• Chefs and bakers shared tips for how to make store-bought pies look homemade and taste even better. 
• Melting a bit of butter or sprinkling salt on top of a pie can help balance out its sweetness. 
• Decorate your pie with a dusting of powdered sugar, frosted lettering, or a drizzle of caramel. 

Not everyone has time to make a delicious pie from scratch.

Fortunately, some store-bought versions can be pretty delicious — and pass for homemade if you know a few handy tricks.

So, Business Insider spoke with chefs, bakers, and other culinary professionals about their favorite ways to elevate premade pies.

Here are a few of their best tips that you may want to write down before your next neighborhood potluck or holiday dinner.

Create a herbed caramel sauce to add a gourmet touch to a store-bought pie.

Professional baker and winner of TLC's "Cake Boss: Next Great Baker" Dana Herbert, told Business Insider that he recommends adding an herbed caramel sauce to ready-made pies.

"Add some cinnamon, rosemary, thyme, ginger, or cardamom to warm caramel sauce and serve it with the pie," Herbert said. "Even traditionally savory herbs can complement sweet desserts." 

If you're not sure whether a particular herb would pair well with your pie, Herbert recommended closing your eyes and smelling the herb or spice — if you can detect something sweet in the scent, it's probably OK to use.

Use salt to balance the sweetness of certain pie varieties.

Carlo Lamagna, chef and owner of Magna PDX, said that a dose of salt can help tone down the sweetness in syrupy pies. 

"Salt helps accentuate flavors and balances out often overly sweet items," Lamagna said. 

If you don't want to sprinkle pure salt on your dessert, you can opt for crushed salted nuts, like peanuts or cashews, which will still do the trick and add extra texture.

Remove your store-bought pie from its packaging to make it look homemade.

Alexandra Lourdes, co-owner of Saint Honoré Doughnuts and Beignets, told BI that the easiest way to elevate a store-bought pie is to simply remove it from its original packaging. 

"Make sure you take it out of the box it came in," Lourdes said. "If you place it in a new box, add a ribbon, or arrange it on a beautiful cake stand, no one will ever know it's not homemade."

Top cherry or blueberry pies with a dollop of lemon curd.

Lemon can elevate a premade pie, making its flavors feel more complex.

"Make a super tangy lemon curd with lemon juice and plenty of zest," Herbert said. "The sourness will cut through some of the excessive sweetness found in store-bought blueberry and cherry pies." 

If you don't have time to make your own lemon curd, you can buy it from the grocery store. Just stir in a bit of fresh lemon juice to make it taste more homemade.

Serve your pie with a homemade whipped cream.

Chef and sommelier Melissa Smith told BI that serving a premade pie with fresh whipped cream is a great way to make the dessert taste and look gourmet.

All you need to make it is a whisk, heavy cream, and powdered sugar. Consider using a piping bag to add the whipped cream to your pie for a more elegant look. 

Smith said doing so will make your pie look "modern and classy, like something straight out of a magazine."

For bonus points, she recommended garnishing the piped cream with a few flakes of edible gold or a smattering of citrus zest.

A light dusting of powdered sugar is a fast way to dress up your pie.

Instead of making your own fresh whipped cream, you could also just grab a spoonful of powdered sugar. 

"A simple dusting of powdered sugar can really make your pie look more appetizing than if you simply served it bare and straight out of the container," Smith said. 

For a flawless presentation, use a sieve to ensure an even coating of sugar, and a stencil if you want to use it to create clean, clear designs.

Try to add sugar right before serving so it doesn't dissolve.

Melt butter on top of a pie for extra richness.

Kevin Cabrera, corporate executive chef at The Save Mart Companies, told BI that melting a bit of butter on top of a ready-made pie can help give it a homemade richness.  

"Halfway through warming your pie, directly insert thin slices of butter into the venting slits of the pie," Cabrera said. "This will give it a nice, moist flavor."

Adding too much butter might oversaturate the pie and lead to a soggy crust, so start with a tablespoon or two, and add more if necessary.

Melt cheddar cheese onto the crust of your apple pie.

If you feel like taking some culinary risks, Lamagna suggested mixing up a classic store-bought apple pie by adding some sliced or shredded cheese.

"I grew up in the Midwest, so we would always melt a slice of cheddar on the top of apple pies," Lamagna said. "Don't be afraid to experiment with unconventional pairings."

Moderation is key to pulling off cheesy apple pie — don't layer on too much cheese, or you'll end up with an oily, salty crust.

Add homemade lettering on top for a personal touch.

Just because your pie came straight from the grocery store doesn't mean it needs to look generic. 

"I'd add homemade lettering to the pie to make it your own," Lourdes said. "You can also add gold flakes or edible food glitter to make a statement." 

Add your chosen phrase with frosting, or make chocolate letters at home using silicone molds.

Sprinkle bacon bits on top of your pie for a savory kick.

If you love marrying salty and sweet, adding a light dusting of bacon pieces to your pie might be a mouthwatering move. 

"The perfect way to improve an apple or peach pie is to grab your favorite bacon, cook it up, and toss it on the pie," Herbert told BI. 

For a more Southern-inspired dessert, Herbert suggested using bourbon-flavored bacon on a pecan pie. 

Top pie slices with ice cream for a pleasing temperature mix.

If you're serving a pie that's meant to be enjoyed warm, adding a scoop of high-quality ice cream can enhance the taste.

"Hot and cold foods are a dynamic pair," Cabrera said. "After warming it up, serve the pie with a generous scoop of slow-churned ice cream for a delectable dessert." 

Cabrera said that you can't go wrong with vanilla ice cream, but you can also pick a rich chocolate or a fruity sorbet.

Add fresh fruit to cream pies for a vibrant touch.

Liven up drab cream pies by topping them with chopped fresh fruit for added texture and color. 

"Find a fruit that would complement the type of cream pie you purchased," Lamagna said. "Cherries tend to go well with chocolate cream, and coconut works with banana cream."

Other tasty combos include peaches with vanilla cream, raspberries with lime cream, and bananas with peanut-butter cream.

This story was originally published on November 3, 2020, and most recently updated on October 26, 2026.

• The wait is over: Anthropic's public S-1 has finally landed.
• Potential investors — including you — can now look at the financials behind the AI startup's staggering growth.
• The company has beaten rival OpenAI to a public filing, so its IPO will set expectations.

Anthropic is ready for Wall Street.

The company behind Claude filed its public S-1 paperwork on Monday, revealing its plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol ANT and setting the stage for an enormous IPO.

Anthropic's filing pulls back the curtain on the financials that have made it one of the fastest-growing startups in history; the company was valued at $965 billion in May.

"We believe that AI is one of the most consequential technologies in human history," Anthropic said in its filing. The company said the technology could accelerate scientific innovation, increase economic growth, and cure diseases. "Anthropic aims to realize these benefits while navigating and preventing the risks that come with a technological revolution this fast and this powerful."

The AI giant disclosed a total net loss of about $42 billion in 2025, with revenue of $4.6 billion. In the first six months of this year ending June 30, Anthropic recorded a staggering net loss of $80.7 billion — nearly double its loss for all of last year. Anthropic attributed much of that loss to an accounting adjustment.

Anthropic's 5 biggest customers drive ~25% of its revenue — and are spending more than ever

As recently as 2025, Anthropic lagged well behind rival OpenAI. It generated $1.16 billion in revenue over that year's first six months. Since then, for month after month, Anthropic has won over business customers and bolstered its top line.

From January through June 30 of this year, Anthropic raked in $16.3 billion in revenue. The San Francisco AI lab told investors in mid-October that its third-quarter revenue totaled $16.8 billion, a jump from earlier in the year.

Increased spending from Anthropic's five biggest customers — who drove around 25% of its overall revenue in the first nine months of the year — is helping fuel that growth. In the three-month period ending September 30, Anthropic said revenue from its five biggest spenders reached a record high.

Anthropic also cautioned that it expects its revenue growth rate to fluctuate and "decline over time."

The firm's growth has stunned the industry and added to a frenzy of excitement over AI's economic impact. CEO Dario Amodei quipped in May that the growing demand for his products was "too hard to handle"; the company has raced to secure more computing power to serve customers with its chatbot, coding, and workplace tools.

Those commitments are already titanic. Anthropic expects to spend at least $265.6 billion on cloud, computing, and infrastructure over the coming years on fixed or minimum-guaranteed commitments through June 30, according to the filing. The company also has additional compute agreements that could push the total cost up much higher.

Everyday investors — including you — can now see under the hood. Companies going public in the US are required to file an S-1, which includes a company's vision for its future, recent financial results, major shareholders, and the risks it faces.

Anthropic's grim risk factors

In its 90-plus-page risk factors — by far the largest section of the S-1 — Anthropic warned that a potential "catastrophic AI-related incident" could be so damaging that the "insurance industry in the aggregate" may not be able to cover it.

"Harmful incidents involving our models, regardless of fault, could also severely and disproportionately damage our reputation and brand as a safety-focused AI company, leading to loss of customer trust and customer attrition, reduced demand for our models, platform, and applications, and difficulty attracting and retaining talent," Anthropic said.

The company also warned that it may not be able to detect or prevent every harmful use or output from its AI models, leaving the firm vulnerable to reputational damage, regulatory scrutiny, and costly legal claims.

Anthropic said people at risk of suicide or self-harm, as well as people who have committed violence against others, have used its models despite its safeguards.

"AI models developed by others in our industry have been and may in the future be alleged to have played a role in instances of suicide, acts of violence toward others, or serious self-harm, which have resulted and may in the future result in significant public scrutiny, litigation, criminal investigations, regulatory attention, and reputational harm," the company said.

CEO Dario Amodei's $18 million pay package included $2.7 million for personal security

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei received total compensation valued at nearly $18 million in 2025, while president Daniela Amodei — his sister — received about $16.4 million, per the filing. The largest parts of their packages were stock and options, with grant-date equity values of about $13.3 million each.

The filing lists a 2025 salary of $654,167 for each executive. Their annual base salaries rose to $915,000 in January 2026 and then to $1.38 million in July.

Dario Amodei's package also included about $2.7 million in personal security costs and $97,055 for personal air travel under his security program. Daniela Amodei's package included about $1.3 million in security and transportation costs.

Krishna Rao, Anthropic's CFO, received $706,250 in salary in 2025. His annual base salary rose to $1.25 million in February 2026.

Anthropic wrote that its executive packages reflect its "overall compensation philosophy," including that it "targets the 90th percentile of the AI development market."

A fierce rivalry and race toward IPO

A group of OpenAI alums launched Anthropic in 2021 as a public benefit corporation, meaning the company must balance profits with its mission of "developing and maintaining advanced AI for the long-term benefit of humanity."

The world's gaze turned toward generative AI companies and tools when OpenAI launched ChatGPT in late 2022. Anthropic quickly followed with its chatbot Claude the following March.

Since then, a rivalry has developed between the two companies over top AI research talent, the best model releases, and customers. The virality of ChatGPT had handed OpenAI a lead.

In 2025, after Anthropic released Claude Code, the race began a new phase. AI's coding skills improved, and business customers began pouring money into the technology. Each company's valuation boomed, and this spring, Anthropic's eclipsed OpenAI's.

Despite its staggering growth, the narrative that Anthropic has to provide investors to drum up excitement for its IPO is tricky. The AI industry is still in its early days and faces a backlash over data center construction. The technology's economic implications are still unknown. Anthropic has had a topsy-turvy relationship with the Trump administration. Amodei joined the president for a private dinner in late September after high-profile disagreements.

Plus, Anthropic is contending with cheaper models from Chinese firms, which some developers are using to replace American tools. Leading AI providers are also reckoning with security incidents in which their AI agents have breached outside systems.

Unlike OpenAI, Anthropic is forging ahead with a 2026 IPO as concerns about safety hang over the industry. Amodei has said that frontier AI labs like Anthropic should slow the pace of AI development so that researchers can focus more on safety and alignment.

Anthropic, the first pure-play AI company to publicly file its S-1 in the US, can set expectations with its early stock market performance.

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

• After my husband lost his job, we moved across the country and into my mom's one-bedroom apartment.
• My husband, toddler, and I live in her living room, and it's not always easy sharing a small space.
• However, the arrangement has come with lots of benefits and we've been able to get back on our feet.

7:30 p.m. marks the start of my son's bedtime routine.

First, I pull out our pillows and bedding from under the chaise sofa bed, which I share with my son.

Once our makeshift bed is set, I close the curtains separating it from the rest of the one-bedroom apartment. The tiny living room becomes our private oasis.

I can almost forget we're at my mom's place, sleeping on a convertible sofa she'd originally bought for our annual visits, while my 6-foot-3 husband sleeps on his own air mattress on the ground right next to us.

After my husband lost his job, moving in with my mom seemed like the right decision

Squeezing into my mom's small Boston apartment was never the plan.

Right after I graduated from college, I had moved to California to chase my Hollywood dreams of becoming an actor. During my two decades of living on the West Coast, I met my husband, got married, and became a stay-at-home mom.

However, our lives were turned upside down in 2025 when my husband lost his job. For the first time, we really started thinking about moving to Boston, where I had grown up and my family still lived.

I figured it would give us more flexibility with childcare, and a fresh start in a new city might be what we needed.

When I called my mom to tell her about our plans, she was thrilled. She'd been telling us to move to Boston for years, and said we could stay with her in her one-bedroom apartment until we found a new place.

So, we booked one-way tickets to Logan Airport and moved in with my mom.

It's been challenging for all of us to share a one-bedroom apartment

Arriving in Boston was exciting, but the transition to sharing a one-bedroom apartment was trying — we took over the entire living room. The room became cluttered, with our clothes and suitcases spilling into the hallway.

My mom expressed concern about the mess, so we rented a nearby storage unit for most of our belongings. Still, though, the things we need daily seem to take up a lot of space.

Sharing a one-bedroom apartment required an adjustment not just for us, but for her too.

For example, my son's early bedtime closes the living room off to my mom's nightly TV watching. Honestly, it still feels awkward to kick my mom out of her own living room because I have to put my toddler to sleep.

Plus, my mom is an early riser, often getting up at 6:30 a.m. to clean and run errands.

I can hear the sounds of domestic life filtering through the curtains that separate our "room" from the rest of the home. Cupboards opening, dishes being put away, and the smell of morning coffee lingering in the air like a wake-up call.

When tension rises because of our conflicting schedules and differing routines, I've learned to take a breather and step outside with my son to go for a walk or a drive. It often helps to ease the tension and remember this arrangement is only temporary.

However, it's also nice having my mom's support, and my son has gotten to know his abuela in ways that wouldn't have been possible from across the country. She watches him while I take a shower and go to in-person or Zoom job interviews.

Every night, while I'm getting the living room ready for bedtime, he goes into her room and cuddles up next to her while she watches TV.

Even though things aren't perfect, the arrangement is worth it

At first, being back at my mom's house after so many years of independence honestly made me feel like I somehow failed at life. By 40, I thought I'd have a successful career and a home of my own.

Now, though, it's been seven months since we arrived in Boston, and honestly? We're thriving. My husband found work, my son loves his preschool, and I've been able to focus on my career aspirations.

What I've learned through this whole process is that it's OK to lean on family when necessary, and even though we're still hoping to get our own place sooner rather than later, I know moving back to Boston was the right decision for me and my family.

• A version of this story originally appeared in the AI Insider newsletter.
• Sign up for Business Insider's weekly AI Insider newsletter here.

A few weekends ago, my wife left on a business trip with one instruction: fix the Wi-Fi before I get back.

Her Zoom calls kept dropping during important meetings, so I tracked an old Cat 6 ethernet cable from our data closet so I could hardwire her laptop to the interwebs. The only problem? It ended as a raw, cut end, and I had no idea how to terminate it with an ethernet plug.

So I did what I do these days whenever I'm out of my depth: I asked ChatGPT.

I sent it photos at every stage. It told me which tools to buy, showed me how to strip the cable, arrange the eight tiny wires in the right order, and even drew little diagrams when words weren't enough. When I got frustrated, it gave me a pep talk.

My first attempt only delivered about 100 Mbps instead of our 1 Gbps internet connection. ChatGPT guessed two wires were faulty, suggested an inexpensive cable tester, interpreted the flashing lights from a photo, and confirmed the diagnosis. I cut the connector off and started again with a simpler plug it recommended.

The result? Around 850 Mbps.

My only complaint: ChatGPT would occasionally disappear down a rabbit hole with advice that was far more complicated than I needed, so I'd remind it I wasn't rewiring Silicon Valley. I just wanted my wife's Zoom calls to stop dropping.

So far, her video calls have been perfect. Without ChatGPT, there's no chance I'd have pulled this off.

Sign up for the AI Insider newsletter here. Reach out to me via email at abarr@businessinsider.com

• Every state lays claim to at least one famous musician. 
• We considered each artist's popularity, awards, and record sales to compile our list.
• Prince is famously from Minnesota, while Tony Bennett edged out the competition in New York.

Though places like New York and California are known for producing countless celebrities, it turns out there's at least one — in most cases, many more — famous musicians from every US state. 

Business Insider has already identified the most famous band from every state, so we're now focusing on individual singers, songwriters, and performers. This encompasses country pioneers, rappers, jazz cats, pop stars — you name it. Even if they perform(ed) with a backing band, these musicians stand out as the star of the show. 

The list is somewhat subjective, but to help determine the most famous musician from every state, Business Insider looked at each artist's reputation (within their own era), record sales, and awards.

It's also important to note that while most of these people were born in their corresponding state, others were not, but spent a lot of time living there.

Check out which musician took the No. 1 spot in your home state. 

ALABAMA: Hank Williams

Hank Williams, who was born in Mount Olive, Alabama, is widely considered the father of country music and the genre's foremost songwriter. Before the pioneering musician tragically died at 29 years old in 1953, he released a slew of singles that rocketed to the top of the country music charts, including "Kaw-Liga," "Honky Tonk Blues," and "Hey Good Lookin'."

Although his career was cut short, his impressive catalog of songs lives on in the contemporary musical landscape, thanks to covers by artists including James Brown, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Ray Charles.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

ALASKA: Jewel

Although she was born in Payson, Utah, Jewel Kilcher grew up near Homer, Alaska, and is by far the state's most successful musical export. The singer has earned four Grammy nominations and sold more than 30 million records. She's best known for hit songs including "Who Will Save Your Soul" and "You Were Meant for Me."

Jewel, 52, is also known for her yodeling, which she learned from her father, Atz Kilcher, a local musician and star of the reality show "Alaska: The Last Frontier."

ARIZONA: Linda Ronstadt

Hailing from Tucson, Arizona, Linda Ronstadt, 80, is one of America's most successful and versatile singer-songwriters.

Since her Grammy Award-winning breakout album "Heart Like A Wheel" hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and went platinum, she hasn't looked back. Ronstadt has won 11 Grammys from 27 nominations, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, and released numerous hit singles spanning many genres beyond pop, including rock, folk, Latin, and country. 

ARKANSAS: Johnny Cash

There are few musicians in the history of music who are as accomplished and influential as Johnny Cash, who was born in Kingsland, Arkansas.

The Man in Black won 13 Grammys out of 35 nominations and received the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. He was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. Cash died just over a decade later in 2003 at 71.

He saw multiple albums reach the top of the Billboard 200 chart, including "At San Quentin" and "American V: A Hundred Highways," both of which hit No. 1. 

CALIFORNIA: Jerry Garcia

There never was and never will be another musician like Jerry Garcia. While he's best known for his role in the Grateful Dead, he also released dozens of live and studio solo albums.

His spirited guitar solos emitted an energy that could mesmerize entire stadiums of fans while his vocals could rock your socks off just as easily as they could soothe your biggest troubles. 

Garcia wasn't in it for the awards or recognition — he just loved to play. And that genuineness is what contributed to his legacy. He was a working-class kid from San Francisco who changed rock 'n' roll forever. 

In fact, he was so influential that he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as part of the Grateful Dead, in 1994. He died the next year, in 1995, at 53.

COLORADO: John Denver

Thanks to iconic hits like "Rocky Mountain High" and "Take Me Home, Country Roads," John Denver, who died in 1997 at 53, cemented his place in the arena of folk-rock legends — and as the creator of some of the best campfire songs. Denver only won one Grammy from four nominations, but his legacy is unquestionably larger than his awards résumé suggests. 

The singer wasn't actually born in Colorado and spent much of his childhood moving around the US due to his father's job in the Air Force. But he settled in Aspen later in life and adopted his stage name after Denver, the capital of his favorite state, according to his website.

CONNECTICUT: John Mayer

Since his debut album "Room For Squares" in 2001, John Mayer has evolved into one of the most talented singer-songwriters and guitarists in the game — so much so that surviving members of the Grateful Dead tapped him to play lead guitar in their touring spinoff, Dead & Company.

Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Mayer, 49, has won seven Grammys out of 19 nominations and continues to please listeners with his soulful solos and gentle croonings — including his most recent single, "Tom and Jerry."

DELAWARE: George Thorogood

With more than 15 million albums sold during a career just shy of five decades, 76-year-old George Thorogood is one of the most accomplished blues-rockers out there.

With mega-hits including "I Drink Alone," "Move It On Over," and of course, "Bad To The Bone," Thorogood and his band, The Destroyers, are known for their gritty tone and catchy riffs. Thorogood was born in Wilmington, Delaware.

FLORIDA: Tom Petty

Some of the most iconic singles populating classic rock radio have been penned by Tom Petty, who died in 2017. From "American Girl" to "Learning to Fly" and "Wildflowers," it seemed as if anything Tom Petty touched turned to gold. Or rather platinum.

Petty's breakout third album, "Damn the Torpedoes," went triple platinum and launched the musician and his band, the Heartbreakers, into superstardom.

Throughout his nearly 40-year career, Petty, born in Gainesville, Florida, won three Grammys out of 18 nominations. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

GEORGIA: James Brown

Dubbed the "Godfather of Soul," James Brown set a new standard of showmanship while simultaneously molding the future of funk, soul, and rap music. Thanks to songs including "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," "I Got You (I Feel Good)," and "It's a Man's Man's World," Brown scored 17 No. 1 hits and sold 50 million records during his career.

Brown won three Grammys out of eight nominations and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the inaugural class of 1986. 

He died in 2006 at 73.

HAWAII: Israel "Iz" Kamakawiwo'ole

Honolulu's Israel "Iz" Kamakawiwo'ole became the state of Hawaii's first platinum-selling artist in 2005 after the singer's hit 1993 album "Facing Future" sold more than 1 million CDs, according to the Honolulu Star Bulletin.

"Bruddah Iz," who died in 1997 at 38, has posthumously hit 1.6 billion views on YouTube for his iconic rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

The outlet also reported that the medley has spent "a record 541 weeks on the World Digital Song Sales chart, including 332 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 starting in 2011."

IDAHO: Nikki Sixx

Although Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx, 67, wasn't born in Idaho, he has revealed that he spent a few formative teenage years living in the state.

Sixx helped Mötley Crüe receive three Grammy nominations, sell over 100 million albums worldwide, and record numerous chart-topping hits, including "Kickstart My Heart" and "Girls, Girls, Girls." 

ILLINOIS: Miles Davis

Miles Davis, who died in 1991 at 65, is one of the most influential and innovative musicians in jazz history.

Born in Alton, Illinois, the trumpeter's landmark 1970 album is an improvisational jazz masterpiece that inspired countless fusion musicians and went platinum.

Albums like "Kind of Blue" and "In a Silent Way" were critically acclaimed and have remained among the best-selling jazz records of all time. Davis won eight Grammys out of 32 nominations, received the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award, and 10 of his recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.

INDIANA: Michael Jackson

What else can be said about the "King of Pop" that you don't already know? With 13 Grammys out of 38 nominations, a 2001 induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and a 2026 biopic that grossed $1 billion worldwide, the wunderkind turned pop legend from Gary, Indiana, reigns supreme as one of the best performers in music history.

Jackson boasts a remarkable arsenal of hits, including "Thriller," "Beat It," and "Billie Jean," but was just as famous for his moonwalking.

Although his legacy has been marred by accusations of sexual abuse (most recently brought to light in the 2019 documentary "Leaving Neverland"), Jackson's music remains incredibly popular around the world, even 17 years after his death in 2009.

IOWA: Glenn Miller

Glenn Miller, founder of the iconic jazz orchestra that bears his name, is a big-band pioneer responsible for dozens of Top 10 hits, including "In The Mood," "Moonlight Serenade," and "Chattanooga Choo Choo."

Miller, born in Clarinda, Iowa, was posthumously awarded the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003, and many of his songs have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. His orchestra still tours and plays his music around the globe nearly 82 years after his death in 1944.

KANSAS: Melissa Etheridge

Melissa Etheridge, 65, who is from Leavenworth, Kansas, is known for her LGBTQ+ rights activism as much as she is for her raspy vocals and chart-topping singles.

Her breakthrough 1993 album "Yes I Am," which yielded the single "Come to My Window," peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 and went 6x platinum. To date, Etheridge has been nominated for 15 Grammys and won two.

She was also part of the 2026 class of nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

KENTUCKY: Jim James

Jim James of Louisville, Kentucky, fronts the popular rock band My Morning Jacket and is known for his dreamy falsetto and masterful songwriting.

Since the band's debut album in 1999, James, 48, has become one of the most in-demand musicians, collaborating with everyone from The Roots to Elvis Costello and Kermit the Frog. With the Jacket, James has earned three Grammy nominations. He has also released a number of solo albums and collaborations. 

We named My Morning Jacket's "The Waterfall II" the best rock album of 2020. 

LOUISIANA: Louis Armstrong

With a legendary career spanning from the 1920s to the '60s, Louis Armstrong emerged from New Orleans as an integral musician who would influence nearly every era of jazz music.

More importantly, before Armstrong, jazz was largely orchestrated and did not feature much improvisational soloing. The trumpeter made extended solos a mainstay of his performance and changed the landscape of how cats approached jazz standards forever, becoming one of the hottest musicians of the early 1900s in the process.

He's so important to New Orleans that the airport was named after him in 2001 to commemorate what would've been his 100th birthday.

MAINE: Ray LaMontagne

Ray LaMontagne's guitar playing deeply affects listeners, and his intimate lyrics are a gut punch to the soul, evoking the happiest or saddest moments in life. Hits like "You Are The Best Thing" and "Jolene" have helped earn LaMontagne two Grammy nominations and one win.

The 53-year-old singer moved to Maine after high school and worked at a radio station, which is where he heard a Stephen Stills song that inspired him to pursue music.

MARYLAND: Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa is one of the most prolific yet misunderstood composers of the 20th century, releasing 62 albums before his death in 1993. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame two years later.

Born in Baltimore, Zappa was known for using intricate time signatures, syncopation, and zany (though sometimes offensive) topics in his songs. For Zappa, it wasn't about writing hit singles; it was about getting his genius on tape so that he could enjoy it, and if anyone else did, it was a bonus.

MASSACHUSETTS: James Taylor

There are few singer-songwriters whose careers have been as successful as James Taylor.

The Boston-born musician has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, won six Grammys out of 19 nominations, and has been presented with countless awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Kennedy Center Honors, and a 2000 induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Taylor, 78, broke onto the scene in 1970 with his hit single "Fire and Rain" and went on to release dozens of other original songs and covers that continue to be crowd-pleasers at concerts. 

