Getting enough sleep in college is not easy. Between late-night study sessions, noisy roommates, and the occasional fire alarm at 2 am, the average student is probably not going to get eight perfect hours every night. When you do manage to crawl into bed, you deserve to be comfortable.

As you finalize your checklist of dorm room essentials, your bed should be at the very top of the list. Finding the right college bedding isn't just about style; it's about surviving an uncomfortable mattress, unpredictable building temperatures, and communal living.

I've lived in dorms and student housing myself, and now I test mattresses and bedding for a living. Over the past few years, I've slept on dozens of pillows, sheets, comforters, and mattress toppers in search of the perfect setup. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that you don't need to spend a fortune to make a dorm bed feel cozy.

And for parents helping with move-in shopping, good college dorm bedding isn't just another item on the checklist. A few smart purchases can turn that thin dorm mattress into a comfortable bed that feels a little like home.

From soft, breathable sheets to mattress toppers that can disguise even the most uncomfortable dorm mattresses, these are the dorm bedding essentials I'd buy if I were moving into a residence today.

The best dorm sheets

Because you are in direct contact with them every night, picking the right Twin XL sheets is essential. Prioritize something made from fabric that's soft, breathable, and easy to care for. Dorm rooms can be messy, so you'll likely be washing your bedding more often than you'd expect. I recommend buying a backup set for those times you miss wash day.

Our favorite Twin XL sheets of all time

Our top budget pick

Splurge-worthy softness

Bamboo on a budget

Pretty prints

The best dorm mattress toppers

If you only buy one thing on this list, make it a mattress topper. (You'll thank me later.) Most dorm mattresses aren't exactly luxurious — mine felt like sleeping on a stack of gym mats. Adding a high-quality mattress topper (like a memory foam or down-alternative pad) will soften up any school-issued bed and can completely change your sleep experience.

A washable mattress topper

For hot sleepers

Our top budget pick

Best for back pain

Outstanding organic latex option

Don't skip the mattress encasement

Communal living means sharing laundry rooms, common spaces, and, occasionally, unwanted pests. Investing in a high-quality dorm mattress protector adds a critical layer of defense between you and your bedding to help protect against bed bugs.

Best budget option

Total pest protection

Our deep-pocket pick

If you've got allergies

The best dorm pillows

In a dorm room, a pillow does more-than-double duty. Because your bed often serves as your desk and your couch, your pillow isn't just a place to rest your head at night — it's your backrest for late-night study sessions and your primary support during streaming marathons. Invest in a high-quality pillow that will maintain its shape, regulates temperature, and offers proper neck support.

Amazon best seller

Our favorite pillow for most people

Super-comfy body pillow

For side sleepers

A cooling pillow

The best dorm comforters

Students rarely have control over the temperature of their room, so creating bedding layers is the best way to stay comfortable. Instead of relying solely on a heavy duvet, layer your dorm bedding with a lightweight comforter, throw blanket, and a quilt so you can adjust as the seasons change.

Our favorite all-season comforter

Our top budget pick

Best down alternative

A cute quilt

For hot sleepers

More dorm essentials that encourage good sleep habits

While a high-quality mattress topper and the right pillow form the foundation of a great college sleep setup, they can't stop your roommate from turning on the overhead light at 2 am or block out the sound of the showers down the hall. To truly optimize dorm room rest, you need products designed to work in any sleep environment. From blocking out disruptive noise and harsh lighting to creating a calming routine that helps you wind down, these extra bedside essentials will help you build your personal sanctuary for better sleep.

Dorm bedding FAQs

Do I really need to wash my sheets every week?

Yes, you really should. Dorm rooms get dusty and your bed will also pull double duty as your desk, living room, and dining table. Washing your sheets weekly is vital for your health, removing the buildup of sweat, oils, dead skin cells, and bacteria that can trigger allergies or cause breakouts. Clean sheets are also one of the easiest ways to make your room feel clean and comfortable.

How many sets of sheets do I need?

I recommend having at least two sets of sheets. Future you will be grateful when you're exhausted after a rough day or just spilled coffee all over your bed. In college, sometimes the smallest luxuries — like climbing into a freshly-made bed after a long day — make you feel more at home.

• Warren Buffett says he was the one who made the call for Berkshire to invest in Alphabet.
• The Google parent now makes up 6% of Berkshire's portfolio and ranks in its top 10 holdings.
• The investment reflects Buffett's lasting influence over Berkshire despite stepping down as CEO last year.

Warren Buffett says he made a mistake when it comes to Alphabet.

The Oracle of Omaha said he made the call for Berkshire Hathaway to invest billions into Alphabet. The conglomerate owns about $31 billion worth of stock. Buffett's one regret? That Berkshire didn't invest in the Google parent sooner, he said, speaking to CNBC in an interview this week.

"I initiated," Buffett said, adding that he didn't make any decisions that Greg Abel, his successor at Berkshire, didn't approve of, and vice versa.

Shares of Alphabet jumped nearly 4% on Wednesday, putting the tech titan up 17% for the year.

Alphabet was Berkshire's largest stock purchase last quarter, with the company now making up 6% of its total portfolio. The Google parent is also Berkshire's sixth-largest holding, falling shy of Occidental, Chevron, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, American Express, and Apple, which is Berkshire's largest investment.

Apart from its stakes in Apple and Alphabet, Berkshire has rarely invested in tech, with Buffett previously stating that he avoided the sector due to its unpredictability. In the past, he's characterized Apple as a consumer company.

The latest investment in Alphabet also reflects Buffett's lasting influence over Berkshire despite officially stepping down as CEO last year.

Buffett pointed to how questions surrounding AI capex are now hanging over Google and other tech giants in the artificial intelligence race. Investors have been concerned about the billions being spent on AI as many companies have yet to monetize or see considerable cost savings from the technology.

Alphabet, though, seems more likely than the others to come out on top, Buffett said.

"I made a mistake," Buffett said of not investing in Alphabet sooner. "I think they're more likely to be a winner based on their record than probably 90% or 95% of what gets merchandised through Wall Street," he added.

"They don't have any choice," he added of companies' AI capex spending plans. "They are now playing a game in many cases — or in some cases — where they're playing a game they don't want to play."

He added that he didn't like Alphabet as much as four to five other businesses Berkshire owned, but didn't specify which ones.

• Michael Burry says Wall Street may have over reacted to IBM's earnings miss.
• "The Big Short" investor says he's watching certain earnings this season to know if bigger problems are afoot.
• Results from software firms like Microsoft and ServiceNow will be key updates after IBM's tough quarter.

IBM stock plunged on Tuesday in its worst single day of trading ever. The question is, now: is this an IBM issue or a software-sector problem?

For investors trying to figure it out, Michael Burry says there are a few key earnings reports in the pipeline they should be watching.

"The Big Short" investor wrote on Wednesday that the dramatic plunge in IBM stock might amount to an overreaction on Wall Street, but upcoming earnings reports will reveal the answer.

"Today's problem looks less problematic if management's explanation is corroborated by other companies throughout earnings season," he wrote on his Substack.

The problem in this case is IBM's failure to adapt quickly and navigate the AI-driven market, as CEO Arvind Krishna discussed in a letter to shareholders on Tuesday.

While news of the company's warning and the lackluster quarter was enough to send IBM stock into a nosedive, Burry said investors should be looking to some of IBM's peers that are scheduled to report in the coming weeks to know if panic is warranted.

"SAP is one to watch," he wrote. "ServiceNow is on July 29th, and Microsoft around then too. Wipro is on July 17th, Infosys on July 23r, Cognizant and Capgemini report in late July/early August. We will see if these companies also saw that revenue diversion at the end of the quarter."

Burry noted that while he sees Accenture as the best comparison for IBM, the consulting giant doesn't report earnings until September. While he compared IBM to Palantir in a different section of the note, he didn't name as one to watch, though he reiterated his bearish stance on the AI stock.

Enterprise software and IT consulting services aren't the only sections of the tech sector that Burry is keeping tabs on this earnings season, though. He also highlighted cybersecurity as a sector that could provide further insight for investors.

"Checkpoint on July 29th, Fortinet in early August, Palo Alto Networks in mid August, CrowdStrike and Zscaler in late August - All of these should report extra bump in revenues as well if IBM's excuse on cybersecurity concerns being a distraction is accurate," Burry said.

He raised the possibility, though, that despite IBM's grim outlook, customers may not be abandoning it all together, rather temporarily shifting their spending, which other tech earnings report may confirm in the coming weeks.

"Validation of IBM's reasons might suggest a mania in AI buildout parts is not a good reason to give up on IBM," Burry added.

• I lost my job in public service nine months ago and have been unemployed ever since.
• I accepted a random position assembling electronic parts, so I'm learning new skills.
• Soldering and building printed circuit boards are helping me get by as I wait for a job in my field.

When I was 20, I spent a summer working as a maid, cleaning houses.

The hours were long, the pay was terrible, half the day was spent in traffic, and the work was frequently unappreciated by our clients.

But the job did have one excellent benefit: I learned a lot about cleaning houses and commercial spaces, skills that have paid dividends for the last two decades by allowing me to maintain a clean and healthy home. Every time I dust, I remember to start with the ceiling fan and work my way down the walls. I know steel wool does wonders for old bathtub soap scum. And I know that cinnamon covers any odor.

So, as I struggle to find a new job in my field of public service after losing my position last year, I remembered how unusual skills and non-traditional career paths have helped me in the past. That's why when my engineer friend offered me a gig assembling electronic parts, I jumped at the chance.

I'm learning to read a BOM

Before this job, the only machine I regularly operated was the office printer. But in the last year, I've used 3D printers, laser markers, compressor-powered wire crimpers, industrial-grade milling machines, and circuit board ovens.

But the first thing I learned was how to read a circuit board's bill of materials, or BOM. Created by the designer, a BOM lists every component necessary to create a functional circuit board.

BOMs I work with are listed in an Excel spreadsheet in ascending order so the assembly machines can be programmed to place the tiny components on a circuit board in the correct order.

The BOMs also don't include helpful reference notes for newbies like me, so I have to use a separate reference guide to identify parts by serial number.

It's a wonderful feeling to correctly read a BOM and use it to assemble a functioning circuit board.

I've also learned soldering

Soldering, the act of melting lead with a hot iron shaped like a pen to form something while trying not to burn yourself or inhale toxic fumes, has been an odd skill to learn in unemployment.

As an office worker with a BA, the only previous experience I had with soldering was watching Tony Stark use it to build Iron Man armor.

But now I know it comes down to temperature and timing. Too much heat can melt the wire casing. And I learned to be frugal with solder, as my boss frequently reminds us that it keeps getting more expensive.

PCB (Printed Circuit Board) building is another skill I've learned

Working with printed circuit boards involves placing a bunch of electronic components, most smaller than a poppy seed, on boards ranging in size from a silver dollar to a smartphone.

While most components can be placed by a machine, some parts require hand placement, which means I now spend long afternoons hunched over a work table, peering through a giant magnifying glass, and using tweezers to place the components onto the board.

Sometimes I feel like I'm playing the board game "Operation," only with smaller game pieces and a production deadline.

I plan to keep learning

The job market has been brutal for the last year. In the last nine months alone, I've sent out hundreds of résumés, sat through a dozen interviews, and dealt with the frustration of a stagnant job market.

However, as with my months as a maid, my current gig keeps providing me with opportunities to learn skills with a variety of applications.

I've already asked about opportunities to learn welding. Cutting metal with fire sounds like a good job skill to have in your 40s.

• SpaceX dropped below its IPO price for the first time since its record-breaking debut.
• The stock has tumbled from its post-IPO highs as investors reassess lofty valuations.
• Bulls still dominate Wall Street, but skeptics say growth must catch up with the hype.

SpaceX shares slipped below their $135 IPO price for the first time since the company's blockbuster public debut in June.

On Wednesday, SpaceX stock sank 2% to a low of $132.75. It marks a 41% drop from a high of $225.64 hit shortly after the stock started trading last month.

The stock's tumble below its IPO price comes just over a month after SpaceX's record-breaking June 12 debut, which raised $85.7 billion and briefly propelled the company to a market value of more than $2 trillion.

From the outset, the space tech company polarized investors. Bulls said the company deserved a premium for its dominance in launch services and Starlink. Skeptics questioned its rich valuation, governance structure, and whether investors were paying today for years of future growth.

The stock's slide below its IPO price comes as Wall Street reassesses some of this year's hottest listings and debates whether enthusiasm for AI-linked companies has pushed valuations beyond what near-term fundamentals can support.

SpaceX is among several of this year's most-hyped stock market debuts that have stumbled after their initial surge. Korean memory-chip maker SK Hynix's US-listed shares have also given up much of their early gains as investors have grown more selective.

SpaceX's decline also comes ahead of its first post-IPO lockup expirations, which could increase the stock's public float if insiders choose to sell eligible shares.

The company has enjoyed an overwhelmingly bullish reception from Wall Street. After SpaceX's post-IPO quiet period ended, an overwhelming number of analysts rated the stock a buy.

A handful of bears say the stock still has a lot to prove.

"For me to become more bullish, I need to see growth actually begin to materialize, or begin to see them talk about the growth in a way that's not just speculative," Keith Snyder, a CFRA Research analyst, told BI's Samuel O'Brient.

"All we have is hope right now but hope isn't a business strategy," added Snyder, who has a sell rating on the stock.

• Nine airplanes declared emergencies while flying near London around midnight.
• London Gatwick Airport's runway was temporarily closed due to a problem with a British Airways jet.
• 14 flights were diverted, including one where passengers were left on board for two hours.

Nine airplanes flying over London declared emergencies early Wednesday morning after an incident at one of Europe's busiest airports.

In total, 14 flights scheduled to land at London Gatwick Airport diverted to other airports between midnight and 1 a.m.

Gatwick is the UK's second-busiest airport and ranks 11th in Europe, having handled almost 43 million passengers last year.

Planespotters were briefly mystified as to why so many planes were broadcasting an emergency signal in the middle of the night, while many passengers returned from their vacations to a different part of England.

A London Gatwick spokesperson said the runway was temporarily closed "due to a technical issue with an aircraft."

" As a result, a small number of flights were diverted, with the majority later returning to London Gatwick," they added.

It therefore appears that the pilots declared emergencies due to low fuel, allowing them to receive priority landing at nearby airports.

The aircraft that stopped on the runway was a British Airways Airbus A320. It arrived from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, shortly after midnight, operating Flight 2673.

A person familiar with the situation said that this flight did not declare an emergency and was met by emergency services on the runway as a precaution.

It is not clear what issue the airplane may have had. Two flights scheduled to be operated by the aircraft on Wednesday have been canceled, according to data from Flightradar24.

"Our flight landed safely and customers disembarked normally following reports of a technical fault with the aircraft," a British Airways spokesperson told Business Insider.

Some airplanes were diverted as far as Bristol and Birmingham, about 100 miles away from Gatwick. Others landed at Luton and Stansted, on the opposite side of London.

Three of the 14 diverted flights did not continue on to Gatwick with passengers.

They included an easyJet flight from Rome that was stuck at Stansted because a refueling crew wasn't available. The BBC reported that passengers spent over two hours on the plane in the middle of the night before disembarking.

"While we worked to make onward arrangements for customers, as no ground handling staff were available for the unscheduled arrival, the aircraft was unable to refuel, and so customers disembarked in Stansted and were advised they would be reimbursed for their onward travel," an easyJet spokesperson told Business Insider.

"The safety and well-being of our customers and crew is our highest priority, and while this was outside of our control, we are very sorry for the inconvenience caused by the diversion and delay in disembarking."

• OpenAI launched the Codex Micro, a shortcut keyboard for users of its AI coding product.
• The keyboard is engineered by Work Louder and priced at $230.
• Codex Micro gives vibe-coders keys for agent-switching, a reasoning dial, and a voice recording key.

OpenAI is bringing your AI agent to your fingertips, literally.

The AI lab's first hardware product has officially arrived. Codex Micro is a mini keyboard built for power users of OpenAI's coding product. The device is engineered by Work Louder, a Canadian-Italian producer of keyboards and other accessories.

No, this isn't the fabled Jony Ive collaboration that's in the works. (OpenAI's CFO said that would revealed by the end of the year.) Rather, this device is a boon for AI coders — and a signal for where OpenAI is placing its bets.

Introducing the Codex Micro

For $230, Codex users can make vibe coding even easier — and more tactile.

The Codex Micro includes six light-up keys that show an agent's status. For those into multi-agent orchestrations, the keys also allow users to seamlessly jump between agents. There's a joystick for navigation and a dial for adjusting the agent's reasoning level.

The keyboard also has a customizable set of shortcut keys for common Codex actions. That includes a voice recorder for those who send audio prompts to their agents.

Work Louder produces several mechanical keyboards. As such, the Codex Micro comes in two options for the mechanical keys: "clicky" and "silent."

Codex on the rise

As OpenAI continues its quest to cut down on "side quests," AI coding has grown into a key priority.

The company has bet big on Codex, including expensive advertising campaigns and offering free usage perks. Last week, the company merged Codex into the ChatGPT desktop app.

Codex and ChatGPT Work have reached 8 million active users, per Thibault Sottiaux, Codex's engineering lead.

The Micro is yet another sign: OpenAI is all in on Codex.

The last spot in the World Cup final is up for grabs with today's semifinal match-up. We've rounded up everything you need to know about how to watch England vs. Argentina, including free and global live streaming options.

England and Argentina will meet in Atlanta to battle it out for a place in the World Cup final against Spain. Argentina is the reigning champion, and the team is looking to make a return trip with Lionel Messi leading the way. England, which last won the World Cup in 1966, has already had a few close calls and will be desperate to go all the way against their toughest opponents yet after decades of disappointment.

No matter who you're rooting for, we'll make sure you know how to tune in. Keep reading to learn some of the best global watch options. Don't forget to bookmark our where to watch the World Cup streaming guide for viewing info on the rest of the tournament.

Where to watch England vs. Argentina for free

World Cup fans in several countries are in luck this year. There are tons of free options for all of the games, including England vs. Argentina. This match is available to stream for free on BBC in the UK, SBS On Demand in Australia, Rai Play in Italy, Das Erste 1 in Germany, Tabii in Turkey, and RTVE in Spain.

US viewers can watch at no immediate cost with a free trial from a live TV service, such as YouTube TV.

How to watch England vs. Argentina from anywhere

If you're away from the location where any of these streaming services work, don't worry. You can access the free options from anywhere with a VPN (virtual private network). VPNs are easy-to-use apps that let people temporarily change the location on their devices so their favorite websites work from anywhere in the world. They're popular among those looking to keep up with their usual services while traveling abroad or hoping to boost their day-to-day cybersecurity and privacy.

NordVPN consistently ranks among the best VPNs we've tested. It's fast, user-friendly, and offers an impressive selection of global servers. Plus, it includes a 30-day money-back guarantee, so there's no sweat if it's not what you're looking for.

• See also: How to watch Tour de France

Where to watch England vs. Argentina in the US

England vs. Argentina, and the rest of the tournament, will air on FOX in the US. If you're a cord-cutter looking for a streaming service to watch the rest of the World Cup, you have several options.

YouTube TV carries FOX and FS1 in both its main and sports plans. The main plan typically costs $83 a month, but a limited-time deal can bring the first five months down to $68 a month for new customers. Similarly, the sports plan typically costs $65 a month, but new users can get $10 a month off their first 12 months. YouTube TV also typically offers a free trial for first-time customers.

Fubo Sports + News offers FOX, FS1, and around 28 other channels in its lineup. Subscriptions also unlock access to ESPN Unlimited. If you're looking for even more channels, FOX and FS1 are also available in Fubo's pricier Pro and Elite plans. Fubo plans start at $65 a month, but first-time customers can get at least $10 off their first month after a free trial.

Fans interested in Spanish-language coverage in the US will need to subscribe to Peacock. Sports-friendly plans start at $11 a month for Peacock Premium and unlock access to all 104 World Cup matches.

Where to watch England vs. Argentina in the UK

BBC and ITV split coverage rights in the UK, but England vs. Argentina is available on the BBC. This means fans will be able to live stream all the action for free with a BBC iPlayer account. Users just need to create an account if they don't already have one, and then they're all set to start watching.

Where to watch England vs. Argentina in Australia

All World Cup games, including England vs. Argentina, are available to live stream on SBS On Demand in Australia. This is a free streaming service that supports SBS channels and just requires account creation to use.

Where to watch England vs. Argentina in Italy

The full World Cup tournament live streams on DAZN in Italy, but a handful of games are available on RAI, including today's England vs. Argentina match. Rai Play is a free streaming option, and users just need to create an account if they don't already have one, and then they're all set to start streaming.

Where to watch England vs. Argentina in Spain

In Spain, all 104 World Cup matches live stream on DAZN. However, select games are also available for free on RTVE, including today's England vs. Argentina match. Users just need to sign up for an account if they don't already have one, and then they'll be able to watch.

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

The best Fitbits can help you maintain an active lifestyle, monitor your sleep, and keep an eye on your overall health. And with the launch of Google's new AI-powered Health Coach, Fitbits can now offer highly personalized advice and plans based on your lifestyle.

I've been covering health and fitness for years, and I spent a few months living with Google's latest Fitbits, including its most recent release, the Fitbit Air. I wore them during workouts, on daily walks, while sleeping, and throughout my usual day-to-day routine. After all that real-world testing, the Fitbit Charge 6 stands out as the best Fitbit for most people. It strikes a great balance between ease of use and robust tracking features. But if you're looking to spend less, the Fitbit Inspire 3 is a great budget alternative. It cuts some advanced features, but for under $100, it covers the essentials really well.

Ultimately, the best Fitbit for you really depends on what you want from a tracker. For most folks, the Charge 6 and Inspire 3 are easy to recommend. But if you're after something that feels more like a full-fledged smartwatch, the Google Pixel Watch 4 deserves an honorable mention. It's not technically a Fitbit, but it uses Fitbit's tracking technology.

Our top picks for the best Fitbit

Best overall: Fitbit Charge 6 - See at Amazon

Best budget: Fitbit Inspire 3 - See at Amazon

Honorable mention: Google Pixel Watch 4 - See at Amazon

Best overall

Whether you want to increase your daily step count, track your sleep, or set a regular running routine, the Fitbit Charge 6 is the best Fitbit for most people looking to improve their fitness.

I tested the Charge 6 for several weeks across workouts, sleep, long days at my desk, and travel. I found it really hits the sweet spot between comfort, accuracy, and features — all at a relatively affordable $160 price point.

The Charge 6 is impressively accurate in measuring heart rate, sleep stages, and step counts, rivaling more expensive wearables from Apple and Garmin. In fact, this model has the most accurate heart rate tracking across Fitbit’s lineup, especially during fast-paced interval training. Fitbit’s signature features — such as Zone Minutes, movement reminders, and A+ sleep tracking — work precisely as intended and genuinely help build healthier habits.

You also get over 40 workout modes, an ECG app for tracking irregular heart rhythms, and on-wrist stress detection via EDA scans. The Google Health app offers more in-depth information about your daily activity, sleep patterns, and overall health. However, you need a Premium subscription ($10/month) to access advanced sleep metrics and the new AI-powered Health Coach.

Design-wise, the Charge 6 is slim and comfortable enough to wear 24/7. Its AMOLED display is easy to read, but it is small, which limits the amount of data you can view at once. As such, this tracker isn’t ideal if you’re training for a race and need to easily switch between different metrics (for race training, I recommend the Garmin Forerunner 265). Another downside is the device's built-in GPS, which I found to be unreliable until I switched to dynamic GPS paired with my phone.

Battery life is strong, lasting around six to seven days on a single charge. However, some people report that their Charge 6 drops to a single-day charge after about a year. (A recent firmware update may fix this.)

The Charge 6 also offers basic smart features, including Google Maps, Google Wallet, and call and text notifications. But it’s definitely a tracker first and smartwatch second, as these features feel like little extras rather than core strengths. This model is really geared toward users who want a discreet, accurate, and approachable fitness tracker rather than a full smartwatch. In that context, the Fitbit Charge 6 is the Goldilocks of Fitbits, offering the best choice for most people seeking to enhance their health and fitness.

Read our full Fitbit Charge 6 review.

Best budget

If you're starting a health or fitness routine and want a simple, no-fuss tracker for under $100, the Fitbit Inspire 3 is the best Fitbit for you.

This is one of the most comfortable and lightweight wearables I've tested. It's so unobtrusive that I often forget I'm wearing it. It delivers the core metrics you need right on your wrist: steps, heart rate, sleep stages, and active minutes. It auto-detects most basic activities (better than pricier Fitbit models, in fact), so even short walks and bike rides are logged accurately without you having to press a button. It also features Fitbit's signature Reminder to Move, which vibrates your device and prompts you to get up and walk around if you haven't taken at least 250 steps in this hour.

