• After her dad's death, Shalini Karnani Bonjour moved her mother from Michigan closer to her in California.
• She, her husband, and her mom bought a home together and are building an ADU for her mom to live in.
• The construction process has been long and difficult, but she believes it will be worth it.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sotheby's International Realty real estate agent, Shalini Karnani Bonjour, 50, who is building an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, in her California backyard for her mother to live in. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

In 2024, my father passed away. He and my mother had lived in their 3,500-square-foot home in Michigan for about 20 years, and suddenly, she was alone.

My mom was 78, and my husband and I didn't feel comfortable having her so far away, especially when it came to her day-to-day needs. At the time, I was recovering from breast cancer. As an only child, I had to navigate my father's death and my own health while also figuring out what came next for my mom.

My husband and I worked hard to sell my parents' home and relocate her near us in California. After she moved, we rented different places to help her figure out what type of home suited her best. We also explored assisted-living and independent-living communities, but none were ideal.

She was already making a major emotional adjustment by downsizing from the home she had known for so many years, and asking her to completely change her lifestyle didn't feel right.

My mom has worked very hard in her life, and I want her to enjoy the time she has left. Finding her the right home was very important to us.

We decided to move in together and build an ADU

After a long search, my husband, my mom, and I decided to buy a large home in the Coachella Valley, an area we all loved, where we could live together with my teenage son.

The right home for us needed first-floor access so my mom could come and go easily and use the kitchen and laundry room without having to climb stairs. We also wanted a pool and enough space to eventually build an accessory dwelling unit for her.

In 2024, we found a 2,222 -square-foot, 4-bedroom, 4-bathroom home that checked those boxes and still fit our budget. Before buying it and moving forward with the ADU, we confirmed with the city and our homeowners association that it was a viable option.

Our home was a fixer-upper, so before we could fully focus on the ADU, we had to update the main house and make it comfortable for all of us. That took a lot of time and money.

While we were renovating our home, I was also working with an architect and interviewing builders for the ADU project. I spoke with at least 10 builders, and I'll tell you, it is not easy to find someone you feel you can trust.

We eventually found a builder and decided on a roughly 1,100-square-foot, single-story ADU. Some people might call it a casita, but it's really a full home. My mom wanted two bedrooms in case people came to visit, two bathrooms, and a walk-in tub in her primary bathroom. We were able to customize the design to include all of that.

The initial estimate for the building alone was about $398,000. But once we added the washer, dryer, appliances, sinks, fixtures, and other finishes, the total came to about $475,000.

The ADU construction process has been long and difficult

We finally broke ground on the ADU in March 2025. Initially, we hoped the project would take about six months, but it has taken much longer. Right now, we're waiting on solar permits before construction can continue.

The whole process has been difficult because there are so many things to manage. You're trying to keep the project affordable, keep your neighbors happy, and stay on track. I can only imagine how overwhelming this would feel for someone without any insight into the process, because it is a huge undertaking.

I know it will be rewarding in the end, but if I weren't a Realtor, didn't feel comfortable talking to builders, and didn't know how to have these conversations with the HOA, this would feel like an impossible task.

Still, I know it will be worth it. We love where we live, and building this on our property means we can stay close to my mom while still giving her independence and a home of her own.

We're still learning how to share space

When people tell my husband and me we're smart or strong for doing this, I think, "What other option do we have?" I'm an only child. Who else will be there to take care of my mother?

While we're waiting for the ADU to be completed, my mom is living in a bedroom in our home.

We're still figuring out how to share space. My mom loves to cook, so having her own kitchen will be really important to her. Last week, she was making a recipe and said, "It'll be different when I have my own stuff." I think the whole thing is bittersweet, but once she sees her finished kitchen, she'll feel different.

Because my mom moved so far away, she's also navigating building a new community. She immigrated from India to Michigan in the 1970s and created a life there. She had a network of other Indian immigrants, people in different professions, and friends she had known for years.

Pulling her away from that wasn't easy, and it still isn't. It takes time to get established somewhere new, and she's still working through that. I'm trying to help as best I can by introducing her to people and helping her find connections here.

This process changed how I see multigenerational homes

When I was growing up, we always had a grandparent living with us. That was standard in an Indian household. But because we were in America, I don't think I ever seriously considered that my mom might one day live with me. When my dad passed away, I got a reality check.

People in my generation are seeing their parents live longer, and more of us are taking on caregiving responsibilities. Many of us are trying to figure out how to do right by the people who raised us while also managing our own happiness and family life.

Going through this process has changed the way I think about multigenerational homes as a real-estate agent. If a client were considering one, I'd encourage them to look for homes that already have the space they need. That might mean multiple bedrooms on one level, en suite bathrooms, easy access in and out of the home, minimal steps, or enough land to build an ADU later.

I'd also tell them to confirm that the property allows the kind of construction they want and to find out whether it's regulated by the city, the HOA, or both.

One of the biggest lessons I've learned during this process is that you have to ask yourself: Is it more cost-effective and less stressful to buy a home with the right structure already in place, or does it make more sense to build a custom space on a property you already have?

• Some beloved '90s tech, like VHS tapes and landlines, is making a comeback.
• The decade saw the rise of the internet, mobile phones, and portable media players.
• Now, younger audiences are collecting vintage technology, such as Game Boys and disposable cameras.

Who doesn't love '90s tech?

For millennials, the decade's most-loved gadgets came with particular rituals: rewinding VHS tapes before returning them to Blockbuster, burning CDs for road trips, or blowing into a Nintendo cartridge before reinserting it.

Today, as younger consumers seek alternatives to modern digital life — and constant notifications — some of these analog items are gaining traction again.

Among them, Gen Z consumers have been embracing the simplicity of flip phones, digital cameras, and landlines. Companies have responded by reimagining retro products: One such item, Tin Can, resembles a landline but runs off a home's WiFi, and some parents are leaning in.

"I want my daughter to be able to chat with her friends, like I did as a child in the '90s," Alison Bennett previously told Business Insider, especially as she sought to delay giving her 8-year-old a smartphone.

So desperate is Gen Z for tactile entertainment over digital distraction that hacky sack is even back, Business Insider's Katie Notopoulos reported this month.

Other '90s tech allows users to be more intentional. VHS tapes turn movie-watching into a commitment rather than background noise, while disposable cameras produce candid photos, rather than edited images.

Here are some pieces of '90s tech that we wish would become mainstream again, from gaming systems to old-school communication devices, including ones that are already showing promising signs of a comeback.

VHS tapes

After launching in the late 1970s, VHS overtook Sony's Betamax — another videocassette — to become the dominant way people watched movies at home in the 1980s and 1990s.

The tapes turned movie nights and video rental stores, such as Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, and smaller independent stores, into social activities. Blockbuster reached its peak in 2004, when it operated more than 9,000 stores worldwide.

VHS also changed how people consumed television by allowing them to record shows and movies to watch later, years before streaming made on-demand viewing possible (with a side of decision fatigue).

However, by the late 1990s, DVDs had begun replacing VHS, thanks to their slim size and higher quality. In 2003, DVD rentals overtook VHS rentals in the US for the first time, The Washington Post reported.

In 2015, Sony stopped producing Betamax, and the following year, the final VHS VCR was produced, The Guardian reported, citing low sales numbers.

But the format never disappeared completely. According to a 2025 Consumer Reports report, about 15% of Americans reported watching VHS tapes in the year prior, as Gen Z and millennials increasingly seek out physical media and analog experiences.

Portable CD players

After being developed by Philips and Sony, CDs were released to the public in 1982, the BBC reported. They were more durable than cassettes and records, and could hold around 80 minutes of music.

Two years later, Sony's Discman was released, giving people a way to listen to high-quality music on the go.

The portable players became a fixture in the late '80s and peaked in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when CDs were the preferred music format. By 1999, Sony had sold 46 million Discmen worldwide, the company said.

The players came with other '90s-coded accouterments too: thick binders of burned CDs, Discman belt cases, and tangled headphones.

However, they fell out of favor in the early 2000s with the rise of the iPod, which was released in 2001. These devices could store thousands of songs, no bulky binder needed.

But the Discman could also be making a comeback. The Guardian reported in 2025 that CDs and CD players had regained popularity as Gen Z and millennials embraced '90s nostalgia and collectors sought out deluxe physical releases from artists including Taylor Swift and Pink Floyd.

The 2025 Consumer Reports report noted that 45% of Americans had used CDs to listen to music in the previous year.

Game Boy

Nintendo's Game Boy transformed handheld gaming upon its 1989 release. Coupled with successful games such as "Tetris" and "Pokémon Red and Blue," which were placed into the device's cartridge slot, the Game Boy became one of the defining gaming products of the 1990s.

Later iterations included different exterior colors, mini versions, and the Game Boy Color, released in 1998, which featured a color screen rather than the original's monochrome one.

By the time the Game Boy celebrated its 30th birthday in 2019, Nintendo had sold more than 118 million Game Boy and Game Boy Color consoles worldwide, and more than 500 million games, per Nintendo data.

The device continued to evolve through the early 2000s with the Game Boy Advance before more advanced handheld systems, and eventually smartphones, changed on-the-move gaming habits.

Today, Nintendo is also attempting to capitalize on '90s nostalgia by re-releasing Game Boy games for its newer devices.

Nintendo 64

Which '90s kid didn't battle their friends in "GoldenEye 007" or race along the Rainbow Road in "Mario Kart 64" together?

When the Nintendo 64 was released in 1996, it became one of the defining consoles of the late 1990s, thanks to its smoother 3D gaming and iconic titles, such as "Super Mario 64" and "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time."

But best of all, it supported four controllers right out of the box, enabling multiplayer modes and turning sleepovers into competition zones.

Its popularity declined in the early 2000s with the release of newer systems, such as the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, which offered more advanced graphics and larger disc-based storage.

Still, the Nintendo 64 remains an unforgettable part of gaming culture and '90s hangouts.

Today, retro gamers continue collecting original cartridges and hardware, and younger players are turning to the old tech amid "AI anxiety" and the novelty of needing to be together to play multiplayer.

Tamagotchis and virtual pets

Bandai's Tamagotchi became a global craze after its 1996 launch in Japan, the Associated Press reported. Owners were required to constantly feed, clean, and care for the egg-shaped virtual pets to ensure they reached adulthood, which typically took a few days.

Other brands, such as Nano Pets and Giga Pets, launched competing models, but schools deemed the pets so distracting that some banned them, The New York Times reported in 1997.

Tamagotchi expanded into mobile gaming in 2013 with an app designed to recreate the original toy experience, AP reported, and the franchise was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame in 2025.

Tamagotchis are still available today. In a 2020 Business Insider article, one adult user wrote that caring for a Tamagotchi during the COVID-19 pandemic helped improve her productivity, happiness, and sleep schedule.

Yet in some ways, Tamagotchis also foreshadowed today's digital and cellphone habits, as kids and teenagers constantly checked alerts and responded to the toys' virtual needs — a connection explored in a 2024 article from The Walrus.

Walkie-talkies

The first portable two-way radios were developed for the US military in the 1930s and 1940s, before becoming commercially available to the public, Smithsonian Magazine reported.

These walkie-talkies became a beloved gadget in the 1980s and 1990s, when they were typically used for backyard games, road trips, and camping trips.

Unlike telephones, walkie-talkies allow users to speak immediately without dialing numbers or relying on phone lines. They were also easy for kids to use — no treehouse was complete without the distinctive crackle of a walkie-talkie.

In the 2000s, cellphones usurped walkie-talkies in many households, but they're still useful today, especially in areas without cell service. As such, they are still used for outdoor activities and music festivals, and for emergency preparedness.

Disposable Cameras

After they launched in the 1980s, disposable cameras, which were cheap, light, and easy to use, became a staple of the 1990s, popping up on family vacations and at teenage parties.

Their popularity waned in the 2000s as digital cameras — and later, smartphones — shifted users toward instant photography. In a retrospective about Kodak, Vox reported digital-camera sales began to outpace film-camera sales in the early 2000s, a change Kodak failed to adapt to before filing for bankruptcy in 2012.

Digital cameras have also regained popularity in recent years. In 2024, NPR reported that digital cameras from the early 2000s had become popular among Gen Zers looking for the nostalgic aesthetic of Y2K photos.

Talkboy

The Talkboy, the handheld cassette recorder featured in "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York," became one of the most memorable toys of the 1990s after its release in 1992.

Vanity Fair reported that the device was originally created as a fictional movie prop for Kevin McCallister, but overwhelming demand from children prompted Tiger Electronics to turn it into a real product. Its voice-recording and playback features let kids prank friends and create skits, helping make it one of the decade's must-have holiday gifts.

However, as with other popular devices of the '90s, the Talkboy dropped out of favor as technology evolved. Eventually, smartphones consolidated the functions of tech like voice recorders, MP3 players, and cameras into a single device.

Today, the Talkboy survives mostly as a collector's item, although some companies are creating new versions, such as the Texas-based Brand New Noise, which makes wooden voice recorders that distort and loop audio with simple, kid-friendly controls.

Beepers

Before texting and smartphones became ubiquitous, pagers — or beepers — were one of the fastest ways to stay connected.

During the 1980s and 1990s, doctors, emergency workers, business professionals, and teenagers relied on the pocket-sized devices. They developed pager codes that used numbers to convey quick messages before text messaging made it possible. (See: "143," which meant "I love you" because the words contain one, four, and three letters.)

Their popularity waned with the rise of cell phones, but pagers never disappeared entirely.

CBS News and Reuters reported that some hospitals and emergency services still use them because pager networks can remain reliable during disasters and service outages.

Landlines

Despite quirks that seem unimaginable to younger generations today — being tethered to a wall, potentially spied on by your family, and picking up before knowing who was calling — the landline ruled communication for much of the 20th century.

By the 1990s, cordless phones and caller ID had become common in American homes.

But in the 2000s, as mobile phones became cheaper and more practical, the landline's dominance faded. According to the CDC's 2024 National Health Interview Survey, nearly 79% of US adults live in wireless-only households, indicating that many Americans have abandoned landlines in favor of mobile phones.

Still, some people are returning to them, or at least romanticizing them. Many Gen Zers and millennials are pushing back against constant connectivity by "bricking" their cell phones — that is, blocking some apps and websites — and spending more time on offline hobbies instead. After all, one beauty of the landline was that, if you weren't home, you couldn't be reached.

• I'm a dietitian with two kids, so I try to put together nutritious, convenient meals for my family.
• Trader Joe's has an array of easy-to-prepare sides and satiating entrées that my kids love.
• From traditional meatloaf to Atlantic salmon, these dishes take less than 30 minutes to make.

As a dietitian, I care about making nutritious, balanced meals. But between caring for my two kids and running a business, there are some days when convenience takes precedence.

When I need a meal to come together quickly but don't want to throw health out the window, I turn to preprepared sides and meals from Trader Joe's.

The store has a range of protein-packed, nutrient-dense options that my kids will actually eat. Many are frozen or don't need to be refrigerated, so I can stock up on them without worrying about expiration dates.

Over the years, I've curated a list of the Trader Joe's items I reach for when I'm tight on time but still want to serve my family a healthy meal.

Trader Joe's traditional meatloaf in classic tomato sauce makes a usually time-intensive dish quick to prepare.

My husband's and kids' favorite food is a traditional meatloaf, but making it from scratch can be time-intensive. Trader Joe's precooked version with ground beef cuts the prep time down substantially.

A staple in my house, it requires very little effort to make and satisfies my family. I love that each 5-ounce serving has 23 grams of protein along with nutrients like iron and B vitamins, which support energy levels.

Since the meatloaf is already fully cooked and comes in a tomato sauce, all I have to do is heat it up in the microwave or oven and add sides. On busy nights, I pair it with a bagged salad, frozen vegetables, or sliced cucumbers.

Chicken sausages with apples inside can serve as a flavorful protein base at breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Trader Joe's makes sausages in a variety of flavors, from spicy jalapeño to spicy Italian. Admittedly, my kids don't handle spice very well, so I opt for this chicken sausage with sweet apples. All five links come fully cooked.

For a well-balanced meal, I use the sausage as a base — each link has 11 grams of protein — and throw it into a pan with vegetables or pair it with brown rice.

Since the links cook on the stovetop in less than 10 minutes, they help me pull together a nourishing protein bowl in no time. If I'm really short on time, I can also microwave the sausage for 30 seconds.

Trader Joe's chicken tikka masala comes on a bed of basmati rice.

Trader Joe's chicken tikka masala is one of my favorite dinners to serve when we have a small window of time to get out the door before sports practice, as it takes only about five minutes to heat up in the microwave (if I have extra time, I can prepare it in the oven for 25 minutes instead).

The spiced tomato sauce has a smoky flavor that coats the accompanying basmati rice, and each 210-gram serving has 42 grams of carbohydrates and 16 grams of protein.

The tikka masala is great on its own, but if I want to sneak in more fiber and nutrients, I mix in frozen peas or bell peppers.

I can pop Trader Joe's Atlantic salmon with lemon-herb butter into the oven straight from the freezer.

My kids love fresh salmon, but having to cook the fish so soon after buying it doesn't always align with our schedules.

Keeping this pre-seasoned Atlantic salmon in my freezer makes it easy to throw together a meal that requires minimal effort but still feels elevated.

Each 7-ounce fillet has 35 grams of protein. Plus, salmon is generally rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which support heart and brain health.

The best part about this skin-on, boneless salmon is that I can put it in the oven straight from the freezer. Thanks to the flavorful lemon-herb butter that comes on top, I don't have to worry about adding my own seasoning.

This organic brown rice is my favorite Trader Joe's item.

Brown rice can take around 40 minutes to cook, but this frozen, microwaveable version from Trader Joe's is ready in just three minutes, serving as a versatile whole-grain base.

I always keep it in my freezer so I can use it for tuna bowls, salmon burgers, and stir-fries.

Each 5-ounce serving has 3 grams of fiber, which helps keep my family full and supports their gut health.

I encourage my kids to top this ready-to-bake pizza dough with vegetables.

My kids love personalizing their pizzas, and adding vegetables on top of this plain dough boosts the nutritional value without them even realizing it.

I roll out the ready-to-bake dough, add some sauce, and then slice a variety of vegetables like bell peppers, black olives, tomato slices, and basil as toppings.

Trader Joe's premium salmon burgers are a high-quality protein source.

These salmon burgers are an easy way to get nutritional benefits (each 91-gram patty is loaded with omega-3 fatty acids and has 15 grams of protein) without having to plan an elaborate meal ahead of time.

I cook the salmon burgers with a little oil on the stovetop for four to six minutes and then serve them over rice, on a bun, or with vegetables.

I serve Trader Joe's wild skipjack tuna pouches over salad or rice.

When I need protein but don't want to turn on the stove, I reach for these wild skipjack tuna pouches, which each have 22 grams of protein. They're also a great source of essential nutrients like selenium and B vitamins.

I like putting the salted fish over greens and drizzling it with olive oil or serving it over rice. Since I can store it in my pantry, I always have it as backup when my fridge is empty.

These canned Greek chickpeas with parsley and cumin are a delicious source of plant-based protein and fiber.

I eat these Greek chickpeas straight from the can, toss them into a salad, or pair them with a protein like chicken sausage or fish.

The chickpeas come seasoned with parsley and cumin, which saves me time and makes them feel more dressed-up than plain chickpeas. What's more, I love that each 130-gram serving has 8 grams of protein and 8 grams of fiber.

Keep reading our Trader Joe's Diaries to see what other shoppers like to buy at the chain.

• Pope Leo XIV issued a letter on AI and its impact on jobs, the environment, and democracy.
• The pope warned that AI job losses could become a "social calamity."
• He also had a special message for AI developers.

In a lengthy address about AI published on Monday, Pope Leo XIV sounded the alarm on everything from mass job losses to Big Tech's grip on AI.

The pope's first encyclical, a major letter to the Church that lays out a pope's thinking on a moral or social challenge, is a 245-paragraph text titled "Magnifica humanitas: on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence."

AI leaders lobbied the Vatican ahead of the letter's release, and Anthropic cofounder Chris Olah spoke at the Vatican City after the pope unveiled it.

The pope also thanked Olah and vowed to work together with him.

"I accept your invitation to work together, to listen and to speak, and together, to find a way for humanity in this time of artificial intelligence," the pope said.

In his sprawling opus, Pope Leo warned about autonomous weapons, the environmental impact of AI, and the risk AI poses to human connection. At the same time, he made it clear he does not see artificial intelligence as "inherently evil."

While many of the concerns the pope raised in Monday's letter echo points he has made before, as well as those raised by AI skeptics, the encyclical letter marks a major papal intervention in the ever-contentious AI debate.

Here are the main takeaways.

1. AI shouldn't be monopolized by Big Tech

Throughout the letter, Pope Leo warned repeatedly about AI power becoming concentrated in "the hands of a few."

The industry is dominated by major Big Tech players, including Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic.

The pope did not explicitly name any companies, but he warned about "major economic and technological actors" increasingly controlling platforms, infrastructure, data, and computing power.

"When such power is concentrated in the hands of a few," he wrote, "it tends to become opaque and evade public oversight, increasing the risk of distorted forms of development that give rise to new dependencies, exclusions, manipulations and inequalities."

Drawing on the Catholic principle of the "universal destination of goods," which traditionally holds that all humans have an inherent right to natural resources such as air and water, the pope suggested that it should now extend to algorithms, digital platforms, and data.

The pope also warned that "small but highly influential groups" could use AI to shape democratic processes and steer economic systems to their own advantage.

In the letter, Pope Leo called for AI to be "disarmed" from the race for more powerful algorithms, larger datasets, and commercial dominance.

