoking anxiety. The United States and China are in a race to lead the world in artificial intelligence. Data centers are a key leg of that race.

"For me, all roads lead back to China," O'Leary said.

O'Leary says the data center will create jobs and economic growth, and that the technology underpinning data centers — like cooling techniques — has advanced to the point that their environmental impact is negligible.

Despite O'Leary's efforts to change public perception of data centers, Utah's government has responded to local concerns. Gov. Spencer J. Cox signed an executive order at the end of May that established a "higher bar for data center development in Utah."

Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adam, meanwhile, called for a 75% reduction in the project area and other commitments in a letter sent to Digital O'Leary this month. O'Leary agreed to scale back the campus and adhere to other requests.

"We're only going to build 1.4 gigawatts to start, which is sort of like a test kitchen," O'Leary told Business Insider. The project was always planned to expand in phases.

"What's good about doing something small to start is you prove out your model, and you show the new technology at work, which is remarkably better than technology was in data centers 20 years ago," he said.

Although new parameters have slowed down O'Leary's plans, Americans will likely appreciate the more measured pace. A June Reuters and Ipsos poll said only 1 in 3 Americans approve of the "fast pace" of AI data center construction. O'Leary, however, says that a fast pace is necessary as America strives to lead the AI race.

"Ask yourself, can we build anything in America anymore, or is it always going to be someone telling us we can't?" O'Leary said. "I think those times are over — well, they have to be — because we're in a global competition, in an economic competition, in a military competition, and certainly a technological competition."

• There's been a lot of hand-wringing lately about AI token costs.
• There could be relief coming later this year.
• A wave of new technology may cause token prices to plummet. It may already be starting to happen.

I had lunch with the CEO of an AI infrastructure company recently. I can't tell you their name, but they said something that really caught my attention: There will be a crop of new AI models later this year that will be a lot better and more efficient.

This will likely make AI tokens more abundant and radically cheaper. (Tokens are the basic units models use to process information, and the standard way AI use is measured and priced).

Hand-wringing about tokenmaxxing could die down. Or, users could go on another bender and burn even more tokens with abandon.

Either way, the price of tokens is probably about to plummet. This is why we already see some AI model providers slashing prices, and other players talking about doing so.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently said AI costs had become a huge issue, adding that the startup will have "a lot of ways we can help people get more value for less spend."

This trend may already be showing up in the data. A closely watched token spending index run by Silicon Data peaked at around 2.06 in late May and fell to 1.75 as of June 10.

Carmen Li, the CEO of Silicon Data, told me this could mean token prices are dropping across many AI models.

Blackwell finally emerges

The main force driving token prices lower is a new wave of technology that's sweeping through AI data centers.

Nvidia's Blackwell GPUs are being installed in huge volumes right now. By the second half of this year, these systems, which are really supercomputers rather than chips, will be operating at scale, helping AI labs train new models and run them more efficiently.

These systems took a while to install properly, partly because they needed to be water-cooled and required other gnarly new data center setups. But the payoff could be huge.

50 x more, 35 x cheaper

SemiAnalysis, a respected AI research firm, compared Nvidia's top Blackwell system, the GB 300 NVL72, to Nvidia's previous system, called the Hopper HGX 200.

With the older system, each GPU generated 90 tokens per second, while the new Blackwell system generated 6,000. That's 65 times more.

These systems consume massive amounts of electricity, and the newer Blackwell offerings use even more. So SemiAnalysis also looked at how many tokens each system generated per megawatt. On this measure, Hopper churned out 54,000 tokens per second, while Blackwell generated 2.8 million. 50 times more.

Electricity prices are rising, due to all these energy-sipping AI data centers. So these days, GPU systems are assessed based on how much it costs to generate one million tokens.

SemiAnalysis tested this, too, and found that the older Hopper system cost $4.20 for every million tokens. The Blackwell system cost 12 cents. That's 35 times cheaper.

Again, new AI models will be increasingly trained and run on these new Blackwell systems as 2026 progresses. This is very likely to produce a massive increase in the number of cheaply-generated tokens.

This is why AI model providers will probably slash token prices: Because they can.

Sign up for BI's Tech Memo newsletter here. Reach out to me via email at abarr@businessinsider.com.

• Mark Zuckerberg says a handful of researchers can drive major AI breakthroughs.
• The Meta CEO made the comments while speaking on a recent episode of the "No Priors" podcast.
• He discussed the "hot market" for AI researchers and his and his wife Priscilla Chan's Biohub nonprofit.

The race for AI talent may be fierce, but Mark Zuckerberg says breakthroughs in the artificial intelligence world don't require armies of researchers.

Speaking on an episode of the "No Priors" podcast released Wednesday, the Meta boss argued that a small team of elite researchers can drive meaningful advances in AI, even as Silicon Valley firms shell out hefty sums to hire specialists.

"In order to make progress in AI, you don't need like many, many hundreds of AI researchers or thousands or anything like that," Zuckerberg said. "I think you can really make progress with a very strong group of a dozen or a couple dozen people."

Zuckerberg made the comments alongside his wife, Priscilla Chan, as the pair discussed Biohub, their nonprofit medical research organization, and its mission to use AI and biology to help scientists cure, prevent, or manage all disease by the end of the century.

The Meta CEO said that while AI researchers have plenty of career options, Biohub's work sets it apart from other organizations.

"It's a very hot market for AI researchers," the billionaire said. "They're very in demand, and can work on the things that they want to work on."

The AI researchers who work at Biohub, Zuckerberg said, "could go work on language models or things at any of the main labs, but those labs don't have the frontier biology part attached to it, so I think that there's like also just a very large mission component of this, which is like there's an ability to do this unique work here that you just can't really do at the other places."

"If that's what your focus is, then I don't actually think that there's any other organization in the world that's doing both the frontier biology and the frontier AI," said Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg said that thanks to advances in AI, he's "optimistic" that Biohub's quest could be achieved even sooner.

"It's a dynamic system. So, if you fix something, there will obviously be future things that you need to work on. So, I don't think that the current set of things that we're aware of are going to be the only things that need to get worked out," said Zuckerberg.

He added, "I think that the progress with AI is really, obviously, very exciting."

Still, Zuckerberg acknowledged during the interview that access to computing power remains limited.

"In terms of what you decide to do next, I think this is like a pretty normal process of constraint management," Zuckerberg said. "I think every lab in every field across the world probably feels compute-constrained. I think that's probably true here, too."

Meanwhile, Zuckerberg said the current AI moment has left him feeling a "combination of invigorated and exhausted."

• Rivian started deliveries of its R2 SUV on Tuesday.
• Its CEO, RJ Scaringe, said there are reasons why he didn't want the R2 to resemble Tesla's Model Y.
• He said he wanted to give American EV consumers more choice and set Rivian's products apart from Tesla's.

Rivian's CEO said he didn't want his latest R2 to look like the Tesla Model Y — for numerous reasons.

In a "Masters of Scale" interview released on Thursday, CEO RJ Scaringe spoke about Rivian's latest R2 SUV, which is its cheapest electric car yet. Rivian started deliveries of the car on Tuesday.

Scaringe mentioned two main reasons the R2 looks and feels nothing like the other affordable EV option in the US, Tesla's Model Y.

The first was what he called an "extreme lack of choice" for EVs under $50,000 in the US. He said Tesla's Model Y and Model 3 make up the bulk of the EV market in the country, which he said was a "reflection of a market that's wildly underserved."

Scaringe said that while Tesla's models are "great vehicles," customers need choices.

"Not everyone is going to want that exact shape, that exact form factor, that exact look. And so Rivian can do a part in that," he said.

The second reason he brought up was that he wanted R2 to be its own product. He said he's seen other players fail while competing with Tesla, by making "Model Y copies" instead of "having deep conviction around building a product that's linked to your brand."

"And the unfortunate thing about that is, if you want to buy a Tesla Model Y, you don't want XYZ company's version of a Model Y. You'll just get the Model Y," he added.

Scaringe previously told Business Insider that the R2 EV would be Rivian's "inflection point," shaping the brand's future. There are three versions of the car: "Standard," "Premium," and "Performance."

According to the automaker's website, only the "Performance" version, starting at $57,990, is now being delivered. The $44,990 "Standard" version will start delivery in 2027, while the $53,990 "Premium" will arrive later this year.

• South Korea's benchmark Kospi index rebounded dramatically to cap a roller-coaster week.
• Chip giants Samsung and SK Hynix powered a Friday rally in AI-linked chip stocks.
• The recent selloff may have helped cool excesses in the semiconductor space, KB Securities said.

South Korean stocks ended a turbulent week on firmer footing after a volatile stretch that underscored investors' sensitivity to swings in AI-related shares.

The country's benchmark Kospi index surged over 8% on Friday before paring gains to close the session up 4.6%, after President Donald Trump said the US was nearing a peace deal with Iran.

The rebound capped a rollercoaster week for one of the world's hottest stock markets. The benchmark index plunged over 8% on Monday as a selloff in US tech stocks rippled through Asia, before staging a sharp rebound and swinging for the rest of the week.

The Kospi finished the week down 0.5%, following a 3.7% decline the previous week.

The selloff hit the South Korean market particularly hard because of its heavy exposure to the global AI trade. The Kospi has more than tripled since the start of 2025, making it one of the world's best-performing — and most volatile — major stock markets.

As sentiment stabilized at the end of the week, investors returned to the semiconductor stocks that had borne the brunt of the downturn.

Seoul-based KB Securities said much of the valuation adjustment in semiconductor stocks has already taken place following the recent volatility.

"At present, however, much of that disparity adjustment has already taken place. This can be read as a sign that overheating in semiconductors has also largely eased," KB Securities analysts Euntaek Lee and Daeun Lee wrote in a Friday note.

On Friday, index heavyweight Samsung Electronics surged over 13% before closing 7.9% higher. Rival chipmaker SK Hynix, meanwhile, gained as much as 9.6% before ending 2.3% up.

• Mid-range drones, Ukraine's newest weapon against the Russian rear, are attacking bridges.
• One regiment said it attacked four critical bridges that Russia uses for its logistics in the south.
• Drone footage appears to show several bridges burning and damaged from repeated strikes.

Ukraine has been using new mid-range drones to attack key bridges supplying Russia's rear forces from the south, and battlefield footage appears to show the tactic inflicting significant damage.

The country's 1st Separate Assault Regiment said it carried out the strikes over the last week on the Armyansk, Henichesk, and Chonhar areas, the three chokepoints between Crimea and the southern front.

Bridges in those areas, situated between 50 and 75 miles from the front lines, have been critical to the Kremlin's logistics routes to the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

In several social media posts over the last five days, the 1st Separate Assault Regiment posted first-person-view drone footage showing uncrewed systems repeatedly flown into the bridge's surface from above. Some of the attacks were coordinated with the 475th Assault Regiment and the Security Service of Ukraine's elite Alpha unit, it said.

"The only way of delivery of Russian soldiers, ammunition, and fuel from the temporarily occupied Crimea was attacked," the brigade wrote.

The regiment said it used two types of mid-range drones: the FirePoint FP-2, with a wingspan of 18 feet and a 220-pound explosive payload, and the Hippo, which has a wingspan of 7.5 feet and carries a 77-pound thermobaric payload alongside 88 pounds of explosives.

Several of the clips showed at least two bridges burning, with their structures severely damaged in some areas. Business Insider could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage.

Pro-Russian authorities in the region, however, have confirmed the strikes. Vladimir Saldo, the Kremlin-appointed governor of Kherson, said on Thursday that the region's bridges in Armyansk had come under attack from at least 45 drone attacks.

"According to preliminary reports, some damage has occurred. Experts are conducting an inspection and assessing the condition of the structures," Saldo wrote in an update.

On Tuesday, Saldo also warned of roughly 20 drone attacks on the bridge servicing Chonhar, saying traffic there was closed.

His office later began suggesting alternative traffic routes to avoid areas affected by the strikes and said civilian passenger buses in the region would be halted due to a fuel shortage.

Mid-range drones are a rising new star in Ukraine's attack options, allowing it to strike Russia's rear areas and harass the Kremlin's critical supply lines. In past years, Ukraine instead damaged Russia's supply bridges by relying largely on sabotage or artillery systems such as the US-made HIMARS.

These drones fly further and hit harder than typical grenade-carrying quadcopters, but are cheaper to produce than the long-distance drones Ukraine uses to attack Russia's military-industrial base.

• Spike Lee says he'd give up one of his two Oscars "in a second" for a Knicks championship.
• A lifelong Knicks fan, Lee attended each of the first four games of the team's current Finals run.
• He attended the Knicks' first championship game in 1970 and has held season tickets since 1985.

Filmmaker Spike Lee says he'd trade one of his Oscars to see the Knicks win it all in the NBA Finals.

"I got two. I would trade the honorary one and keep the one for screenwriting for 'BlacKkKlansman,'" Lee said in an interview with CNN published on Thursday. "Trade that in a second."

The filmmaker also hinted he'd be willing to pass on one more movie with longtime collaborator Denzel Washington if it meant a Knicks championship. They have worked together on five films over more than two decades.

"Well, Denzel said publicly like he only has two more films and he's done," Lee said.

He added that the actor probably wouldn't take issue with his choice: "But Denzel understands why, he said already he's retiring."

Lee also recalled bringing Knicks jerseys to the Vatican after learning Pope Leo XIV attended Villanova University, the alma mater of three current Knicks players, including captain Jalen Brunson.

"I had two going to Vatican City. I gave him one, signed by me, and I gave him another for him to sign. It came back two months later, but it was signed," Lee said.

A lifelong Knicks fan, Lee has been a staple at Madison Square Garden for decades.