For its price, the Inspire 3 also packs thoughtful features, such as daily stress management scores, heart rate zone tracking, and one of the most gentle smart alarms I've used — a vibrating wrist alarm that wakes you up when it's most optimal for your sleep cycle.

Though the screen is small, the vibrant AMOLED display clearly shows you one workout metric at a time (e.g., time elapsed, distance, pace). The device also offers Fitbit's stand-out sleep tracking, but you need to pay for Google Health Premium to unlock deeper analytics.

Of course, given that this is Fitbit's budget model, some features are missing. The Inspire 3 lacks built-in GPS, music control, or in-depth training tools. Notifications are hard to read on the small screen, and the tracker lags slightly during high-intensity intervals (one area where the Charge 6 excels). But given the Inspire 3's budget-friendly price, these shortcomings are easy to forgive.

In a sea of tricked-out fitness trackers, the Inspire 3 strips away the extras and offers you a tracker that focuses on the basics with a price tag to match. It'll help you move more throughout the day, make sure you're hitting your target time or heart rate during workouts, and sleep a bit better at night — all in a device that's easy to wear and even easier to use.

Read our full Fitbit Inspire 3 review.

Visit our guide to the best fitness trackers.

Honorable mention

Although not technically a Fitbit, the Google Pixel Watch 4 is powered by Fitbit's technology, and it's such a good wearable that it warrants a mention in this guide. For Android users who want smart features and Fitbit health data, the Pixel Watch 4 is worth the price tag and a better buy than Fitbit's own smartwatch models, such as the Versa 4.

This model replaces my previous pick in this spot, the older Pixel Watch 3. Compared to its predecessor, the Pixel Watch 4 features a brighter, dome-shaped screen to provide a larger viewing area. Google says the Pixel Watch 4 also offers longer battery life, with up to 40 hours of use. The LTE model also has emergency satellite communication. Since both models are often sold for around the same price, the Pixel Watch 4 is now the better buy.

Utilizing Fitbit's top-tier heart rate sensors and tracking software, the Google Pixel Watch 4 logs basic data, such as steps, calories, and distance, as well as advanced metrics, including cardio load, workout fatigue, and loss-of-pulse alerts. All your workout and sleep data syncs with the Google Health app, a significant perk for longtime users, as the algorithm becomes smarter with more historical data. That said, Pixel Watch owners still need to pay for Premium to access the app's more advanced sleep metrics and features, such as a personalized workout builder.

Fitness aside, the Pixel Watch 4 is a fully featured smartwatch, offering LTE connectivity with an onboard microphone and speaker that let you make calls, set reminders, and respond to texts. You'll get better app integration and smart features than any Fitbit device, even the Versa. However, the trade-off is battery life, as the Pixel Watch 4 requires charging every one to two days. It's also Android-only, so iPhone users are out of luck.

What else we considered

Fitbit Air - See at Amazon
Google's newest wearable is sleek and stylish, but it's less of a traditional fitness tracker and more of a passive health monitor. Without a screen, it quietly tracks your sleep, recovery, heart rate, and daily activity in the background rather than providing the real-time workout metrics or movement reminders Fitbit is known for. It's a great choice if you want an understated, screenless wearable for your wrist, but most people shopping for a Fitbit will be happier with the Charge 6 or Inspire 3, which do a better job of supporting workouts and everyday fitness goals.

Read our full Fitbit Air review.

Fitbit Versa 4 - See at Amazon
Fitbit's main smartwatch, the Versa 4, is fully equipped with the brand's foundational health and fitness technology, including reliable heart rate tracking, in-depth sleep insights, and over 40 activity modes. But it falls short as a true smartwatch: The touchscreen lags, and it has limited app support and smart features (especially for iPhone users), making it feel behind the competition. The Google Pixel Watch 4, which uses Fitbit's fitness technology, is a better choice for Android users seeking a smartwatch, while iPhone users may be happier with a Garmin or an Apple Watch.

Read our full Fitbit Versa 4 review.

Fitbit Sense 2 - See at Amazon
The Sense 2 offers everything the Versa 4 does, plus an ECG app for detecting heart rhythm irregularities and an EDA sensor for continuous stress monitoring. If heart health and stress tracking are top priorities, it's a strong choice. However, for most people, the Fitbit Charge 6 offers a better value for basic fitness and health tracking. You can also find more advanced apps and communication features in a smartwatch from Apple, Garmin, or Google.

Read our full Fitbit Sense 2 review.

How we test Fitbits

As a health and fitness writer for over a decade, I've worn numerous Fitbits across various generations while training for half-marathons, sweating in HIIT classes, and commuting to and from office jobs. For this guide, I tested four leading Fitbit models — the Versa 4, Charge 6, Inspire 3, and Air — over the course of three months, wearing each 24/7 to see how they handled workouts, daily movement, periods of inactivity, sleep, and showering.

When picking the best Fitbit for different types of people, I prioritized:

• Sensor quality and accuracy (heart rate, GPS, SpO2, ECG, EDA)
• Battery life during real-world use
• Design, comfort, and durability for everyday and sleep use
• Companion app quality for interpreting health data
• Platform compatibility across Android and iOS

I also considered which models offer the most features without requiring Google Health Premium — although many models unlock deeper insights with a subscription.

Meet the expert behind this guide:

Rachael Schultz, contributing reporter: I've spent years writing about health and fitness, and I've logged plenty of miles (and sleep cycles) with a Fitbit strapped to my wrist. For this guide, I wore different models for months at a time during exercise and daily life to see how they actually perform in real-world use. I live in a Colorado mountain town, where I regularly ski, hike, raft, and bike, so these trackers don't just get tested in a lab — they come along for the ride. That means you're getting firsthand, day-to-day insights to help you choose the right model with confidence.

Learn more about the Reviews team at Business Insider.

What makes Fitbit unique?

Fitbit stands out from its competitors for several reasons. First and foremost, it has one of the best continuous heart rate trackers on the market, especially for interval training. An accurate heart rate monitor means that other areas relying on this technology — namely, sleep and stress tracking — are also highly accurate. Secondly, Fitbit has two notable features across all its screen-based models, which I found to be very helpful in training and moving more:

• Active Zone Minutes track the time you spend in elevated heart rate zones, helping you gauge whether your workout is actually improving cardio fitness or burning fat. Instead of focusing on time or distance, you can use this feature to keep your heart rate in the right range without needing to know exact numbers, for a more effective, goal-driven workout.
• Reminders to Move gently nudge you to get up and take at least 250 steps each hour to reduce sedentary time throughout the day. Rather than solely focusing on reaching, say, 10,000 steps per day, this feature encourages you to move regularly and often to keep blood flowing.

The best Fitbit devices also offer solid, multi-day battery life, seamless compatibility with both iOS and Android, and access to Google's newly designed app, which stores all your data — years' worth, for Fitbit brand loyalists — in one place.

Additionally, with a Premium membership, the Google Health Coach is one of the better wearable AI-powered advisors I've tried, and it provides highly personalized and helpful advice on how to level up your training, improve your recovery, or move more within the constraints of your lifestyle or capabilities.

Lastly, many Fitbits are relatively affordable compared to competitors like an Apple Watch or a Garmin.

Fitbit FAQs

Are Fitbits worth it?

The best Fitbit wearables feature reliable heart rate technology, are well-designed to be compact yet readable, and are generally well-priced compared to other fitness trackers. Furthermore, the free Google Health companion app provides significant value to individuals seeking guidance on improving their workouts, sleep, and stress management, though the Premium subscription offers even greater benefits, including the new AI-powered Google Health Coach.

There are other brands with longer battery life, better GPS tracking, and potentially more robust smartwatch features. But if you want a reliable health and fitness tracker without spending a fortune, Fitbits are definitely worth it.

For other top picks in the wearable tracker space, check out our guides to the best Android smartwatches, best smart rings, and best Garmin watches.

Will there be new 2026 Fitbit models?

Google released a new Fitbit model, the Fitbit Air, in May 2026. It's a screen-free fitness tracker that passively monitors your health in the background. Whether the company plans to release additional Fitbit models this year is unclear, but Google hasn't announced any new devices beyond the Air.

What is Google Health Premium?

Google Health Premium is the company's optional monthly membership. You can use the Google Health app for free to view core stats, including steps, sleep scores, period tracking, activity history, and your Daily Readiness Score. However, for $10 a month, Fitbit Premium unlocks more in-depth health and fitness tools, including advanced sleep insights (such as detailed sleep-stage breakdowns), nutrition guidance, and full access to Google Health's workout and mindfulness libraries.

Premium subscribers also get access to Google Health Coach, an AI-powered coach built with Gemini. It can analyze your sleep, activity, and recovery trends, answer questions about your health data, and create personalized workout and wellness plans based on your goals.

You don't need Google Health Premium to use a Fitbit device, but it does add a meaningful boost to the overall experience across the lineup.

Is Google's new AI coach helpful?

Google has added an AI-powered Health Coach to the redesigned Google Health app for Fitbit Premium subscribers. Built with Gemini, the coach can answer questions about your health data, identify trends across your sleep, activity, and recovery, and create personalized workout and wellness plans based on your goals. After testing it, I found the Google Health Coach to be helpful, accurate, and highly personalized, largely because it can draw on years of your Fitbit history to deliver tailored recommendations.

Is a Fitbit better than an Apple Watch?

The best Apple Watch models are more powerful and feature-rich than Fitbits, but if you don't need a big app ecosystem, a Fitbit will get the job done. Both platforms offer robust tracking for activities such as running, cycling, and weightlifting, and each features a clean, easy-to-use interface.

While the Apple Watch now delivers extensive fitness and activity tracking, it still leans more toward the smartwatch side — similar to Fitbit's Versa line, just more advanced. If you prefer straightforward fitness tracking without the extra bells and whistles, a simpler option like the Fitbit Charge 6 is likely a better fit.

Learn more about Apple's latest offerings in our Apple Watch Series 11 review, Apple Watch SE 3 review, and Apple Watch SE 3 versus Series 11 comparison.

Will a Fitbit work with an iPhone or Apple Health?

Even though the company is owned by Google, Fitbits are compatible with any iPhone running iOS 16.4 or later, which is the minimum requirement for the app. The Fitbit app is now integrated with Google Health, but iPhone users can still download and use it fully. You can learn more about compatibility on the Fitbit website.

While a Fitbit can't directly sync with the Apple Health app, you can use third-party apps, such as Strava, as a go-between to transfer data from a Fitbit to the Apple Health app.

What's the battery life like on a Fitbit?

The latest Fitbit models offer battery life ranging from four to 10 days, with an average of six days. In our experience, the Sense 2 lasts an average of six days on a single charge, while the Inspire 3 lasts up to 10 days, for instance.

While top Garmin watches generally have a longer battery life, most Fitbits last long enough that you won't have to worry about charging them every night.

How accurate are Fitbits for tracking steps, heart rate, and sleep?

Fitbits are generally very accurate in tracking steps, heart rate, and sleep. As one of the original fitness-tracking brands, Fitbit has spent nearly two decades refining its sensors and algorithms. Garmin still has an edge in on-wrist GPS accuracy — especially for tracking precise mileage on runs — but for everyday metrics like step count and heart rate, most modern fitness trackers, including Fitbit, perform similarly well.

• There's an outbreak of cyclosporiasis in the US, and Michigan has the most reported cases.
• The Cyclospora parasite causes diarrhea and is spread through contaminated food and water.
• We created a map to track which US states have the most recorded cases of cyclosporiasis.

Michigan is the hotspot for an outbreak of cyclosporiasis, an infection caused by a parasite that can trigger diarrhea.

The infection has been reported in 34 states since May 1.

According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published Tuesday, 1,645 cases of cyclosporiasis have been confirmed in the US, while over 5,100 cases need to be analyzed to determine if the infection was caught domestically.

The CDC said case counts are likely to be higher than its data suggests and it is working with states to keep numbers updated.

The states with the most known cases of cyclosporiasis include Michigan and New York

According to the latest CDC data published Tuesday on cyclosporiasis cases confirmed between May 1 and July 13, seven states have seen the biggest spike since last Thursday:

• Illinois, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Texas also have 31 to 80 cases each
• Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and West Virginia have 11 to 30 cases each

According to the CDC, the remaining states have identified one to 10 cases each: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Some states, including Ohio and Michigan, have issued state-level data that differs from the CDC's. Business Insider contacted the CDC and states with the most cyclosporiasis cases for the latest information, and did not immediately receive a response.

Connecticut: 35 cases confirmed as of July 13.

Florida: 50 between May 1 and July 4, according to its Reportable Diseases Frequency Report.

Illinois: 240 as of 7 a.m. Wednesday, including 111 caught domestically.

Michigan: On Tuesday, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said 3,309 cases had been reported in the state. Typically, 40 to 50 cases are reported in Michigan annually. The department updates data on hospitalizations on Thursdays: As of July 9, 44 reported cases had been hospitalized in Michigan.

The number of confirmed cases in Michigan doesn't necessarily mean the outbreak started there.

"It is more likely to mean Michigan is better resourced for testing, reporting, and epidemiological legwork, so more of its cases are getting caught and counted," Katelyn Jetelina, assistant professor adjunct of epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health, wrote in her public health newsletter, Your Local Epidemiologist, on July 11.

New Jersey: As of July 11, 46 reports of cases acquired domestically.

North Carolina: 307 cases and 13 hospitalizations as of July 14.

Ohio: As of Thursday, the Ohio Department of Health had reported 364 cases and 46 hospitalizations this year.

How to avoid Cyclospora, which has been linked to salad and lettuce in Michigan

The MDHHS said Monday that early investigations suggest lettuce or salads are a possible source, but other foods can't be ruled out. "No specific type of produce, grower or supplier has been identified as the source," it said.

Cyclospora spreads through contaminated food and water, and symptoms, including watery diarrhea, nausea, and stomach cramps, can take up to two weeks to show, making it difficult to identify a source.

The parasite is resistant to disinfectants, and washing food doesn't guarantee its removal, as it is particularly good at sticking to produce.

In light of early evidence suggesting that lettuce and bagged salad are potential culprits, Michigan's health department advised:

• Cooking greens to at least 158 F (70 C) is safest.
• Buying whole heads of lettuce rather than pre-washed, bagged, or pre-mixed salads.
• Removing two to three outer layers of leaves.
• Washing the inner leaves thoroughly under clear running water.

• Neighborhood teens offer flexible, affordable childcare that helps me fill the gaps in my family.
• The teens I employ have become role models for my kids and provide a sense of community.
• I have a roster of teens with different abilities that I call on for a variety of childcare tasks.

I joke that most of the neighborhood's teenagers are on my payroll, but it's almost true. I've gotten referrals from friends, approached them on the street, and asked teachers at the school for names of responsible students.

In a family with two working parents, we need support. I'm self-employed, so my childcare needs are less traditional than the daycare we had when they were younger. Local teens and young adults are available, flexible, keen for cash, and more affordable than traditional childcare options. Many have also become meaningful and important peer role models for my kids.

Filling the in-between childcare gaps

The flexibility and easy-going nature of teenagers is priceless. One teen walks the kids home from school twice a week. We text on a Sunday evening to determine which days work for both of us. Then after school on those days, my kids play in the park, hang around with friends, or go to the local library under the watchful eye of someone I trust. At 4.30 p.m. she brings them to the door and walks herself home. This costs me less than $15 an hour, and she has reliable weekly pocket money.

Another older kid will often entertain my kids while I hide in the house on my laptop. This is wonderful when school is closed, there is an early dismissal, or I have late meetings. I'm home to manage any meals or emergencies, and the kids have a playmate who is dedicated to their enjoyment and far more willing to get into the paint and Play-Doh than I am.

These older kids live nearby and can walk themselves home at the end of a shift. They're happy with 90 minutes of paid work if that's all I need. The downsides are that some have forgotten to show up, or a track meet takes priority over babysitting, but generally they're right on time and full of energy, as long as I don't keep them out too late (teens have curfews, even for babysitting).

Each arrangement depends on the babysitter's age and maturity, as well as the level of responsibility, meals, or bedtime involved. Someone entertaining my kids while I'm home is different from a trusted older teenager babysitting managing bedtimes.

I'm helping to fuel the hyperlocal economy

Without the taxes and overhead, hiring teens is a great deal financially. I'm paying less than I would at a daycare, community camp, or through an agency, and the babysitters I use are thrilled to go home with spending money.

The job teaches them responsibility, accountability, and confidence. I invite conversations about availability, rate increase, or holiday bonuses. As an entrepreneur myself, I love having these conversations with a younger generation and admire those who are clear about their boundaries, even the teen who took a full week off to celebrate her birthday.

Teenagers are fun

My son wants to spend summer afternoons hunting for geocaches or sitting out on the sidewalk selling weak, warm lemonade. I don't love either of these activities, but I know teenage boys who are quite happy to haul tables out to the street and paint the signs with my son to earn a few extra dollars.

I love watching my kids connect with teenagers. They play a unique role as they're not grown-ups, but they're not children. They're old enough that the kids feel safe and respect them, but young enough to play, make jokes, and not enforce sugar rules. Seeing these trusted relationships develop feels so special. When we're out in the community and see a babysitter, my kids run over, and the bond between them is evident.

We've created our own village

People talk about wanting a village, but many don't consider the teens around them. Some parents feel nervous, some don't know where to find them, and others have formal childcare they're already paying for. For us, having a roster of babysitters is not only about childcare, but it's also about building community.

Hiring local teenagers has helped me navigate parenting, working, and jogging periodically, but it's also given my kids meaningful relationships with older kids who are part of their neighborhood, building our own little village.

• Warren Buffett says he may rank among the 10 luckiest people on the planet.
• Buffett said he's lucky to have lived so long, and that his investing skills are so richly rewarded.
• He said that if his father were a plumber, not a stockbroker, he would have had less of a head start.

Warren Buffett got lucky — or at least that's what he says.

The legendary investor and Berkshire Hathaway chairman underlined just how fortunate he's been during a rare interview aired by CNBC on Wednesday.

Buffett said that "out of eight billion people, I may be one of the 10 luckiest in the world."

He's lucky to be alive and healthy at age 95, he said. While he's "losing marbles at this point," he quipped, he "accumulated marbles for a longer time than I deserved, and that's just a matter of luck."

Buffett also said he's blessed that the field he's passionate about and has a natural talent for — investing — has been so much more lucrative than if he'd been a "great violin player or anything else."

The business icon — who has a net worth approaching $150 billion despite giving away more than half of his Berkshire stock — said it was an "accident" that he gained early exposure to the world of finance thanks to his stockbroker father.

"If my father had been a plumber," he said, "I would not have had the same advantage I had."

Buffett added that he and his family have seen how "unbelievably unlucky some people have been," and those bad things "just didn't happen to us."

The storied stockpicker, who retired as Berkshire's CEO at the turn of the year, transformed a failing textile mill into a $1 trillion conglomerate. He oversaw a nearly 20% compounded annual gain in Berkshire's stock price between 1965 and 2025 — roughly double the S&P 500's gain over the same period.

Buffett's success is often attributed to his patience, discipline, and prudence as an investor, but he told CNBC that the stock market provided a nice tailwind.

"America has been a wonderful place to invest money," he said, noting the Dow Jones Industrial Average has skyrocketed from 100 points when he bought his first stock at age 11, to roughly 52,000 points.

"The village idiot could have made it from that point forward," Buffett joked about his early start, adding that he's been "in the right game."

• Netflix and YouTube have never looked more alike.
• Both companies are chasing after creator content, podcasts, and TV screens.
• The big streamers are battling for attention and TV ad budgets.

Can Netflix become YouTube before YouTube can become Netflix?

The two apps are starting to look a lot more alike as Netflix chases creator content, podcasts, and short-form video, and YouTube pitches itself as a destination for TV advertisers and Emmy-worthy shows. They are also both diving into live sports.

The top streamers are all trying to create a "super app," said Scott Purdy, a media sector leader at the consulting firm KPMG US.

"They're just trying to pick off the best things, whether that's creator-driven stuff, whether that's games, whether that's better customization around advertising, to create an ecosystem that you never have to leave," he said.

The pair is even dueling over awards shows — Netflix is streaming The Actor Awards (formerly the Screen Actors Guild Awards), while YouTube is set to host the Oscars beginning in 2029.

The battle for attention doesn't come cheap.

Netflix and YouTube are spending billions of dollars a year on content, either through production and licensing deals or advertising-revenue sharing, as they duke it out for the top spot in Nielsen's monthly ranking of US TV viewership.

As content becomes less differentiated, the companies that do a better job at customizing the viewing experience will have an edge, said Frank Albarella, a US media and telecommunications leader at KPMG US.

"What do you see when you fire up your homepage?" he said. "Are they doing a good job at pointing it to certain things? That's always important."

Price will matter too, he added.

Right now, that's a key difference between paid Netflix and free YouTube. (Though YouTube has a paid, ad-free version, and there are periodic rumblings in the analyst community that Netflix should launch a free tier.) There's also the fact that Netflix pays money up front for content, while YouTube splits ad revenue with creators.

These differences have led Netflix to own higher-budget, scripted TV, while YouTube dominates influencer content and the long tail.

Both have been signaling their desire to make inroads into each other's traditional turf, however — though the extent to which they'll be successful remains to be seen.

The streaming wars are now a head-to-head fight

A decade ago, few would have guessed that Netflix and YouTube would be the final showdown in the streaming wars. Netflix's co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in 2013 that the company's goal was "to become HBO faster than HBO can become us."

Back then, Netflix didn't have an advertising business. Today, it knows its biggest task is to drive watch time. The company's North Star has shifted to "engagement," which it has called the "best proxy for customer satisfaction."

Sarandos told investors last year that the streamer is the best place for premium content "as defined by fans," not critics. It isn't HBO tastemakers that are driving the bulk of TV viewing. Many spend their time in social feeds, watching influencers bake bread or do trick shots on basketball courts. Just under half of Gen Z and millennial viewers consider watching social media videos to be the same as watching TV, according to a Deloitte report from last year.

To win, Netflix is looking to offer a mix of cable TV, TikTok, and YouTube-style fare. It's not alone. Other streamers seem to be realizing they need to offer more in their apps to compete. Disney and Paramount are exploring short-form video feeds and free tiers to expand their audiences and drive up engagement.

"These streaming platforms and the social platforms are moving towards the same center of gravity," Albarella said. "We call it a battle for audience attention or engagement, and almost like a new category called creator-driven television."

This month, Netflix said it's adding three to 20-minute videos from the likes of Bon Appétit, Variety, and Cosmopolitan — the type of short content that people binge-watch on YouTube. It's adding new videos from YouTube creators The Stokes Twins, Rhett and Link, the food influencer Meredith Hayden, and other social stars like Salish and Jordan Matter.

YouTube, meanwhile, is now letting creators organize their videos in TV-style series, offering seasons and episodes for viewers to burn through. The company said more users watch YouTube on television than on computers or phones, and it's pitching shows from top creators like Kareem Rahma to advertisers as TV buys.

Ultimately, all the media and social platforms have the same goal: to keep us watching.

"There's only so many hours in a day, and everyone is competing for amounts of attention," Purdy said. "They're all trying to figure out how to monetize that attention effectively."

The biggest question mark is the future of prestige scripted content. YouTube has traditionally struggled in this area, but if younger generations spend less time watching it, that might cease to be such an edge for Netflix.

Before I became a shopping editor, I spent years working on the sales floor at Nordstrom. Growing up, I have fond memories of shopping at the store for life's major moments: from back-to-school to prom. Now, I'm using that insider knowledge to break down the legendary Nordstrom Anniversary Sale.

This sale is unique among all other sales: rather than dropping prices on old, picked-over merchandise, Nordstrom's seasoned buyers negotiate special price drops on the coming season's hottest trends and items that never go on sale. Simply put, this sale is for people who want to shop ahead for the new season or refresh their closet staples, from running shoes to beauty essentials.

This year marks 125 years of Nordstrom, from its humble origins as a shoe store in Seattle to becoming one of the most popular department stores in the country, so expectations are high for the momentous anniversary. I've spent hours browsing the nearly 10,000 items in the sale (up from 6,000 last year), adding quite a few to my cart along the way. Along the way, I'm here to share what's actually worth your money and what you should skip.