To disarm AI, he wrote, "means freeing technology from monopolistic control and opening it to discussion and debate, therefore making it human-friendly and restoring it to the plurality of human cultures and ways of life."

2. A message to AI developers

Pope Leo issued a "special appeal" to those developing AI.

He said developers "bear a particular ethical and spiritual responsibility" because every design choice "reflects a vision of humanity."

The pope urged AI developers to develop systems embedded with the values of transparency, responsibility, and a "careful attention to ensuring that what is being cultivated is a genuine good."

Pope Leo also cautioned against presenting AI systems as entirely neutral and objective when they often reflect and reinforce the biases of their creators.

3. We should all be worried about AI-related unemployment

A major theme of the letter was AI-related unemployment, with Pope Leo warning that mass unemployment could become a "true social calamity."

Fears about AI crushing the job market have been a part of the conversation since generative AI first took off. While some companies have attributed recent job cuts to AI, not everyone agrees that it will be a labor-market catastrophe.

Stephen Parker, co-head of global investment strategy at JPMorgan Private Bank, told Business Insider this month that "companies are realizing that AI has the potential to upskill workers" rather than make them obsolete.

The pope wrote in that letter that while it's "certainly desirable" for AI to make people's jobs safer and easier, "the protection of employment opportunities and the irreplaceable role of the individual must remain the general rule."

He wrote that the "pursuit of greater profits" cannot justify decisions that eliminate jobs.

Mass job losses from AI, the pope warned, risk creating "human and cultural impoverishment."

He argued that governments and companies should prepare for AI disruption before more jobs disappear.

"Every introduction of automation and AI should be accompanied by verifiable measures to protect the employment, retraining, and participation of workers," he wrote.

The pope wrote that this would help ensure that AI focuses on "freeing up human time and capabilities, rather than producing exclusion."

• Year after year, the summer exhausts me.
• With four kids, there are always so many activities to plan and complaints about boredom to bust.
• This year, I'm taking a step back and doing less. I hope we end the summer feeling rested.

I'm about to experience my 17th summer as a mom, and I think I've finally learned my lesson.

Having four kids can be overwhelming and chaotic, especially given their different abilities, personalities, ages, and preferred extracurriculars. Despite the number of kids I have, I am determined to have a low-key summer with them.

I fully recognize the privilege I have. I teach college writing classes in fall and spring, with the perk of having summers off. My kids don't go to day care or camp, nor do they stay home alone while I'm working. Though this can give us some freedom, it also means that I am in charge of planning our kids' summer activities — all of them.

Being an always-on-the-go family simply doesn't allow our nervous systems to reset. We have had a very challenging past five or so years as a family. I fought breast cancer, three of my kids became teenagers, and we've faced multiple other health issues. We are tired, to say the least.

Despite my vowing that "less is more," summer after summer, I've found myself roped into a jam-packed calendar. After all, the newness of summer wears off during the first few weeks, and nothing can drive a parent more bonkers than a kid whining that they are "soooo bored." Striking a balance, especially with so many kids, can be overwhelmingly challenging, but I think I've nailed down a plan that may actually work.

A low-key summer doesn't mean no activities

Our low-key summer, the one I have dreamed about for years, will be the reset we all need. I'm determined to make it so.

This doesn't mean there will be no activities or that we are never leaving the house. Three of my four kids have signed up for some type of activity: summer school classes and sports trainings. These are primarily during the day, and they aren't every day, so the commitment is low.

What will we do with the rest of our time? My goal is weekly library visits, a safe space for browsing and borrowing free items. We also plan to swim at home, daily, and sometimes have friends over to join us. My aim is to keep it all very casual and low-key, though. Bring your own towel, and you can grab snacks from the kitchen if you need one.

We are also fortunate to be the proud owners of four rescue dogs. They are fabulous companions, but definitely require our attention: brushing, feeding, and walking. We're still working on getting them to actually enjoy the pool versus dip in and run out. My kids will be focused on caring for them a bit more, now that they'll have some extra hours in their day.

I've created a space for creativity

I also scored a free, solid dining table off a social media page, and then later, four free dining chairs.

The setup makes the perfect Lego or game table for my kids and their friends. We can easily host casual gatherings. In fact, last fall, I had a group of my girlfriends over for a Perler bead party, complete with snacks. It was fantastic fun, inexpensive, and memorable. I have loads of beads left, ready for my kids to enjoy with their friends if the mood strikes.

Chores will also take up some time

Lastly, and as always, my kids have daily chores. I'm a big believer in the benefits: teamwork, building life skills, and respecting our home by taking good care of it. Yes, my children complain about chores, as all children usually do. However, I have found that the benefits far outweigh the grunts and sighs. Over the summer, they'll have extra time to help with laundry and dish duty, and I plan to take full advantage of that.

Structured activities will be replaced with simpler joys

As someone who grew up living in the country, back in the day when there were no cell phones or laptops, our only option was to turn our boredom into an opportunity to play, create, and read. I want this for my kids. Too many structured activities deprive them of the freedom to be bored. Additionally, traveling to and from those places, buying all the gear, and paying activity fees is incredibly expensive.

I am thinking about our recent spring break. On the first day, we spent an hour at the YMCA, each kid working out in whatever way made them happy. Then we headed to the library and loaded up books and other items. We came home, watched a movie while it poured outside. The kids ate a frozen meal for lunch, ones they had pre-chosen as their favorites. It ended up being the perfect day and it was easy.

TBD if my low-key summer plan will be a success. However, I am hopeful that my intentionality will create opportunities for relaxation, creativity, joy, and beautiful memories.

• Sydney Stoner started experiencing bowel movement changes and cramping in her mid-20s.
• After being dismissed by doctors, she said she had blood in her stool to get a colonoscopy sooner.
• At 27, Stoner was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.

Despite living an active, busy life, Sydney Stoner was plagued by worsening digestive issues.

Around 2019, when she was in her mid-20s, she started cycling between constipation and diarrhea. "I just thought it was just regular stomach issues that people had," the now 32-year-old told Business Insider.

For a while, Stoner was able to go on living her life in Little Rock, Arkansas, with her husband, two cats, and two dogs. Stoner worked as a professional theater actor, juggling roles with her part-time retail job. In her free time, she loved cycling and CrossFit.

In the meantime, she bounced around from different doctors, including a primary care physician and a holistic doctor, thinking they would diagnose her with IBS. She tried elimination diets, including cutting dairy, gluten, and sugar. Some doctors told her to "watch her weight."

Nothing worked.

She said she had blood in her stool to get screened sooner

Within a year, the discomfort became more severe. Stoner only felt relief when she used the restroom, which resulted in intense cramping throughout. "I felt like my insides were twisting," she said.

One day, the pain became too great for Stoner. It hurt to eat, and the cramps wouldn't stop. "I was like, 'Someone needs to see inside my body,'" Stoner said.

She called a gastroenterology care center and started listing her symptoms to the woman on the phone. When she was asked for her age and was told she'd need a referral to get screened, Stoner improvised.

From Googling her symptoms, she read that having blood in her stool, one of the most common signs of colon cancer, was typically considered more dire than stomach pain or changes in bowel movements. After she lied and said she had the symptom, she was scheduled for a colonoscopy right away.

Stoner knew something was wrong once she started waking up from the sedation used in a colonoscopy. "I'm pretty sure I heard them say 'cancer,'" she recalled, adding that the doctors brought her husband into the room with her. "I knew that that wasn't a good sign."

She learned that the colonoscope, the long thin medical device used to navigate through the rectum and colon, couldn't even get a foot inside her colon due to a mass.

Stoner was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer at 27. Because she was still coming down from the anesthesia, she didn't really respond.

"I was just in shock. I didn't really say anything," Stoner said. "When I finally ate some foodShe was scheduled for PET and CT scans as well as a tumor removal surgery one month later. after the colonoscopy, the tears just started flowing."

Almost two years into married life, Stoner struggled to make sense of the diagnosis. "We went on trips often, hung out with a lot of friends, loved going to live shows," she said. "I just really never thought that cancer would be a part of that."

Grieving her life before cancer

Stoner was scheduled for PET and CT scans as well as a tumor removal surgery one month later. She woke up from her surgery with an ileostomy, a bag attached to her abdomen to collect waste that allows the colon to heal. A year later it'd be reversed.

Initially, she was told by doctors that she had stage 3B cancer, and that it had only spread to a few lymph nodes. But once she moved to St. Louis and started care there, her scans found that the cancer had spread to her liver and lungs, making it stage 4.

Stoner did 12 rounds of chemotherapy, which caused her cold sensitivity. "I had to wear gloves to even get into the refrigerator," she said. "I had to microwave all of my drinks." After that, she did three rounds of radiation per lung, which led to no evidence of disease.

Two months later, her blood work showed signs of cancer, so she underwent 12 additional rounds of a different chemo medication, which led to dizziness and nausea, common symptoms. "It's kind of like being drunk on a cruise ship, but not the fun drunk," she said.

Since 2023, for over two years, she has been on a lower-dose maintenance chemo pill. But when her recent scans in October showed more progression of disease than her oncologist was comfortable with, she was put on more rounds of the second chemotherapy drug again.

The near-never-ending treatments caused both financial and emotional strain. Because Stoner and her husband had just been kicked off their parents' insurance, Stoner struggled to get scans or treatments approved until she could apply for disability in 2021. Now, she's on Medicare.

Stoner, who legally can't work over a certain number of hours ,also works part-time at a cat café. Her husband is a self-employed barber, and they pay for some of Stoner's treatment through a GoFundMe.

"You just wake up and just grieve your old life every day, which sounds really depressing," Stoner said. "But you're just not the same person after you get news like that."

She's advocating for more research funding

Stoner said her friends and family have been a great support throughout treatment. So has the colon cancer community she found.

In 2023, Stoner discovered the nonprofit Fight Colorectal Cancer (Fight CRC), which connected her to others diagnosed with colon cancer. She learned about opportunities to present her story to Congress and to advocate for more funding for colon cancer research. It's timely as colon cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death in people under 50.

For young people with potential colon cancer symptoms, Stoner urged listening to your body.

"Especially young women, we are dismissed a lot, and you have to find a doctor that will do the test that you need, or even try Cologuard," a stool test that can detect existing cancer and requires a colonoscopy after a positive result, she said. "It's better to find out early because colon cancer is so preventable."

• I have a background in childhood development and understand that kids need independence to grow.
• However, I still thought somehow that my kids would be different when they went to college.
• When my daughter pulled away, I had to remind myself that what she was doing was normal.

When my oldest daughter left for college, I felt blindsided — like I somehow prepared her to be independent without preparing myself. As the mom of two teenagers, I still had a high schooler at home, but other than rides to school or friends' houses, she didn't seem to need me very much anymore, either.

Even with dozens of child development course credits, years working with kids of all ages, and an academic understanding of individuation — the process people go through to achieve a separate, distinct identity — the drastic and almost overnight change in my job description as a mom took me by complete surprise.

I didn't think my kids would pull away when they went to college

Somewhere underneath all that education, I think I believed that my daughters and I were the exception. We were different. We were close. They didn't need to pull away to find themselves.

I was grateful that my daughter had decided to attend a local university, unlike some of her friends who had moved across the country or even to Europe. I looked forward to supporting her with home-cooked meals, laundry services, and the occasional ride to work.

After a few months, I converted her bedroom into a home office and spent weeks finding the perfect futon for her to sleep on when she came home. But she never used it, and it seemed like the more I pursued her, the more she slipped away.

I couldn't understand why she stopped sharing her location and resisted my help. I felt sad and disconnected from one of my favorite people. Every night, before I went to sleep, I lay in bed worrying and wondering if she was tucked safe into her dorm room.

In response, I became clingy

Instead of taking the hint and backing off, I became clingy, insecure, and resentful. I texted too much, told her how much I missed her, and insisted she turn location sharing back on. I also pressed her to talk about her feelings and tried to get to the bottom of her detachment.

Had I failed her as a mom? Is that why she didn't want to spend time with me anymore? It seemed like she couldn't wait to get away, and my confidence plummeted.

I didn't realize that what felt like care and support to me came across to her like stress and pressure. I was also unwittingly making her feel responsible for my emotions, which just created even more distance between us.

I felt like I was losing the relationship I'd spent 18 years building and had no idea why.

I finally realized that I had to quit fighting what I already knew

It was only when I went back to what I already knew — that pulling away is how people find themselves — that I finally realized what my daughter was doing was not only normal but necessary, and that I had to quit fighting it.

I stopped taking her independence personally, remembering that I raised her to be strong and self-reliant, and realized that she wasn't the only one who needed to figure out who she was separate from her family.

It was also time for me to rediscover who I was besides a mom and caregiver. But it wasn't easy, and I spent months feeling lonely and adrift. After having virtually no time to myself for almost two decades, I now had too much time on my hands, and didn't know what to do with it.

I tried to remember all the things I dreamed about doing when my girls were little — reading, writing, traveling — and started there. One day, I spent hours hiking a local wilderness trail without checking my phone for the first time in years, and that's when it hit me.

Once I finally backed off, gave my daughter some space, and refocused my attention on my own life, our relationship began to improve. I became less needy, more confident, and showed my daughter that she wasn't responsible for my feelings.

Now that she's 23, we text almost daily and talk by phone several times a week. She recently requested her favorite meal and enlisted my help on a writing project. I feel closer to her than ever, reassured that she's doing a great job making her own way in the world, and thrilled to see her building the confidence that comes with being independent.

• I was experiencing burnout at my corporate job, so I started flipping houses as a side project.
• I finally decided to quit my job and turn the house flipping into a business with my mom.
• My mom and I often fight over designs, but every time we do, the house turns out even better.

For a decade, I thought I was doing everything right. I had a few corporate jobs, a predictable salary, and a career path that looked good on paper. From the outside, it probably seemed like I had things figured out.

But behind the scenes, I was constantly exhausted, and the work never really stopped. Even after logging off my work email and putting my work phone down, I was still thinking about deadlines, emails, and expectations. Over time, that pressure built into something I couldn't ignore anymore.

I remember realizing that no matter how much effort I put in, the work didn't feel tangible. I was stuck in a loop. I needed a dramatic change.

A side project with my mom sparked a change

To scratch the initial itch, I purchased my first home in June 2020 and was planning to obtain a construction loan. However, when I spoke with my mom about it, she agreed I didn't need to take on the burden and said she'd partner with me 50/50 on this side project.

Little did I know back then that this side project would turn into our mother-son business years later.

We added nearly 1,200 sq. ft., successfully sold the house in February 2023, and I finally felt the tangible satisfaction of doing my own project. This led to the purchase of our second home in June 2023.

Eventually, though, the burnout caught up with me. Working a full-time job and managing the pre-construction of a 3,400 sq. ft. project was too much. Around that time, my mom and I started talking more seriously about our partnership and plans for the future.

Yes, a steady paycheck was nice, but the live-to-work motto she drilled into me as I was growing up wasn't working. My work-life balance was awful, and my stress and patience levels were wearing thin.

A wellness retreat finally pushed me to take the leap

Toward the end of 2024, I booked a retreat at the legendary health and wellness resort The Golden Door to disconnect and clear my mind. While the intention wasn't to make a drastic change, that is exactly what happened.

At the retreat, I met two successful CEOs in their 60s who kept instilling in me that what I saw as a massive risk wasn't actually such. I always had the idea of working on my own, but I was too scared to do it.

"Bet on yourself. Success is driven by those who make bold decisions," they kept saying.

I took that advice home, spoke with my mom, and while she was initially against the idea, she said OK. Seeing me struggle for meaning and happiness, I think, swayed her to agree with my decision.

JAREST, LLC was formed soon after, and there was no looking back.

We butt heads constantly over budgets and design

The adjustment was immediate. Time and routine changed like the wind, and processes and hierarchies were not established, and egos clashed.

Both stubborn and smart, we butted heads constantly about design, decisions, and budget. While I'm primarily driven by financial considerations, she (thankfully) is better at understanding where to spend money to improve the product.

This led to a lot of disagreements in the middle of the second project. I was against spending an extra $15,000 on floating stairs or a double-wide Sub-Zero fridge/freezer that other houses in our price range didn't have.

After a few yelling matches over dinner, she won (she normally does, especially when she's cooking). The decision was made, and we pressed on. Even though the contingency budget was down to $0, and I knew other unknowns would pop up, we proceeded.

Finding our rhythm

Over time, though, I started to notice something. Every time we clashed, the final decision was stronger.

If I pushed too hard on cutting costs, she would point out long-term benefits I hadn't considered. If she wanted to over-improve a property, I would bring us back to what I thought actually made sense financially.

We sold that house in March 2026 and are now starting our most ambitious project in Beverly Hills, with an anticipated completion in Spring 2027.

Thanks to my mom's guidance, financial support, and a bit of yelling, a dream from childhood, growing up in an apartment in Westwood, is coming true. While I won't be living in a Beverly Hills mansion, at least I can say I built one!

It took a while, but that raw tension (oh, it's still there, trust me, just not as fervent) became a strength.

• Jensen Huang has an unlikely new reputation as a street food influencer.
• Nvidia's CEO was spotted at a night market in Taiwan on Sunday, his latest street food adventure.
• There's now a list tracking the foodie pit stops he makes on his business trips around the world.

Jensen Huang is best known as the billionaire CEO who transformed Nvidia into the world's most valuable company. On the side, the tech mogul has been building a reputation as a street food influencer.

On Sunday, Nvidia and the company's newsroom account posted videos on X of Huang visiting the Raohe Street Night Market in Taipei, Taiwan, where crowds of onlookers gathered as he ordered food from local vendors.

Huang also took the opportunity to scribble a timeless "Jensen was here" note on a bathroom wall:

One video captured a throng of people waiting just outside a store for Huang, and cheering as he emerged:

Earlier this month, after accompanying President Donald Trump on his state visit to China alongside a delegation of business leaders, Huang was also spotted eating noodles at a roadside stall in Beijing.

It's not unusual for Huang to be seen trying local delicacies, and the Nvidia CEO has emerged as something of a street-food connoisseur. Over the years, he has been photographed buying food at night markets and street food spots across the world, including in Vietnam, Hong Kong, and South Korea.

Dan Liu, a tech founder, has compiled a list of what he says is every restaurant, stall, and noodle shop Huang has visited around the world. Jensen Eats' running tally includes 47 spots so far, from a Korean fried chicken spot in Santa Clara to a hotpot restaurant in Shanghai.

Huang's love of food is well-known in Silicon Valley circles. In an April 2024 podcast interview with Robert Nickson, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Huang once invited him over for cheesesteaks.

"Jensen is really into cooking, so he invited me over to his house," Zuckerberg said.

Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison also recalled having dinner with Huang. In 2024, he said that he and Elon Musk once begged Huang for GPUs at Nobu in Palo Alto.

Huang got his start in a restaurant. At 15, he worked at a Denny's in Portland as a dishwasher, waiter, and busboy. Years later, it was another Denny's in San Jose where Huang and Nvidia's cofounders Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem first discussed the idea that would become Nvidia.

Now, the Denny's spot at 2484 Berryessa Road has a plaque dedicated to that history-making moment.

Of course, it's not all noodles and posing with fans on the street for the CEO of a $5.2 trillion company.

In an interview with Channel News Asia in Taiwan that aired on Monday, Huang addressed one of the hot-button topics that keeps coming up in the tech world: layoffs being attributed to AI.

"I think the narrative that connects AI to job loss for many of the CEOs that are doing it, it is just too lazy," Huang told CNA.

Huang's latest street food appearances come shortly after Nvidia delivered earnings beats throughout its latest earnings report. It delivered $81.6 billion in revenue in its first quarter, beating its $79.15 billion estimate. The company's stock is up 14% this year.

• Russia has started using its new jet-powered attack drone, the Geran-4, in combat.
• Ukraine said Monday this is in response to the effectiveness of its interceptor drones.
• Jet-powered drones are faster and more difficult to shoot down than propeller-driven variants.

Russia has started using a new jet-powered attack drone in response to Ukrainian interceptor drones, which are becoming increasingly effective in combat, Kyiv said Monday.

Russia routinely uses propeller-driven drones called the Geran-2 — based on the notorious Iranian Shahed — to attack Ukrainian cities, but has developed faster variants powered by jet engines known as the Geran-3, Geran-4, and Geran-5.

The Geran-3 made its combat debut last year. On Monday, Ukraine's military intelligence agency, the GUR, said Russia had started using the newer Geran-4 in attacks this month "as a countermeasure against the effectiveness of our interceptor" drones.

Cheap interceptor drones are a critical tool in Ukraine's air defense arsenal as it faces worsening Russian bombardments.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's defense minister, recently told reporters that the number of Geran-type drones downed by interceptor drones has doubled since the start of the year, while deliveries to the military have increased at the same time.

The interceptor drones are armed with small warheads and eliminate their targets by colliding with them or exploding nearby. But they are primarily designed to engage the Geran-2, which can reach speeds of 115 mph, not the faster variants.

The Geran-4 is powered by a Chinese-made turbojet engine and can fly as fast as 500 km/h (roughly 310 mph) and cruise at an altitude of 5,000 meters (1,640 feet), the GUR said. The drone can carry a highly explosive warhead over a distance of 450 kilometers (280 miles).

Jet-powered drones are launched by long rails and accelerate to flight speed before the engine takes over. The GUR said the Geran-4 has an improved airframe, a more reinforced structure, and an engine that provides greater thrust than its predecessor variants. The design allows for active maneuvering.

Neither Russia's defense ministry nor its US embassy responded to requests for comment on the GUR assessment.

Russia's jet-powered drones have not been used as widely in combat as the propeller-driven Geran-2, although Moscow has expanded the infrastructure to support their launches at various air bases.

Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, an advisor to Ukraine's defense ministry, said Russia used both the Geran-3 and Geran-4 to attack Kyiv during a massive bombardment over the weekend that killed at least two people and injured dozens more.

Ukraine has signaled that it is preparing for an uptick in Russian jet-powered drones. For instance, interceptor drone makers have said they are developing faster models to chase down the newer Gerans.

Fedorov, the defense minister, told reporters that Ukraine is focused on developing a stockpile of low-cost interceptor missiles "to prepare for the emergence of jet-powered" drones, and that Kyiv has already begun testing.

Ukraine aims to scale production and build out a stockpile before the fall, Fedorov said, as Russia typically ramps up missile and drone strikes during the colder months.

The rise of interceptor drones, followed by the debut of jet-powered Gerans, and Ukraine's development of cheap missiles in response to that, follows a similar trend throughout the conflict, where one side fields a new technology that forces the other to adapt and counter.

Ukrainian and Western officials have often described the conflict as a cat-and-mouse arms race, as both sides seek to gain an edge on the battlefield through tactical and weapons innovation.

Updated May 25: I checked which Amazon Memorial Day deals BI readers are clicking and shopping most so far, including major discounts on travel gear, vacuums, OLED TVs, mattresses, air purifiers, countertop appliances, and Apple devices. I verified prices when updating this guide, but Amazon deals can change or sell out quickly during Memorial Day weekend.

Memorial Day sales are everywhere right now, but most "deals" honestly aren't worth your time. The best deals tend to be on products people already planned to buy anyway: a better TV, an upgraded coffee maker, travel gear that makes flying less miserable, and the gadgets tech pros use every day.

To build this list, I looked at Business Insider readers' most-purchased products on Amazon over the past year, our top-tested recommendations, and what's been hot lately. A pattern emerged quickly. People aren't shopping for random gadgets right now; they're buying practical upgrades that make daily life easier, more comfortable, or slightly less chaotic.

Related: Love books? Enjoy Audible free for 30 days

The best Memorial Day tech deals

Tech is one of the few categories where shoppers wait for big sale weekends before buying. Memorial Day tends to bring some of the year's best prices on Apple gear, premium TVs, noise-canceling headphones, and home audio (and air quality) upgrades. Unlike impulse gadgets, these are the purchases people rarely regret buying.

Apple AirPods (4th Gen)

BUY NOW: Apple AirPods 4, $99 (was $129)

The AirPods 4 are the cheapest AirPods you can buy, but they still deliver the same comfortable fit, strong sound quality, and Apple-friendly features as the pricier models. They're a great pick for casual listeners who don't care about noise cancellation. 

Samsung S90F OLED 65-inch TV

BUY NOW: Samsung S90F OLED 65-inch TV, $1,298 (was $1,698)

At $400 off, the Samsung S90F OLED is one of the best TV deals to shop this Memorial Day. It delivers the rich contrast, vibrant colors, and immersive picture quality you'd expect from a much pricier premium TV, making movie nights, sports, and gaming look incredible. Tech editor Steven Cohen named it best overall in his guide to the best 65-inch TVs.

Anker Nano Power Bank (A1638)

BUY NOW: Anker Nano Power Bank (A1638), $46 (was $60)

This tiny Anker battery disappears into a tote bag or jacket pocket, charges surprisingly fast, and end up becoming one of those "how did I live without this?" purchases. Travelers love it. Commuters love it. BI Reviews tech writer Tyler Hayes loves it.

Coway Airmega air purifier AP-1512 HH(W)

BUY NOW: Coway Airmega air purifier, $160 (was $230)

The Coway Airmega air purifier earned top marks in our testing for quickly removing dust, pollen, pet dander, and other air pollutants. It's a smart Memorial Day buy, just in time for allergy season and summer wildfire smoke, and it's 30% off now.

Life360 tile Bluetooth tracker

BUY NOW: Life 360 tile Bluetooth tracker 4-pack, $50 (was $84)

This colorful Bluetooth tracker is the perfect find for anyone who is always losing their keys, bag, or other important items. Unlike Apple Air Tags, Life360 tiles are both fully iOs and Android compatible.

Samsung The Frame LS03F 4K QLED Smart TV

BUY NOW: Samsung The Frame LS03F 4K QLED Smart TV, $748 (was $998)

Samsung's Frame TV is designed to look like a piece of art on your wall thanks to its flush mount, matte screen, and magnetic frame bezels. Its image quality is mediocre, but its style makes it a great pick for design-focused buyers.

Oral-B iO Series 9 Smart Toothbrush

BUY NOW: Oral-B iO Series 9 Smart Toothbrush, $250 (was $330)

Dentists love Oral-B electric toothbrushes — and the iO series in particular — for its strong clinical backing on effectiveness in removing plaque and preventing gingivitis. The brand also bears the ADA seal of acceptance.

Apple Watch Series 11

BUY NOW: Apple Watch Series 11, $299 (was $399)

The Apple Watch Series 11 boasts improved battery life and 5G connectivity (on the cellular model). It's the most well-rounded smartwatch for iPhone users, offering polished fitness tools and seamless integration with your daily life.

Sonos Arc Ultra Soundbar

BUY NOW: Sonos Arc Ultra Soundbar, $899 (was $1,099)

The Sonos Arc Ultra carries over everything we loved about the original Arc soundbar while offering bigger bass, improved Dolby Atmos immersion, and cleaner dialogue. It's pricey, but few stand-alone soundbars can match its performance.

Sony WH-1000XM5 Headphones

BUY NOW: Sony WH-1000XM5 Headphones, $248 (was $400)

The WH-1000XM5 are one of Sony's top over-ear headphones. They boast excellent noise-canceling performance along with great audio quality and a truckload of convenient features.

Related: The 100 best deals at Amazon right now

The best Memorial Day kitchen deals

Kitchen upgrades are a category shoppers tend to save for major sale weekends, especially high-end cookware, countertop appliances, and wellness-minded swaps that can otherwise feel hard to justify at full price. Score deals on foodie-favorite brands like Breville, Vitamix, and Le Creuset, along with smarter alternatives to cheap, plastic-heavy kitchen staples.

Rubbermaid Brilliance 8-piece Pantry Food Storage Container Set

BUY NOW: Rubbermaid Brilliance 8-piece Pantry Food Storage Container Set, $27 (was $40)

With clear walls and an easy-to-store design, this set is lightweight and a breeze to keep clean. They're made with BPA-free plastic and are airtight, leak-proof, and dishwasher safe.

Le Creuset 5.5 qt. Dutch Oven

BUY NOW: Le Creuset 5.5 qt. Dutch Oven, $300 (was $335)

Le Creuset deals are always a good idea. If you're looking for a dependable Dutch oven that can handle any recipe for years to come, turn to the Le Creuset Signature Enameled Cast-Iron 5-1/2-Quart Dutch Oven.

Nespresso Vertuo Pop+ by Breville with milk frother

BUY NOW: Nespresso Vertuo Pop+ by Breville with milk frother, $149 (was $200)

This Nespresso model pairs the brand's centrifugal brewing technology with a small countertop footprint and an elegant profile. Pair it with the bundled Aeroccino frother, and you have a coffeehouse setup at home.

John Boos Chop-N-Slice Series Square Wooden Maple Cutting Board

BUY NOW: John Boos Chop-N-Slice Series Square Wooden Maple Cutting Board, $33 (was $37)

Wooden cutting boards won't damage knives, and many, like this one from John Boos, are heirloom-worthy if you take care of them. This flat board is pretty enough to leave on the counter, and easy to maintain.

Chefman 4 QT Compact Air fryer

BUY NOW: Chefman 4 QT Compact Air fryer, $60 (was $100)

The Chefman 4-Quart Air Fryer is small but mighty, and the best small air fryer we've tested. It's ideal for cooking for 1-2 people and small spaces.

Our Place Always Pan 2.0

BUY NOW: Our Place Always Pan 2.0, $95 (was $135)

Our Place's Always Pan is a multi-functional pan that has earned spots in our best nonstick and best ceramic cookware guides. The nonstick coating is slick, and the tall sides are perfect for sauteing, steaming, and making one-pot meals.

Stanley All Day Julienne Soft Cooler Bag

BUY NOW: Stanley All Day Julienne Soft Cooler Bag, $75 (was $100)

The Stanley All Day Julienne Mini Cooler has a color-blocked design, so you can carry your lunch in style. It makes a great gift for college graduates starting out in the workforce.

Ninja Fit Compact Personal Blender

BUY NOW: Ninja Fit Compact Personal Blender, $55 (was $70)

The Ninja Fit is small but mighty and comes with two trusty 16-ounce sport bottles with spout lids, making it the perfect blender for smaller households and smoothie drinkers with limited counter space.

AeroPress Coffee and Espresso Maker

BUY NOW: AeroPress Coffee and Espresso Maker, $32 (was $40)

Coffee is a serious necessity for some, and the AeroPress is small, simple, portable, and easy-to-use way to brew a highly competitive, frothy cup of coffee somewhere between a French press and an espresso.

Chef'n LooseLeaf Kale, Chard, Collard Greens and Herb Stripper

BUY NOW: Chef'n LooseLeaf Kale, Chard, Collard Greens and Herb Stripper, $ (was $7)

If you eat a fair amount of kale in your house, you've probably spent an inordinate amount of time pulling those dark crinkly leaves off of their thick stubborn stalks. A better way to do it? Just thread the stalk of a kale, chard, or collard green leaf into one of the holes of this greens stripper and then give it a solid pull. The stalk will come through the hole while the leafy goodness you want falls away completely.

Related: The best Memorial Day mattress sales: Saatva, Tempur-Pedic, and more

The best Memorial Day travel & style deals

Summer travel season is kicking off, which means Memorial Day is one of the best opportunities to save on the upgrades that make trips smoother, lighter, and far less stressful. From durable carry-ons and comfortable airport outfits to neck pillows and other genius hacks, these are the travel essentials BI Reviews frequent flyers say are genuinely worth packing.

Coop AirJustable Travel Neck Pillow

BUY NOW: Coop AirJustable Travel Neck Pillow, $44 (was $59)

Coop makes some of our favorite bed pillows, so it's no surprise the brand's travel pillow is equally well-designed. Its inflatable design can be worn six different ways, so you get a truly dialed-in fit no matter what seat you're in.

Samsonite Freeform Hardside Carry-On

BUY NOW: Samsonite Freeform Hardside Carry-On, $140 (was $220)

Durable and lightweight, this streamlined carry-on suitcase offers a generous capacity and smooth maneuverability at an affordable price.

Rumpl Everywhere Mat

BUY NOW: Rumpl Everywhere Mat, $60 (was $80)

The Rumpl Everywhere Mat is lightweight, compact, and the most waterproof picnic blanket we tested, making it a great option for camping and trekking.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds

BUY NOW: Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, $249 (was $299)

The second-generation Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds deliver the best ANC performance we've encountered in a pair of in-ear headphones. But while they offer a few welcome tweaks over the previous-generation model, overall performance is very similar.

More travel & style deals

• Delsey Paris Chatelet Air 2.0 Hardside Checked Trunk, $279 (was $419)

• Pander nylon belt bag, $16 (was $20)

• Anrabess 2-piece linen jumpsuit, $49 (was $56)

• Bose QuietComfort Wireless Bluetooth Headphones, $229 (was $359)

• Bagsmart toiletry bag, $15 (was $23)

• Monos Hardside Polycarbonate Spinner Carry-On Suitcase, $297 (was $325)

• Dr. Scholl's Islander Sandals, $48 (was $80)

• Osprey Fairview 55L travel backpack, $181 (was $220)

• Levi's Women's Classic Bootcut Jeans, $40 (was $65)

The best Memorial Day home deals

A few thoughtful home upgrades can completely change how your space feels day to day, and Memorial Day sales are packed with discounts on the products you use constantly. From powerful vacuums and cozy bedding to elevated furniture and decor accents, these are the home buys that make apartments and houses feel cleaner and more comfortable.

Coop Home Goods Original Adjustable Pillow

BUY NOW: Coop Home Goods Original Adjustable Pillow, $71 (was $89)

The Coop Sleep Goods Original Pillow offers thoughtful features like adjustable fill, a washable pillow cover, and pillow shapes for side, back, and stomach sleepers.

Roborock Qrevo Series QV 35A

BUY NOW: Roborock Qrevo Series QV 35A, $450 (was $650)

The Roborock QV 35A has enough features to make it a virtually hands-off cleaning assistant at a value price. These include well-rounded vacuum and mop performance and a self-cleaning system with cool-air drying. It's perfect for those who want more than an entry-level machine but aren't ready to commit to a more expensive device yet.

Serwall 8-Piece Patio Dining Set

BUY NOW: Serwall 8-Piece Patio Dining Set, $760 (was $1,099)

A solid patio set is a must-have for summer entertaining. This one includes a double-sided umbrella, an extended table, and 6 ergonomic dining chairs.

Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum

BUY NOW: Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum, $350 (was $530)

The Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum is unmatched in its cleaning performance and versatility. It quickly picks up all types of debris from both hard floors and carpeting, and its unique lift-away design makes it easy to clean under low-profile furniture.

Flexispot EN1 standing desk

BUY NOW: Flexispot standing desk, $170 (was $210)

The no-frills Flexispot standing desk moves quickly, smoothly, and quietly to reach your desired height. It's an affordable option for people who need a basic standing desk for their WFH setup.

More home deals

• Shark StainForce Cordless Spot Cleaner, $150 (was $200)

• Beckham Hotel Collection set of 2 Bed Pillows, $60 (was $80)

• Tineco Floor ONE S7 Stretch Ultra Cordless Wet Dry Vacuum, $499 (was $599)

• Linenspa Memory Foam Mattress Topper, $45 (was $60)

• Bissell Pet Hair Eraser DualBrush Upright Vacuum, $250 (was $300)

• Leesa Sapira Hybrid Mattress, $1,489 (was $1,699)

• Dirt Devil portable spot cleaner machine, $60 (was $110)

Summer's almost here, and I hope you've been enjoying the long weekend. Before you get back to reality, though, why not put your feet up and check out this extensive roundup of the best Memorial Day sales?

While hardly the last sale of the summer season, this is the perfect time to get ready for better weather with new deals on outdoor patio furniture, restock on summer fashion brands like Andie, and maybe check out the Solo Stove firepit to enjoy those summer nights in style.

Don't forget mattresses, as this is one of the best times of the year, before Black Friday, to save hundreds on some of our top-tested beds from the likes of Saatva and Sleep Number.

Yes, Prime Day is also hurtling toward us in June, but given that those deals will be limited to Amazon and to paying Prime members, no less, I think the sales and individual deal highlights below are worth a look today.

My favorite Memorial Day deals

Memorial Day sales roundup

Outdoor furniture

With cool summer nights and warm sunny days ahead, outdoor furniture is in high demand. The best brands aren't cheap, but for Memorial Day, you can save hundreds on our top picks just in time for nights around the fire pit.

• Check out our roundup of the best outdoor furniture deals from Wayfair.

Indoor furniture

Good furniture isn't usually cheap, so an event like Memorial Day is the perfect time to invest in pieces you'll love with sweet discounts. Premium brands and budget finds are all on sale now, so don't miss out on your next couch or standing desk upgrade.

Tech

"What kind of tech is on sale for Memorial Day?" you might be wondering. As someone who tracks deals every season, I can tell you it's the usual suspects, at their typical best prices. Apple devices, TVs, and subscription services are dropping prices for the holiday, just in time to snag a graduation gift or Father's Day treat.

Clothing

The seasons are changing — away go the winter coats, and out come the swimsuits, breathable tees, and shorts. Luckily, several of our top recommended apparel and travel brands are welcoming the warmer weather with major sales on styles we've tested and love.

Mattresses & bedding

Weekends like Memorial Day are the best times of year to buy a mattress. If you've been holding out, you can finally buy with peace of mind: tons of our top-tested beds are at their best prices of the season.

• Browse our roundup of the best Memorial Day mattress sales.

Home & kitchen

Ready to upgrade your beaten-up vacuum? Finally ready to accept an air fryer into your home? Check out these Memorial Day home and kitchen sales — everything is discounted, from stick vacuums to viral cookware.

Beauty

Beauty and makeup may not be your first thought when it comes to Memorial Day deals, but you'd be surprised how many brands celebrate the occasion with price cuts. Save now on haircare, skincare, makeup, and more from brands we've tested and recommend.

Memorial Day sales and deals: Frequently asked questions

When is Memorial Day 2026?

Memorial Day 2026 lands on Monday, May 25. For many, this means a blissful three-day weekend from work or school.

When do Memorial Day sales end?

It's difficult to say exactly when all sales will end. As a rule of thumb, I always advise shopping before Memorial Day itself, since few retailers promise to continue discounts beyond then.

A select few stores (mainly mattress and furniture brands) will continue their promotions through early this week, so late readers may still have a chance to score a price cut.

What about Amazon Prime Day?

Amazon announced its annual Prime Day will be returning in June, but has yet to specify exact dates.

If you're wondering whether it's worth waiting until then to shop, your instinct isn't entirely wrong. It's true: many items will be down to all-time lows for the event, marking huge savings on vacuums, Apple tech, beauty products, and more.

However, Amazon Prime Day is exclusive only to that single retailer. Because of that, you can't find smaller businesses, DTC mattress brands, or exclusive style companies on sale for the event. Memorial Day is still an excellent chance to save big from stores across the board, so I recommend jumping on these deals while you can.

See more: Memorial Day mattress deals | Amazon Memorial Day deals | Saatva Memorial Day | Sleep Number Memorial Day | Leesa Memorial Day | Wayfair Memorial Day

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• Carol Merlo wanted to build her own website without Weebly or Wix. She asked her son, Kevin Masterson, to help.
• Masterson taught her to vibe code. "Sometimes thirty seconds can save her an hour of headache," he said.
• Merlo was worried about clicking the "enter" key. "You're not going to break it," he assured her.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Carol Merlo and her son, Kevin Masterson. Merlo is a 73-year-old entrepreneurship coach from Dallas. Masterson is a 41-year-old AI mentor from Lewisville, Texas. It's been edited for length and clarity.

Carol Merlo: I used ChatGPT for personal stuff, like, what supplement should I take for this? What do you think of that? What's wrong with this bush?

Kevin Masterson: It's real! She totally doctored up a bush and brought it back to life with AI.

Merlo: I use ChatGPT for that because it doesn't need to speak in complete sentences. I still rely on ChatGPT for images. Claude is great for human language. It's not stilted. My husband uses Gemini. I don't know why.

Masterson: I've been vibe coding for about a year, getting really into the meat and potatoes. I trained a friend of mine, with whom I worked at a restaurant, and we got good enough together to win a hackathon. I thought: This is duplicatable.

Who do I care about more than anybody? My mom. She talked about building a website, and she didn't want to be dependent on Weebly. I was like, "Do you want to learn how to do it yourself? I can walk you through stuff. I'm not going to be on the keyboard. I'll just say words."

Merlo: I've been building websites for as long as we've had the internet. WordPress was really hard and labor-intensive. Then I switched over to Wix for a minute, then Weebly. My husband also has a website, and we've got a third website for something else.

I got an email about a month or two ago, saying they were going to make me pay for two years and that they were raising my rate. At that point, I went to Kevin. I said: "What can I do so that I'm not having to pay so much for a website?"

He started with this ideation phase. What do you want? What's it look like? What's it feel like? We had a long conversation.

Masterson: The lessons were in-person. I'd sit in the corner of the room, and she'd be on her computer. At the beginning, it's so important to have a face. It was more structured sessions and more handholding.

Merlo: The difference between this and the drag-and-drop interfaces is that it's all words. You have to be able to type the words of the thing you want. With ChatGPT, I'll send it a picture or a clip. Well, no pictures here. This is coding.

I'm old, so I come from the world of reading. I'm highly academic, and everything I do is words. Nowadays, people don't have the patience for it. They don't even have the patience for videos. You need a clip. How are you going to learn this in a clip? So, people have to learn patience and the willingness to do it.

Masterson: She was a little timid at times. Like, "I don't want to bother you, but I've got another question." That's what I'm here for! Sometimes thirty seconds can save her an hour of headache.

Merlo: It was completely new for me. I developed a Word document that tells me what to do here, what to do there, and what this word means.

The other thing that was the most challenging was acronyms. Kevin started talking to me, and I was like: What the heck is he saying? Like, what's a CLI? I said, "You've got to dumb it down for me." Sometimes I'd go into regular Claude to ask what terms meant so I could get context.

I would be hesitant to click "enter." I'd say: "I've typed this thing in. Now what?" He'd say: "Click 'enter.'"

He told me, "You're not going to break it, and you can go back to the original, so you don't have to worry about it being wrong." Many people are worried about it being wrong, especially when you're learning something. That was very encouraging for me.

Masterson: It became more back-and-forth. She sent me a few emails, and we did a bit of video conferencing.

Merlo: What Kevin taught me is that there's no limit. Whatever you can envision, you can ask Claude Code to do for you. I'm no longer limited by knowledge; now I'm only limited by my imagination. That's huge.

I'm paying way less: $9.99 a month for another platform that works using Claude Code. Now I have this thing, and nobody's going to upsell me or do things that are going to cost me money that I don't want to spend.

Right now, the website is basic. Now, I'm going in and doing refinements. There are other things I've done on other websites that are more fun and not as boring as the one I have.

It's great, it's just not spiffy. I'm spiffing it up.

• Major retailers, such as Walmart and Sephora, are integrating AI into their shopping experiences.
• Tech companies, including OpenAI and Google, are also racing to win in AI-driven online shopping.
• Today's AI assistants can help with product recommendations, checkout, and customer service.

Retail is becoming a big battleground in the artificial intelligence arms race.