During the Knicks' current Finals run, Lee attended each of the first four games, making the trip to San Antonio for Games 1 and 2 before returning to Madison Square Garden for Games 3 and 4.

In a May interview with NPR, Lee said his father began taking him to Knicks games as a child. His father's lawyer, who held season tickets in the Garden's yellow seats, gave him the opportunity to attend the 1970 NBA Finals.

"He said, 'You go to the game.' I was at the Willis Reed game slash Walt Frazier game, where the Knicks won their first NBA championship," Lee said.

The game left such a lasting impression on Lee that he made a promise to himself. "So I said, Lord, if I ever make any money, I just want to get season tickets," he said.

Lee went on to do exactly that. He has held New York Knicks season tickets since 1985, per ESPN. In 2024, he was recognized as a SuperFan by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

The average ticket for a New York Knicks game can cost anywhere between $250 and $350, per Ticketmaster. As of Friday, StubHub listings for Saturday's Game 5 ranged from about $1,400 to more than $35,000.

• Modern cars now have software and sensors that are driving up repair costs.
• Independent repair shops say automakers have created roadblocks that bar them from fixing the cars.
• The REPAIR Act would require car companies to share necessary data with independent shops.

Popping the hood is no longer enough to understand what's wrong with your car.

As modern vehicles become computers on wheels, packed with software, sensors, and advanced driver-assistance systems, fixing them increasingly requires access to digital diagnostics, software tools, and manufacturer-specific repair procedures.

The REPAIR Act, or the Right to Equitable and Professional Auto Industry Repair Act, aims to create a nationwide auto right-to-repair standard that would require automakers to give car owners and independent repair shops access to the data, repair information, and tools needed to diagnose and fix cars.

Backers of the bipartisan bill, including the Auto Care Association (ACA), say the measure is necessary because newer cars have repair-critical data controlled by automakers. That means independent shops may be able to replace a part, but they still need original equipment manufacturer-specific software and data to finish the job.

Bill Hanvey, president and CEO of the ACA, told Business Insider that automakers are installing "gateways" in technologically advanced cars that make it difficult or impossible for independent mechanics to access the data they need to fix them.

The result, he said, is that consumers are forced back to car dealerships for some repairs, where the average cost could be 36% higher than at an independent car shop.

"These independent shops are up to speed, technologically, in terms of what needs to be done," he said. "It's just a matter of being able to access that data through the gateways that are installed by the automakers."

The CEO pointed to some newer vehicles in which replacing a battery is no longer a matter of buying and installing the part. The car's computer also needs to be updated or programmed to recognize the new battery, which would require sending the vehicle to a dealership.

These roadblocks come after independent shop owners have already spent "tens of thousands of dollars" on tools specific to each car company, Hanvey said.

More tech means higher repair bills

New vehicle technology, such as advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), has added to the cost and complexity of car repairs.

A 2026 report from CCC Intelligent Solutions, a software and data provider for auto insurance firms, said the average total cost of repair for vehicles six years old or newer was more than 50% higher than for older cars. Part of the costs includes work such as ADAS calibrations, with average fees estimated to be around $486, the report found.

The complexity of cars is already changing how repairs are done. Nikhil Naikal, CEO of Kinetic, a California-based repair shop specializing in sensor calibration, told Business Insider earlier this year that modern cars require a new kind of repair system.

"It's going to be more than just Jiffy Lubes and Valvolines," he said. "You're going to need a new kind of repair infrastructure that can actually diagnose and understand what's wrong with it."

Hanvey, the ACA CEO, said that the roadblocks OEMs put in place could also lengthen the repair process. In an ACA survey of about 700 independent repair shops, Hanvey said about half reported sending three to five vehicles back to dealerships each month after spending an average of four labor hours trying to diagnose them.

Supporters of the REPAIR Act say the matter comes down to protecting consumer choice, allowing car owners to decide whether to take their car to an independent repair shop or a dealership.

The right-to-repair issue has also recently received the attention of President Donald Trump. After a meeting with auto industry executives on June 4, Trump said it was "strange" for the leaders to propose barring people from fixing their own cars.

A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Automakers and dealers who have opposed broad right-to-repair proposals said that greater access to vehicle data and software could raise safety, privacy, cybersecurity, and intellectual property concerns.

Hanvey said the REPAIR Act addresses some of those concerns through a "parity model," meaning that whatever manufacturers provide their dealers should also be available to independent repairers.

The REPAIR Act is still far from becoming law. The legislation was voted on by voice in February to be sent to the full House Energy and Commerce Committee. It would need approval from the committee, the House, the Senate, and Trump before it's enacted.

• SpaceX's blockbuster initial public offering brings Elon Musk closer to a new milestone.
• At an IPO price of $135 per share, Musk's SpaceX stake is worth $688 billion.
• We did some napkin math to see what it would take for Musk to become the world's first trillionaire.

The world's richest man is rocketing toward a new milestone.

Elon Musk is getting closer to becoming the world's first trillionaire as his aerospace company, SpaceX, goes public at an astronomical price. At the initial public offering price of $135 per share, his SpaceX stock is worth $688 billion, bringing his total net worth to $971 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Before SpaceX's IPO was priced on Thursday, Bloomberg pegged Musk's net worth at $696 billion. His private stake in SpaceX accounted for the majority of that; Bloomberg calculated it was worth $426 billion based on a $1.03 trillion valuation. Shares in Musk's other companies — electric carmaker Tesla, brain-chip company Neuralink, and tunneling business The Boring Company — made up the bulk of the rest.

We did some back-of-the-napkin math to find out what it would take for Musk to reach the four-comma club.

All things equal, Musk's SpaceX stake would have to be worth $717 billion for him to become the first-ever trillionaire. To get to that point, SpaceX would need to hit a share price of $140.71 after it starts trading on Friday.

At the time of SpaceX's market debut, Musk will own about 39% of SpaceX's outstanding shares. He has the potential to unlock another 10% that vests if certain performance conditions are met.

Even without hitting the trillion-dollar mark, Musk is by far the world's wealthiest person. Google cofounder Larry Page is a distant second, with a net worth of $310 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Musk's net worth shot up 163% over the past year.

The jump largely reflects SpaceX's growing valuation. The company's value doubled from July 2025 to December 2025 after it was valued at $800 million in a secondary sale. That's before it merged with xAI, Musk's AI company, in February 2026.

Tesla's stock also grew, though not at such a dramatic rate. The electric carmaker's share price is up 22% over the past year, and Musk's stake is now worth $165 billion.

It's left him $29 billion shy of trillionaire status.

That's only a 3% increase to Musk's net worth — but about the size of Malta's entire gross domestic product.

• Justin Heiter was unhappy in his sales job, even after being named salesperson of the year.
• After he discovered FIRE, he focused on saving, and quit four years later to move to Buenos Aires.
• Now he writes novels, gives tours, and embraces a simpler life in Argentina.

My corporate sales job was sucking my soul out one call at a time. I'd drag my feet from one mind-numbing meeting to the next, asking myself: Why am I choosing this life?

After I graduated from college in 2016, I was unsure what I wanted to do. I bought a one-way ticket to Puerto Rico and traveled the world. I visited 12 countries that year and discovered how free I felt while abroad.

When I got back to the States, my brother got me an interview at the investment firm he worked at in Camas, a small city in southwest Washington. He was one of their top salespeople, and because we shared the same blood, I guess management assumed I might be cut from the same cloth.

I got the job

Every day was a never-ending grind spinning in an endless hamster wheel — my job consumed me.

I took my lunch breaks at my desk, and if a client called, I'd shift focus away from my sandwich to jump into my sales pitch. The work I put in eventually paid off, and I won the salesperson of the year award on my sales team.

Winning the award felt great, but I kept asking myself: Isn't there more to life than this? I remembered how free I'd felt when I traveled. I wanted to live abroad, but didn't know how.

I came across the finance blog Mr. Money Mustache, and learned about the concept of FIRE, and I got obsessed with it. I created a plan to escape my corporate job.

For the next four years, I made over six figures a year but lived on a quarter of that. My rent was cheap, I drove a 2002 Ford Taurus, and I stayed frugal by maintaining inexpensive hobbies like skateboarding and country line dancing.

My job offered a 50% 401(k) match. The catch? A 3-year vesting period, which stopped me from leaving. I stayed diligent in my savings and invested in the stock market. I grew my portfolio.

I quit my job and moved

I've been living in Buenos Aires for about four months, and the adventure so far has come with challenges. Making new friends and learning the language is difficult, but it makes me feel alive. I didn't change my life for things to be easier — I came to leave my comfort zone and reclaim that feeling of freedom I'd known many years ago.

The new friends I've made have kept me from giving up on my dream and returning home. I still get lonely, cry when I'm sad, and have awful days. But that's life; no matter what country you live in.

I'm constantly struck with a puzzled look on my face when someone speaks lightning fast Spanish to me. But I try to turn it into a game and stay excited about the struggle. I'm always reminding myself that the challenges I'm facing here are good for my growth.

There's more good than bad in Argentina

The people I've met have been warm and loving, and they've genuinely accepted me. Things happen spontaneously here. Like random dinners with strangers or singing karaoke with friends until 4 a.m. on a random Tuesday.

Now I spend my time writing fiction novels, guiding local tours in English, and cruising around on my skateboard.

The prices in Argentina are incredible. They fit well with my frugal mindset. I rent a one-bedroom apartment for about $750 a month. I avoid the touristy neighborhoods and can often snag a darn good espresso from a café for $1.43 or pick up an alcoholic drink for $2 from a shop.

I'm thankful I took the leap and left my old life behind. While I don't know what tomorrow will bring, I do know I won't have to make another sales call.

• Deezer launched a tool to detect AI-generated music in playlists from major streaming services.
• The AI music detector identifies audio signals unique to AI-generated tracks.
• Deezer said that 44% of all new tracks uploaded are AI-generated, with few streams.

That K-pop earworm you've had on repeat might not have come from Seoul. It might not even be human.

Deezer, the French music-streaming company, launched a free tool on Thursday that lets users scan playlists on its own platform and from competing services — Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and SoundCloud — to find AI-generated tracks.

You don't need a Deezer account to use it, but you will need to give the site permission to access your streaming service of choice. After a playlist is imported, the tool scans it for AI-generated music, highlights any tracks it flags as synthetic, and gives the option to share the findings. There's only one catch: you have to manually delete the suspect content yourself.

A spokesperson for Deezer told Business Insider that the tool detects frequency artifacts — small yet distinctive spectral peaks in the audio signal that are exclusive to generative models used to create AI music. Deezer said it developed the tool by studying songs created with popular AI music generators, including Suno and Udio.

Alexis Lanternier, CEO of Deezer, said in a statement that he hopes for the AI music detector to be an "eye-opening experience" for listeners.

"AI-generated music is now far from a marginal phenomenon and as daily deliveries keep increasing, we hope the whole music ecosystem will join us in taking action to help safeguard artist's rights and promote transparency for fans," Lanternier said.

The launch arrives as AI-generated music floods streaming services. Earlier in June, Deezer said that 44% of all new tracks uploaded to its platform are AI-generated, amounting to roughly 75,000 songs per day.

Yet listeners don't appear to be embracing the content at the same pace it's being created. Deezer says AI-generated music accounts for 1% to 3% of streams on its platform, and about 85% of those listens are tied to suspected fraudulent activity, such as bot-driven streaming.

Consumer sentiment may also be turning against AI music: An early 2026 report from music analytics firm Luminate found that between May and November of 2025, interest in AI-generated music declined from -13% to -20%, with Gen Z and Gen Alpha listeners showing some of the strongest signs of skepticism.

Most other streaming platforms either lack AI labeling or have largely relied on voluntary disclosure for AI labels.

For now, if you're wondering whether your next indie pop obsession was created by a person or a prompt, Deezer is here to do the detective work.

• Fake AI startup ads, created by two comedians, appeared briefly in NYC subway stations this week.
• A video they posted of the parody campaign generated millions of views across social media.
• The duo learned that one made-up startup's name belongs to a real AI company.

"What if forks were spoons? Cutlery.ai"

Those words appeared on an otherwise blank poster that was briefly pinned to the wall of a New York subway station this week. While its simple style resembled many other nearby ads for AI startups, there was one key difference: Cutlery.ai isn't real — and that's the point.

"It's so obviously nonsense, but it also does sort of feel like what a lot of these companies are saying to you," Dave Ross, one of two New York comedians behind the phony ads, told Business Insider. The other is Harris Alterman, and together they made and hung nine other posters like it throughout Manhattan's underground.

"1 +1 = ____. Dennis can tell you," reads another.

A video showcasing their shenanigans has since gone viral, racking up more than 3 million views across Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

"I take the subway all the time, and I'm constantly inundated with AI ads and tech company ads that make no sense to me," said Alterman.

Since Alterman makes parody content for a living, he said spoofing them felt like a natural move. He recruited Ross, a friend with a knack for turning comedy ideas into real-world objects, to help create the posters.

The duo has since learned that at least one of the fictional startups in their ads — Wireflow — is the name of a real AI company, which appears below a made-up slogan that reads: "You pay us, we pay you."

In response to an email requesting comment, Wireflow AI founder Andrew Adams said his company's software "can create these AI images at scale."

"We were so on the money that it happened to be a real thing," said Alterman.

The effort cost about $200, he and Ross said, and, due to the popularity of the ads, the comics have tried to monetize their creativity with T-shirts. They said they took the posters down immediately after filming the viral video showcasing them because they expected MTA officials to remove them. Eventually, they got caught red-handed.

"At one point during filming, they were like, 'hey, what the hell are you guys doing?' " said Alterman.

Both men said they have experience working in tech. Alterman, 34, was once a social-media director, while Ross, 43, spent several years as a web developer.