Categories that have the best deals:

All categories of the store are on sale. Most discounts typically fall in the 30-40% off range, but we do see some Big Deals as high as 50% off. Nordstrom works with top brands to curate special sizes and bundles that offer savings you won't find any other time of year, especially on beauty products and hair tools. In particular, I find it great for stocking up on basics like denim, lingerie, activewear, sneakers, and boots, as well as incorporating a few upcoming seasonal trends in apparel and accessories. In the home categories, bedding and cookware are smart areas to shop for both luxury and direct-to-consumer brands, with prices beating what you typically see when shopping these brands directly.

What to skip during the sale:

We recommend skipping Nordstrom's in-house brands like Halogen, Caslon, Open Edit, Treasure & Bond, and Chelsea28 because they'll likely go on sale in the fall at even steeper discounts.

Deeply out-of-season products like winter coats and are also typically not at their best prices yet, and items like designer sunglasses will almost always get discounted again and sent to Nordstrom Rack later in the season. Lastly, this year's candle selection isn't great, so we'd skip spending time on that. I go a bit more in-depth about what I'd skip and why at the end of this story, but these are the main categories.

Nordstrom Anniversary Sale dates:

The Nordstrom Anniversary Sale officially starts July 18 for the public. Nordstrom Credit Card members get Early Access during a presale period, with dates based on your status and annual spending at Nordstrom. Icons and Ambassadors can shop now, and Influencers or all Nordstrom credit members can shop starting July 16.

Prices go back up after August 9, when the sale ends.

If you're not a cardholder, I suggest saving your favorite items to a wishlist now for quick access when the sale goes public. If you're interested in applying for a credit card to shop the sale now, you can apply online and get $60 toward a future purchase.

Shop all Nordstrom Anniversary Deals.

Editor picks for the top 5 Nordstrom Anniversary Sale deals

The staples that never seem to go on sale

These staples become part of the N-Sale's mainstays, and you can expect to find them (or a variation of them) year after year. Let's focus on the basics: the Zella leggings I stock up on every year, timeless boots to kick off fall, a Ugg slipper refresh, and Barefoot Dreams loungewear. These classic items go on sale just a few times a year and then remain in my wardrobe (and home) for years to come.

Shop all must-haves on sale.

New to sale

Celebrating 125 years of Nordstrom, and still working to keep it fresh! This year's Nordstrom Sale includes new entrants, such as Ana Luisa, Staud, Lola blankets (my obsession), Vuori (never on sale), Reformation, Flamingo Estate, and even H&M.

Honestly, the list of new brands is lengthy (over 800 items), and you can see the full scope yourself.

First look at fall trends

Get ahead of the fall trends and start building your wardrobe early. Whether you're looking to try working a sneakerina, faux fur, or off-duty prep into your casual looks, or sprinkle in sculptural necklines, warm suede browns into workwear, Nordstrom's trend edits break down the season's must-haves.

Designer denim

Our team has lots of thoughts about the best brands and cuts, from our Madewell denim try-on to going deep into scouting the best wide-leg jeans. Some of the most iconic and popular styles from premium denim brands like AG, Frame, Rag & Bone, Mother, and many more are up to 50% off. This definitely causes a denim frenzy, as we notice sizing on the most popular fits gets picked through fast. If you're a little lenient about fewer wash options, you're sure to find your new favorite pair.

Shop all designer denim on sale.

Beauty and skincare exclusives

Whether you're after makeup, skincare, tools, or fragrance, do not overlook Nordstrom's makeup and skincare deals. These beauty exclusives are designed to be stocked up on, featuring special sizes and gift sets like a Nars blush duo, a jumbo-sized Augustinus Bader Cream( or a sampler set to introduce you to the brand's most popular products). The latest Dyson AirWrap Co-anda2x is also $250 off, and is exclusive to cardmembers shopping Early Access only. Perhaps, we're most excited about red light therapy deals at their peak, with $80 of our top red light therapy mask from Therabody.

Shop all beauty and skincare exclusives.

Shoes (specifically sneakers and boots)

Whether you're after running shoes or your new favorite pair of winter boots, you're bound to find great savings on a fresh set of kicks. Specifically, some of our favorite walking shoes for women are on sale, like the retro sneakers that consume our social feeds. On the boots front, I see a pair of weatherproof Blondo booties I'm eyeing for my collection.

Shop all sneakers on sale.

Lingerie and loungewear basics

Your intimates drawer will thank you when you can scoop up staples from Natori, Chantelle, Wacoal, and more. The Natori Feathers Plunge T-Shirt Bra is a wonderful everyday option. I even spotted several sets of Bombas socks, which I typically only see on sale during Black Friday.

Shop all lingerie and loungewear basics on sale.

Handbags and luggage

If you're on the search for your perfect fall bag, I've built a full list of bags I'm dreaming of adding to my cart, like exclusive Beis and Away colorways on our favorite carry-on bags, better prices that beat Prime Day on JW Pei, one of the trendiest crossbody bags of the moment from Clare V, and gorgeous Coach classics that could compete for your new favorite work bag.

Shop all handbags and luggage.

Bedding essentials 

Nordstrom has somehow arranged special prices on essentials, even lower than when shopping these designer-favorite bedding brands directly, with discounts of up to 30% on Sijo, Boll & Branch, and Parachute. Some of these deals are particularly significant, like my favorite Tencel Lyocell Sheets (our top pick for the best cooling sheets) or the Cozy Earth Bubble Cuddle faux fur blanket for a whopping 40% off.

Shop all bedding on sale.

Baby gear

Expectant and young parents looking to build their registries hit the jackpot during the Anniversary Sale, with savings on premium children's brands for big-ticket items that rarely go on sale. 

Shop all baby gear on sale.

4 things to skip from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale 

Skip: Nordstrom-Made brand clothing

Admittedly, this is a risky hot take. After all, a lot of my closet consists of Halogen, Caslon, Open Edit, Treasure & Bond, and Chelsea28. I love the quality, value, and designs from these brands. However, most of these items will still be on sale come the next Nordstrom sale in October, and the discounts may even be deeper. If there is a piece you love and feel special in, go for it, as a lot of these products do sell out. However, don't be surprised to see trendier pieces and some basics back on the rack during the next sale cycle. Of course, there are exceptions to everything, like a great genuine suede jacket or the Moonlight Eco Shorts Pajama Set. I will also die on the hill that everyone should own a pair of Zella leggings.

Skip: Winter coats

Yes, there are some absolutely stunning coats part of the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. It's the dead of summer; unless you live somewhere cold and need a coat right now, you won't miss out on savings on cold-weather staples from Bernando, Avec Les Filles, or Sam Edelman in a few weeks, or you can find very similar styles at Nordstrom Rack. My exceptions: investment pieces on labels not known for discounts like Barbour, The North Face, Fleurette, and Reiss.

Skip: Designer sunglasses

The Nordstrom Anniversary Sale is full of sunnies galore. While very tempting for those after luxury, give it a few months, and you can likely find the same or similar shades at Nordstrom Rack for around $200.

Skip: Candles and random home decor

Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale is typically a strong point for candles and sampler sets, but I'm a little disappointed in the selection this year. You can find mainstays like Capri Blue Volcano and lots of Pura sets, but this year I'm noticing the absence of my favorite Voluspa and Diptyque sets. The focus is definitely on large candle formats with deals on jumbo versions, which is ideal for stocking up on favorite candles and diffusers, less so for experimenting with a new scent.

I also find the home decor section to be a hodgepodge of items of art, picture frames, and tchotchkes from unrecognizable brands. I'd stick with the selection of throw blankets, but avoid the impulse of buying decor just because it's on sale.

Nordstrom Anniversary Sale FAQ

What type of discounts can you expect at the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale?

The Nordstrom Anniversary Sale uniquely positions itself as an opportunity to shop the upcoming season's trends at a temporary discount (usually about 33% off, but as high as 50% off), plus find savings on items that almost never go on sale or are exclusives released just for the event. All departments take part, with options for women, men, and kids.

When is the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale?

The 2026 Nordstrom Anniversary Sale is open to everyone July 18 through August 9. Nordstrom credit card holders can shop as early as July 14, depending on their spending status. All cardholders get access starting July 16.

What are the best ways to shop the sale?

The Nordstrom Anniversary Sale deals are available both online and in-store. I suggest adding your favorite items to a wish list so you can easily access them once the sale starts. If an item sells out, you'll also be notified when it comes back in stock. Local stores will also be hosting events such as beauty previews, trunk shows, and giveaways.

• I invited two cleaners and a chef from the startup Shift into my New York apartment.
• The workers cooked and cleaned for free — but recorded the process to train AI and robotics.
• Initially, I was nervous. I soon got used to the wires hanging from beneath their baseball caps.

I let an AI startup film every inch of my apartment.

That's a privacy nightmare — and yes, I did suitably hide all my personal items before they arrived. But, as a 23-year-old living in New York on a journalist's budget, I'm not exactly splurging on house cleaners.

These were free, so long as I agreed to the cameras.

The cleaners came from Shift, a startup that offers free housekeeping across New York. The price is the video recording, which will later be used to train robots. (Shift says it anonymizes "names, faces, or other personal information," per its website.) It's part of a bigger trend: startups are paying for videos of household tasks, like folding laundry, to train robots.

When Shift premiered in May, I quickly booked myself a spot. When the cleaners arrived two weeks later, I was nervous. Who were these strangers in my shoebox apartment? I grew even more nervous when they texted me 10 minutes before my appointment time that another staffer — a chef! — would be joining.

That cooking service is now coming to San Francisco. The teaser video promised filet mignon and lobster, for date night or dinner parties. The idea could prove popular: over 400 commenters have already expressed interest.

As the staffers began their cleaning and cooking, my nerves subsided. It was free, after all.

The cleaners came first

When Shift's cleaners arrived at my apartment, I was hesitant. These were 20-somethings, wearing baggy white polos and suiting up with baseball caps attached to cameras.

The cameras hung off the brim of their caps. While they weren't walking around with large camcorders, the wires hanging off the cameras were still highly visible.

The cleaners mostly used a mix of their supplies and mine. They took about 90 minutes of the two-hour slot. I was working while they cleaned, and they rarely disrupted me, which I appreciated.

I wasn't overly impressed with the cleaning. (When my roommate came home, he asked: Did they even come?) Still, the service was free, and I liked not having to vacuum myself.

Shift surprised me with a three-course meal

About 10 minutes after the cleaners arrived, I heard a knock on the door. Chef James was here.

James wore the same uniform: white polo, baseball cap, wire running up the neck. He set up in my kitchen and asked if I had any allergies or dietary preferences.

I had no idea what James had come to cook. (I didn't even know Shift had a chef service!) It turned out that my work lunch would be a three-course meal. James brought the ingredients himself and only used my pans, knives, and plates.

My favorite was the entrée: seared tuna with coriander salt, Meyer lemon, artichokes, sugar snap peas, and asparagus. My least favorite was the appetizer, a cured salmon belly that was vastly overpowered by mustard oil. I saved the dessert, a light cake with whipped cream and strawberries, for later.

The chef service was Shift's peak. I don't have anything sensitive in my kitchen, so I didn't have to worry about him filming, say, a passport. And who doesn't love free food?

My final takeaways

About thirty minutes into the cleaning, I got used to the wires and baseball caps milling around my apartment.

I'll be interested to see whether these free robot-training services are sustainable. The costs of my session were likely high for Shift: three workers, cleaning supplies, and food. I'm hesitant to believe that a video of my apartment is worth that much.

The demand is certainly there: Shift filled its slots quickly and was similarly booked up when I checked a week later. I get why.

After they left, I enjoyed my semi-clean apartment and my leftovers. And I prayed that I didn't have any IDs or credit cards lying around that would get accidentally ingested by the AI machines as they tried to learn how to cook and clean like humans.

Most cats prefer fine-grained, unscented clumping litter, which is typical of quality clay formulas. If you're looking for an alternative, the best natural cat litters can be a good alternative depending on your needs. Clay litter often produces dust that can irritate both cats and people, but some natural litters are nearly dust-free. They're also more eco-friendly, since they're biodegradable and typically sourced more sustainably than clay or silica gel. Plus, thanks to their fibrous materials and natural scents, natural litters are effective at absorbing urine and controlling odors.

Keep in mind that not all cats are willing to switch from their usual litter. Veterinarians and behavior specialists say cats are creatures of habit and often prefer familiar materials over new ones. We saw this firsthand during testing: Two cats were hesitant and used the unfamiliar litter only occasionally, while three others from different households adapted with little trouble.

Our top picks for the best natural cat litters

Best overall: Sustainably Yours Small-Grain Formula - See at Chewy

Best budget: World's Best Multiple Cat Unscented Litter - See at Chewy

Best wood: Ökocat Super Soft Clumping Litter - See at Chewy

Best walnut: Naturally Fresh Quick Clumping Litter - See at Chewy

Best wheat: Arm & Hammer Plant Power Lightweight Formula - See at Chewy

Best grass: SmartCat Clumping Grass Litter - See at Chewy

Best pine pellet: Feline Pine Original Non-Clumping Litter - See at Chewy

Best overall

After four and a half years using World's Best Multiple Cat Unscented Litter, my two cats made it clear that Sustainably Yours had become their new favorite. At first, I doubted it would earn the top spot among the best natural cat litters, especially since my cats spent the first couple of days playing in the corn- and cassava-based litter instead of using it. But once they began using it regularly, I was impressed with its strong clumping ability, reliable odor control, and long-lasting performance. It also produced the least dust of any natural litter I tested, and I couldn't detect any scent at all.

Sustainably Yours has the softest, most sand-like texture of any formula I tried. Cats prefer this texture, and it's likely why my cats eagerly explored the litter before using it, says Rachel Geller, a certified cat behavior and retention specialist and founder of All Cats All the Time, Inc. The fine grains can stick to your cats' paws and track outside the box, but one of the best cat litter mats easily keeps the mess contained.

The litter's longevity more than makes up for its minor tracking issue. It formed rock-solid clumps on contact that stayed intact during scooping. One 13-pound bag was enough to fill a large litter box to a 2-inch depth, and with daily scooping, it stayed fresh for well over a month in my two-cat household.

Best budget

Eco-friendly cat litters that reduce your cat's environmental footprint, while also managing litter tracking, usually come at a premium price. But World's Best Multiple Cat Unscented Litter makes the switch from clay or silica more affordable. It costs about 40% less per pound than our top pick, yet still delivers excellent value.

Made from compressed corn kernels and a proprietary plant-derived ingredient to enhance odor control, World's Best absorbs liquid on contact and forms solid clumps that are easy to scoop out in one piece. The natural corn-scented, fibrous material keeps odors in check, and at times, we could barely detect any urine smell. Of course, when more clumps accumulated in the box, a faint ammonia odor became noticeable. Some people are turned off by the litter's baseline scent. To me, it smells almost like fermented corn, but others on Reddit describe it as smelling like gym socks.

While its texture isn't as soft and sandy as Sustainably Yours, World's Best was gentle enough that our cats weren't deterred from using it. We also saw far less tracking compared to lighter-weight grass or walnut litter.

In my two-cat household, a 15-pound bag lasts over a month. However, despite regular scooping, I noticed an increasing ammonia odor in the final days of my three-week testing period with a traditional litter pan.

Best wood

Ökocat Super Soft Clumping Litter stood out among wood litters for its excellent odor control and superior clumping performance. Sourced from sustainably managed forests, its soft, lightweight granules are most similar to standard clay litter in texture.

During our two-week testing period, Parks's cats still favored their usual corn litter but occasionally used the Ökocat wood litter. When they did, it quickly absorbed liquids and formed clumps that were easier to scoop than other wood litters. However, the clumps were more prone to breaking apart compared to those from corn, grain, grass, and walnut-based varieties.

During testing, the litter consistently absorbed odors, prevented ammonia buildup, and gave off a fresh pine scent that was actually stronger than Feline Pine Original Non-Clumping Litter. Because the litter is so lightweight, it produced moderate dust, and our cats easily tracked it outside the box.

Ökocat Super Soft was the priciest wood litter we tested, but it lasted at least as long, if not longer, than the others. The brand says the litter can last up to seven weeks with regular scooping.

Best walnut

Naturally Fresh Quick Clumping Litter is made from non-GMO and organic crushed walnut shells. Beyond its natural and nontoxic ingredients, this natural cat litter stands out for its affordability, good clumping abilities, and effectiveness in neutralizing odors. The texture is similar to medium-grained sand with super fine particles, which the brand says are essential for its clumping ability. These particles created a small dust cloud when I poured the litter, but the dust was barely noticeable during vigorous digging by my cats or when I scooped the box.

I tested Naturally Fresh Quick Clumping Litter and Multi-Cat Ultra Odor Control side-by-side in my two-cat household and found no noticeable differences between them. The brand says the multi-cat formula contains a moisture-activated probiotic that neutralizes urine and ammonia odors and minimizes the odor of cat feces, which is most useful for cats who lack burying skills. However, after conducting thorough sniff tests, I concluded the slightly cheaper Quick Clumping Litter was equally effective at minimizing odors, albeit with a slightly earthy scent. The high-fiber walnut absorbs liquid and forms clumps quickly, although clumps are prone to breaking in half or thirds.

Whether kicked out by the cats or tracked, the lightweight litter ended up on the floor, with its dark color only exacerbating the issue. Despite some litter being tossed from the box, one 2-inch fill lasted a month.

Best wheat

Arm & Hammer Plant Power Lightweight Formula is a blend of wheat and corn litter that clumps on contact. The natural grain base creates a sandy, soil-like texture that our tester cat, Matilda, was happy to dig in, use, and bury her waste in day after day.

After two weeks of testing, there was very little litter tracked outside the box, and our reporter never noticed any litter sticking to Matilda's fur. The blend also produces minimal dust, making it a solid option for pet parents looking to limit airborne particles.

Wheat is naturally absorbent, readily taking in both moisture and surrounding odors, which is why bakers store flour in airtight containers. That same quality makes wheat an effective litter material, as grain-based litters can help trap odors like ammonia before they spread throughout a room.

Although a good option for some households, people with wheat allergies should avoid this one. Some of our tester cats were also more inclined to eat wheat litter rather than use it.

Best grass

Non-GMO sorghum grass seed gives SmartCat Clumping Litter superior clumping ability. The natural fiber's high starch content absorbs liquids instantaneously, forming tight, solid clumps that do a really good job controlling odors. Because it's made from sorghum grass, it has a light wheat-cereal scent that also helps neutralize odors. It produced minimal dust, making it a good choice for cats or people with respiratory conditions.

The clumps can stick to the sides of the litter box, so you may need to do a bit of scraping to get the box fully clean. Because the litter is lightweight and made up of small granules, our cats easily tracked it outside the box, and it occasionally it stuck to the fuzzy paws of one long-haired cat. Freelance reporter Sophia Carlisle paired it with a litter mat that trapped most of the litter before it spread through the house.

Over the past few years, two testers and their cats have tried this litter. Two cats refused to use it entirely, one of my cats tried to eat it, and one of Parks's cats used it only sporadically. In our most recent round of testing, tester kitty Matilda had no qualms about using the litter consistently. As with most litters, success ultimately comes down to your cat's preferences.

Best pine pellet

Non-clumping pellet cat litter is a practical way to keep litter from cementing in the fur of long-haired cats. Our top pick, Feline Pine Original Non-Clumping Litter, is a low-dust, low-tracking litter made from kiln-dried pine shavings from reclaimed lumber.

The pine pellets work by absorbing moisture and gradually breaking down into sawdust. For best results, I recommend using this litter with a sifting litter box. The damp shavings fall into a bottom tray, leaving fresh pellets on top while you scoop the solids. In my testing, the pellets didn't absorb liquid as quickly as clumping litters. Some pellets became damp without fully breaking down enough to sift out, which can contribute to lingering odors and a dirtier box. Urine may also drain through to the lower basin of a sifting box. For this reason, I recommend adding a fresh layer of pine pellets to the bottom tray when refreshing the box. Even so, odor control remained surprisingly effective. After 12 hours, my water-vinegar odor test smelled like fresh pine rather than vinegar.

That said, many cats prefer to dig in sandy, fine-grained litters, and in my experience, cats using pellet litter are less likely to fully cover their waste, which can contribute to odors. My adult cats consistently chose to use their sandy-textured litters over this one. However, I've used this litter with foster cats and kittens, who took to it without issue. Twice daily scooping, sifting, and maintenance of the waste tray all help keep odors at bay while creating a cleaner litter box environment for your cat.

Our top natural litter picks compared

What to look for in a natural cat litter

To get the scoop on what to look for in a natural cat litter based on both human and cat preferences, we consulted with six experts, including veterinary behaviorists and certified feline behaviorists.

Not all of the cat litter types we tested made our list of recommendations, and some come with caveats you may want to consider. For instance, tofu litters were the most expensive among our contenders. However, they turned into a goopy mess when urinated in, making scooping a sticky challenge. Although a good option for some households, wheat litter is not suitable for those with wheat allergies. We also noticed that some of our tester cats were more inclined to eat wheat and grass litter rather than use it.

Here are other important factors to consider when choosing a natural cat litter:

Clumping ability: With the exception of our pine pellet litter recommendation, our picks for the best natural cat litter are clumping because they simplify litter box maintenance and keep the litter fresher for longer. We also tested natural non-clumping litters and discovered that removing soiled material was challenging, which can cause some cats to avoid the litter box, create unpleasant odors, and necessitate more frequent litter changes.

Scent and odor control: A litter doesn't need to be scented to control odors. In fact, the best cat litter works by neutralizing bad smells rather than masking them with fragrance, and this is better for cats, too. “Cats have an incredibly sensitive sense of smell,” says Dr. Katherine Pankratz, a veterinarian and behavioral medicine clinician at Animal Behavior Clinic in Portland Oregon. “When litter contains scent, it could be noxious and potentially aversive to cats, leading them to want to eliminate elsewhere.”

To ensure effective odor trapping or neutralization, opt for litters with natural starches that form tight clumps to lock in odors effectively. For instance, Sustainability Yours uses cassava starch as a clumping agent. Some natural litters may contain baking soda to neutralize odors. Wood and walnut formulas naturally absorb liquid and neutralize odors.

Texture: According to our experts, cats prefer a soft, grainy substrate most similar to sand. Substrate that is too large or sharp could prove challenging to dig and may even be uncomfortable on your cat's paw pads.

Dust: When you’re pouring and scooping litter or when your cat is digging, you want a litter that doesn't produce a large cloud of dust. Dust can irritate humans' and cats' respiratory systems, leading to coughing, sneezing, and difficulty breathing. Natural litters typically produce less dust than clay and silica litter and don’t contain bentonite, a clay that can be harmful to humans when inhaled.

Price: The simplest way to compare cat litter prices is by calculating the price per pound. In our testing, we also considered the longevity of each litter, as the price per pound doesn't always correspond to the monthly cost. For example, Sustainability Yours, priced at $1.81 per pound in January 2024, may not seem like a good value at first glance. However, we found that the litter remained fresh throughout the month, and we only replenished the litter because it was low rather than stinky.

Sustainability: "By switching to natural litters that are compostable or biodegradable, we can help our planet," says Dr. Zay Satchu, a veterinarian and chairman of the board of Bond Vet. Natural litters are often made from sustainable resources, such as responsibly managed forests, upcycled food waste, and quick-growing plants. Their acquisition and disposal have a lower environmental impact than strip-mined clay litter. To ensure the natural litter you're considering is committed to eco-friendly initiatives, check their website for sustainability reports, goals, and transparency regarding their materials sourcing and processing methods.

How we tested natural cat litters

We tested the natural cat litters by comparing litters of the same material side by side to evaluate their absorption and clumping abilities, dustiness, scent, and texture. Then, the top two litters in each category underwent additional testing for two to four weeks to assess odor control and tracking. Below are the additional characteristics we examined for each litter.

Litter weight, shape, and softness: According to our experts, cats generally prefer a soft, grainy substrate that is easy to dig. We evaluated the shape and grain size using a kitchen strainer, texture by touch, and weight by measuring an equal volume of each litter on a kitchen scale.

Dust: One of the reasons veterinarians recommend natural litters is because they tend to be lower in dust than the average clay litter, making them a good option for cats and people with respiratory issues. We observed how much dust was emitted when pouring and scooping the litter and how much stuck to the sides of the pan.

Scent: Many cats are sensitive to scent. Even natural scents like those of wood litter can make some cats avoid their litter box, says Dr. Christine Calder, a veterinary behaviorist and owner of Calder Veterinary Behavior Services. We did a careful sniff test of each litter to determine the strength of its natural scent.

Clumping ability and ease of cleaning: We compared a measured amount of each litter in matching dishes. We added 1/4 cup of water to determine how quickly and easily the liquid was absorbed and how solidly it held together in clumps. After two absorption trials, we cleaned the dishes, looking for any escaped moisture that had left clumped litter stuck to their interior.