In the past year, more major retailers have gotten in on the hype, unveiling AI tools for shoppers to use both in stores and online. Some, including Amazon and Walmart, have built AI-powered shopping assistants, while others, such as Target, have added AI features to their shopping apps or partnered with tech companies on AI tools.

Some of the most popular uses of AI for shopping are for research and comparisons, according to an April study from global consulting firm McKinsey and Company.

Retailers aren't the only companies trying to use AI to change the way people buy things. Tech companies, including OpenAI and Google, have introduced new AI shopping features and partnered with top brands. EMARKETER, a sibling company of Business Insider, projects that AI platforms will drive $144 billion in US e-commerce sales by 2029.

It hasn't all been smooth sailing. OpenAI earlier this year pivoted away from a feature called Instant Checkout that allowed users to make purchases within ChatGPT from retailers like Walmart.

Many consumers are still building trust with the AI, McKinsey also wrote in its report.

Still, early adopters show that the opportunity is big. Amazon said in February that customers who used its old AI assistant Rufus while shopping were 60% more likely to complete a purchase. And Walmart has said that those using its shopping bot, Sparky, spend more per order on average than those who didn't.

Here are the ways that AI agents and chatbots are quietly reshaping online shopping — and why you'll probably start seeing them more often.

OpenAI was an early mover in AI shopping and works with retailers like Walmart and Target

OpenAI has emerged as a prominent player in AI-powered shopping through a growing number of retail partnerships. It experimented with Instant Checkout before shifting toward product discovery and visual shopping features inside ChatGPT.

It has struck major deals with retailers, including Walmart, Target, Etsy, and Sephora, which have launched apps with ChatGPT. Some apps allow shoppers to search for, compare, and get recommendations directly from the chatbot.

Retailers such as home improvement retailer Lowe's, have made AI-powered assistants in collaboration with OpenAI, like Lowe's virtual home improvement assistant, Mylow. The retailer said it provides customers with the expertise of a Lowe's associate.

Google is trying to get people to shop within Gemini and striking deals with major retailers

Google, which already plays a major role in online shopping through its search business, has made major moves this year to expand its AI presence. Through Gemini, Google has forged partnerships with large retailers and apparel brands to bring their products to its app and AI mode in Google search. The collaborations are meant to make it easier to find and purchase items.

For example, brands including Target, Gap Inc., and Nike said shoppers would be able to browse and shop their products through Google's Gemini app and AI Mode shopping experiences.

Meta AI is coming for your Instagram feed

Meta is bringing AI-powered shopping to your Instagram and Facebook feeds. In March, the company said it was testing new AI features that let users see product information and a summary of user reviews after clicking ads on Facebook or Instagram.

Shopping was also part of Meta's April rollout of its AI model, Muse Spark, in Meta AI before expanding to Meta's broader family of apps. It includes a feature in Meta AI's shopping mode that can search and map Facebook Marketplace listings near a user alongside options from other sites, and a new way to browse products from brands and creators.

Amazon is making a new bet on Alexa for shopping

Amazon pivoted in May away from its AI-powered shopping assistant Rufus. The e-commerce giant said it would roll Rufus' capabilities into Alexa+, the generative AI-version of its voice assistant, to create Alexa for Shopping. The new effort aims to be more personalized and conversational.

Alexa for Shopping can help compare products, provide recommendations, track prices, and manage your cart, for example. It also works across your phone, laptop, and Echo devices.

Rajiv Mehta, Amazon's vice president of conversational shopping, described it as an "expert personal shopper who already knows you."

Walmart's Sparky is gaining traction with shoppers

Walmart introduced its AI shopping assistant, Sparky, in 2025. Shoppers can use the chatbot in the Walmart app or website to find products, read reviews, and receive personalized purchase recommendations.

In May, the retail giant said Sparky's weekly active users were up over 100% from the previous quarter. Walmart said that orders from customers using Sparky were 35% more valuable on average.

Beauty brands are getting in on the AI chatbot wave

In 2025, beauty retailer Sephora launched AI Beauty Chat, a generative AI chatbot, on its website and app.

The company's AI tools aim to provide "insightful recommendations to enhance a personalized shopping experience and smart gift giving," Nadine Graham, senior vice president and general manager of e-commerce at Sephora North America, told Business Insider.

Its rival, Ulta, has also launched an AI shopping assistant to guide customers through its website and app. It allows them to compare and shop for beauty products.

Ulta AI is meant to make "beauty discovery more seamless, personalized and shoppable wherever it happens," said Lauren Brindley, chief merchandising and digital officer at Ulta Beauty.

Editor's note: This story was first published in November 2025 and has been updated to reflect recent developments.

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says blaming AI for layoffs is "just too lazy."
• Huang says it "doesn't make sense" to blame AI before the tech became widely useful.
• His comments come as companies rush to roll out AI tools across their businesses

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang criticized CEOs who blamed artificial intelligence for layoffs, calling the narrative "lazy."

"I think the narrative that connects AI to job loss for many of the CEOs that are doing it, it is just too lazy," Huang told Singapore broadcaster Channel NewsAsia in an interview on Monday.

"AI has just arrived. 
How is it possible they're already losing jobs?" he asked.

Huang said it "doesn't make any sense" for companies to link layoffs to AI before generative AI tools became widely useful in the workplace.

"How is it possible that AI became productive and useful only six months ago, and they were somehow laying people off two years ago because of AI?" Huang told CNA in Taiwan.

Huang said some executives were blaming layoffs on AI "to sound smart."

"I really hate that," he said.

Huang's comments come as companies across industries race to integrate AI tools into their businesses, while workers increasingly worry about automation replacing human jobs.

The anxiety has intensified amid a wave of tech layoffs and corporate restructuring tied to AI. The trend has also fueled debate over whether companies are genuinely replacing workers with AI or simply using the technology to justify broader cost-cutting.

Huang argued that leaders should strike a more balanced tone when discussing the technology's impact.

"I think we're scaring people and that's irresponsible," he said.

Huang said the industry should present a "balanced narrative" about AI that acknowledges both the technology's potential and the importance of advancing it safely, with proper security measures, guardrails, and supportive government and industrial policies.

"On the other hand, tell a story that's optimistic so that people want to be part of it," he added.

Huang also talked about

joining President Donald Trump on his recent trip to Beijing after receiving a last-minute call from the president.

Huang said Trump called him the morning he was leaving and "insisted" that he get on the plane, initially thinking Huang was in Washington, DC. Huang said he was on the West Coast, so Trump told him to meet Air Force One in Alaska.

"He called me in the morning — he didn't realize I wasn't going — and he insisted that I get on the plane and go," Huang said, adding he packed in a hurry.

Huang said he then flew to Alaska, boarded Air Force One, and traveled to China with a group of other US executives representing a broad range of industries.

"We were there to really represent the United States and support the president," Huang said.

• Apps like Uber and GoPuff are seeing a boost in Gen Z worker registrations this month.
• The jump comes as many college students are beginning summer break.
• Gen Z workers are facing a tough job market as entry-level roles dry up, and AI use increases.

Forget flipping burgers or getting a summer internship. Some Gen Z workers are turning to apps like Uber or DoorDash for summer jobs.

Gig workers between the ages of 17 and 25 are the fastest-growing age group on the gig-work apps so far in the second quarter of 2026, data through May 17 from mobile app researcher Apptopia found. Gen Z registrations grew 8.4% over the same period in 2025, according to the data.

The rise in young people signing up for gig work apps comes as the school year ends for many students and summer break begins.

In May 2025, the number of active users aged 17 to 25 rose by 12% over the same period a year earlier. So far this month, the boost is 24%, Apptopia said.

Daily active Gen Z users on gig apps have also spiked in recent years, an Apptopia spokesperson said.

It helps that gig work jobs "are flexible, easy to get, and higher paying jobs are harder to get," the spokesperson said.

Gen Z is facing job uncertainty, whether it's getting internships or landing a full-time job. Entry-level roles are being scaled back as some companies invest in AI, prompting some young workers to seek alternatives.

On TikTok, some young workers post videos of themselves making deliveries for apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats, using hashtags like #summerjob.

Delivery app GoPuff had the largest increase in young gig worker signups midway through the second quarter, with a 97.5% year-over-year surge. Lyft's driver app followed with 70.3% growth among this demographic. Most gig-work apps require workers to be at least 18.

The summer spike isn't limited to Gen Z. Apptopia's data also showed smaller second-quarter usage spikes among gig workers aged 36 to 45 and those aged 46 and older. Users between 26 and 35 fell slightly during the period.

Apptopia's data tracked US users' age and habits on six delivery and ride-hailing apps. The company drew data from app stores and its panel of about 15 million users across a variety of apps.

Do you have a story to share about DoorDash, Uber, Instacart, or another gig-work app? Contact this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com or via encrypted messaging app Signal at 808-854-4501. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• With AI rapidly transforming the workforce, many jobs are changing.
• There are steps workers can take to help future-proof their careers and remain resilient.
• Experts suggest auditing your job function to evaluate risk and focusing on impact in your résumé.

If you feel like you're been inundated with AI-related layoff announcements, you're not alone.

Workers are increasingly grappling with how to stay competitive — and relevant — in today's job market.

Michael Housman, the founder and lead strategist at AI-ccelerator, a firm specializing in AI education and consulting, told Business Insider that many jobs are at stake as AI transforms the workplace, not just roles in certain industries.

The World Economic Forum's 2026 Global Risks Report estimates that 92 million workers could be displaced by 2030.

"Frankly, any knowledge worker is at stake," Housman told Business Insider.

Rather than spiraling, here are six concrete steps you can take to help future-proof your career:

1. Audit your job function

Alex King, the founder and managing director of AI talent acquisition company ExpandIQ, told Business Insider that he sees jobs falling into three buckets: full automation, augmentation, and transformation.

Most people will fall into the augmentation category, meaning some parts of the job will be automated, but not all, and it's worth evaluating the level of risk to your role.

King said that workers should conduct an "audit" of their job function. That involves reviewing their job description and creating a bulleted list of what they do on a day-to-day basis.

"If it's more predictable, you're highly vulnerable to being automated by AI," King said. "Versus if it's a more judgment-based role or a relationship-based role, you're a little bit less vulnerable."

Housman, who is also the author of "Future Proof: Transform your Business with AI (or Get Left Behind)" said companies are "rapidly sprinting" at implementing AI solutions in areas with a lot of repetitive work that don't require a lot of cognitive load or complex problem solving, like responding to emails.

2. Focus on impact

Job seekers often describe what they did without explaining its impact, King said. As jobs evolve, communicating that value to employers will become increasingly important, especially as companies look to quantify a worker's contribution.

Executives like LinkedIn's engineering VP said side projects can boost a candidate's chance of landing a job. In interviews, make sure you can showcase a concept that you brought to life, whether that's products you've helped develop or a GitHub repository of side projects.

3. Sharpen your AI chops

As many roles move toward "augmentation" rather than outright replacement, improving your AI skillset may make the difference between keeping your job and losing it to someone who knows the technology better.

The CEO of Accenture, for example, announced in September that the firm would cut staff that it couldn't reskill for the AI era.

John Morgan, president of career transition and mobility and leadership development at talent firm LHH, said that employees need not only to build a baseline of AI literacy skills, but also get "deep into it."

"You can have any type of job, but you're going to have a co-pilot of some sort that's going to be helping you with that job," Morgan said, adding that the more skilled you are with AI, the better position you are in.

King warned that many companies aren't yet upskilling employees, so workers should take the initiative themselves. He said there are many free resources to learn about the fundamentals of AI. One worker who transitioned to an AI role mentioned watching YouTube videos to build skills in different areas.

4. Lean into soft skills

As AI increasingly automates tasks, King said that workers need to "double down" on soft skills. That's a mantra that many execs have emphasized, from IBM's chief scientist to Cisco's innovation officer.

"People who have those soft skills around self-awareness and emotional intelligence are going to do really well in the future because that's obviously something AI cannot do," King said.

Morgan from LHH said that critical thinking has always been important, but now it's key to guiding companies on AI strategy and to delivering value.

"Asking the right question is becoming increasingly important," Morgan said, adding that it will differentiate job candidates.

5. Level-up

Now that AI is taking on more basic tasks, many employers are expecting their workers to operate at a higher level. EY's AI leader, for example, told Business Insider that entry-level workers are expected to bring managerial skills to their first day on the job.

Michael Anton, the cofounder and CEO at AI startup Huper, told Business Insider that all workers have essentially received a promotion with AI — and they need to act like it.

"Everyone has moved one step up, and if you focus on that, you're going to be significantly more successful," Anton, who leads the AI-powered organizational intelligence platform that provides a digital chief of staff to leaders.

The CEO said that individual contributors need to model the role of a manager, and managers need to adopt the skillset of the leader above them.

Instead of spending time on the grunt work, employees are increasingly expected to focus on strategy and tasks that require critical thinking, he said.

6. Consider entrepreneurship

Housman said entrepreneurship can offer some people more mobility, flexibility, and a better salary. Plus, the barrier to entry has decreased with the advent of new tech.

"You're going to get a lot of solopreneurs that can start entirely new businesses from scratch, using these agentic tools," Housman said.

Housman said employees should learn about the "latest and greatest" tools in their sector and identify opportunities to create a business.

For example, Housman said he worked with a social media manager who started dabbling with text-to-image tools and ended up shifting to animation, where he at least doubled his salary.

"I would start figuring out, 'hey, how could I play with these tools? How could I be a problem solver that leverages AI?'" Housman said.

An earlier version of this story appeared on February 5, 2026.

• Is vibe coding leaving you feeling confused? A new vocabulary has emerged with the rise of AI.
• From agentic AI to world models, new terms and concepts are being created seemingly every day.
• Use this glossary of AI-related terms to speak about this technology with authority.

It's almost impossible to ignore AI.

That doesn't mean it's always easy to understand. From agentic AI to UBI, tech CEOs, Wall Street, and politicians increasingly sound like they are speaking another language. The terms seem to change almost as quickly as AI models themselves advance.

Even if you don't use AI, chances are your bank, your doctor, the streaming service you're using, and maybe even your car do.

Here's a list of the people, companies, and terms you need to know to talk about AI, in alphabetical order.

The AI terms you need to know

Agentic: A type of artificial intelligence that can make proactive, autonomous decisions with limited human input and is capable of operating autonomously around the clock. Popularized by services like OpenClaw, the proliferation of these tools is viewed as the biggest moment in generative AI since the release of ChatGPT.

AGI: "Artificial general intelligence," or the ability of artificial intelligence to perform complex cognitive tasks such as displaying self-awareness and critical thinking, the way humans do. Crossing this theoretical threshold is the mission of many in the industry.

Alignment: A field of AI safety research that aims to ensure that the goals, decisions, and behaviors of AI systems are consistent with human values and intentions.

Bias: Because AI models are trained on data created by humans, they can also adopt the same fallible human biases present in that data. There are a number of different types of bias that AI models can succumb to, including prejudice bias, measurement bias, cognitive bias, and exclusion bias — all of which can distort the results.

Capability overhang: The term, credited to Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott, for the gap between what AI models are capable of and what real-world applications can currently utilize.

ChatGPT: OpenAI's signature chatbot that launched to significant fanfare in 2022 and is often credited for kickstarting the AI race. GPT stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer.

Claude: Anthropic's flagship model was first launched in March 2023. While Anthropic's core focus is on the enterprise business, Claude has been lauded for its ability to write code. In early 2026, Claude's advancements caused sharp swings in some tech stocks.

Compute: The AI computing resources needed to train models and carry out tasks, including processing data. This can include GPUs, servers, and cloud services. As of 2026, many companies are adjusting their pricing, retiring old features, or limiting announcements due to resource constraints.

Context window: What a large language model can recall in response to a prompt or series of prompts. Generally speaking, increasing the amount of this "working memory" decreases the likelihood of hallucinations and enables users to have longer, more complex conversations with a model.

Data centers: Large warehouses filled with tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of advanced computer chips and graphics processing units, used to handle large amounts of data, storage, and complex processing required to power AI models. Unlike older iterations, AI data centers require significantly more space and energy because of the widely held assumption that AI models learn best at a massive scale. Cities and states are increasingly considering restrictions on development amid rising opposition to AI, most notably in the US.

Deepfake: An AI-generated image, video, or voice meant to appear real that tends to be used to deceive viewers or listeners. This deceptive content has been used to create non-consensual pornography and extort people for money.

Distillation: The process of extracting the reasoning process and learned knowledge of a larger, existing AI model to a new, smaller AI model — essentially, copying an AI model to start your own. US-based AI companies have accused their competitors, predominantly in China, of using large-scale attacks to advance their models.

Doomer: A derisive term for AI skeptics who express reservations about either the potential risks of AI development (developing technology that could turn against humanity) or even just pessimism that AI will achieve lofty ambitions like creating models capable of human-like reasoning.

Effective altruists: Broadly speaking, this is a social movement that stakes its claim in the idea that all lives are equally valuable and those with resources should allocate them to helping as many as possible. In the context of AI, effective altruists, or EAs, are interested in how AI can be safely deployed to reduce suffering caused by social ills such as climate change and poverty. Many AI leaders have distanced themselves from the movement in the wake of Sam Bankman-Fried's fall, which included a 25-year prison sentence. (See also: e/accs and decels).

Federal preemption: The debate over whether each state should set some of its own AI-related policies, or if the federal government should set one uniform standard. President Donald Trump and his administration have unsuccessfully pushed for a moratorium on state-level AI laws, a policy that splits Republicans and tech companies.

Frontier models: Refers to the most advanced examples of AI technology. The Frontier Model Forum — an industry nonprofit launched by Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic in 2023 — defines frontier models as "large-scale machine-learning models that exceed the capabilities currently present in the most advanced existing models, and can perform a wide variety of tasks."

Gemini: Google's flagship AI model, first launched in 2023 under its former name "Bard." As of late 2025, leading voices in the industry saw Gemini 3 as meeting, if not surpassing, ChatGPT's capabilities. Google has said Gemini's name was inspired by the zodiac constellation and NASA's famed 1965 to 1968 project which helped form the foundation for putting humans on the Moon.

Gigawatts: A large unit of energy; a single gigawatt can power roughly 750,000 homes and is often used to put the enormous size of data center buildouts in perspective. In terms of computing power, 10 gigawatts is equal to roughly 4 to 5 million graphics processing units.

GPU: A computer chip, short for graphics processing unit, that companies use to train and deploy their AI models. Nvidia's GPUs are used by Microsoft and Meta to run their AI models.

Hallucinations: A phenomenon where a large language model (see below) generates inaccurate information that it presents as a fact. For example, during an early demo, Google's AI chatbot Bard hallucinated by generating a factual error about the James Webb Space Telescope.

Large language model: A complex computer program designed to understand and generate human-like text. The model is trained on large amounts of data and produces answers by scraping information across the web. Examples of LLMs include OpenAI's GPT-5, Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.7, and Google's Gemini.

Machine learning: Refers to AI systems that can adapt and learn on their own, without following human instructions or explicit programming.

Multimodal: The ability for AI models to process text, images, and audio to generate an output. Users of ChatGPT, for instance, can now write, speak, and upload images to the AI chatbot.

Natural language processing: The umbrella term encompasses a variety of methods for interpreting and understanding human language. LLMs are one tool for interpreting language within the field of NLP.

Neural network: A machine learning program designed to think and learn like a human brain. Facial recognition systems, for instance, are designed using neural networks in order to identify a person by analyzing their facial features.

Open-source: A trait used to describe a computer program that anyone can freely access, use, and modify without asking for permission. Some AI experts have called for models behind AI, like ChatGPT, to be open-source so the public knows exactly how they are trained.

Optical character recognition: OCR is a technology that can recognize text within images — like scanned documents, text in photos, and read-only PDFs — and extract it into a text-only format that machines can read.

Prompt engineering: The process of asking AI chatbots questions that can produce desired responses. As a profession, prompt engineers are experts in fine-tuning AI models.

Rationalists: People who believe that the most effective way to understand the world is through logic, reason, and scientific evidence. In AI, rationalists seek to answer questions like how AI can be smarter, how AI can solve complex problems, and how AI can better process information around risk.

Responsible scaling policies: Guidelines for AI developers to follow that are designed to mitigate safety risks and ensure the responsible development of AI systems. Anthropic invoked its safety policy when it decided in April 2026 not to widely release Claude Mythos in part because the model was too good at hacking.

Singularity: A hypothetical moment where artificial intelligence becomes so advanced that it surpasses human intelligence. Think of a science fiction scenario where an AI robot develops agency and takes over the world.

Slop: A derisive term referring to AI-generated images, videos, or text, often of lower perceived quality.

Token: The building blocks of LLMs (see above) are units of text or parts of a word, both in the input and output of the model. AI companies use tokens to measure and charge usage.

Tokenmaxxing: In spring 2026, the popularity of agentic AI (see above) led to a school of thought that companies and their employees should use AI as much as possible in order to increase productivity. As time went on, the thinking began to fall out of favor because token usage alone does not convey what tasks are being done.

Transformer: A type of neural network that is at the core of large language models like OpenAI's GPT, which in turn powers chatbots like ChatGPT. In fact, the last T in "GPT" is for transformer. Critically for AI, transformers were able to process massive datasets simultaneously, as opposed to earlier neural networks that processed data sequentially — dramatically reducing training time and enabling much larger models.

Universal basic income: A policy where the local, state, or federal government would guarantee a minimum income for citizens. Popularized by then-Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang in 2020, the idea has taken on renewed relevance amid fears that AI may replace a significant number of jobs, potentially causing widespread unemployment. Alternatively, some, such as Elon Musk, believe AI could create an abundance for humanity, enabling everyone to become wealthy and achieve "universal high income."