The success of the stunt has convinced the pair that more material may be lurking in New York's subway stations.

"This is a pretty deep well of comedy," Alterman said. "We could probably make a lot more of these."

• Jordyn Woods' orange bag has become a lucky charm for the New York Knicks.
• The bag is from her brand, Woods by Jordyn.
• Woods tied her product to a monocultural moment in a savvy business move.

When the Knicks won Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday, I immediately turned to my husband and screamed, "IT WORKED!"

I didn't mean OG Anunoby's miraculous tip-in that clinched the Knicks' third win of the series. I was, of course, referring to Jordyn Woods' purse.

Woods, who's engaged to Knicks player Karl-Anthony Towns, rarely misses a game. Lately, the $125 tux clutch mini from her Woods by Jordyn brand has also become a staple in the stands.

The bag made its first post-season appearance on April 18, when the Knicks beat the Atlanta Hawks in their first playoff game of 2026. Like any dedicated sports fan, Woods knew she couldn't mess with a winning formula. The bag has been a near constant in her game-day attire ever since, bouncing at her side through a 13-game winning streak.

Then, fashion tragedy struck. A no-bag policy at Madison Square Garden due to Donald Trump's attendance kept Woods from bringing the bag to Game 3 on Monday. The Spurs won, the Knicks' streak ended, and questions about whether the bag had something to do with it naturally followed.

People flooded Woods' social media pages with comments begging her to bring it to Game 4. She obliged, and the Knicks pulled off the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history to beat the Spurs 107-106 on Wednesday. The bag's power is undeniable to me now and, judging by Woods' comment section, to thousands of other Knicks fans.

Whether you believe in superstition or not, though, it's easy to see that Woods' decision to tie her clutch to the Knicks' success was a savvy business move.

A marketing play

Woods launched her brand in January 2023, selling shoes, jackets, jewelry, and, of course, handbags. It's not unusual for her to wear items from the line courtside, but her tux clutch mini is unique in that it seems designed specifically to appeal to Knicks fans.

Since she first toted the bag in April, Woods has been balancing natural excitement for the team with the messaging of her own branding when it comes to her clutch.

Woods initially voiced her superstition about the bag in a get-ready-with-me video on May 7. By the time Woods by Jordyn released the bag in the colors "Summer Citrus" and "212 Blue" on May 19, fans were already aware of its Knicks-related lore. The brand leaned into the superstition, using phrases like "Are you ready to get lucky?" in ads for the clutch.

Woods also didn't let Madison Square Garden's bag ban stop her from promoting her products, announcing on Monday that Woods by Jordyn created a shoe made from the same material, which she wore in the bag's place (to less effective results). The brand promoted the shoes as a way to "double the luck," further incentivizing Knicks fans to invest in Woods' line.

Now that the bag is allowed back into MSG, the brand is keeping the momentum going with a "lucky giveaway" of one of the "Summer Citrus" models.

The strategy appears to be working. Data from Similarweb, a digital market intelligence company, shows visits to the Woods by Jordyn website increased steadily from April to May during the playoffs. Average daily traffic in June is up 75% so far compared to May, though it's too early to tell if that will last for the rest of the month.

On Thursday, Woods by Jordyn also posted on its Instagram story that it was "overwhelmed with gratitude for all the love and support" it received for "Jordyn's lucky bag." It expressed appreciation for buyers' patience as preorders for the bag are scheduled, indicating sales are going strong. However, the brand declined to share any data when contacted by Business Insider.

Beth Goldstein, a Circana fashion analyst specializing in accessories, told Business Insider that Woods' handbag connects with buyers because of its "emotional storytelling."

"Handbags are deeply tied to identity and personal narrative, so positioning the bag as part of a winning ritual can really resonate with fans, especially since her line is fairly accessible price-point-wise," she said. "From a marketing perspective, aligning the brand with the Knicks taps into a passionate, highly engaged audience and gives the product cultural relevance in real time."

Still, Goldstein advised Woods to be cautious about making her brand feel too connected to the Knicks.

"If the product becomes too narrowly tied to a single team or moment, it can risk limiting broader appeal, particularly among consumers outside that fan base," she said. "But the link between sports and fashion is stronger than ever, so I think there will be runway for the brand to evolve."

As dogs age, they tend to sleep more and lose muscle mass, leaving less natural cushioning around their pressure points. As a result, they're more likely to experience joint pain. Many senior dogs also develop arthritis or sustain injuries that cause discomfort.

The best orthopedic dog beds help relieve the pain associated with these issues. These beds are made of resilient memory foam that offers even, medium-firm support to reduce stress on pressure points and joints. But it's not just senior dogs that can benefit from a supportive bed. Veterinarians say orthopedic beds are a smart choice for dogs of all ages.

To select the best orthopedic beds, we tested 22 popular options with a group of mostly senior pups who napped and lounged on each one for several weeks. We also asked veterinarians what features to look for in an orthopedic dog bed.

Read more about how Business Insider Reviews tests and researches pet products.

Our top picks for the best orthopedic dog beds

Best overall: Petfusion Ultimate Dog Lounge - $248 at Chewy

Best budget with bolsters: Bedsure Pet Orthopedic Dog Sofa - $45-$80 at Chewy

Best budget mat: Bedsure Pet Orthopedic Mat - $38-$50 at Chewy

Best stylish: Lay Lo Dog Bed - $140-$229 at Etsy

Best for small dogs: Big Barker Barker Junior - $160-$240 at Chewy

Best for crates: Big Barker Ortho Lift Crate Bed - $110-$230 at Big Barker

Best overall

Why this is our top pick: The Petfusion Ultimate Dog Lounge offered the best orthopedic support of all the beds we tested. Plus, it has an ideal bolster-style design and a super durable twill cover.

What our testers said: We tested the large size with a 45-pound Labradoodle and a 45-pound beagle. Both dogs rested comfortably on this bed and were evenly supported by the dense memory foam. Our experts say many dogs, like our Labradoodle and hound testers, prefer to have something solid to rest their backs against while they sleep. This bed's soft yet sturdy bolsters wrap around the sides and back of the bed and extend partially across the front, giving dogs plenty of spots to snuggle up or prop their heads.

The memory foam thickness varies by bed size. The jumbo bed features 6 inches of foam for added support, while the extra-large and large beds are 4 inches thick, and the small bed is 2 inches. The brand does not offer a bed in a size medium.

Aside from a small amount of pilling after washing and drying, the cover is extremely durable. It's also easy to spot-clean, and the waterproof liner does a good job of protecting the mattress from liquids and moisture.

Drawbacks to consider: Be warned that if your dog is a heavy shedder, loose fur can be stubborn to remove from the cover. A sticky roller left behind lots of fur, but the best pet hair remover, the Chom Chom Roller, got the job done. You can easily run the cover and liner through the washer and dryer, but it's somewhat difficult to weave the bolsters back into the cover.

Best budget with bolsters

Why this is our top pick: For an affordable bed with plenty of sizes and colors to choose from, it's hard to beat the Bedsure Orthopedic Dog Bed. It's rare for an egg crate mattress to offer sufficient support, but we found the 4-inch egg-crate foam mattress provided medium-firm support. In fact, it impressed us so much that we named it the top budget pick in our guides to the best dog beds and best large dog beds.

What our testers said: Even the extra-large size held up without sinking or sagging under the weight of a 70-pound English cream retriever. Her guardian moved it wherever she went, even outdoors, and she comfortably slept on it for hours at a time. While the bed is somewhat heavy, it's still fairly easy to carry because its dimensions aren't overly wide or awkward.

The cover held up well, and the waterproof liner protected the foam during our soaking test. Spot-cleaning the cover after we smeared it with dirt and peanut butter had mixed results.

Drawbacks to consider: We tested the bed in two different colors, and the cream top on the caramel version held onto some dirt. While the stain came out in the washer, machine washing wasn't as convenient as washing other beds. Because the bolsters can't be removed, you're left with a wet, bulky bed that takes longer to dry.

The liner's zipper also proved unreliable. On one cover, it got stuck after repeated use, and on the other, it fell off after two rounds in the washing machine. Still, given the bed's overall durability and affordability, we recommend it with the caveat to handwash the liner and handle the zipper gently.

Best budget mat

Why this is our top pick: If your dog tends to sprawl out rather than cuddle up against bolsters, the affordable Bedsure Orthopedic Mat will keep them comfortable. This bed offers more density and support than other mattress-style beds under $100. It's also available in several colors, textures, and sizes.

What our tester said: The eggcrate foam is only 3 inches high, except for the largest size bed, which is 4 inches high. While the thinner foam is less supportive than the other beds recommended in this guide, our dogs still took long snoozes on the mat, including two Leonbergers and a beagle. Typically, the Leonbergers took turns, but even when both lay on the bed together, they were quite cozy and evenly supported.

This mat outperforms the competition with a wide range of sizes and durable cover options. The top of the cover also has a waterproof backing to protect the foam from accidents. You can choose from a sherpa-like material or a quilted cooling cover. The cooling cover features polyfill between the top material and the waterproof backing, adding a bit more loft and comfort. Some options also come with a nonslip bottom, but not all, so read the description carefully before purchasing.

Drawbacks to consider: The sherpa material is difficult to spot-clean since debris can become embedded in the fibers. However, both the sherpa and cooling covers came completely clean in the washing machine. The zipper runs along two sides of the bed, so it's easy to remove the cover for washing.

Best stylish

Why it's our top pick: While the Lay Lo Dog Bed is one of the priciest orthopedic options, it's worth it if both quality and aesthetics are important to you. It features a two-layer foam mattress: an inch of cushiony memory foam and a denser bottom layer. You can choose from more than 20 attractive cover colors and prints, which are also sold separately.

What our tester said: It was easy for a short-legged 45-pound hound mix to step onto the 4-inch-thick size medium bed and circle around before settling in. While he gravitates toward bolster beds, we were surprised to see him choose this bed over other options on several occasions. It also has a nonslip bottom for stability on hardwood and tile floors.

The cover comes in neutral gray and ecru colors, bolder greens and reds, and prints like classic checker and houndstooth. The green grid cover we tested is made of a thick but flexible woven polyester that fits the mattress like a glove. Some of the other covers are made of recycled polyester and are textured rather than smooth. All covers have a fabric handle with a removable vegan leather wrap for easy carrying.

Drawbacks to consider: The cover readily absorbed the warm water we poured over it, and some moisture made it through the removable water-resistant liner. If additional protection is a high priority, you can purchase a waterproof liner from Lay Lo.

The bed passed our other tests with flying colors, from durability to ease of cleaning. However, when we reassembled it after washing, we had to take extra care not to catch the mattress liner in the cover's zipper. Be sure to compress the surrounding foam as you close the zipper.

Best for small dogs

Why it's our top pick: Among the best orthopedic dog beds, the Big Barker Junior has the most versatile design. The bed resembles a chaise lounge, with a curved bolster at one end that's just the right height for a smaller dog to rest their head.

What our testers said: We tested the size medium bed with a 10-pound chihuahua mix and a 12-pound terrier mix, and its firm core uniformly supported their bodies. The foam was resilient, too, bouncing back immediately after our tester removed heavy weights to test for flattening. So long as your small dog can climb onto a surface 4 inches off the floor, it's a great choice.

The microsuede cover was unscathed in our scratching, digging, and seam-strength tests. "This thing is durable with a capital D,'' freelance reporter Alex Rennie says. Big Barker even offers a 10-year guarantee because it's confident that the foam will retain 90% of its original shape and thickness for that long.

Peanut butter, dirt, and black tea were easy to remove with spot-cleaning with dish soap and water. However, with only machine washing, peanut butter left oil stains on the cover.

Drawbacks to consider: This bed is expensive (the waterproof liner itself starts at $50 for the size small).

Best for crates

Why it's our top pick: The Big Barker Ortho Lift Crate Bed is far more durable and supportive than a typical crate pad, making it a great choice for any dog who rests a long while in their crate.

What our testers said: A 45-pound beagle was well supported, and their guardian also lay on the pad and couldn't feel the floor underneath. The bed has a tough microsuede cover with well-constructed seams and zippers that aced all durability tests.

In testing, the two-layer foam core never flattened and filled back out less than a minute after we removed dumbbell weights that had been laid on it for four hours. Like the brand's Barker Junior bed, which we recommend for small dogs, this crate pad carries an unbeatable 10-year guarantee.

Drawbacks to consider: The cover acquired a "dusty" look after washing, drying, and regular use, which is common with microfiber. We discovered the cover had shrunk slightly after washing and drying, but we were able to reassemble it with a little extra effort.

The bed's price and height may be deal-breakers for some. You'll also need to purchase the waterproof liner separately. The 4-inch-thick foam could take away too much headroom from taller dogs unless their crate is very tall, while shorter dogs with limited mobility may find it difficult to step in and out of their crate.

The best orthopedic dog beds compared

What to look for in an orthopedic dog bed

The veterinarians we spoke with say there are several key features to consider. Here's what to look for when choosing a supportive orthopedic dog bed.

Materials and support: The reality is that brands can market their beds any way they want, and not all orthopedic foam is equal. However, what works for humans has been shown anecdotally to work for dogs, too. "The memory foam approach, which is used in a lot of human beds, has made it to the dog arena, whereby they show that the pressure is more evenly distributed over a larger area, so there's less risk of sores and it's more comfortable for the dog in general," says Dr. Joseph J. Wakshlag, a veterinarian and professor of clinical nutrition and sports medicine and rehabilitation at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.

The best orthopedic dog beds we recommend contain either polyurethane memory foam or what a brand may describe as orthopedic foam. If a bed contains lower-quality foam, it will break down faster and may feel flimsy or springy. You'll also want to look for a bed made with foam that's at least 2 inches thick. We've found that anything thinner lacks orthopedic support, no matter how small a dog may be.