Odor control and tracking: We tested the top litters from each category in litter boxes for two to three weeks. During twice-daily cleanings, we noted how well the litter masked odors and whether that ability changed over time. We also considered how easy it was to remove clumps and how much litter was tracked onto the floor around the litter pan. Because our tester cats were unwilling to use grass litter regularly, we could not determine how well it would control odors after weeks of use.

Cost: We compared the cost per pound of the litters. Additionally, we accounted for the longevity of the litter and the quantity needed to fill a large litter box to a preferred depth — 1.5 to 2 inches, as recommended by Geller.

Natural cat litter FAQs

Is natural cat litter good?

Natural cat litters offer several advantages. They are environmentally friendly, made from sustainable resources such as responsibly managed forests, upcycled food waste, and quick-growing plants. Additionally, these litters provide natural odor control without the intense scents found in artificially scented options, creating a more inviting environment for cats. Cats with respiratory issues may benefit from switching to a natural litter with minimal dust, according to Satchu. She says grass litters are consistently among the most dust-free of natural cat litters, though we found in testing that some of the walnut, wood, and grain litters produced equally minimal dust.

What is the best natural cat litter to use?

When it comes to natural cat litter, all of our experts say that the best variety is whatever one your cat is willing to use consistently day in and day out. Sometimes this comes down to what variety of litter a cat was exposed to early on. "Just like people, they have different levels of tolerance based on preference and learning history," says Micah McKechnie, a behavior and training associate at East Bay SPCA.

Is corn cat litter any good?

It can be. The best corn cat litters produce minimal dust, clump solidly, fight odors with a natural cereal scent, and are safe if accidentally or intentionally ingested by a cat. However, some corn litters have a rocky texture that may deter some cats.

Is wood cat litter better?

The plant fibers in wood litters are highly absorbent, and their natural pine scent offers the best odor control of all the natural varieties. They are also made from sustainably sourced forests or reclaimed lumber and produce minimal dust. However, in our testing, we found that wood litters were least successful at forming tight, easy-to-remove clumps compared to their natural competitors.

Is walnut litter good for cats?

Walnut litters can be a good option for some cats and households. They are made from the fibrous, absorbent shells of walnuts. This litter is processed into a sandy grain with a satisfyingly scratchable texture, but its light weight results in frequent tracking outside the litter box. Walnut litters clump well but have less of a natural scent to control odors, meaning that ammonia may be slightly more noticeable than with wood, grain, and grass formulas.

Can I use grass seed for cat litter?

Yes, you can. Satchu says grass cat litters are a good option for cats with respiratory issues since they have a coarse sandy texture and generate very minimal dust. Grass litters are produced from the seeds of grasses like sorghum. Although they are highly absorbent and their natural wheat-cereal scent masks odors, their lightweight grains track easily outside the litter box.

Can clumping litter cause blockages?

While anything that cats can't digest can cause gastrointestinal obstructions, clumping litter is not identified as a common cause. If your cat happens to eat natural litter, as our tester cats did, see your vet to rule out underlying medical issues such as gastrointestinal disease, anemia, kidney disease, or nutritional deficiencies as well as behavioral causes. However, if they determine your cat simply has unnatural cravings, Satchu says a grain litter is a safe alternative to clay and silica.

• I bought and tasted 10 different ranch dressings from my local grocery store to find the best one.
• The ranches I tried from Hidden Valley, Olive Garden, and Ken's Steak House impressed me.
• Marie's ranch was my favorite pick, even though it was more on the pricey side.

As someone raised in the Midwestern US, I grew up putting ranch dressing on just about everything, from chicken nuggets and baby carrots to pizza and fried pickles.

And while I've never had brand loyalty to a particular dressing, the recent buzz about ranch from international visitors to the US for the World Cup got me wondering which I'd recommend if I were asked.

So, I tried 10 different ranch dressings that were readily available at my local grocery store to find my favorites. I tasted each dressing on thinly sliced cucumbers to stay consistent and avoid competing flavors.

Here's how each ranch stacked up, and which was my favorite.

Marie's creamy ranch dressing came in a squat bottle.

The ranch dressing from Marie's was one of only two I tested from the refrigerated section. Many of the refrigerated ranches had other flavors added (like chipotle or avocado) or were marketed more as yogurt-based dips.

It came in a unique, short plastic bottle. I paid $5.49 for 12 ounces, which worked out to $0.46 per ounce.

This had a nice balance of flavors, though I wished the herbs were more prominent.

This ranch had a thick texture and a strong, classic ranch smell straight out of the bottle.

I thought it had a really good balance of tangy buttermilk, salt, and herbs (like dill), though the garlicky flavor was stronger than the herbal one.

Cindy's Kitchen is a new-to-me brand.

This dressing was the only other one besides Marie's that I tested from the refrigerated section.

It came in a glass, rectangular bottle. I paid $6.99 for 11 ounces, or $0.64 per ounce.

Although tasty, this didn't quite have the classic ranch dressing flavor I was looking for.

I was excited to try this dressing because it had unique ingredients, like bell peppers, jalapeños, and carrots. The flavor was strongly garlicky and salty with a strong umami flavor.

It's a good flavor for a veggie dip, but this wasn't quite the nostalgic, classic ranch-dressing taste I was looking for.

Brianna's makes great vinaigrettes, so I was hopeful about the ranch.

I'm already familiar with the Brianna's dressing brand, as I like using a lot of its vinaigrettes for salads. So, I was excited to try its classic buttermilk ranch.

It came in a 12-ounce glass bottle for $3.99 ($0.33 per ounce), but it was on sale for $1.99 ($0.17 per ounce).

This dressing had a sharp, tangy flavor.

The texture wasn't overly thick nor too thin, which I appreciated. The flavor was super tangy and salty, with a nice amount of herby flavor.

Buttermilk seemed to be a pretty prominent flavor here, and the tanginess from it left a sharpness at the back of my throat.

Marzetti offered multiple ranch dressing options.

It was hard to choose a Marzetti ranch dressing because there were several options, both refrigerated and shelf-stable, from the brand at my grocery store.

I went with a classic, standard shelf-stable option that came in a plastic 16-ounce bottle for $4.29, or $0.27 per ounce.

I wished this had a stronger flavor.

This ranch had very sparingly visible herb flecks, which seemed to allude to its very subtle, delicate flavor.

I didn't really taste buttermilk, garlic, herbs, or salt, but I didn't mind the consistency, which wasn't too thin nor too thick.

It was a bit bland to me, but I could see this appealing to a picky eater or someone looking for a very mild dressing.

This Chosen Foods ranch is made with avocado oil.

This dressing caught my eye because the bottle prominently displayed that it was "made with 100% pure avocado oil".

A lot of the shelf-stable dressings I tested were made with soybean oil, which is typically a cheaper ingredient, so this was an interesting alternative that sounded pretty premium.

Avocado oil is also widely considered to be a healthy fat, so the inclusion of this ingredient might appeal to more health-conscious shoppers.

This 8-ounce glass bottle cost me $6.49, or $0.81 per ounce.

I instantly wanted to pair this with fried pickles.

I noticed this dressing had significant oil separation, but it's nothing a good shake — rather, several good shakes — couldn't fix.

It took me a few tries to pour out a well-combined portion of ranch. The dressing had a very thin consistency with lots of herbs and a strong dill smell. It tasted like a slightly spicy dill pickle, which I liked.

Because of the consistency, I probably wouldn't put this ranch on a salad or reach for it very often. However, I think it'd be amazing as a dip for fried pickles or other crispy appetizers.

I ate a lot of Wish-Bone's ranch as a kid.

I remember eating Wish-Bone brand dressings when I was younger, so I expected these to have a nostalgic ranch flavor.

This version came in a 15-ounce plastic bottle with an easy, squeeze-top opening and cost me $3.49, or $0.23 per ounce.

It didn't quite hit the nostalgic spot for me.

This dressing had very few visible bits of herbs and smelled like Parmesan cheese to me.

Rather than having the classic ranch flavor I remembered, it mostly tasted slightly tangy and salty, leaving a somewhat oily feeling in my mouth afterward.

Ken's Steak House was another nostalgic brand to me.

I also remembered eating Ken's Steak House dressings, including the ranch, as a kid.

This dressing came in a 16-ounce plastic bottle with a squeeze-top spout. It cost me $3.99, or $0.25 per ounce.

This option offers a strong buttermilk flavor.

The Ken's Steak House ranch had a thick consistency with a moderate amount of visible herbs. There wasn't much of a scent to it, which left me surprised by how tangy it was.

There were strong hits of garlic and onion, although the herbs fell into the background. This was another dressing so tangy with that signature buttermilk flavor that it left a strong, sharp feeling in the back of my throat.

Primal Kitchen also offered a ranch made from avocado oil.

The Primal Kitchen ranch dressing, like Chosen Foods' ranch, is made with avocado oil instead of the more common soybean, vegetable, or canola oil.

This dressing is also marketed as a marinade, which I thought could be interesting for using on chicken.

It came in an 8-ounce glass bottle for $8.59 ($1.07 per ounce), although I scored it on sale for $5.15 ($0.64 per ounce).

This had a very zesty flavor, which I think would work well with fried foods.

This dressing had a thinner, easy-to-pour texture and looked like it was loaded with herbs.

The herb flavor was prominent, with a strong dill flavor that I liked, along with forward notes of garlic and onion. The flavor was zesty, and I think this is another dressing that would pair well with pickles and other fried foods.

It didn't have a very classic ranch flavor to me, though.

Olive Garden puts its own Parmesan twist on ranch dressing.

I was immediately intrigued by Olive Garden's shelf-stable Parmesan ranch dressing.

It came in a plastic, 16-ounce bottle for $4.79 ($0.30 per ounce).

The flavor was nice with the added Parmesan, but the cheese created a texture I didn't love.

The Parmesan added a nice cheesy flavor to the herbs and buttermilk common in ranch dressing.

I enjoyed the taste of this one. However, the Parmesan seemed to leave small clumps throughout the dressing, which I didn't enjoy texture-wise.

Some may not mind those cheesy bits, or even notice them, especially if this ranch was mixed into a loaded salad with a variety of textures.

Hidden Valley Ranch is basically the "It" girl for ranch dressings

Hidden Valley is famous worldwide for its ranch dressing and recently gained more attention when brand representatives handed out ranch seasoning mixes for World Cup visitors to take home as souvenirs.

I remember eating a lot of it growing up, too. This brand also stood out in the dressing aisle because it came in multiple sizes.

I grabbed a smaller, 8-ounce bottle for $2.99 ($0.37 per ounce), but the more standard size seemed to be 16 ounces for $5.09 ($0.32 per ounce).

I usually use the seasoning packets, so I found the buttermilk in the classic dressing more overpowering than I remembered.

Since I reached adulthood and started cooking for myself, I tend to make homemade dressings, often with healthier ingredients.

When ranch cravings hit, I usually use the Hidden Valley seasoning mixes to make a Greek-yogurt-based dressing that's heavy on the seasoning and lighter on the yogurt and buttermilk.

Given that's what I'm used to, this dressing felt overwhelmingly tangy to me. I wished I could taste more of the herbs than the buttermilk.

Marie's was my top pick, and there are other ranch dressings I'd buy again, too.

Although I'll still stick mostly with homemade dressings or locally made options, I really enjoyed the fresh, balanced flavor of the Marie's ranch dressing — even if it wasn't the cheapest.

For shelf-stable dressings, I really liked Olive Garden's take on a ranch with Parmesan as well as the classic flavors from Hidden Valley and Ken's Steak House.

Overall, I wanted a lot more herby, dill flavors from many of the dressings. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to just stir some extra dill into any ranch dressing on this list to suit my own preferences.

• The momentum trade that carried the market in the first half has stumbled lately.
• Some hot trades like memory chip and other AI-linked plays have fallen sharply.
• The bank flagged areas of the market that could buffer portfolios from the rotation volatility.

One of the market's hottest investing strategies has hit a rough patch, but Goldman Sachs sees a few places investors can hide.

A team of strategists at the bank identified a handful of safe-havens in the market amid volatility in the momentum trade sparked by a broadening rotation into some lesser-loved sectors. Momentum stocks — which are stocks that have seen a rapid price increase in recent months — have started to tumble from their records, with high-flying memory and chip companies dropping and investors flocking to other areas of the market.

Invesco's S&P 500 Momentum ETF, one popular fund tracking momentum stocks, is down 5% from its recent peak.

"Over the past 3 weeks, market leadership has been tested, with the momentum factor delivering the sharpest sell-off since the early 2000s," Goldman strategists wrote this week.

The bank said it analyzed various "assets, styles, and sectors" and found several investments with a low correlation to the momentum trade, which provide a buffer to portfolios amid the swings.

Chip stocks, growth stocks, and Taiwan and Korean stocks were some of the most positively correlated with the momentum trade, the bank said.

Here are some of the safe havens the bank thinks says could protect against recent declines:

Software stocks

Software stocks got pummeled in the "SaaSpocalypse" earlier this year, which shields it somewhat from the disruption other stocks are facing as the momentum trade breaks down. Many beaten-down names in the sector have bounced back from their lows, a sign that some investors are taking the opportunity to scoop up shares at more attractive valuations.

The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF is still down 9% for the year, but the software-heavy fund has rebounded 25% from its April low.

Here are some of the biggest gainers in the past month:

• Palo Alto Networks: +24%
• CrowdStrike: +21%
• Adobe: +14%
• Snowflake: +14%

Bonds

Both long- and short-dated bonds appear to be moderately sheltered from recent volatility.

The ICE BofAML MOVE Index, a gauge that measures bond volatility, dropped 3% on Monday. The gauge is down 32% from its peak in late March.

It's been a challenging year for fixed income, largely due to fears of hotter inflation, which has raised yields and pushed bond prices lower. Vanguard's Total Bond Market Index Fund ETF is down 1% year to date.

US low volatility

Low-volatility stocks, by definition, have steered clear of the broader volatility stemming from the momentum trade.

The iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF, which tracks low-volatility US stocks, is up 3% for the year.

Real estate

Real estate is another bright spot in the market lately, partly due to the recent stabilization in interest rates and lingering hopes that rates could still edge lower.

Vanguard's Real Estate Index Fund ETF is up 10% for the year, narrowly beating the S&P 500.

'Dividend Aristocrats'

Firms that have steadily increased dividend payments to shareholders have been star performers amid the sell-off in momentum stocks. Dividend Aristocrats, which are S&P 500 companies that have raised dividend payouts for at least 25 years straight, have the lowest correlation with the momentum trade, according to Goldman's analysis.

The ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF, one fund tracking companies in this bucket, is up 7% for the year.

• PayPal shares jumped about 15% in morning trading.
• Stripe and Advent have made a joint offer to buy PayPal for more than $53 billion, per a Reuters report.
• PayPal is the payments incumbent launched in the late 1990s, while Stripe was founded in 2010.

PayPal shares jumped about 15% on Wednesday following a report that Stripe and the private equity firm Advent International had made a joint offer to buy the payments giant.

The $60.50-per-share bid values PayPal at more than $53 billion and would see Stripe and Advent hold an equal stake, Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.

PayPal's stock rose as much as 19% in premarket trading before paring some gains.

Stripe was valued at $159 billion in a February tender offer, while PayPal's market cap stood at nearly $42 billion at Tuesday's close. Stripe and Advent's offer would represent a premium of about 28% for PayPal.

Reuters reported that Stripe and Advent's bid was backed by roughly $50 billion in committed financing from banks and that PayPal has yet to respond.

PayPal, Stripe, and Advent declined to comment.

A takeover would see a payments upstart swallow the incumbent. PayPal, founded in 1998, was an early pioneer of online payments, while Stripe was launched more than a decade later. Stripe primarily serves businesses, while PayPal's core products are consumer-facing, though both operate in each other's markets.

At more than $53 billion, the deal would rank among some of the largest tech acquisitions, topping Elon Musk's $44 billion Twitter (now X) acquisition and Microsoft's $26.2 billion LinkedIn acquisition.

The bid comes after a steep decline in PayPal's valuation in recent years. Its market capitalization peaked at about $360 billion in 2021 and fell to as low as roughly $36 billion this year, as rivals including Apple Pay, Klarna, and Google Pay gained market share.

Enrique Lores, who became PayPal's CEO in March, has since launched a turnaround effort, splitting the company into three units and targeting about $1.5 billion in cost savings over the coming years.

• My 88-year-old grandmother credits her energy and independence to a few simple habits.
• She always has a nutritious breakfast, stays busy, and nurtures her relationships.
• She also has one quirky rule: always drive separately when meeting friends.

At 88, my Grandma Elsa hasn't slowed down one bit.

Every Sunday, she takes the three-hour trip from the Catskill Mountains to New York City with my uncle to work at the farmers market, where she looks forward to seeing her regulars each week.

During the week, she enjoys spending time outside gardening, feeding the hummingbirds, and mowing the lawn.

And, of course, she never misses a Saturday breakfast or Wednesday dinner with her friends.

She credits her sharp mind, active social life, and abundant energy to a handful of daily habits and one quirky rule she swears by.

She starts each day with a nutritious breakfast

Every morning, my grandma starts her day with a strong cup of coffee and a balanced meal. Breakfast has always been a quiet anchor in her morning routine, and it allows her to start her day on the right foot.

She thoughtfully fills her plate with as many colored fruits and veggies as she has on hand, along with proteins like yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, or cheese. She also loves having multiple beverages at once to stay hydrated.

My grandma believes the key to being mobile is staying mobile

My grandma is incredibly active for her age. Along with daily stretching at home, she attends movement classes at her local community center.

She also regularly volunteers at her local senior center, attending community classes and educational talks.

However, staying active doesn't have to look like a traditional workout. For example, she uses commercial breaks as timers to tackle chores around the house — unloading the dishwasher, tidying the living room, or starting laundry.

This light activity helps keep her house tidy and her body active without feeling too exhausted.

Community is important, and she knows it's important to be intentional about nurturing relationships

Family is central to my grandma's life. Every morning, my dad drives to her house to have coffee together. It's a ritual she looks forward to each day.

Plus, she regularly checks in with family and friends by phone and text throughout the day, and and rarely misses a Saturday breakfast with her friends.

These regular gatherings shared with family, friends, and community members gives her things to look forward to.

She paces her social calendar and doesn't stack demanding activities back-to-back

My grandma is the OG of protecting your peace. She believes you should take care of yourself and rest when your body needs it.

For example, if she hauls in groceries one day, she skips a fitness class the next. She's firm that self care means knowing your limits and giving yourself rest between physical activities and social events.

There's one quirky rule she swears by — driving separately to events

For as long as I can remember — whether it's dinner with friends or a community event, my grandma will insist on driving separately to avoid the agita of rushing or waiting on others.

She prefers the freedom to come and go on her own, and swears this small act of independence has helped her friendships last over the decades.

Plus, it gives her the freedom to Irish exit whenever she wants.

Matrix Sports manufactures nearly half a million goalkeeper gloves each year. From cutting and stitching to custom fitting, the production process is designed to meet the standards of one of football's most physically demanding positions.

• I love escaping Australia's winter by visiting Europe during the summer months.
• My favorite destination is Zadar, a city on Croatia's Dalmatian Coast.
• I loved the beautiful beaches, the historic Old Town, and how easy it felt to slow down.

Last year, like many other Australians, I looked to escape our winter by planning a five-week trip to Europe during their summer.

For months, I obsessed over researching destinations, reading articles online, and perusing TikTok for the perfect places to visit. Of course, there were some spots I knew I had to see: the Colosseum in Rome, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and the Alps in Switzerland.

However, no place surprised me more than Zadar.

A Croatian city located on the Dalmatian Coast, Zadar provided me with both adventure and a much-needed dose of relaxation. I found myself wishing I'd spent more time there.

Most might prefer to head to better-known cities like Dubrovnik or Split, but after exploring Zadar, I would recommend everyone add it to their itinerary.

I instantly noticed how friendly the locals were

As a tourist, I'm usually desperate not to draw too much attention to myself. If I need directions or recommendations, I default to looking them up on Google Maps or even social media before asking someone.

In Zadar, though, I was surprised to find that locals were ready to offer up advice without me even asking.

At the end of one tour, an operator offered to help any of us with food or activity recommendations, specifically mentioning that she was a local and was happy to suggest some of her favorite restaurants.

Then, when my partner and I were walking along the water, someone noticed us trying to snap a selfie and offered to take one for us, even pointing out the best angles for a photo.

Sure, these are small moments, but when you're away from home, they can add a bit of warmth to your trip.

If you love the water, it's the perfect European stop

When I was planning my itinerary, I wanted to go somewhere warm with a body of water ready for me to dive into. Zadar absolutely delivered.

If you're craving adventure, you can take a boat tour to neighboring islands. Some tours will stop at a beach's coast for water lovers to jump in, cool off, or go snorkeling.

I went on a boat tour to a small nearby village called Kali off the coast of Zadar for fresh fish and other local cuisine. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

If you want an activity that's a bit closer, Kolovare Beach is about a 15-minute walk from the Old Town and is a calm getaway with public restrooms and water fountains.

I visited the beach just after the peak summer season, which meant thinner crowds and, crucially, unrestricted access to an ocean diving board.

It was the first European city where I felt like I could slow down

In European cities like Rome, London, and even Dubrovnik, I've noticed a sense of go, go, go. I felt pressure to book our activities and reservations weeks, if not months, in advance.

However, in Zadar, I could — and would — wake up with no plan for the day, which was extremely refreshing. Some mornings, I'd wake up, eat some breakfast, and go for a walk along the Old Town, either checking out the Roman ruins or going to the farmers market.

One day, I walked to a park in the Old Town, then took a boat ride from Port Saint Chrysogonus across the waters surrounding Zadar. From there, I watched the sunset while listening to the city's famous Sea Organ, a waterfront architectural instrument that transforms the Adriatic's waves into natural music through a series of pipes.

If you want to see some sights while winding down, Zadar is the perfect destination. Every corner and lane offers something new, from historic ruins and beautiful architecture to fresh seafood and water activities.

Best of all, it's easy to do it all at your own pace.

• During an appearance on The New York Times' podcast "The Interview," Mick Jagger spoke about aging.
• The Rolling Stones front man said he "forgot all my wisdom" from his 82 years on the planet.
• Jagger also said he would continue touring for as long as he could.

Mick Jagger might be a musical genius, a front man for the ages, and one of England's national treasures, but don't ask him for any tips on getting older — he hasn't got any.

On "The Interview," a New York Times podcast, cohost David Marchese asked The Rolling Stones' front man to name the best thing about getting older.

"There's nothing good about it," he said.

Jagger called aging 'not particularly pleasant'

When asked if any wisdom came with living on this planet for eight decades, Jagger quipped, "I forgot all my wisdom. I might have had a couple of pearls drop, but I've already forgotten what they are."

The singer, who has been known for his raucous onstage presence since the '60s, continued: "You can't do things as quickly as you want to. Physically, you've got to be more careful."

That's not to say we shouldn't expect to see the Rolling Stones on tour again in the future.

Jagger is 'up for doing' a world tour to support the band's newest album

The Times, which released its interview with Jagger on July 11, referenced a recent quote from Keith Richards, the Stones' guitarist, who said that touring at his age (also 82) could be a challenge.

Jagger was more enthusiastic about the prospect.

"I don't mind touring at all," he said, though he did concede that he would do longer residencies at specific venues if his bandmates didn't want to tour.

"You don't know what's going to happen to you in life. But I personally hope to be able to tour. I like going places. I like meeting people. I like to go to weird countries to do shows," he added.

The Rolling Stones aren't the only people still working in their 80s — though, unlike many older workers, they likely have the financial luxury of retiring. Americans over the age of 75 are twice as likely to be working now as they were in the '90s, and in 2023, over 500,000 Americans aged 80 and older were in the workforce, Census Bureau data showed.

With the release of the band's 25th album, "Foreign Tongues," on July 10 and the possibility of performances in 2027, Jagger, who turns 83 this month, and the rest of his bandmates don't show any sign of slowing down — even if Jagger has finally had to admit he's getting older like the rest of us.

• I bought a home in 2019 for $195,000 with a $849 monthly mortgage payment that's hard to give up.
• I make more money and split my bills now, but this market makes buying another home feel impossible.
• For now, I'm looking at other cities while working toward saving a six-figure down payment.

In 2013, I threw reality out the window and reached out to a real-estate agent to try to buy a house.

I had just turned 25 and felt like it was time to have my own space, even though I had minimal savings and a steep student-loan balance that my salary as a high-school teacher was barely covering.

But as a first-gen daughter, my immigrant parents adamantly stressed the importance of ownership. So buying a home not only felt like the right choice — it also felt like the only choice.