Vibe coding: Coined by OpenAI cofounder Andrej Karpathy in February 2025 to describe the feeling of freedom using generative AI coding models. Over time, the term became more commonly used to refer to how AI generative coding models can write code with minimal human input. Karpathy has since said that he prefers the term "agentic engineering" for such cases.

World models: A type of AI model that uses machine learning to understand physical properties, as opposed to LLMs (see above), which excel at language prediction but struggle with actual environments. Building these specific models is considered critical for the development of self-driving and ultimately AI robotics.

The top AI leaders

Sam Altman: The cofounder and CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. In 2023, Altman was ousted by OpenAI's board before returning to the company as CEO days later. After his return, he has become one of the world's most recognizable tech executives.

Dario Amodei: The CEO and cofounder of Anthropic, a major rival to OpenAI, where he previously worked. Amodei has frequently warned that world leaders are not preparing society for the scale of AI-related job displacement.

Demis Hassabis: The cofounder of DeepMind and now CEO of Google DeepMind, Hassabis leads its AI efforts at Alphabet.

Jensen Huang: The CEO and cofounder of Nvidia, the tech giant behind the specialized chips companies use to power their AI technology. Under his leadership, Nvidia has become the world's largest company by market cap at over $5 trillion.

Alex Karp: The CEO and cofounder of Palantir, a defense and data company that has skyrocketed in value. Known as an iconoclastic leader, Karp called Palantir the "first to be anti-woke" and takes pride in the company's national security business, especially its work with the US government.

Yann LeCun: Formerly Meta's chief AI scientist, LeCun is a renowned researcher who is considered among the "Godfathers of AI" due to his work on deep learning with Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton and others. LeCun has been critical of some of Meta's AI direction and is a leading skeptic of the extent to which Large Language Models (LLMs) will unlock the biggest breakthroughs in AI.

Elon Musk: The Tesla and SpaceX CEO founded artificial intelligence startup xAI in 2023 after a falling out with Altman over OpenAI's shifting direction. In February 2026, SpaceX acquired xAI months before an IPO expected to be the largest in history.

Mira Murati: The CEO and cofounder of Thinking Machines, Murati has made waves in Silicon Valley since leaving OpenAI, where she was CTO and briefly interim CEO.

Satya Nadella: The CEO of Microsoft, the software giant behind the Bing AI-powered search engine Copilot, a suite of generative AI tools. Microsoft is also an investor in OpenAI.

Sundar Pichai: The CEO of Google, Pichai sustained some criticism of Google's AI leadership after the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT in 2022. By the end of 2025, some in the industry were beginning to proclaim Google had caught up, if not surpassed OpenAI.

Mustafa Suleyman: The cofounder of DeepMind, Google's AI division, who left the company in 2022. He cofounded Inflection AI before he joined Microsoft as its chief of AI in March 2024.

Ilya Sutskever: The cofounder and chief scientist at Safe Superintelligence, Sutskever helped start OpenAI before eventually pushing for Altman's ouster, a move he regrets. Like LeCun, Sutskever has expressed skepticism that scaling compute is enough to advance AI.

Alexandr Wang: Meta's chief AI office has experienced a rapid rise since cofounding Scale AI in 2016, out of famed Silicon Valley startup incubator Y Combinator. In June 2025, Meta acquired a 49% stake in Scale AI and poached Wang as part of its campaign to lure top AI talent. Meta released Muse Spark in April 2026, the first LLM developed by Wang's Superintelligence Labs team.

Liang Wenfeng: The hedge fund manager who founded Chinese AI startup DeepSeek in 2023. At the beginning of 2025, the startup made waves across the AI industry with its flagship model, R1, which reportedly rivals its top competitors in capability but operates at a fraction of the cost.

Mark Zuckerberg: The Facebook founder and Meta CEO who has been spending big to advance Meta's AI capabilities, including training its own models and integrating the technology into its platforms.

• A version of this story originally appeared in the BI Tech Memo newsletter.
• Sign up for the weekly BI Tech Memo newsletter here.

Austin Lau, who works in marketing at Anthropic, may have just set a new standard for AI-powered wedding planning.

Ahead of marrying his longtime partner, Lau used Claude Code to analyze 12 years of iMessages between the couple, then fed the data into Claude Design to generate a custom wedding website packed with stats, charts, and inside jokes. He posted this on X, racking up more than 3 million views.

The result looked like a Spotify Wrapped for their relationship: 161,000 messages, 8,600 shared photos, almost 28,000 emojis, and nearly 1,800 "I love you" texts. One chart mapped their texting habits over time, with a peak in 2016 when they were in college. Another chart revealed that messaging spiked around 9 p.m.

But the internet fixated on something else: the couple's second most-used emoji over 12 years was the angry face. One X user wrote, "Best of luck mate."

Lau's response: "I'm cooked brother."

Sign up for BI's Tech Memo newsletter here. Reach out to me via email at abarr@businessinsider.com.

• JPMorgan says the Iran war has soured the economic outlook.
• The bank says it's anticipating a negative economic growth shock due to sticky inflation.
• Higher energy prices could hurt consumer spending and weigh on the job market, its economists said.

Say goodbye to the economy's best-case scenario this year.

Economists at JPMorgan said they've officially taken a "Goldilocks scenario" — an ideal situation for markets where inflation cools and the economy continues to expand — off the table. The bank says to blame the Iran war, with the latest surge in inflation likely to spark a negative growth shock.

In a note to clients on Friday, economists said they believe higher energy prices could push core inflation past 3%, which was the bank's "long-standing forecast" for global core inflation at the start of the year.

Rising transportation and input costs stemming from higher oil prices could also help push core goods inflation past 2%, above the Fed's long-running price target, they estimated.

The bank trimmed its global economic growth forecast by around a quarter of a percentage point. It pointed to the possible knock-on effects of higher prices, such as higher interest rates, subdued consumer spending, and consequent weakness in the job market.

"Risks are elevated that an energy price shock squeezes household purchasing power and depresses business sentiment, raising the specter of a negative growth shock raising unemployment rates," a team led by Bruce Kasman, JPMorgan's chief economist, wrote.

Inflation could fall eventually, but only after the growth shock is felt, the bank said, with weaker demand slowing the pace of price increases.

"We emphasize that the Goldilocks scenario that had been incorporated in 2026-27 central bank forecasts looks increasingly unlikely, with any meaningful inflation decline likely to be precipitated by a material growth disappointment," the economists said.

Inflation has been the central worry for markets while oil has surged during the Iran war. Consumer prices accelerated to a 3.8% yearly pace in April, marking the highest pace of inflation in three years.

Gas prices touched $4.56 a gallon on Thursday, the most Americans have paid at the pump in four years.

JPMorgan pointed to several other factors that risk stoking inflation in the near future, which could then help contribute to a growth shock:

• Supply chain pressures. Supply chains look less resilient than they have in previous years, the bank said, pointing to recent supply shocks and growing tensions around world trade. Supply chain snags are known to be inflationary, as they can push up input costs for businesses.

• Wage inflation. Wages spiked following the pandemic and have only "partly unwound," the bank said. Higher wages can lead to higher prices, a phenomenon known as the wage-price spiral.

  "With global unemployment rates still below pre-pandemic levels, a solid growth environment should not be expected to return wage inflation to levels consistent with 2% inflation," JPMorgan said.

• Short-term inflation expectations, which influence inflation itself, are rising. The expected 1-year inflation rate 1 year from now rose to 3.53% in May, up 124 basis points since March, according to the Cleveland Fed.

"While this inflation spike will likely quickly fade, the second-round effects on growth and core inflation could be large," the bank wrote.

Other forecasters have warned that inflationary pressures could linger long after the US strikes a peace deal with Iran. That's partly because it could take months for oil flows to normalize after the Strait of Hormuz is reopened.

Morgan Stanley recently speculated that inflation could peak sometime in May or June. The bank pointed to other ongoing price pressures, like tariffs and a lag in housing inflation measures.

• Arden Missal, a physician assistant, paid off $150,000 in student debt in 16 months.
• Missal worked 80-90 hours a week and cut her expenses to achieve her goal of becoming debt-free.
• Achieving debt freedom allowed her to start a financial blog and take a year off work.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Arden Missal, a 30-year-old physician's assistant and blogger based in Jupiter, Florida. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm a physician assistant working in psychiatry in Florida. When I finished PA school in 2022, I had over $150,000 in student loans. After taxes, it was about two years' worth of my take-home pay.

A lot of personal finance books told me the same thing: make the minimum payments, invest the rest, and stay in debt for a decade or more because my interest rate was relatively low. On paper, that made sense.

When I ran the numbers, I realized that if I followed that advice, I would have a negative net worth for five years. I'd be making a six-figure income, matching my 401(k), maybe investing in the market, maybe upgrading my apartment, or going on vacation — and all the while, I'd be completely broke.

That felt completely backward to me

I decided that paying off my debt as quickly as possible would be best for me. I wanted to be debt-free, believed it was possible for me, and didn't want to wait five years to have something to show for all my hard work.

When I mapped it out in Excel, I realized I could be out of debt in under two years. I ended up paying off all $150,000 in 16 months.

I asked myself: what could I live without for two years?

I started my plan in September 2022. I stopped spending money on anything that wasn't life-sustaining. I started cutting my hair at home. I switched from wearing contact lenses every day to wearing glasses, which saved me about $800 a year. I cut out vacations for 18 months.

Every time I made a cut, the timeline shrank, and I could tolerate even more. If I worked more hours, the end date would move closer. If I cut another $100 a month, that might mean four fewer weeks of overtime. Seeing that in real numbers was incredibly motivating.

I started working as much as possible

At my peak, I had three PA jobs and one teaching job at my alma mater. For about a year, I was working 80 to 90 hours a week. My base schedule was about 60 hours, and then I picked up extra shifts. I treated my Google Calendar like Tetris.

I was fortunate to have remote options. I worked in a hospital, virtually for a ketamine clinic, and in an outpatient role that was a mix of in-person and telehealth. Sometimes I would even pet-sit while doing virtual appointments.

People assume that it must have been miserable

Physically, there was fatigue, but I didn't feel miserable. I actually saw it as a form of burnout prevention. To me, burnout comes from having to work when it's not your own choice — when your boss is forcing overtime, or your debt payments are dictating your schedule.

I was there voluntarily. I had a concrete goal and a finite deadline. Every hour I worked was getting me closer to being debt-free. I listened to podcasts about paying off debt during my long commutes to stay in that mindset.

I also made a 3% rule

I decided that 3% of my take-home pay could go toward anything I wanted. It was my "joy" fund for things like lattes, eating out, and new clothes that gave me enough flexibility to feel human. It was also an incentive: the more I worked, the more things I could have for myself.

The biggest motivator, though, was watching the balance shrink.

I had setbacks that pushed my timeline back

I faced managerial issues at one job and had to leave after six months. I also saw bonuses cut, and overtime shifts added and then taken away.

Every time something like that happened, my projected end date moved back. When you're counting down the months, that's devastating.

There were some special events, like bachelorette parties, engagements, and holidays, that I missed while I was paying off my debt, and my friends and family didn't understand why paying off debt was such a big deal to me. The way I looked at it was that I'd say no for 16 months, and then I'd never have to say no to an event again.

Mostly, it was such a short period that my relationships didn't really suffer much.

I prepared my boyfriend at the time

He understood, but after about six months, we both felt worn down by my constant work. The trade-off to me was more than worth it. I had no debt when we got married, and it was meaningful to start off on such a positive note.

I remember driving to work one summer day. It was beautiful outside, and "Margaritaville" was playing on the radio. I was heading into the hospital, thinking about how I used to go to the lake with friends. I wondered, "Is this really what I'm supposed to be doing?"

But I had this very clear, vivid vision of being debt-free. Once I knew how good it would feel — to go on vacation without it sitting on a credit card — I couldn't talk myself out of it.

When I sent the final payment in December 2023, it felt amazing

By the time the final payment cleared, it almost felt inevitable — like my physical reality had caught up with the mental reality I'd been living in.

I celebrated with my boyfriend. We got pedicures, watched a movie, and went out for a nice dinner. Now I'm married to him, I have a daughter, and I'm still debt-free.

I was able to take the first year of her life off work

That's when I started my blog, She's Financially Free. When I was paying off my debt, it was all-consuming, and most people in my life thought I was insane.

I wanted an outlet to talk about it and to help other people — especially women my age — realize they have options. I feel so proud of myself for not giving up during the hard times.

• Nearly two-thirds of US workers have held a retail job at some point in their career.
• That includes several CEOs who started out in hourly positions at the companies they now run.
• Here are the median wages for workers at several top retail companies, listed from lowest to highest.

Roughly one in 10 workers in the US works in retail.

Widen the view to people who have worked in that industry at some point in their careers, and the number rockets up to six in 10, according to a 2019 report by the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization.

For many, retail is a first job; for others, it's a lifelong career.

Several top retail CEOs started out in hourly positions at the companies they now run.

To get a sense of how much retail workers made in 2025, Business Insider used AlphaSense to search the latest proxy statements for median employee pay data that publicly traded firms are required to disclose to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

That means half of a company's workers earned more than its median employee, and half earned less. The range can vary considerably because many retail companies offer part-time and seasonal work.

For many retail workers, an individual's annual earnings depended on their hourly wage and the number of hours they worked.

The following list includes 28 top retailers that have filed proxy statements for the 2025 fiscal year, sorted from lowest to highest annual pay.

Ross Stores — $10,059

Discount chain Ross Stores said more than 85% of its employees work at one of its retail locations, and that the figure fluctuates seasonally.

Last year's median worker was a part-time hourly associate who earned $10,059.

Burlington — $10,827

Burlington said its median worker was a part-time associate at one of its Burlington stores, earning $10,827 last year.

Restaurant Brands International — $11,075

Burger King owner Restaurant Brands International employed about 33,700 workers in the US and nearly 20,000 more around the world. The company said its median employee last year was a part-time restaurant worker at a company-owned Burger King in the US, earning $11,075.

Dick's Sporting Goods — $11,259

Dick's Sporting Goods said it had nearly 60,000 employees in the US working for its flagship banner, as well as more than 45,000 Foot Locker employees following its September acquisition.

The company said the median Dick's employee has been with the company about five years, works about 12 hours a week, and made $11,259 last year.

Ulta Beauty — $11,883

Ulta Beauty had 61,223 associates globally last year, including 24 working in Uruguay that were not included in its calculations.

The median worker earned $11,883.

TJX — $14,994

TJX, the parent company of off-price retail brands like T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and Home Goods, employed around 377,000 people around the world, with roughly 86% of those working in one of the company's 5,200 stores.

The company's median worker last year was a part-time hourly associate who earned $14,994.

Yum Brands — $15,346

Of the fast food parent company Yum Brands, 49,000 employees, about 28,000 were in the US, and 21,000 were overseas.

The median Yum worker was a part-time Taco Bell worker in the US who earned $15,346 last year.

Yum Brands said 90% of its workforce is part-time, and four out of five of its restaurant general managers were promoted from within the company.

Dollar Tree — $16,214

Dollar Tree employed more than 148,000 people last year, of whom about 114,000 worked part-time. The company says its median worker is an hourly associate in the US who made $16,214 last year.

Starbucks — $17,279

Starbucks directly employs more workers than most restaurant brands, which typically operate on a franchise model.

Last year, the coffee chain had 367,000 employees across more than 21,000 company-operated stores, nearly half of whom were located outside the US.

The median Starbucks worker was a US-based part-time barista who made $17,279 last year.

GameStop — $17,376

GameStop said it employs roughly 15,000 to 20,000 people, depending on the time of year. Of those, about 5,100 are full-time workers.

The company said its median employee last year was a part-time hourly store worker who averaged 26.5 hours a week and earned $17,376.

Chipotle — $17,446

Chipotle employs about 130,000 people around the world, of whom about 125,000 work in one of the chain's 4,000 restaurants.

The company identified its median employee as a part-time hourly employee in Texas who worked 24 hours a week and earned $17,446 last year.

Dollar General — $18,876

Dollar General said the median worker across its 185,811 temporary, part-time, and full-time employees located in the US earned $18,876 last year.

McDonald's — $19,020

Fast food giant McDonald's said the median worker among full-time, part-time, seasonal, and temporary staff at the end of the year was a restaurant crew employee in Poland, who earned $19,020 last year.

Tractor Supply Co. — $24,376

Rural retailer Tractor Supply Co. employed 51,460 people last year, with about half working part time. The median worker earned $24,376.

Williams-Sonoma — $24,943

Williams-Sonoma, which also owns Pottery Barn and West Elm, said its median employee last year was a part-time sales associate in Northern California who earned $24,943.

Excluding permanent part-time, temporary, and seasonal workers, it said the median full-time employee earned $53,686 last year.

Lululemon — $26,179

Athletic apparel brand Lululemon employed about 39,000 people around the world, with the median worker earning $26,179 last year.

BJ's Wholesale Club — $26,797

Wholesale club BJ's employed around 35,000 workers across about 210 US locations. Its median worker earned $26,797 last year.

Target — $27,506

Retail giant Target employed about 400,000 workers, mostly at its fleet of around 2,000 US stores. The median worker was a part-time employee who earned $27,506 last year.

Walmart — $30,520

Walmart is the largest private employer in the US — and the world — with 2.1 million full-time, part-time, seasonal, and temporary associates worldwide.

The median worker made $30,520 last year.

Best Buy — $32,018

Best Buy had about 81,000 employees in the US and Canada, as well as a few hundred in China and India. The company said its median North American worker earned $32,018 last year.

O'Reilly Auto Parts — $33,054

O'Reilly's media worker, across some 89,339 full-time, part-time, and seasonal workers in the US, earned $33,054 last year.

Kroger — $34,552

Kroger employed more than 400,000 people across its grocery store brands in the US. The company says its median worker was a full-time associate in the Central region who made $34,552 last year.

Domino's — $36,776

Domino's had nearly 20,000 full-time, part-time, seasonal, or temporary employees globally, including 9,500 in the US.

The pizza chain's median employee was a part-time delivery driver who worked less than 30 hours a week and made $36,776 last year.

Lowe's — $37,371

Lowe's had 266,000 full-time, part-time, or temporary workers, including about 5,200 employees overseas.

The median worker was a full-time hourly associate in the US who made $37,371 last year.

Home Depot — $37,881

Home Depot employed about 472,400 people last year, including nearly 50,000 outside the US.

The median worker was an hourly associate in the US, who made $37,881.

Genuine Parts Company — $38,901

NAPA parent company Genuine Parts Company said its median worker in 2025 was paid $38,901 last year.

Amazon — $40,206

Amazon's median employee across its global workforce of full-time, part-time, and permanent workers earned $40,206 last year.

The e-commerce giant said its median full-time US worker made $53,211 last year, up from $47,990 the year before.

Amazon also said its hourly wage in fulfillment roles is more than $30 an hour when healthcare and other benefits are included.

Costco — $49,186

Costco topped the list with a median worker compensation of $49,186 last year.

The wholesale club employed 336,700 people worldwide, including about 222,000 in the US.

The company also said that more than a third of its workforce is part-time, seasonal, or temporary. Its median full-time worker earned $66,262 last year.

• Networking can help you land interviews and stand out, career advisors told Business Insider.
• Building relationships is often more effective than relying solely on a résumé or an application.
• Job seekers need to apply, then "hustle" to find out who they might know at the company.

College might prepare you for a job, though not necessarily how to network for one.

Building those professional relationships matters more than ever because while it's easier than ever to apply to jobs, it's often harder to stand out from a pile of AI-tailored résumés.

Finding ways to connect with people on the inside might be enough to get a hiring manager to give your application a thumbs-up.

This approach is often more effective than expecting your résumé to do the talking for you, career advisors told Business Insider. And this is especially the case if you're just starting out and don't have a lot of experience.

"People hire people, they don't hire paper," said Andy Chan, who runs the Office of Personal and Career Development at Wake Forest University.

He said that job seekers too often think of recruiting and applying for jobs as transactional processes. While they are, to some degree, Chan said, it's important to try to ground your interactions with an employer in relationships.

That matters because it's a tough job market in many industries. While unemployment remains in check, some companies are shedding workers, and some employers want more from their entry-level hires.

He said the No. 1 way to get an interview is to know someone at an organization or have someone recommend that you talk to someone at a specific company.

After a conversation, Chan said, the person you spoke with might then talk to the hiring manager or someone in HR and let them know you're applying, Chan said.

"That bit of endorsement is frequently the key to getting an interview," he said.

Spend two-thirds of your time networking

Chan said it's important that most job seekers, including those seeking their first professional role, spend about 60% to 70% of their time talking with people and only 30% to 40% applying online.

"Most students will say, 'Whoa, I spent like 100% of my time online,'" he said, adding that some will then say that their approach hasn't worked.

If you don't have many contacts in your field, college career offices can often help connect you with relevant alumni and corporate recruiters.

You can also try to make connections by asking someone you admire to chat for a few minutes about their career trajectory. It's what's sometimes called an informational interview.

The trick is to first do your homework by researching the employer and the person you're speaking with.

"If you're going to ask for 15 minutes of their time, be sure to show that you spent 15 minutes of yours," Madeline Mann, a career coach and CEO of Self Made Millennial, previously told Business Insider.

Apply, then start your hustle

Jane Curran, global head of HR operations at the real-estate company JLL, said that job seekers still need to apply for roles that make sense for them. After all, you need to be on an employer's radar to be in contention. Yet, she said, there's more work to do after submitting an application.

"Then you have to turn that into a hustle," Curran said. That could mean going to LinkedIn to see who might have a connection at that company, she said.

"You have to go figure out who knows who, and how am I going to stand out? How am I going to get a job interview?" Curran said.