Comfort: Both bolstered or flat beds are suitable options, but it's important to choose the design that complements your dog's sleeping style. Meredith O'Connor, a dog behaviorist and trainer, says dogs sort out to be side sleepers or flat-out stretchers on a dog-by-dog basis. If your dog is a side sleeper who likes to lean against something while they sleep or prop their head up while lying down, a bolster bed is your best bet. Flat beds are excellent options for dogs who sleep sprawled out with their head even with the rest of their body.

Ease of entry: Conditions such as arthritis and mobility challenges can make it difficult for dogs to get in and out of bed, but certain features can help ease your dog down to rest safely. Look for nonskid bottoms, reasonably thick pads that aren't too high to step onto, and wide spaces between bolsters so your dog won't encounter any obstacles climbing in and out of bed.

Durability: The best orthopedic dog beds can set you back some change, so a bed that flattens, gets worn looking from rounds in the washing machine, or is easily ripped or scratched open will not pass muster. Consider beds with a dense memory foam core protected by either a waterproof cover or liner. Covers made of polyester and cotton both held up well in our testing.

Water resistance and ease of cleaning: Since some senior dogs and those recovering from surgery are more likely to have accidents and other hygiene issues, we recommend purchasing a waterproof bed with a cover that is easy to spot clean and comes completely clean after a stint in the washer and dryer.

Sizing: To ensure your dog has room to stretch out, choose a sleeping surface slightly larger than their length measured from the nose to the base of the tail. Dogs with longer legs will also need a deep enough bed to accommodate them.

Return policies and warranties: We recommend beds with at least a 30-day return policy, but keep in mind that some refunds only apply to unused beds. The pricier the bed, the more likely you'll see a manufacturer warranty for defects. Before you buy, make sure to read the company's return, exchange, and warranty policies closely.

Certifications: Materials safety certifications ensure that some or all of the materials in a product are free of materials known to be harmful to people. Products with the CertiPUR-US certification contain polyurethane foam that is made without formaldehyde, ozone depleters, prohibited phthalates, mercury, lead, and other heavy metals. In addition, the foam has low volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions and is not treated with flame retardants, which contain carcinogens and other toxins. A polyurethane foam producer needs to meet the criteria set by the Alliance for Flexible Polyurethane Foam to receive certification. The certification process includes submitting test results and samples along with a fee of several thousand dollars. The OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 certification is given after a manufacturer submits to an application process that includes a fee. OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 signifies that every part of a product is free of various substances that may harm human health. To receive a Greenguard Gold certification, a manufacturer submits samples for laboratory testing to verify that they meet low chemical emissions standards set by UL Solutions, an international materials safety organization.

How we tested orthopedic dog beds

We've tested 22 different orthopedic beds with dogs of various breeds and weights, ranging from 6 to 15 years old and 12 to 180 pounds. Our tests cover comfort, support, durability, and ease of care.

Comfort and support: Looking for the best options in each design, we looked for signs that our tester dogs were resting comfortably over the course of several weeks. We observed how much time they spent on the beds and whether they appeared fully relaxed while resting or sleeping. We got on the beds ourselves to assess how much support and stability the foam gave us, especially for our lower backs. Lastly, we used barbells and loaded duffel bags to see if any beds failed to support or spring back into their original shape after taking on the load.

Regardless of the foam type, we evaluated each bed to ensure it conformed to our tester dogs' bodies to distribute pressure evenly.

Ease of entry: We assessed how easily dogs could enter and settle into the beds. While extra-high beds can work for taller dogs and may provide better support, the best orthopedic dog beds tended to be somewhat lower-profile beds that were still firm and supportive. If a bed had a bolster, we made sure the entry points were wide enough for dogs to get in and out with ease. We also gave higher ratings to beds with nonskid bottoms and cover materials that weren't slippery to help pets avoid any sliding or scooting.

Durability and ease of cleaning: By yanking on zippers, digging on covers with metal dinner forks, puncturing seams with scissors, and scraping bottoms with sandpaper, we looked for hard-nosed durability in these beds. We smeared the covers with dirt and peanut butter and poured black tea on them, to see which beds were easy to spot clean. Then, after machine-washing and drying the covers and liners, we reassembled everything and looked for any lingering spots, stains, or fabric changes. We gave the highest marks to beds that stayed both firm and plush over the course of many weeks.

Waterproofing: The beds we selected claimed to have waterproof or water-resistant liners, and we made sure to test this ourselves. After pouring a cup of warm water onto the sleep surface of each bed, we waited 30 minutes before checking to see if any moisture made it through the liners to the foam mattress.

Meet the expert behind this guide

Lisa Sabatini, pets editor: I kicked off Reviews' dog beds coverage in 2022, beginning with our guide to the best dog beds. Along with my senior hound, Homer, I tested three of the picks in this guide, including the Petfusion and Lay Lo beds and the Big Barker Ortho Lift Crate Bed. Cumulatively, Reviews reporters and I have tested 22 orthopedic dog beds. Over the past four years, I've also pored over the specs of dozens more options in search of memory foam beds worth considering.

Orthopedic dog beds FAQs

Are orthopedic beds worth it for dogs?

Yes. Orthopedic dog beds can benefit pups at any age — not just older dogs or those with joint problems. These beds are made with memory foam, which helps distribute a dog's weight more evenly when they're lying down, minimizing pressure on joints and sensitive areas. "It is a rather simple concept regarding pressure points,'' Wakshlag says. "Depending on how the dog is lying, it creates pressure over areas like hips and elbows."

In addition to providing comfort, a supportive bed can also promote mobility, which is likely to extend longevity and can also help with behavior issues, says Dr. Katherine Houpt, a veterinary behaviorist and professor at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine who specializes in domestic animal welfare and has studied the sleeping patterns of shelter dogs. "Resilience is very important,'' she says. "Dogs do not need or want to sleep on the linoleum. They need a cushioned but supportive surface."

What is the best type of bed for a dog to sleep on?

The ideal dog bed is made with memory foam or orthopedic foam that provides uniform, even support. Wakshlag says stuffed beds made with polyfill lack uniform support, which can lead to soreness at pressure points.

Houpt also recommends beds with bolsters. "If you look carefully, you will see they prefer to sleep with their backs against their owner, or against the back of the sofa, or even against the wall,'' she says. "Thermoregulation is another big factor, and the dog does want to be in a warm place. That may be another reason they sleep with the back against something, to protect against drafts."

What's the best type of bed for a dog with arthritis?

Orthopedic veterinarians at Colorado State University say that managing canine osteoarthritis involves a combination of strategies, including therapeutic exercises, pain medications, and weight management. Wakshlag says a supportive orthopedic bed made with memory foam can enhance recovery from therapeutic exercises.

What is the best bed for a dog recovering from ACL surgery?

A well-designed bed can support ACL surgery recovery, says Dr. Brian Collins, a senior lecturer in community practice service at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. He recommends beds made with memory foam or similar materials to provide stability, comfort, and support. These materials help a dog rest comfortably and provide stability when they climb in and out or turn around. Beds with bolsters can provide extra physical support, a feeling of security, and a comfortable spot for a dog to rest their head.

For added stability, choose a bed with a nonslip bottom, or at least place it on a nonslip surface. "It should be easy to get in and out of with a low border or an open side that the dog won't struggle to step over," Collins says. "The bed should be big enough for the dog to comfortably turn around, change position, and stretch out on." In addition, he says an easy-to-clean, water-resistant bed is especially important for providing a clean environment while the incision heals.

Whether you're lounging inside on a cold, blustery day or stepping out of the shower in the middle of summer, owning a good bathrobe is the most basic form of self-care. The perfect robe contains a few key details: It should be soft, no matter what the material, stay on securely, and be a length that isn't too short or too long (you don't want to trip over the hem). Finally, a robe should reflect your personal taste, whether you're into a basic white terrycloth or indulgent silk.

We've gathered the best men's robes and rigorously tested them through our own at-home routines to help you find the one (or more) that suits your style, needs, and budget. And if you're here shopping for Father's Day gifts, consider pairing a new robe with some at-home slides for a complete ensemble.

Another outstanding choice is Casamera's The Bathrobe, a hooded waffle-knit robe that combines comfort with breathability for a stellar wearing experience. Slip one of these robes on with your favorite pajamas and you'll find that even the worst days aren't so bad when you're wrapped up in comfort.

We conducted real-world testing by wearing the bathrobes in our everyday lives in various scenarios (after a shower, lounging, making breakfast, with and without pajamas), and putting them through the washer and dryer.

Read more about our testing methodology and learn how the Reviews team evaluates style products at BI.

Our top 5 picks of the best bathrobes for men

Best overall: Brooklinen Super Plush Robe

The Brooklinen Super Plush Robe is wonderfully soft and cozy without being unduly heavy. It's made from Aegean Turkish cotton, which is prized for its long staples and gives the robe added softness and resilience. The robe is Oeko-Tex 100 certified, meaning it's been third-party verified as being free from harmful chemicals, which is important on an item that gets daily wear and often sits against your skin. And you're going to want this robe as close to your skin as possible.

The Super Plush Robe is unisex and comes in a good range of sizes from XS to XXL. I'm 6-feet tall and weigh 175, and the medium fits me well. The robe ends at mid calf, the sleeves end at my wrists, and the front has plenty of room to stay securely closed. Still, if you're looking for a more oversized fit, I'd recommend going up a size. One somewhat unusual detail is that the two front pockets are on-seam AKA slash pockets, rather than the more typical patch pockets. I found these pockets a bit easier to access than those found on standard robes. The tie does a good job keeping the robe closed and isn't unduly long.

With more than a dozen colorways to choose from (various stripes and solids), you're bound to find one that speaks to you. With all these positives, the Brooklinen Super Plush Robe comes in at an appropriate price for what this robe delivers.

Best terry cloth: Lands' End Full-Length Turkish Robe

The Lands' End Turkish Terry Robe is super plush and absorbent, offering a true premium feel at a good price. After three years of use, this robe has continued to deliver. It remains soft and absorbent with no color fading and minimal wear (mainly just a few stray threads). This is a truly full-length robe, meaning it falls to the ankles on my 6-foot frame. Its fluffy shawl collar makes for a really warm experience after bathing.

The robe comes in three colors (charcoal gray, dark blue, and white) and sizes up to XXL. The medium fits well with a generous amount of overlap at the front without feeling too large, so you don't need to size up. Lands' End crafts this robe from substantial 14-ounce 100% Turkish cotton and keeps it reasonably priced. Maintaining this robe hasn't been too daunting; it's washed separately in cold water and hung to dry.

After all this time, I still couldn't find any downsides to this robe.

Best waffle knit: Casamera The Bathrobe

The first thing I noticed when slipping into the Casamera Bathrobe was how substantial it felt, yet at the same time how light and airy. That's mainly due to the honeycomb weave that makes this robe incredibly breathable. In my post-shower testing of the robe, it performed very well. It was both super absorbent and fast drying, with the oversized hood helping in the process.

This is a unisex robe, so keep that in mind when ordering. Casamera offers a good range of sizes, from small to XXL. I found the large had a slightly oversized fit with plenty of room for overlap at the front to keep it snugly in place. Its length — the large reaches mid-calf on me — and hood makes it a great three-season robe, but it might not provide the same level of coziness in the dead of winter as some of the other robes I tested for this article, such as the Brooklinen Super Plush robe.

Then there are the nice touches that make this robe even better, like the two oversized front pockets that let you store a book, tablet, or whatever else you need for lounging, whether at home, poolside, or at the beach. There's also a loop to hang your readers or sunglasses from.

One potential downside for some consumers is that the robe currently comes in only one color, a striking charcoal gray. That said, the robe's attributes outweigh a lack of color choices. Besides those already listed, Casamera uses a natural dye to achieve its color, uses sustainably sourced cotton and production methods, and is Oeko-Tex certified.

Best for showers: Italic Ultraplush Australian Cotton Bathrobe

At the heart of Italic's spa-quality Ultaplush Robe is the Australian cotton used to make it. Australian cotton, like both Turkish and Egyptian cotton, is a long staple variety and is renowned for being very soft and super absorbent. It's also known for the high sustainability standards used in its production. The proof is in this robe that lives up to its "Ultraplush" moniker.

Besides being well constructed (I found no errant threads or snags), the cotton fabric is a generous 420 GSM, meaning the material is nicely thick, but isn't overly heavy. I was able to make coffee and putter around the kitchen in the robe without feeling weighed down. This is a unisex robe, so take that into consideration when choosing a size. On me, size medium ends at mid-calf and has plenty of overlap at the front to stay secure and feel snuggly — there simply isn't another word to suffice. The hood is generous without being so large as to slip down over your face. Like many of the other robes I tested, the Italic is also Oeko-Tex certified.

The Italic robe is exceptionally good at drying the body. I've been using it as a daily post-shower robe without even toweling off (except my head and feet), and within a few minutes, I'm completely dry.

The only negative I found was that there isn't a lot of choice in colorways (currently one core and two seasonal colorways are available), but it's a quibble for what this robe offers by way of comfort and performance.

Best linen: Rough Linen St. Barts Linen Robe

Rough Linen's St. Barts robe is hand-cut and sewn in California from linen made from 100% European flax, and has a minimalist aesthetic. The robe is well-designed and executed with no flaws or loose threads. Don't be fooled by the name, the soft linen fabric is anything but rough (the name is related to the material's raw authenticity, not the handfeel). It feels cool and smooth against the skin with great breathability.