It took several years after that initial outreach for everything to fall into place. By December 2018, I'd made my final student loan payment, and in January 2019, I closed on my first home.

As a single woman, I didn't want to buy too much house — there was a huge difference between what I could technically afford and what I could responsibly afford.

With that in mind, I purchased a 750-square-foot, two-bedroom co-op for $195,000. After putting 20% down, I locked in a monthly payment of $849.40 at a 5.125% interest rate for a 30-year mortgage.

Buying my own place felt like a tremendous win, because it was. Lately, though, it feels more like a pair of golden handcuffs.

Although I now make more money and split my bills with a partner, I feel stuck in my home

Life looks a lot different than it did in 2019, and so does the housing market.

I've left the classroom and transitioned into the tech industry, a career pivot that came with a substantial salary increase. Shortly after, my partner moved in, and we became a two-income household.

Everything felt like it was lining up perfectly for another tremendous win — buying another, hopefully bigger property! Then, we checked Zillow.

Comparable two-bedroom co-ops in my area were now regularly listed for about $349,000. Larger traditional homes down the block with four or five bedrooms were regularly selling for about a million dollars.

Beyond the drastic price increase, interest rates are also not what they used to be. The national average for a 30-year fixed mortgage has frequently been over 6.4% whenever I've checked.

I know how fortunate I am to have purchased a home when I did, and leaving it behind now would mean stepping into a market where my dollar buys significantly less at a much higher price point.

I feel stuck, and I know it'd be easier to just stay put — but I'm dreaming big and letting a little delusion lead the way with next steps rooted in reality.

I'm taking steps toward strategically buying a house in a wild market

Rather than just playing the waiting game, I'm carefully planning my next steps to help make a future move possible.

Growing income with intention. My salary has increased with each career move I've made since I left teaching in 2021, but I've kept my expenses as stable as possible to avoid lifestyle creep and maximize my savings.

For now, I'm trying to live on what was my salary from a few years ago while saving and investing the additional income — but the goal is to eventually earn enough so that a larger mortgage feels as manageable as my current one.

As a business owner, I'm also able to supplement my 9-to-5 income and continue to strengthen my borrowing profile. With consistent income growth and a solid credit score, I'm confident I'll be able to access the best rates available when the time comes to buy.

Saving for a six-figure down payment. My partner and I are working toward putting aside $120,000 for a down payment.

The larger down payment will, of course, help us lower the mortgage burden, and this amount also helps us stay within a realistic budget during our search.

With $120,000, we can put 20% down on a $600,000 home and avoid PMI, or we can put 15% down on an $800,000 home if the right opportunity presents itself.

It doesn't matter if we love the house listed for $1 million. We know it is not in the budget.

Expanding the search radius. I am a New Yorker born and raised. I love it here, and it'll always be home, but the housing market here is really expensive.

Because we have job flexibility, we've started actively researching markets outside New York where our dollar can stretch further without sacrificing quality of life.

We've visited several places across the country to see what might be a good fit, looking for a dog-friendly city with a decent cost of living and an accessible community. There's always something happening in New York, and we want the same feeling and experience in our new home.

Right now, we've got our eyes on Denver, which seems to offer all three at a slightly more affordable price point than our current area.

Treating my current home as a tool. Though it is not at the top of my list, I'm keeping my mind open to ways I can use my current home to help me secure a second one if needed.

Things like getting a cash-out refinance or a HELOC loan to help secure additional funds would be a last resort since it would impact our budget differently.

Ultimately, I'm not passively waiting for the perfect market conditions to appear

It's easy to feel stuck in a home you've outgrown when leaving doesn't mathematically make sense. However, waiting in place for perfect home-buying conditions isn't ideal for me, either.

There's no guarantee mortgage rates will drop significantly or that housing prices will decrease anytime soon … if ever.

I didn't buy my home because it was the perfect time. I bought it because I planned, saved, and prepared for the next step with a little delusion to carry me to the finish line.

And this time, though I'm navigating a much more difficult market, I'm confident the steps I'm taking will serve as the key I need to unlock my golden handcuffs.

• Warren Buffett spoke about his friendship with Bill Gates and his decision not to donate to Gates' Foundation.
• "No one bats a thousand in the business of choosing people," Buffett said of Gates' ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
• Buffett said the Gates Foundation is well-funded, and he trusts his kids to disburse his wealth.

Warren Buffett shone a light on his relationship with Bill Gates, and his decision to end his annual donations to the Gates Foundation, in a rare interview with CNBC's Becky Quick on Wednesday.

The famed investor and Berkshire Hathaway chairman said he'd "read a great deal" about Gates' ties to Jeffrey Epstein, and while it was a "distasteful" situation, everyone makes mistakes in judging people.

"I found nothing in there that was beyond what I could picture myself doing," Buffett said about the transcript of Gates' voluntary testimony to the House Oversight Committee last month as part of its investigation into Epstein.

Gates testified that he was introduced to Epstein by trusted associates, and the pair met several times between 2011 and 2014 in connection with philanthropic fundraising.

The Microsoft cofounder said that he never witnessed any criminal conduct from Epstein, never visited his notorious island, and didn't seek a personal relationship with him.

Gates said that associating with Epstein was a "grave error in judgment" driven by his hope to raise funds for his global health work.

"No one bats a thousand in the business of choosing people," Buffett said.

Buffett, who announced this week that he's donating a total of $6 billion in Berkshire stock to four of his family's foundations, told Quick why he wasn't giving the lion's share of his yearly gift to the Gates Foundation as usual.

The legendary stock picker, who turns 96 in August, said that he's already given the Gates Foundation a "great deal of money," it has plenty of financial firepower, Gates himself has ample resources, and Buffett now trusts his children with his estate.

Buffett said in a news release announcing the donations on Tuesday that he hopes his three kids can disburse all of his Berkshire stock — which accounts for over 99% of his wealth — by the end of 2034.

"I've really done the same thing as Bill, in a certain sense," Buffett said, referring to Gates saying last year that he would "give away virtually all my wealth through the Gates Foundation over the next 20 years."

The Gates Foundation said in a statement that it is "grateful" to Buffett for his decades of support and more than $47 billion of gifts, and it remains in a "position of financial strength to advance our work through 2045, supported by Bill's $200 billion commitment."

The former Berkshire CEO, who made way for Greg Abel at the start of this year after six decades in charge, said that Gates had visited him in his hometown of Omaha a few weeks ago and that the pair had spent about three hours talking.

Buffett, who first met Gates on the Fourth of July weekend in 1991, said they have had an "enormous number of good times together since we've met," and have shared a "wonderful friendship."

After the interview aired, Quick revealed that Buffett broke his leg a few weeks ago and underwent surgery, but he's recovering well and can walk with some assistance.

• Even Nvidia teams compete for limited AI chips as demand from data centers keeps soaring.
• Nvidia's automotive chief says Jensen Huang still settles internal fights over scarce AI chips.
• Its autonomous driving remains a strategic priority despite the AI chip crunch.

Even Nvidia isn't immune to the AI chip shortage.

The company's automotive division still has to compete internally for access to the GPUs that have made Nvidia the world's most valuable company, according to Xinzhou Wu, Nvidia's head of automotive.

"Even at Nvidia, basically we do have a limited supply of GPU for compute," Wu said in an episode of The Verge's "Decoder" podcast that aired on Monday.

As demand for Nvidia's chips continues to surge from AI companies building massive data centers, Wu said different teams across the company regularly compete for computing resources needed to train and test their own AI models.

"We have an internal priority, and I'm working with my colleagues basically almost on a weekly basis to decide how to set aside this different compute, sometimes for training, sometimes for test resources for different threads of work in the company," Wu said.

"And sometimes we need Jensen to help," Wu said of the company's CEO, Jensen Huang.

The comments offer a rare glimpse into how Nvidia allocates resources inside a company whose GPUs have become the backbone of the generative AI boom. Demand for its chips has consistently outpaced supply as companies, including OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta, xAI, and Amazon, race to build ever-larger AI models.

Wu said decisions aren't driven solely by near-term revenue.

"It's all of the above," he said when asked how those trade-offs are made. Nvidia balances current business needs with long-term strategic opportunities, including what Huang calls "the zero trillion dollar business" — entirely new markets that could eventually be worth trillions of dollars, Wu said.

One of those bets is autonomous driving.

Wu said Nvidia believes "everything that moves will be autonomous" and is investing heavily in supplying chips, software, AI models, simulation tools, and safety systems for self-driving vehicles. While the automotive business remains much smaller than Nvidia's booming data-center division, Huang continues to prioritize it.

"We are strong believers — Jensen himself as well — of the AV [autonomous vehicle] future," Wu said. "We are keeping investing basically in this technology and in this future, not only from allocating external compute but from fab capacity as well."

Wu also said that even semiconductor manufacturing capacity has become another internal battleground as demand for Nvidia's chips continues to soar.

• Anthropic is urging states to pass tougher AI safety laws rather than settle on one shared rulebook.
• OpenAI is taking the opposite approach, pushing for a nationwide common framework.
• The divide is already shaping state legislation, lobbying campaigns, and political spending.

Artificial intelligence giant Anthropic is pursuing a strategy of one-upmanship that encourages states to impose increasingly tougher AI guardrails, rather than align around a single set of regulations.

The approach stands in stark contrast to the one favored by the company's archrival, OpenAI, which has pushed state lawmakers toward common ground on regulating the breakthrough technology.

"While there are some in the industry that think of state policy as a way to create a ceiling for federal legislation, Anthropic is not just looking to support the same bill across the country in every single state," Cesar Fernandez, the company's head of U.S. state and local government relations, said in an interview with POLITICO — which, like Business Insider, is part of the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network — on Tuesday. "We're looking for legislation that meaningfully raises the bar on safety for the most capable AI systems."

Fernandez's comments came in response to questions from POLITICO about OpenAI's ongoing campaign to shape states' AI regulations. The ChatGPT maker's top lobbyist, Chris Lehane, has coined the term "reverse federalism" to describe its attempts to bypass a paralyzed Congress and build a national AI framework by mirroring bills state-by-state.

The veiled jab at OpenAI is on-brand for Anthropic, whose executives left OpenAI in 2020 over concerns the company wasn't prioritizing safety. Anthropic has consistently pushed for stronger AI safety rules at both the federal and state level — an effort that some critics, particularly those close to the Trump administration and in venture capital, frame as an attempt to hamstring regulators and lock out competitors.

In a statement, OpenAI spokesperson Liz Bourgeois defended its approach, saying "reverse federalism, where effective state safeguards shape national standards, helps regulators enforce the law, gives the public clearer protections, and allows developers to focus resources on safety rather than conflicting requirements."

The split between OpenAI and Anthropic's approach to statehouses comes at a critical time for AI regulation. With Congress reluctant to act and the White House flip-flopping between a light touch and a heavy hand, the AI industry is increasingly looking to states for regulatory clarity. Whether state legislators ultimately coalesce around a single AI safety framework or work to outdo each other over time will have a massive impact on the final shape of AI rules in the U.S.

Similar to Lehane, Fernandez said he wants a federal framework, but that a government response to the risks posed by advanced AI models "can't wait for action in Washington."

The Anthropic lobbyist also set his company apart by touting its early inroads into state policy debates. Anthropic was the only leading AI lab to endorse California's 2025 law to regulate advanced AI models, the first such law in the country.

OpenAI didn't take a position on the California proposal ahead of its passage. But it has since turned to the law, which aims to foster greater transparency into companies' safety plans, as an example for other states to replicate.

Anthropic, on the other hand, saw the California law as a springboard to ratchet up its efforts on AI safety. Fernandez said the rapid development of increasingly powerful AI models was the main factor behind his company's endorsement of more ambitious bills — in New York, Illinois and now Massachusetts — and its move to weigh in earlier in the legislative process.

"Each one of those bills was stronger than the previous bill, and the bills all moved real safety obligations forward," Fernandez said. "Transparency and self-reporting, we don't believe are sufficient anymore."

He pointed to Anthropic's powerful Claude Mythos model, which the company found to be capable of exploiting security flaws in every major computer operating system during its testing. The cybersecurity concerns raised by Mythos (and its public-facing version, known as Fable) sparked panic inside the Trump administration, which slapped export controls on the technology until Anthropic and the government could address alleged vulnerabilities.

Late last year, OpenAI lobbyists successfully pressed New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to amend her state's AI safety bill to more closely resemble California's rules. But to the surprise of some safety advocates, it joined Anthropic in backing an Illinois measure seen as stricter than those in New York and California. That proposal, signed into law this month by Gov. JB Pritzker, requires leading AI companies to submit to annual independent third-party audits of their safety plans — a first-of-its-kind mandate.

Anthropic is pushing the bar further. In late June, it endorsed regulations under development in Massachusetts for an economic development bond bill that Anthropic calls the nation's strongest state AI safety proposal. The language it supported included a requirement for leading AI companies to hire independent evaluators to assess the potential for catastrophic risks such as the technology assisting in the development of bioweapons, as well as a provision empowering the state's attorney general to enforce that mandate.

Bourgeois, the OpenAI spokesperson, said the company is still reviewing the Massachusetts proposal, but added OpenAI supports the state legislature's focus on AI safeguards.

The AI giants have also clashed on the campaign trail. Each is associated with dueling super PAC networks that so far have sunk tens of millions of dollars into political campaigns across the country. And in June, Anthropic started cutting checks directly to California legislators.

"We back candidates for election and re-election when their point of view of AI safety regulation is aligned with our mission to make sure that the transition to a world with powerful AI does well for people in this country and throughout the world," Fernandez said. "We're very much supporting candidates where there's ideological alignment."

Fernandez said the company isn't coordinating with employees who also have made contributions to political candidates in California and elsewhere.

"We don't direct our employees to make contributions, but they work at Anthropic because they're concerned about the future of AI and where this is headed if there's not proper safety policy that's enacted by governments," said Fernandez. "I would assume that that drives them to engage in the political process."

This story originally appeared on POLITICO and is courtesy of the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, which harnesses the resources of the company's newsrooms to publish ambitious scoops, investigations, interviews, opinion pieces, and analysis. It allows journalists — including those from POLITICO, Business Insider, WELT, BILD, Onet, and Fakt — to collaborate on major stories for an international audience of hundreds of millions across platforms.

• As more people use AI-powered tools for coding, it's fueling growth in a new crop of companies.
• Emergent is a vibe-coding startup that announced a new funding round today, valuing it at $1.5B.
• Emergent's CEO, Mukund Jha, joins BI for a live Q&A on Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET. Tune in to ask questions.

As AI gets better and better at writing code, where does that leave software engineers? And, how does it impact the the companies they work for?

Business Insider set out to answer these questions with a multi-part series, The Great Coding Reset.

The fear that AI will make legacy software giants irrelevant has rattled markets. But the companies building vibe-coding tools have attracted big dollars, and seen their valuations skyrocket.

On Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET, Business Insider Today's Dan DeFrancesco sits down with the CEO of one of these fast-growing startups.

Mukund Jha is CEO and co-founder of Emergent which launched in 2025. Today, the company announced it's raised $130 million in series C funding, bringing its valuation to $1.5 billion. That's up from a $300 million valuation in January, just six months ago.

Tune in live to hear about his company's exponential growth, what Jha looks for when hiring software engineers, and how vibe coding is changing his industry.

Join the conversation below to ask your own question and share your opinions on vibe coding.

• A version of this post appears in the CMO Insider newsletter.
• Sign up for Business Insider's weekly marketing newsletter.

Here comes an AI ad campaign that could ruffle some feathers in Hollywood.

AI text-to-video platform OpenArt AI is launching ads in AMC movie theaters across Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York this week to promote its Director product, the company exclusively told CMO Insider. The push also includes billboards in those cities, as well as digital and social placements.

Director lets users describe an idea, visual style, and narrative arc in conversational language, then generates videos up to five minutes long.

The company said it hopes the campaign — created entirely in-house using the Director tool — will spark a wave of "vibe directing," echoing the rise of "vibe coding," and inspire newcomers to create micro dramas, music videos, or ads.

"I don't think we're trying to be provocative, but it's just that we think the audience is a really good fit," Stella Guan, head of growth and operations at OpenArt AI, told me when I asked whether targeting the campaign to cinemagoers was designed to poke the hornet's nest.

AI has provoked a backlash within Hollywood's creative community over the technology's potential to destroy jobs and the proliferation of low-quality "AI slop." A growing segment of the industry — including Ben Affleck and Martin Scorsese — has become more open to embracing it to streamline and enhance their technical work, though.

Founded in 2022 by two former Googlers, OpenArt AI says it has grown to 8 million monthly active users. In January, the company raised a $30 million Series A round led by Canaan Partners.

The company's in-house studio of six creative directors spent four days coming up with ideas for the ad using the Director product. The company held a "movie night" screening marathon before selecting the final spot.

The ad depicts a man eating a hot dog on a bench beside a basketball court. He's then approached by a "coach" character who blows a whistle and wields a laptop. The man tells the coach he has always wanted to make a movie about a penguin in the desert.

The coach types it into OpenArt, explaining he can create any video he wants, "even a micro drama."

The man protests, "I don't watch micro dramas."

OpenArt AI said its budget for the Director marketing campaign is in the "low hundreds of thousands" of dollars.

Countering AI criticism

Some consumers have an aversion to AI-generated ads. A survey published in January by the IAB and Sonata Insights found 30% of Gen Z respondents said brands using AI in ads were "inauthentic," while 26% said they were "disconnected," and 24% "unethical."

Moral panic about AI aside, James Poulter, CEO of the AI consultancy ThreePoint Labs, said AI companies need to be cautious about overselling their platforms' capabilities to everyday users.

"All of the models are overselling how easy it is to create the top 1% of excellent," Poulter said. "No matter how capable the models are of creating cinematic things out of the box, if you don't have the language of cinema or being a director, you cannot steer the model to deliver something akin to someone who does have that language."

Guan said a lot of the criticism about the use of AI in advertising and other creative works could be attributed to people not being aware of how far the technology has progressed since its early iterations.

She hopes the ad will show that AI is producing higher-quality output fit for the big cinema screen.

"I think that by itself is a great showcase of our product's capability as well as of the technology," Guan said.

• While my husband was in Boston, I wanted to do something with my 9-year-old son.
• I thought he'd enjoy camping, but was nervous to do it with him alone.
• I decided to take him glamping, and it had all the best parts of camping but with less stress.

While my Scottish husband joined the Tartan Army in Boston for the group stages of the FIFA World Cup, I wanted to do something equally exciting with my 9-year-old son. A few of his friends had recently gone camping and came back with fun stories.

I knew he would love a night out under the stars, but I hadn't camped since I was in my 20s. The idea of just the two of us in a zip-up tent in the middle of nowhere felt scary.

So, instead of jumping straight into the wilderness, we went glamping.

Glamping is definitely easier than camping

I booked a one-night stay at The River Electric, a glamping site nestled in the woods in Guerneville, California. I described it to my son as fancy camping.

When we arrived, we threw our bags into a yellow wagon and wheeled it to our canvas tent, which had a typical zip-up door and was flanked by two wooden lounge chairs. Inside, we found two double beds, a nightstand with a small lamp, a bright red locker to store valuables, and a couple of outlets.

I was nervous about sleeping in a tent with no door to lock, running into a wild animal, and being a solo parent in the woods. But seeing his little face light up when he saw where we would be sleeping helped me push all that aside. Right away, he claimed the bed on the right and started unpacking his stuffed animals. He was just so excited.

Surprisingly, at least for me, we both slept fantastically. Although we were in a tent, we certainly weren't roughing it. It felt more like a boutique hotel — but in nature.

The more we did, the less nervous I felt

My son and I swam in the on-site pool twice. We raced from one side to the other, splashed one another, and danced to the faint sounds of 90s pop music. Afterward, we warmed up at a nearby fire pit.

I challenged my son to a game of ping pong, pushed him on a rope swing, and we dined on smash burgers, fries, and ice cream at the on-site restaurant.

That evening just so happened to be pub quiz night, so we entered as a team of two. Our team name was the River Dogs (named after both our glamping site and our shared favorite animal). We came in last, but in our defense, we were competing against teams of six or seven, and I think we had more fun than everyone else.

Glamping has all the best parts of camping

After our pub quiz defeat, my son and I strolled along the dirt trails to our cozy tent for a night of games and chats. We played a travel version of Guess Who (perfect for two people), Bananagrams (because learning to spell is more fun in the woods), and we flipped through a few magazines and activity books. We connected more by stepping away from modern technology.

Turns out, all the best parts of glamping are the things that regular camping has, too — sleeping in a tent, no screens, and being surrounded by nature.

We left the next afternoon in time to catch Scotland's match against Morocco on TV. My son tried to find his dad at the game. He didn't — there were just too many people in the stands — but we did get a FaceTime call so we could feel the Tartan Army magic.

I'm proud of our mother-son adventure in the woods. For me, it proved that sometimes when you do things that you're scared of, they don't seem quite so scary anymore. Who knows? We might even try regular camping soon.

• Jamie Dimon shared a long list of traits he'd like to see in JPMorgan's next CEO.
• Dimon ticked off more than a dozen attributes, from curiosity to heart, soul, and grit.
• The bank chief said JPMorgan has a great leadership team that can step in if he's "hit by a truck."

JPMorgan's next CEO will have to tick a whole lot of boxes to be a worthy successor in Jamie Dimon's eyes.

Dimon, 70, answered a question during the bank's second-quarter earnings call on Tuesday about what he and his board are looking for in the company's next leader, and what he thinks makes an exceptional CEO.

The billionaire banker replied that the person should:

• Be good at management
• Be good with people
• Be analytical
• Be detailed
• Be a "culture carrier"
• Be curious
• Have heart
• Have grit
• Have soul
• Have work ethic
• Be able to travel
• Be able to deal with CEOs and prime ministers
• Understand and engage with the bank's back-office functions

"I could give you a long list of stuff, but it's all of that," said Dimon, who's been running the banking giant for more than 20 years.

He later added that he prizes "flexibility of mind," "brain power," and emotional intelligence, and believes leaders should have "experience across the company" so they care about and respect its various divisions.

Lloyd Blankfein, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, made a similar point in his recent "Streetwise" memoir. He said that a recurring concern at the firm was that CEOs picked from its trading side wouldn't properly prioritize the investment-banking side, and vice versa.

Dimon, who has no immediate plans to retire, told analysts on the call that JPMorgan has a strong bench ready for his departure, whenever it happens. He pointed to operating chief Jennifer Piepszak and Mary Erdoes, the CEO of JPMorgan's asset and wealth management business.

"So it's a great team of people which I am fully confident if I was hit by a truck — which is not my preference — we would be fine," he quipped.

• A version of this post appears in the CMO Insider newsletter.
• Sign up for Business Insider's weekly marketing newsletter.

CMOs often treat hate comments on TikTok as a corporate reputation problem. BÉIS, the buzzy luggage brand founded by actor Shay Mitchell, is incorporating them into its product road map.

This week, BÉIS (pronounced "base") is rolling out major redesigns to many of its core products, the company exclusively told CMO Insider. That includes its much-reviewed and much-duped Weekender bag, which helped it build a cult following online.

Liz Money, SVP of brand and creative at BÉIS, said her team cataloged every negative TikTok video it could find about The Weekender — from complaints about its weight to criticism of its straps — and used those videos as a blueprint for the redesign. BÉIS is also sending the updated bag to some of its harshest critics, with no obligation to post about it. It embraced its fans on social media, too, by inviting them in to preview the product first and offer their feedback.

"Success to me is people seeing BÉIS as a brand that listens to their community," Money said. "Showing up as a brand that will make changes because you've asked for them is a really big deal."

A slew of brands — including appliance company SharkNinja and e.l.f. Beauty — have moved beyond social listening and made feedback a direct part of product development.

The redesign of The Weekender is a significant bet. No marketer wants a "new Coke" moment. The Weekender became BÉIS' breakout hit, helping turn the startup into a business generating $250 million in annual revenue. Money said the brand briefly considered a more radical redesign — and even a new logo — before concluding it risked losing eight years of accumulated brand equity.

"We obviously have a lot of equity built into The Weekender, so making massive changes to it and keeping that brand equity, that's very risky," Money said.

Building pre-launch excitement

BÉIS has been building intrigue for the relaunch by putting up "missing" posters around New York City, featuring its most popular luggage and promising a "reward" if turned in. The "reward" is a 20% trade-in discount if BÉIS owners bring their old bags to an event kicking off at a pop-up location in the city on Thursday.

Mitchell, BÉIS' founder, has featured in social media posts, variously reacting to "mean comments" and, separately, styling herself as a surgeon, hacking away at The Weekender's frame and straps. BÉIS has 1.3 million followers on Instagram and 606,000 on TikTok.