Catherine Fisher, a career expert with LinkedIn, said that networking doesn't have to mean taking someone out to dinner three nights a week.

Making or keeping a connection with someone can involve small gestures like offering a substantive comment on someone's post or shooting them a text, Fisher said. Other times, like if you're asking someone for a bigger favor, it might be time to buy them a coffee, she said.

"Networking is a muscle that you're going to have to flex throughout your entire career," Fisher said. "When you're job searching, you're going to be flexing it more."

She said that too often, people think they should only reach out when they have something big to share. Instead, Fisher said, it can be as simple as messaging to say you were thinking of the person and enjoyed the last conversation.

"You just want to keep those relationships warm," she said, "because they will serve you when you need them."

Fisher said a key part of it is being "reciprocal" so that when people contact you, you give your time, too.

"It just becomes this kind of circle of networking," she said.

Don't overlook your résumé

Even though networking is so often essential, that doesn't mean your résumé can be an afterthought, said Kathleen Powell, chief career officer at William & Mary.

Many employers use applicant-tracking software to take a first pass at reviewing résumés, in part by looking for keywords that match those found in the job posting.

She said that because a recruiter or hiring manager might only scan a résumé quickly, it's important that it be well-organized.

"If it's in front of a human, make it easy for that human to find the things," Powell said.

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

An earlier version of this story appeared on July 16, 2025.

• New York street vendors are struggling with high overhead costs and a dwindling customer base.
• The city's "congestion pricing" toll for cars entering lower Manhattan began in early 2025.
• Vendors told Business Insider that the extra expense eats into their already-thin profit margins.

Benjamin Li races against the clock. If he's late, he'll have to pay a $9 toll.

He rises at 3:45 a.m., leaving him barely enough time to get dressed, pick up his smoothie cart from storage, and drive it across the bridge from Brooklyn to lower Manhattan before 5.

Last month, I spoke with over a dozen street vendors about their jobs, and whether they think Mayor Zohran Mamdani's affordability agenda can offset what he calls "halalflation." Many mentioned a problem that surprised me: The city's latest solution to curb traffic is breaking vendors' budgets.

The city began enforcing congestion pricing, a toll for cars entering lower Manhattan from outer boroughs or New Jersey, in early 2025. Drivers pay between $9 and $22 per trip during daytime hours, depending on their vehicle. The revenue is directed toward funding the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates NYC's subways and bus system.

The new tolls are just one challenge NYC's street vendors are struggling with. Longtime vendors told me they show up despite extreme weather conditions, significant permitting costs, unpredictable monthly incomes, and the rising cost of food and gas. A dwindling customer base — owed to pervasive work-from-home culture and weakening tourism — is chipping away at their already-thin profit margins.

Food cart operators are finding ways to adapt to the year-and-a-half-old congestion price system. "A lot of people cover their license plates, but we don't do it," Li said. "We just do a legal way to save the money. That's why I have to sacrifice my sleep."

NYC is raking in money, but vendors can't afford another expense

New York City has seen wins from congestion pricing: In the first year, 27 million fewer vehicles entered the city in the designated "congestion zone" south of 60th Street in Manhattan, decreasing traffic by 11% and improving crossing speeds by up to 51%. The state also reported a decline in air pollution and traffic-related injuries.

All the vendors I spoke with said they live in Brooklyn or Queens and store the carts near their homes. Many mentioned waking up before dawn to cross into the congestion zone before rush hour pricing kicks in. A few said they typically net less than $200 a day from sales, and a $9 daily fare adds up to hundreds of dollars in monthly sunk costs.

Abdelhafeez Aly, 60, said the price of "everything is going up." And, with the toll and high overhead, "I'm not making money like before." With the $400 daily cost of stocking his cart with food and supplies, he said adding another expense isn't sustainable. Food costs in US cities have already jumped by about 22% in the last five years, and the Iran war is sending the cost of gas and propane soaring.

Even before hitting day-to-day prices, many street food vendors spend tens of thousands of dollars on setup costs, like scarce permits, which are often rented secondhand. With a limited number of daily customers, Aly and others said they're barely making ends meet.

"Congestion pricing has made it more expensive to bring the cart from Queens round trip," one vendor added. Another said raising prices to compensate isn't an option: "I cannot raise the price for the regulars, because they come every day and expect the food to be $9 or $10. If I raise it, they won't want to come back."

Championed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, congestion pricing has been a resounding success at both reducing traffic and generating money for the MTA. In its first year, the policy generated upwards of $550 million in net revenue, helped reduce commute times, and contributed to higher transit ridership.

A spokesperson for the MTA added that,"Anyone who has sat in traffic for hours knows that gridlock hurts our economy at every level, especially small businesses that rely on deliveries," and that "congestion pricing has helped business thrive in New York."

Mamdani's "Street Vendor Reform" agenda aims to help with some of the costs street food sellers face. The mayor and City Council plan to offer up more permits to vendors, meaning that more people will be able to get them directly from the city, paying $200 for a two-year license instead of shelling out tens of thousands to a third party. Mamdani is also hopeful plan to address housing and food costs with a rent freeze and city-owned grocery stores will make it easier for small business owners, like vendors, to afford the five boroughs.

For now, Li has become accustomed to his slightly nocturnal schedule. It's one of the few ways he can save a few bucks. Even so, his truck is covered in price hikes marked by duct tape and Sharpie.

"If I had enough money, I'd want to stay in bed," Li said.

• Emojis are cringe.
• I also love them — in text chains, where you can accomplish a lot with a single character.
• Which is why Google adding emojis to Gmail this year is a huge deal — for me. But you should start using them, too.

I love emojis.

Yup. That's me, in 2026. Out loud and proud.

The caveat — of course, there's a caveat — is that my emoji love is very specific: I love using emojis to modify messages in a text chat.

This feels dumb to explain, because you have phones, so you've almost certainly seen this, even if you're not using it yourself.

But to be clear: You use these when your friend tells you the dinner reservation is for 7, and you reply by appending a "thumbs up" to their note. Or someone posts something dumb in the groupchat, and you add a "ha ha" to the screenshot.

To me, it's a perfect form of communication: a one-character way to signal to someone else that you're picking up what they're putting down. And, crucially, that you don't need to add more than that.

Depending on the context, that thumbs up says "Gotcha." Or: "Agreed." Or: "We're good." Or: "I'm politely nodding along." Or: "See you there." The ha-ha means … OK, no need to explain.

The point is that tiny emojis in your texts augment your conversation, by adding a bit of nuance and acknowledgment stuff that's standard in an in-person interaction, and routinely lost when we communicate digitally. Using them makes me feel more efficient, but also more human.

Apple called these in-text emojis "tapbacks" when it introduced them in 2016, and I bet zero people who don't work at Apple have ever called them that. They're now standard anywhere you message people: Slack, Android phones, WhatsApp, and Facebook, etc.

The one place they didn't exist was where I really wanted them: in email.

At a minimum, letting me heart or thumbs up an email would let us all move along, instead of the endless cycle of "sounds good"/"looking forward"/"great me too"/"see you there" replies and counter-replies that so many email chains sputter into at the end. It also solves a very different problem: You didn't respond to my email. Did you get it? Do you agree? Do you hate me?

Cut to a few weeks ago, when I started seeing updates in my inbox telling me that Tyler had hearted my email. Or that the receptionist at a doctor's office was acknowledging my plan to call tomorrow:

My prayers have been … answered? How'd that happen?

Turns out, it has been in the works for a couple of years, courtesy of Google — the same company my colleague Katie thinks is going to ruin the internet. But how could a company bringing emojis to email be anything but unalloyed good?

Google first introduced the emoji reply option to a subset of Gmail users in October 2023 and has been gradually widening the circle, up until this January, when it became the default for all users around the world. And, based on my incredibly unscientific personal survey, people are just starting to use it.

Second caveat: Other than playing with this option while working on this story, I have yet to fully incorporate email emojis into my life.

One big reason is that, just like with Apple's tapbacks, Gmail emojis work best in an all-Gmail setting. I have personal and work Gmail accounts, but use them with web browsers and Apple's email app. Email emojis, just like email itself, are set up to work anywhere, on any client. But the interactions would be much smoother and seamless if I were on Gmail's dedicated app, says Blake Barnes, a Google VP who oversees product for Gmail.

And honestly, that might be motivation enough for me to swap email apps. But there's also a bit of a collective action problem: Those emoji responses really work best when you're using them with other people who use emoji responses. Everyone gets it; no one is surprised by it.

You don't have to wonder why a work contact you've never met in real life hearts your text. But it might jar you the first time you see it in your inbox.

So I'm giving myself a little time to adjust to the new world that just opened up. In my defense: When you've been nerdily dreaming about something for years, and it shows up one day without fanfare, it can be a little destabilizing.

But I'm also imploring you, dear reader, to start hearting and thumbs-upping your Gmails.

It's easy! And it will improve your life — and make me happy. Win, win.

• A version of this story originally appeared in the BI Tech Memo newsletter.
• Sign up for the weekly BI Tech Memo newsletter here.

For decades in Silicon Valley, hardware engineers were the overlooked nerds of tech. They wore dad jeans, clunky tennis shoes, and quietly designed chips while software engineers soaked up the glamour, stock grants, and sky-high salaries.

The AI boom is flipping that script.

According to Levels.fyi data, hardware engineer compensation at the entry and mid-career levels is growing two to three times faster than software pay.

Companies building the physical infrastructure of AI (Nvidia, Broadcom, SpaceX, and others) are scrambling for talent. Suddenly, the people working with actual silicon, power systems, and cooling gear are becoming some of tech's hottest, and best-paid, hires.

Sign up for BI's Tech Memo newsletter here. Reach out to me via email at abarr@businessinsider.com.

• CEOs are getting creative with the labels they use for laid-off workers, like "lower-value human capital."
• PR experts said phrases like these can affect a company's long-term success, from hiring to team morale.
• Their biggest suggestion: Don't blame AI for C-suite decisions.

If you've been on the internet in the last week, you may have seen Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters describing some of his workers as "lower-value human capital."

On Tuesday, talking about planned layoffs in the bank, he said he was "replacing, in some cases, lower-value human capital with the financial capital and the investment capital we're putting in." He later apologized for the comment.

Winters is one of many CEOs who've had to figure out how to talk about the people they're letting go. Companies across industries have announced layoffs, including Meta, Oracle, General Motors, and Nike. Several of them, such as Cisco, Salesforce, and Atlassian, have specifically cited AI as the reason for the layoffs.

Some, like Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince, have drawn a sharp contrast between those who get to stay and those who don't. In an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal released Wednesday, Prince divided his workforce into three buckets: the "builders," the "sellers," and the "measurers." Measurers — the people he's cutting — are middle managers and people who do jobs like internal audit.

Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek, while announcing a 12% workforce reduction in March, said the company was letting go of "roles that do not adapt in our new world."

But public relations experts say these words have consequences — and there are ways to improve on the words used at these tough moments.

Stop using earnings call language in real conversations

Phrases like "lower value human capital" belong in earnings calls and board rooms, not outside.

"When companies restructure, the investor audience often drives the messaging — and language like 'lower-value human capital' signals decisiveness to a boardroom while landing like a grenade in the break room," said Michelle Sinning, a principal consultant at Colorado-based Bernstein Crisis Management.

Oliver Ellerton, the managing partner of Singapore-based public relations firm Ellerton & Co., said that in most cases, such labels aren't intended to be cruel, but rather they are just a "communication failure" from someone who never learned how to manage people.

"The tell is simple: when a leader reaches for spreadsheet language to describe human beings, it usually means they never made the jump from running the numbers to leading the people," Ellerton said.

He proposed a simple test on how to check if a layoff announcement is appropriate: "Would you say these exact words to the face of the person they're about? If not, they don't belong in a memo or a press release."

Don't say 'AI made us do it'

C-suite is framing layoffs as an inevitability in the age of AI, and that move will backfire.

Catherine Holt, CEO of the Boston-based marketing consultancy Coologee, said executives find it hard to say out loud that "a specific person, in a specific room, decided that a specific number of people would lose their livelihoods on a specific day."

"So, the vocabulary moves the decision somewhere else. The market did it. The technology did it. The future did it," Hold said.

Holt said that it's important to name the decisions as decisions, not inevitabilities. For example, by saying, "We have decided to restructure these teams because we believe AI will do most of this work within eighteen months, and we would rather make this change now than wait."

Sinning from Bernstein has a similar suggestion: own the decision, and say that a person made the call, not AI.

"The leaders who say so out loud will always fare better than the ones who outsource accountability to an algorithm," Sinning said.

Separate the worker from the role

Attaching labels to people, rather than to the jobs they work in, is a bad strategy.

"Separate the worker from the role. A role becoming obsolete is a real thing. A person becoming obsolete is not, and the language should never imply otherwise," Holt said.

She added that the companies that talk about layoffs empathetically are those who say phrases like "roles we are eliminating" and "people we are working to redeploy or transition with support."

Empathy needs to go further to be genuine, including concrete retrenchment benefits like severance pay, extended health coverage, honest recommendations, and network introductions, she said.

These moves are crucial to companies' long-term success, the PR experts said.

"Reputation travels fast, and these phrases are durable. They don't disappear when the news cycle ends; they become the screenshot, the Glassdoor review, and now the answer an AI gives when someone asks what it's like to work there," Ellerton said.

Eventually, they could lead to weaker recruitment and demoralized teams that stop going the extra mile, he said.

Sinning said there's another big reason such vocabulary could backfire.

"The companies making the loudest claims carry the most exposure if the AI transformation story doesn't unfold as predicted, which is a genuine risk," she said.

• Consoles, subscriptions, and games are getting more expensive.
• Analysts tell BI the gaming model faces pressure from all sides.
• Players with old consoles and games can still spend little, but staying current is getting expensive.

For years, video games looked like one of the best deals in entertainment: buy a console, buy a game, plug them into your home television, and play for hours.

That bargain feels a lot less simple today. Price increases are hitting almost every layer of the hobby.

Hardware prices have increased in the past year: Microsoft's Xbox Series S jumped from $379.99 to $399.99 in October, and the Playstation 5 Disc Edition's price rose from $549.99 to $649.99 in April.

Nintendo's Switch 2 currently costs $449.99, but will increase to $499.99 in September. The system's Mario Kart World, priced at $79.99, has become a prominent example of the industry inching toward the era of the $80 game.

Software has seen price increases, too. PlayStation Plus' monthly Essential plan went from $9.99 to $10.99 in May, while Xbox Game Pass Ultimate jumped $10 a month in October to $29.99 before the company announced a cut in April to $22.99.

PC gamers are facing their own squeeze, as memory prices continue to rise.

Analysts tell Business Insider there isn't a simple fix to gaming's upward pricing shifts.

"The reason so many parts of gaming are getting more expensive at once is that the whole stack is under pressure," James Sheridan, CEO of Sheridan Technologies and a former firmware engineer for HP, said. "The industry is being squeezed from both ends."

Sheridan pointed to a list of pressures facing the gaming industry, including tariffs, rising hardware costs, and competition for semiconductors amid the AI boom.

Those cost pressures are being passed on to consumers through higher prices for games, consoles, and accessories. Sheridan said consumers are also being offered more ways to spend after they buy the base consoles and games.

Dan Mazei, a principal at All Tangled Roots and the former head of communications at Activision Blizzard, told Business Insider that rising game prices are also tied to the economics of big-budget development for major, high-budget games known as AAA titles.

"Game prices will continue to grow as development cycles remain both lengthy and monumentally costly," Mazei said. "There aren't margins to easily shave, at least with AAA titles, given aggressive revenue targets against the sunk costs."

The price hikes haven't hit every player equally. A gamer with an old console and offline games can still spend very little.

It's players who want to keep up with the newest hardware, major game releases, online subscriptions, and high-end PC parts who are facing increases from nearly every direction.

And gamers are just getting ready for some hotly anticipated new releases for the rest of 2026, including the next installment of the Grand Theft Auto franchise.

"The early strategy was to acquire users and build habit," Sheridan said. "Now, consumers are not just paying higher sticker prices, they are being offered more ways to spend after they enter the ecosystem."

Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft did not respond to requests for comment.

The other week, a friend who shall remain nameless for soon-to-be-obvious reasons texted me a proposal: "Should we plan some potential World Cup sick days?" The message came accompanied by a screenshot of a match that may be play-hooky-from-work-worthy. We decided against it because the tickets in question were over $1,000 each. If prices drop as the event gets closer — and man oh man are a lot of people hoping they will — we will be taking time off.

I'm not being delinquent. Business Insider has unlimited PTO, which I use almost embarrassingly sparingly, and I'm always sure to give my bosses a heads-up when I'm going to be out. I'm also not the only one eyeing the FIFA calendar — a lot of workplaces should prepare for some disruptions when the World Cup arrives in June. From June 11 to July 19, the world will turn its attention to 104 global Super Bowls, many of which take place during the workday.

Bosses are already planning for traffic jams and tangled commutes in host cities. Employers across the country should also be ready for many workers to watch games while they're on the clock — whether on the sly or because the higher-ups rolled out TVs. By one estimate, all this soccer-watching will lead to dips in productivity that could cost businesses $4.5 billion in the US alone. The die-hard fans and lucky ticketholders are taking paid time off to see matches. Some workers might even catch a case of World Cup fever and do a "Cough, cough, I'm sick," when the truth is, "Cough, cough, I got last-minute tickets to the Argentina-Austria game in Dallas."

Exactly how much interruption companies can expect depends on a variety of factors — geography, culture, industry. Work essentially comes to a standstill in Brazil when its national team plays. Mexico, one of this year's host countries, floated the idea of ending the school year early for the World Cup but, after some backlash, ultimately decided against it. Workers in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom often get flexibility from their employers during the event. Scotland preemptively declared a bank holiday the Monday after its team's opening match, assuming many of its citizens will spend match day celebrating the country's first World Cup appearance since 1998.

Historically, Americans haven't been the biggest soccer fans, but the World Cup on their home turf means more of them plan to tune in. Recent YouGov surveys have found that 14% of American adults say they would give up time to watch and follow the event, compared to 8% four years ago. Nearly half of American sports fans say the US hosting the tournament is a major reason they plan to watch.

Some of that watching, inevitably, will happen during work — you may have noticed a coworker streaming a game or two during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar (or may have been that miscreant yourself).

A survey from workforce software provider UKG of 8,000 workers across eight countries — Australia, Germany, the UK, France, the US, Mexico, Canada, and the Netherlands — found that a third of workers say they'll likely take at least one day off because of the World Cup and a quarter expect to miss part of a workday. Twenty-five percent of workers said they will "push the limits" of what their managers would tolerate on the matter, and 37% said they will try to adjust their work schedules around the event. Managers were actually more likely to say they planned to engage in some World Cup-related finagling.

"Managers feel, probably, a higher degree of freedom," says Suresh Vittal, chief product officer at UKG.

There was variation by country. Forty-two percent of Mexican workers say they expected to take at least a day off for the tournament, compared with 23% of Dutch respondents. More than a third of Americans said they would miss part of a day compared to a quarter of Germans, and a whopping 52% of Brits said the country whose team wins should get a national holiday to celebrate.

It's not only workday games people are adjusting to — it's also time zones. James Lewis, 37, who works in customer service in the United Kingdom, is a true World Cup devotee: he plans to watch every single match if he can. Because of time differences, many of the games will be overnight, so this bold goal requires him to make some serious adjustments. He is set to take the first two weeks of the tournament off from work entirely. "I can stay up through the night and then just sleep," he says. "Otherwise, I'd be a zombie at work."

He's also taken the day of the final off in case England wins the whole thing. "I'm going to be celebrating if that happens," he says. He can always reverse course on the time-off request if they get knocked out, though he might not. "I'll just not go to work and get over my misery of losing," he says.

Host countries — the US, Mexico, and Canada — could see elevated levels of worker absenteeism. After all, millions of Americans skip out on the day after the Super Bowl, and Canada and Mexico can see work disruptions around major hockey and soccer games.

There's soccer-related precedent, too. HR and payroll platform Deel found that Germans used more sick time when Germany hosted the UEFA European Championship in the summer of 2024 compared to 2025, and sick rates peaked the day after the tournament ended. The pattern didn't occur in non-host countries. Lauren Thomas, Deel's in-house economist, says the trend may be deeper than invented ailments, it could also be from actual illness. Visitors converging on Germany were "bringing new germs along with them." Millions of people gathering in stadiums, bars, and public transportation are sure to spread some illness. "People are going to these huge crowds, and therefore a lot of them are probably getting sick," Thomas says.

Some people may look for extra-creative ways to maneuver around work. Heineken recently launched a "fan volunteers" campaign, which encourages workers to take advantage of their employers' volunteer time-off benefits — during World Cup games. Through Heineken's portal, people can sign up for volunteer opportunities during normal working hours that the company says will "possibly" allow them to watch soccer together while giving back. Essentially, you can get out of work by volunteering and watching sports on the TV at the same time. It's a sneaky move but maybe a savvy one, at least for a day. I attended one such Heineken-sponsored event in Brooklyn in early May, where volunteers bagged hundreds of meals for the local nonprofit Broadway Community while the UEFA Champions League semi-finals played in the background. A brass band even played at halftime, which I don't think will happen at the other volunteer events.

Most workers aren't aware of the VTO perk, says Guilherme de Marchi Retz, vice president of marketing for Heineken, and should ask their employers if they offer it. "Heineken is shedding light on something and suggesting you to use that VTO to volunteer to make the world better while watching a game," he says.

The World Cup represents a disturbance for the workplace that leaders have to manage, like it or not.