It's already soft, but one of linen's qualities is that it actually gets softer over time and with its

190 GSM fabric, it's heavy enough to be strong and durable, but still light and airy enough for summer wear. Post shower, I found the robe to be surprisingly absorbent and quick drying. The size medium has an oversized fit with plenty of room at the front to keep the robe closed. I recommend sizing down if you're looking for a more fitted feel.

Linen is considered one of the most sustainable fabrics because the flax plant is far less thirsty than cotton, typically doesn't require pesticides to grow, and is all-natural. Relatedly, the company makes each piece to order, which is a much more sustainable model, but it means you won't get the robe for two to three weeks. In my opinion, it's worth the wait.

Best silk: Lilysilk Kimono Silk Robe

Lilysilk's Kimono Silk Robe is incredibly smooth, with a brilliant sheen from the brand's signature silk Charmeuse fabric, made from super high-quality grade 6A mulberry silk. The fabric is 22 momme, a standard Japanese measure for silk, with a higher number indicating it's dense and durable without being overly heavy. Lilysilk's silk comes from Bombyx mori silkworms that are bred in captivity and eat only mulberry leaves. Additionally, the fabric is Oeko-Tex 100 certified.

On close inspection, I found no flaws, loose threads, or other imperfections. Besides the quality of the silk, the company uses French seams, another testament to its quality, which helps prevent fraying. The robe has a nice weight, not too heavy, but still drapes nicely, and is very breathable.

The robe's length is mid-calf and features Kimono-style sleeves that are wider at the cuff than typical robes and end at the mid-forearm on me. Kimono-style robes can offer greater ease of movement and ventilation. There's also an interior tie that helps keep the robe securely closed.

It's also machine washable. The dye bled a bit in the first wash, so be sure to wash it separately in cold water and then line-dry. There was no discernible shrinkage. The robe comes in four colors, with the claret colorway being a real standout, especially contrasted with the white piping. The robe feels very indulgent but still comes in at well under $300.

Best for warmth: Luxome Ultra Plush Robe

Everything about the Luxome Ulta Plush Robe is built for warmth and comfort, from the super fluffy polyester-bamboo viscose fabric to its ankle length, to its generous cut. Then there are the additional details that make it an even better garment: extra deep pockets, an interior tie to keep the robe even more snug, and a long tie that also helps keep the robe secure.

The Luxome robe really excels at keeping you warm without being heavy on your body. It's much lighter than many of the other robes I've tested, but it is equally, if not more, cozy. I've stepped my dog out to do his business wearing this robe on mornings when it was 20 to 30 degrees F, without feeling noticeably chilly.

The only downside I can find is that it's not as absorbent as some of the cotton robes I've tested. I could also see it being a bit much for warmer climates or for the middle of summer. Still, if you're looking for a robe that is extra warm without being overly heavy, the Luxome Ulta Plush robe should be a go-to.

Best lightweight: Petite Plume Pima Robe

The Petite Plume robe's smooth texture, light weight, and breathability make for a handsome robe that's perfect for warmer weather or hotter climates. Petite Plume crafts this robe from hand-harvested 100% Peruvian pima cotton, which is considered the best of the best for its extra-long staples, which translates to impeccable softness and durability that feels cool against the skin.

As mentioned, I'm 6-feet and weigh 175 pounds, and the small/medium size fits me well, with enough room at the front to securely fasten it. The robe falls to just below the knee, which in a summer-weight robe is a big plus that helps keep you cool. The robe comes in navy, white with navy ticking, and navy French ticking, which is a standout colorway with its classic dark blue stripes on a white background.

The only downside of this robe is its lack of inclusive sizing. Petite Plume offers two sizes: a small/medium and a large/extra-large. Barring this, the Pima Robe is a true standout that offers elegance and softness in one lightweight package.

Best luxury: Bown of London the Arbroath

Bown of London offers a wide selection of luxurious men's robes, dressing gowns, and smoking jackets, including the Arbroath, which is the one I tested. This stunning dark blue and wine colored robe with an intricate pattern is impeccably put together using 12-ounce cotton fabric with a dense weave. You may find yourself lounging in this robe all the time and putting on British aristocratic airs.

Bown of London crafts this robe in Europe, Bulgaria to be precise, from 100% Egyptian cotton with a wonderfully soft handfeel. The robe features a plush shawl collar and fold-back cuffs. It has a somewhat tailored fit, but still has plenty of room at the front to keep it securely fastened. It reaches just below the knees. For those who want a bit more oversized fit, you should size up. The brand has inclusive sizing up to 4 XL.

The only negative, if you can even call it that, is that while the robe is very absorbent, it can't quite match up to the Italic Ultraplush Robe in that department. Still, it excels in so many other areas that make the Arbroath worth the price.

How we tested the best bathrobes for men

What to look for in the best bathrobes for men

Design Details: Most robes are designed in a kimono style, said Rosy Nuboer, the romance-planning manager at the Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort Spa and Casino. Nuboer argues that kimonos are the best robe design because they allow for the greatest range of motion thanks to "a classic tailored fit with wrist-length sleeves."

They also have a "streamlined flat collar" and an adjustable waist tie. Patch pockets are a plus as well, since they open at the top and won't spill out the side, as a wide inseam pocket is likely to do.

Fit: Many of our picks are advertised as unisex. While all bathrobes can be worn regardless of gender, it's a good idea to consult each brand's sizing charts to select the right size for you, especially if you're looking for more or less lower body coverage. You'll also often find that robes with traditional women's sizing fall higher on the leg and have shorter sleeves. We liked cuffable sleeves especially for mornings spent in the kitchen preparing coffee and breakfast.

For sizing and fit reference, I'm 6 feet tall, weigh 175 pounds, and wear a size 32 in pants. I chose robes in size medium.

FAQs on the best bathrobes for men

How should I wash my bathrobe?

Unless your robe is made of something exceptional, you can machine-wash your robes in cold water and tumble dry them on low. Wash your robe separately on the cold cycle and hang to dry. Additionally, many of the manufacturers recommend avoiding fabric softener and related products. For more specific care instructions refer to the company's websites and/or the robe's label. Otherwise, consider washing by hand and air drying it flat.

Which cotton is better: Turkish, Egyptian, or Pima?

Both Turkish and Egyptian cotton are considered the gold standard for bathrobes since they're both long staple varieties, but each offers something a little different from the other. Turkish cotton fabric is lighter weight while still feeling plush, is quick drying, and extremely durable. Egyptian cotton has a slightly longer staple and tends to produce fabric that's super plush, extremely absorbent, and is also very durable. Then there's Pima cotton — it's also a long-staple variety, but tends to have a smooth handfeel. It's notably breathable, durable, and is perfect for summer-weight robes.

What is GSM and why is it important?

GSM stands for grams per square meter and is a measure of the weight and density of a fabric. Higher numbers, like in many of the plusher robes in this story that are 350 or 400+ GSM, will be thicker and warmer than fabrics with lower numbers. That said, if you're looking for a summer-weight robe, you may not want a robe with a higher GSM.

How should my bathrobe fit?

This is a matter of personal taste, but many people prefer a slightly oversized fit for ease of movement and to allow for pajamas underneath. At the least, a robe should have enough overlap at the front to stay securely closed, but you also don't want a robe that is so large it slips off your shoulders. If you're buying a robe online, be sure to read the site's size guide before ordering.

Glossary

Made Safe: Made Safe is a certified nontoxic seal of approval, assuring cotton is free from harmful chemicals.

OEKO-TEX: The OEKO-TEX label has several different tiers but indicates various degrees of sustainability in the textile and leather industries. You can read more about the certifications here.

Piqué: A weave made from cotton yarn, piqué is distinguished by ribbed or raised parallel lines, offering a subtle pattern.

Plush: Cotton, silk, wool, or a combination of them, plush fabric is best known for its long, soft nap and can be likened to a bath towel.

The Golden Knights and Hurricanes head to Game 5 with the series tied 2-2, following Carolina's recent win over Vegas. If you're hoping to tune in, we've got you covered. Below, we've rounded up everything you need to know about how to watch the Stanley Cup Finals, so you can live stream every game around the world.

It's ABC's turn to host the best-of-seven series in the US, meaning a subscription to ESPN Unlimited or a month-to-month cable alternative will help you stream all the action online. CBC and Sportsnet are sharing the coverage in Canada, while NHL.TV on DAZN has the rights to show the 2026 Stanley Cup Finals in more than 200 other regions around the world.

• See also: Where to watch the World Cup

This is all familiar territory for the likes of Mark Stone, Jack Eichel, Shea Theodore, and Adin Hill, with the core of the Golden Knights' title-winning side from 2023 still producing the goods this postseason. Add the creativity of playoff MVP candidate Mitch Marner and the nous of John Tortorella, who stewarded the Tampa Bay Lightning to glory in 2004, and you can see why the Las Vegas franchise has made it this far. But the Hurricanes have their own fairytale to contend with — the 20th anniversary of their first (and only) Stanley Cup win and Rod Brind'Amour's narrative arc taking him from captain to coach.

With the form of Frederik Andersen and Taylor Hall, is destiny on Carolina's side? Or will the Golden Knights set another stone on their path to franchise dynasty less than a decade since it was formed? You can find out by watching Stanley Cup Finals action — no matter where you are in the world, thanks to a VPN — with the help of our dedicated guide.

How to watch Stanley Cup Finals in the US

This year, ABC will exclusively carry the main TV feed of the Stanley Cup Finals on TV, while hockey fans will also be able to watch online via the ESPN app. You'll need its comprehensive ESPN Unlimited plan, which includes everything that ABC and the various ESPN channels have to offer (e.g. NFL, NBA, college sports, WWE, La Liga soccer) and costs $30 a month.

Anybody without an antenna or who has cut the cord can get access to ABC through a month-to-month streaming service like DirecTV. Its MySports plan offers local ABC channels, access to ESPN Unlimited, and an array of premium sports channels including FS1/FS2, NBA TV, NFL Network, Golf Channel, USA, and TNT. It costs $65 a month, with a $15 discount off each of your first two months, all after a five-day free trial for first-time customers.

Fubo is another comprehensive cord-cutting service. Its Sports + News package is the most reasonable way to get access to Stanley Cup Finals streams, costing $56 a month (with a $10 discount for your first month). Its 25+ channel line-up includes ESPN, CBS, and FOX's sports channels. There's the option to try before you buy with its five-day free trial.

How to watch Stanley Cup Finals in Canada

Sportsnet and CBC will simulcast every game of the 2026 Stanley Cup Finals series on TV in Canada. Although the Stanley Cup Finals will be shown on CBC, the network has confirmed that it will not be broadcasting it for free online through the CBC Gem platform. So to watch on your laptop, smartphone, tablet, or streaming device, you'll need a Sportsnet+ subscription, costing from $30 a month or $250 a year. Right now, there's a discount on its four-month plan, currently down to $90.

How to watch Stanley Cup Finals in the UK

NHL fans in the UK have two choices for where to watch Golden Knights vs. Hurricanes. The first is NHL.TV on DAZN, which is available to stream on a wide variety of streaming devices and currently costs a one-off fee from £15 for the 2026 Stanley Cup Finals. The second option is the more wide-ranging Premier Sports, which includes live NHL streams among its offerings and costs from £13 a month.

How to watch Stanley Cup Finals in other countries

NHL.TV on DAZN will show 2026 Stanley Cup Finals live streams in more than 200 countries around the world, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. It includes the likes of the UK, Ireland, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, India, and Japan — but not, notably, the USA or Canada. You can see the complete list of countries covered here, with prices varying from region to region.

How to watch Stanley Cup Finals from anywhere

If you're overseas when the Stanley Cup Finals are on and try to watch the games through your usual NHL streaming service, you'll find that your stream is blocked. Rights restrictions mean that you can't generally watch the platforms you're used to when out of the country — or, at least, not without a VPN. This clever software fools your streaming devices (e.g. laptops, phones, Fire Stick, etc) into thinking it's back at home, allowing you to stream like normal.

NordVPN is our recommendation for the best VPN you can download right now. It's brilliant at unlocking streaming services that would otherwise be geo-blocked, combining that with rapid speeds, enhanced cybersecurity, and user-friendly apps. Plus, you can give it a try without risk thanks to its no-quibble 30-day money-back guarantee.

Stanley Cup Finals schedule

• Game 1: at Carolina on Tuesday, June 2 — 8 p.m. ET
• Game 2: at Carolina on Thursday, June 4 — 8 p.m. ET
• Game 3: at Vegas on Saturday, June 6 — 8 p.m. ET
• Game 4: at Vegas on Tuesday, June 9 — 8 p.m. ET
• *Game 5: at Carolina on Thursday, June 11 — 8 p.m. ET
• *Game 6: at Vegas on Sunday, June 14 — 8 p.m. ET
• *Game 7: at Carolina on Wednesday, June 17 — 8 p.m. ET

*Denotes 'if required'

Who is favored to win the Golden Knights vs. Hurricanes?

At the time of writing, DraftKings lists Carolina as the favorite to win Game 5. The sportsbook has the Hurricanes listed as 1.5-point favorites and -155 on the moneyline, while Vegas is at +130. The Hurricanes are now the overall favorites to win the Stanley Cup (-145), while the Golden Knights are underdogs at +120.

Who won the first four games of the Stanley Cup Finals?

The Golden Knights won Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals 5-4, but the Hurricanes were able to fight back in Game 2, winning 4-3 in overtime. Game 3 went into double-overtime, but the Golden Knights ultimately pulled off a 5-4 win. In Game 4, the Hurricanes beat Vegas 5-3. Overall, the 2026 Stanley Cup Finals have been a pretty close series.

Where is the Stanley Cup Finals Game 5 being held?