Behind the scenes, inventory management has presented another marketing challenge, Money said.

"The inventory, planning, and forecasting for our bestseller to be out of stock is very challenging and risky," Money said. "The amount of planning that just goes into that alone is insane."

BÉIS is also launching a twice-monthly interview podcast, hosted by actor Uche Moxam, who has previously been featured in the brand's marketing. Money said Moxam pitched the "Unpacked with Uche" podcast herself, and its development symbolizes how the company intends to work with large creators in its marketing going forward.

"Our goal with that is using influencers and creators as an extension of the brand, like an employee," Money said.

The redesign of The Weekender reflects a brand that had a direct-to-consumer breakout hit and now needs to mature, said Ana Andjelic, a business and brand strategist who formerly served as Banana Republic's chief brand officer.

"Having an amazing product is a prerequisite," Andjelic said. "They are now going through those growing pains because they did not build a competitive moat — which is a brand, or a community, or a membership, or content, or even retail locations."

• IBM CEO Arvind Krishna owned the shortfall that triggered the stock's worst day on record.
• Tech leaders say candor can build more credibility than trying to spin disappointing news.
• A longtime IBM insider says Krishna tells people what they need — not want — to hear.

When IBM delivered bad news on Tuesday, CEO Arvind Krishna didn't look for someone else to blame. He owned it.

Krishna, who is widely credited with turning IBM around since becoming CEO in 2020, said in a letter to investors that clients had redirected quarterly capital spending toward scarce infrastructure. Management underestimated the scale of that shift, contributing to the company's second-quarter shortfall.

"These conditions require our teams to execute perfectly, and this quarter we faltered," Krishna wrote. "We did not adapt and move quickly enough, and numerous large deals failed to close on the timelines we expected."

Though IBM's shares tanked in response, current and former tech executives told Business Insider that other leaders ought to emulate Krishna's candor. Owning a setback can strengthen a CEO's credibility longterm, they said, by showing that management understands the problem and is prepared to address it.

"He will develop more trust among his shareholders and employees and customers by being transparent," said former Cisco CEO John Chambers.

Leaders can gain more credibility from how they handle setbacks than from their successes, he added, though they need to move quickly. They should explain what happened, acknowledge what did not go as planned, and outline how they intend to get the business back on track.

"Rule 101 on setbacks: speed and be very visible," Chambers said.

Openness carries risks, though. Leaders facing a setback may not yet have complete answers, and acknowledging uncertainty can leave them vulnerable.

"You have to have the courage to say, 'Here's what I know. Here's what I don't know,' " Chambers said. "And that sometimes exposes you to critics."

Accepting responsibility

Gilad Bechar, CEO of Moburst, a digital marketing agency, described Krishna's remarks as "refreshing." He said CEOs often attribute disappointing results to outside forces such as tariffs or other macroeconomic headwinds.

"Usually you don't see Fortune 100 companies that are owning their situation like that," said Bechar. "They are very afraid of being this candid."

Krishna may have helped contain the damage by characterizing the shortfall as a forecasting error rather than as evidence that demand for the company's products and services had deteriorated, added Bechar. Showing that management understood what went wrong gives investors reason to believe the problem can be corrected, he said.

"If you're in control of the situation, you fully understand everything, and you just misjudge one specific element, it sounds like you're in a much better place," Bechar said.

Public-company leaders may be obligated to disclose material setbacks promptly, but accepting responsibility is a choice, said Jeffrey Puritt, the retired CEO of Telus International, a technology services provider now known as Telus Digital.

Krishna could have satisfied investors' need for information without explicitly owning up to management's mistake. By doing both, Puritt said, he demonstrated the accountability expected of someone in the top job.

"If you're the CEO, you get paid to take responsibility for the business's performance, win, lose, or draw," he said. Blaming others, Puritt added, would have been "a bit of a cop out."

'What you need to hear'

Krishna has spent more than three decades at IBM. He helped orchestrate the company's $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat, which closed in 2019, and became CEO the following year. Since then, he's led an overhaul centered on hybrid cloud, software, and artificial intelligence.

Rod Adkins, a former IBM executive who also spent more than three decades at the company, said transparency is consistent with Krishna's leadership style.

"He has always been what I would call an above-the-board executive," Adkins said. "He will deliver what you need to hear versus what you want to hear."

That approach is especially important at a company like IBM, whose technology supports mission-critical operations, such as banking transactions and systems used by healthcare providers, airlines, retailers, and government agencies.

"Part of the trusted brand is being authentic with your communications," Adkins said. "Transparency, especially today, is a very important leadership attribute."

• IBM's preliminary second-quarter earnings shocked investors and led to a record stock decline.
• The company is under pressure as customers shift spending away from software, towards servers and chips.
• The results further solidified an AI-trade hierarchy that's been emerging.

Everyone loves a good rivalry: Red Sox-Yankees. Real Madrid-Barcelona. Hyperscalers-chipmakers.

It's that last matchup that's commanded attention in the stock market lately. After a long period of hyperscaler dominance, the tables have turned and semiconductor makers — particularly producers of memory chips — have gone parabolic.

But as investors, pundits, and newsletter-writers everywhere have pitted these two groups against one another, the most pronounced struggle has been elsewhere, in software.

If chipmakers are the picks-and-shovels portion of the AI trade and hyperscalers are the builders, software providers are further downstream. They're the deployers and enablers. And in recent months, investors have continually shown that they prefer the more tangible end of the spectrum.

IBM's disastrous preliminary second-quarter earnings results were a prime example of that on Tuesday. It was bad enough that the company missed analyst estimates. But CEO Arvind Krishna rattled traders even further by acknowledging that IBM was slow to react to the shift away from software, towards servers and chips.

It reaffirmed what we've already been seeing for weeks: a rotation away from discretionary IT spending — an area where IBM thrives — in favor of more data-center-focused endeavors.

The stock-market comeuppance was swift and brutal. Shares plummeted 25%, their worst loss ever. Over the past week, IBM stock has gone from positive in 2026 to down 27% year to date. Life comes at you fast.

A widely traded ETF of software stocks initially tanked on the news before rebounding into positive territory on Tuesday, although it did lag the broader market. Notable software names like ServiceNow, Atlassian, Adobe, and Workday each slid more than 3%.

Meanwhile, a familiar winner emerged entirely unscathed, if not emboldened by the IBM earnings: Dell. To understand why, look no further than the PC-maker and budding AI power-player falls on the supply-chain spectrum.

Dell serves as a sort of connective tissue in between chipmakers and hyperscalers. It takes chips, builds complete AI servers and racks, and sells those to the Microsofts and Metas of the world. It's in the AI-buildout process at least two steps earlier than IBM.

And to add insult to injury for IBM, Dell's server and storage businesses will be among the main direct beneficiaries of Tuesday's grim earnings announcement, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Woo Jin Ho.

So the next time you're trying to sort through the confusing pile of AI winners and losers, the best thing you can do is figure out where a company falls on the AI-supply-chain ladder. As of right now, the higher the better.

• Refer is a "reverse recruiter" where job seekers, not employers, pay if they land a role.
• The startup's AI agent introduces candidates and employers only after both sides express interest.
• Refer recently raised a previously unannounced $7.5 million seed round.

Hansheng Liu's first attempt to find a job through the startup Refer didn't work out.

It was this past fall, and the recent computer science grad from the University of Illinois said he hadn't done enough to beef up his résumé. Liu then spent part of the winter building a website and a backend server so he could gain more experience.

That's when he went back to Refer, a so-called reverse recruiter for tech workers, where job seekers, not employers, pay a fee when they land a role.

Refer uses an AI agent to identify potential matches and introduce candidates to hiring managers and recruiters. If you get a job, you're charged 20% of your first month's salary.

The second time he tried Refer, Liu said his more robust résumé did the trick. He requested introductions to about a half-dozen companies, resulting, Liu said, in four interviews.

One of them was with a Bay Area firm that eventually hired him. So, when it came time to pay what Refer founder Andre Hamra calls a "success fee," Liu said he didn't mind.

"They helped me land a job," he said. "It's so worth it."

That kind of outcome is what Hamra is betting can reshape recruiting. The San Francisco startup, which recently raised a previously unannounced $7.5 million seed funding round on top of an earlier $2.5 million round, wants to give job seekers an agent that introduces them to employers after determining both sides are interested.

Refer is one of several companies using the reverse recruiter model. Hamra said the approach flips traditional recruiting, where recruiters earn a fee from employers when they fill a role.

"Their product is the candidate," Hamra said of recruiters. "Our product is the companies, the jobs. Our client is a candidate."

The approach comes as AI is remaking both sides of the hiring process. Companies have complained about AI-generated résumés that can feel indistinguishable from each other and bots that flood open roles with applications. Job seekers, meanwhile, often say the hiring process has become more impersonal because they get ghosted or never hear back at all.

An AI talent agent

Employers on the platform choose the roles they'll accept referrals for. Job seekers on Refer answer questions about their experience, desired salary, preferred location, the size of company they're looking for, any visa requirements, and what they want in a role. After both a candidate and an employer express interest in a match, Refer's AI agent, Lia, introduces them by email.

More than half of users secure an interview within 24 hours of an introduction, Hamra said. He compares the company's AI agent to a human agent that a celebrity or professional athlete might have — someone whose job is to spot opportunities.

Refer users can request up to five introductions to firms per day, and once the agent makes an intro, employers have three business days to respond. If a candidate rejects a proposed match, they can explain why, so the AI incorporates that feedback into future recommendations.

The platform has facilitated more than 5,000 interviews and grown to roughly 2,000 employers and about 7,000 open jobs, Hamra said. It recently expanded beyond its early focus on software engineers from Stanford and other top universities to US tech workers broadly.

Hamra, 29, said he started the company in mid-2024 after becoming frustrated with how difficult it was for talented people to find work that matched their abilities. He said he'd been helping people find jobs since he was a teenager in his native Brazil. Later, while in business school at Stanford, he put up flyers offering to help people find jobs. The demand he saw led him to create Refer.

A different way to get noticed

Refer's model stood out to Sam Fankuchen, founder and CEO of Golden, which develops AI software for nonprofits to manage volunteers and donors. Golden has hired multiple employees through Refer and plans to do so again, he said.

"The kinds of candidates who join their service are so intentional about finding the right career fit that they don't mind absorbing the cost of the transaction," he said.

By contrast, he said some candidates working with traditional recruiters may prioritize maximizing compensation and changing jobs every couple of years.

Arjun Bakhale, founder of GreenLight, a software startup focused on clinical trials in healthcare, said he used Refer while a student to get an internship through an introduction to a startup's CEO.

Bakhale said he preferred that approach, despite the fee, because with the standard job-search process, "There's a good chance that the application just hits a brick wall."

The introduction to someone on the inside gave him confidence that he'd have a better shot at landing the role, he said.

"I know for a fact that the CEO, or someone higher up in the company calling shots, has seen my profile," Bakhale said.

Liu, the Illinois grad, said he would use Refer again, though he would like to see more companies join the platform — something Hamra said the company plans to use the new funding to help accomplish.

Still, after months of applying to roles on his own, Liu said Refer delivered what a traditional job search often didn't: a direct introduction. For the role he accepted, that meant getting connected to someone in the HR department.

"That is pretty useful," he said.

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

• Full-time trader Erik Smolinski uses after-action reviews (AARs) to refine his strategy.
• He shared his 19-slide AAR for the first half of 2026 with Business Insider.
• He believes all investors can benefit from regular reviews to check returns, fees, and portfolio fit.

Erik Smolinski, a full-time trader, has outperformed the S&P 500 by a wide margin. From Jan. 1 through July 6, 2026, he said his account returned 33.44%, compared with 10.79% for the index. Over the trailing 12 months, he said it gained 57.01%, versus 21.49% for the S&P 500.

His process is highly structured.

Smolinski maintains a detailed trading plan and trading log, then regularly evaluates both through after-action reviews, or AARs.

The exercise helps him assess what worked, what didn't, and what needs to change.

"I have different strategies and profit mechanisms that are designed to do different things — some of them are fairly persistent, and some of them are not, which means some of them will make good money when they work, but then they won't always work," he told Business Insider in 2025. "You have to know when to stop doing those things and pivot to something else."

Smolinski said he approaches full-time trading as a business: "And guess what big businesses do? They have quarterly earnings reports. What is that? That's an AAR."

He shared his 19-slide AAR for the first half of 2026, breaking down his performance, decision-making, and lessons from the period. Below are several of the slides — and what they reveal about his process.

He begins with a one-frame overview of the year.

Smolinski said the regime analysis is the most interesting part of the deck. It divides the first half of 2026 and the opening days of July into five distinct market environments: a low-volatility grind, a roughly 9% geopolitical drawdown, a V-shaped recovery, a June pullback led by mega-cap stocks, and a more dispersed, lower-correlation rebound.

What stood out, he said, was how quickly the market moved from one environment to the next. The year packed "four to five very different regimes" into a compressed window.

For investors, the lesson is to remain calm as conditions change.

"Stay calm if things seem a bit more volatile," he said. "Also, be careful if you're basing decisions on longer-term trends that are in flux."

Slide No. 6 highlights a quieter but important shift: Market leadership was broadening beyond the handful of mega-cap companies that have dominated the major indexes.

The "'Mag 7 drives everything' regime is not in vogue right now," Smolinski said. Instead, he was seeing broader performance differences both within large- and mega-cap stocks and across market-cap segments, with small caps doing particularly well.

"Mag 7" is shorthand for the Magnificent Seven: Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL), Meta Platforms (META), Tesla (TSLA), and Nvidia (NVDA).

Slide No. 13 examines how quickly investors bought the first half's only pullback of at least 3%.

After falling 9.1%, the S&P 500 recovered its losses in 11 trading days — three days faster than the median recovery time for comparable drawdowns from 2021 through 2025.

To Smolinski, the speed of the rebound suggested that the forces supporting the market had remained intact despite the volatility. The episode "broadly indicates that despite the short-term volatility, underlying market drivers are still in force and supported by broader positioning," he said.

Still, he cautioned against drawing a sweeping conclusion from a single event. The data describe one rapid buying dip, not definitive proof that every future decline will reverse just as quickly.

One of the biggest risks Smolinski is watching in the second half is a renewed rise in interest rates.

At the time he prepared the review, futures markets were pricing in the possibility of a Fed rate hike at the September meeting. Such a move could have "a pretty significant impact" on the broadening trend he identified earlier, he said, potentially curbing small-cap stocks' momentum and partially restoring the relative leadership of mega-cap and technology companies.

Toward the end of the H1 review, Smolinski offers three scenarios for the second half.

He closes the review by scrutinizing the analysis itself: where the data came from, how he tested his claims, and where the conclusions may be less reliable.

He built the review using freely available data, including market prices from the yfinance library, economic and interest-rate data from the Federal Reserve's FRED database, and the Cboe SKEW Index as a gauge of tail risk.

Smolinski believes that individual investors can benefit from a similar exercise. You don't necessarily need to build a 19-slide deck, but start by scheduling a structured checkup, perhaps quarterly or at least annually, to ask whether your investments still align with your goals and risk tolerance.

A useful place to begin is performance.

"For the regular investor, a great thing to compare your performance against is SPY, QQQ, IWM, TLT, and GLD," he said. "Compare the performance of your holdings against those five tickers and just ask yourself, 'Am I cool with this? Do I think that I'm set up appropriately?' And if so, great, you don't have to do anything."

An AAR may simply confirm that your portfolio is behaving as intended, but it can also expose excessive fees, persistent underperformance, or an investment that no longer serves its original purpose.

"You might find that the mutual fund you're in is actually sucking the soul out of your account, causing higher costs and lower returns," Smolinski said. "And you might make a change."

• Morningstar unveiled its latest list of high-conviction stock picks.
• The investment research firm regularly highlights undervalued investment ideas.
• Microsoft, Charles Schwab, and Broadcom make the list amid the latest bout of volatility.

Markets are at a volatile juncture, but there are five stocks that are looking like good bets for investors looking for a deal, Morningstar says.

The investment research firm unveiled its latest list of high-conviction stock picks, a cluster of investment recommendations that are generally made up of companies it sees as undervalued.

The list is coming at a hectic moment in the markets. On the one hand, investors are navigating a rotation in the AI trade, with some of the hottest chip and memory names selling off as traders take profits and steer into lesser-loved areas of the market.

On the other hand, geopolitical tensions and noise about inflation continue to cloud the investment outlook for the second half of the year.

Earnings season also kicks into high gear this week, a crucial moment as the market decides who the winners of the AI trade will be.

Here are the five undervalued stocks Morningstar says investors should consider:

Microsoft

Ticker: MSFT

Morningstar rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Estimated price vs. fair value: 35% discount

YTD performance: -17%

Rationale: Microsoft has a wide economic moat, with its business being protected by factors like its cost advantage and the "network effect," Dave Sekera, a US market strategist at Morningstar, said, referring to the tech giant's large existing user base.

Despite a brutal sell-off this year, the firm is on track for a 15% compound annual revenue growth rate, Morningstar estimated.

"Overall, when I look at Microsoft, I think that the company has a lot of different ways that it'll be able to benefit from artificial intelligence, both to the upside if artificial intelligence is everything that everyone claims that it is," Sekera said.

Charles Schwab

Ticker: SCHW

Morningstar rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Estimated price vs. fair value: 12% discount

YTD performance: about flat

Rationale: Schwab was added to Morningstar's best picks list for the third quarter.

Shares sold off earlier this year due to fears that the Fed will raise interest rates, but the company is likely "overly penalized," Sekera said, pointing to how the business has expanded into areas besides its retail brokerage in recent years.

"The trend here has been pretty much solid and steady growth, both the stock price moving up over that time period as well as moving up our fair value as well," he added.

Broadcom

Ticker: AVGO

Morningstar rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Estimated price vs. fair value: 41% discount

YTD performance: +13%

Rationale: Broadcom remains on Morningstar's quarterly best picks list, largely due to its growth potential stemming from AI. The firm's AI revenue will likely surpass $100 billion in the 2027 fiscal year, and will likely to reach $200 billion in 2028, Sekera said.

"Our analyst thinks that the market is underestimating the amount of growth in XPUs over the next couple of years. In fact, he thinks the company's guidance is pretty conservative," he added.

Clorox

Ticker: CLX

Morningstar rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Estimated price vs. fair value: 39% discount

YTD performance: -6%

Rationale: Clorox has positive long-term earnings potential, though household purchases have slowed in the post-pandemic years.

Sekera said he expected sales to rebound this year, with revenue likely settling at a 4% year-over-year pace going forward.

"The market is looking for either earnings decline or for earnings over the longer term to be stagnant at best. In this case, any kind of sign that the company's earnings are going back to more of that normalized type of growth, really, I think, can cause this stock to rally quickly," he said.

Devon Energy

Ticker: DVN

Morningstar rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Estimated price vs. fair value: 20% discount

YTD performance: +14%

Rationale: Devon has long been a standout in the oil exploration and production space, Sekera said.

Shares also sold off slightly as oil prices cooled in the past month, making it more attractive than other energy firms from a valuation standpoint.

The firm's balance sheet also remains "pretty strong," with the breakeven cost for a barrel of oil being roughly $44 a barrel, per Morningstar's estimates.

"Devon is really the one that probably has the best combination we see of valuation and dividend potential. It's one of the lowest-cost producers in the US along the shale cost curve," Sekera added.

• Cierra Desmaratti says beauty matters in the corporate world as an actuarial analyst.
• She spends $800 on her hair every three months and gets her makeup professionally done for events.
• Moving to Miami helped her embrace her authentic style and feel more confident at work.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Cierra Desmaratti, a 27-year-old actuarial analyst based in Miami. It's been edited for length and clarity.

As an actuarial analyst, I've felt a lot of pressure to be viewed as competent. I'm a very feminine person, and I've grappled with how to express my feminine sense of style without undermining how seriously people take me.

When I was working at Deloitte in Chicago, I wore neutral colors and pants every day, trying to find acceptance through conformity.

Moving to a place as colorful and expressive as Miami has inspired me to embrace my femininity and find ways to show up at work confidently and authentically. I spend my days in dresses and heels, and even spend $800 every three months to get my hair done.

Some people might say it's extra, but beauty matters in the corporate world in the sense that we're judged first by our appearance. It's important to look clean and professional, but it's also important for me to feel like myself.

I love wearing dresses and getting my makeup professionally done for events

I'm a girly girl. I like to spend money on my looks, buy new dresses, and get my hair done. Miami's environment has given me the courage to express my professional identity, to allow myself to be seen, and to hopefully attract people who resonate with me.

The majority of my budget goes towards hair, dresses, and makeup. I actually took a makeup class to learn how to enhance my natural everyday makeup look, and I also enjoy and invest in getting my makeup professionally done before my networking events.

On average, I spend $150 to $400 a month for clothes, makeup, and accessories.

I host professional networking events for my group, The Rising Visionaries, once a month, which means the cost of maintaining my beauty and personal brand image is higher than when I started at Deloitte.

I think the way I dress now makes me more relatable

My current analyst job is remote, so my calls are online, but for the networking events I host, I dress much differently than I used to at my previous job in Chicago. These days, I like to wear nice dresses and heels, whereas I used to wear a white sweater and some pants.

I haven't felt any negativity since dressing this way. As a matter of fact, I think I've become more relatable. I want people to see me for who I am, and to attract aligned people and opportunities.

I'm sure there are some traditional analysts who see my LinkedIn posts about fashion and are confused about why and how I'm so into fashion and actuarial science, but I want to show that you can be a woman who embraces beauty, authenticity, and femininity and still be competent.

My hair used to impact my confidence at work

Growing up, I always wanted long, beautiful hair, but I didn't always take the best care of my natural 4C, coily hair texture. I also didn't have the finances to.

When I was working at Deloitte, I found it hard to balance caring for my naturally high-maintenance hair with work, and I ended up with a lot of breakage. That affected my confidence at work.

Now that I'm finally in a position to achieve the look I want, I go all in. Every two to three months, I jump on a plane home and catch up with my hairdresser for my three-and-a-half-hour appointment.

I get a sew-in, which requires her to wash and blow out my hair, braid it, sew in the extensions, put a closure on it, and style it. If I want to add color, she colors the extensions beforehand.

As a Black woman, my hair is a big part of my identity

My hair is my crown. It's a big part of my identity. I feel powerful and confident when I show my face in rooms or online now. My long hair makes me feel feminine, regal, and like a power boss.

Whether we love it or not, the first thing people see about us is our appearance, and for me, my hair is such a big part of what frames my face.

Even though my extensions are expensive, I want high-quality human hair that feels like it's coming from my own head. I've never felt more like me at work and in life, and it's so worth it.

Do you have a story to share about how you've invested in your appearance for the workplace? If so, please reach out to the reporter at tmartinelli@businessinsider.com.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Nicki Schroeder, 57, who lives in London. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

After I had my daughter in 2001, it gradually became clear that she had autism.

At the time, I was a media lawyer at a firm where I had worked since 1994. I worked on libel cases, which I loved, but there weren't enough hours in the day to juggle the demands of my job with my daughter's needs, so something had to give.

In 2004, when my daughter was 3, I left my job and was prepared to step back from work for as long as needed. Thankfully, my husband, who worked in banking, could financially support us and our two children.

A decade would pass before I jumped back into my career. It was a time of personal growth, and if I could go back in time, I'd still choose to take those 10 years off.

I never felt unfulfilled during my career break

When I gave up work, I didn't have to think, "What am I going to do with my day?" My diary filled up so quickly.

I would take my daughter, who is my second child, to speech and language therapy and occupational therapy. When she was 3, she started at a specialist school for children with autism, where I became a chair of the governing body. I also took on other voluntary and personal projects, like becoming a charity director, and embarking on separate psychology and English diplomas.

I never felt unfulfilled. I used the same analytical and business skills that I did at work, just in a different context.

It was lovely knowing nothing was left on the table as far as my daughter's care and development were concerned, and to enjoy family life when we had a third child.

I'm lucky that getting back to my career was plain sailing

After my third child started school in 2013, I had extra time on my hands and came across an ad for the perfect job, working four days a week in a legal role at a media organization.

I thought I might have an edge. My previous work experience was relevant, and the job involved lobbying, which I'd done some of for disability rights during my break.

But the closing date was 5 p.m. that day, and it was already 3 p.m. I rushed to put together and submit a résumé. By the time my husband got home at 7 p.m., I'd already been invited for an interview.