MICHIGAN: Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder, 76, started his remarkable career as a child prodigy on Motown's Tamla label at age 11. He scored his first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 a year later with the single "Fingertips, Pt. 2," which made him the youngest solo artist to top the chart.

Wonder continued his career, releasing hit album after hit album and winning an incredible 25 Grammys from 75 nominations. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in 1989.

Wonder is one of only four artists to win album of the year three times in their career. His discography covers many genres from R&B to funk and blues, and Wonder's use of synthesizers helped launch R&B into new stylistic directions. 

MINNESOTA: Prince

Prince hit the ground running with his 1979 self-titled LP featuring the iconic jam "I Wanna Be Your Lover," which immediately established the singer as a force in the pop/funk realm.

Prince truly proved his genius with the 1984 release of "Purple Rain" — and its accompanying soundtrack — which launched him and his band into superstardom. The "Purple Rain" album sold over 13 million copies, spent 24 weeks at the top of the charts, and produced hits "When Doves Cry," "Purple Rain," and "Take Me with U."

Prince won seven Grammys and was nominated for 38, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 before his death in 2016.

Across his career, he was closely tied to Minnesota, calling the state home for most of his life. His house, Paisley Park in Chanhassen, is open for Prince fans to tour. In fact, when the Super Bowl was played in Minneapolis in 2018, halftime headliner Justin Timberlake paid tribute to the "Let's Go Crazy" singer.

MISSISSIPPI: Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley, better known as the "The King of Rock and Roll," was a transformative figure who played an undeniable role in the trajectory of popular music in the US.

His sex appeal, matched with an electrified catalog of original materials and covers, propelled him to the top of the charts while laying the foundation for the electric blues and rock of the '60s and '70s. He was inducted posthumously into the inaugural class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 (he died in 1977 at age 42).

Elvis was born and raised in Tupelo, Mississippi, before moving to Memphis, Tennessee, as a teenager. 

MISSOURI: Chuck Berry

Similar to Elvis, Chuck Berry, nicknamed "The Father of Rock and Roll," played an integral part in the proliferation of the electric blues and rock 'n' roll.

His playing and, more importantly, his solos on songs like "Roll Over Beethoven," "Maybellene," and especially "Johnny B. Goode" turned thousands of listeners and guitar players onto this new genre of music, directly setting the course for the future of rock music.

Berry, who was born in St. Louis, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in its 1986 inaugural class and has topped many lists of the greatest musicians and guitarists. He died in 2017 at age 90.

MONTANA: Jeff Ament

Pearl Jam bassist and cofounder Jeff Ament, 63, was born in Havre, Montana, but moved to Seattle in the 1980s, where he then met the rest of the guys from Pearl Jam, with whom he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

Ament is recognized for his skill on the upright and fretless bass, in addition to the electric bass. He also played in the band Temple of the Dog and has released three solo albums.

NEBRASKA: Conor Oberst

Bright Eyes front man Conor Oberst, 46, takes the top spot for the state of Nebraska.

The Omaha-born rocker and his band have had notable chart success: In 2005, their album "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200, and their 2007 album "Cassadaga" peaked at No. 4.

After a nine-year hiatus, the band released a new album, "Down In the Weeds, Where the World Once Was," in 2020. Another album, "Five Dices, All Threes," came out in 2024.

NEVADA: Brandon Flowers

Brandon Flowers, 45, lead singer of the Las Vegas band The Killers, has contributed some of the most popular alt-rock tunes of the past 20 years.

Flowers and Co. have had three albums reach No. 1 on Billboard's rock charts — but their legacy, at this point, will be the enduring millennial classic, "Mr. Brightside."

He also has his own solo career, with his latest album "Thrasher" getting released in August 2026.

We listed The Killers' "Imploding the Mirage" as one of the best rock albums of 2020. 

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Noah Kahan

Noah Kahan, 29, is probably equally associated with Vermont and New Hampshire (and, to some extent, Maine), but we're putting him with the Granite State because he went to high school in Hanover.

Kahan's been nominated for two Grammys, has one of the best-selling albums of 2026 with "The Great Divide," and his signature song, "Stick Season," has been streamed nearly 2 billion times on Spotify.

NEW JERSEY: Frank Sinatra

There are many great musicians from New Jersey, including Frankie Valli, Bruce Springsteen, and Bon Jovi, but Frank Sinatra stands preeminent above all others.

Born in Hoboken, Sinatra went on to sell over 150 million records and win 9 Grammys from 31 nominations.

Hits like "(Theme From) New York, New York," "Fly Me To The Moon," and "You Make Me Feel so Young" were favorites for many generations of Americans and established Sinatra as one of the most prolific singers, performers, and actors of the 20th century before his death in 1998.

NEW MEXICO: Demi Lovato

Demi Lovato, the Disney star turned pop sensation from Albuquerque, New Mexico, has dominated the charts for more than a decade.

She's had multiple albums and singles hit the top of the Billboard charts, including "Give Your Heart a Break" and "Sorry Not Sorry," earning serious airplay. Lovato, 34, has been nominated for two Grammys and, in 2015, launched Be Vocal: Speak Up for Mental Health, an organization that promotes mental health awareness.

NEW YORK: Tony Bennett

Like Sinatra, Bennett became one of the greatest singers and showmen of the 20th century.

Bennett continued to perform well into his nineties before his death in 2023, while hit songs like "I Left My Heart In San Francisco," "The Way You Look Tonight," and "Rags to Riches" have been covered by numerous musicians.

Bennett, who was born in Astoria, Queens, won 19 Grammys out of 41 nominations, received the Kennedy Center Honors, and won a host of other impressive awards. 

NORTH CAROLINA: John Coltrane

John Coltrane is one of the most influential saxophonists and composers in jazz music history. Coltrane's experimentation with free and avant-garde jazz, and with modes and cyclical chord progressions, helped propel the genre into new boundaries.

During his career, Coltrane, who was born in Hamlet, North Carolina, collaborated with many of the genre's best, including Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. In 2016, the jazz icon was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize. He died at age 40 in 1967.

NORTH DAKOTA: Wiz Khalifa

Wiz Khalifa released his debut album in 2006, but didn't truly break into the mainstream until his debut single for Atlantic Records, "Black and Yellow," hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

Since then, the 39-year-old rapper (who was born in Minot, North Dakota, before eventually settling in Pittsburgh) has remained one of the most popular, earning 10 Grammy nominations and appearing on some of the hottest songs of the past two decades.

OHIO: Dean Martin

The singer, actor, and comedian Dean Martin was born in Steubenville, Ohio, and got his start singing in nightclubs near his hometown.

Martin quickly outgrew his humble upbringing and went on to become one of America's greatest entertainers, pleasing viewers with his suave croonings for over five decades. He enjoyed a bountiful solo career singing jazz and contemporary standards before becoming the host of his eponymous, iconic variety show. Martin died in 1995 at 78.

OKLAHOMA: Garth Brooks

Garth Brooks is one of the best-selling solo artists of all time with over 162 million album sales. Additionally, he's the only artist to appear on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in five consecutive decades: the '80s, '90s, '00s, '10s, and '20s.

Brooks, 64, has had multiple albums top the Billboard charts, and he has won two Grammys out of 14 nominations. Brooks is from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is a graduate of Oklahoma State University. 

OREGON: Elliott Smith

Elliott Smith, to quote another iconic musician, is your favorite artist's favorite artist. The indie legend, who grew up in Portland, Oregon, has been covered by everyone from Frank Ocean to Billie Eilish to Madonna.

His signature song, "Needle in the Hay," has been immortalized on film in Wes Anderson's classic "The Royal Tenenbaums." Pitchfork also named it one of the best songs of the '90s.

Smith was nominated for an Academy Award for the song "Miss Misery," which was used in "Good Will Hunting."

Sadly, he died in 2003. He was just 34.

PENNSYLVANIA: Taylor Swift

What is there to say about Taylor Swift? She's the only artist to ever win album of the year four times at the Grammys — and has won 14 from 58 nominations — and has countless other records to her name. The Eras Tour was a cultural phenomenon and the first tour to gross $1 billion; it eventually surpassed $2 billion.

Swift may have gotten her start in country music and has an association with Nashville, but her roots are in Pennsylvania. She was born in West Reading and lived in PA until she was a teenager.

RHODE ISLAND: araabMUZIK

Abraham Orellana, 37, better known by his stage name araabMUZIK, is a producer and DJ from Providence, Rhode Island, who has worked with rap and hip-hop giants including Cam'ron, ASAP Rocky, and Joe Budden.

He contributed to Jay Electronica's Grammy-nominated 2020 album and has played major festivals, including Coachella and Pitchfork. 

SOUTH CAROLINA: Darius Rucker

Darius Rucker, 60, rose to fame as the singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Hootie and the Blowfish, which produced multiple Top 10 singles and the hit album "Cracked Rear View," which sold over 16 million copies in the US.

Following his stint with Hootie, the Charleston, South Carolina, native has enjoyed a successful solo career, yielding eight studio albums and hit songs like the Grammy Award-winning "Wagon Wheel" (a cover of Old Crow Medicine Show's song) and "Come Back Song." 

SOUTH DAKOTA: Shawn Colvin

Singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin's claim to fame came during the late '80s and '90s when her 1989 album, "Steady On," won a Grammy for best contemporary folk album.

Her fourth studio album, 1996's "A Few Small Repairs," won her another pair of Grammys and produced the chart-topping single "Sunny Came Home." Colvin, 70, was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. 

TENNESSEE: Dolly Parton

As we wrote in our timeline of the singer's impressive career: Parton was "equal parts country megastar, actor, and philanthropist."

Parton released a whopping 49 studio albums, won 10 Grammys out of 55 nominations, and generated millions in revenue for her hometown near Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, thanks to her theme park, Dollywood.

Her death in 2026 at age 80 caused such an outpouring of grief around the world that the president ordered the flags to be lowered.

TEXAS: Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson is an absolute legend in the folk and country worlds. He was born in Abbott, Texas, in 1933, and moved back to Austin in 1972. He's lived there ever since.

He's responsible for writing and performing some of the genre's most iconic songs and helping develop the outlaw country subgenre.

Nelson, 93, scored 20 No. 1 and 40 Top 10 hits during his six-decade career. He also won 12 Grammys out of 59 nominations.

UTAH: Dan Reynolds

Dan Reynolds, 39, is the front man of Imagine Dragons, a band with close ties to Salt Lake City. While Reynolds was born and raised in Nevada, he moved to Salt Lake City for college, where he formed the band. They went on to win a Battle of the Bands contest, laying the groundwork for their current success.

Imagine Dragons was the first rock act to have four songs surpass 1 billion streams on Spotify ("Radioactive," "Demons," "Believer," and "Thunder"). They've also won one Grammy from four nominations and are among the best-selling rock acts of the 21st century.

VERMONT: Trey Anastasio

In addition to his work as guitarist and lead vocalist for the Grammy-nominated jam band Phish — which was formed at the University of Vermont in 1983 — Trey Anastasio, 62, has released a score of solo albums and is a member of the band Oysterhead with Primus bassist Les Claypool and The Police drummer Stewart Copeland.

He has also collaborated with the Grateful Dead, Dave Matthews, and Herbie Hancock, and has performed original compositions with orchestras around the country.

VIRGINIA: Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald, known as "The First Lady of Song," was the most popular jazz singer for more than half a century, according to her website, and sold more than 40 million records before her death in 1996.

Known for her scat singing and dynamic range, Fitzgerald, who was born in Newport News, Virginia, worked with many of the great performers of the 20th century, including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Frank Sinatra.

Among other accolades, Fitzgerald won 13 Grammys out of 20 nominations, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and won the National Medal of Arts. 

WASHINGTON: Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix's guitar playing is among the most influential of all time, his albums are consistently ranked among the best in rock history, and his mark on the rock landscape is unforgettable.

For many, Hendrix, who died in 1970 at 27, is the best to ever pick up the guitar, thanks in no small part to the innovations he brought to the instrument, including fuzz distortion and the wah-wah effect. Simply put, there's no denying that Hendrix, who was born in Seattle, is deserving of the most famous spot from Washington state. 

WASHINGTON, DC: Marvin Gaye

Dubbed the "Prince of Motown," Marvin Gaye, who died in 1984, originally burst onto the scene with hits like "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" to become one of the label's brightest stars.

Gaye dropped his biggest album, "What's Going On," in 1971 to critical acclaim. Subsequent albums such as 1973's "Let's Get It On" and 1982's "Midnight Love" yielded chart-topping hits and directly influenced the future of funk and R&B.

Gaye, who was born and raised in DC, won two Grammys out of 12 nominations and posthumously received the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996. He was also posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

WEST VIRGINIA: Brad Paisley

Since his debut album "Who Needs Pictures" dropped in 1999, Brad Paisley, 53, has found nothing but success, winning three Grammys, two American Music Awards, 15 Academy of Country Music Awards, and 14 Country Music Association Awards.

The Glen Dale, West Virginia, native has had 33 songs reach the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot Country chart, 18 of which were No. 1 hits.

WISCONSIN: Justin Vernon (Bon Iver)

Hailing from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Justin Vernon, 45, is known for his high-reaching falsetto and mix of traditional and boundary-pushing folk/indie rock songwriting.

Vernon has found commercial and critical success as the singer and front man of the indie rock band Bon Iver, which has won two Grammys out of 11 nominations, including best new artist and best alternative music album for the group's self-titled album "Bon Iver, Bon Iver."

WYOMING: Scott Avett

Although his brother Seth was born in North Carolina, the state from which the band The Avett Brothers originates, Scott Avett, 50, was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

The Grammy-nominated band Scott helped form is a delightful mix of bluegrass, folk, and indie rock known for its intimate sound and lyrics. The Avett Brothers have released 16 studio albums and EPs, the most recent of which, "The Avett Brothers," dropped in May 2024.

• Dozens gathered in New York for a Nathan Fielder and Elizabeth Holmes look-alike contest.
• A small crowd cheered on the sea of black blazers, blonde buns, and tiny headphones.
• One of the event's organizers said more than 200 people registered to attend.

Washington Square Park on Sunday afternoon looked like a cross between a vigil, a corporate mixer, and a low-budget film set.

It was, in reality, an Elizabeth Holmes and Nathan Fielder lookalike contest, as fandom about the documentary "You Can See Everything" spilled onto the streets. A small crowd cheered on the gaggle of blazer-donning blondes and graying fans wearing tiny headphones. Holmes wannabes milled around, their heavily lined eyes wide and fingers forming the "okay" hand gesture associated with the Theranos founder.

Age was no object: One of the Holmeses appeared to be under 10 in a video on X, though she'd already mastered the founders' characteristic stare.

The prize ultimately went to two adults, Joe Sivick and Nicole Travolta, the post said. Speaking into a megaphone, Sivick said he lives in New York, is married, and has a cat. Travolta, who identifies as an actress and comedian on Instagram, posted about her unexpected win, showing off a beaded turquoise coin purse that reads "Delulu for life" in a video on her story. Typically a brunette, she appears to have invested in a wig for the big day.

Maddy West, a New York-based comedian and Fielder fan, organized the event with a friend. Look-alike contests rose in popularity a few years ago, with celebrities from Timothée Chalamet to Glen Powell getting the doppelganger treatment.

The organizers had about a week to set up the event, from the prizes and the registration to securing the guest judge, Kor Skeete, who starred in an episode of Fielder's series "The Rehearsal." West said more than 200 people responded to a registration form on the event's Partiful invitation.

Neither Sivick nor Travolta wanted the $50 cash prize, West said, opting instead to keep a purse made by a local business. West said Sivick's impression was so convincing, she momentarily thought he was Fielder himself.

"When he showed up to the event, I saw him from a distance, and he was wearing sunglasses. At first glance, I was like, 'Oh my gosh, did Nathan Fielder actually show?" West said.

Sunday's contestants aren't the only ones investing in the documentary duo's wardrobe. TikTokers have posted about dressing up as Holmes and Fielder — or Holmes and her "drop of blood," in at least one case — for Halloween.

Fielder's documentary has made waves in the tech and film worlds since it debuted earlier this month. The A24 movie tracks the time the comedian spent with Holmes weeks before she reported to prison for defrauding investors, among other charges. Business Insider's Callie Ahlgrim described it as "part character study, part psychological thriller, part surrealist thought experiment." "You Can See Everything" grossed $15 million in its opening weekend after opening in 855 theaters, doubling producers' expectations.

The movie is part of a string of recent releases about wealthy, hubristic tech founders — there's Mark Zuckerberg in "The Social Reckoning," Elon Musk in "Musk," Sam Altman in "Artificial," and Sam Bankman-Fried in "The Altruists." The on-screen Silicon Valley backlash has coincided with real-life discontent about the AI buildout, which is becoming a more potent issue for tech leaders and politicians alike.

This story has been updated with comments from event organizer Maddy West.

• Shares in neocloud companies are falling over concerns about their levels of debt.
• CoreWeave and Nebius, two major public neoclouds, have seen their stocks drop sharply in recent weeks.
• On Sunday, Elon Musk questioned the sector, saying that "some will make it through, but not many."

Neocloud companies are sliding even lower.

Shares dropped further on Monday after Elon Musk warned that many of them face "guppy-level death."

CoreWeave and Nebius have both fallen more than 30% over the past month, largely due to growing concerns about the debt they've taken on to build more data centers.

Soon after Monday's open, shares in both companies were down a further 4%, while Iren, another publicly traded neocloud, fell 2%.

The declines follow a string of X posts from Musk on Sunday evening questioning the neocloud business model.

"As of the past few weeks, debt markets have almost entirely shut off access to money for any company that doesn't have substantial revenue independent of AI data centers," he said.

"That means the 200+ neoclouds are going to see guppy-level death and consolidation," he added. "Some will make it through, but not many."

Musk said that while SpaceX has closed $40 billion in debt to buy GPUs, his company makes money through Starlink and rocket launches.

Meanwhile, investors are worried that a slowing AI boom could leave debt-heavy neoclouds struggling to service their loans.

After one X user posted arguing that Musk was trying to drive down the share prices of neocloud companies to acquire them, Musk replied: "SpaceX is not buying any neoclouds. Pointless."

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang remains bullish about the sector. "The demand for the neoclouds is off the charts," he told CNBC last Thursday.

Nvidia holds significant stakes in CoreWeave, Nebius, and other cloud-computing companies.

However, a recent Bernstein Research report analyzed thousands of planned US data centers and estimated that only about 35% of the announced capacity will be built.

"Press releases are cheap … concrete is not," Bernstein analysts wrote in a research note.

• As a personal stylist for corporate clients, I've noticed more industries embracing jeans at work.
• I recommend selecting a dark-wash, wide-leg pair that closely resembles trousers.
• To elevate denim even further, I love pairing it with a pointed-toe heel and a simple belt.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the workplace has changed a lot, and so has what we wear to the office. As a personal stylist who works with corporate clients, I've noticed that many industries — though not all — have become more casual, with some embracing jeans as workwear.

Still, there's a fine line between looking casually professional and overly relaxed, even when jeans are part of the dress code.

Here are five easy ways to wear denim at work while still looking polished.

Choose a dark wash with a wide leg that closely resembles trousers.

When it comes to wearing jeans at a 9-to-5, I think a darker wash is always the best place to start, since it closely matches the color of a classic pair of dark trousers. Although black jeans can look professional, I prefer a dark-blue shade, as it still clearly reads as denim.

As for the fit, I love a wide-leg pair rather than a slimmer one because it gives the illusion of trousers while still maintaining a casual feel. This way, the look is still laid-back and comfortable, but the shape and color are more polished and professional.

Regarding the waist, I think individuals with shorter torsos should opt for a mid-to-low-rise jean, whereas those with longer torsos should reach for a higher-waisted alternative.

A textured top instantly elevates jeans.

I love a cozy sweater, but pairing one with jeans can make an entire outfit feel too casual.

To avoid this, I like to pair denim with a top that has some interest. Think texture, beautiful buttons, an interesting collar, or an actual blouse.

If you really want to wear a sweater, I recommend layering it with a cardigan in the same color. Having those two distinct elements instantly makes the denim feel more put-together and gives the outfit more intention.

When it comes to wearing jeans in the workplace, a belt is crucial.

One of the easiest ways to instantly make jeans feel more polished for the office is to add a belt.

I like to think of a belt as the jewelry for your pants. Similar to how a necklace, earrings, or a bracelet can complete an outfit, a belt adds the extra detail that shows careful thought went into the look.

Whether it's a classic leather version with a simple buckle or something with a little more personality, a belt is a great addition that can immediately transform a casual look into corporate attire.

Subtle texture adds a twist to classic denim.

Not all denim worn in the workplace needs to be a traditional solid wash. For example, I think jeans with painted designs, tonal patterns, and interesting finishes and textures — like stitching — add so much more interest to the look.

However, be careful with the styling of textured denim. I recommend keeping the rest of the outfit simple and letting the patterned jeans serve as the focal point.

Footwear can make or break the whole look.

When it comes to selecting the right shoes to wear with jeans, there's a careful balance between looking professional and too casual.

I always recommend wearing a ballet flat, a pointed-toe heel, or a bootie.

If you do want to wear a sneaker, I suggest a low-profile, less bulky option — so it still looks put together with the denim.

• Meta is seeking a major cash injection to fund its AI ambitions.
• The tech giant said on Monday it is looking to raise up to $95 billion from stock offerings.
• Tech firms are spending big on AI infrastructure as they try to win the superintelligence race.

Meta is tapping investors for up to $95 billion to fund its huge AI build-out.

The tech giant said in a Monday filing that it has launched about $35 billion in equity offerings, comprising around $22.5 billion of Class A common stock, and $12.5 billion in depositary shares representing preferred stock.

The parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram also said it was planning a $60 billion at-the-market offering once its Class C shares begin trading in the first quarter of 2027.

In an at-the-market offering, a company sells shares gradually into the market at the prevailing market price, instead of as a large block at a fixed price.

Meta said last week that it would introduce the new share class to help founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg access the liquidity he may need to pay California's proposed wealth tax without having to sell existing shares and erode his voting control over the company.

"AI is creating significant opportunities for Meta across its core business and new products and services," the company said in a press release.

"Meta is investing to expand the infrastructure and compute capacity needed to support these opportunities and to bring personal superintelligence to billions of people and businesses," it added.

Nvidia, AMD, and Broadcom have each expressed an interest in buying up to $5 billion of the common stock being offered, but those indications aren't binding, so they might buy more or less, Meta said.

Meta stock swung during Monday's premarket from 2% in the green to 0.4% in the red.

Meta is spending heavily on AI infrastructure as it develops consumer AI products and pursues Mark Zuckerberg’s goal of "personal superintelligence."

The company said it expects to incur $135 billion to $145 billion of capital expenditures this year. It highlighted $97 billion of operating cash flow for the first nine months of this year, and the roughly $82 billion of cash and other liquid assets it held at the end of September.

Meta's revenue jumped by 26% to around $65 billion last quarter, but its operating income shrank by 37% to $13 billion as costs surged from about $31 billion to $52 billion.

• Home sales may be sluggish, but the luxury segment of the market is thriving.
• Sotheby's International Realty highlighted four things motivating luxury homebuyers in 2026.
• Some are buying homes in Milan, while others are moving to San Francisco to take part in the AI boom.

While many Americans are sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the real-estate market to become more affordable, ultrawealthy buyers are still snapping up homes.

Sotheby's International Realty's 2026 Mid-Year luxury outlook survey found that 55% of its real-estate affiliated professionals worldwide who specialize in properties priced at $10 million and above saw an increase in luxury homebuyers in their local markets over the previous 12 months. Respondents also said they expect strong demand for the remainder of 2026.

"The affluent remain engaged and confident in the luxury housing market. They are deliberate but not deterred," Philip A. White Jr., president and CEO of Sotheby's International Realty, said in the brokerage's report.

Here are four trends gaining traction among ultrawealthy homebuyers according to Sotheby's report, from a revival in San Francisco's real estate market to a growing demand for homes that allow buyers to age in place.

Luxury buyers want a home where they can age in place

Americans are increasingly focusing on health and wellness, transforming not only how they live but also what they want in their homes.

Sotheby's International Realty found that luxury buyers — many of whom already invest in products and routines that help them stay healthy — are less likely to downsize or move into senior housing. Instead, they are opting to buy homes that better allow them to age in place.

Sotheby's International Realty's survey shows that nearly 40% of real estate professionals said aging in place is a growing priority among homebuyers.

"Increasing life expectancy, coupled with affluent homebuyers' desire to 'age in place,' is reshaping everything from home design and location choice to how inventory circulates in prime real estate markets," Tammy Fahmi, senior vice president of global servicing and strategy at Sotheby's International Realty, said in the report.

For luxury buyers, a home's ability to support a high quality of life is a top priority. Sotheby's found that they want spa-like amenities, including saunas, cold plunges, and red-light therapy; advanced air and water filtration, and easy access to the outdoors through nearby hiking or walking trails. Those who can afford it are also interested in integrated health-monitoring technology or in-home staff.

2. Miami remains a hot spot for ultrawealthy homebuyers

While home sales are still down across the country, Sotheby's International Realty's report suggests that the luxury end of the real-estate market is doing well.

"There's a little more inventory that has helped keep that property market moving," Lawrence Yun, chief economist and senior vice president of research at the National Association of Realtors, said in Sotheby's report. "The stock market has helped, plus the ability of upper-end homebuyers to pay with cash and not be concerned about mortgage rates."

In the US, several markets continue to attract luxury buyers, especially Miami. In recent years, celebrities and billionaires, including Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, have purchased multimillion-dollar homes in the Miami area.

"The ultra-luxury property market in Miami is on particularly solid ground," Yun said. "They had a little oversupply, but with their infrastructure development and new luxury condominium construction, it's becoming an even bigger city."

3. Ultrawealthy buyers want to live where their money goes further.

Global uncertainty is prompting many people to reconsider both where they invest their money and where they live. For ultra-high net worth individuals, that often means looking to cities that offer stability and greater value.

Among those places, Milan is becoming an increasingly attractive destination for luxury homebuyers, according to a Sotheby's report.

Milan's appeal is also tied to Italy's tax incentives and residency-by-investment program, which provides access to the Schengen Area, which includes countries such as the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Portugal, and Greece.

"That has attracted a lot of ultra-high-net-worth individuals," Diletta Giorgolo, a global real estate advisor at Italy Sotheby's International Realty, said in the report. "More people were coming to Italy for not only residency, but their fiscal regime. We were always used to international buyers, but they came for second homes. The big difference is that now many are buying primary homes."

4. AI is breathing new life into the Bay Area and reviving its real estate market

As the AI industry booms in the Bay Area, younger affluent buyers who left for cities like New York and Los Angeles are being drawn back by job opportunities.

"San Francisco thrives on innovation and new technology, and now the AI boom is real," Alex Hachiya, a San Francisco-based senior global real estate advisor at Sotheby's International Realty, said in Sotheby's report. "Wealth flooded back into the city in 2025, and we saw 84% more sales of homes priced at $7.5 million and up that year, compared to 2024."

Hachiya said it is typical for younger luxury buyers, many of whom work in tech, are entrepreneurs, or come from family wealth, to buy homes in San Francisco before later purchasing a second property in the suburbs, where they plan to raise their children.