Game 5 of the Golden Knights vs. Hurricanes Stanley Cup Finals will take place at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. The series will return to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in Game 6. Should the series extend to Game 7, it will once again be played in Raleigh.

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

• An inflatable Elon Musk appeared in Times Square, tattooed with accusations against SpaceX's Grok.
• A smiling, shirtless effigy of Musk was put up in protest a day before SpaceX's IPO.
• The group behind the inflatable said it was intended as a warning to potential SpaceX investors.

New Yorkers woke up Thursday morning to a giant blow-up figure of the world's richest person, one day before his already immense fortune is set to inflate thanks to the biggest IPO in history.

The big bust of a shirtless and smiling Elon Musk appeared in Times Square overnight, adorned with harsh accusations about the SpaceX founder.

"SpaceX's Grok makes AI child porn," reads a giant tattoo plastered across the bust's upper abs and back.

The message appeared to be a reference to accusations that Grok, Musk's xAI chatbot that was acquired by SpaceX earlier this year, produced sexual images of children.

In response to complaints, Musk said in January that "anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content." The official X page also said its policy has "zero tolerance for any forms of child sexual exploitation."

Grok's not-safe-for-work capabilities came up in SpaceX's S-1 filing last month, ahead of the rocket company's highly anticipated IPO, set for June 12. SpaceX warned potential investors that Grok's NSFW mode could pose "heightened risks" and "reputational harm," in part because it could generate "nonconsensual or exploitative imagery."

The group behind the inflatable Musk is Safe AI Now (SAIN), which describes itself as a coalition of faith leaders, child-safety organizations, and other groups and individuals. SAIN told Business Insider the inflatable would be up until 7 p.m. ET on Thursday.

"The goal of this effigy of Musk is to deliver a simple warning to investors: Musk built a dangerous and exploitative AI, covered up the damage, merged it with SpaceX, and is now selling the liability to the public at $135 a share," SAIN said in a statement, adding, "SpaceX shareholders are on the hook for every Grok lawsuit, criminal investigation, and regulatory fine that is coming."

"While this inflatable is a fitting metaphor — much like Musk and his companies, it is inflated, full of hot air, and could pop at any minute — it serves as a warning to investors eager to buy into Musk's SpaceX IPO on Friday morning," the statement continued.

SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Musk responded to an X thread about the inflatable and said, "This is so dumb, because what they're claiming is totally false."

The inflatable Musk also has a tattoo on its bicep featuring a heart and the word "ketamine." Musk said in 2024 he takes a small amount of ketamine "every other week" to help with mental states "like depression."

The inflatable wasn't the first time a massive Musk protest-bust appeared. Following cuts to the National Park Service led by DOGE, the White House office spearheaded by Musk, a large sculpture of the Tesla CEO was spotted on a trailer towed by a pickup truck in several national parks in the summer of 2025 as part of an anonymous protest.

SpaceX's IPO this week is expected to be the largest ever. The company is expected to raise $75 billion, bringing its valuation to $1.75 trillion.

• The Trump administration renovated the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC.
• The $14.2 million project included sealing and painting the bottom "American flag blue."
• Trump's changes to the reflecting pool are visible from space.

President Donald Trump has made many changes to Washington, DC, since returning for a second, non-consecutive term. One such change is visible from space.

In April, Trump announced that he had chosen Atlantic Industrial Coatings — a contractor he initially said worked on his Virginia golf club before later walking back that claim — to renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool ahead of America's 250th anniversary, telling reporters its "filthy" water was "not representative of the country."

The $14.2 million project, which Trump initially estimated would cost between $1.5 and $2 million, included sealing and painting the bottom of the 2,030-foot-long pool an "American flag blue" to better reflect the Washington Monument.

In a satellite image of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool taken on March 10, 2026, before the renovation began, the water appeared green due to widespread algae growth.

A satellite photo taken on June 7, a day after Trump said the project was completed, showed the pool's darker surface.

Indeed, the reflection of the Washington Monument could once again be seen on the water in a photo taken at the site on June 9.

In a Truth Social post on June 6, Trump celebrated the refreshed reflecting pool and touted his other planned White House renovations and additions to DC's landscape.

"It was originally opened in 1922, but never functioned properly — now it does!" he wrote. "Thank you President Trump, thank you Department of the Interior — AND THE BEST IS YET TO COME with The Trump Promenade at The Lincoln Memorial, and The Triumphal Arch, which will be, along with the White House Ballroom, when completed, the Greatest Structure in Washington."

I review TVs for a living, and year after year, Sony's top models stand out for their excellent image quality. The best Sony TVs aren't cheap, but in return, you get some of the most accurate picture performance available. If you care about how movies and shows are supposed to look, Sony's high-end sets are worth the extra spend.

Right now, my top recommendation is the Bravia 8 II OLED. It's the best Sony TV for people who want the most refined picture possible, and it goes toe-to-toe with top OLEDs from LG and Samsung. In some areas — like picture accuracy — it even pulls ahead. If you want something less expensive, the Bravia 7 QLED is a great alternative. It can't match OLED-level contrast or viewing angles, but it's more affordable and still delivers a vibrant image.

Sony also makes cheaper TVs, but I haven't included them as picks. While the brand absolutely nails premium performance, its entry-level models just don't offer the same value as other brands. With that in mind, this guide focuses on the Sony TVs that truly showcase what the company does best.

Our top picks for the best Sony TVs

Best overall: Sony Bravia 8 II OLED 4K TV - See at Amazon

Best high-end QLED: Sony Bravia 9 QLED 4K TV - See at Amazon

Best midrange QLED: Sony Bravia 7 QLED 4K TV - See at Amazon

Best overall: Sony Bravia 8 II

What we love: It delivers one of the most accurate images on the market with high contrast, bold colors, and wide viewing angles.

Drawbacks: It's only available in two sizes, and it's not as bright as competing flagship OLEDs.

Sony excels at premium performance, and the Bravia 8 II is the brand at its very best. This is the company's top-tier OLED, and it's one of the most impressive high-end TVs I've tested.

Part of what makes the Bravia 8 II so noteworthy is its QD-OLED panel. Like all OLED displays, it produces pixel-level contrast with perfect black levels in a dark room. This means that bright elements of an image pop from the screen with pinpoint precision, while dark elements remain deep and inky without any halos or backlight inconsistencies.

But the Bravia 8 II's OLED screen goes one step further by incorporating a color technology called quantum dots (where the "QD" in "QD-OLED" comes from). When used in an OLED, quantum dots enable a TV to produce a brighter image and help the display maintain high saturation when displaying bright colors. The results are gorgeous.

HDR (High Dynamic Range) movies and TV shows look exceptional, with rich colors, sharp detail, and bold specular highlights. Using an industry-standard test pattern with the TV set in its most accurate mode, I measured peak brightness of about 1,560 nits on a 10% window and 1,900 nits on a 5% window. That's fantastic brightness for an OLED.

That said, it isn't the brightest OLED on the market. I've measured higher levels on premium Samsung and LG models, like the Samsung S95H and LG G5. But high brightness is only one part of premium image quality, and the Bravia 8 II has a leg up over those rivals in its image processing. Sony's processing delivers an exceptionally accurate picture and helps improve the appearance of lower-quality sources through upscaling.

Like all Sony TVs, the Bravia 8 II runs Google TV OS, which provides smooth navigation and access to the best streaming services. The TV also comes with a Google Assistant voice remote and supports hands-free voice control. However, I'm disappointed that this model dropped the backlit keys that Sony offers on some of its other flagship models. It also no longer comes with Sony's Bravia Cam, which was included with the older A95L TV this model replaces.

The Bravia 8 II is available in 55- and 65-inch models, but Sony doesn't offer a 77-inch model. If you're looking for a larger, high-end Sony OLED, you can still purchase the older 77-inch A95L instead. The A95L is a similar TV, but its HDR performance isn't as bright.

Check out our guide to all the best TVs for picture quality.

Best high-end QLED: Sony Bravia 9

What we love: It's one of the brightest TVs on the market, and its contrast control is excellent for a Mini LED TV.

Drawbacks: I noticed brightness pops during some transitions, and the TV's viewing angles aren't as wide as an OLED's.

The Bravia 9 QLED is a beast of a TV, and it's one of the most impressive displays of its type. Though Sony's Bravia 8 II OLED has an edge in overall image quality, the Bravia 9 surpasses it in certain areas. Most notably, it can get much brighter, which makes this set a better fit for certain viewers.

During my review, I measured a peak of over 2,600 nits using the TV's most accurate picture mode. That's a significant increase in luminance over the Bravia 8 II OLED, and it gives high-brightness HDR videos a bit more pop while also offering more headroom for you to adjust the TV's brightness to overcome glare. This makes the Bravia 9 a great high-end TV for viewers who struggle with reflections in rooms with lots of light.

The Bravia 9 also has some of the best contrast control I've seen on a QLED display. The TV features a Mini LED backlight with local dimming, which adjusts the brightness of separate zones across its screen. However, due to limitations in how these zones operate, many local-dimming TVs are prone to distracting blooming or vignetting around bright objects, which can make dark scenes look patchy with uneven halos of light.

But Sony has done phenomenal work to optimize its backlight system, so the Bravia 9 is nearly free of those flaws. Even in a completely dark room, black levels were deep and uniform, while highlights remained bright without halos. The Bravia 9 still can't quite match the pixel-level precision of an OLED, but it comes as close as any QLED I've seen.

That said, I noticed one quirk with the TV's dimming system. When I streamed bright HDR content like "The Rings of Power" on Prime Video, brightness changes between dark and bright scenes sometimes lagged by a second instead of adjusting instantly. I've seen similar behavior on other QLEDs and even some OLEDs, but it's a bit more noticeable on the Bravia 9. It's not a major flaw, though viewers sensitive to brightness fluctuations might find it distracting with certain HDR content.

Though viewing angles and contrast can't match what you'd get on the Bravia 8 II, the Bravia 9 gets remarkably close to matching the overall quality of a premium OLED while offering higher luminance. This is the best Sony TV for viewers who want an extra-bright high-end display.

Best midrange QLED: Sony Bravia 7

What we love: It brings Sony's excellent picture processing and Mini LED backlighting to a more affordable tier.

Drawbacks: There are cheaper QLED TVs from other brands with higher brightness and contrast.

The Bravia 7 is Sony's upper-midrange QLED TV, and recent discounts have made it one of the better values in the company's lineup. The 65-inch version is often on sale for under $1,500, which is considerably less than the premium Bravia 8 II and Bravia 9. This set can't match the performance of those pricier models, but it's a good choice for people who want a more affordable Sony TV.

Like the Bravia 9, the Bravia 7 uses a QLED panel with a Mini LED backlight and local dimming. This enables the TV to produce a wide range of colors and control its contrast across separate zones. However, the Bravia 7's backlight system isn't as advanced as the Bravia 9's, and it has fewer zones. As a result, its black level performance isn't quite as good, and it has lower brightness.

That said, this is still a bright TV, especially compared to typical midrange OLED displays. It peaks at just under 2,000 nits, which is still more than enough to enjoy an excellent HDR image. This level of performance compares favorably to Samsung's QN90F QLED TV.

However, some QLED sets from value-forward brands, such as TCL and Hisense, can outperform the Bravia 7 in brightness and contrast while costing less. For example, the TCL QM8K and Hisense U8QG can both reach peak brightness levels of over 3,000 nits, feature more advanced dimming systems, and often sell for under $1,000. On the other hand, the Bravia 7 benefits from Sony's superior processing, which gives it better upscaling and out-of-the-box accuracy. So, while I generally give the edge to the QM8K and U8QG for overall value in this price range, the Bravia 7 is still a good buy if you favor the Sony brand and want a faithful image without having to fiddle with calibration.

On the downside, the Bravia 7's viewing angles are narrower than those of the Bravia 8 II and Bravia 9, so this isn't the best Sony TV if you plan to sit off to the side of the screen. When it comes to smart features, the Bravia 7 uses the same Google TV OS as other Sony models and also features hands-free voice control.

What we're testing now

Sony recently launched two new TV models for 2026: the Bravia 9 II and Bravia 7 II. Both feature the company's new True RGB backlight technology, which uses individual red, green, and blue LEDs to deliver a brighter, wider color range than other display types.

I got an early look at both models during a trip to Sony's Tokyo headquarters, and I'm now reviewing them in depth for consideration in this guide. These new models cost more than their predecessors, but based on my initial testing, they offer notable improvements in color, contrast, and viewing angles. The Bravia 9 II's anti-glare screen is also particularly effective, which could make it the bright-room TV to beat.

I'll be updating this guide with full impressions over the coming weeks. You can learn more in my first-look breakdown of the Sony Bravia 9 II and Bravia 7 II.

Why don't we recommend budget Sony TVs?

Although Sony does make some entry-level TVs, I don't recommend them as picks in this guide. Generally speaking, the best Sony TVs are the brand's upper-midrange and high-end models, as their performance is good enough to justify their high cost. However, the company's lower-end offerings, such as the Bravia 2 II, Bravia 3, and Bravia 3 II, are simply too expensive for what you get.

For instance, the 65-inch Bravia 2 II costs around $700 but fails to match the contrast and brightness performance of cheaper sets from budget-friendly rivals, like the TCL QM6K.

However, this might change in 2027, as Sony and TCL are teaming up to launch a new joint venture called Bravia Inc. By leveraging TCL's manufacturing and Sony's display technology, Bravia Inc. could offer more affordable Bravia TVs that better compete with budget models from other brands.

How we test Sony TVs

To find the best Sony TVs, we employed a combination of hands-on testing and research informed by over a decade of experience reviewing home entertainment products. Our testing process involves evaluating a TV's picture quality, smart features, and overall usability through objective measurements and general use.