The interviewers asked me if I'd find it difficult to return to work. I said no, because being a lawyer is mostly about having good judgment. No lawyer can advise on absolutely everything without doing some independent research. I might have to check things a bit more in the early days of my new job, I said, but my judgment was still there.

I snapped back into work with support from my network

I'm lucky that getting back to my career was plain sailing. Having a strong network was massively helpful, as people were very generous with their support. To help me with the interview process, I phoned people in the industry that I had kept in touch with and asked them to help bring me up to speed on the field. When I was offered the role, those same people put together a reading list of key precedents decided over the previous 10 years to help me go back to work.

It was funny to see how quickly I snapped back into things. On my first day, someone asked me a question about contempt of court over the phone. It was satisfying to think, "I know the answer to this."

Having high-quality, trusted childcare was also absolutely crucial in the years after I went back to work. We had several trained special needs nannies who looked after my daughter. It takes a village.

Don't apologize for taking a career break

I started the job in January 2014, but switched companies after roughly nine months, when I got a chance to work at a UK news channel. Then I moved to Discovery, and now I work at a newspaper group as a general counsel.

It has been roughly 12 years since I've been back in the workforce. My 10-year break comes up in conversation sometimes, but it's a bit like saying, "I used to be blonde." It's not like it's foremost in mine or anyone else's thoughts. I don't remember being asked about my career gap during interviews for those later jobs.

It's important not to be defensive or apologetic about the fact that you've taken a career break. Whether you've been trekking around Australia, bringing up your kids, or looking after elderly parents, you will almost certainly have done something during that break that you can talk about with energy and enthusiasm when you're looking for a new job.

Have you taken a career break and would like to share your story with Business Insider? Contact this reporter: ccheong@insider.com

• Economist Nouriel Roubini warns inflation remains the top risk for markets.
• He sees the potential for CPI to rise to 5-6%, which could push the 10-year Treasury yield "closer to" 8%.
• Key inflation drivers include geopolitical tensions, deglobalization, and government spending.

Famed economist Nouriel Roubini, whose bearish forecasts on the economy have earned him the moniker of "Dr. Doom," says inflation remains the biggest risk for markets.

In a July 9 interview with Business Insider, Roubini listed a handful of structural factors that he says will put upward pressure on consumer prices, potentially sending the consumer price index to levels around 5-6%, up significantly from June's inflation rate of 3.5%.

Here's what will drive inflation higher, according to Roubini:

• Geopolitical tensions. A prime example is the US-Iran war, which has driven oil and other commodity prices higher since March. Those increases directly impact consumers and threaten to leak into prices in other areas of the economy.
• Deglobalization. Governments continue to become more protectionist, reversing the deflationary force that has been deglobalization. Exhibit A: President Donald Trump's tariff measures. "There's a backlash against the free movement of goods, services, capital, labor, data, information, technology," Roubini said. "All those frictions are to some degree inflationary."
• Government spending. Government budget deficits and overall debt levels continue to soar as spending increases and higher interest rates balloon debt bills.
• Climate change. Rising global temperatures and extreme weather will lead to food supply shocks and higher insurance costs.
• Populist political leaders. "You have backlash against liberal democracy and democratic capitalism, so populist parties of either extreme right or extreme left are following policies that are gradually inflationary and anti-market," Roubini said.

Roubini warned of drastic consequences for long-duration bond yields if inflation trends higher. A CPI of 5% to 6% would put the 10-year Treasury yield "closer to" 8%, he said. That would be their highest levels since 1994, and a dramatic increase from current levels around 4.58%.

"A few years ago they were at 1%, now they're already at 4.5% and rising, and they'll be gradually rising given all these different risks," he said of 10-year bond yields.

Other structural factors beyond market forces could also push up yields, he said. For example, rising government debt levels mean the Treasury has to borrow more. Without a commensurate increase in demand, higher supply of bonds means higher yields.

An outcome where 10-year yields rise to the 8% range would likely be disastrous for stocks, as investors tend to measure the risk they're taking in equities versus the risk-free rate of return offered in US Treasurys.

For now, Roubini's view is far from consensus on Wall Street, and there are some barriers to inflation running as hot as he predicts.

Perhaps chief among them is the new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, who has so far been much more of a policy hawk than markets were expecting. On Tuesday, he told Congress that the central bank will have "no tolerance" for inflation.

Another is artificial intelligence. Technology has historically been a disinflationary force, and AI is expected to boost productivity levels without a corresponding increase in labor costs. Roubini himself has acknowledged this competing force recently.

On Tuesday, inflation looked to be on the decline, as June's CPI report came in at 3.5% year-over-year, down from 4.2% in May and much cooler than economists were expecting.

Roubini's comments come has he launches a blockchain token backed by his Atlas America Fund. The ETF invests around Roubini's inflation thesis, providing exposure to short-term Treasurys, REITs, gold, and commodities. Since launching in November 2024, it is up 9.1% while yielding 2.45% annually.

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine started out in uncrewed naval combat by rigging driverless speedboats to slam into Russian warships and explode. The unusual tactic worked, rattling a classically superior navy.

Then Russia adapted, forcing Ukraine to again get creative.

Now, Ukraine is increasingly transforming its drone boats into drone motherships. These vessels can set attack drones loose on enemy defenders or launch interceptors for a new kind of coastal air defense. The approach allows Ukraine to strike or defend from farther away, from less predictable directions, and with cheaper systems than traditional weaponry.

"The vessels were required to do more than simply function as kamikaze platforms," a unit commander in Ukraine's military intelligence agency, known as the GUR, told Business Insider. "They had to carry and deploy FPV drones, interceptor drones — which are part of today's battlefield reality."

The emergence of drone motherships marks a distinct shift in how the drone war is being fought. Small drones make precision attacks cheap and widely available, but they still face limits in range, endurance, resistance to enemy jamming, and operator exposure.

By turning boats, aircraft, and vehicles into mobile launch platforms, Ukrainian forces can push smaller systems much deeper into the battlespace in unexpected ways.

Business Insider recently traveled to Ukraine and spoke with arms makers, service members, and defense officials working on these systems. They shared war stories and described motherships not as a single breakthrough weapon but as a practical adaptation for a battlefield where launch points, range, speed, and survivability increasingly determine whether small drones can be effective.

Russia first saw the potential of drone motherships in the air

Motherships began to appear on the battlefield last year, ushering in a new chapter of drone warfare.

Conflict analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, said in October that Russian forces had been using motherships since at least August 2025 to target Ukrainian logistics routes and positions in the near rear. They said the systems were based on variants of Russia's fixed-wing Orlan and Molniya drones.

Ukrainian soldiers later described the Molniya motherships to Business Insider as something akin to an "aircraft carrier," able to fly dozens of miles, release a few first-person-view (FPV) drones closer to Ukrainian positions, and even carry heavy payloads such as anti-tank mines.

Ukraine has since begun to develop its own motherships, capitalizing on the concept.

Oleksiy Vyskub, Ukraine's first deputy defense minister, framed motherships as part of the country's constant cycle of wartime adaptation, where new battlefield problems demand new technical solutions every few months.

Motherships have "been actively tested right now by our advanced units," Vyskub told Business Insider in Kyiv. He hesitated to call them game-changing on their own, though. They are, he said, one more component in an arsenal that keeps changing as the war evolves.

Ukraine moved the mothership concept to ground robots and sea drones

While motherships began as fixed-wing drones carrying FPVs into battle, they have since expanded to all types of drones, including ground and naval systems.

The idea is rapidly spreading across domains. Ukrainian arms makers, for instance, are adapting uncrewed ground vehicles for wider missions, and Business Insider saw inside one of the companies driving this shift. Ratel Robotics is building war robots that can launch FPVs and may eventually deploy interceptor drones.

However, the clearest example of the mothership concept may be at sea, where naval drones are changing both coastal air defense and waterborne strike operations.

In April, the Ukrainian military said it had destroyed a Russian Shahed for the first time using an interceptor launched from a naval drone. Wild Hornets, a Ukrainian company that makes the popular "Sting" interceptor drone for combating Russian Shahed-style one-way attack drones, later confirmed its involvement in the operation.

A Wild Hornets spokesperson, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details, told Business Insider at a secret training site near Kyiv that naval drones offer a practical launch platform for the Sting because they can help defend cities along the Black Sea. Odesa, Ukraine's major Black Sea port, is a frequent target of Russian drone attacks.

For Ukraine, naval drones have become one of the clearest examples of how flexible the mothership concept can be.

The GUR commander, who asked to be referred to by his call sign Ninth, oversees a unit that uses a multi-purpose naval drone called the "Katran." Made by the Ukrainian enterprise Military Armored Company HUB, the uncrewed vessel can launch FPV and interceptor drones.

Ninth recalled one attack in which Russian Coast Guard personnel tried to stop a group of Katran drones with small-arms fire. He said he ordered the motherships to launch FPV drones, which swarmed the Russian personnel and killed several of them.

For Ninth's unit, strike operations remain the main mission. Air defense is secondary, but he said the naval drones can help when needed.

"We do not function as a conventional air defense formation," he said. "We contribute selectively, as one element within a larger operation."

Even crewed aircraft are becoming drone carriers

Motherships are not limited to uncrewed systems. Ukraine is also using crewed aircraft as launch platforms for smaller drones.

Wild Hornets said in April that it launched a Sting interceptor from an Antonov An-28, a Soviet-era turboprop aircraft, during a combat mission.

The Wild Hornets spokesperson said the company is working to make Sting more compatible with airborne platforms. The approach is harder to execute than a ground launch, he said, but it could get interceptors into position faster and widen the area they can defend.

Nazar, a Wild Hornets instructor who requested to be identified by his call sign over security concerns, said motherships are the future and described their development as an important investment for Ukraine.

"It moves us away from the tactic where the interceptor launches from the ground," he told Business Insider. "Instead, we can use some kind of carrier that can stay in the air longer and even fly closer to the target, reducing the distance the interceptor itself has to cover."

The shorter that final flight, be it that of a defensive interceptor or an offensive drone, the more dangerous Ukraine's smallest weapons ultimately become.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ann Crady Weiss, the CEO of Hatch, a sleep and rest company based in the Bay Area. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I've been an entrepreneur since 2005. I started out as a corporate securities lawyer, then moved into business.

My first company was in the parent-baby space: I started a social network called Maya's Mom in 2006, before Facebook was open to anyone other than college kids and MySpace was all the rage. I sold it to a division of Johnson & Johnson.

My husband, Dave Weiss, whom I met during the acquisition process, and I founded the sleep device company Hatch Baby in 2014 and, in 2020, the smart alarm maker Hatch. We're all about helping people change their behavior so that they can take better care of themselves.

Here's what a day in my life in California looks like.

7:15 a.m. — Waking up with a sunrise alarm

My phone is in my room, but it's not next to my bed. I wake up to a gentle sunrise, the feature on my Hatch Restore that gradually lights up and mimics a natural sun.

Fifteen minutes after that, the sound alarm goes off. If I do need to be woken up at this point, I get woken up by very loud music. Usually, the sunrise does the job. If I'm not out of bed by 7:40 a.m., my 13-year-old son wakes me up.

In the first 30 minutes of my day, I try not to look at my phone. I prefer to let my brain come online slowly. I've learned that how I start the day really affects how reactive or intentional I am.

7:45 a.m. — Phone-free breakfast

My husband sleeps in while my son and I go downstairs and walk the dog. I make us Chobani Greek yogurt, topped with granola that my mom makes at home, and add honey and fruit, though no fruit for my son.

We hang out together with the policy of no phones at breakfast. I sometimes sneak my phone to quickly check Slack, but otherwise, we stick to it rigidly. My son heads off to school at 8:20 a.m.

Then, my husband and I spend some time together. I make coffee for us, which is a love language for me. I try to avoid the news first thing; it tends to pull me into other people's priorities before I've set my own.

8:30 a.m. — Working out, or telling myself I will

About three days a week, I work out right when my son leaves, whether it's a short walk or a session on my Tonal. I'd love to say that I work out five days a week for hours at a time, but I don't.

On days I don't work out, I start work right away. Either way, I'm dialed in at my desk on the other side of my bedroom between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m.

9:30 a.m. — Priorities and back-to-back meetings

Each day, I write a Post-It note with the top three things I need to get done.

Our company is fully remote, so my day begins with back-to-back video calls. I try to front-load my day with the most important thinking, and keep meetings to a tight 30 minutes.

I try to block out an hour and a half of focused work time, although unfortunately, I'm not doing a great job of protecting it.

There's a lot of context switching in my meetings — team check-ins, product reviews, marketing, recruiting — so I try to leave buffer time between meetings to regroup. Otherwise, the day blurs.

12:30 p.m — Quick lunch and reset

I tend to eat at my desk. I often have Trader Joe's chicken soup dumplings, plus blueberries or a banana, for lunch. My go-to afternoon snack is a square of chocolate, dried mango, or a LaraBar.

If I can, I'll take a short walk around lunchtime. It's one of the fastest ways for me to reset mentally.

3 p.m. — Meetings and curveballs

Afternoons are usually more of the same. However, barely a day goes by without something disrupting my schedule.

Recently, we've been working on an important launch that adds contactless sleep tracking to our device. We're working with a new manufacturer, and the chip they needed didn't arrive on time. We had to drop everything to figure out how to get all the components we needed to make it happen.

5 p.m. — Hello and hugs

My son comes home from school, and my husband, who is now retired from the business, usually spends time with him in the afternoons. At 5 p.m., I come downstairs, say hello, and give them both a hug.

I try to wrap my core workday around 6 p.m., but like most CEOs, it's not a clean stop.

6 p.m. — Family time

I take a break to cook and connect with my family. I'm time-boundary-oriented, but if some flexibility is needed, I don't stick to rigid rules. My favorite dinners to cook are chicken-veggie stir-fry over white rice, pasta with pesto and steamed broccoli, and salad with grilled chicken.

Ideally, evenings are family time — dinner, driving to or from basketball practice, and hanging out. If the Warriors are playing, we'll watch an NBA game together.

6:30 p.m. — My best work of the day

If we're not doing something together as a family, my son has screen time from 7-9 p.m., and I find I can really focus on my work then. That's the only time in the day when no one is Slacking me or trying to get in touch.

9p.m. — I'm done

At nine, I put my phone away. I find that saying '9 o'clock, I'm going to bed' is really important for my mental health. My Restore signals that for me: a white light comes on.

If I'm not yet in bed reading, it's my cue to get there. We know from our research that you need time to signal to your body that the day is finished.

My husband, my son, and I all read physical books in our bed, with my son in the middle. I read only fiction. That's my me time, and my favorite part of the day.

10 p.m. — Going to sleep with an audiobook

My son usually decides he's tired and heads to his room. When I'm ready to sleep, my Restore plays me an unwind.

Right now, I'm listening to an abridged version of "Little Women" that we created. I usually get 12 minutes in and fall asleep while I'm listening.

Weekends for me are pretty full, in the best way

We have a puppy named Graham. He has more energy than the rest of us combined, so a trip to the dog park is non-negotiable most days. I work out on the weekends with a small group of friends, and it's one of the things I protect most.

The rest of our time is split between our kids: from talking through early career stuff on the phone with our oldest to cheering on our youngest at basketball. When I do get a quiet stretch, I disappear into a book, ideally something that makes me cry.

My mom is around a lot, and most weekends my whole family is all in the same room at once. Our neighbor will wander over with his daughter because my husband baked a pie and will stay for a slice. It's the kind of neighborhood where everyone's doors are open, and the kids grew up together. We've been intentional about building this community for years, and I think that's what makes it rare.

Los Touré and Marc Mueller, two software engineers, call themselves a "boy band."

They're not making music. They're making apps.

"It's app music, not rap music," Touré, whose legal name is Carlos Mayers, told me at his startup's office in downtown New York City.

Danger Testing — which is something between a tech startup and a performance art project — has become Touré and Mueller's full-time business. After meeting at a tech party in 2024, well before "vibe coding" was a buzzword, the two formally joined forces in April 2025.

Since then, they've dropped more than 50 apps. Some are wonky websites, others are interactive mobile games.

One of their apps, called "Performative," is simply a digital Labubu doll. At the height of the Friend AI ads saga in New York City last year — when the AI wearable startup stirred buzz and civilian outrage over its ads — Danger Testing launched a website where people could vandalize a digital version of the NYC subway ads. When Drake dropped new music in May, they spun up a fake version of Spotify to stream fake Drake songs.

It's all vibe-coded.

Touré said the pair consider themselves part of a new "creative class" they have dubbed "appstars."

"It's someone that is going to treat apps the same way that any other creative would treat any other medium," he added.

Another way of phrasing it: They are vibe-coding creators.

Danger Testing's apps aren't meant to be the next Facebook or TikTok, and Touré and Mueller don't focus on downloads, retention, or other typical app success metrics.

Danger Testing's fan base is more important than the user bases of their apps. Like the biggest stars on YouTube and TikTok, they are looking for social virality: views, comments, and reach.

They are also building their business around a creator economy staple: brand deals. One of their first sponsorships was with voice-to-text company Superwhisper on a digital walkie-talkie.

Danger Testing has raised $2.6 million in venture capital funding to date from firms Long Journey Ventures, Asylum Ventures, Tiny VC, and Common Magic.

Josh Kaplan, CEO of Smooth Media, which manages creators in the tech and AI category, said interactive media — in the form of apps — has the potential to become a new layer of the creator economy.

In a social media landscape of endless scrolling and AI slop, content that makes someone stop can be refreshingly engaging and participatory.

"That's what's going to break through the noise," Kaplan said.

Churning out apps like content

The vibe-coding tech stack has grown rapidly since Andrej Karpathy, a founding member of OpenAI, coined the term in 2025. Anthropic's Claude Code, OpenAI's Codex, and a slew of startups like Cursor, Lovable, and Replit are redefining coding while raising billions in funding.

"Two years ago, I was working at a company. I was a lead iOS engineer," Touré said. "I was writing code all day." However, for Touré, coding an app the old-school way is now a thing of the past.

For Touré and Mueller, the hustle of being a modern-day coder looks a lot more like being a content creator than sitting at a tech startup's desk all day.

"Making an app that makes someone recognize me on the street as the 'app guy' is so much more interesting than being another SaaS person," Touré told me, referring to the acronym for software as a service. "With respect to all the SaaS people."

To be a creator, all you need nowadays is a smartphone with a camera. That's quickly becoming the case for vibe coding, too.

According to data published by The Information in April, Apple's App Store witnessed an 84% increase in new app submissions year-over-year for the first quarter of 2026.

Welcome to the vibe-coded creator economy

Touré and Mueller said the animating force of their initial partnership was figuring out how to marry the worlds of creators and coders.

"How would a MrBeast of apps look like?" Mueller said. "How would a YouTube of apps look like?"

Danger Testing likens the cadence at which they're dropping apps to how frequently a YouTuber would upload to their channel. In between vibe-coding sessions, Touré and Mueller create more traditional content with short-form videos, posts on X, a Substack newsletter, Instagram pages, and livestreams.

The apps supplement the content with something tangible that their followers — or internet passersby — can interact with.

"Every app needs to have a screenshot moment," Mueller said. "One very strange moment where you're like, 'What is going on? I need to send this to my friend.' That informs a lot of the vibe coding or designing we do."

Meanwhile, Danger Testing is sketching out the business model for vibe-coding creators like themselves.

There are costs associated with the vibe-coding creator economy. Mueller said Claude Code costs Danger Testing about $4,000 a month. Other costs include web hosting, content tools, and app-building tools like Supabase and Figma. Danger Testing has six full-time employees, Touré said.

For now, brand sponsorships are the primary revenue model.

"Advertisers are looking for these software marketing stunts right now," Mueller said of brand deals.

Kaplan said that tech companies more broadly have a "storytelling problem." Working with tech content creators, like Danger Testing, can help those companies "feel more human," he added.

More AI-savvy creators could be on the way.

As Danger Testing expands, it wants to grow into something of an agency — or, as Mueller described, a record label — for signing other vibe-coding creators.

"We want to connect the creatives and help them build a fan base — audience — around the tools and software they drop," Mueller said.

A viral fad — or a vibe-coding revolution?

Apps-as-content is the thesis driving Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian's investment in vibe-coding apps like Vibecode.

"As more people look to build, remix, and distribute quick-turn ideas, our investment aligns with the belief that the next billion-dollar platforms will be those that allow people to continually 'ship' creative output as easily as posting content online," he previously told Business Insider.

Startups like Sekai and Wabi, which have each raised millions, are trying to build social platforms around vibe-coded content.

It's reaching mainstream platforms, too. This year, Meta hired the team behind the vibe-coding social app Gizmo, which let people create interactive content (like mini-games) in a vertical feed with only a few words. Now, Meta's gearing up to release its own similar app called Pocket.

Amber Atherton, an investor at gaming and consumer-focused VC fund Patron, thinks Danger Testing is onto something. She said they're cracking what a new "ephemeral" meme looks like in the AI content era.

"Apps are going to be the new media," Atherton said.

Like many things online, these ephemeral apps could be the latest fad to come and go. In the AI era, though, consumers are hungry for new content formats.

"For so long, Instagram was like, who's the hottest?" Kaplan said. "When there's these other creative tools, such as making apps, different types of people can thrive."

• An FAA video says passengers taking bags during an aircraft evacuation slows down the escape.
• Analysts said the time spent retrieving carry-ons has contributed to accident-related deaths.
• A study found passenger misunderstandings about aircraft evacuation procedures and timing.

Aviation regulators say some passengers are making a dangerous mistake during aircraft evacuations: Trying to leave with their bags.

In an X post on Monday, the Federal Aviation Administration shared a video showing viral clips of people running off planes or jumping down emergency slides with their carry-ons in tow. The warning comes after repeated incidents in which passengers tried to grab their overhead or underseat luggage during an emergency.

"In the event of an emergency aircraft evacuation, the safety of you and your fellow passengers is top priority," the post said. "Every second counts."

On the FAA's passenger evacuations website, it says that flyers stopping to retrieve their bags can slow escapes, block aisles, and damage the inflatable emergency slides.

It adds that since January 1, 2023, more than 40 people have been injured during emergency evacuations.

The website also reminds passengers not to use their phones during evacuations, as taking photos or videos can slow the process, and to remove high heels to avoid puncturing the emergency slide.

The FAA's warning is part of the aviation industry's latest safety initiative, "Save a Life, Not a Bag," launched by the International Air Transport Association, or IATA, in June amid growing concerns about passengers evacuating with their belongings.

In May, passengers had to evacuate a Frontier Airlines flight after the plane fatally hit a person during takeoff. Flight attendants can be heard in a video of the event pleading with passengers to "Please leave all belongings" and adding, "Your lives are more important."

In August 2025, the landing gear on an American Airlines plane caught fire before takeoff, forcing the evacuation of 173 passengers and crew, and a video showed people exiting with their rollerboards as smoke bellowed from the jet. One person was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

Industry analysts have said ignoring crewmember instructions has contributed to fatalities in aviation accidents.

After a Russian Aeroflot plane caught fire following an emergency landing in Moscow in 2019, killing 41 of the 78 people on board, experts criticized passengers seen fleeing the aircraft with carry-on bags.

Those incidents reflect a broader problem, according to IATA. The trade group commissioned a study that found many passengers misunderstand evacuation procedures.

While 80% said they know what to do in an emergency, only 61% correctly said they should leave all belongings behind. One in 10 said they might still take a bag or follow others who do, and only 18% knew aircraft evacuations are designed to be completed within 90 seconds, suggesting many passengers overestimate the time available to escape.

A delay trying to remove a bag from an overhead bin, for example, could cost the seconds that the passenger and those behind them need to get safely out of the plane.

"We are seeing an increasing number of passengers not following flight crew instructions during emergencies," FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in the IATA press release.

Still, the successful evacuation of a Japan Airlines plane carrying 379 people in 2024 showed the importance of following evacuation procedures.

The aircraft caught fire after colliding with a Japan Coast Guard plane during landing, but all passengers and crew escaped safely — an outcome experts credited in part to passengers leaving their belongings behind.

• Anthropic officials are cautioning companies against knee-jerk reactions to rein in AI use.
• Angela Jiang, head of product for the Claude Platform, said some customers are making those sorts of moves.
• The initial tokenmaxxing hype has morphed into a more ROI-focused moment.

Top Anthropic officials are cautioning against companies cutting back on their AI use as costs increase.

"Something that's really top of mind for us that we kind of try to spend some time with users on is what you don't want to do is stop AI usage. That's kind of the wrong move," Angela Jiang, head of product for the Claude Platform, recently told Sequoia Capital's "Training Data" podcast. "And we do actually see some of our customers do that."

Katelyn Lesse, head of platform engineering at Anthropic, said the focus on costs was part of "a normal natural cycle for companies" as they figure out the best way to deploy AI.