Marissa Mastroianni, an employment attorney at Cole Schotz in New Jersey, tells me the "commute issue" is top of mind for many clients. Eleven American cities are hosting games, along with three in Mexico and two in Canada. In those areas, travel snags are inevitable on game days. "To the extent you can allow people to work from home on those days, that would be great," she says. The alternative is people showing up late or leaving early because of traffic, so they're more likely to be more productive if they're at home working. For companies that can't offer work-from-home, Mastroianni suggests arranging on-site meals or even shuttles for employees who need to move between locations throughout the day. "The main focus is the travel situation," she says.

If workers do suspiciously call in sick, there's not much companies can do to confirm that's actually the case. Many states have laws dictating when firms can — and can't — ask for doctors' notes. "In New Jersey, for example, it's got to be three or more consecutive days of being off before you can ask for a note. In New York, it's more than three days," Mastroianni says. "So employers really are going to probably be struggling a little bit with the calling out issue."

To be sure, it's not all bad. Employers may be able to use the World Cup as a team-building opportunity and "really embrace it," says Lindsay Bousman, vice president of culture and talent success at Dayforce, an HR software company. The value of bringing people together for a match "outlasts what might be two hours out of their day," she says.

On the logistics side, it's important for companies to plan around potential absences and dislocations sooner rather than later. Vittal, from UKG, says managers can start asking employees about swapping shifts, nudge workers to make time-off asks early, and offer perks to those who raise their hands to work on days people are asking off.

Sports are mass cultural events meant to bring people together. The World Cup is the contest that accomplishes that at a truly global scale: It encompasses teams from 48 countries, and FIFA estimates some six billion people will engage with it or watch it. Of course, something of that scale is going to cause some workplace disarray.

Emily Stewart is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.

• Waymo suspended rider service in some cities and freeway rides in the past month.
• The company is dealing with issues involving flooded roadways and construction zones.
• The service interruptions come as Waymo expands throughout the US and abroad.

Waymo's been riding over some rough terrain in the past month, as it temporarily suspended rider service in six cities and highway rides in all regions where they're offered.

The first in a succession of issues came at the start of May, when the company issued a software recall for its fleet after a robotaxi drove through a flooded roadway in San Antonio, according to a report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

"On higher speed roadways, the Waymo AV may slow but not stop in response to detecting a potentially untraversable flooded lane," the NHTSA report said.

The issue came a few months after the Alphabet-backed company started service in the Texas city in February, and prompted Waymo to pause public rider service while it improved its autonomous driving system, a spokesperson told Business Insider.

Waymo said at the time of the NHTSA report filing on May 11 that a "remedy" was under development.

The problems with flooded terrain have since persisted. On Thursday, Waymo suspended rider service in Atlanta following heavy rain and flash floods. An unoccupied Waymo drove into a flooded road and stopped, according to a Waymo spokesperson.

"The vehicle has been recovered and removed from the scene," the spokesperson said. The company did not explain what technical issues Waymo's robotaxi faces on flooded roads.

By Friday, rider service was paused across six cities — Atlanta, Nashville, Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio — due to heavy rain in the regions, a Waymo spokesperson confirmed.

Freeway rides suspended

On top of weather-related disruptions, Waymo temporarily suspended rides on highways to improve performance around construction zones.

"We have temporarily paused freeway operations, as we work to integrate recent technical learnings into our software and expect to resume these routes soon," Waymo said on Thursday.

The series of recent service constraints follows Waymo's expansion to six new cities this year, including Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Orlando, and Nashville.

That's a step-up from Waymo's expansion pace in recent years. In 2024, Waymo added Los Angeles while deepening its footprint in the San Francisco Bay Area. The next year, Waymo added Austin and Atlanta.

At the same time, growth in California — Waymo's largest market to date — has slowed as the company deploys resources into other regions with more expansion plans in the pipeline for 2026.

An analysis by The Driverless Digest showed how monthly gains declined from +14,800 rides a week in January to +2,700 rides a week in March.

"I'm surprised that Waymo is having this many issues around flooding and construction zones, especially at this stage and given how aggressively they've expanded over the past year," Harry Campbell, founder of The Driverless Digest, told Business Insider. "But it's probably the right move to pause service if performance isn't where they want it."

The company said it expects to start commercial rides in Las Vegas, San Diego, and London later this year. In addition, Waymo plans to roll out two new vehicle platforms, the Ojai and the Hyundai Ioniq 5. Both cars will have a reduced sensor suite.

• It's easy to be hard on yourself when you miss a workout or "spoil" your healthy eating streak.
• A fitness coach created a 4-step formula to help keep you on track when building a new habit.
• Steve Kamb encourages clients to ask themselves if what they're doing is realistic and enjoyable.

Picture the scene: Last month, you set yourself a goal to work out five days a week. You bought a new pair of sneakers, reactivated your gym membership, and even ordered some creatine off Amazon.

Everything was going swimmingly until you had a week of early meetings, a birthday dinner, and a sick toddler, three weeks in. You missed one workout, then two. You started to berate yourself for failing, and, feeling disheartened, threw in the towel then and there.

If this scenario feels familiar, Steve Kamb, a fitness coach and personal growth writer based in Nashville, wants you to try something different: giving yourself some grace.

Kamb, 41, is a personal trainer and the founder of Nerd Fitness, an online fitness coaching company aimed at busy people who struggle to stick to their health and nutrition goals. His upcoming book, "How To Try Again," is based on the lessons he's learned over 17 years of helping people create a consistent workout routine.

In the book, Kamb outlines a simple formula he encourages people to turn to when their brains default to all-or-nothing thinking and self-criticism. He developed it with fitness in mind, but says it can be applied to any new goal or habit.

"I wanted to come up with something that was really memorable that people can go back to when their brain starts to spiral and say, 'I'm a loser. I couldn't follow through. I'm never going to make changes stick," he said.

While Kamb is not the first to champion a compassionate approach to goal-setting — he says his methodology draws from the work of behavioral science leaders and self-improvement writers — his formula serves as a helpful reminder that trying harder isn't always the answer. "If tough love for ourselves worked, it would've worked already," Kamb said.

Steve Kamb's P.A.C.T. formula

"Make a P.A.C.T," Kamb said, "Pause, accept, change something, and try again."

Pause

If you're struggling to stick to your new routine, the first step is to pause and reflect, Kamb said.

If the answer to the questions, "Is this working for me? Do I actually like it, and is this something I see myself sticking with?" is no, then give yourself permission to pick a different path, he said.

When life feels chaotic, it's also OK to "tread water" for a while, rather than pushing for more progress. "If we don't know where we're going or we're just trying to get through our days, then treading water with a really small workout, going for a five-minute walk, writing one sentence in a journal, just something that reminds us that we're staying afloat, is perfectly acceptable," Kamb said.

In the midst of writing his book, Kamb said he was treading water with his workouts because fitness wasn't his top priority; meeting his deadline was. "I haven't gotten stronger. I haven't run faster," he said, "a lot of it is being OK with doing way less."

Acceptance

The second step in P.A.C.T is all about accepting where you're at.

In an ideal world, we would all be smashing it at work, making gains in the gym, eating a nutritious, whole-food diet, and investing in our relationships, all while looking put together and keeping on top of our chores.

In reality, life looks messier than this, and be it time, caring responsibilities, or illness, we are often working with some restrictions. "The sooner we can accept our messy, ugly reality with clothes on the floor and a messy house and the state of the world, the sooner we can start to do something differently about it," Kamb said.

Change

The third step is to change something. "If we just do the same thing we've done before, we're going to get the same results," Kamb said.

Start by investigating what might have prevented you from hitting your target. Did you try to run weekly but found that you didn't enjoy it? Did you try to work out in the mornings but realized that was making you miserable?

Once you've teased out what wasn't working, you can try to reach your goal in a new way. "It can be a different type of exercise. It can be a different nutritional strategy. It can be the same type of exercise, but instead working out in the evening," he said.

Try it for 30 to 60 days and see what happens. Approach it like a "non-judgmental experiment," Kamb said. "Regardless of the outcome, that's more valuable information that we can apply to our next attempt."

Try

The final step is to try. It's easy to procrastinate by falling into the trap of endless preparation because trying something new is scary, Kamb said. "Being seen trying, especially if you're trying in public, is downright terrifying."

But only once we've started can we finally make progress on this new thing, he said.

Give yourself permission to "start ugly," and accept that you're not going to get it perfect on the first try.

• European startups like Legora and Lovable are challenging US tech dominance with rapid growth.
• AI advancements and improved capital access are enabling Europe's tech scene to thrive globally.
• European tech hubs like Stockholm attract global talent, weakening Silicon Valley's long-standing pull.

Call it Europemaxxing. Call it a Scandinavian surge. Whatever is happening, Europe's tech scene is feeling hot.

From Legora to Lovable, Klarna to Yann LeCunn's new AMI Labs, a new generation of European startups is bedding in and defying the pull of Silicon Valley. In some areas, they're matching or pulling in front of their US rivals.

Swedish AI legal startup Legora, a challenger to US-headquartered Harvey, says it counts 20% of the 100 highest-grossing US law firms among its customers, and last month hit a major revenue milestone. The Swedish vibe-coding titan Lovable, valued at $6.6 billion, recently saw its recurring revenue jump 33% in a month — and now it's looking for acquisitions.

"A structural shift is happening in the European business landscape," Lovable CEO Anton Osika told Business Insider. "Europe has a long history of producing deep technical talent but was traditionally viewed as weaker in growing companies to global scale."

What's behind the shift? Founders and VCs told Business Insider that it's a combination of AI, access to capital, and the flywheel effect from established European tech companies like Spotify and Klarna. And it's changing how tech talent flows across the Atlantic.

"It is not recency bias," George Robson, a partner at the US-headquartered VC firm Sequoia, told Business Insider. "Something has genuinely shifted — and I think it has been building for a lot longer than the last 12 months of headlines suggest."

AI shakes up scaling

For decades, the pattern was similar: a company born in Europe would grow, struggle to scale beyond a certain point, and then move to the US. DeepMind and Darktrace are some of the biggest companies to have ended up under the purview of the US, one way or another.

"I think there's still a huge issue with scale-up capital," Douglas Brion, CEO of London-based manufacturing startup Matta, told Business Insider. While access to seed and early-stage capital is still strong, Brion said, it remains challenging later.

Yet AI may be shaking up startup scaling laws, both in terms of the speed at which they can grow and the amount of capital needed to do so. Tech companies worldwide are shifting toward leaner teams that use AI to improve efficiency. That can mean lower overheads for startups, allowing funding to go further.

"What's changing is the underlying logic of why companies had to move in the first place," said Lovable's Osika. He predicts a "virtuous cycle" in which AI reduces the need for large amounts of capital to scale, leading more startups to succeed in Europe and VC money to follow. "We're at the very beginning of that shift," he said.

"Large language models, and the infrastructure around them, have compressed the timeline from research idea to product in a way that plays to European strengths," Sequoia's Robson told Business Insider. "Europe has always had exceptional research depth — now that depth converts to product faster than it ever did before."

Capital flows

US startups raised six times more than those in Europe did last year, but there are signs that access to capital is improving. The median European VC fund has tripled in size since 2016, from $32 million to $105 million, according to data from Atomico.

Following his departure from Meta, AI researcher LeCun announced in March that he raised $1 billion for his new Paris-based AI startup, AMI Labs. LeCun said the new company would be among the few frontier labs that are "neither Chinese nor American."

Alex Kendell, CEO of the London self-driving car company Wayve, said he was also "seeing a new market open up with AI" right now. "Europe has really strong research and technical talent, and this is now being matched with the capital and ambition to grow," he told Business Insider.

Kendell said Europe is still behind the US in terms of valuations and access to capital, but that he also sees encouraging signs of change.

"The best funds in the world are now wanting to invest in markets like the UK, and are setting up offices and general partners locally to make those investments," he said. "I think we're seeing those funds grow to a size and ambition where they want to globalize."

'Silicon Valley with a Scandinavian flair'

The upside of a European tech-aissance is that the continent may stop being a talent farm for US megacaps. Data from Revelio shows that more tech workers are now moving from the US to Europe than the other way around. It suggests Europe isn't just better at retaining talent, but also attracting more from the States.

"Five years ago, if you were a top AI researcher or a founding engineer and you wanted to work on the most consequential problems, you felt a genuine pull toward San Francisco," said Sequoia's Robson. "That pull has not disappeared, but it has weakened, because the problems are now being worked on in Paris and London and Zurich and Berlin too."

Stockholm has become something of a tech hub — one some like to refer to as "Silicon Valhalla." The founding place and headquarters of Spotify has given birth to a stable of tech companies — Lovable, Klarna, Legora — that are true challengers to their US rivals.

Adrian Parlow, director of product at Legora, recently moved from the US to join Legora in Stockholm. He describes the vibe as "Silicon Valley with a Scandinavian flair," which he said means low ego, hunger to grow, hunger to win.

Not everyone is fully sold on this idea. Paul Graham, the founder of YC, said this month that while Stockholm has potential, ambitious founders should still go to Silicon Valley.

There are other factors at play that may be both driving more talent into Europe and keeping it there.

"We know that the H1B visa thing is starting to drive people away," said Mike Smeed, managing director of London-based Inmotion Ventures, referring to Donald Trump's crackdown on the visa that thousands of tech workers obtain to work in the US each year. Data reviewed by Business Insider showed that H-1 B filings by tech giants such as Google and Amazon dropped sharply late last year.

Founder flywheel

Success often begets success, and several founders said this will be key to creating the European flywheel.

"You need early success examples to prove that the thing is possible," said Legora's Parlow. He cites Spotify and Klarna as big early successes that now inspire companies like Lovable and Legora. "And then, you know, maybe a few years from now, Legora is going to be the one the next founder is going to look at and be like, 'Oh, this is possible.'"

Sequoia's Robson said today's trend stems from a decade of compounding effects in which founders who have sold their startups put their experience and money back into the ecosystem.

"The generation of founders who built and exited European companies in the 2010s did not leave," he said. "They stayed, and they hired, and they backed the next generation. That flywheel is now spinning in a way it simply was not a decade ago."

And why not build in Europe? Some countries across the continent consistently rank among the highest in global quality-of-life rankings.

Finland has been making a push to poach tech and AI talent from the US on that premise.

"I would like to get as many international tech experts to Finland as possible," Finnish President Alexander Stubb told Politico on behalf of the Axel Springer Global Network. "The work-life balance is very good here. We are top of the world. Good schools, high living standards, comfortable life, safe in many ways."

InMotion Venture's Smeed says similar arguments can be made across other parts of Europe.

"The way of living is beautiful. So if you offer people the opportunity to stay and to grow, then of course they would want to do that," he said. "But you've got to set up the right environment for that to happen."

• A friend asked me to put my AI coding skills to the test and make her a Pinterest-inspired app.
• It ended up being way harder than I thought — and my final product doesn't come close to Pinterest.
• My failed attempt showed me how vibe coding experiments can fall flat.

Vibe coding is addictive: build one app with AI, and suddenly, you're tokenmaxxing your way through all the free credits.

That's exactly what happened to me weeks after my experiment with building an Asana-inspired dashboard for my team.

This time, a friend asked me to build a Pinterest-style web app to help her create moodboards for a creative project. I wanted to see if I could do it within the free limit on the AI coding platform Base44, now that I've got more experience with vibe coding.

The experiment taught me the limits of my own capabilities as a nontechnical user and gave me an indicator of how far free credits on vibe-coding platforms can take you.

Building Dreamscapes

One requirement for my web app, which I called "Dreamscapes," was to let users create multiple spaces to pin images and other digital materials.

I also wanted a function so the user — my friend — could share URLs for mood boards and story notes with creative collaborators.

I started by creating a detailed prompt on ChatGPT, then entered it into Base44's system, and told it to start building an app for me.

Within Base44's free credit limit, I found it hard to get the pin boards to work the way I wanted. It took me eight days' worth of credits to get it to a usable state, making it the hardest vibe-coded project I've ever embarked on.

Eventually, after much back-and-forth, my app had multiple functions.

Users can create "spaces," pinboard-esque canvases with custom background colors.

Within each space are "scenes," mini templates tailored to creatives looking to plan projects. Users can pick between three options: mood boards, character studies, and timelines.

Mood boards are the closest option to a Pinterest board in Dreamscapes. It's still very much a repository of links to things — an electronic notebook with pretty pastel colors, rather than Pinterest's continuous scrolling feed with algorithm-based suggestions.

Only knowing the basics of vibe coding isn't enough

Dreamscapes is flawed in many ways.

I also found myself wishing I were more proficient in coding languages or better at prompting the Base44 AI assistant. Sometimes I found myself struggling to describe exactly what was wrong with the page.

For example, when the mood board glitched at the edges, or the notes function failed to load, I burned through daily credits because the AI didn't know exactly what I wanted it to fix.

I never managed to get Dreamscapes to a point where it was usable on mobile. Some parts still load in a strange, glitchy way on my iPad, rendering it completely unusable. Within the free-to-use bandwidth on Base44, getting it up and running on the Apple App Store simply isn't an option, either. Instead, it's just a mini project that my friend and I can access on a web browser.

Things might have been different if I had used the paid version of Base44, which would have cost me upward of $40.

Pinterest, it is not

One of the biggest selling points of Pinterest is its sprawling corpus of images, whether user-contributed or pinned from the web. There aren't any shortcuts to that for a hobbyist vibe coder.

And, like many software companies, Pinterest itself is embracing AI.

Ayumi Nakajima, senior director for content partnerships in Pinterest's APAC division, told Business Insider that Pinterest has now evolved into an AI-powered "visual search and discovery platform, built for dreamscrolling, not doomscrolling."

"Our inherent advantage has always been visual, and today, that advantage is powered by AI designed to understand taste, not just keywords," Nakajima said. "Many AI models rely on what people type into a search bar. Pinterest's unique difference is that we understand what people are drawn to — the styles, aesthetics, and nuances that are hard to put into words."

Nakajima added that Pinterest's understanding of taste and what people really want isn't just algorithm-driven — the human users and creators on the platform help make it better.

So, while I've made a basic tool that lets my friend pin posts on a digital board, it's incredibly basic compared to a platform like Pinterest. After all, Pinterest is a social network, and what I've made is an electronic scrapbook, at best — even if it required no coding skills to make.

• Nearly 40 million Americans will drive at least 50 miles from home during Memorial Day weekend.
• Memorial Day weekend gas prices, meanwhile, have reached a four-year high.
• That's largely the result of Trump's conflict with Iran.

Your jaunt to the beach on Memorial Day will cost you.

The current national average for regular gas is $4.51, the highest it's been since 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, causing a spike in oil prices.

The current price of gas is 4 cents higher than a month ago and $1.32 higher than the same time last year. As of Sunday, California has the highest average at $6.11, while Indiana has the lowest at $3.93.

Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer, and millions of Americans will travel to cookouts, parties, and vacation destinations to celebrate. AAA projects almost 40 million people will drive at least 50 miles from home between Thursday and Monday.

That'll now cost over $200 in most states.

"Travel demand remains strong, and despite higher fuel prices, many people are prioritizing leisure travel during holiday breaks," Stacey Barber, vice president of AAA Travel, said in a statement.

This summer's escalating prices are largely due to the US and Israel's war on Iran. Iran all but closed the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway through which around 20% of the world's oil supply and liquefied natural gas pass through — following those initial attacks. As a result, oil and gas prices have spiked worldwide, forcing some countries to enact energy-saving measures.

President Donald Trump said on Saturday that a deal between the US and Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is "largely negotiated."

"Final aspects and details of the Deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. "In addition to many other elements of the Agreement, the Strait of Hormuz will be opened."

Trump's comments sent oil prices sharply lower at the start of the week, with crude futures falling sharply.

International benchmark Brent crude fell 5.7% to $97.66 a barrel as of 12:55 a.m. on Monday, while US West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 5.9% to $90.91 a barrel.

While oil futures reacted immediately to Trump's statements, drivers may not see relief at the pump right away. Retail gasoline prices generally trail moves in crude oil prices because fuel purchased at earlier, higher wholesale costs can take time to work through the supply chain.

Markets are also likely to remain volatile, with oil continuing to swing on geopolitical headlines tied to the conflict in Iran, analysts said.

In another post on Sunday, Trump said he's in no rush to strike a deal. "Both sides must take their time and get it right. There can be no mistakes!" he wrote.

"We've been at this stage before, only for talks to break down. Therefore, the market will likely be more cautious about overreacting to these headlines," wrote Warren Patterson, the head of commodity strategy at ING, on Monday.

• Uber's COO said it's getting harder to justify the trade-offs of AI investments in the company.
• He said he's not seeing proportional productivity gains from increasing AI costs.
• Uber's CTO said in April that the company had burned through its Claude Code budget for the whole of 2026.

A top Uber exec said AI is not giving the company bang for its buck.

In a Rapid Response interview released on Saturday, Uber's operations chief, Andrew Macdonald, said it was becoming harder to justify AI costs within the company.

He said that Uber CTO Praveen Neppalli Naga went viral after telling The Information in an April interview that Uber had already blown through its Claude Code budget for 2026.

The comment led to what he described as a "head-exploding moment," sparking discussions about AI token consumption within the company and the trade-offs it creates, such as on head count.

He said that, based on talks with Uber's senior engineering leaders, he realized higher token usage did not translate into a proportional increase in useful consumer features.

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

He said that the trade-off costs from AI are harder to justify because he can't draw a direct link. Earlier this month, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in an earnings call that Uber was slowing hiring to counter its investments in AI.

Macdonald added that AI can seem free if you're "just a user sitting there coming up with interesting use cases" without paying for it. But ultimately, the company foots the bill.

While Big Tech is going hard on tokenmaxxing —using AI as much as possible — and evaluating employees by their AI usage, some companies are starting to go the other way.