To determine a TV's peak brightness and color capabilities, we use meters and test patterns. However, these measurements can only reveal so much; it's also important to watch real-world content to see how a TV handles different types of movies and shows. We use a curated selection of demo scenes from various films and series to showcase different elements of image quality, including black levels, HDR contrast, color gradients, upscaling, and motion. We use a mix of sources, including 4K Ultra HD Blu-rays, streaming services, cable TV, and gaming consoles.

Generally, we live with each TV we review for several weeks and use it as we would any TV we'd buy ourselves. This allows us to see how a TV performs day to day over an extended period, so we can assess its ease of use and smart TV navigation, and look out for glitches or other anomalies.

For our guide to the best Sony TVs, we also focused on how each Sony model performed relative to other TVs in the company's lineup and to similar models from rival brands. With that in mind, we attend annual Sony product launches and showcases from other TV brands, which often include side-by-side comparisons with various models. This all helps us to address specific pros and cons across Sony's collection, enabling us to determine which models are best suited for different uses and budgets.

Meet the expert behind this guide:

Steven Cohen, senior tech editor: I've spent more than a decade reviewing home entertainment products, and my team and I test the latest TVs from brands like Sony year-round. I also attend industry events and product briefings to get early insight into new display tech before it reaches stores. I studied film production, which basically means I'm picky about picture accuracy. I want movies and shows to look the way their creators intended, and Sony excels in this area. Beyond testing with calibration tools and benchmark content, I spend real time living with every Sony TV I review. My goal is to cut through the specs and marketing speak to help you find the best Sony TVs for your setup.

Learn more about the Reviews team at Business Insider.

Sony TV FAQs

Are TCL and Sony partnering to make Sony TVs?

Following a memorandum of understanding announced in January, TCL and Sony have entered a definitive agreement to form a strategic partnership to run Sony's home entertainment business, including its TVs. The partnership will take the form of a new joint venture called Bravia Inc. TCL will hold 51% of the new subsidiary's shares, while Sony will hold 49%. Bravia Inc. is set to start operations in April 2027, with its headquarters at Sony's Osaki office in Tokyo, Japan. New products released by Bravia Inc. are expected to be branded under the Sony and Bravia names. More details are available at the Sony website.

Though it remains to be seen what impact this new partnership will have on the quality of future Sony TVs, it's at least promising on paper. A Sony representative told us, "Bravia Inc. brings together Sony's high-quality picture and sound technology, premium brand value, and operational expertise, alongside TCL's advanced display technology, global scale, manufacturing footprint, end-to-end cost efficiency, and vertically integrated supply-chain capabilities."

Indeed, Sony is well-known for its high-end image processing, while TCL excels at delivering great value. And though Sony is an industry leader in premium performance, its mid- and entry-level TVs have struggled to compete with TCL's lower-priced alternatives. If Bravia Inc. can combine the two companies' strengths without losing Sony's unique identity and high standards, this could be a win for consumers.

Are Sony True RGB TVs available?

Yes, Sony's first lineup of True RGB TVs is now available to buy. True RGB tech uses a local-dimming backlight with red, green, and blue LEDs to deliver enhanced color and brightness. The debut collection includes the Bravia 9 II and Bravia 7 II. You can learn more about the technology in our Sony True RGB first-look breakdown and our Mini LED vs. RGB LED comparison.

Are Sony OLED or QLED TVs better?

Sony offers a range of TVs utilizing various panel technologies, including multiple QLED and OLED models. Both types of Sony TVs have their pros and cons, so which one is best for you really depends on your priorities.

The Sony Bravia 7 and Bravia 9 both use QLED panels with Mini LED backlights. This combination enables these TVs to offer a wide range of colors and exceptionally bright images, especially the Bravia 9. These sets also have good contrast control thanks to built-in local dimming, but they still can't match the pixel-level precision of an OLED panel.

Sony's Bravia 8 uses a standard WOLED panel with an infinite contrast ratio and perfect black levels, which even the most advanced QLED TVs can't match. But as a tradeoff, the Bravia 8 is notably dimmer than the Bravia 7 and Bravia 9. The step-up Bravia 8 II uses a QD-OLED panel that incorporates quantum dots to deliver brighter colors while maintaining the infinite contrast ratio of the Bravia 8. The Bravia 8 II can match the Bravia 7's brightness in most respects, but it still cannot achieve the same luminance as the Bravia 9.

Ultimately, we recommend a Sony OLED TV for home theater enthusiasts who want the best image quality in a dark room. Meanwhile, Sony's QLED TVs are a better fit for rooms that require a brighter picture to overcome glare and reflections.

You can learn more about the differences between TV panel types in our QLED vs. OLED comparison.

What size TVs does Sony sell?

Sony's current 4K TV lineup ranges in size from 43 inches to 115 inches. The company also sells an older 32-inch HDTV model, called the W830K.

For TV recommendations across certain sizes, check out our size-specific buying guides:

• Best 100-inch TVs
• Best 85-inch TVs
• Best 75-inch TVs
• Best 65-inch TVs
• Best 55-inch TVs
• Best 50-inch TVs
• Best 43-inch TVs

What smart TV interface does Sony use?

All of Sony's current TVs use the Google TV interface. Google TV is one of our favorite smart TV platforms, thanks to its wide range of features, attractive layout, and seamless integration with an existing Google account. Certain newer models also feature Gemini, Google's AI-enhanced voice assistant.

For more details about different smart TV platforms, check out our guide to the best smart TVs.

Does Sony make 8K TVs?

Although Sony has released 8K TVs in the past, it does not have any in its current lineup. However, some stores still have stock of the brand's 75-inch Z9K 8K TV, which was first released in 2022. While the Z9K is still an impressive display, the benefits of 8K resolution are extremely subtle, and we recommend shoppers opt for one of Sony's newer high-end 4K TVs instead.

Are Sony TVs good for gaming?

The best Sony TVs are good gaming displays, especially if you plan to pair them with a PS5.

The brand's top models feature gaming-centric capabilities, including support for a 120Hz refresh rate, Auto-Low Latency Mode (ALLM), and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR). Likewise, they have exclusive features designed to optimize performance on PS5 consoles, including auto-HDR tone mapping. This feature automatically sets the console's HDR settings to match your Sony TV's capabilities, eliminating the need for manual adjustments. All of our picks in this guide support the features listed above.

However, there's one area where even the best Sony TVs fall short of the top gaming TVs from rival brands: max refresh rate. Many competitors offer TV models that can support a 144Hz refresh rate, and some high-end models even support 165Hz. Meanwhile, Sony doesn't offer any TVs that go beyond 120Hz. Refresh rates above 120Hz are only beneficial for PC gamers with powerful graphics cards, but if you fall into that category, you should consider TVs from other brands.

Check out our other TV guides for options that support higher refresh rates:

• Best TVs
• Best OLED TVs
• Best Hisense TVs
• Best Samsung TVs
• Best TCL TVs
• Best LG TVs

Do Sony TVs have good sound quality?

Generally speaking, most TVs have mediocre sound quality compared to a solid soundbar or speaker system. Typical displays feature limited audio drivers to fit a flat-panel form factor, which limits overall depth and clarity. However, some of the best Sony TVs have more advanced audio systems than a lot of competing options.

Most notably, the Bravia 8 II OLED utilizes acoustic actuators within the panel itself, enabling sound to be emitted directly from the screen. Meanwhile, the Bravia 9 has a beam tweeter that can reflect sound off your ceiling. These speakers offer better quality than many TVs from other brands. That said, you'll still get a noticeably bigger, richer sound from a good dedicated soundbar or surround-sound setup.

Check out our audio buying guides for our top recommendations:

• Best soundbars
• Best budget soundbars
• Best Dolby Atmos soundbars
• Best soundbars with subwoofers
• Best Bose soundbars
• Best Sonos soundbars
• Best surround sound systems

What other Sony products do we recommend?

In addition to TVs, Sony makes some of our favorite headphones, including over-ear and earbud-style models. In particular, the brand's WH-1000XM5, WH-1000XM6, and WF-1000XM6 are among the most impressive headphones we've tested. The brand also makes impressive speakers and soundbars, including multi-piece surround-sound systems.

For more details, check out our full guides to the best Sony headphones and the best surround sound systems.

The best makeup bags for travel have to do a little bit of everything: They should be slim enough not to hog precious suitcase space, but roomy enough to hold all your essentials, whether you pack full-size products, travel minis, or a mix of both. I'm especially partial to thoughtful details like detachable compartments and collapsible shapes that make a bag more versatile, plus materials that are easy to wipe clean after inevitable spills.

To find the best toiletry bags, I tested more than 20 options by packing each one with as many of my usual makeup and skincare products as I could fit. I looked at how much each bag could actually hold, whether it stayed organized with useful pockets and compartments, and how well it handled being stuffed without tearing, bulging, or refusing to zip shut. I also sealed and squeezed every bag to check for leaks, since a good toiletry bag should keep any spills contained instead of letting them seep into the rest of your luggage.

After all that testing, a few clear standouts emerged. Below are the best toiletry and makeup bags I'd recommend for different kinds of travelers, whether you want something compact and simple or a larger organizer that can hold your entire routine.

A quick look at our favorite travel makeup bags and what they're best for

• For most needs, the KUSSHI Washable Travel Makeup & Cosmetic Bag is a great choice with a wide opening, a brush insert, and a simple pouch silhouette.
• If you're looking for a small touch-up bag that fits in your purse, consider the Dagne Dover Mila Toiletry Organizer.
• For the most bang for your buck, the under-$20 Bagsmart Travel Makeup Bag fits everything you need and more and opens flat for easy access.
• If you travel a lot on different airlines, the Large Clear Cosmetics Case is a safe bet since certain airlines are stricter than others about the clear bag rule.
• For the most elegant choice, the Etoile Mini Vanity Case seamlessly blends vintage glamour with modern practicality.

Best overall: Kusshi Signature Makeup Bag

This pouch can hold over 20 full-size beauty products with room to spare, which is plenty for a week-long trip or more. But what truly sets this versatile bag apart is its ample organization and customization options.

Inside the Kusshi Signature Makeup Bag, there are:

• Two mesh slip pockets, for small or oddly shaped items like lipstick or a makeup sponge
• A zippered pocket, where I kept cotton swabs and eyeshadow tape
• A detachable brush holder with four extra-large slots that can each hold multiple brushes 
• A zip pocket with plenty of room for lay-flat items like blushes and compacts.

The exterior zipper also opens wide on three sides, allowing the bag to be laid flat while you apply makeup. I found this convenient for locating and removing each of the cosmetics. 

I also love that the bag can be used with or without the brush holder. The interior nylon lining can be unzipped and removed, leaving you with a large, single-compartment clamshell case.

As far as aesthetics, this bag comes in a machine-washable fabric (with 15 color options) or a leather version (available in eight hues), which has a removable, machine-washable nylon interior lining. 

Best budget: BAGSMART Open Flat Makeup Organizer

With a lay-flat design when open, this budget-friendly Bagsmart Travel Makeup Bag makes it easy to see everything you packed at a glance — no digging around for a tiny lipstick or eyeliner at the bottom of a pouch. The full-zip opening gives you clear access to each section, which is especially helpful when you're doing your makeup in a hotel bathroom or sharing counter space with someone else.

It also has several convenient organizational features that make it feel more thoughtful than its under-$20 price tag suggests. A clear compartment is ideal for makeup brushes, since you can quickly spot the one you need and keep bristles separate from the rest of your products. I was able to fit six large brushes without issue. Two elastic side pockets are great for fragile compacts, blushes, or palettes you want to keep snugly in place, while the center zip pocket works well for smaller items like lipsticks, liners, cotton swabs, or travel-size tools.

A top handle makes the bag easy to grab from a suitcase, carry to the bathroom, or hang from your wrist while moving between rooms. And when you're not using it, the bag folds flat, so it won't take up much storage space at home.

Best vanity case: Étoile Mini Vanity Case

While makeup pouches are convenient and portable, they don't always protect your delicate palettes. More than once, I've been on vacation and opened my makeup bag to find my eyeshadows cracked. They are delicate and can get smashed in soft-sided bags.

The Mini Vanity Case from Étoile addresses this issue with its structured sides and clever pockets, which keep your makeup in place. Made of leather and reinforced to keep its shape, this case is a great choice for those who have invested a lot in their makeup stash and want to keep it pristine.

In fact, I highly recommend the brand's larger Duo Vanity Case for brides who want to tote all their makeup from hotels to bridal suites. It's pretty big and has an extra pocket on the top, specially made for big palettes.

The organizational insert has lots of clever pockets that perfectly fit mini pallets, brushes, lipsticks, and blushes. I appreciate how organized it keeps everything and how many little nooks and crannies there are for me to fill with various tubes and pots.

However, a structured makeup bag does come with downsides. It takes up more room than other picks on this list, so be aware of that when you're packing. — Samantha Crozier, style editor.

Best waterproof: Portland Gear Cascade Kit

Portland Gear really thought of everything when constructing this lightweight, durable toiletry bag. The structured frame around the top allows the bag to stay open when I need it to, there are plenty of pockets to organize all my essentials, and there's even a wet pocket to store anything damp (like, say, a makeup brush I just cleaned).

Not only does the weatherproof material protect my other belongings from any potential spills, but it's also a cinch to wipe down when necessary.

My favorite feature, though, is the exterior zipper pocket. Inside is a sheer mesh zipper pouch that offers total visibility of any items stored inside, plus elastic loop holders to secure smaller items, such as a toothbrush, nail clipper, or comb.

Best clear: Calpak Large Clear Cosmetics Case

As a beauty editor, I've accumulated quite the makeup collection — and even I had trouble filling this clear cosmetics case from Calpak.