He added that when it comes to homes, these buyers want move-in-ready homes with flexible living spaces and walkable neighborhoods.

• Rick Nott has used AI to save himself a lot of tedious work as a wealth advisor.
• He said new AI products may help other advisors save time too, but they won't replace humans.
• Nott spoke to Business Insider about how he uses the technology to save him time now.

Rick Nott is a senior managing director and private wealth advisor at Santa Monica, California-based Angeles Investments. He spoke to Business Insider about how he uses AI, and why he's excited and afraid when looking at AI-native financial planning platforms. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

When Claude first rolled out its solution for financial advisors, I felt fear and excitement. How complicated will it be? How will it work?

I'm not a software developer, but I have some basic tech skills. LLMs have allowed me to dig into coding, which I'd been avoiding learning because it's a lot of work. I know enough to know what I want, how it should look, and how to check the outputs, and now I can automate more of my process. AI has become the glue between the various systems we use and the different workflows we have.

I've shown some colleagues how I operate. One told me that I basically have another full-time employee's worth of output through the technology, by automating data collection processes and making it easier to analyze my clients' portfolios.

What AI unlocks

I started my career while still in college in the late 2000s doing data reporting work for a wealth firm. Between all of the software advisors use, there's a lot of manual work, typically done in Excel, to connect it together.

Previously, I could only provide balance sheet reporting for clients with more than $100 million because it took so much manual work. Now I can do it with someone with significantly less.

As a family's net worth grows, so does complexity. For many, understanding their overall financial system is their biggest pain point.

Banks and brokerage accounts are the easy part, but trusts, business ownership structures, and private investments, which all report differently and require cash on hand to make capital calls, can take huge amounts of manual work to analyze.

Imagine a wealth advisory business serving 30 families, each holding about 10 private investments. Each investment generates about 10 documents a year, including quarterly reports, capital calls, distribution notices, and tax documents. Each of these 3,000 documents takes a skilled analyst 15 to 30 minutes to analyze and distill into our reports.

That's 750 to 1,500 hours a year, most of it crammed into the few weeks after each quarter closes. With AI, that data is extracted and mapped as it arrives, and one analyst reviews the work instead of a team racing against a deadline.

Our goal is to create a one-page document or report on their phone that's as close to real-time as possible.

There's a lot you can do with all of your data in one place. For example, a two- or three-sentence prompt could expand into a full email to a client, with all relevant and accurate information already populated. You can then personalize that to fit the right tone for your client.

How AI changes the job

AI tools like Claude for financial advisors will be disruptive, and others will gain access to the same connectivity I've built.

I think of it as part of a dynamic that's been going on for years in my industry. Vanguard, ETFs, lower costs, and robo-advisors have all put a squeeze on financial advisors.

But if you believe a lawyer's only job is writing contracts, or a financial advisor's only job is putting together a portfolio, there's a fundamental kind of misunderstanding of what the actual job is.

As long as investing involves human judgment, financial advisors will have a job. AI doesn't improve investment decisions or results.

I tell my clients that my role is to be the architect of their financial operating system, and, as with an actual operating system, a centralized source of data is essential.

When you have a big-picture view of what your family's mission is, you can avoid getting distracted by market noise and news. From there, you can go a layer down to make strategic plans and ask if we're moving in the right direction, and what opportunities we may have. Another layer down, we work with a CPA to save money on taxes.

A full picture of a balance sheet makes it possible to actually know what liquidity you have available. Now I can spend more time developing relationships, the thing that runs our business. I get to know anything and everything about the clients I'm working with and those I'd like to work with.

The future of financial advisors and AI

I have a natural excitement around tech, and watching the Anthropic webinar was incredible. My main concern is that it's not a subscription-based plan; it's token-based, which could lead to surprise bills for users who don't yet know how to manage their token usage.

At small RIAs without the expertise, people will be uploading 100-page PDF documents just to ask basic questions, like the ages of kids in a trust. That will rip through tokens.

We priced it out internally, and we would have to pay significantly more for a token-based plan instead of the subscription-based licenses we have now. Maybe eventually everyone will have to pay for tokens that way, and the cost of tokens is going down.

We learn to do things faster and at lower cost, but in this industry, we do that for a particular reason: to spend more time with the people we serve.

The primary way that our clients give us information is still by talking. There's a significant amount of nuance. You may be able to understand something and infer what's really being said. But note-taking software is still wrong all the time. You have to review it.

Money is emotional, and I seriously question whether AI can replace our need to connect with another human being.

Do I see someone sitting across the table from AI on a speakerphone? Probably not.

• Apple briefly overtook Nvidia as the world's most valuable company on Friday, and remains within striking distance.
• Nvidia is still an AI powerhouse, but Apple offers Big Tech exposure with less AI-trade baggage.
• Sign up for First Trade, Business Insider's daily markets newsletter.

Nvidia has spent months looking like the unassailable most valuable company on earth. It was the first to a $5 trillion market cap. Its chips have become the market's most important product.

But on Friday, Apple briefly overtook the chipmaker as the stock market's top dog, with a market value north of $5.1 trillion. Nvidia quickly reclaimed its throne, but the moment was a reminder that the race is suddenly much tighter than one might think based on news headlines alone.

The chart below shows one reason Apple got close enough to challenge the crown: Nvidia stock took a hit last week, especially from disappointing Meta earnings that rattled the whole sector.

To be clear, Nvidia is still a thriving business that has Wall Street analysts in a near-unanimous bullish trance. It's also hardly doing poorly in the stock market. It remains the second-best performer in the Magnificent Seven this year, outpacing the broader S&P 500.

But it's proved susceptible to the sudden jitters of an increasingly fraught and fragmented AI trade. Just last week investors cycled through a carousel of fears: debt financing, capex that's either too high or too low, and a lack of tangible returns. When you're the hub of the AI wheel, it is hard not to feel bumps in the road.

Ultimately, Nvidia doesn't need to be in trouble for Apple to catch it. It merely needs to stop looking untouchable.

Apple is running its own race

This is not to say Apple's brief crack at the number-one spot was solely due to Nvidia struggles. Apple has quietly put together its own excellent run alongside the AI trade, rather than within it. That's put it close enough to challenge the crown just as Nvidia hits a wobblier patch.

Apple's core fundamentals — a loyal consumer ecosystem, a thriving services business, and one of the market's biggest cash piles — have made it a high-quality play at a time when Wall Street is shifting towards stocks healthy enough to withstand AI pullbacks.

Apple has AI ambitions of its own, but it doesn't need to highlight its revenue-generating power in the same way less diversified companies might. Nor does it need to win the data-center arms race for the stock to keep climbing.

That's made it useful for investors who still want mega-cap tech exposure but are growing wary of being too purely exposed to the AI trade.

For most of the year, the market has treated the biggest AI spenders as the only game in town for Big Tech. Apple's rally is a reminder that investors still have room for a company that can fund its ambitions the old-fashioned way: by selling a lot of products people already want.

• Anthropic and OpenAI may be sucking up all the air when it comes to future IPOs, but there are others to watch, too.
• UBS published a list of 100 privately held tech companies that its analysts are watching ahead of a potential IPO.
• They "represent the next generation of AI & software firms for public tech investors to monitor."

Initial public offerings from Anthropic and OpenAI will mark a new chapter for the market's AI trade, but there are plenty of other tech firms investors should be monitoring for IPO chatter as well.

UBS recently published its list of 100 privately held AI and software companies that its keeping tabs on ahead of potential IPOs next year and beyond.

"These 100 privates represent the next generation of AI & software firms for public tech investors to monitor, highlighting new growth vectors and potential disruption risk for incumbent public software firms," the banks's Karl Keirstead wrote.

Here are 10 0f the most noteworthy tech companies that UBS is eyeing.

Databricks

Databricks, a cloud-based data engineering and analytics platform is high on UBS' list of private tech companies to watch. The bank emphasized the $7 billion in annual recurring revenue it reported in the second quarter, and that it competes with public companies in areas like AI-assisted coding and engineering and agentic applications.

The company has been touted by investors such as Andrew Left, who described it as Palantir's top rival. Databricks is backed by Nvidia, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services, as well as many top names in the venture capital space.

Anduril

Founded by tech entrepreneur Palmer Luckey, the defense tech firm has been in the headlines recently, largely due to its focus on autonomous military hardware and AI software for the US military.

This has led to a slew of lucrative defense contracts as the US looks to bolster its capabilities amid war with Iran and the Russia-Ukraine war.

"Growth has been supported by major U.S. defense awards, including assuming the lead role in the Army's Integrated Visual Augmentation System program, which has a potential contract ceiling of up to $22bn, and securing a 10-year, $642.2mn-ceiling counter-UAS IDIQ for systems deployed at U.S. Marine Corps installations," Keirstead wrote.

Canva

Canva has emerged as a giant in the graphic design software space for both personal and professional customers. Its AI integration has been praised by users as the company has maneuvers to compete with AI tools from big players like Anthropic.

Keirstead said that his team isn't worried about the graphic design leader being able to compete with larger rivals, particularly given its strong growth statistics.

"Canva ended 2025 with approximately $4B in ARR, 265M+ monthly active users, 31M+ paid users, and roughly 5,000 employees (up from 240M MAUs, 27M paid users, and ~5,000 employees in early 2025)," he said.

Hebbia

This high-profile startup is credited with integrating AI tools into Wall Street workflows by automating financial analysis. The company's head of strategy, a former hedge fund manager, described it as helping eliminate the work that bankers hate doing.

Hebbia operates at the intersection of two high-growth markets: agentic AI for finance and legal AI software.

"Together, these categories imply a core addressable market of approximately $7.2B in 2026, expanding to $46.7B by 2034, before including Hebbia's opportunities in consulting, corporate research, and other knowledge-work functions," UBS said.

Replit

Replit has emerged as a leader in the vibe-coding space, offering a platform that lets users generate a working app or website by entering text-only prompts.

While most leading AI agents offer similar features, UBS maintains that the company can hold its own, citing 7x revenue growth potential based on recent company estimates.

"Replit cites over 500k professional users on the platform today with 'millions' of total users," Keirstead noted. "The company expects to cross $1 billion ARR by the end of 2026."

Instinct

AI-powered personal assistants have suddenly boomed, jump started by Meta's Muse last month. But Instinct has become one of its chief competitors with its agent that perform various tasks and can be addeed to group chats to help coordinate plans and logistics.

UBS estimates that Instinct's total addressable market is likely in the hundreds of billions of dollars, given how many functions the agent can perform, including commerce, communications and travel booking.

Thinking Machines

Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati co-founded this fintech startup in 2025, which has quadrupled in size since its launch, despite losing some talent to Meta. It boasts Nvidia as a strategic investor and has managed to raise $2 billion at a valuation of $12 billion.

"During 2026, the company expanded its research and product portfolio through its NVIDIA and Google Cloud infrastructure agreements, the launch of Inkling and Inkling-Small, and new research programs focused on model customization, human-AI interaction, safety, and reinforcement learning," Keirstead said.

Higgsfield

Higgsfield has been described as seeking to become the "Cursor of video." The AI video generation platform provides a wide-ranging suite of tools that UBS sees as giving it an edge in a fast-growing industry.

"Higgsfield operates at the intersection of generative media, creative software, and digital advertising," Keirstead said. "As brands and enterprises increasingly adopt generative AI workflows, the company is positioned within a large and growing TAM."

Harvey

Legal tech startup Harvey has been at the forefront of the legal industry's AI adoption. The AI-powered legal platform has been quickly growing, making three acquisitions in seven months, viewed as an indication of an industry-wide shift.

UBS noted that Harvey's platform that allows attorneys to automate research, contract analysis and memo drafting, as well as other tasks, is being widely deployed among the AmLaw 10, the US's highest-grossing law firms.

Perplexity

The AI-powered conversational search engine has been making waves in the tech community for years. Perplexity's CEO has said that the company is on track for an IPO in 2028, regardless of what happens with OpenAI and Anthropic's expected offerings.

Perplexity recently passed $750 million in annual recurring revenue, and reported over one hundred million monthly active users across its search engine and AI agents. It is backed by Nvidia, Jeff Bezos and the SoftBank Vision Fund, among others.

• Kate McNeil opened All the Tropes, a romance bookstore, six weeks after quitting her job.
• Despite concerns about market saturation, All the Tropes thrives as a niche community destination.
• Passion, perseverance, and local support helped McNeil launch her business.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kate McNeil, a 41-year-old small-business owner based in Atlanta. It's been edited for length and clarity.

The idea to open a romance bookstore started during COVID.

I joined an online group of fellow romantasy readers, looking to connect with other people who also enjoyed my favorite form of escapism. That group had over 2,000 members, and it was difficult to feel a sense of community. Eventually, it broke off into local chapters.

After COVID, I didn't know of any dedicated space for these same readers to meet in Atlanta. That's how I started the journey to opening the first romance bookstore in my neighborhood. In the two years since I opened, more romance bookstores have opened up, including one less than two miles away.

I thought I'd retire from my teaching job

When I launched All the Tropes bookstore, I was working a job I thought I'd retire from. I taught theater at Decatur High School for six years. My students always came first. I didn't want those kids to feel like I wasn't present or that they didn't have my undivided attention, so the bookstore was a back-burner idea for a few years.

I'd get home from rehearsal at 11 p.m., conduct business research until 2 a.m., then get up at 6 a.m. and go to work the next day and teach.

I took my time to gain a full understanding of the market, but there were still challenges

I learned about dealing with publishing companies and book distributors, connected with local artists to showcase their work, and reached out to local authors. One of the biggest challenges was finding a place for the store.

I knew that I wanted to stay on the east side of Atlanta because I lived in Kirkwood and felt very connected to the community.

In 2024, I found a location a four-minute walk from my home, and I knew it was time to make my idea a reality. In May of that year, I quit my teaching job and prepared to open the bookstore by the end of summer on Romance Bookstore Day.

I had 6 weeks to get the store ready for opening day

I received the keys to the bookstore six weeks before the day I planned to open. The timeline I had for opening day came with a lot of risks. I had cashed in my retirement fund, quit my job, and had a large preorder of "Onyx Storm" before there were bookshelves in the store.

There were many times my friends and I didn't leave the store until 4 a.m. A local artist painted the shop; I printed my merchandise at a local shop in Kirkwood; and I created the fabric wall. There were many nights I had doubts that All the Tropes would come to fruition.

I was a mom with two young kids opening a niche business that, to my knowledge, would be the first in the state, but I was prepared. I had my accounts with publishers, and my branding was complete. Perseverance, my husband, my village of friends, and an invested community got me to opening day.

All the Tropes opened August 17, 2024, on Romance Bookstore Day. In the span of a few months, I went from a passionate high school teacher to the owner and operator of a romance bookstore.

An increase in niche romance bookstores in the city concerns me

Even in a city like Atlanta with several thriving independent bookstores, I wonder about the percentage of residents who read for fun and, more specifically, read romance. While becoming a general indie bookstore would allow me to sell so many other things, I still believe All the Tropes can continue to thrive in a niche market, despite oversaturation.

Unlike a large book retailer, All the Tropes is a destination spot people can come from out of town to visit. Our social presence and promotion of local writers and artists also offer something unique to readers.

All the Tropes could pivot to general fiction, but so far, more stores opening has not impacted store traffic or sales.

4 Things helped me turn my business idea into a reality

All the Tropes continues to thrive because of my original vision of creating a community space for romance book lovers to connect. We now have eight active book clubs and continue to see consistent revenue.

Passion, trusting my gut, therapy, and a supportive group of friends are the reason I was able to turn an idea I brainstormed late at night into a successful niche business ready to grow.

We are now ready for a larger space and to expand our three-person team.

Do you have a unique small business story to share? Email the editor, Manseen Logan, at mlogan@businessinsider.com.

• Peter Kenyon, former CEO of Manchester United and Chelsea, said that feedback is constant and immediate in sports.
• Kenyon, now a board advisor for Atlassian Williams' F1 team, said companies can learn from this approach.
• He also said that feedback isn't always top-down in sports, which is important.

Athletes don’t have the luxury of waiting for an annual review to hear how they performed — and that may be a good thing.

The suspense that comes with anticipating a laundry list of critiques can sometimes be worse than the feedback itself. Plus, the older the feedback, the less relevant it may be.

Peter Kenyon, the former CEO of Manchester United and Chelsea, told Business Insider that given the nature of sports schedules, when something goes wrong, it has to be fixed before the next event, which is often just days away.

"It's not 'let's work for three months to solve the problem,'" Kenyon said. "No, let's solve the problem now because we go again tomorrow."

Kenyon, who now serves as a board advisor for Atlassian Williams F1 team, has worked in the sports industry for nearly 30 years, leading major restructurings during that time. He said the industry has taught him the importance of maintaining a continuous and instantaneous feedback loop.

He said that as soon as drivers finish a session on track, they sit down with engineers to get feedback so they can better their chances of qualifying for a race later that day or the next day.

Kenyon, who oversees the Atlassian Williams F1 team’s commercial and marketing functions, said feedback in high-performing sports environments doesn’t only flow from the top down. Employees are also expected to tell one another when something isn’t working.

That expectation shapes the culture across the industry, he said. It also shows up in the way athletes expect new teammates to meet the same high bar they set themselves.

It's an industry standard off the field too, though. At Manchester United, Kenyon said the receptionist would call out players who failed to greet her when they walked in — a directness that made her valuable.

"The power of that is incredible," Kenyon said about the former employee.

Frequent and candid feedback doesn’t equate to a bullying culture, though, the sports executive said. Kenyon said managing people and delivering performance reviews is difficult, but the best coaches know when to push athletes — and when to build them up.

"It's continual change," Kenyon said. "It's continual strive-for-performance gains."

Corporate workers may not compete in live-streamed competitions, but they face their own high-pressure sprints in a rapidly changing workplace. Some employers are even adapting traditional performance review processes to prioritize continuous feedback and reward top performers.

• Nikita Chernetskii moved to New York City from rural Moldova when he was 18.
• He joined the Army and worked as a combat medic, which gave him a sense of purpose.
• He was worried about affording med school and starting a family.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Nikita Chernetskii, a medical school student at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I've wanted to be a doctor since I was a little boy. In Moldova, where I was born and raised, you apply to medical school right after finishing high school. As I was applying for medical schools, my parents won the green card lottery, giving our family the chance to come to the US.

Suddenly, I had a huge choice in front of me. Do I take the chance to go to the US, or keep pursuing my dream? I'd always been raised on the idea that the American dream was alive and well. I was also young and naive: I thought I could just apply to medical school once I got there.

I'll never forget landing at JFK in August with my parents and sister, who was in fourth grade at the time. I'd never seen a building taller than nine stories, and suddenly I was looking at the Manhattan skyline. It was surreal. I can still remember the smell as we left the airport, of hot asphalt and summer in the city.

I felt like I was in limbo, seeing my friends chase their dreams

Living in the US was a shock, to put it mildly. New York was so, so different from the rural area of Moldova where we'd lived. I'd gone to an English-speaking high school, but it was set up according to old Soviet standards. Once I was in the US, I realized that I'd been taught English for people who would never speak English: my grammar was excellent, but my vocabulary was very limited.

I knew life wouldn't wait for my dreams. My dad and I started working as porters, making about $500 a week. Part of the job was taking out the trash to the dumpster, but I was pretty happy doing that. The pay was more than I would ever make in Moldova.

I realized that going to med school in the US wasn't realistic. I didn't have the money and didn't understand how college worked here. That sent me into a period of limbo. I would work and save money just to go visit friends in Moldova. I saw them moving toward their goals, while my life stayed the same. Psychologically, it wasn't the greatest time for me.

Joining the military reaffirmed my desire to be a paramedic

On one of those trips home, a friend suggested I join the military. Within a month, I was marching in basic training. My poor English meant I couldn't always understand the directions. I just ran where the other recruits ran, and hoped it was right.

I scored well enough on my aptitude test to become a medic. The work was so fulfilling to me, and helped me cope with the rushed decision to join the military in what was still a foreign country to me.

I was deployed in Germany when the pandemic hit. I'd work 24-hour shifts, sleep for four hours, and get back to it. That's when others started telling me I should become a doctor. I realized that desire was still burning inside me, and I wouldn't be able to sleep well if I didn't at least try.

I leaned on every connection I had to help get into med school

I used the GI bill to pay for college. While I was there, I was accepted into the New York University internship program that pairs aspiring doctors with faculty. I worked with a trauma surgeon at Bellevue Hospital and knew I wanted to spend my life doing what he did.

When it came time for me to apply to medical schools, I knew I needed to be at NYU. I shook all the trees I could. I had no shame and asked anyone for help. The whole process was so stressful that it was almost a blur to me.

The idea of taking on half a million dollars in debt for medical school was frightening. I think I would have done it, but it would have meant delaying other goals, like having children with my wife.

This year, when I was accepted to NYU's Grossman School of Medicine's three-year, tuition-free medical program, it was surreal. When I dreamed of practicing medicine as a boy, I thought I'd be making $300 a month doing old Soviet techniques. Now, I'm learning cutting-edge science that feels like it's plucked from a sci-fi movie. I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life, and I'm well on my way to my American dream.

• I thought being a good mother meant being fair and treating all of my kids the same way.
• But each of my six kids has different personalities and abilities and needs their own set of rules.
• It can be hard for my kids at times, but I am no longer compelled to make everything even.

For years, I thought being a good mother meant being a fair mother. And being fair, I assumed, meant treating all of my children exactly the same.

With six kids, this seemed especially important. I didn't want anyone keeping score — or, more accurately, I didn't want to give them anything to keep score about. If one child had a certain bedtime at 9:00 p.m., surely the next one should, too. Chores should be divided equally. Consequences should be consistent. Privileges should come at the same ages.

Equal meant fair. Except it didn't.

My thinking evolved

The longer I parented, the harder it became to ignore what was right in front of me: I wasn't raising six versions of the same child. I was raising six completely different people.

One of my children thrives when given independence. Give them a responsibility and some space, and they'll usually rise to the occasion. Another needs more structure, more reminders, and more check-ins. That doesn't make one child more responsible or the other less capable. They simply need different things from me.

The same is true of privileges. I used to think that if one child earned a later curfew at a certain age, every child should automatically receive the same privilege when they reached that age. Now I understand that age isn't the only factor. Trust is built through choices. A child who has consistently demonstrated responsibility may be ready for freedom that a sibling at the same age isn't ready for yet.

Sometimes, I feel guilty

My decisions can be hard to explain when the inevitable "But they got to!" comes flying across the room. And sometimes, if I'm being truthful, the difference has nothing to do with the children at all. My youngest gets more bedtime stories than my oldest did.

That realization could easily become another entry on the endless list of things mothers feel guilty about. But my oldest didn't have the same mother my youngest has. Back then, I was younger, less experienced, and more concerned with getting everything right. I rushed through routines because there was always something else that needed to be done.

Six children later, I understand how quickly those routines disappear. I linger a little longer now.

That doesn't mean I loved my older children less. It means motherhood has changed me. The mother raising my youngest has learned things the mother raising my oldest hadn't learned yet.

I know this is the right way for me to parent

For a while, parenting my children differently felt like admitting I was inconsistent. Now I see it as evidence that I'm paying attention. My 8-year-old, who has always been an early riser, requires more sleep than some of his siblings, so he is the first to go to bed, while his younger siblings stay up a little later. It is unusual from the outside looking in, but it is what best meets his needs.

Fairness doesn't always mean equal chores, identical consequences, or the same privileges at the same ages. Sometimes fairness means giving more guidance to the child who needs it and more independence to the one who is ready for it. It means recognizing that one child may need encouragement while another needs accountability.

My children still notice the differences, of course. They are children. Keeping track of who got what seems practically written into the sibling job description. But I no longer feel compelled to make everything even.

My job isn't to make sure all six of my children receive exactly the same childhood; It's to know each of them well enough to give them the childhood they need. After years of trying so hard to be equal, I've finally realized that might be the fairest thing I can do. I won't always get it right. I'm still learning these six very different people as they grow and change—and trying to grow and change with them. Maybe good parenting was never about getting everything exactly right. Maybe it's simply about paying attention, loving them well, and doing the best I can with the mother I am today.

• Over 10 million student-loan borrowers are behind on payments.
• Some borrowers said they're hopeful the midterms will prompt policy to protect those in default.
• States with closely contested Senate races, like Texas and Ohio, have high rates of nonpayment, per an Urban Institute analysis.

Sarah Bundy has been in and out of default on her student loans for nearly three decades.

She borrowed for college in the mid-1990s, but dropped out as her loan balance became unaffordable. At the time, it was $39,000. Now, it's $60,000.

The 55-year-old is hoping a "blue wave" will pave the way for Democratic legislation to shield borrowers at risk of default.

"At my age, I can never get ahead of this," Bundy said. "So I'm just trying to scooch under the wire as long as I can."

Roughly one of every six adult Americans has federal student loan debt, according to Federal Student Aid. And some 16% of federal and private borrowers were 60 or more days late on their payments in 2026, according to an analysis by the Urban Institute.

Student-loan payments add to the squeeze from groceries and housing in an election increasingly centered on the cost of everyday life. High utility bills and gas prices are an added strain, especially as inflation is outpacing pay hikes.

Economic concerns are also reshaping debates over AI, with politicians reconsidering their support for data centers amid a backlash.

For borrowers, the pressure is particularly acute, and elevated student-loan delinquency rates overlap with some of the country's most competitive races.

Texas and Ohio, home to closely-contested Senate races, both had higher-than-average non-payment rates. In the House, nine battleground districts as identified by the Cook Political Report as of Friday afternoon had worse nonpayment rates than the national average — some 28% of borrowers are delinquent in Texas's 34th District, and 25% in North Carolina's 1st.

Meanwhile, federal student-loan defaults, which typically occur after 270 days of nonpayment, are at a record high. While involuntary collections on defaults, including wage and federal benefit garnishment, have been paused for over a year, Democratic lawmakers have been pushing for legislation to protect borrowers once those consequences resume. Still, even a strong election for Democrats would likely leave them without sufficient numbers to override a presidential veto.

As of June 30, 9.3 million borrowers were in default, and an additional 1.5 million were in late-stage delinquency, according to Federal Student Aid. Roughly 14% of the $1.7 trillion student-debt load in the US is in default, or $234 billion.

Republican lawmakers have expressed support for President Donald Trump's student-loan changes, which they said will help borrowers repay their loans. Sen. Roger Marshall, who is up for reelection in Kansas, previously said that Trump's "big beautiful" spending legislation "made transformational reforms to student loans."

Student-loan borrowers have told Business Insider that they're worried about the consequences of defaulting, primarily through losing a chunk of their paycheck, Social Security payments, and tax refunds. Those concerns are exacerbated by the anticipated higher monthly bills under Trump's repayment overhaul.

"All we can do is keep pushing for every little bit of progress we can get on this," Bundy said.

A student-loan default wave

Luke Helton, a student-loan borrower in Tennessee, previously told Business Insider that the only way he can afford his expected $600 payment increase is by digging into his retirement.

While he voted for Trump because he believed in the administration's campaign promise to put America first, his student loan challenges have him second-guessing his vote.

"They talked a big game about caring about the little people, and they just haven't," Helton said.