"The thing that gets dangerous is when you're kind of just like, here's a cap and you're stuck within your cap," said Lesse, who joined Jiang for the interview.

Jiang said that Anthropic often finds that AI spending has "erupted" in companies where employees procure Anthropic's AI models themselves through "some kind of shadow IT." Instead of curtailing usage, she said companies can find ways to use AI more efficiently.

"What we try to kind of encourage our customers is like, you don't want to stop the innovation," she said. "If you are getting returns on top of this, you are shipping faster than ever before, you can run more operationally efficient — then those are gains."

Lesse said it's about "encouraging innovation" while understanding the different ways to get the desired result.

"One is like you take Opus and you run it all night and you do something crazy," she said. "And another is maybe to get a little bit smarter with the strategies that you put together in order to create that same outcome within a lower cost. And I think that's the next layer of thinking that everyone's going to start to do."

AI companies are facing an increasingly skeptical Corporate America that sees rising AI bills without what some executives have said is an adequate ROI to justify the spending. In response, AI companies like Anthropic have emphasized the cost efficiency of their models and services, which can better tailor AI to specific enterprise needs.

Cost concerns could weigh on the broader AI market as companies like Anthropic approach highly anticipated IPOs.

A new kind of router.

Companies like Vercel are seizing this cost-conscious moment by offering customers a way to route their AI usage to the best model suited for the task. Analysts have said that routing requests will remain in high demand so long as AI token costs remain high.

Jiang said a router "within the Claude space" makes sense to Anthropic.

"I think the bit that we do feel really strongly about on the model routing front is like we are designing our platform for Claude, and we want to make sure that Claude is great at solving all these things," she said.

In the meantime, companies are likely to continue to jockey for position over price.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has put that strategy into sharp relief since his company released a series of new advanced models under the GPT-5.6 banner to compete with Anthropic's Fable 5.

"GPT-5.6 sol is half the price and ~twice as token efficient as fable in many cases for accomplishing the same task," Altman wrote on X on Tuesday. "happy to deliver at one-quarter of the price."

• NYC commuters told BI they would rather have a reliable bus than a free one.
• Mamdani is rolling out plans to widen bus lanes and improve transit infrastructure.
• It's cheaper to make buses faster than to make them free.

Sarah Moelis impatiently swirls the ice around her half-full Dunkin' coffee as she rides the M15 bus up the length of Manhattan. Some days she has to run to catch it, and says it's not reliable.

The 27-year-old is one of the dozen bus riders who told Busines Insider they'd prefer "fast" over "free" in Mayor Zohran Mamdani's bus promise, a cornerstone of his affordability agenda.

This month, they're getting a glimpse of how the mayor proposes to deliver, working together with Gov. Kathy Hochul to invest in quicker routes, new equipment, and higher-quality bus stops. Financed with $900 million over five fiscal years, the efforts will focus on 50 bus corridors, with the first phase planned for five key routes in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx.

As the administration's officially-designated Bus Czar Elizabeth Adams told me this spring, "The mayor knows that a free bus is only good if it comes."

Investing in bus maintenance and lane space could boost speed

The Mamdani administration said that making buses faster requires three big changes. The first is bus improvements: Strengthening maintenance operations, phasing in all-door boarding in every vehicle, and ensuring that every bus has functional tap-to-pay features.

Next, the mayor plans to invest in bus stops, which will include adding seats, shelters, trees, and real-time schedule information to stops across the city.

Keeping bus lanes clear is the third piece of the puzzle — a line item that will require wider bus areas on major avenues and automated camera enforcement to track speeds and catch drivers illegally using designated transit lanes.

If the plan is successful, the Mayor's Office said these improvements will shorten commutes, reduce traffic collisions, and speed up buses across the city. Still, critics worry that adding bus infrastructure could worsen congestion and decrease parking options for cars. On some routes, automated cameras have also issued thousands of tickets by mistake.

Route improvements like this could make a material difference for riders. A 2025 analysis by the NYC Comptroller's Office found that one-third of buses fail to arrive at their scheduled stops on time, and that over half of lines with frequent service experience delays due to "bunching," or inconsistent spacing between buses.

Of course, building more lanes only addresses half of Mamdani's bus plan. City Hall's reason for tackling "fast" before "free" is largely budgetary. NYC bus fares generate $652 million a year, which is used to offset the system's multi-billion-dollar operating cost.

Making buses free would cost at least $700 million annually, covering both lost fares and the steeper maintenance costs that come with higher ridership. This money would need to come from the city and the state, which operates the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Adding more dedicated lanes and improving bus stops is far cheaper and requires less red tape with Albany.

The "free" part of Mamdani's pledge could also contradict the "fast" goal. New York experimented with no-fare lines on five routes in 2023. While the pilot increased ridership, it cost the city millions and slowed bus service. Kansas City and Boston have seen similar mixed results with free bus experiments.

For now, NYC has begun construction to expand bus lanes in major corridors like Manhattan's Lexington and Madison Avenues. The city hopes to achieve many of the route, bus, and bus stop improvements in 2027. The "free" part will take longer, if it happens at all.

Life-long New Yorker Shaliek Loabhont said that he feels comfortable paying a few dollars, as long as the city directs money to "fixing the streets so buses can run faster." Daily rider and 30-something teacher Yulia Chulad added, "I'm not sure if I would be taking the bus if it were free, to be honest."

• A parasite that causes diarrhea is spreading across 34 states, sickening more than 1,000 people.
• Health experts say the culprit is likely produce such as lettuce or berries, and washing doesn't help.
• A doctor said she's stocking up on safer sources of fiber and nutrients like kiwis and avocados.

If you want to avoid explosive, parasite-induced diarrhea, you may want to hold off on summer salads and berry bowls for the foreseeable future.

A majority of US states have been hit by an outbreak of cyclosporiasis, an infection caused by a parasite that spreads to humans through contaminated food or water. The microbes can hitch a ride on leafy greens or fruits during growing, harvesting, or processing, causing severe indigestion to anyone unlucky enough to eat the problematic produce.

But you don't shouldn't stop eating fresh produce completely, according to Dr. Rabia de Latour, a gastroenterologist at Bellevue Hospital and a professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Fruits and veggies are a crucial source of nutrients for digestive health, including fiber, which regulates blood sugar and cholesterol and helps to reduce the risk of serious illnesses like colon cancer.

"You shouldn't cut fiber out of your diet because it's important, and you shouldn't deny yourself healthy foods because of this," she told Business Insider.

Health officials are still working to trace the source of the outbreak, so it's not yet known which fruits and veggies might be harboring the parasite.

"The worry is in the unknown because at any moment when you ingest a food that you love, something that you regularly eat, you could potentially be at risk," de Latour said.

Historically, outbreaks have been linked to lettuce, raspberries, parsley, cilantro, and snow peas. Bagged salads are particularly prone to contamination, so it's worth avoiding them for now, de Latour said.

"You don't have to cut all this stuff out, just the heavy hitters," she said.

Instead, de Latour said she's swapping in safer sources of fiber with foods less likely to be contaminated. Here are her top picks.

Swap in kiwis in place of raspberries

The main threat from Cyclospora in fresh produce is that the microorganism can cling to fruits and veggies. The porous, textured surface of fruits like raspberries offers plenty of places for the parasite to hide, making it difficult to wash off, even if you scrub.

If you love snacking on raspberries or adding them to breakfast, consider swapping them for kiwi fruit, de Latour said.

The furry outer skin protects the tangy fruit inside, which is a powerhouse of nutrients like fiber and antioxidants. Kiwis are also uniquely good for digestion because they're rich in enzymes that support a healthy gut.

"Kiwis are great for the gut, and you can just peel them and eat them," de Latour said.

Eat more avocado

Cyclospora tends to strike in warm-weather months, when most of us would prefer lighter fare like salads rather than firing up the stove or oven in the July heat.

For a cooling staple, no cooking required, reach for avocados. They're a rich source of healthy unsaturated fats, nutrients like vitamin E, and a whopping 10 grams of fiber per fruit.

Cucumbers are also a safer option when peeled. While not high in fiber, cukes contain important nutrients like potassium and make for great salads.

Stock up on sweet potatoes

Cyclospora parasites are vulnerable to heat, so cooking food properly is a smart strategy right now.

"Getting that cooking thermometer out is going to protect you," de Latour said. "The best way to get rid of it, if you want to eat any of these foods, is to cook it at 158 degrees Fahrenheit. Then you kill the parasite."

She's been adding more potatoes, particularly sweet potatoes, to her grocery list. They're versatile and easy to prepare safely in many ways, and all types of potatoes contain fiber as well as a type of carbohydrate called resistant starch, which has similar health benefits.

Bet on bananas

For a healthy snack on the run, de Latour said bananas are still a go-to, since the peel prohibits parasites from entering the fruit. Be sure to remove and toss the peel before slicing.

Other fruits with thick peels or rinds are safe choices for the same reason. Think pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, and oranges.

Whole fruit or smoothies (not juices) are solid sources of fiber — each serving contains a few grams that add up toward the daily recommended goal of about 30 grams.

Follow proper food safety precautions

In addition to swapping out certain foods, de Latour said you can also make safer choices in how you cook and shop.

If you're going to eat lettuce, for instance, buying local produce direct from a farmers market may be lower risk.

While thoroughly washing your produce is generally a good idea, it's unlikely to be very effective against Cyclospora, which experts say can be sticky and tough to remove.

The only surefire way to get rid of the parasite is to raise the food's temperature to 158 degrees. Consider making any fresh berries into compote, a lower-sugar, less-processed alternative to jam. Similarly, high-risk ingredients like snow peas, parsley, and cilantro are ok to use in stir-fries or soups that are thoroughly cooked.

As for mixed greens, whether they're tossed in a salad or garnishing burgers, burritos, or grain bowls, it's best to wait to enjoy them until the outbreak is under control.

• Apple sued OpenAI on Friday, alleging trade secret theft.
• OpenAI is denying wrongdoing, setting the stage for a high-profile legal battle.
• Employment attorney Patricia Lantzy highlighted what to watch for next in this suit.

Apple doesn't know what's happening behind OpenAI's closed doors, and its new lawsuit could change that.

Apple sued OpenAI in federal court on Friday, with a fiery complaint accusing the company of stealing trade secrets to build up its nascent hardware business. The suit pits an incumbent against a disruptor — OpenAI is working on devices that could threaten Apple's bottom line. Apple says OpenAI stole information in a "coordinated pattern of misconduct" and poached more than 400 employees from its ranks.

Patricia Lantzy, an attorney who leads Outside General Counsel's employment practice, told Business Insider that Apple likely brought this complaint in part because it had no other way to determine what information OpenAI might have taken. The complaint makes it clear there's a lot that Apple does not know about what OpenAI might have taken or what it might be doing with any potential trade secrets, she said.

"We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets," an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement. "While we take these allegations seriously, we're not aware of any evidence that this complaint has merit. We believe in fair competition and allowing people the freedom to work wherever they choose, and we're focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere."

Apple did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Lantzy laid out the case's most important questions for Apple and OpenAI to answer.

Apple wants more information

Apple alleges that its former engineer, Chang Liu, used his old company laptop to access Apple systems during his new job at OpenAI, downloading confidential files containing technical specifications, manufacturing processes, and more. Apple is also accusing OpenAI of pumping potential recruits for confidential information about the iPhone giant's work.

Apple's suit calls these allegations the "tip of the iceberg," saying it "lacks visibility into what's been happening behind closed doors at OpenAI."

Lantzy said a lawsuit's discovery process can help Apple find out exactly what's happening. It's an alternative to something drastic and illegal like corporate espionage, she said.

Apple's point of view seems to be, "We need the court's help to hash out these facts and discover exactly what has gone on here," she said.

Apple's legal argument hinges on a 2016 law

The thrust of the lawsuit hinges on the 2016 Defend Trade Secrets Act, which allows companies to sue for trade secret theft.

Apple will need to prove that any information in question was actually secret, that Apple took precautions to safeguard it, and that the defendants intentionally obtained it through improper means, Lantzy said.

Another important question, she said, is whether OpenAI actually used any stolen trade secrets in practice. That could have major ramifications in the case, where Apple has asked for monetary recovery and damages, or in lieu of those, a "reasonable royalty."

While it has hired hundreds of former Apple workers, OpenAI's hardware efforts are still early. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that OpenAI's first device could be a screen-free smart speaker.

In the complaint, Apple alleges that OpenAI has deployed stolen secrets in its hardware development.

"That's kind of hard to prove at this stage," Lantzy said.

The attorney said California law generally protects OpenAI's recruitment of Apple employees, though if the company instructed decamping Apple workers to bring secrets with them, that would be "problematic."

"We're only reading Apple's side of it," Lantzy said. "We haven't gotten OpenAI's answer yet. That will also be illuminating, no doubt."

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.

• The Cyclospora outbreak has sickened over 1,000 Americans with diarrhea.
• Parents are rethinking berries, which are now the cornerstone of many kids' snack time.
• Experts explain which foods are safest for toddlers — and debunk common myths about washing produce.

With parasitic diarrhea sweeping the US, pour one out for toddler parents.

Health investigators still can't pinpoint exactly which produce is responsible for the outbreak of cyclosporiasis, but they are urging caution around several foods — including lettuce, leafy greens, and berries.

That's tough for people with little kids. These days, toddlers basically run on berries.

Blueberry consumption alone has grown more than 10-fold since 1980, according to USDA data published by The Washington Post. Strawberry and raspberry consumption is way up, too.

"We get one large container of blueberries a week, and two large containers of strawberries," Jamie Heimos, who has a 1-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter, told Business Insider.

Now, she's not sure what to do with her supply of (very expensive) fruit that anchors snack time. Heimos, a child therapist based in St Louis, Missouri, posted about her predicament on TikTok, prompting thousands of comments.

"People keep saying, 'Just make a jam! Just make a pie!'" Heimos said. "I don't have time for that! I run my own business, I'm a therapist, I have two kids, my husband is traveling. You have to make it, then clean it up… I don't have time for that."

She is hardly alone. Parents are scrambling to work out the right snacks to put on their kids' plates, wading through a ton of confusion and misinformation in the process.

Social media hasn't helped. TikTok and Instagram are full of advice to soak berries in vinegar, buy specialty produce washes, or even give children "parasite cleanses" — recommendations experts say are unsupported by evidence and, in some cases, potentially harmful.

Berries are wildly popular now. They are also difficult to sanitize.

The main reason kids today eat a lot more berries than they ever did is because of the global supply chain. Now, you can get berries year-round.

That's great news for kids and parents. Berries — though increasingly expensive — sit in the center of the Venn diagram of delicious, nutritious, and easy to hold and serve.

"They can be served in so many ways," Cinthia Scott, a pediatric dietitian and lactation consultant in Alabama, told Business Insider. "Also, when a child sees a food that looks the same every time, they're very comfortable with that food. So things like beans or berries, that always kind of look the same, versus other fruits that might have more variable changes in them."

"I know I am not alone in having what I call, 'berry toddlers!'" Jenna Werner, a registered dietitian and mom-of-three, told Business Insider. Werner's kids, aged 1, 2, and 5, "literally would survive off berries, specifically raspberries, if they could."

Ironically, the very things that make berries toddler-perfect also make them difficult during a foodborne illness outbreak.

Their bumpy ridges are hard to clean, and they're easy to squish when washing them.

Plus, much of the year-round supply — making berries so familiar to kids — now comes through an international supply chain, with imports from countries including Mexico, Peru, and Chile. That means they often travel through longer supply chains before reaching grocery stores.

Should parents stop buying berries?

Not necessarily. Berries are great sources of fiber and vitamins, and there is no evidence that berries are a source of this outbreak.

Still, now is a good time to be careful about what you're buying and how you're preparing it.

Let's run through some common points of confusion:

Can I wash the parasite off?

No.

Some people on social media are advocating washing produce with vinegar or baking soda, or even buying expensive products marketed online as parasite killers.

Per the CDC, you can't remove a parasite from a berry by washing it. The only way to kill the parasite Cyclospora is by heating your food to 158 F.

Are frozen berries safer?

The CDC does not have a firm answer on this.

The freezing process does not kill Cyclospora. However, there has never been a Cyclospora outbreak linked to frozen foods.

Experts say that the washing and freezing process involved in packaging frozen foods may help to reduce the risk of the parasite taking root.

The CDC believes the current cyclosporiasis outbreak started on May 1, 2026. While berries that were frozen before that date may be safe, the CDC has not given a clear indication either way.

"We're steering clear of frozen berries for now until we get the all-clear," Werner said.

What if you buy local?

Local produce has a lower risk of carrying bacteria or parasites because it passes through fewer hands and fewer processing steps.

However, it is still not a surefire way to avoid the parasite, since the CDC has not identified the outbreak's origin.

What if you heat the berries?

Yes! That works. Heating food to 158F will kill the parasite and make the food safe to eat.

"I made a bunch of chia seed jam, and it's pretty easy," Scott said. "You just put the berries in the stove with some chia seeds and lemon juice and you let them simmer. That's it."

What should you feed your kids?

Werner is feeding her kids things she can peel, such as:

• nectarines and peaches (washing and removing the skin)
• oranges
• bananas
• apples
• cucumbers (peeled)
• watermelon
• cantaloupe

"What a great time to explore new foods with your kids and new textures too," Werner said. "It's a great time to grill all your veggies and some produce like peaches and pineapple."

The takeaway for toddler parents

Above all, don't panic — not least because lettuce, not berries, is currently the leading suspect in this outbreak.

"In this information ecosystem, it can be so tough, especially as a mom," Bri Dineen, a registered nurse and mom of two who posts on social media as Bri Motherhood, told Business Insider. "We're such targets for so much misinformation, and we're just trying to protect our kids."

Dineen is feeding her kids mandarins and bananas, and encouraging her thousands of followers to seek professional advice from their pediatricians if they feel overwhelmed.

Heimos, a therapist who focuses on helping kids and their parents feel less overwhelmed, said if anyone can get through this confusing outbreak with a cool head, it's toddler parents.

"We've navigated hard things as parents in the past. We'll be okay."

Louis Fawcett's wife doesn't love the credit card points game like he does, though she does enjoy the perks — when she actually uses them. They make most of their purchases with two elite American Airlines cards to build up loyalty points and status. Whenever it comes time to do something points-related, Fawcett's wife just hands him her phone. "She's a more laid-back person," Fawcett, 53, says.

She'll join him in American's Admirals Club, which she jokingly calls the "poor people's lounge," but she skips out on the "rich people's" Centurion Lounge, which Fawcett can now access thanks to a recently acquired Amex Platinum card. (The reluctance is partly due to the $50 guest fee.) She doesn't always take advantage of the American benefits, either — a few years ago, Fawcett upgraded to first class on a family trip from South Carolina to Hawaii. His wife opted to sit in the main cabin with the kids. "'That's your choice,' I said, 'but don't tell me I'm snooty because I'm in first class when you have to walk past me to go back in the tiny seats,'" he says.

As rewards credit cards have become more lucrative — not to mention more expensive and complicated — these kinds of inter-relationship divides are increasingly common. Consumers have become amateur point strategists in an attempt to maximize bonuses, accumulate points, and jump on every opportunity to make their premium plastic worth it. Taking full advantage can require spreadsheets and deep dives into the fine print to identify exactly which purchase should go on which card and make sure no rewards-related stone is left unturned.

This has created a new financial dynamic in many households, where one partner effectively becomes the points point person while the other opts out (or opts for a different approach). This mismatch can reveal stark differences in how couples think about money and require some delicate negotiations over how to spend or save.

Fawcett's wife has been the one to bend on his rewards obsession. On a recent trip to the Dominican Republic, she joined him in the lap of first-class luxury, while the kids were left to fight it out with the riffraff in coach.

People tend to seek out partners who are their financial opposites, explains Scott Rick, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Michigan and the author of "Tightwads and Spendthrifts: Navigating the Money Minefield in Real Relationships." Big spenders are attracted to penny-pinchers, money maximizers who want to constantly comparison shop to satisficers who are generally fine with good enough.

"If you encounter someone with your problem, I think it can really be a turnoff, because it just really reminds you of your own stuff," Rick says. "The mismatch, at first, can be really intoxicating and intriguing."

Couples wind up with what Rick and other researchers coined a "fatal (fiscal) attraction," a reference to the 1987 film. Once people settle into relationships and real life begins, the exhilaration of a partner's novel approach to money can wear off and the cracks start to show. It's one thing when the free spirit in the equation is spending a bit too much on Amazon when a pair first starts dating, it's another thing when finances are intertwined, and the cheapskate starts worrying that shopping habit could make it hard to keep up on the mortgage.

"The stakes can sort of ratchet up on you," Rick says.

Misalignment on rewards cards isn't nearly as grave as, say, one partner thinking another's spending is a terrible influence on their kids, but it can point to underlying issues or bigger differences.

"A lot of times, these asymmetries or this tension between partners isn't about the money, it's more about what it represents," says Jenny Olson, an assistant marketing professor at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business. Perhaps for one person, money represents freedom and fun, and to another, it's more about security and stability. These conflicting goals and values can raise deeper emotional questions. "If one partner really wants to maximize points, is it about the points or is it about feeling like you have enough for the future?" she says.

My Business Insider colleague, Jane Zhang, confesses she's a points fanatic — she's got a notes app cheat sheet on which cards she should use for which purchases. Her husband's not so convinced these gymnastics are worth it. If it were up to him, they'd probably have one card. They've found common ground where they can. He doesn't put up a fuss if she takes a beat to decide which card to use when they're out. She recognizes that it's OK for him not to be rewards-maximizing every little thing. "I just trust that it's worth it, whereas he's like, 'I don't trust that it's worth every inconvenience,'" she says.

Even two points enthusiasts can find themselves at odds — especially when it comes to where loyalty lies. That's the case for Matthew Williams and his husband in San Francisco. Williams, who's originally from Arizona, and his family have long been dedicated to Southwest Airlines, and he's had a card from them for years. His husband is a "big points guy," but also a "United guy." After the pair met in 2018, they were so attached to their respective airlines and rewards setups that they flew separately to the same destinations.

The scheme worked until it didn't: In December 2022, Williams got ensnared in Southwest's operational meltdown on a visit to his parents. He had to sprint across the airport to get their apartment keys to his husband after his Southwest flight was canceled. "After that, I was like, 'This really is not a great system,'" he says. "We ended that after that fiasco."

He still has the Southwest card, but he also got a Chase Sapphire card that's less restrictive, so he can book whatever — including United, which his husband is still sticking with.

When couples find themselves in a bit of a rewards card standoff, they should interrogate the "why," says Megan McCoy, a financial therapist and associate professor at Kansas State University. It might be a personality difference — one person is more detail-oriented, or maybe one side thinks the gamification aspect is fun.

"If someone's anxious, then the partner can have empathy around that anxiety," she says. "If it's from a gamification, I love to win, I want to beat the credit card company, maybe there's other outlets for it."

As with many things in a relationship, simply talking can go a long way. Many people assume that any money-related conversations will be negative, so they come into them angry and anxious or put them off until there's a problem.

"Couples expect talking about money to be worse than it is," Olson says.

People don't need to know everything about their partners' financial habits, Rick warns. They don't need to be combing through financial statements to scrutinize each line item and make sure every point and card was used to perfection. It is good to have a sense of the broad strokes, though. "It's more about maintaining this balance between the economics and a functioning relationship," he says.

Chris Hutchins, the creator and host of the "All the Hacks" podcast, tells me he hears "all the time" about rewards card-related relationship conflicts, including in his own household. Like many savvy optimizers, he sometimes opens up credit cards in his wife's name to take advantage of sign-up and referral bonuses. One time, he forgot to keep her in the loop (or she at least says he did), and she was surprised to find out about a new card in her name. "Now, I make sure there's an actual conversation," he says.

Hutchins also notes that disputes can arise not only when accumulating rewards points but also when using them. One person wants to stay at a certain hotel or fly a certain airline to use points, while the other would rather do the thing they want to do, regardless of what their memberships dictate.

"One of the things that points does that is frustrating is that it locks you into thinking that you can only travel in a certain way," he says. The family really wants to go to Hawaii, but they've only got the points to go to Phoenix for free.

Credit card companies have done a very good job of convincing us that racking up points and gaming the system are worth it, and so rewards cards are yet another relationship battlefield. The best way to approach it is for people to communicate— and for the superfan to take responsibility for keeping everything straight. Hutchins also suggests a novel way to convince the skeptics: take them on a lavish, points-paid trip.

"Get to a point that you can win over someone's heart in the game," he says.

Emily Stewart is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.