The Calpak Large Clear Cosmetics Case has a whopping 9.5-liter capacity, in which I toted three eyeshadow palettes, four foundations, 10 blush sticks, six makeup brushes, five blush compacts, four concealers, three highlighters, three contour sticks, and a full-size aerosol makeup spray. I could have easily fit more. 

This makes the wipe-down case perfect for long trips or traveling for weddings where you may want to load up your entire makeup stash. Another idea: use one side of the case for toiletries and the other for cosmetics.

Since the bag has two huge compartments with one flat zip pocket, I would probably put items like lipsticks or eyeliners in smaller cases first and stow those smaller cases inside this bag. If you like the design of this bag but find the size daunting, Calpak also makes a 6-liter medium version.

Best designer: Clare V. Vacances

I took this Clare V. cosmetics case on a bachelorette trip to Florida, and it was perfect for the occasion. On one side, I stored my makeup and skincare products, and on the other, I kept all my hair accessories. Since I had lots of cute outfits planned, I naturally had to bring the right accessories — and this case was a godsend for packing them.

The Vacances case is big enough to fit multiple claw clips at once, which I was incredibly grateful for. I love claw clips as a cute, hot-weather hair solution, but they're a pain to pack because they're so breakable and irregularly shaped. This case, however, kept them safe.

I also love how the case opens flat. When you're in front of a mirror doing your makeup, digging through a pouch to locate eyeliner can be incredibly annoying. But it's easy to see what you've packed in this case.

With lots of slip pockets, a center-zippered pouch, and a lay-flat design, this case is just as practical as it is stylish. — Samantha Crozier, style editor.

Best oversized: Caraa Large Vanity Kit

If you're packing for a long trip — or simply require a lot of products while traveling (no judgment here) — this oversized toiletry bag is a godsend. There are a whopping nine total pockets and compartments, and each is designed to accommodate different kinds of items.

For example, the dedicated side pocket is well-suited to jewelry, with posts for earrings and hooks for necklaces. The exterior zipper pocket is ideal for grooming accessories and makeup brushes. The main compartment can fit a remarkable number of travel-sized toiletry bottles. It's helpful that a lot of the interior pockets are made with transparent plastic, too, making it easy to find whatever I'm looking for.

I love that I have the option to carry this bag by the top handle, or sling it over my shoulder with the longer strap — and because there's a handy little metal hook on top, I can also hang it in the bathroom or closet.

Best leather: Quince Italian Leather Pouch Travel Set

Quince continues to impress with high-quality fabrics (like washable silk, plush cashmere, and even diamond jewelry) at prices about 50-80% off traditional retail costs. The brand's leather bags are no exception.

This 100% top-grain Italian leather makeup bag set is stunning. There are six colors to choose from (I picked olive), and each is outfitted with gold-tone zippers. At $79 for the set, it makes a timeless gift that can be used for years to come. 

The Quince makeup pouch set is pretty basic in terms of organizational features (the larger bag has one flush slip pocket), but being able to divide items between two cases is advantageous. If you're trying to maximize packing space, this is a solid bet.

I used the 6.5 x 11 x 3.5-inch bag to stow larger full-size makeup items, and I was able to fit two foundations, a tinted moisturizer, two blushes, five blush/contour/highlight sticks, three lipsticks, a makeup setting spray, and an eyeshadow palette — with room to spare.

In the 5 x 9 x 3-inch clamshell, I carried full-size makeup brushes and a concealer. On shorter trips, you could also use the larger bag for travel-size toiletries (the water-resistant microfiber interior can be wiped clean) and the smaller pouch for makeup. I love that the smaller bag can be nested inside the larger one to save space when it's not in use. 

Learn more about our favorite products in our Quince brand review.

Best hanging: Dagne Dover Seoul Dopp Kit

We are huge fans of Dagne Dover's internal organization systems (just see our full Dagne Dover review to see why), and the Seoul Dopp Kit is one of their best. It has pockets galore, gusset handles, and a structure that makes it easy to use. The bag even has a hidden waterproof pocket at the bottom and internal elastic loops that you can use for a toothbrush or makeup brushes.

This bag features a hook that lets it hang open while you use it. It also has a bunch of mesh pockets — seriously, these fit way more than you'd think. They're strategically placed at the ends and the flap, so the products bulge outward and don't take up internal room.

I also love the material that this kit is made out of. The thick, durable polyester is easy to clean, so you can just wipe off any makeup smears.

You can even get a smaller version for weekend trips or a tote companion.

Best mini: Kusshi Everyday Makeup Bag

I'm the type to carry a few emergency makeup items (think: lipstick or concealer) in my daily handbag. Kusshi's Everyday Makeup Bag, the same brand little sister of my favorite Signature Makeup Bag, is the perfect daily companion for on-the-go cosmetics.

At 5 x 7.5 x 3.25 inches, it's a smaller version of the Signature bag, except it doesn't include a detachable brush holder/zip compartment (although I was able to fit a medium-size brush in the main compartment).

I got eight full-size makeup items inside, although I had to maneuver a bit to zip it shut. I'd probably recommend using travel-size makeup items in this bag.

Best mini: Dagne Dover Mila Toiletry Organizer

If you'd rather not lay your toiletries down flat — say, for fear of spillage — consider this minimalistic toiletry bag. The shape allows you to store even taller bottles upright. Honestly, I plan to use this on my countertop even when I'm not traveling — to make some of my most frequently-used serums, brushes, and other products easy to grab while getting ready.

I like that I can either cram products in loose, or use the removable insert with six different compartments to keep things organized. The elastic loops don't hurt either — there are two shorter ones and two taller ones — for securing items like a toothbrush, travel-sized fragrance bottle, or nail file. There's only one interior zipper pocket, and it's somewhat small, but it is made of mesh for maximum visibility.

As an added bonus, the material couldn't possibly be easier to wipe down and clean.

Read more about our thoughts on the rest of this line in our full Dagne Dover review.

Best luxury: Leatherology Clamshell Makeup Bag Set

A set of leather clamshell pouches is a timeless staple that can last for decades — and an excellent gift idea. They can be used to store a variety of items from toiletries and cosmetics to pens and small tech accessories. 

Leatherology's Clamshell Bag Set in black croc leather is superiorly stunning thanks to gold-tone hardware and tassled zippers. But it's more than a pretty face.

Measuring 6 x 8.75 x 4.7 inches and 5.2 x 7.25 x 3.75 inches, the cases both have a wide and deep interior great for over-filling. The larger bag, with a convenient interior zip pocket, could easily accommodate 15+ full-size beauty products including brushes. The smaller bag is perfect for lipsticks, nail polishes and concealers. When not in use, the smaller bag nests inside the larger one for easy storage.

FAQs

First, always check the care tag on your specific bag to see if there are any specific instructions. After emptying the bag completely, wipe away any excess globs of spilled product with a paper towel, and shake off any debris (like lip pencil shavings) into the trash. Moisten a washcloth and add a drop or two of mild hand soap or fabric-safe stain remover, and then gently rub any discolored spots with the washcloth.

Follow up by dabbing at those same spots with a wet washcloth — no soap this time — to eliminate any residue. Depending on the material of the exterior, you can also wipe that down with a damp washcloth (if, for example, it's leather), or with a fabric-safe stain remover the same way you spot cleaned the interior.

Let your bag air dry with the top open, upside-down, on top of a towel. If you need to speed up the process — say, because you're packing for another trip — you can use a hairdryer on high speed and warm setting to help dry it out.

Can a toiletry bag go in a carry-on?

Your toiletry bag can be packed in your carry-on suitcase; however, keep in mind that it must be the TSA-approved size, and all the liquids, gels, creams, and pastes inside it must be 3.4 ounces or less. While it's not technically required for your toiletry bag to be transparent, it can be helpful to invest in one that's clear — otherwise, TSA may need to open up the bag to examine the contents.

What size toiletry bag is TSA-approved?

All toiletries in your carry-on must fit into a quart-sized ziploc bag. If they don't, you'll need to pack toiletries in your checked luggage instead.

What material should I choose?

Water-resistant nylon or coated fabrics are travel favorites because they're easy to wipe clean and handle spills well. Leather bags are stylish and more elevated, but they are often heavier and more difficult to clean.

Are cosmetic bags and dopp kits different?

Functionally, yes — though the gap has narrowed a lot.

• Cosmetic bags are traditionally designed for makeup and beauty products. They tend to be smaller, more structured, and more compartmentalized, with features like brush slots, clear panels, or rigid sides to protect powders and palettes.
• Dopp kits (short for Doppelkit, a term popularized in the US military) are designed for toiletries and grooming essentials. They're usually larger, more flexible in shape, and made from water-resistant materials to handle liquids and spills.

That said, many modern travel bags blur these lines — plenty of cosmetic bags now have waterproof linings, and many Dopp kits include internal organization. However, many Dopp kits are marketed more towards men.

Tips for packing a makeup bag efficiently

Decant full-size products when possible.

Many popular products are available in TSA-approved sizes of 3.4 ounces or less. If a smaller version of any product isn't available, though, you can buy reusable empty travel-sized bottles and dispense a small amount of product into those. This is especially helpful for products you only need a little bit of, like cleanser, shampoo, conditioner, moisturizer, body wash, or styling cream.

Decanting can also help you save space and avoid bringing bulky full-size bottles you won't come close to finishing on a short trip. Just make sure to label each container clearly — especially if you're packing multiple similar-looking liquids, creams, or gels. It's surprisingly easy to mix up face wash and lotion when they're in identical silicone tubes.

Opt for leak-proof containers

Who wants to deal with spilled body wash — or worse, a pigmented foundation — all over their vacation outfits? That's why it's important to make sure all toiletry containers are leak-proof. Test the closures and ensure they're secure by turning them upside down, shaking them, and checking to see if they might be snapped open during transit. Be careful not to overfill bottles, and if you want some added reassurance for preventing leakage, place your toiletries inside a Ziploc storage bag before storing them inside the toiletry bag.

Use compartments wisely

Be strategic about how you pack your toiletries. Save the more spacious compartments for larger products, and take advantage of smaller pockets for more compact items that might easily get lost (like tweezers or an eye pencil sharpener). Use zip pockets for anything more fragile or delicate, like a travel-sized perfume or cologne in a glass bottle.

How I tested the best toiletry bags

We tested over 20 different toiletry and makeup bags to make our selections, evaluating each one for capacity, organization, durability, portability, and leak resistance.

I first assessed the amount of space in each toiletry bag by packing it with some of my essential skincare, shower, hair care, and makeup products. This included items in a range of shapes and sizes, from slim makeup brushes and lip products to bulkier bottles, compacts, and hair tools. Not only did I want to see whether everything fit, but I also paid close attention to how the bag handled the weight once packed. A good toiletry bag should be able to hold a full routine without tearing, bulging awkwardly, straining at the seams, or becoming difficult to zip closed.

I also evaluated whether each bag had enough pockets and compartments to keep my must-have products organized. I looked for features like mesh pouches, clear compartments, elastic loops, removable inserts, brush holders, zip pockets, and separate sections for wet or spill-prone products. The best bags made it easy to see what I packed and quickly grab what I needed, rather than forcing me to dig through one large compartment.

Portability was another key factor. I considered how easy each bag was to carry, pack in luggage, and use once I arrived at my destination. Bags with sturdy top handles, hanging hooks, or lay-flat openings earned extra points for convenience. I also took note of whether each design was better suited to a weekend trip, a longer vacation, a carry-on suitcase, or a larger checked bag.

Since toiletry bags are bound to get messy, I also examined the materials and overall construction. I prioritized options that felt durable, wiped clean easily, and seemed capable of withstanding frequent travel. For structured bags, I checked whether they protected delicate products like palettes and glass bottles. For softer pouches, I looked at whether they could be compressed without crushing the contents inside.

The final step of my testing process entailed sealing each bag and squeezing it to see if there were any air leaks. This helped me determine whether spilled products would be contained in the toiletry bag — or end up leaking into my luggage. While no bag can guarantee total protection from every possible spill, the strongest performers offered an added layer of reassurance by helping keep potential messes contained.

• Stocks rallied Thursday after Trump backed down from threats to resume attacks against Iran.
• Trump said he spoke with Iranian leadership, leading him to call off Thursday night's planned action.
• The Dow gained nearly 1,000 points points and the Nasdaq 100 rose over 3%.

Investor were treated to TACO Thursday this week.

Donald Trump called off planned attacks against Iran on Thursday, backing down from earlier threats to resume military action.

His pivot sent stocks soaring and pushed oil prices lower.

Here's where major indexes stood at the 4 p.m. ET closing bell:

• S&P 500: 7,394.30, up 1.75%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 50,848.75, up 1.86% (+929.97 points)
• Nasdaq 100: 29,446.18, up 3.3%

Trump said that following discussions with "the highest level of Iranian leadership," he had canceled bombings set for Thursday evening. Earlier in the day, Trump threatened to take Kharg Island, Iran's critical oil-export hub in the "not too distant future."

Oil prices dropped after Trump backed off from his threats.

Brent, the international benchmark, was down almost 3% to $90.64, and US oil prices fell 2% to $87.75.

It's been a week of withering volatility for the US stock market. A recalibration of economic views in light of a red-hot May jobs report, followed by the hottest consumer inflation in three years, has led to major swings in the major indexes. The Dow dropped more than 900 points on Wednesday's, while chip stocks have sold off indiscriminately since late last week.

Traders will turn their attention next to the upcoming Federal Reserve policy meeting on June 16 and 17. It'll be the first with Kevin Warsh as Fed chair, with markets broadly expecting no change to the benchmark rate.