The defaulted student-loan portfolio itself is undergoing changes. The Department of Education is moving forward with its plan, announced in March, to transfer defaulted student-loan accounts to the Treasury Department. The transfer will occur in phases, with the most recent step being the launching of a new online portal to help borrowers return to good standing and access default resources.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said that the department "was never intended to serve as the fifth largest bank in America, and that's exactly why we partnered with the Treasury Department to improve the administration of federal student aid programs that millions of American students, families, and borrowers rely on."

Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns about the Treasury's capability to manage federal student loans. Over 60 of them pushed to halt the transfer and continue the pause on involuntary collections to continue giving borrowers relief as they navigate Trump's repayment overhaul. Sen. Bernie Sanders also led some of his colleagues in introducing a bill to prevent older borrowers and borrowers with disabilities from facing Social Security garnishment if they default.

Bundy recently went to Washington, DC, to urge New York lawmakers to support Sanders' bill. She's one of the millions of borrowers transitioning off the Biden-era SAVE plan, which offered lower monthly payments. She said she's not sure how she'll afford payments once they resume, and she's worried that she — and millions of other borrowers — could fall behind.

"When these garnishments start back up, it's really going to throw us pretty far back down," Bundy said. "I don't think people realize just how brutal it really is out there."

Have a story to share about student loans? Contact this reporter at asheffey@businessinsider.com.

• Piper Sandler is among the chorus of Wall Street firms highlighting quality stocks.
• The firm said financially healthy companies would outperform amid rising interest rates, oil prices.
• It listed preferred stocks and ETFs to gain exposure to the theme.

Wall Street is high on quality stocks as the AI trade wobbles, with firms like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs recently touting the factor to clients.

Piper Sandler is joining the party, publishing a guide to the quality trade for clients last week in which the firm said that quality stocks are poised for further upside.

"We believe we are in a backdrop today that is conducive to quality themes outperforming," Michael Kantrowitz, the bank's chief investment strategist and head of portfolio strategy, wrote in the note.

The bank has its own definition of quality. It emphasizes high free cash flow yield, high return on equity, return on invested capital, return on assets, and high interest coverage. Those terms are a mouthful, but they're essentially ways of measuring how financially healthy and profitable a company is.

Low debt levels and high dividends — other common tenets of the quality factor — are less important to Piper Sandler.

Quality stocks tend to perform best as the market rolls over from a peak, and the firm said that appears to be part of the cycle that stocks are in.

It said the macro outlook for the broader market is worsening heading into 2027, which should push investors into higher-quality stocks as they seek out more stable companies to lower their portfolio risk.

For example, both short-term and long-term interest rates are rising heading into next year, which has historically been bad for stock performance. Oil prices also remain elevated, the appetite for fiscal spending is low, and housing activity is decelerating.

An advantage of playing the quality factor, as opposed to having sector-specific exposure, is that quality reaches into all corners of the market, Kantrowitz said.

The bank highlighted a couple of ways to gain exposure to the quality theme. The first is through individual stocks via its Macro Select screener.

It screens for return on equity, earnings momentum, free cash flow yield, and a lack of "red flags" in its sell model.

Below, are nine stocks with market capitalizations above $100 billion that are among the top names in the bank's Macro Select model.

Investors can also gain exposure to the quality stocks through exchange-traded funds, or ETFs.

Piper Sandler screened 20 quality-factor ETFs and ranked them based on their profitability, valuation levels, and earnigns momentum.

Below, we've listed the five highest-ranking funds on the list across those three themes.

• Nvidia's sales and marketing leadership is changing as its sales pitch evolves.
• Veterans are retiring, opening the door to internal succession and outside hires.
• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's daughter Madison is also gaining influence.

Nvidia's sales and marketing organizations are seeing a changing of the guard as the AI boom reshapes demands on leadership.

Veterans at Nvidia are retiring, opening the door for longtime employees. And CEO Jensen Huang is tapping talent from outside the company — and outside the chip industry — to meet new challenges.

Nvidia's sales pitch has evolved. It has already convinced companies to choose its chips. To keep growing, it has to convince more businesses to adopt AI. These customers care less about hardware specifications than how Nvidia's AI can be put to work.

Leadership changes are most visible in sales and marketing, said former vice president of corporate marketing Greg Estes, while other areas of the company, such as finance, legal, operations, and software and hardware engineering, have remained relatively stable.

In marketing, Nvidia tapped Google Cloud executive Alison Wagonfeld to become its first chief marketing officer earlier this year, while Microsoft veteran Nick Parker became its new sales chief in August. Neither comes from the chip industry, though both bring years of experience helping businesses adopt software and cloud services.

At the same time, Huang's daughter Madison has gained influence beyond her formal marketing role, two former employees said.

Huang regularly reshapes Nvidia as the business evolves, said Scott Baker, a sales VP who retired in July after 26 years.

"It's truly a battleship spinning on a dime, and everyone gets aligned," he said.

Nvidia did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

A 'deep bench' of younger Nvidia talent

Retirees this year include former sales EVP Jay Puri, VP of enterprise marketing Laura Fay, SVP of enterprise business Shanker Trivedi, and sales VP Kevin Connors.

Fay said Huang doesn't want to lose longtime executives, many of whom he personally recruited. But as they move on, the next generation is getting a chance.

Before leaving in April after 17 years, Trivedi made mentorship part of his mission. He was ready to pass the baton after years of grueling travel and seven-day workweeks.

"Time stops for nobody," the 69-year-old said.

Trivedi said Nvidia has a "deep bench" of younger sales and marketing talent who know its culture, market, and partners inside out, including Raj Mirpuri in AI cloud infrastructure, Kimberly Powell in healthcare, and Kari Briski in AI software.

When he retired, the company divided Trivedi's responsibilities among multiple leaders. As Nvidia's revenue soared during the AI boom, his job had ultimately become too big for one person.

"Better to flatten the structure and gain velocity," he said.

Another Huang is gaining influence

One insider bringing an unconventional background to Nvidia's marketing ranks is Jensen Huang's daughter, Madison Huang.

Madison formerly worked at French luxury conglomerate LVMH in hospitality marketing before joining Nvidia as an MBA intern in 2020. She has quickly ascended to senior director of product marketing for physical AI.

One former employee said Madison's experience working on luxury brands brought a fresh perspective to a marketing team traditionally staffed by semiconductor veterans.

Job titles can be fluid at Nvidia, and a second former employee said Madison's remit extends beyond physical AI marketing. They said she exerts authority across multiple parts of the company and directs teams at all levels on strategy and business decisions.

Madison is also among a small circle of executives known to travel with her father. And their close relationship gives her the ability to anticipate his needs during high-level meetings and appearances, the first former employee said.

"She 'speaks Jensen' very well," the former employee said, "so he doesn't have to explain himself to her."

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• Micro1 pledged to spend $1 billion on licensing companies' data for AI developers.
• The startup snags Slack messages, Canva files, Google Docs, and as much other data as it can get.
• By selling company data, CEOs have a new revenue stream that popped up this year.

As AI labs go on the hunt for real-world data, Micro1 is throwing everything at getting it for them.

The startup is one in a new class of fast-moving data brokers, gobbling up companies' internal data and packaging it for the likes of OpenAI, Anthropic, and other model developers. The executives who sell their companies' data to Micro1 find themselves suddenly participating in a new sector of the economy, where terabytes of mundane workplace interactions can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Ilya Brotzky, the CEO and cofounder of the recruiting startup VanHack, told Business Insider he was shocked when he filled out a Micro1 survey about his company's data and received a "substantial" offer.

"I didn't believe it, to be honest," he said. "I felt like it was a little too good to be true."

Micro1 says it pays $100,000 to $2 million for a single midsize company's data. It recently announced plans to spend $1 billion on the project over the next year. Brotzky and the other executives Business Insider spoke to for this story wouldn't share the exact amounts their companies received.

For Micro1, the new focus on workplace data matches a broader evolution in the industry, as Business Insider has written about in The AI Data Grab, a series about how tech giants are increasingly turning to workers, users, and the physical world to get data to train AI.

First, AI companies gobbled up text from the internet and corpora of old books. Then they realized that humans grading AI responses could improve their models. And now, companies are using complex simulations, built on real-world data, to improve the tenacity and skill of their AI.

Gartner estimated that spending on AI data is likely to surge from less than $1 billion last year to almost $6.5 billion in 2027. Micro1's chief revenue officer, William Almeida, told Business Insider in September that his company has been explaining to prospective customers why their data is suddenly so valuable for those simulations.

"Every time I talk to companies, I tell them, 'Hey, I see this as a booming business,'" Almeida said.

Slack DMs, Google Docs, Canva files: Micro1 wants all it can get

Micro1 has three ways of working with AI model developers.

First, it can take a company's raw data, transform it to protect privacy, and license it to a lab. In addition, Micro1 provides an in-progress AI agent to companies and gets feedback on how it works. The third route is the simulation: Micro1 takes a company's data up to a certain timestamp, freezes it, and then provides that "environment" to a model developer trying to teach its AI how to work from existing context.

Micro1 pays more for larger, more complex datasets, as well as for data that represents a unique type of work or knowledge. It usually wants to license a company's entire data corpus, so that an AI model can replicate what it would be like to be a human employee.

"The connection, the diversity, the traceability of all of these data points, they matter a lot when you think about model training," Almeida said.

Brotzky also received an offer from AI data startup Mercor to buy his company's data, though he opted for Micro1. Once Brotzky dug into Micro1's privacy process, he said he felt comfortable sharing all the data they requested. That included VanHack's Google suite, Confluence data, Slack messages, and customer relationship management software.

Grant Gooley, the CEO of the marketing agency MyPortal Marketing, also views his deal with Micro1 as an innovation. He has sold internal design files from Figma and Canva, as well as checklists from Monday.com.

"When we were building these processes years ago, I didn't think that we would be using it to support AI learning," Gooley said. "But doing that, it's very fulfilling."

CEOs pitch the deals to their workers

Micro1 and its rivals are full steam ahead. Still, there are open questions. Former and current employees aren't likely to get any compensation from — or a voice in — their work becoming AI fodder. Ifeoma Ajunwa, a law professor at Emory University, previously told Business Insider that data sales are an "ethically gray area."

When pitching to potential customers, Almeida tells them this business is in the early days.

"If you wait too much, you won't get the premium that the first companies are getting," he said.

VanHack's team got a confidence boost from the Micro1 deal, Brotzky said, because of the additional revenue stream it represents

Gooley said he's kept MyPortal Marketing's employees in the loop about the deal with Micro1 and hasn't heard any complaints.

"I told my team that this is something that you're going to tell your grandchildren about one day, because we are literally supporting the future growth of marketing agencies," Gooley said.

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• Toy prices have gone up 8.3% since February due to tariffs, geopolitics, and supply chain issues.
• Local mom-and-pop toy stores across the US spoke to the rise and its impact on their businesses.
• Legacy toymakers also grapple with the impacts, looking toward tariff refunds.

Toy prices are rising fast across the country— and local toy stores are struggling to play along.

At Clever Monsters, a toy store in NYC, co-owner Daniel Orlov said he has to recalculate prices order by order, at times cutting into his own profits to keep them at a reasonable level for his customers. Sometimes, he knows before putting some toys on the shelves that he won't make anything off them.

The struggle results from higher shipping fees, tariffs, and customs charges and reflects a broader inflationary moment in the economy.

Toys have historically gotten less expensive over time, but have seen a spike in prices this year, rising 8.3% in the US between February and September. Year-over-year, toy prices were up 6.6% in September, the highest annualized growth rate since 1988.

Orlov said smaller toy stores like his could be particularly affected by these sharp price spikes. "It especially hurts for small businesses like us because we don't really have a pocket; we had to open up credit lines and take loans — bigger companies have a little pocket of collateral that they can use for a bit."

Tariffs, fuel prices, and supply chain woes

Big geopolitical swings are one factor putting pressure on toy sellers. President Donald Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs have added extra costs, and smaller retailers don't have the financial flexibility to wait for refunds like those from the Supreme Court's invalidation of the "Liberation Day" levies. Meanwhile, the ongoing war in Iran has driven up fuel prices and shipping costs for all manner of goods.

Small toy stores, confronting those problems, are facing smaller profit margins.

Helen Dean, owner and operator of Toy Safari in California for 34 years, said her usual 7 to 8% profit margin has fallen to around 5% in the past year. She cut into her own salary and skipped on hiring the two or three college students she brings on during vacation season to cut costs.

"It was summer by the time I started to see that I was going to have to pay more for the items, and that it was going to come out of my bottom line," Dean said. "For a long time, mass market has gotten favorable pricing from major toy companies, and this problem has only been exacerbated by the tariffs and fuel prices and supply chain issues; everywhere we lose."

It's not just specialty mom-and-pop stores; toymaking giants are also dealing with the tariff back-and-forth and broader inflationary issues. An AlphaSense analysis of company filings and earnings transcripts over the last six months found that legacy toymakers such as Hasbro and Mattel have alluded to cost inflation caused by "tariffs, oil-linked resin and freight, packaging, labor," while also discussing the impact of tariff refunds. However, those large toymakers haven't disclosed any major increases in toy prices over that period.

Hasbro's Q2 earnings report highlighted an $8 million adjusted operating loss in consumer products — its physical toy sector — due to "incremental tariff expense, entertainment-related mix shifts, and normal seasonality." Yet its Q3 earnings report highlighted $55 million in relief from tariff refunds; $48 million of this was attributed to the core toy sector.

The Q3 report also noted that tariffs could "increase our product costs and other costs of doing business, result in higher prices of our products, impact consumer spending," and hurt business revenue.

Mattel's gross margin is still under pressure due to tariffs and inflation. The toy company has also received about $90 million in tariff refunds, said Paul Ruh, Mattel's former chief financial officer, at a conference in September.

Scalpers, TikTok and squishy NeeDohs

High operating costs are not the only thing changing the toy market. First, more adults are participating in "Kidulting," said Jay Berino, store manager at the Lowry Town Center Timbuk Toys in Denver, meaning toys are being bought by older demographics who buy into nostalgia.

"As much as we're a toy store and people hear toy store and think of kids, we sell to a lot to full-blown adults, and that drives a huge chunk of our business," he said. At the same time, viral toys such as NeeDohs, which are sensory fidget and stress-relief toys, have helped bring more people into stores.

Sylvia Edwards, co-owner and CEO of Terra Toys in Austin, said that scalpers try to buy up stock from toy shops to resell it at higher prices — fueling the perception of product scarcity and price gouging.

"We're in a crisis where there's way more demand than there is product available, and so when that happens, people will naturally get greedy and increase the price," Edwards said. To manage the issue, stores like Terra Toys limit bulk purchases.

Orlov from Clever Monsters in NYC said they have also placed a limit on scalpers. "I'm only limiting it because this is the kids' store, and the kids are really excited to get that stuff," he said.

The virality of products such as NeeDohs on TikTok and other platforms helps these stores boost demand at a time when the high cost of living means buyers are not looking to spend much on other classic toys. Parents and kids are willing to spend on hyped products — but for much else, they keep their wallets shut.

"Honestly, the trends have been really saving us in that it drives not just sales, but just foot traffic through the store," Orlov said. "The only thing we can do is just stay on the trends, on what people want, make sure customers are happy, build up relationships with our customers, and sort of have a little monopoly on our area on parents who think toys — 'Oh, we gotta come to Clever Monsters. That's just where you go.'"

• Big Law has plenty of competition for its best lawyers.
• Some of the most ambitious lawyers want to work for clients in their legal departments.
• New Pirical data shows which law firms have the most alumni working in Big Tech.

Big Law has a hard time keeping its lawyers.

It's not just rival firms dangling basketball-player salaries, extra vacation, and branded merch to lure away top talent.

Big Tech is competing for those lawyers, too.

New data shared with Business Insider reveals which firms send the most lawyers to the biggest names in tech.

Pirical, a legal people-analytics company, tracked lawyers who previously worked at the 200 largest law firms by revenue in the United States and now hold legal roles at seven tech companies: Google, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX. Pirical filtered out summer associates and interns.

Morrison Foerster and Wilson Sonsini tied for the top spot, each with 40 alumni working in legal roles across the seven companies. Both firms regularly represent tech startups and the investors backing them.

Latham & Watkins followed with 33 former lawyers. Kirkland & Ellis, the industry's revenue leader, ranked 11th with 21 former lawyers working at those companies, tied with Paul Hastings and Sidley Austin.

Pirical's analysis may have missed lawyers whose job titles fell outside its search criteria, said Craig Savitzky, its insights and content editor. He said newer companies, particularly Anthropic, are also likely undercounted because their legal teams are growing faster than public profiles are updated.

Big Law-Big Tech pipeline

For attorneys hoping to land a coveted job at a tech giant, a stint at a white-shoe law firm can be a stepping stone. They can trade billable-hour quotas for a seat closer to the business, attractive pay, and just one client to keep happy instead of dozens.

That combination makes these roles "some of the most highly desirable and sought-after positions" for law firm associates, said Casey Sullivan, a recruiter with CMW Legal Search.

There's another draw, Sullivan said. The companies at the forefront of artificial intelligence are wrestling with some of the thorniest legal questions of the day, from intellectual property to regulation.

"That's where the most interesting work is for lawyers," he said.

Not all law firms are equally effective launch pads. Pirical's Savitzky noted that the firms near the top of the list have deep ties to the tech industry, if not the deepest pockets.

Cooley brought in $2.4 billion in revenue last fiscal year, placing it 29th on The American Lawyer's ranking of top law firms by revenue. But it tied fourth on Pirical's list, with 29 alumni working at the seven tech companies, including nine at Nvidia, a longtime client.

Davis Wright Tremaine, which has represented Microsoft in antitrust and employment lawsuits, has 13 alumni working in the software giant's legal department. Fenwick, which advised Wiz and Fitbit on their sales to Google, has 13 lawyers at the search giant.

Business Insider also sliced the data another way, looking at which of the seven tech giants employ the most alumni from the top 25 firms on Pirical's list.

Big Law is effectively a feeder school for Google's legal team. The company employs 322 alumni of the top 25 law firms on Pirical's list, more than any other tech company studied.

That doesn't necessarily mean Google is the most desirable location for lawyers leaving Big Law. Savitzky said the numbers likely reflect the sheer size of Google's legal department and the decades it has had to recruit from top firms.

Writing villains is supposed to be hard. No grand, world-dominating plan ever really makes sense in a story. Soon after "The Dark Knight" came out, David Goyer, its writer, told me the Joker had been a real relief. "Blessedly, because of who the Joker is, we just said, 'fuck the plan. We don't have to do it. He's the Joker. He's the anti-plan,'" Goyer said. "Trying to take over the world is such an impossible, stupid idea — as if anyone could do it with a single act, you know?"

Yet now very real people seem to try just that, on the regular. Except if you believe Hollywood, they're not insane clowns. They're billionaire tech bros. It's starting to seem like every movie and TV bad guy is a douchebag who got rich making stuff that works on your phone. Mark Zuckerberg in "The Social Reckoning," Elon Musk in "Musk," Elizabeth Holmes in "You Can See Everything," Sam Altman in the upcoming "Artificial," Sam Bankman-Fried in "The Altruists." In these stories, at varying levels of fictionality, the evil villains' megalomaniacal plans mostly make sense. Some of them even got away with it. America is eagerly consuming stories about them. "You Can See Everything" grossed $15 million on opening in just 855 theaters, twice what its producers expected.

The more interesting question is why these founders are our demons, all of a sudden. Chalk it up to the reality of the "techlash," the society-wide revulsion to Big Tech's ubiquity and power. But if you really want to understand the extent to which everyone thinks Silicon Valley is so uncanny these days, you should be watching a CBS legal procedural called "Cupertino." It's a sharp look at tech and its discontents — but more than that, it clarifies how widely the techlash is spreading.

"Cupertino" comes from the TV-making couple Michelle and Robert King, best known for the "The Good Wife" and "The Good Fight." In their new show, a slick lawyer played by Mike Colter gets iced out of the tech company he cofounded at the same time as a more junior attorney also gets ousted. The two join their wrongful-termination lawsuits against the company, eke out a big settlement, and start a firm to represent "little guys" against Silicon Valley giants. In one plotline, a drone maker tries to blame a mid-level coder for one of its bots falling out of formation during a show and killing a man — it turns out the company had changed batteries to accommodate a prospective military contract. In another, a mysterious whistleblower client asks for help to force an Anthropic-like company to put guardrails around its most powerful AI. Then the whistleblower claims to in fact be the AI.

It's all in good fun. The actors are beautiful. They banter well. Colter wears the hell out of a suit. Busy Philipps plays a Mackenzie Scott-like benefactor of the new law firm — if Scott used her incredible wealth to become a hardcore partier.

But thematically, there's depth. That Colter is the only Black person for miles does not go unremarked. His new partner Olivia Siffre (pronounced "cypher"), played by Rachel Keller, is a devout, cross-wearing conservative from the Midwest, an alumna of Liberty University. Their closest allies don't come from the ranks of coders, marketing, or venture capital but are instead service workers, tradespeople, and the waitstaff from a nearby TGI Fridays. (Alas, a fiction — there are no TGI Fridayses in the Valley.)

So see that class rage for what it is. The fantasy here is that the middle-American proletariat gets to stick it to bespoke-suited, arrogant C-level types and unkempt, geniuser-than-thou sex pests. Because for the last few years, those people have had all the power. "They always have a friendly audience, an accommodating interviewer who won't ask them anything controversial. And then they get into territory where the price is much higher," Robert King said in a recent interview. "They reveal who they really are: robotic, inhuman nerds who never got laid in high school and are now kind of crazy with power, self-importance, and a sense of entitlement."

The point is, the "little guys" fighting this good fight seem like they're supposed to be proxies for the viewer. "Cupertino" is a CBS procedural, the genre of shows like "NCIS" and its offspring — things that no one watches, except for 10 million people every week. That's a lot. CBS typically has the largest primetime viewership of any network, and the oldest — like, people in their 70s. It's all well and good for young coastal sophisticates to post about Elizabeth Holmes' inability to grasp the Who's-on-First routine, but "Cupertino" is aimed at America's parents and grandparents. And apparently they are excited to see the people who make their phones portrayed as the wealthy engines of every inconvenience — sources of half a billion dollars to Republicans only, builders of data centers, creators of chatbots that drive kids to death by suicide, purveyors of screens that watch you back. "Cupertino" debuted to rapturous reviews and more than 3 million viewers, beating "Grey's Anatomy" in its time slot.

A show like "Cupertino" is meant to have a low barrier to entry; it picks bad guys that millions of people can easily recognize as deserving of comeuppance. It picked the overlords of Silicon Valley.

Not so long ago it would've seemed preposterous to give a scrawny, socially awkward, brainy little guy the job of Big Bad. They're the assistant, or the butt of a particular kind of joke, like the spectrum-y heroes of the wildly popular "Big Bang Theory" — Klingon-speaking, physics-doing, Green Lantern oath-knowing clods. Still, I can think of examples of "bad guy, subtype: tech nerd" going back to the early days of science fiction. Mad scientists like Dr. Frankenstein or Dr. Jekyll, or various HP Lovecraft antiheroes, probably count. So too might the arrogant cyberneticist in Robert Heinlein's "Waldo."

A rough analog in the mid 20^th century might be the rogue industrialist. After all, James Bond villains have often been tech-bro adjacent. Karl Stromberg in "The Spy Who Loved Me" wants to build independent ocean settlements; he's basically a seasteader. Hugo Drax in "Moonraker" is a eugenics-obsessed CEO who wants to build space stations, which sounds familiar. Max Zorin, played by Christopher Walken in "A View to a Kill," is an "industrialist" and the product of Nazi genetic experiments. But his megalomaniacal plan is to use a California natural disaster to gain a monopoly on silicon computer chips. That's just Jensen Huang on any given Tuesday.

The weirdest new phenomenon here is how personal it all is. Evil technology oligopolies have been representatives of oppressive capitalism in Hollywood for decades — but they were faceless. The anonymity was part of the terror. Think of the company that orders Bruce Dern to destroy the last forest in his spaceship biodome in "Silent Running," the Umbrella Corporation in "Resident Evil," or Cyberdyne Systems, creator of Skynet in the Terminator movies.

More recently, film and television have started identifying not just faceless corporations but specific tech-coded people as their worst-of-the-worst. And not just any people, but people geofenced into Silicon Valley: "Glass Onion," "Don't Look Up," "Ex Machina," "Devs," "Super Pumped" (fictionalized Uber), "WeCrashed" (fictionalized WeWork), "The Playlist" (fictionalized Spotify), and "The Dropout" (fictionalized Theranos), "Mythic Quest" — the list goes on.

Actually, Cyberdyne's a good example of one important way these depictions have changed; in 1984's "The Terminator," Cyberdyne is a Los Angeles-area heavy-industry firm. In 2015, "Terminator Genisys" moved Cyberdyne to a gleaming tech campus explicitly modeled on the headquarters of Oracle. It's an inside joke, though not the ha-ha kind. The movie's producers included Megan and David Ellison, children of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. David now owns the merged studios of Warner Bros. and Paramount, and he just got a billion-dollar investment from Elon Musk. The new company, Skydance, includes in its holdings … CBS.

"A sequence of Hollywood contemporary science-fiction movies identifies Silicon Valley capitalists as a new type of villain," write Northumbria University film studies scholars Joe Street and Russ Hunter in a 2024 paper. These new movies critique tech, they say, using an approach "in the grand tradition of cinematic science fiction touchstones such as the Cold War alien invasion films that allegorized fears of Communism in 1950s America."

In other words, movies about time-travelling killer robots and dead-eyed billionaires aren't so different, after all. Horror is about shared anxieties. Old-school mad scientists posed a threat because they dared to do experiments that contravened the laws of nature; they were evil for love of the game. The Silicon Valley bad guys are worse, because they do it for profit. "When presented with an innovation," Street and Hunter write, "the prime movers in these corporations think not of moral or ethical concerns and crucially not of the material impact of what they are doing — but only of the innovation's potential for financial gain."

Is Hollywood's techlash actually on the rise? The schlemiels of "Silicon Valley" premiered in 2014. I have tech-bro-villain articles in my files going back to 2022 at least. And the business world has always been fodder for stories filtered through the anxieties of the time—what was Ebenezer Scrooge if not a capitalist oppressor?

Mapping the full arc of technology-associated villains would be, in the words of Ted Underwood, "hard to code." Underwood's an English and information science professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, researching ways to identify literary trends across time, in big canons. "In addition to tracing the history of villains, you'd have to think how often these social types appear as heroes," he says. For every Max Zorin there's a Tony Stark. Ethan Hunt's nobody without tech aces Luther and Benji. "Star Trek" doesn't trek without Scotty, or Chief O'Brien. Every movie heist is basically a hack. And let me just say unto you: "MacGyver." "One hypothesis would be that what we're feeling right now with evil tech bro villains is just that the counterbalancing examples have dropped out," Underwood says.

Clearly, though, tech billionaires and their hangers on have actively tried to make themselves into main characters. Some of them seem to think they're the only real consciousnesses in a simulation, a virtual world populated with non-player characters like you and me. At minimum they evince a belief that they possess a greater depth of perception and knowledge. As the architect and tech historian Fred Scharmen once wrote, "for this particular kind of person, wealthy and powerful or not, intelligence comes paired with a certain kind of malignance. The Evil Nerd is sharp, and also mean, their big brains are oriented towards anger and destructiveness." The Thiels, Altmans, Musks, and Karps of the world turn what had been nerdy weakness into nerdy strength. They go on friendly podcasts and show up in pictures taken with presidents. We don't have to imagine them delivering what the screenwriter John Rogers, creator of the anticapitalist TV show "Leverage," calls the Evil Speech of Evil. They monologue at tech conferences! These guys embody their ideologies; l'enterprise, c'est moi.

And what happens if that kind of behavior gets depicted, week in and week out, on a popular legal procedural TV show? Even if that show airs on a network owned by one of those "evil nerds"? Hard to say. Maybe it'll be enough to turn some people into the Joker.

• Elon Musk has accused Ukrainian forces of using commercial Starlink in drone strikes.
• But two Ukrainian drone figures say the claim is impossible because of limits imposed on the terminals.
• It comes after Ukraine was hit by a 10-day slowdown on Starshield, the military version of Starlink.

Ukraine said its access to Starshield was restored this weekend, but Elon Musk isn't finished with Kyiv yet.

In an X post on Sunday, Musk accused Ukrainian forces of breaching Starlink's terms of service by using the civilian platform in drone attacks.

"Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week," wrote the SpaceX owner.

"Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be," he added.

Musk made it clear he was talking about the commercial platform and not Starshield, the military version of the satellite communications service owned and controlled by the US government.

"Were Starlink to be turned off, the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately. This is NOT a threat, it is simply a statement of fact," Musk added.

Ukrainian drone advisors hit back

Two prominent Ukrainian drone figures, however, disputed Musk's statement, saying that it was technically impossible for any of Kyiv's troops to have independently used Starlink in drone strikes.

"As someone who was inside the process at the Ministry of Defense, I can say for sure that this is not true," wrote Serhii Sternenko, a former advisor for drones to Ukraine's defense ministry, on his Telegram channel.

"It is very strange that Elon Musk does not know about the restrictions on Starlink operation in Ukraine," wrote Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, another former advisor.

Both worked in the ministry in early 2026, when it negotiated with SpaceX to prevent Russia from using black-market Starlink terminals in the war. SpaceX agreed in February to block Starlink over Ukraine and Russia, allowing access only to whitelisted Ukrainian terminals.

Sternenko said that Ukrainian civilians and troops could register their terminals on the whitelist, but that these would only work while subject to a speed requirement.

For one to connect while moving, it would have to be put on a special list that uses Starshield instead, he said.

"That is, it was technically impossible to use civilian Starlink to perform missions on drones. All drone missions that required satellite communication could only be carried out using Starshield," Sternenko added.

Beskrestnov said the Ukrainian Starlink terminals were subject to a speed limit of 90 kmph, or about 55 mph. The civilian service is also completely cut off over Russia, he added.

"Thus, we physically cannot use commercial Starlink for deep strikes and middle strikes," Beskrestnov wrote.

Starshield vs Starlink

Tactical drones operating on the Ukrainian battlefield at speeds below 55 mph, such as first-person-view attack drones, typically use radio-frequency signals rather than satellite communication to maintain contact with an operator. These are also often too small and lack enough onboard power to reliably carry even a Starlink Mini terminal.

What Ukraine usually uses satellite internet for — hence its reliance on Starshield — is mid-range and deep strikes on Russia's rear or Russian territory, with larger, more powerful drones that fly much faster.

Kyiv also relies on satellite communications for its small interceptor drones, which fly at up to 265 mph to catch incoming attack drones.

Musk followed up on his Sunday X post with a screenshot of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy writing on social media in mid-October that Kyiv's forces "also use Starlink for mid-range strikes" against Russian targets.

However, Zelenskyy's post was describing Ukraine's recent troubles with Starshield, and he repeatedly used the term "Starlink" to refer broadly to the military satellite service instead.

Musk and SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

Earlier this month, Ukraine raised the alarm that its access to Starshield was being throttled at high speeds, reducing its ability to conduct deeper strikes and to control interceptor drones.

The crisis lasted 10 days and came as President Donald Trump and Musk openly criticized Ukraine for targeting Russian oil facilities at a time when the White House was trying to ease fuel prices.

The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed US officials and sources, that Musk had personally ordered the speed cap. Musk and Trump have separately said they were not responsible for the slowdown.

On Saturday, Zelenskyy said Starshield services were running normally again.

• Elon Musk is not a fan of neoclouds, which are specialized cloud companies that provide compute for AI.
• He said many neoclouds will face "guppy-level death" and SpaceX would not be buying any of them.
• Musk replied to Chamath Palihapitiya, who said neoclouds are "disorganized and poorly capitalized."

Elon Musk is a neocloud doomer.

The SpaceX CEO took a hard stance on the future of neoclouds — cloud companies like CoreWeave and Nebius, that specialize in providing computing power for AI — in a Sunday X post.

He wrote that debt markets are reluctant to finance any company that relies almost entirely on AI data centers for revenue. He said SpaceX has secured $40 billion in debt to buy GPUs, but unlike neoclouds, his company earns revenue from its Starlink and rocket-launch activities.

"That means the 200+ neoclouds are going to see guppy-level death and consolidation," he wrote. "Some will make it through, but not many."

Musk's post was in reply to one by venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, who wrote on X that neoclouds are "disorganized and poorly capitalized."

Replying to another X thread speculating if he was trying to drive down the prices of neocloud stocks and scoop them up for cheap, Musk replied, "SpaceX is not buying any neoclouds. Pointless."

This comes as the stocks of neocloud companies have taken hits recently amid fears of high debt levels and a lack of other revenue streams. CoreWeave's stock has dropped about 37% in the past month, while Nebius' has dropped 30% in the same time.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, however, has maintained that demand for AI cloud infrastructure is "off the charts." Nvidia is a major backer of neocloud companies like CoreWeave, Nebius, Iren, Lambda, and others.

Another point that Musk added, in a separate X reply on Friday, was that the industry would see a lot of "stranded compute in partially complete data centers."

By "stranded," Musk was referring to compute that is ready to use but can't be deployed because data centers aren't yet equipped to turn it on.

As Business Insider's Eugene Kim wrote last week, Amazon Web Services is expected to receive $5 billion worth of Nvidia GB300 racks, but the company does not have enough power in its data centers to power them. AWS will be storing the units in warehouses until its centers are ready.

Data centers, too, are running into some challenges. A recent Bernstein Research report projected that only about 35% of planned data center capacity in the US will be built.

Hyperscalers like Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, which have experience building and operating data centers, will likely successfully complete construction of their planned centers, the report predicted.

But Bernstein Research said newcomers, like celebrity investor Kevin O'Leary whose company has pledged to build 15 gigawatts of data center capacity, were called "bragawatts," and their projects are unlikely to be realized.

It's not just the neoclouds facing a troubled stretch amid an AI reckoning; neolabs are, too. Neolabs are small AI model development startups, like ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab and OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever's Safe Superintelligence. These labs are heavily funded and face strong competition from frontier AI behemoths like Anthropic and OpenAI.

Several VCs told Business Insider's Ben Bergman recently that neolabs were overhyped and investing in them was a contentious topic.

• The UK has issued a three-day essentials checklist it hopes its people will prepare at home.
• Top leaders say they want to bolster national resilience amid fears of the world growing more dangerous.
• The list includes items such as 9 liters of bottled water per person and charged power banks.

The UK is telling families to prepare three days' worth of food, water, and essentials amid concern that natural disasters, armed conflict, and other emergencies are becoming more frequent.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham's office launched the "Be Ready" campaign last week, urging British people to arrange household stockpiles including the following items:

• Three days of non-perishable food, such as dried fruit or tinned meat
• Nine liters of bottled water, or about 2.4 gallons, per person
• Hygiene and bathroom products, including wet wipes and hand sanitizer
• Warm clothing, sleeping bags, and blankets
• Light sources, such as flashlights with batteries
• A charged power bank
• An FM radio
• Cash and cards, copies of identification documents, and important information such as a note of personal medical dosages
• A first aid kit and other essential medical supplies
• Ready-made baby formula and diapers
• Pet food and bottled water

The idea is to give households the ability to hold out for three days while cut off from supplies or payment systems.

Burnham said the campaign was started as "unexpected events seem to be becoming more and more common," but urged people not to panic.

"It's about just taking sensible measures to have enough in the house to tide you over should there be a difficult situation," he told local media on Friday.

The campaign encourages people to build their stockpiles gradually, for example by adding some items to regular shopping trips, and to check them every six months to replace any that have expired.

It comes as government agencies and companies around the world temporarily shut down their websites last week after a major security flaw was found in an open-source programming language that powers about 70% of the internet.

"We're going to find these sorts of things happening more and more," said the UK's defense minister, Wes Streeting, on Friday. "And it's not just from foreign states engaging in espionage or sabotage. It's also organized criminals."

About 400,000 British homes also lost power at some point over the weekend as two back-to-back storms battered northern Europe.

But UK officials have also increasingly warned about the need to deter the threat of war in Europe, and are hoping to raise their country's national resilience in the face of such a possibility.

"Our adversaries' willingness to harm us is not new. What has changed is their capacity. By 2030, their force strength and war economy could put them in a position to attack," Streeting told The Telegraph on Sunday.

The defense minister added that the UK had 1,000 days left to prepare itself for war.

If you're based in the UK and have a reaction to share about the UK stockpiling notice, email our reporter: ghennessy@businessinsider.com.

• Matthew Kelson, now 43, grew up in Michigan and opened his first cinema in his 20s.
• He went on to work for Netflix in Los Angeles before getting transferred to Japan in 2020.
• After leaving his job at Netflix in 2024, he renovated a kindergarten and founded a cinema in Japan.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Matthew Kelson, now 43, who was transferred by Netflix from Los Angeles to Tokyo and is now the founder of CineYama, an independent cinema in Uenohara, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. His words have been edited for length and clarity.

Japan isn't new to me. In middle school, I spent two weeks living with a host family as part of an exchange program. I returned a couple of times as an adult.

I was working at Netflix in Los Angeles when the company relocated me to Japan in 2020. I was based in Tokyo for two years before moving to Uenohara, a small town about an hour and a half by train from Tokyo. I still spent time in the capital for occasional meetings and traveled extensively across Asia for screenings. Otherwise, I worked remotely from home. After a company restructuring, I left Netflix in 2024.

I wanted to stay in Japan. My daughter was six months old when my wife and I moved, and my son was born three years later. We thought it was a great place for them to grow up. I started thinking about how I could utilize my expertise in cinema and give back to the community.

While scouting for locations, I came across an abandoned kindergarten. In 2024, I started plans to turn the old school into a cinema. And in December, I got my permanent residency in Japan through the highly skilled professional fast-track program. A year later, I formed my company and spent another year renovating before opening a cinema in March.

Building my career in film

I spent most of my childhood in Michigan, in the Detroit area. My father was a professor of international business. He traveled for work often. It got me curious about the world around me.

At 23, I came across the Detroit Film Center and took a filmmaking course. A year later, I became a teacher and worked as a projectionist there. Through that, I started working at an independent art theater in the Detroit suburbs. I started as an usher, then became the theater manager.

Within the two years of working there, I fell in love with the film world. At 25, I renovated an old school's auditorium into a theater in Michigan using my savings. The theater ran for two years, but after disputes with the landlord, it closed.

I was looking for a fresh start, so in 2011, I moved to Los Angeles. At first, I knocked on the doors of all the film distributors I'd worked with until I met some people at an independent film distribution company. I joined as an intern and worked my way up. I landed a job on Netflix's creative team two years later.

The journey to opening a cinema in Japan

Getting the permit to renovate the abandoned kindergarten was a long process. I had to negotiate with officials at city hall and the residents about how I'd use the building, establish the company, deal with fire and health regulations, and construction in a language I don't speak fluently.

I learned that pushing harder is not necessarily what gets things done in Japan. It was about patience, building trust, and showing people that I was serious and that the project wasn't going to disappear in six months.

There were days when I wondered why I had chosen to make my life so difficult. But every milestone, from getting the building, the inspection, installing the projector, and finally opening the doors, made me more determined.

When the cinema first opened, the elderly residents seemed cautious. After a preview, they told me they were impressed to see the place cleaned up and put back into use. It's important for me to have screenings that kids and families can come to and enjoy the space.

Tickets cost 1,500 Japanese yen, or about $9.50. We offer a discount to seniors and residents. I stick with showing content that is harder to find elsewhere, so that it gives viewers a perspective on other ways of life and culture.

It's mostly family-run. I manage the operations, and my wife helps out sometimes. My kids stamp the tickets when they're around.

Living up to the challenge

Opening the theater in the US was different from doing it in Japan. I was in my 20s, had little money, and was just figuring things out in Detroit. The one in Japan came after 15 years of working in film distribution, creative production, and international screenings.

It's been exciting living over here, having the cinema, and meeting people from all over the world. While life in the US would've been much easier, I like the challenges in Japan. That's why I was at Netflix for so long, because it wasn't an easy job either. I learned life in hard mode.

• After a friend told Lau Wen Loong about Hyrox, he signed up for a race and trained for six weeks.
• It's now been two years since he got started, and he's already competed in 21 races in 11 cities.
• These three host cities have been his favorites.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lau Wen Loong, 37, who, over the past two years, has competed in 21 Hyrox races in 11 cities around the world. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I hadn't exercised regularly in two years when a friend said to me, "I think you'll be interested in this." He was taking part in Hyrox, an endurance race that combines running with fitness stations. You can race individually, as doubles, or in a relay, and there are both amateur and professional racers. He asked if I wanted to race with him.

My friend ended up doing the race with his wife, so I decided to do it on my own. "Don't be crazy," he told me. But I signed up six weeks before the event and completed my first race in Singapore in August 2024. My final timing was just under 73 minutes. I was a cross-country runner in high school, but for the first time in my life, I understood why some people hate running.

After finishing one race, I started asking myself what I wanted to do next. I'd put so much time into training for that first race, and I didn't want to lose that momentum.

The competitions come with demands

It's been two years since I got started in Hyrox, and I've completed 21 races in 11 cities, including Chengdu, Bangkok, and Mumbai. I have seven more lined up for this year. I'm in between jobs at the moment and working on an AI startup with my brother.

Each race costs about $150, while flights and other expenses can add up to $1,500. In terms of race prep, I recently bought a yearlong membership at a gym in Seoul, where I'm currently based, for about $55 a month. I've become an ambassador for several Hyrox-related brands, and they help cover some of my costs.

Hyrox is a good mix of running and weights. I think I may be the fittest I've ever been. I never imagined I could be faster than my younger self.

So far, these have been my three favorite host cities:

1. Osaka, Japan: January 2026

Every Hyrox venue is different. Similar to F1 tracks, the setup is tweaked, and the runs between stations are never the same for each race. It was my first winter Hyrox, and I hit a personal best of 61:51.

The winter part was interesting, because the race was held between two halls in a small venue. You ran in one hall, crossed to the other side to do the workout, and crossed back to run again, getting a blast of fresh air in the process.

I spent seven days in Osaka, most of it around the race area, but I managed to do a bit of shopping in the Dotonbori district. I had dinner at a famous crab restaurant with my father, who sometimes comes to support me at my races, depending on his schedule and whether he likes the city.

2. Incheon, South Korea: May 2026

It was my friend's first Hyrox. He raced before me, and I got to see it. Not only that, but I also came in first in my age group and did a personal best

Like many Hyrox races, the Incheon edition was held in a major convention center. The layout provided for a very smooth race, unlike at other races, which can sometimes disrupt your rhythm

I'm based in Seoul, so I went there daily. It was one hour each way. On the first day of the race, when I hitched a ride back with a friend, I got to try out the hyugaeso, or rest stops along the highway. They are like mini shopping malls, and the one I went to had three floors and lots of small stalls.

In the course of my races, I have made a lot of friends, like my doubles partner Ian, and Yvonne, a Singaporean working mom who has done 55 races. A couple on the plane from Seoul to Singapore also noticed my Hyrox bag, and we started chatting and became friends.

3. Jakarta, Indonesia: June 2026

The race venue was in a beautiful part of Indonesia I'd never been to — I hope to return.

It was the very first Hyrox race in Indonesia, so it was new for everyone. It was held in a convention center in one of Jakarta's green spaces, which is very scenic.

It was my first time doing two doubles races, and I didn't even know the guy I was racing with until I met him on the day. We were introduced through a mutual friend, and we only trained together once.

The drive to finish and win

I was competing in separate races at the September 2026 Hyrox event in Beijing, where Joanna Wietrzyk soiled herself. I saw her from afar, but didn't see what happened firsthand.

I've tried to put myself in her shoes and wondered if I would continue. I don't think I would or could. I do hope that she'll bounce back from it.

I've seen a lot of people crying at Hyrox. Whether it be tears of joy or tears of frustration, it still surprises me. Hyrox is a bit like therapy, as you are processing through your body. I intend to continue racing for at least another year.

I think the biggest benefit is that it enables you to be more self-aware.

• Trump said on Saturday that American oil companies are making a "fortune" on the Iran war.
• Americans, however, are paying record prices at the pump, according to AAA.
• Trump made the comments less than two weeks from the midterm elections.

Though regular Americans are paying more at the pump, US oil companies are striking it rich, President Donald Trump said on Saturday.

Speaking at a rally in Georgia, Trump said that oil prices are "temporarily high," but added that the throttling of the Strait of Hormuz has pushed oil buyers to American companies with operations in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.

"The United States oil and gas business is making hundreds of billions of dollars," Trump said. "I don't give a damn, I'm going to say it — we're making a freaking fortune."

Indeed, a Q2 report this year from the Oil & Gas Journal, a trade publication, noted that "surging crude prices tied to ongoing Strait of Hormuz disruptions" fueled massive windfalls for North American oil companies.

Year over year, a sample of 38 US producers and refiners collectively grew revenues by about $140 billion, the Oil & Gas Journal reported.

Those profits, however, are not exactly shared by the American public.

AAA reported that the average price of regular gas in the United States is now at $4.29 a gallon. In February, one day before the US and Israel launched surprise attacks on Iran, gas prices were at $2.98.

Diesel prices have also increased precipitously since the American war on Iran began. On Sunday, AAA reported that they sat at $6.35, up from $3.75 a day before the conflict began. Shipping companies rely on diesel to power their boats and trucks. Higher diesel costs are often passed onto consumers in the form of higher prices.

Trump's comments are unlikely to curry goodwill among an American electorate reckoning with an affordability crisis less than two weeks out from midterm elections. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent on Sunday.

As the midterms approach, Trump has taken steps to lower gas prices.

On October 9, Trump said he reached a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to import Russian diesel, which had been heavily sanctioned since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Analysts warned the move could provide a lifeline to the Russian economy as the country seeks to bombard Ukraine into submission this winter.

"I can see just the fake headlines — 'President Trump is talking about all the money they're making while people are suffering at the pump,'" Trump said at the Georgia rally. "That'll be the headline."

• Leslie Hodgin and her husband had dreamed of moving abroad.
• They finally took the leap in January, deciding not to waste time in their 50s.
• Hodgin said the move was expensive and time-consuming, but she's been happy with their relocation.

This story is based on an interview with Leslie Hodgin, a 55-year-old marketing consultant who moved from the US to the Netherlands with her husband, John Lyman, 52. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Until 2026, I was living in Richmond, Virginia, with my husband and our cat.

My dad was in the Army, so I grew up all over the world, but Richmond is my adopted home. I lived there for about 10 years.

During that time, I got an offer to move to Seoul, South Korea, for my marketing job. My husband, John, and I were dating at the time. We got married one week before moving to Seoul for two years.

After the contract ended, we returned to the States. I love Richmond, but it did feel small after I had been in Korea.

Some events happened in both of our families that made us want to move abroad again sooner rather than later. My dad died. My husband's mom died. We had a couple of dear friends pass away. It was all very quick. And it made me think, "What are we waiting for? We don't have promises for tomorrow. Now is the time."

We don't have kids, so that wasn't holding us back. We had some money in the bank to move, which I know is a privilege. It was like, "Let's just go and live our lives. We shouldn't just keep hoping for someday because there may not be someday."

Moving to the Netherlands

John had gone to graduate school in the Netherlands, so we'd visited before. Through my work in advertising, I also had a fairly large network of people living there.

There's a visa for Americans called the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty (DAFT) that allows freelancers and entrepreneurs to live in the Netherlands. It made the country seem like a great choice for us.

My husband works for himself, so it was easier for him to pick up and go anywhere. I started my own consulting business and left my agency. I knew there was an advertising community in the Netherlands, and I planned to freelance if my consulting business wasn't doing well.

My husband's dad is in his 90s, and my mom just turned 80. Moving far from them was probably the hardest part of the decision. I have a little guilt for that, but they're excited for us. I've promised my mom that I'll be home for any big family and important events.

That's a hard thing to do, but we felt it was right for us not to put our lives on hold.

Downsizing our lives

We moved in January. We did it in six months. We'd sold our house about a year before moving and were living in an apartment.

We decided to sell almost everything we owned to keep costs as low as possible. We shipped a half-crate over, which is quite small, so we had to get rid of a lot of stuff. We made close to $12,000 selling everything and used it to pay for the visas and help with some of the moving costs.

When we moved, we had nine suitcases, including a large piece of art. It was the largest oversize item that would fit on an airplane, and we had a special museum-packing company pack it. And our cat, of course, came on the plane with us.

We live in a two-bedroom apartment. It's an old, old building, but the apartment is newly renovated and has a patio.

We do feel lucky that we found a place because there is a housing shortage, and it's quite hard to find housing, particularly if you're American or from another country and you don't have Dutch income. We had to pay six months' rent upfront to secure our rental.

Life in Europe

It still feels surreal that we live here. My husband and I will frequently look at each other and say, "Oh my God, I can't believe that we're here." I never want to lose that feeling.

Business seems to be going really well. I also already knew some friends, but I've met so many amazing people through social media and made some great friends with our neighbors.

We love the sense of community. I appreciate the social contract that people afford each other in the Netherlands, from the opportunities the government provides to the respect and trust they show each other in general.

Recently, there was Open Monumentendag, or Open Monuments Day, with over a thousand monuments, churches, houses, farms, and historic places across the Netherlands open to the public for free. They do that every year, and it feels so special. It seems like every other weekend there's a festival.

There are always challenges. I'm very slow to pick up the language. Most people speak English, but I feel like I need to be better.

Moving also costs a lot more than you plan for. Even if you've tried to pad all the numbers, it still costs more than anticipated. Because our work was quite slow earlier in the year, we were like, "Gosh, what have we done?"

Our cost of living is fairly similar to what it was in the US. We don't have a car, so we don't have that expense. We would be paying double the rent in New York City for this same apartment.

A fresh start

I feel alive again. I felt a little stagnant in Richmond after living overseas, and moving has opened a lot of doors for my creativity.

On social media, I've documented trying one new thing a week. It's gotten us out to meet people and have some interesting experiences.

There's a risk in moving abroad. You have to get yourself over the hump, and you have to be brave.

Believe in yourself. If there's something you want to try, like moving overseas, going on a solo trip, or taking a cooking class, take a chance on yourself. You're never going to regret trying it if it doesn't work out. If you don't ever put yourself out there, you're going to look back in 20 years and be like, "That would have been great. Why didn't I give that a shot?"

• Only tech companies are seeing growth from the AI boom, Apollo Global Management says.
• Apollo says that though some big companies are spending big on AI, they may soon pull back.
• Corporate America is starting to see AI spending not as a source of growth, but as a cost center.

One of the world's largest investment firms says that only tech companies are getting a share of the AI pie.

In an economic analysis published on Saturday, Apollo Global Management said that while the Magnificent Seven — a group of established tech companies that includes Nvidia and Meta — are seeing revenue growth during the AI boom, this growth isn't being shared by other industries.

"Mainstream corporate America is pulling back and starting to view token spending not as a source of growth but as a cost center that weighs on margins," Torsten Slok, a partner and chief economist at Apollo, said in the report. "The technology has delivered zero financial payoff to corporate America outside of tech."

In a series of graphs, Slok measured three main metrics that have boomed for tech companies but not for regular companies: revenue per worker, profit margins, and productivity growth.

Since 2022, revenue per employee figures have skyrocketed for tech companies — rising from $550,000 to nearly $800,000 today. Meanwhile, that figure hasn't changed much for everyone else in the S&P 500, lingering around $550,000 for the last seven years.

Similarly, while profit margins soared among tech companies since 2022, they've stagnated at about 10% for everyone else.

And across the economy, AI hasn't yet dramatically increased productivity growth as some AI optimists have predicted.

Apollo's research portends a dark shadow over a US economy throwing massive amounts of dough toward AI tools and companies, whose leaders have promised that an "age of abundance," where people won't have to work as much, will soon be upon us.

"The question looking ahead is whether, even as models become commoditized, mainstream corporate America can turn increasingly cheap intelligence into higher revenue growth and higher profit margins," Slok said.

"That may be harder than it sounds," he added.

In the 1940s and '50s, Route 66 was one of America's most popular highways, driving business to small towns from Chicago to Santa Monica. But today, the road and its people have been largely forgotten. Ghost towns, empty motels, and abandoned gas stations line its path. Chief correspondent Abby Narishkin grew up along the road. In celebration of its 100th anniversary, she drove down the old route herself to visit the people and businesses still keeping this Americana legacy alive.

For many rooms, a 65-inch TV offers an ideal balance between size and performance. This tier is large enough to immerse you in movies, games, and sports without completely taking over your space. But figuring out which models are actually worth the money isn't always straightforward. Specs and marketing claims only tell part of the story, which is why my team and I test popular models year-round to find the best 65-inch TVs you can buy.

For most needs, the Samsung S90H 4K TV is my top pick overall. Its OLED panel delivers excellent contrast with deep black levels in a dark room, and its anti-glare screen does a good job of reducing reflections. If you're trying to spend less, the TCL QM6K 4K TV is a good alternative. It's not as bright as pricier models, but it offers impressive performance for the money.

I've been reviewing home entertainment gear for more than a decade, and that experience helps me spot a TV's strengths and weaknesses. The best 65-inch TVs stand out because they get the fundamentals right: picture quality, smart features, ease of use, gaming capabilities, and overall value. The right choice still depends on your setup and priorities, but all of these picks deliver a great viewing experience.

Our top picks for the best 65-inch TVs

Best overall: Samsung S90H - See at Amazon

Best budget: TCL QM6K - See at Amazon

Best high-end: LG G5 - See at Amazon

Best RGB LED: Sony Bravia 7 II - See at Sony

Best overall

With its impressive balance between price and performance, the Samsung S90H is the best 65-inch TV for most needs. It offers excellent picture quality and a packed set of smart features, all for a very reasonable price. It's often on sale for under $1,500, which is an incredible value for a display of this caliber.

The S90H's OLED panel produces pixel-level contrast, while its anti-glare finish helps fight reflections during the day. That's a rare and useful combination for shoppers who watch in various lighting conditions. The S90H also delivers solid brightness for an OLED: I measured roughly 1,440 nits at its peak, giving HDR movies, shows, and games plenty of punch.

The TV's anti-reflective coating does have one tradeoff. Black levels can look a bit hazy when the room is brightly lit, but the screen does an excellent job preventing windows and lamps from becoming distracting mirror-like reflections. And in a dark room, black levels are essentially perfect.

On the downside, Samsung still leaves out support for Dolby Vision, the premium HDR format often favored for its accuracy. But HDR10 and HDR10+ look so good on this TV that I don't consider this a big issue. Check out my HDR TV guide for more details on how different formats compare.

The TV's upscaling is also very good with HD and lower-resolution video, though Sony’s top TVs retain a slight edge in processing. Whether you’re watching a movie at night or streaming football in a sunlit room, the S90H is equipped for it. Viewing angles are wider than any QLED or Mini LED set, so picture quality remains consistent even when viewed off-center.

Samsung’s Tizen smart TV platform is fairly snappy, with smoother navigation than older models. However, the interface still isn't as intuitive as Google TV or Roku, so some users may prefer to invest in a streaming player. Gamers also receive great perks, including built-in access to Xbox Game Pass streaming and support for up to a 165Hz refresh rate when connected to a PC with an ultra-high-speed HDMI cable.

Read our full Samsung S90H TV review.

Check out our complete guide to the best Samsung TVs.

Best entry-level

The QM6K is proof that budget-friendly TVs don't have to sacrifice performance. This QLED set is one of the most affordable displays with a Mini LED backlight, helping it stand out among similarly priced competitors.

Many 65-inch TVs in this tier have low contrast, dim images, and limited color capabilities. But the QM6K offers a wide range of vivid colors and delivers solid contrast and brightness for its class. Picture quality still isn't on par with pricier TVs, but TCL has managed to pack in several advanced features while keeping the price attractive.

During my review, the TV reached 557 nits with a 10% HDR test pattern and about 736 nits with a 50% test pattern. Those are respectable numbers for a budget TV, and they're good enough for a solid entry-level HDR experience. That said, the TV isn't the best fit for rooms with lots of ambient light.

The QM6K's Mini LED local dimming provides good contrast control, keeping dark portions of the image relatively dark. However, black levels appear slightly lighter than those on midrange and high-end QLED models, and they're not as precise as those of an OLED. This is most evident when watching TV with the lights off. Although the viewing angles are slightly wider than those of TCL's older Q65 model, the QM6K's image still washes out when viewed from off-center.

But while most TVs in this price range are limited to 60Hz, the QM6K can reach 144Hz, making it an excellent budget gaming TV. This means you receive full support for 120Hz modes on a PS5 or Xbox Series X, enabling smoother motion in compatible games. I was also impressed by how quick the QM6K's Google TV operating system is. It offers access to all the most popular streaming apps, and I didn't encounter any notable glitches.

Though the QM6K remains my top budget pick, it now has tough competition from the new Hisense U6SF Pro. That model also uses a Mini LED backlight with local dimming, but it can get brighter, with a peak of around 1,200 nits. It also has a solid anti-glare screen that's better at reducing reflections. However, the 65-inch U6SF Pro's price fluctuates dramatically, often ranging from $600 to $1,100 over the last few months. For now, the QM6K is the more consistent value.

Read our TCL QM6K TV review.

Check out our guides to all the best budget TVs and best TCL TVs.

Best high-end

The LG G5 is my favorite high-end 65-inch TV. Though a couple of 2026 models have technically surpassed it, they cost a bit more, and the performance gap isn't quite large enough to justify the price difference. This will likely change, but for now, I still give the G5 an edge.

This premium model's biggest benefit over typical OLEDs is its exceptional brightness. Though OLEDs used to struggle with brightness, the G5 can actually outperform several flagship QLED sets. On an industry-standard 10% test pattern, I measured a peak of 2,410 nits using the set's most accurate picture mode. That's around 1,000 nits higher than midrange OLEDs like the Samsung S90H.

This high luminance provides bright HDR highlights, such as explosions and shimmering reflections, with a noticeable boost in overall impact. At the same time, the G5's OLED screen maintains perfect black levels and pixel-level contrast control, so there's none of the blooming or backlight patchiness that you might see on even the most expensive QLED TVs. Check out our QLED vs. OLED comparison for more details.

The G5 also features wide viewing angles, ensuring the image doesn't fade or wash out when you sit to the side of the TV. Gaming capabilities are strong, thanks to a maximum refresh rate of 165Hz on a PC or 120Hz on current-gen consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X. LG now also supports the Xbox app, which allows Game Pass members to stream games without an Xbox system.

Like all LG TVs, the G5 runs webOS, which is sufficient for most people's streaming needs. However, I don't love how much the interface emphasizes shopping recommendations, and its content curation isn't the best. The G5's fantastic image quality outweighs any of the software hiccups I ran into, but you can get a more reliable smart TV experience with other platforms, such as Roku and Google TV.

From a design perspective, the G5 boasts a premium aesthetic, high-quality materials, and a flush wall mount that enables seamless installation with no visible gaps. On the downside, this model does not include a pedestal stand. If wall mounting isn't possible in your space, you'll need to buy a stand separately.

Read our LG G5 4K TV review.

Check out our guides to the best LG TVs and best TVs for picture quality.

Best RGB LED

RGB LED TVs are the latest innovation in display technology. Several brands have released various models, but Sony's take on the tech, which it calls "True RGB," has impressed me the most. The Bravia 7 II is its most affordable offering and delivers exceptional performance, balancing premium picture quality with a reasonable price. This is one of the few RGB LED TVs I've tested so far that genuinely offers better performance than most traditional QLED and Mini LED models.

The Bravia 7 II uses Sony's True RGB backlight system with red, green, and blue diodes. This enables a wider, purer, and brighter range of colors than you'd get with a typical LED TV, which uses only white or blue light. You can learn more in our RGB LED vs. Mini LED comparison.

In practice, the Bravia 7 II produces gorgeous colors. I measured around 87% of the expanded BT.2020 color space. Though it's rare for movies and TV shows to use BT.2020, such an extensive gamut is great for futureproofing, and the TV hits nearly 100% of the more widely used P3 gamut.

Sony's True RGB backlight system delivers other benefits beyond color. Brightness is good for this tier, reaching around 2,243 nits, enabling impactful HDR highlights. The Bravia 7 II also has some of the best contrast control I've seen on an LED TV. Black levels are fantastic, with a deep, inky quality that often disappears in a dark room. I did see a faint hint of light bleeding into the black bars on some widescreen movies, but noticeable blooming was essentially absent.

Crosstalk, an artifact unique to RGB LED TVs, was also hard to spot. When crosstalk occurs, color from the RGB diodes spreads into areas of the image where it shouldn't, causing inaccurate tinting and faint halos of color around certain objects. I only really noticed crosstalk on a few test patterns with colored text on a gray background, and it was never a concern when watching actual content.

The RGB backlight system also helped to enable wider off-axis performance. The TV actually lets you toggle the RGB backlight on and off when in Filmmaker Mode. I tried this while watching a scene from "Ex Machina" that's bathed in harsh red light. With the color backlight setting on, the scene maintained a bold shade of red, even when I viewed the TV from an angle. But with the RGB backlight off, the red lighting shifted to a faded orange when viewed from the side.

I also love the Bravia 7 II's Google TV interface, which is quick, easy to navigate, and packed with features, including Gemini AI voice control. The Bravia 7 II comes with Sony's unique Mirage Stand, which uses optical refraction to hide cables routed behind it, making them almost invisible. It's a cool little design choice that adds a bit of extra wow factor.

Sony also sells a step-up True RGB model, called the Bravia 9 II, that costs about $1,000 to $1,500 more and has nearly double the peak brightness, slightly better contrast, a rechargeable backlit remote, and a highly effective anti-glare screen. It's a better fit for big enthusiasts with deep pockets, especially those with very bright rooms, but the Bravia 7 II gets remarkably close to matching the 9 II's best features for less money.

Check out our guide to the best Sony TVs.

How we test 65-inch TVs

To select the best 65-inch TVs, our reviewers relied on hands-on testing, bolstered by more than a decade of experience covering home entertainment products. To test displays, we evaluate general picture clarity, contrast performance, HDR peak brightness, color, off-axis viewing, smart TV features, gaming capabilities, and value for the money. 

Brightness, color, and other objective display attributes are measured using a colirmeter, a pattern generator, and Calman calibration software. 

But while test patterns are essential for gauging a display's capabilities, they only tell part of the story. What's even more important is how a TV actually looks when displaying real-world content. With that in mind, we use these displays for day-to-day viewing and watch numerous scenes from movies and TV shows, selecting clips specifically to emphasize black levels, highlights, color capabilities, and upscaling. Our demo material includes a mix of 4K, 1080p high-definition (HD), and standard-definition (SD) content from streaming devices, cable TV, and Blu-ray discs. We also watch content under different lighting conditions to evaluate performance in bright and dark rooms. 

The best 65-inch TVs will also feature excellent smart TV capabilities, so we test overall navigation speed, app stability, voice search, digital assistant integration, and additional perks like game streaming support. 

For more info on our review process, visit our page detailing how we test tech products.

Meet the expert behind this guide:

Steven Cohen, senior tech editor: I've been reviewing home theater gear for over a decade, and every year my team and I test the latest TVs from all the big brands. I also studied film production, so I'm a big nerd when it comes to picture accuracy. I want movies and shows to look exactly the way their creators intended. I use professional calibration tools and benchmark discs to measure things like brightness and color performance, but those numbers only tell you so much. I also live with every TV I review the same way I would if I bought it myself — watching movies, streaming shows, gaming, and just flipping channels to see how it handles everyday viewing. The models in this guide rose above the rest and represent the best 65-inch TVs in their respective categories.

Learn more about the Reviews team at Business Insider.

65-inch TV FAQs

Is 65 inches a good size for a TV?

Traditionally, brands use 65 inches as their flagship size to showcase their most popular TVs, as it delivers big-screen immersion without occupying too much space. However, as the industry continues to adopt larger screen sizes, some companies have started using 75 inches as the entry point for their high-end offerings. Though it's still rare to find a TV that's not available in 65 inches, some premium sets, like the TCL X11L, aren't sold in that size.

If you're looking for a media console or mount to use with a 65-inch TV, check out our guides to the best TV stands and best TV wall mounts for our top picks.

Of course, you can still find excellent TV models in smaller sizes if you need something more compact. Likewise, top displays are available in larger sizes for an even more immersive experience.

Check out our other size-specific guides for more display recommendations:

• Best 43-inch TVs
• Best 50-inch TVs
• Best 55-inch TVs
• Best 75-inch TVs
• Best 85-inch TVs
• Best 100-inch TVs

How much should you spend on a 65-inch TV?

How much you should spend on a 65-inch TV really depends on the level of performance you're after. Prices range from about $300 to more than $3,000. You can snag an entry-level 65-inch model for under $400, but we generally recommend stepping up to one of our picks above for a noticeably better experience.

If you're shopping in the midrange, plan to spend between $550 and $1,000. This tier features strong 65-inch QLED options with local dimming and solid brightness levels, typically ranging from 600 to 1,800 nits.

Shoppers seeking upper-midrange or high-end performance can expect to pay between $1,000 and $4,000. In the $1,000 to $2,000 range, you'll see premium QLED models capable of hitting up to 4,000 nits. Meanwhile, the best OLED TVs typically range in price from $1,300 to $4,000.

And good news for deal hunters: the best 65-inch TVs go on sale year-round. The deepest discounts pop up during events like Prime Day and Black Friday, as well as around sports events like the Super Bowl.

How far should you sit from a 65-inch 4K TV?

The benefits of a 4K screen are most noticeable when you sit at a distance of about one to 1.5 times the size of your TV. At that distance, you'll be able to see the extra detail that 4K resolution offers compared to a 1080p high-definition screen. The ideal viewing distance for a 65-inch 4K TV is between 5.4 and 8.1 feet.

You can sit farther away and still enjoy a 65-inch 4K TV, but the optimal viewing distance will yield the best visible detail. Otherwise, you'll want a larger screen to fully appreciate the benefits of 4K resolution.

Do 65-inch TVs have good sound quality?

Although many of the best 65-inch TVs have better built-in speaker systems than smaller displays, their performance is still limited compared to a separate soundbar or a surround sound setup. Speakers built into most TVs use small drivers, which can result in weak bass and muddy dialogue.

We recommend purchasing a soundbar to enhance your audio performance. For the most immersive experience, look for models that support Dolby Atmos, a spatial audio format that spreads sound effects throughout your room.

Check out our speaker and soundbar guides to see 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

• I've been an interior designer for years, and I believe some design "rules" are worth breaking.
• A room not working doesn't mean you need to make it bigger or completely remodel it.
• Don't avoid using furniture that's "too nice," or do open shelving just because it's in magazines.

In my years working in interior design, I've had many clients approach me looking for definitive "rules" for decorating their homes.

They want to know how to make their home look good and function better, assuming there is a set of guidelines to help them get there.

Certainly, there are building codes, safety requirements, and circulation considerations that must be met. However, much of what we think of as design and decorating is guided by rules of thumb, best practices, and even cultural assumptions.

The longer I practice design — over 20 years now — the more I learn that there are very few set rules to follow. Although some can be a good starting place, they often overlook the people who actually live in the space we're designing.

Here are a few design "rules" I think are worth breaking and why.

If you're remodeling your kitchen, you definitely need some open shelving.

Open any shelter magazine, and you will likely see open shelving as a prominent kitchen feature.

Open shelving is beautiful, often breaking up a wall of cabinetry, making a kitchen feel lighter and more open while creating a place to display dishes, glassware, cookbooks, or other collected personal effects.

Although I, too, am drawn to open shelves, I question whether it's the right choice for every client. Those beautifully styled shelves require you to decide what stays visible, keep some degree of order, and deal with more dust and kitchen grime.

For some people, that's no problem — or even enjoyable. For others, it's one more thing to maintain.

Before my clients make this design choice, we talk through what would actually live on those shelves and whether they want the responsibility of keeping them looking the way they imagine.

After all, a trend can show you a new possibility, but it can't tell you whether that possibility fits your life.

Your interior style should match your home's architecture.

I have many clients who make this assumption: If my home has a traditional architectural character, my new kitchen or bathroom must also have more traditional elements — think Shaker cabinetry, crown molding, and bronzy hardware.

Although I agree that architectural continuity can create cohesion, the architecture of your home is context, not a mandate.

When someone doesn't identify with their home's traditional character, I think it's important to honor the individual. I have seen many contemporary interiors set within traditional homes, and the juxtaposition can be breathtaking.

If your home isn't working, you need more space.

When a space feels cramped or isn't functioning well, I often see clients immediately assume they must add square footage.

Sometimes an addition is the right answer, but often the problem lies in how the existing space is being used.

For example, I had a client who was considering an addition to their kitchen. As we studied the existing space together, it became clear that the kitchen already had plenty of room, but the current layout wasn't making good use of it.

Rather than expanding the footprint of their home, we focused on reorganizing the space they already have so it functions better for them.

Before assuming more space is needed, identify where the friction is coming from: difficulty moving through a room, belongings that pile up in unwanted places, or things stored far from where they're used.

It's impossible to solve a problem you don't fully understand.

Some furniture is too nice for everyday use.

If you've ever invested in beautiful or expensive furniture, you may have worried about how you'll protect it from getting "ruined" by daily life.

But here's the rub (pun intended): When protecting furniture starts interfering with actually living in your home, we may have a problem.

Think about the white sofa featured in the aspirational home decor imagery in magazines or on social media. It's beautiful. It's pristine.

However, every Friday night, it needs to be covered with a blanket before anyone settles in to watch TV with a glass of red wine and a piece of chocolate. At some point, the needs of the furniture began to take priority over those of the person using it.

Here is the truth: Furniture is meant to be used, and a home is meant to be lived in.

Your kitchen trash can should be next to the sink.

This is a pretty standard kitchen-planning rule of thumb: Put waste collection close to the area where food prep and cleanup happen.

However, this is based on an assumption about how people use their kitchens. Sometimes, there are better layouts depending on your situation.

For example, many of my clients compost most food scraps. One such client keeps a small compost container on her counter, which is convenient during food prep and clean-up. Between composting and recycling, her regular landfill garbage gets very little use.

Once we uncovered how little this client uses the conventional trash can in her kitchen, we decided to relocate it elsewhere, freeing up valuable cabinet space near the sink and dishwasher.

This may not follow the design "rule," but it's a more practical arrangement for her space.

Empty spaces should be filled.

Sometimes an empty wall, shelf, or corner of a room can make a space feel unfinished, and our natural inclination is to fill it.

However, is empty space actually a problem that needs to be solved? No … at least not immediately.

I often encourage my clients to experiment with leaving something empty as part of the design process. It gives you an opportunity to live with the space and discover what — if anything — you actually need there.

You may discover a function you hadn't anticipated, eventually find something you genuinely want there, or realize that the room works better without anything at all.

If a room isn't working, it needs a makeover.

If a space feels unfinished, disjointed, or just "off," we often believe it needs a substantial change — new furniture, different finishes, or even a remodel.

And with so many dramatic reveals and before-and-afters, it's no wonder we think meaningful improvements require meaningful (and expensive!) interventions.

Rather than replacing everything, sometimes small, thoughtful changes can alter how a whole space feels.

For example, I had a client whose guest bathroom was remodeled several years ago. The materials, fixtures, and finishes were beautiful, but they didn't quite come together as a whole.

Rather than replacing them, we added a single wall of peel-and-stick wallpaper, a DIY project the client could tackle over a weekend. It connected what was already there and made the room feel cohesive.

Your interior designer has better taste than you.

Because an interior designer has professional expertise and experience, homeowners assume their aesthetic judgment is more valid — or that the designer has the "right" design answer, and they do not.

Designers understand proportion, scale, color, materials, and composition, but clients know more than they give themselves credit for. They notice when a color feels wrong, have strong reactions to particular materials or furnishings, and can identify what they prefer even if they don't have the design vocabulary to explain why.

Although a designer can help you understand those preferences and translate them into a cohesive space, your own sense of what feels right should be part of the design process.

After all, expertise isn't about applying rules indiscriminately — it's about knowing when they serve the person in front of you and when they don't.

I have a saying in my practice: "You do you!" You are the expert in how you live, what you like, and what makes you feel at home.

• Compass Pathways wants to use psilocybin to help people with treatment-resistant depression.
• Its psilocybin pill, COMP360, could finally be coming to market as soon as next year.
• For its CEO, Kabir Nath, it's been a long, strange trip to get to this point.

In 2022, Kabir Nath had a cushy executive job at a pharmaceutical firm that developed anti-psychotic medication.

Then he got a call from a scrappy upstart with a patent on a synthetic version of psilocybin — the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. It hoped to use the compound to help those with treatment-resistant depression.

They wanted him to join as CEO. Nath, whose father died by suicide, bit on their second pitch.

"A number of people have said to me in the last couple of years: 'You do realize what a risk that was,'" Nath told Business Insider about eventually jumping ship for what was, and still is, a drug company without FDA approval for its product.

"I was probably the first really senior executive from traditional pharma to make the move to psychedelics," he added. "But, you know, it was the right thing to do."

Nath's personal risk is now magnified as Compass Pathways finishes filing its final forms ahead of what could be FDA approval as soon as next year, and then a public rollout of its psilocybin pill, called COMP360.

Compass has recently added 150 new hires to its payroll, expanded its marketing division, and moved into new office space in Jersey City in the hope it all works out. "The company is growing rapidly," Nath said.

Though a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson attained FDA approval with a version of ketamine for depression patients in 2019, it is by no means guaranteed that Compass, leveraging a more traditional psychedelic, will get the same approval.

Should the FDA deny Compass' bid, investors would rush to dump their shares, likely sending the company into bankruptcy. The Jersey City office, which just received a new lime green paint job, would be untenable.

If you ask Nath, it would also be bad news for 4 million patients with depression in the US, for whom more traditional antidepressants like SSRIs don't work.

"These are people who have been suffering from depression, and nothing's really working," he said.

Like other drug companies — especially those with a single product — Compass' stock has "been on quite the adventure," Nath said, as the company progressed through various human trials.

When markets closed on Friday, the share price hovered around $11, up $5 from last year. In 2020, when the company went public, shares went for $17.

From Haight Ashbury to Wall Street

Psilocybin's journey to the forefront of medical research didn't begin with Compass, and it hasn't exactly gone in a straight line.

Few did more to publicize the drug than Timothy Leary, the Harvard professor turned acid dropout. In a speech at Harvard's Cambridge campus in 1962, he told students that taking psilocybin allows people to experience an "internal rebirth," according to the Harvard Crimson.

In time, Leary would be fired from Harvard as he, along with a measurable portion of the US population, began to experiment more heavily with psychedelic drugs. Come 1966, the Grateful Dead were spiking their Kool-Aid with acid, and a definitive subculture of long-haired, psychedelic-taking hippies had emerged.

Meanwhile, researchers were experimenting too. Studies involving LSD and psilocybin flourished during the 1960s before hitting a brick wall in 1970, when psilocybin was classified as a Schedule I substance, rendering possession illegal, even for research purposes.

Work on the drug languished for years, until 2000, when the FDA gave scientists at Johns Hopkins University permission to conduct research on psilocybin.

And more recently, psychedelics have become trendy with the tech crowd.

From Burning Man to luxury retreats, experimenting with psychedelics is now common among tech founders and executives like Elon Musk and Sam Altman, who credit the drugs with quieting their nerves, boosting productivity, and allowing them to better harness their creativity.

Research, too, has flourished.

"There was actually a biotech boom from 2018 through to about 2022," Nath said. "In that boom, literally hundreds of psychedelic companies went public."

In 2018, Compass' proprietary psilocybin formulation received breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA. A few years later, it started testing the drug on people.

Nath was an executive in 2018 at Japanese pharmaceutical giant Otsuka, where he said he assembled a team to investigate whether psychedelics could become viable medicines after reading Michael Pollan's book "How to Change Your Mind," which explores the history and therapeutic potential of psychedelics.

COMP360

Compass isn't selling an experience analogous to a spiritual awakening at Burning Man, though.

The drug-taking process for a patient enrolled in one of Compass' trials is a bit different. First, a patient has to have treatment-resistant depression, which is clinically defined as depression that two or more standard drugs have failed to treat.

Then, a clinician explains the details of the process that is about to unfold. After that, they're given the psilocybin in pill form.

"It's a quiet room with a couch," Nath said. "They're offered a blindfold, which most patients do actually wear."

As the patient begins to trip, a playlist of music, including classical and new age, plays softly in the background. The clinician, who Nath said could be a nurse, doctor, or therapist, sits silently in the room if the patient wants to talk, and for safety reasons.

Most of the time, though, there isn't any talking.

"This is not psychotherapy," Nath said. "We are not directing the patient's experience."

Six hours later, after some crying, laughing, and everything in between, the patient goes home.

In Compass's most recent trial, results for which were published in September, just under half of participants who took the drug experienced at least a 50% reduction in depressive symptoms within six weeks of treatment.

Next steps

After a decade of slogging through tests, first on animals and then on humans, Compass has completed all the necessary prerequisites and is busily working to get its last papers in order.

In a statement provided to Business Insider, an FDA spokesperson was noncommittal, though.

"The FDA evaluates experimental medications, including psychedelic drugs like psilocybin, through a rigorous, evidence-based process designed to ensure that any approved treatment is safe and effective for the indicated use," the spokesperson said.

Compass isn't the only psychedelic drug company wading through the lengthy process of trialing a drug.

AtaiBeckley, another psychedelic drug company trading on the Nasdaq whose product is not yet approved by the FDA, is developing a version of DMT administered via nasal spray. It received breakthrough status in 2025, years behind Compass.

For Compass, though, it could face the music as soon as the first half of next year, when it expects the FDA to render its decision. The company is already getting ready.

In addition to adding 150 new hires, Nath said the company is preparing its sales force to go online and is in frequent communication with doctors and healthcare providers about operating in clinics where therapists can administer the drug to patients.

"This has the potential to be radically different, and again, the rapidity is something that they're very excited about, and the durability," Nath said, referring to psychiatrists.

• I tried two of Ina Garten's most popular chocolate cakes for the ultimate dessert showdown. 
• Her chocolate cake with mocha frosting was delicious and easier to make. 
• But Garten's Beatty's Chocolate Cake is a total showstopper.

I've been making my way through Ina Garten's recipes to become a better home cook, so naturally, I've tried many of her desserts to satisfy my sweet tooth. 

From a blueberry-ricotta breakfast cake that won over my mom on Mother's Day to the iconic mocha icebox cake that Garten says makes "grown men weep," she truly has a dessert for everyone.  

But Garten really excels at chocolate, and I've made two of her favorite chocolate cakes. The question is, which one is best? 

First, let's make Garten's chocolate cake with mocha frosting.

Garten's chocolate cake with mocha frosting first appeared in her 2014 cookbook, "Make It Ahead." 

The "Barefoot Contessa" star has called this recipe a "dessert everyone will remember." I had to see if it lived up to the hype.  

Garten's chocolate cake features unsweetened cocoa powder, pure vanilla extract, and instant espresso powder.

To make Garten's chocolate cake, which serves 12, you'll need: 

• 3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature  
• 2 cups of sugar 
• 1 ½ sticks (12 tablespoons) of unsalted butter, at room temperature 
• 1 ¾ cups of all-purpose flour 
• ⅔ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder 
• ⅔ cup of half-and-half 
• ⅔ cup of the hottest tap water 
• 1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract 
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda 
• 1 teaspoon of kosher salt 
• 1 teaspoon of instant espresso powder

To make the frosting for the cake, you'll need:

• 12 ounces of bittersweet chocolate
• 1 ¼ cups of heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter (diced), at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon of Kahlúa
• 2 teaspoons of instant espresso powder
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

I sifted my dry ingredients and mixed the cocoa and espresso powders with half-and-half and hot water before I began making the batter.

I then placed the sugar and room-temperature butter into the bowl of my electric mixer — fitted with the paddle attachment — and beat them for about 4 minutes on medium speed. 

After adding the eggs one at a time, I added the flour and chocolate mixtures alternately in thirds, starting and ending with the flour mixture. 

I poured my batter into a 9-inch-by-13-inch baking pan and smoothed the top.

Before I made my batter, I had buttered my pan, lined the bottom with parchment paper, then buttered and floured it again. 

"There's no point in making a cake if you can't get it out of the pan," Garten said in the "Barefoot Contessa" episode where she demonstrated this recipe. 

I placed my cake in the oven, which had been preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Garten says the cake should bake for 25 to 35 minutes. You'll know it's ready when the cake tester or knife comes out clean from the center.

Once my cake was out of the oven, I let it cool for 45 minutes while I made the frosting. 

The mocha frosting for Garten's cake was quick to assemble.

I chopped my chocolate and added it to a bowl with my butter and espresso powder. Then I heated my heavy cream and mixed everything together before adding the Kahlúa and vanilla. I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and left it in the fridge for 30 minutes, per Garten's instructions.

After the frosting has chilled, Garten says you should mix it on high speed for about 15 to 20 seconds, until it forms soft peaks. She also warns that it will curdle if you overbeat it. 

This step was, unfortunately, a bit of a struggle for me. The consistency didn't look thick enough when I took it out of the fridge, so I had to let the frosting chill for another 10 minutes. And after mixing the frosting with my electric mixer, it still didn't appear as whipped as it had looked in the "Barefoot Contessa" episode. 

I was still able to spread the mocha frosting on the cake easily, but it didn't look as good as I had hoped. 

I loved the texture of Garten's chocolate cake, but the icing didn't blow me away.

Garten's cake is springy and light, and I loved the enhanced chocolate flavor thanks to the espresso powder. I think it's really easy for a chocolate cake to become too dense or heavy, but Garten's recipe has a lovely texture.

I just wish I had enjoyed the mocha frosting as much as the cake. The consistency tasted off, and the flavor didn't grab me. But, paired together, the cake and mocha icing still pack a punch that I know any big chocolate fan would love.

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's chocolate cake with mocha frosting here.

Next up was Beatty's Chocolate Cake, which Garten called the "most fabulous chocolate cake" she's ever made.

The recipe for Beatty's Chocolate Cake actually comes from Garten's friend Michael Grimm, who has frequently appeared on "Barefoot Contessa."  

"He actually served this cake to me once at dinner, and I just begged him for the recipe," Garten said on an episode featuring the cake. "I didn't have to beg very hard." 

Beatty was Grimm's grandmother, and she baked this cake for her husband and the customers on his milk route, according to Grimm's friend Monte Mathews, who shared the cake's origin story on his blog Chewing The Fat. 

Beatty's Chocolate Cake features freshly brewed coffee, cocoa powder, and buttermilk.

To make Beatty's Chocolate Cake, you'll need: 

• 1 ¾ cups of all-purpose flour (plus more for pans) 
• 2 cups of sugar 
• 1 cup of freshly brewed hot coffee 
• 1 cup of buttermilk (shaken) 
• ¾ cup of cocoa powder 
• ½ cup of vegetable oil 
• 2 extra-large eggs at room temperature 
• 2 teaspoons of baking soda 
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder 
• 1 teaspoon of kosher salt 
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract 

To make the frosting, you'll need:

• 6 ounces of good semisweet chocolate
• 2 sticks (½ pound) of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 ¼ cups of powdered sugar (sifted)
• 1 extra-large egg yolk at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon of instant coffee granules (such as Nescafé)
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

Pro tip: You can also use Garten's recipe for cupcakes. This recipe will make 24 cupcakes, just make sure to reduce the baking time to 25-30 minutes. 

First, I made the batter.

I sifted my dry ingredients into the bowl of my electric stand mixer and mixed everything together until combined. I mixed my wet ingredients in a separate bowl, making sure to shake the buttermilk before throwing it in. 

While the mixer was on low speed, I carefully poured my wet ingredients into the bowl with my dry ingredients. Then I added Garten's "secret" ingredient — the freshly brewed cup of hot coffee — while the mixer was still on low, letting it stir just to combine. 

I poured my batter into two 8-inch round pans.

Before adding the batter, I buttered my pans, lined the bottoms with parchment paper, then buttered and floured both pans again. 

I threw my pans into the oven, which was set at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Garten says the cakes should bake for 35 to 40 minutes. You'll know they're ready when your cake tester or knife comes out clean. 

Once my pans were out of the oven, I let them cool for 30 minutes while I made the buttercream frosting. After 30 minutes had passed, I took my cakes out of their pans and let them sit on a cooling rack and a baking sheet. 

Garten calls her frosting the "easiest, most delicious buttercream you've ever seen."

After chopping and melting my chocolate, I added my butter to the electric mixer and beat it on medium-high speed for about 3 minutes, until it turned fluffy. 

I then added the egg yolk, vanilla, and sugar to mix everything together before throwing in the chocolate and instant coffee granules, which I had dissolved in hot water first. 

The winner was clear, Beatty's Chocolate Cake really ... took the cake.

I was blown away by how moist Beatty's Chocolate Cake tasted. The flavor was deliciously rich, but the texture wasn't heavy or dense. As I wrote in my original review, it's without a doubt one of the fluffiest cakes I've ever had — even from a restaurant or bakery. And I loved the buttercream frosting, which had the perfect amount of sweetness and paired beautifully with the chocolate cake.

Beatty's Chocolate Cake requires a bit of work and effort, but that makes it all the more special. It's a cake no one will forget.

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's Beatty's Chocolate Cake here. 

• A version of this story originally appeared in the AI Insider newsletter.
• Sign up for Business Insider's weekly AI Insider newsletter here.

Software engineers in the Bay Area still earn far more than their peers almost anywhere else in the US, even after accounting for the region's eye-watering cost of living.

Recent data from Levels.fyi found total compensation is 77% above an employment-weighted national median. Adjusting for local prices narrows the gap, but Bay Area engineers still come out 53% ahead.

The analysis used federal employment counts to help account for where software engineers work, rather than relying solely on where people submit their pay to Levels.fyi.

Seattle also remains well above average after the adjustment, while cities such as Boston and Washington, DC, lose most of their advantage once living costs are factored in.

The chart below shows the pay differences before adjusting for local prices.

One important caveat: The cost-of-living comparison does not account for differences in state and local taxes.

These numbers are also based on submissions to Levels.fyi, so they could over-index toward areas where people like to brag about their pay, wherever that is!

Sign up for the AI Insider newsletter here. Reach out to me via email at abarr@businessinsider.com

• Lonni Pike got sober at 51 after years of addiction and felt ready for a fresh start.
• She rejected expectations that older women should dress conservatively or fade into the background.
• Now 62, she's a fashion influencer, Twitch gamer, and advocate for aging on her own terms.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lonni Pike. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Eleven years ago, when I was 51, I got sober after years of struggling with addiction. I felt vibrant again and ready for my life to start.

What I was met with was messaging on TV, social media, and even in day-to-day life that I had missed the train. I was too old, too boring, and I would just need to move along.

Everything associated with women and aging seemed to be negative. Even women themselves were negative about aging, and started hiding away, blending in, or getting treatments to chase youth.

But that wasn't going to be me. I was tenacious and determined to live the life I had another chance at.

I started expressing myself through fashion

Loving fashion, I started finding clothes that told the world who I was. Fashion is much more than clothing — it's the way people feel about themselves.

Most women my age had given in to the expectation that an aging woman is meant to be drab and boring.

For a bit of fun, I went to a clothing store and asked a staff member to help me find something to wear. She chose a pair of tan pants and a button-up, plain top, with a pair of loafers.

We are told not to show our arms because they are too flabby, not to wear miniskirts because our legs should not be seen, and to avoid bold colors so we don't stand out in a crowd.

I'd break out of this noise and dress in a way that made me feel good about myself.

With the help of my son, who studied broadcast journalism, I started posting on social media about what I was wearing.

I remember people telling me I looked like I was dressing like a teenager, or asking why I was wearing men's clothing. I often responded by saying that clothes don't have an age or gender, and that I was dressing to represent myself.

I've now created a community, mostly of women, who are watching my content and being reminded that aging isn't something to fear. It isn't the end.

My quest to age in the way I wanted didn't end with fashion

I shaved my head because I hated my hair and felt that a buzz cut would make me feel more like I felt inside.

Three years ago, I started a gaming channel, and I've become a TikTok gaming live pro and Twitch partner.

My sons had always played video games, and it looked really fun. But I knew it was a notoriously young crowd. I asked if I was too old to game. It was when I found another gamer, Tactical Grandma, who was around my age, that I knew I should try it.

I started solo hiking because, after getting sober, I needed that time alone outside, moving, to reflect. Slowly, I built up my fitness.

In October, I'll run my first 5 K. This was a goal I had after watching people run a half-marathon. I thought half-marathoners would be young and super fit, but there are so many different ages and shapes.

Having gotten tattoos for years, I was determined to continue getting them as I aged. They are my life's journey inked out on my skin. I don't worry about the wrinkles or a changing body shape that might alter how they look. The canvas the tattoos are on doesn't have to be perfect — I love the tattoos for what they represent, not for how aesthetically pleasing they are to other people.

Next month, I plan to get bird tattoos along the right side of my neck.

As I continue to age, I want to be louder. Not "in your face" kind of loud, but I do want to talk more frequently about aging.

Women can be comfortable getting older. They don't need to be perfect to be beautiful. In the world of AI, injectables, and cosmetic procedures, this is a powerful message.

It seems that growing old is becoming a dying art. That's why I want to pop up in their feeds to say that none of it's true. Aging doesn't have to be something we dread.

Sometimes, my body doesn't keep up with my brain. Running had been hard and ruined my feet. Gaming for eight hours a day has been hard on my body. And that's OK — I'll pivot and pursue something else instead.

I tried new things in my 50s and 60s, and I'll continue fearlessly trying more until I can't anymore.

• My husband and I moved from the US to the Netherlands without seeing our new apartment in person.
• We encountered lots of surprises, like the lengthy Dutch application process.
• Although we love our apartment, we've had to get used to a few cultural differences.

After living as digital nomads for nearly two years, my husband and I decided to move from the US to the Netherlands.

We'd visited several times and fell in love with the walkability and bike culture. Plus, I have a connection to the country, since my great-grandparents were Dutch.

With the help of a real-estate agent, we found an apartment remotely from the US, signing a yearlong lease in the city of Utrecht before ever setting foot in the home.

We encountered some surprises while looking for an apartment

Since the process of finding an apartment abroad can often take months, we chose to search remotely from the US. To make things easier, we hired a Dutch real-estate agent with local connections who could view apartments for us in person.

The prep work was much more intense than I was used to. In the US, I've leased apartments in three different states, and the extent of the application typically included filling out a basic form and sometimes completing a background check.

That wasn't going to cut it in the Netherlands.

Our agent gave us a long list of materials to prepare, from 12 months of bank statements and links to our LinkedIn profiles, to a "get to know us" letter, which included our hobbies and photos of us. Then she went looking.

Rentals often get snatched up within a few hours or days, so my husband and I were regularly waking up at 4 a.m. in Colorado to read our agent's emails about the new listings each day.

When we finally found one that checked all our boxes, we asked her to schedule a walkthrough. Luckily, she recorded a video for us to review, so we didn't need to wake up early for this part of the process.

It was during the walkthrough, however, that we learned Dutch apartment listings aren't as detailed as the ones we were used to in the US. When our agent arrived, we discovered the listing had omitted several important pieces of information.

For example, there was a fully fenced-in back garden, complete with a shed, picnic table, and blackberry and rose bushes. The kitchen had a dishwasher. And there was a washing machine hidden away behind a cabinet door — and a dryer (which is not as common in Europe).

Score, right? So we jumped at the opportunity, put in our bid, and jumped for joy when our offer was accepted.

Despite a few setbacks, we fell in love with our apartment

We arrived in the Netherlands a few weeks later, traveling directly from the airport to our rental. When we unlocked the door for the first time, hoping we'd fall in love with our new home, it was … freezing.

Turns out, the heat had stopped working, and the rental company couldn't send someone to fix it until the next day. So, we spent our first night in the Netherlands at a hotel.

Thankfully, the heat was fixed the following day, and then we could start unpacking. This is when we began to notice some of the more nuanced differences of a Dutch house compared to an American one.

The first thing to get used to? The alarmingly steep stairs (a hallmark of skinny, tall Dutch houses) which made moving furniture up to our second-floor office feel like a Herculean feat.

We also learned to accept moths and gnats as houseguests, since Dutch windows don't typically have screens. However, with no air conditioning and a 100-year-old house that was built to retain heat, we definitely want to keep those windows open.

Overall, aside from a few stowaway insects and some hot days, we've been very fortunate with our rental. I particularly love the neighborhood and how we can walk to a grocery store, bakery, or park within five minutes.

The biggest lessons have come from being part of a Dutch neighborhood

Although finding our rental was a whirlwind process, I've found the most interesting parts of living here have come from the cultural differences between American and Dutch neighborhoods.

For example, shortly after arriving, our neighbor invited us to the neighborhood WhatsApp group. If you need to borrow a drill or lose your cat, you send a message to the group.

It's very active, and joining the group helped me feel like I was part of a community before knowing anyone here. Although I've heard of similar groups in the US, I've never been invited to join one.

Ordering packages is also very different. Back in the States, packages would be left by my door. In the Netherlands, however, they aren't left unattended.

Instead, the delivery driver will start ringing the neighbors' doorbells until someone is home. Then, they'll leave a digital note about which house has your package.

One place I didn't expect to feel such a contrast is the sidewalk. On sunny days, my Dutch neighbors bring out their dining room chairs, park them on the bricks outside their front door, and enjoy a cold drink. Sometimes, it'll feel like an impromptu block party — and I couldn't be happier to join in the festivities.

After leasing an apartment across the world, sight unseen, would I do it again? I sure would — especially if I could hire a real-estate agent to check out the home in person.

The quirks of our apartment and neighborhood are all part of the experience of living abroad, and although I may not have expected them, I've now grown attached to these cultural differences.

• My siblings and I are all adults with our own families, careers, and mortgages.
• Time with just us and our parents is rare, but special.
• It reminds me of where I came from, and of younger versions of myself.

When my mom was younger and my siblings and I moved out, she really struggled with empty-nest syndrome. Now that I'm a mom of three myself, I can totally appreciate how she must have felt.

As a parent, you pour so much of your love, time, and energy into your kids. And then one day, they leave. I imagine it must feel incredibly strange. I already dread the day my babies leave the nest, to the point where I sometimes cry to my husband about it.

The other day, I was having one of those moments, sobbing on the bed, when my husband found me. I told him how I felt, and he said, "For God's sake, honey, our youngest is four! You have at least another 14 years with her at home." Fair point.

Time with just my parents and siblings is rare

Now that my siblings and I all have families of our own, the time we have with my folks is often chaotic. Inevitably, one of the grandkids is throwing a tantrum, complaining about being hungry, or announcing they need the toilet, and conversations are often start-stop affairs.

But a few years ago, I had an epiphany. It was my sister's 50th birthday, and we were in Bali with all the extended family. To celebrate, we went out for dinner, just the original six of us — Mom, Dad, and the four of us siblings.

It was one of the most incredible nights. We told stories from childhood, talked about getting older, and shared what actually makes us happy and what we love about each other. There were tears and plenty of laughter.

Afterwards, I realized how much I'd missed my original people. The ones who've known me the longest. The people who remember what I was like as a naughty four-year-old who would scream the F-word in the supermarket if I didn't get lollies, or as a pimply teenager going through puberty. The people who knew me before I had a husband, children, a career, a mortgage, responsibilities, or any real idea of who I was or where life would take me.

As adults, we inevitably morph into different versions of our younger selves. We form new identities, build our own lives and our own ideas.

But there's something so incredibly beautiful about being able to return to those younger versions of yourself, if only for a few hours. For me, I've always been the baby of the family, and somehow, if I'm alone with my parents and siblings, I revert straight back into that role. Goo goo, ga ga. Even at 41, I'll always be the baby of the family.

Spending time together is special for all of us

Since that dinner all those years ago, I've made a concerted effort to organize catch-ups with the original clan only. Partners and children know they're not invited, which I'm sure has offended a few people along the way, but nowadays the spouses are used to it.

My sister lives in Africa, and we are all in Australia, so getting us all together can be tricky. But when we do, we have the best time. There's always a lot of reminiscing and laughing. Often, too, a few inappropriate jokes, and inevitably, the occasional argument or two.

I think for my folks, who are now in their 70s and 80s, these moments are golden. There's no doubt they adore the grandkids and partners. But there's something different about having their kids all to themselves for a couple of hours.

No tantrums. No one cartwheeling through the living room as we attempt a conversation. Just us.

At the end of the day, no matter how old we get, we'll always be their kids. You can grow up, move away, become a wife and mother, and build an entirely new life. But when we're all together again, somehow it feels exactly the same.

• The author and his mother graduated from college in May 2026.
• Despite earning their degrees, both struggled to find jobs in their fields.
• Their experiences challenged the promise that a college degree guarantees a better life.

I grew up believing that I had to work hard, go to college, get a piece of paper, and unlock a decent life. My mom believed in it even more than I did.

In May 2026, we crossed the finish line together. I was 23, graduating from New York University with a degree in Film and Television, ready to launch a career in journalism and filmmaking. My mom was in her late 40s when she earned her bachelor's degree in psychology after decades of putting her life on hold.

My mom raised me while taking care of family members

For as long as I can remember, my mom has been running on empty. Back in Alabama, she worked hospital shifts by day and cleaned corporate offices at night, riding public buses through the heat. She was also raising my brother and me, caring for my grandmother through cancer, and looking after my paralyzed uncle. Going to college felt impossible.

When my grandmother and uncle died shortly before I finished high school in 2022, our family was grieving. But my mom also had a moment to think about what she wanted for herself. She decided to start college and pursue her psychology degree. In 2024, after my brother graduated from high school and headed to college in upstate New York, my mom packed up and moved out of Alabama. She settled in Albany to be closer to both of us. I was living in New York City, attending NYU.

From 2022 to 2026, we both worked toward our degrees. While I stayed up finishing college assignments, my mom balanced her nursing shifts with classes and the costs of building a new life in Albany.

But graduating didn't make the next steps any easier.

Getting a job as a recent graduate wasn't easy

I thought an NYU degree would give me a real foot in the door. Instead, I entered a job market where entry-level roles demanded years of experience, while rent and groceries kept getting more expensive. I've had employers tell me during interviews that they loved my work and thought I'd be a great fit, only to never hear from them again. It happened more than once, and each time, it became harder not to wonder what I was doing wrong.

The numbers suggest I wasn't alone. In the second quarter of 2026, 42% of recent college graduates were underemployed, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Finishing school didn't guarantee a career. For many graduates, it meant entering a crowded job market and hoping someone would give them a chance.

My mom faced her own version of that wall. She's currently working toward her master's degree, hoping to eventually become a licensed therapist. In the meantime, she's been trying to get her foot in the door through entry-level jobs such as behavioral health or psychiatric technician roles. Despite decades of frontline healthcare experience and a bachelor's degree in psychology, applications went unanswered, and automated rejection emails kept arriving. After years of working and caring for others, she was still struggling to get someone to give her a chance.

A few weeks after graduation, I sat with her in her living room as she refreshed her inbox. Another rejection came in. She closed her laptop and looked down at her framed diploma, exhausted.

If my mom was struggling to find work after everything she'd done, I couldn't help wondering what my own degree would do for me. A degree can still make a financial difference.

In 2025, full-time workers aged 25 and older with a bachelor's degree earned a median weekly wage of $1,578, compared with $966 for those with a high school diploma, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. But those figures describe people who are already working full time. They don't guarantee a recent graduate will land a job, earn those wages, or afford to live in the city where they're trying to build a career.

For my mom, college was supposed to rewrite her story. For me, it was supposed to be the launchpad. When we look at our graduation pictures, the pride is real; neither of us will ever downplay what it took to survive those years. But a diploma can't pay rent. A piece of paper can't buy health insurance, a stable job, or peace of mind.

My mom and I did what we were told would lead to a better life. We're still trying to figure out when that life is supposed to begin.

We did everything right. Somehow, it doesn't feel like enough anymore.

• I remember how overwhelming motherhood was, and I see my sons facing similar challenges.
• I sometimes disagree with their parenting decisions, but try to listen instead of offering advice.
• I'm learning that supporting my adult children means giving them room to make their own choices.

I remember vividly how hard the preschool years were.

My world was turned upside down while my husband's life remained virtually unchanged. I was swamped with diaper changes, feeding, bathing, and preparing for my fifth-grade class the next day.

He accepted a longer commute so we could live closer to my work and both of our families for support. His impediments consisted of challenging weather and swerving to avoid wildlife, but mostly he enjoyed driving to his tunes without kids whining or fighting in the back seat, something I would have traded my right arm for on many occasions.

He came home to a home-cooked meal and continued playing hockey with the guys a couple of nights a week. He was no deadbeat, though — he put in long, physically demanding days working outdoors in all weather. Then on weekends, he kept up with the seasonal demands of our 23-acre property.

In those early years, his help with household chores and children was minimal. It was our system, and not uncommon in our generation.

My sons are more involved parents

Thankfully, gender roles have changed since then, and a generation later, my sons have taken on more significant parental duties. It is not for me to judge whether they do their fair share, but they certainly do more meal-making, cleaning, and childcare than their dad did.

I also remember my delusion of believing I would be a better mom than my mom was. I thought I could be more emotionally present, able to provide and respond to my kids' every physical, mental, and emotional need.

I juggled raising three rambunctious boys alongside my often absent husband while aspiring to be a perfect mom and teacher. Something had to give, and I refused to let it be family, so when my burnout was diagnosed and labeled as depression, I took a sick leave from work. Creative workshops, me-time, time with family, and a diet-and-exercise reset helped me recover enough to return to work, choosing part-time to avoid the same pitfalls.

My mother's unconditional support was essential, and so was learning to ask for help

This is the point where I became more forgiving of my mother for not meeting all of my emotional needs growing up. I finally understood that I could not be all things to everyone, and despite my resistance, I still needed my mother's support to deal with all of it. I felt both too proud to ask for help and humbly grateful to accept it.

My mom never judged me. She calmly listened and offered support, something I have always deeply appreciated. I was too proud to confide my deepest insecurities, and she never pried. I hid my low self-esteem and low self-confidence by projecting false bravado to the world, but I'm sure she saw right through me. Her unconditional love and support generated and now drives my need to honor her by paying it forward to my own kids.

My kids are approaching this same point in their lives. Their perfect parenting honeymoon is over, and they often find themselves in survival mode. It is hard to watch as I remember those times well and how hard I fell. It must have been just as difficult for my mom to see.

As I listen to my sons and daughters-in-law share their challenges, I remember how the business of meal prep, naps, bathing, grooming, and potty training takes up so much mental space. Previously able to eat and sleep according to your own goings-on, you suddenly pivot to adapting to the kids' needs and current schedule. Although I hear them proudly declare they are handling it, they underestimate my ability to read their betraying eyes.

I'm trying my best to pay it forward without losing myself

I am careful about offering unsolicited advice. I want to be supportive without meddling, so heeding the fact that I have two ears and one mouth, I try to listen twice as much as I speak. Instead of voicing my opinion when I would do things differently, I hold my tongue as I am certain my mom did when she questioned my way of doing things.

So many times, I had to be brave, reading the fear in my sons' eyes as they experienced various growing pains, both physical and emotional. I learned to transition from hand-holding to standing by their side to finally letting them go to live their own journey. I must be brave again as I now watch them struggle with their own children's growing pains, knowing that their problems and wounds will increase in direct proportion to their age and physical growth. I will stand by as my mom did, watching my pain, powerless to protect me, knowing I had to learn on my own.

I am also mindful not to forsake my whole life for them. It is important to me to be an honest role model by being just as kind to myself as I am to them, as the analogy goes: put the oxygen mask on yourself before you can save others.

• I've been a doctor for more than a decade and have a family of four.
• I've traded traditional health insurance for direct primary care and a medical cost-sharing group.
• For the first time, I feel like I'm truly in control of our healthcare.

I've spent more than a decade navigating the labyrinth of American healthcare. I've worn the white coat, spent sleepless nights on call, signed the charts, and cared for thousands of patients.

A few years ago, I realized I couldn't keep participating in a system that felt like it was designed to fail the very people it was meant to serve.

Today, my family and I are uninsured in the traditional sense — and I'm confident that it's the best financial and medical decision I've ever made.

I hit my breaking point

For years, I worked in a traditional, insurance-based primary care practice. My days were a blur of 15-minute appointments, dictated not by medical necessity, but by billing codes and insurance reimbursements. I felt completely beholden to the behemoth of corporate medicine. Patients were waiting months to see me and were almost always shortchanged on the time I was able to spend with them.

I felt like the insurance companies were the invisible third party in every exam room, deciding which tests I could order and which medications my patients deserved. I wasn't just a doctor anymore; I was a data-entry clerk for multibillion-dollar payers. The result was a total, soul-crushing burnout that followed me home every night.

On the other side of it, some of my patients were forgoing necessary care because the costs presented to them were simply too high. Did it make sense to spend $300 to check a thyroid test to ensure the $10 per month medication I prescribed was working as it was supposed to? Many patients, rightfully so, decided to spend their money elsewhere.

I knew I had to get out — not just for my own sanity, but to actually provide the type of care I believed in.

Direct primary care offered something different

I eventually traded the treadmill for Direct Primary Care (DPC). In this model, my patients (or their employers or an insurance company) pay a flat monthly membership fee directly to me (around $100 per month). This type of care is affordable— my current patient panel includes attorneys, electricians, teachers, and retirees. There are no co-pays, no deductibles, and most importantly, no insurance companies breathing down my neck.

The difference was night and day. Without the administrative bloat of insurance billing, I finally became the doctor I trained to be:

• Time: I went from seeing 20 patients a day to seeing six or eight.
• Access: My patients can text me directly. We have hour-long conversations instead of 10-minute sprints.
• Cost: By cutting out the intermediary, I'm able to offer wholesale pricing on labs and imaging that are often 90% cheaper than hospital rates. That $300 thyroid test from my previous job? I now offer that for $8.

I took my own family off the grid

Once I saw how much better medicine functioned without traditional insurance interference, I took the ultimate leap. I took my wife and children, now 9 and 6, off our health insurance plan.

Instead, we joined a medical cost-sharing community. It isn't insurance; it's a community of members who share each other's large, unexpected medical expenses. When I combined a DPC membership for our routine care with a health share for the big stuff, I realized I had found a better way to protect my family — and was paying far, far less for it.

The math backs up my decision

To understand why we left, look at the cost of childbirth. When our first child was born under a supposedly high-end traditional insurance plan, we still walked away owing about $10,000 after paying our insurance premiums. We were paying twice: once for the premium and again for the actual care.

My wife spent hours of her precious maternity leave arguing with insurance companies about the services we received in the hospital. When our infant son was hospitalized a few months later, she was back on the phone again, having to advocate for his coverage during the time of a family crisis. We spent years paying off the cost of the birth and his illness.

With our second child, we looked at the numbers through the lens of a cost-share program. On a plan like ours, the Initial Unshareable Amount (IUA) — the part we pay before the community kicks in — was only $1,500.

Beyond that $1,500, the community shared the rest. We didn't have to spend my wife's recovery time fighting with a claims adjuster or waiting for pre-authorizations. We knew exactly what our responsibility was, and more importantly, we knew our family was covered by a community, not a corporation.

I feel like I took back control

As a physician, I've seen the insurance trap from both sides. We've been conditioned to believe that without a blue or green plastic card in our wallets, we are unsafe.

The reality is that for some, traditional insurance has become a barrier to care rather than a bridge. By opting out and pairing Direct Primary Care with a health share, I've reclaimed my time as a doctor and my peace of mind as a father. I'm no longer waiting for an insurance company to tell me how to care for my kids or my patients. As a doctor and as a father, for the first time in my career, I feel truly secure.

• A Ukrainian drone maker was surprised by how much explosive weight soldiers loaded onto one of its drones.
• A drone's payload is limited by the weight of its battery, camera, and other equipment.
• Drone makers push technical limits, but Ukrainian soldiers often go even further.

A major drone maker said Ukrainian soldiers surprised it by packing one of its drones with more explosives than the company ever thought it could carry.

When loading up an attack drone with explosives, combat units are limited by how much weight it can carry and still fly. Batteries, cameras, and other essential equipment also take up some of that capacity. That doesn't stop soldiers from pushing the equipment to its limit.

"One of the most surprising videos I've seen recently is that one of the units has managed to put the huge explosive part on our drone," Oleg, an executive at TechEx, told Business Insider.

The drone was carrying "something like five or seven kilos, and they managed to fly into the building and put it completely to the ground with one single FPV."

"I was like, 'How do you literally put this amount of explosives on one single FPV?' But it managed to carry this on and did the mission," the TechEx exec said, speaking on the condition that he be identified only by his first name for security reasons.

TechEx lists a maximum payload of two kilograms for three of its NATO-codified fiber-optic drones: the Stalker XO-10 China-Free, Stalker XO-15 MAX PRO, and Stalker XO-13.

Weight is a major constraint for Ukraine's drone makers, who are constantly trying to accommodate more firepower and bigger batteries, as well as heavier weapons and cameras. It's a constant trade-off, with every gram mattering.

Soldiers fighting for survival often push beyond advertised limits. Last year, a sergeant major in a heavy bomber company told Army Inform, Ukraine's defense ministry media, that while a Bat drone can fly up 8 kilometers and carry up to 12 kilograms, his unit pushed it to fly a little farther and carry a little more.

Weight is an important consideration for TechEx drone development. The company advertises its "ultralight fiber optic reel" as one of its product advantages. Last year, Ukraine's Ministry of Defense characterized TechEx's Stalker series as having a "record-low spool weight among Ukrainian fiber-optic drones."

The struggle with weight is particularly acute for fiber-optic drones because, in addition to gear like batteries, they have to carry the spool containing the fiber-optic cable that trails behind them, maintaining a connection with the drone operator. The cable makes them resistant to enemy jamming, but the added weight limits how many explosives they can carry. The cable spool can weigh several kilograms on some drones.

Olha, a TechEx representative, told Business Insider that the company developed its own technology to reduce spool weight, making "tiny tweaks and changes" to how the spool is assembled and the fiber is wound into it. Those adjustments allow the company to keep the spool lightweight while maintaining a stable connection and minimizing the risk of the cable breaking during flight.

The company needs the "perfect balance" to make sure it stays reliable and durable, as not all drone pilots have a wealth of flying experience, Oleg said.

The company faces trade-off decisions. Extending the range of its fiber-optic drones, for instance, would require larger cable spools, potentially leaving less room for explosives, Olha said. But not every drone needs a heavy payload. For some, speed and agility matter more.

Ukraine's soldiers often surprise the manufacturers of their weapons with how they use and adapt their gear, with troops sometimes repairing and modifying equipment near the front lines and experimenting with new tactics.

Kuldar Väärsi, the founder and CEO of Estonian ground robot maker Milrem Robotics, previously told Business Insider that Ukrainian soldiers used the company's technology in ways it was not expecting, including adding and attaching things to the robots. "Ukrainian troops are really creative, and they really find very simple ways how to get even more out of the equipment," he said.

How gear is used in the field often informs how Ukraine's defense companies update and modify their products. Soldiers give feedback to firms like TechEx every day, and companies send their own employees close to the fight to gather feedback and make changes.

Oleg said that TechEx receives direct feedback from soldiers constantly, resulting in weekly changes to its products. Without changes, a product in Ukraine "within three months, it will be outdated, and nobody will use it, because the industry is moving extremely fast," he said.

TechEx encourages soldier experimentation, including by making its drones with parts that are interchangeable. Soldiers can swap components to repair damaged drones or combine parts to create configurations the company never designed.

"Part of what I think TechEx is really great at is the ability to customize," Olha said.

• Hayley and Mo Molina built a house on Hayley's parents' 400-acre family ranch in Oklahoma.
• Now they live steps away from Hayley's parents, grandparents, and brother and sister-in-law.
• They both enjoy spending time with the family, and everyone has grown closer.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Hayley and Mo Molina, 30 and 49, a married couple who live on a 400-acre ranch in Claremore, Oklahoma. Hayley's parents bought the ranch in 2021, and now four generations of family live there. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Hayley: I was born in Bluffton, Indiana. Then my family moved to Oklahoma when I was three.

We always lived in town, and my family knew nothing about ranching. They were golfers; I didn't listen to country music until I was in high school — we were city people. But then my parents sold their house and were looking for something new, something different.

They were actually looking for something smaller and with not as much land to take care of, but we started talking about a family compound, found Hook Ranch, and just jumped in headfirst.

When my parents first found the property, it was about 170 acres, give or take, and they just kept buying more land and growing it bigger and bigger until it landed on what it is now.

When my parents were talking about doing this, the future goal was for me to be out here. For me, it wasn't the goal right away. I wanted that in the future, but I didn't know what the future looked like for me.

My grandparents ended up moving out here and living in the barn, where they live now, because I wasn't planning on moving out there or building anytime soon.

They were like, "OK, well we'll just take your spot then."

Then Mo and I met, and honestly, I don't even know if we ever had the conversation about living out here.

Mo: We really didn't bring it up early on. And when we first thought about it, I was like, "There's no way I'm living out there with all them family. There's no way." Not because I didn't like them; it just wasn't in the plan.

But then, as I got to know them, loved them, and we hung out with them almost every weekend, we were like, "Wait a minute, we love it out here."

I proposed out here, and after that, it took off from there. And then it was normal.

It's not weird to be living this close to my family

Hayley: On the property, there's us, my parents, my mom's parents, and then my brother and sister-in-law and their two daughters.

My family's always been so close. We're the type of people who always hung out on the weekends. We always went to my parents' house Friday night. It was so normal to be so close and always together.

Mo: For me, it was just my mom and me growing up, and we lived in the city, but I'm a country boy. I knew I always wanted to be out in the country. But it looked like I was going to be in the city the whole time. But with Hayley being close to her family, it all came together.

Hayley: We actually moved in with my parents first. We sold my house in March 2025, and then moved in with my parents.

Mo: We lived there while we were building our house.

Hayley: We got married in September, moved in with my parents in March, and lived there for seven months. We moved into our house in October of 2025.

Our house is only about 100 yards away from the barn, which is where my parents and grandparents live.

My brother and sister-in-law are about 200 yards away from the barn — it's like a seven-minute walk. It's literally a one-minute walk from my house to my parents' house.

Mo: I didn't know if there were going to be any benefits to living that close or not, especially when my father-in-law built a trail that goes right from the barn to our house.

It's kind of cliché, but if we don't have any eggs, we can literally walk down there.

Hayley: But honestly, we have so much privacy. You wouldn't think that, but I can't even see my parents' house or my brother's house from my house.

We can be in the backyard, the front yard, and I have no idea what's going on at their houses ever.

We can go weeks without seeing anybody. There's a lot of privacy out here because everybody respects each other's privacy.

Mo: It is weird knowing that we're this close and then a couple weeks go by, and I'm like, "Man, I haven't seen anybody," or "We haven't gone down there," and they're 100 steps away.

We've built closer relationships by living on the same property

Mo: When we first started dating, she was always hanging out with her parents almost every weekend, and I was living my single life, and I was hanging out with my buddies, and we would go out almost every weekend.

Hayley: Friday nights, we know what my parents are doing, because they do the same thing pretty much every Friday night.

So if we don't have anything to do, we are just going to go join them. Sometimes I just want to hang out with people, but I don't want to have to drive anywhere, and I don't want to have to get ready. So we'll have a game night at the barn with the whole family: my grandparents, us, my parents, and my brother and his family.

Mo: Hayley used to come and hang out with my friends, and then it didn't take very long before I went over to her family's place and hung out with them. I was like, "Man, this is kind of cool." They're awesome to hang out with.

At first, I was like, "I'm not hanging out with your parents. This is not a cool Friday night." In less than a month, I would say we were literally hanging out every weekend with her parents.

Hayley: I think we all have gotten so much closer. I have learned so much about my grandparents and gotten closer with my grandma.

My grandma comes over to our house every Monday morning and washes our sheets for us. While the sheets are washing and drying, she cleans the floors for me, and while she's doing that, she and I chat.

That's been really nice because I get to connect with her whenever. Before, I couldn't really do that because we only saw them every once in a while. Now I can do that every week. And she goes to my brother's house and does their laundry on Tuesdays.

Mo: Getting to know her family more and seeing how they do things and what they like and what their everyday looks like has been a benefit.

Her family works so hard. Her mom is the hardest worker on the ranch, and I would've never known that when I met her.

Her parents run a business, and her dad is constantly not in the house — except to watch college football.

I've learned so much from him.

I think getting to know that part of her family was huge for me. That's what's different. If we lived where we lived before, I probably would've never learned, or wanted to learn, that. So that was big for me.

Hatch disrupted the sleep wellness category with its sophisticated, stylish smart clock that is not your typical alarm. Rather, it's a complete sleep system to become part of your daily routine to help you wind down and wake up. It's a sunrise alarm clock, a sound machine, and its latest edition, the Hatch Sleep Clock, turns it into a sleep tracker.

It's the exact feature I've been waiting years for. Previously, my nightstand had been cluttered with two separate devices: the original Hatch Restore 3 for my wind-down routines and a Google Nest Hub for contactless sleep tracking. I couldn't wait to try this device that would combine those two roles into one.

After testing it for two months alongside my Fitbit and Google Nest, I found its sleep-tracking metrics surprisingly accurate. The new model costs $80 more than its predecessor, but it's still typically cheaper than buying a separate sleep-tracking wearable, and you don't have to worry about charging it. Ultimately, whether the upgrade is worth it comes down to one question: Will you actually use the sleep data?

Here's what to know about the new Hatch Sleep Clocck, how it compares to its predecessor, and whether it lives up to the hype as one of the best sleep products of the year.

How the Hatch Sleep Clock compares to the Hatch Restore 3

At a glance, the new Hatch Sleep Clock looks identical to its predecessor, the Restore 3. Side by side, they share the exact same aesthetic, fabric cover, and bedside footprint. However, the $80 price jump introduces a completely new hardware capability featuring a dedicated motion sensor behind its fabric cover that detects micro-movements and respiration rates overnight.

They both feature the same core wellness features — revolving around the principles of using light cues to help regulate your circadian rhythm to ease you into sleep and for a gentler wake-up — an audio library and content, and physical on-device controls. I loved that the Restore 3 minimized phone use once you set your lighting and audio preferences in the app, allowing you to start and stop routines directly from the clock. While the Hatch Sleep Clock retains that hands-off bedtime design, viewing your morning sleep breakdown forces you to pick up your phone again. As a creature of habit who prefers a set-it-and-forget-it alarm routine, I struggled to make checking stats part of my morning.

What to know about the sleep tracking

No sleep scores, but the tools for better sleep

Rather than categorizing your sleep with a sleep score that tells you whether you slept well or poorly, Hatch is purposefully dedicated to tracking the metrics that matter, with actionable routine-building and habit tracking.

"Consumer sleep tracking data has been on the market since 2012, and during that time, sleep satisfaction has actually declined," says Fiona Biles, Chief Product Officer at Hatch. "Data alone clearly wasn't enough."

Biles notes that 30% of sleep-tracker users experience orthosomnia, an unhealthy obsession with achieving a "perfect" sleep score. "We are not here to grade your sleep. We are here to take care of sleep for you, to guide you through your nightly routine... And so reducing it to a score felt like it was at odds with that."

To combat sleep anxiety, Hatch built its tracking around three core pillars — relaxation, duration, and consistency — focusing on actionable behavior rather than physiology.

"You can't really control what percentage of deep sleep you get; your body takes care of that," Biles explains. "We focus on things you can control."

What the app does track was accurate to other methods

The Hatch app logs key timing metrics: bedtime, sleep onset, wake time, as well as your breakdown of core, REM, and deep sleep stages. It also measures dwell time before and after sleep — a metric that proved a little too enlightening for a self-identifying "bed rotter" like me.

After a week of testing, the app surfaced tailored insights inspired by Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) principles. For instance, it gently pointed out that my actual bedtime had been steadily creeping later over the past month and suggested simple behavioral tweaks, like cutting late-night screen time and getting morning sunlight. While the advice isn't groundbreaking, relying on actionable habit nudges rather than an anxiety-inducing score made adjusting my routine feel far more achievable.

When I compared it to my Fitbit, I found the data were very similar. On a typical night, both devices logged almost identical total sleep durations — for example, 6 hours and 45 minutes on the Hatch versus 6 hours and 46 minutes on my Fitbit — with sleep onset and wake times aligning within a 10-minute window. The main divergence that night came down to stage breakdown: the Fitbit attributed roughly 30 minutes more to deep sleep, whereas the Hatch classified that same duration as core or light sleep.

I also compared the contactless sleep accuracy to my Google Nest, but I caveat that I placed the Hatch Sleep in a superior spot, which blocked access, so the results were slightly skewed. The Google Nest also does not break down the time I spent in each sleep cycle into hours and minutes, but it does display it in a chart. The Google Nest is also able to log coughing and snoring, as well as light disruptions, something the Hatch cannot detect because it relies solely on a respiratory radar sensor rather than an onboard microphone.

It requires precise placement on a nightstand and can only track one sleeper at a time

Setting up the Hatch Sleep Clock takes only a few minutes in the Hatch app via WiFi and Bluetooth. Because contactless tracking relies on low-power radar signals, placement on your nightstand is critical. I needed a clear line of sight, on the side of the bed at roughly mattress height. A graphic during setup instructs you to point the device at your chest, not your head, and to clear the space in front of it. If your nightstand is too low or blocked by lamps and water glasses, tracking accuracy drops.

The contactless sensors are calibrated to track the person closest to the device, so it's not possible to track the sleep of two people in bed. However, it can still provide contactless sleep tracking for one person.

No smart wake-up features yet, but that could be coming

The Hatch Sleep gradually lights up to mimic a sunrise before culminating in a sound alarm at your desired wake-up time. The smart alarm feature can't wake you within a time window based on your lightest sleep stage, unlike some of the best wearables. However, Biles hints this is a feature they are working to implement.

However, Hatch can use software updates to continuously introduce new features and functionality. For instance, they've also added the ability to pause any audiobook or podcast if you drift off to sleep and save your spot for the next night. These features could make the upgrade from the Hatch Restore much more worth it once the novelty of tracking REM wears off.

You have to actively go into the Hatch App to review sleep

Sleep tracking is only useful if you make an effort to open the Hatch App and view your sleep metrics. Unlike with the Google Nest or a smartwatch, there is no display to look at right as I wake up, and I haven't found any way to enable sleep analytics push notifications on my phone. Also, the "time in bed" dwell time can feel a little long; unless I go into the app when I wake up to turn it off, I find it thinks I've spent much longer in bed than I actually did. Over time, I've found myself checking my sleep stats less and less.

The app shows your sleep patterns for the last seven nights, indicating whether you went to sleep or rose within your target window, along with total sleep and time in bed, plus an AI-generated night note about your sleep patterns. To see more granular sleep detail, you can click into the sleep details and look through each recorded night.

Immersive lighting, audio libraries, and subscription costs

Beyond sleep tracking, the Hatch ecosystem shines in its wind-down and wake-up routines. I've been winding down with a soft orchid lilac glow that automatically illuminates 30 minutes before bedtime as a cue to unplug. A tap of the center button prompts my custom wind-down routine — currently an audiobook of Ophelia or episodes of It's Crime for Bed, a true crime podcast that's just spine-tingling enough to keep you hooked but also with a calming undertone.

Come morning, I've been playing around with "Heavy Sleepers Shuffle"... each day I hear a different wake-up sound, or you can listen to the same one on repeat, which is what I do for my second alarm, because I'm a bit of a morning dawdler. I've always had a soft spot for The Devil Wears Prada, and "The Devil Wears Pajamas" takes the audio cues from Vanessa Williams (from the Broadway edition), chastising me for still staying in bed. It gets me out of bed for my big-time magazine job that every girl would kill for. I kid, I kid.

To unlock the full content ecosystem — including original meditations, podcasts, sleep stories, and curated light scenes — you'll need the Hatch+ subscription for $60/year ($5.99/month following a 30-day trial). If you choose to skip the subscription, Hatch still includes 50 sounds, 18 light colors, and full, un-paywalled access to all your sleep tracking analytics.

If you choose not to opt in to the premium subscription, you'll still have full access to the sleep tracking features and analytics. "We believe that your sleep data is yours, and accessing and seeing how you slept last night should not require a subscription," said Biles.

What are your alternatives?

At $80 less than the Sleep Clock, the Restore 3 remains Hatch's signature offering. It shares the exact same physical footprint, vibrant lighting modes, and rich audio content library, making it the better choice if you want a guided sleep routine without paying extra for tracking metrics.

For a wake-up light, the Philips Smart Sleep remains our top choice among wake-up lights for its adjustable light intensity, natural wake-up sounds, and the option to wake up to your favorite FM station. And it costs under $100.

If you're interested in contactless sleep tracking, I also love my Google Nest Hub (2nd Gen), a smart home display and speaker with built-in sleep-tracking features, but its availability is very spotty. I've had mine for about 5 years, and have noticed the sound quality starting to decline, but it's a robust option that minimizes the number of devices you need on your nightstand. I use mine as my smart home assistant, Bluetooth speaker, and alarm clock.

There are also phone apps, like SleepCycle and Sleep.com, with free and premium subscriptions that can track sleep, but they require keeping your phone directly next to your bed and make use of your phone's accelerometer and microphone to track respiratory rate and movement.

The bottom line: Is it worth the upgrade?

If you're a fan of the Hatch Ecosystem and want sleep tracking without wearing a smartwatch or ring at night, the Hatch Sleep Clock is worth the upgrade for a more mindful nighttime routine and a peaceful start to your day. It pairs elegant ambient lighting and rich soundscapes with surprisingly accurate sleep stage tracking. However, the $80 premium over the Restore 3 ($169.99) only makes sense if you plan to actively open the app to review your data. If you rely on morning push notifications, share a bed with a partner, or want smart phase-based alarms to wake you during light sleep, the added cost feels hard to justify.

Buy the Hatch Sleep Clock if:

• You hate wearable sleep trackers: You want detailed sleep-stage metrics (REM, deep, core) and duration data without having to wear a device on your wrist or finger.
• You want a consolidated nightstand device: You value a high-end sound machine, a customizable sunrise alarm, and a sleep monitor all in a single footprint.
• You sleep solo: The single-person radar tracking aligns seamlessly with single-sleeper setups.

Skip the Hatch Sleep Clock if:

• You require advanced sleep data: The Hatch does not provide insights into resting heart rate, or provide sleep scores, or daily readiness metrics.
• You sleep with a partner: The contactless radar only monitors the person sleeping closest to the clock, making it less useful for couples.
• You only need audio and light routines: If you do not care about sleep data, the Hatch Restore 3 delivers identical lighting and sound features, plus phone-free bedtime controls, for $80 less ($170).

• Working at an AI lab is one of the hottest jobs in tech.
• Lila Ibrahim, DeepMind's chief AI readiness officer, explained what skills she looks for in graduates.
• Extracurricular activities on a CV show if someone has a preset for "lifelong learning," she said.

Pay attention, prospective applicants: The graduate candidates Google DeepMind wants to hire are not defined by their degree alone.

At a media lunch in September, Lila Ibrahim, Google DeepMind's chief AI readiness officer, said that the firm is increasingly looking for candidates who can show a record of learning beyond the classroom.

Whether it's researchers, engineers, or other roles, degrees still matter, she said, but there's been a shift toward placing greater weight on the extra credentials and experience on a candidate's résumé.

"One credential will tell me what you've learned, but multiple credentials tell me that you have a learning mindset," said Ibrahim.

Today's graduates often showcase more detail about what they have studied outside a formal learning environment on their résumés, alongside their job and education history, she said.

"I look at some of the new college grad résumés and CVs right now, and I'm like, 'Oh wow, this is so different from what I did in my generation.'"

That additional detail matters to recruiters at Google DeepMind because it can reveal whether a candidate is curious and "preset to a life of lifelong learning," she said.

Ibrahim said she believes another benefit of diverse learning experiences is that people can become better at asking questions — a capability she sees as valuable in an AI-powered workplace, but one she said isn't taught well in schools.

"You realize that a lot of people in school haven't necessarily been taught how to ask questions, how to ask good questions, and how to really question why."

These human skills matter even if someone is technically skilled with AI, she added. "Getting answers is super cheap these days, but actually knowing how to ask really good questions is getting harder and harder."

Ibrahim summed up DeepMind's criteria for applicants as: "Curiosity, courage to take on something completely new that is unpredictable, and the ability to work in a dynamic environment and to be able to collaborate with people."

Humanities or STEM?

Ibrahim was formerly Google DeepMind's chief operating officer, a role she had held since 2018. At the beginning of 2026, she became chief AI readiness officer, a role she said she created to help address a widening gap between the technology being built and society's readiness to receive it.

Google DeepMind's founder, Demis Hassabis, has been among the frontier AI executives warning that society has a narrow window to prepare for the next stage of the technology.

Hassabis has said that STEM and computer science studies remain important, but the AI world also requires the humanities, such as philosophy, economics, and ethics.

"I think we really need them in the world we're about to enter," he said during an interview at a London business conference in July.

What Google DeepMind looks for is interdisciplinary people who can collaborate well with others, said Ibrahim.

Having "the neuroscientist, alongside the ethicist, alongside the biologist," has massively helped with some of DeepMind's technical breakthroughs, she said. The lab has hired numerous philosophers, she said, adding that "you need to pair them with operators to turn those ideas into action."

So far, it hasn't been a challenge to find those skills in the UK, said Ibrahim. "Compared to my time in Silicon Valley over 30 years, what I have seen is more diverse talent because there is a strong appreciation toward philosophy and political science, and some of these other skills."

As AI has seeped into the everyday workplace, fears of AI-related job loss have somewhat abated. Rather than taking jobs, AI is changing them, and the pressure is now on workers and HR departments to develop the right combination of "human" and AI skills.

A recent study of more than 300 million registered learners on Coursera and Udemy found that companies' AI deployment is outpacing the skills people need to use it effectively.

While nearly 75% of organizations have deployed or are piloting the technology, only 18% reported that most of their workforce participated in AI upskilling or reskilling over the last year.

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

The great window-shade debate

Airplane question for you: If you're in a window seat, do you keep the shade up or down?

We raised this in our morning news meeting a few days ago, and the room erupted into a fierce debate over flying etiquette. This is up there with whether reclining your seat is appropriate, or society's unwritten rules around airplane armrests or taking off your shoes and socks.

For some travelers, open shades offer a lot of positives. You can watch the clouds, take a photo, or just feel a little less claustrophobic at 35,000 feet. (I'm shades up, for sure!)

For others, leaving the shade open is an act of selfishness. Sunlight pouring into the airplane cabin can keep half the plane awake, or cause glare on laptop or tablet screens. These folks very much want the shades closed. Flyers have been intensely litigating the issue on Reddit in recent days.

So, who's right in the window-seat debate?

The practical answer depends on the moment. Many airlines require the shades to be open during takeoff and landing for safety reasons, so passengers and crew can spot hazards outside and emergency responders can see into the cabin. But once the plane reaches cruising altitude, there are generally few rules governing the shade.

From there, it's all etiquette.

We spoke with a former flight attendant who spent nearly a decade working for an international airline. She has particularly strong feelings about how this debate should be settled.

Where do you stand on the issue? Should airplane window shades be open or shut during flights? Drop me a note at srussolillo@businessinsider.com and let me know what you think.

• Where I live, some parents enter a lottery to choose their child's school.
• I expected my son would end up where his older sister is, but he was waitlisted.
• He's now attending our local middle school and I'm seeing some unexpected benefits.

I love living in Washington, DC, but navigating the complex public and charter school admissions system is tough.

Students have the right to attend their neighborhood school, and many do. However, every year thousands of parents choose to apply to public schools in different neighborhoods or publicly funded charter or magnet schools throughout the city.

There are rarely enough spots to meet demand at the more desirable schools or specialty schools, ranging from arts and hospitality to college-prep programs and the sciences. To decide who gets to go where, DC instituted a lottery system.

Parents across the city often create spreadsheets to track programs and their child's odds of getting into a particular program, before entering a lottery, ranking schools in order of preference, and hoping for the best. Such an uncertain system makes planning difficult and sometimes leads to unpleasant surprises. That was the case with my son's foray into middle school.

I thought I had found the perfect middle school for my son

When my son entered his last year of elementary school, I thought I knew what his next steps would be. For years, I assumed that he would follow in his big sister's footsteps and attend an International Baccalaureate charter school starting in 6th grade.

The charter school isn't perfect; no school is. However, my daughter, now a junior, often says she enjoys school, which is a shocking statement for a kid of any age, let alone a teenager. An environment where at least some kids are happy to go every day would be reason enough for me to send my son there. However, I was also convinced the school's rigorous program and strong emphasis on world cultures would be a perfect fit for him. After all, he is a triple citizen and a world traveler at heart. I also appreciate the school's diversity and range of classes, from sneaker culture to advanced sciences.

Although a spot for my son was never guaranteed, I assumed his sibling preference would help secure one. I was in for a rude awakening.

I had to face reality

When my son was put on the waitlist after the first round of admissions, I didn't panic. Instead, I spent most of the summer in denial, convinced that if I just waited long enough, he would get in eventually.

The week before school started, I had to face reality. No spots were available for my son at the school I had grown to love and was convinced would be perfect for him.

Without a viable alternative, I enrolled him in our local middle school, which I thought was very large and very chaotic. I kept telling my son how excited I was for him to start middle school, but I couldn't hide my worry.

I was nervous about sending him to a large school

My son's elementary school had about 400 kids total, from pre-K4 to 5th grade. For a big city, it's a small school where most teachers know all the kids, and the community is tight-knit. I worried about how my son would transition to a large school with nearly 1400 students across just three grades, in a building that occupies nearly an entire city block. Despite my worry, he walked in with confidence on his first day.

Not everything about such a big change was easy. My son got lost a few times trying to find his classes. While many of the other incoming sixth graders knew each other from elementary school, my son didn't know a soul. He was upset when recess, his favorite part of the day, was cut short because other kids wouldn't stop talking. It's almost impossible to get a timely email response from the school administration, who seem swamped by the sheer number of students. Still, my son rolled with the punches and started to adjust.

I now see the benefits of a neighborhood school

Even though my son had to start his middle school social life from scratch, he quickly found his crew: other kids who love soccer. He first spotted potential friends by looking for kids wearing Real Madrid jerseys and kicking a soccer ball around at recess. Once he found his tribe, he could easily meet friends after school for walks to our local playground and pizza shop. Those are things he wouldn't have been able to do if he had gotten into the school I had been hoping for, which draws students from across the city. Within a few weeks, he rattled off at least a dozen new friends' names. I wondered whether he could have made friends as easily at the smaller charter school I wanted him to go to, with a smaller pool of potential friends.

I also appreciate the resources such a big school has, including a range of after-school activities. Although my son hasn't wanted to try most of them, I appreciate that options like an archery team and a Rubik's Cube club are available to him.

There are other benefits as well. Because our neighborhood is just over a mile from our home, my son can easily walk or take a short bus ride there and back, giving him even more independence. Not having to drive him saves me at least seven hours a week, and the school's proximity to our house gives my son more free time.

Now that we are well into the school year, I realize I should have given my son more credit for adaptability. I also should have been more open-minded about what kind of school would be "right" for my son. Although I am still sad that he doesn't get to attend the same school as his sister, I now know there is more than one answer to what makes a good school.