Duolingo, for instance, walked back its decision to include AI usage in performance reviews after employees asked whether they had to use AI for the sake of using it.

"It felt like, rather than being held accountable for the actual outcome, we were trying to just push something that in some cases did not fit," Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn said in a podcast interview in April.

• A Ukrainian gunner said he used a tank gun to hit a house with Russian soldiers nearly 7 miles away.
• He's a gunner for a B1 Centauro, an Italian wheeled tank destroyer produced in the 1990s.
• Ukrainian tank and armored vehicle crews often use their guns for indirect fire like artillery.

A Ukrainian vehicle crew said it used an Italian B1 Centauro to strike a house nearly seven miles away, one of the longest indirect tank gun shots reported in the war.

"The furthest shot I had was from a closed position. It was 11 kilometers. At 11,100 meters, I hit a building directly where they were sitting," the crew's gunner from the 78th Separate Air Assault Brigade told Army TV, a Ukrainian channel run by the defense ministry.

A closed position means that the crew is essentially operating the tank gun as they would with artillery — firing from a concealed location at a target outside line of sight.

A distance of 11,100 meters is about 6.9 miles, or about length of 121 football fields.

The gunner, identified by the call sign "Khilya," was part of a crew demonstrating the B1 Centauro, an 8×8 vehicle with lighter armor compared to a typical main battle tank but a powerful NATO-standard 105-mm cannon.

Other Ukrainian gunners have claimed successful hits from similar distances with a tank gun before. One of the best-known accounts of such a shot was in 2022, when a Ukrainian T-64BV crew said it struck a Russian tank that was 10,600 meters, or about 6.5 miles, away.

The practice of using tank guns as artillery has become more commonplace in Ukraine as the battlefield grew saturated by drones, which can more easily target an armored vehicle's weak spots and make it nearly impossible for a crew to approach enemy positions unscathed.

"At the moment, to go tank-to-tank, you have to first get through a large number of FPV drones and all kinds of Molniya drones. That's difficult. But from closed positions, this fires very accurately," said the B1 Centauro's commander, identified by the call sign "Director."

FPV drones are first-person-view drones, while Molniyas are fixed-wing, one-way attack drones often used on the front lines.

The B1 Centauro demonstrated by the crew was fitted with anti-drone metal cages on its chassis, along with a separate cage and netting that formed a hood behind the vehicle's gun turret.

These wheeled tank destroyers, mostly produced in the 1990s, were first reported to have been sent to Ukraine in 2023. They were first seen in publicly released footage in late 2025, operating under the 78th.

The Italian vehicle can fire its gun upward at an angle of about 15 degrees, while typical self-propelled howitzers or similar artillery can often point theirs about 60 to 70 degrees skyward.

• Nicolas Cage, 62, says being an older dad has changed what he prioritizes in life.
• The actor says he is "extraordinarily boring" now: "I am not taking any risks whatsoever if I can avoid it."
• Compared to the impulsiveness of his youth, Cage says his biggest "vices" now are too much caffeine and screen time.

Nicolas Cage, 62, says becoming an older dad reshaped his priorities.

On Saturday's episode of The New York Times' podcast "The Interview," Cage reflected on how his impulsiveness in his youth influenced both his performances and his life offscreen.

"It's no secret that I have over the years, particularly early on, perhaps, had a lack of impulse control and probably shouldn't have bought that car or shouldn't have bought that property or whatever it was," Cage told host David Marchese.

Cage added that the "comedian in him" is always looking to catch people off guard.

"You get a laugh when you do something unexpected. That's what makes people laugh in my view, or you do something marvelously witty," he said.

However, compared to his lifestyle seven years ago, Cage said his priorities have changed significantly.

"I am extraordinarily boring right now. I live a very monastic life. I am not taking any risks whatsoever if I can avoid it. I am really going to go the other way. And I am all about raising my three-and-a-half-year-old — my toddler — to have a happy and healthy life. That is my focus," the actor said. "That, and when I work. That's it."

Cage and his wife, Riko Shibata, welcomed a daughter in 2022. The actor also has two adult sons from previous relationships.

These days, his biggest "vices" are too much caffeine and screen time, he said.

"I'm drinking 200 milligrams, you know, strawberry energy drinks six times a day, and I'm not good with my phone, and the doomscrolling's got to stop," he said.

Cage said he's no longer drinking martinis or doing any "unexpected things in life" at the moment.

His temperament has also mellowed with age, he added.

"When I was 19, no. Now I'm 62, sure. I think I know what to do and what not to do, whether it's at home or in a restaurant or out in public, whatever," Cage said.

He says he avoids going out unless he feels capable of treating people with kindness. He's also more mindful in public interactions because he knows how disappointing it can be to "meet someone that I admire and have them ruin your day by being unkind."

When asked if he's considered slowing down professionally, Cage said much of his attention now goes toward raising his youngest daughter.

"I'm all about my toddler. I mean that she takes 80% of my energy and I'm focused on that," he said, adding that he wants to make time to be around to "nurture her and guide her."

"I'm lucky right now because she's young enough that as long as we can travel together and I can come home to her, that's good," Cage said.

This isn't the first time Cage has spoken about how his priorities have changed in recent years.

In November 2023, while reflecting on approaching 60, he told Entertainment Tonight that he wants to spend more time with his daughter.

"I'm taking stock of what's really important, you know?" Cage said. "Maybe not make quite as many movies."

He told Vanity Fair in December 2023 that he has "said what I've had to say with cinema" and is ready to step back from his career.

"I may have three or four more movies left in me," he said.

• Japan's stock rally is no longer just about cheap valuations or Warren Buffett's bets.
• AI is turning Japan's old industrial economy into one of the market's hottest new stories.
• Investors say rising wages, inflation, and corporate reforms are finally changing Japan for real.

Japan's stock market is making another comeback. This time, it may finally be shedding its reputation as a value trap.

After four decades of stagnation and false dawns, the Nikkei 225 is hovering near record highs as AI enthusiasm lifts semiconductor and industrial stocks. SoftBank's bets on OpenAI, Arm, and AI infrastructure have also made it one of Japan's highest-profile AI plays.

Meanwhile, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is doubling down on Japanese trading houses, while foreign investors are pouring billions into a market many had long written off.

On Monday, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 hit the 67,000 level for the first time. The index is up about 30% this year.

The improving sentiment is increasingly being backed by the economy itself. Japan's real GDP grew at an annualized rate of 2.1% in the first quarter, beating expectations and accelerating from the previous quarter. Inflation has stayed near or above the Bank of Japan's 2% target for much of the past two years.

"As the economy exits decades of deflation and we get positive real interest rates filtering through into the economy, and private consumption picking up as a result of higher wages, that should bode well for the overall economy," Kei Okamura, a portfolio manager on the Japanese equities team at Neuberger Berman, told Business Insider.

Foreign investors are pouring in. Ministry of Finance data show overseas investors have sharply increased trading in Japanese equities since 2024, as excitement builds around the country's reflation story, corporate reforms, and AI-driven industrial revival.

The rally has not been smooth. After surging to fresh highs in early 2024, the Nikkei suffered a sharp selloff that summer as investors unwound crowded yen-funded trades.

But the market rebounded as investors returned to Japan's improving profits, stronger wage growth, and AI-linked industrial story.

Bank of America strategists have also raised their year-end forecasts for Japanese equities, citing the AI boom and Japan's role in supplying semiconductor equipment, materials, and components to the global AI supply chain. The firm expects the Topix to reach 4,200 and the Nikkei 225 to hit 67,000 by year-end.

BofA said profit growth was especially strong in electronics, machinery, banks, construction, and real estate — sectors tied to AI infrastructure, automation, higher rates, and Japan's broader economic revival.

"Japanese equities have multilayered catalysts," wrote the bank's equity strategists in a May note.

AI is reviving Japan's industrial economy

Like in the US and South Korea, AI-linked stocks have been among the biggest drivers of Japan's market rally.

The new Japan story is not just about AI-linked chip stocks.

Shares of semiconductor-equipment and chip-testing firms such as Tokyo Electron, Advantest, Disco, and Screen Holdings have surged alongside growing demand for data centers, computing infrastructure, and factory automation.

Even unlikely names in traditional industries — from toilet maker Toto to seasoning giant Ajinomoto — have benefited as investors search for second-order winners from the AI boom and Japan's broader economic revival.

Okamura argues investors are still underestimating the broader industrial ripple effects of AI.

"Japan's edge in generative AI is going to be the physical AI part," he said. "How do we integrate AI into manufacturing, into the value-creation process? That's where Japan's strengths are."

That includes companies tied to wiring, optics, electrical grids, robotics, and construction.

Toyota's push into robotics and Sony's partnership with TSMC on imaging sensors are examples of how Japanese firms are positioning themselves for the next phase of AI, he said.

Financial companies are also part of the story because regional banks and insurers could benefit as the Bank of Japan gradually normalizes policy after years of ultra-low rates, Okamura said.

That reflects Neuberger's view that Japan's opportunity extends beyond obvious AI winners into the broader industrial backbone supporting the technology boom.

"We're talking about companies taking that excess capital and reinvesting it for growth over the med to long term," Okamura said.

Why investors think this time is different

In recent years, the bullish case for Japan has centered on corporate-governance reforms and improving shareholder returns.

A weak yen has also fueled the rally by boosting exporters' overseas earnings and making Japanese assets cheaper for foreign investors.

Now, investors increasingly believe something bigger is happening: Japan is finally emerging from decades of deflation.

Rising share prices may also be feeding into the real economy, according to Goldman Sachs.

In a recent May report, the bank estimated that a 10% rise in equity prices boosts Japan's consumption growth by about 0.3 percentage points, with the biggest effects in higher-value goods and services such as travel, dining, clothing, and beauty spending.

That matters because Japan's stock market is no longer sitting outside the economy. Rising share prices may now be helping support spending, investment, and corporate confidence.

Asset Management One International, a Mizuho subsidiary, estimates the expected return on equity for Japanese companies will rise to 10.5% this year, well above the 15-year average of just over 8%.

The firm said governance reforms, stronger pricing power, and higher interest rates — which help banks and financial companies — suggest Japan may be entering a longer-term structural shift rather than another short-lived rally.

Even after the run-up, Japanese stocks still trade at significantly lower valuations than US equities, suggesting there could still be room for further gains if profitability continues improving.

"This process should help to close the still significant valuation gap between Japanese stocks and the US and European markets," said Oleg Kapinos, head of global distribution strategy at Asset Management One International, in a May note.

• Top tech companies, like Meta, Google, and Amazon, are lobbying Pope Leo XIV on AI.
• They want to convince Pope Leo that AI can be developed for the good of humanity.
• Pope Leo is expected to unveil the Church's opinion on AI on Monday in an official papal document.

On a recent sunny spring day, Father Eric Salobir led a delegation through St. Peter's Square, past the crowds and toward Pope Leo XIV.

With him were representatives of Meta, Google, and Amazon, part of a small group gathered in Rome to discuss child protection in the age of artificial intelligence. The encounter with the pope was brief. The meeting that followed, in the French embassy to the Holy See in central Rome, lasted for hours.

There, Paolo Ruffini, the Vatican's top communications official, sat across from the tech representatives to wrestle with a question now at the center of Leo's young papacy: How should one of the world's oldest moral authorities judge the cutting-edge technology Silicon Valley is racing to build?

The April 29 gathering was the latest in a series of meetings that, taken together, amount to a quiet lobbying push by the tech industry ahead of Leo's first encyclical, according to interviews with seven people for this article. An official papal document due Monday will set out the Catholic Church's position on artificial intelligence.

Silicon Valley has spent years trying to convince governments and the public that AI can be developed responsibly. Now, the industry has been making that case inside the Vatican.

In recent months, representatives from the tech sector have traveled to Rome to meet Church officials involved in the debate, presenting themselves as partners in the ethical development of AI. Their message has reached the Vatican through embassy events, small-group meetings, and Catholic intermediaries with deep ties to the technology world.

The effort reflects the unusual stakes of Leo's first encyclical. The document is expected to be presented by the pope in person on Monday, but its preparation has drawn contributions from cardinals, experts, and businesses — all waiting to see how the Church will weigh in on a technology shaping the global economy, the workplace, and ever larger spheres of daily life.

Sarah El Haïry, the French government's high commissioner for children, who participated in the April event, said the document could reverberate well beyond the Vatican. She compared it to Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical on the rights of workers, which helped define Catholic social teaching during the Industrial Revolution.

"The pope's encyclical could have a rather enormous impact, in the same way that Leo XIII's encyclical helped to establish a comprehensive vision for how to orchestrate the industrial revolution," she told POLITICO. "Several countries have, in their own way, drawn inspiration from this doctrine."

The AI pope

Leo XIV has signaled from the start that technology — and artificial intelligence in particular — will be central to his papacy.

In his first address to the college of cardinals, he acknowledged his choice of papal name was a deliberate reference to Leo XIII, who is known in the church for his defense of human dignity, and in particular that of workers, and he indicated he would dedicate his teaching "in response to another industrial revolution and the developments of artificial intelligence."

Even Leo's public image has offered flashes of modernity. As he raised his arms to celebrate his first Mass after his election, the sleeve of his cassock slipped to reveal an Apple Watch on his wrist.

When Leo unveils the encyclical on Monday, he is expected to be joined by Christopher Olah, a cofounder of Anthropic, the American AI company that has made safety central to its public identity. Anthropic has clashed with the US Defense Department over its refusal to allow its technology to be used to surveil American citizens or empower autonomous weapons, and has cultivated ties with the Vatican on AI ethics.

The relationship predates Monday's launch. In January, Anthropic released a "constitution" laying out the values that will guide the development of its flagship AI model, Claude. Credited among the outside contributors were two advisors to the Holy See, Bishop Paul Tighe, secretary of the Vatican's Dicastery for Culture and Education, and Father Brendan McGuire, a Silicon Valley priest and former engineer who advises the Vatican on technology issues.

The Rome network

Tighe and McGuire are not the only figures linking the Vatican to the tech world. Another important conduit has been Éric Salobir, a French Dominican priest who began his career as an investment banker before joining the Church.

Now an expert with the Holy See, Salobir chairs the executive committee of the Human Technology Foundation, an organization that promotes ethical reflection on technology and counts Google, Palantir, and Qualcomm among its members.

Working with the French Embassy to the Holy See, Salobir helped launch a "French AI Observatory in Rome" in 2024, creating a forum for closed-door exchanges between the technology sector and Vatican officials. Since Pope Francis, they have become more frequent.

The April 29 meeting was one of those. In addition to Salobir and the French government official El Haïry, those attending the meeting included Benoit Tabaka, director of institutional relations and public policy for Google in southern Europe; Claire Scharwatt, head of public policy at Amazon France; Claudia Trivilino, public policy manager for Italy and Greece at Meta; and Adrien Abecassis, director of policy initiatives at the Paris Peace Forum and a former advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron. The focus of the gathering was child protection in the age of AI, but the discussion quickly widened to "the profound impacts of artificial intelligence on human sociability," said one participant, who was granted anonymity to speak freely. "We had lengthy discussions on the foundations of human development, and on the risks that emerge with a tool that is always available for seamless communication, like artificial intelligence."

The tone, the participant said, was "more humanist than theological." Some technology executives appeared personally invested in the discussion, while others stayed closer to their talking points. "In any case, the meeting shows that a part of the Vatican does not reject technology as such, but wants to put it at the service of humanity," the participant added.

Afterward, participants drafted a summary note that was sent to Clara Chappaz, France's minister delegate for artificial intelligence and digital affairs, to inform France's digital policy discussions at the G7.

Washington weighs in

The tech industry isn't the only constituency trying to shape the Vatican's thinking.

The encyclical has also drawn attention from Washington, even as the Trump administration's relationship with Leo has grown openly strained. In April, Trump criticized "a pope who criticizes the president of the United States," adding that he was "not a big fan."

But behind the diplomatic friction, US officials have also been working to keep a channel open on AI. In early May, the US Embassy to the Holy See hosted a series of events on artificial intelligence and work, backed by the embassies of Australia, the UK, Japan, and Taiwan.

Among those present was George Osborne, the former British chancellor of the exchequer, who now leads country relations for the American tech giant OpenAI. Osborne's discussion with Tighe on "the worker of the future and the power of AI" included the risk that the technology could deepen inequality.

Noam Yuchtman, a London School of Economics researcher who spoke at a US embassy event, said the outreach was at least in part aimed at demonstrating to the Vatican that there are "individuals and companies with an ethical approach to AI."

But if the Vatican offers companies a moral forum, it does not guarantee that political leaders will accept Leo's conclusions uncritically.

JD Vance, the American vice president and a convert to Catholicism, has warned that he will not necessarily take the pope's encyclical as gospel truth.

"When the Pope issues an encyclical on artificial intelligence, it's going to have some influence," Vance said during a White House press conference last week. "I'm sure it will contain a lot of insights, some of which I'll probably agree with, some of which I may not. But I think it's going to be a very, very important document."

That mix of anticipation and caution now surrounds the final text.

After months of embassy events, private meetings, and outside submissions, the people who tried to shape the Vatican's thinking are now waiting to see which arguments Leo will adopt.

"Encyclicals are, in any case, texts meant to last," said a contributor close to the Vatican, who was granted anonymity. "The Church's principle is that it never recants what it has written."

Océane Herrero is a tech reporter at POLITICO in Paris.

This story originally ran in POLITICO and appears on Business Insider through the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network. The network publishes major stories from the Axel Springer network of publications, a worldwide group of news outlets that includes Business Insider.

• Priscilla Tina, a product manager, loved sending postcards to her friends while traveling.
• But delivering them was a hassle, so she created an app with Claude that sends postcards for users.
• She said it's made her a bit of cash on the side.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Priscilla Tina, a 28-year-old product manager based in San Francisco. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm a tech product manager in San Francisco by day, and a content creator by night. I make videos to inspire people to rediscover their creativity.

I've been doing creative side hustles and experiments my whole life, and I'm a lover of all things analog.

Last November, I sat down and built an app with Claude Code that sends postcards without dealing with stamps or delivery.

Analog is back in

A lot of people, including myself, grew up surrounded by technology. But I also had analog products in my life when I was growing up, and I didn't have a phone.

Cut to now, I've started living on my phone.

We're spending a lot of time brainrotting, looking at a lot of AI slop. We're realizing that spending all our time on our phones isn't very meaningful.

We're also finding out that you can connect a lot better when socializing in person, and that there is value in going back to the old joys of life.

I wanted to bridge the divide between the digital and the physical world and help connect people.

I've been sending postcards with my friends for years; it's a really fun way to stay in touch while traveling. I also started to realize that I had purchased so many postcards. I had a huge stack, and it was super inconvenient to write them.

Then you have to buy stamps at the post office and walk to one of those mailboxes to mail them. I wondered if there's an easier way to do this.

Using Claude to build an app in four hours

I'd signed up for ProductCon in San Francisco, and I wanted a prototype of an app I could showcase at the event. So I came up with the idea for Postcard Press, an app that lets users upload pictures and type messages, which connects to a service called Postgrid that handles printing and delivery.

The night before, I built the bare bones of the app in four hours and got it working on my phone.

When I shared it with other product managers at the conference, they asked me when it was ready to go, saying they wanted to send their friends postcards for Christmas. That gave me intel that people were excited about it.

I tested the waters on social media too, posting a video about it that got 20,000 views.

Because there was interest in it, I decided to challenge myself to finish the app before the end of the year. Over the next two months before the end of 2025, I figured out how to monetize it, integrate payment processing, and launch it.

Since I launched it in December, more than 100 postcards have been sent through Postcard Press, each costing about $2. Postgrid's services cost $0.82, and Stripe charges $0.30 per card, so I'm honestly not making much profit per card.

I know I could move to a subscription model if revenue were the goal, but it's really not why I built this app to begin with.

Some tech hiccups along the way

I have an engineering background, but not necessarily coding, so I needed some help from my techie friends.

Before I launched the app, I shared it with some of my friends, and they sat down with their laptops to try to hack the website.

One of my friends found a security error that let him send 10 postcards without paying me anything, and he said, "You need to fix this before you launch it publicly." The experience helped me shore up the app's security features.

Payments were also a big hurdle for me, because I didn't know how to set up a Stripe payment system or how much it would cost.

But my friends challenged me. One of them said, "I think you can integrate Stripe to do payments and credit card payments in 30 minutes," and another bet against it. So I sat down and got it working in 30 minutes.

Normally, I would've needed a developer to do that, but I just asked Claude to read through all of Stripe's API documentation, and it was able to integrate a payment step in the checkout process.

The first of many analog apps

Even if it may not be that successful in the long run, I believe that what you take away from each experiment is all the learning. Building this app has been a really valuable learning lesson for me and has made some fun cash on the side.

I have been turning my attention to making new products. For example, I built a new app called Mini Print, inspired by the Polaroid walls I've noticed in friends' homes and local businesses.

I built an app that lets you turn photos into little digital Polaroids and arrange them into a custom wall on your phone to use as phone backgrounds.

I built it with Claude Code, and it's now reached around 2,000 users. I've loved seeing friends share their walls with me.

So many of my favorite analog experiences are just waiting to be reimagined digitally, and I've been having fun incorporating nostalgic interfaces. Nature and plants are next on my list.

• After nearly two decades living abroad, Amanda Molenaar no longer feels rooted in just one country.
• It also made relationships, a sense of belonging, and decision-making about the future difficult.
• At 38, after time back home, she plans to move abroad again to find a life that better matches her ambition.

After spending a good chunk of my formative 20s and 30s abroad, I lost my sense of home.

I was 19 when I took a break from my studies and spent a year and a half in South America, which kick-started my love for the continent and for living in a different culture. Since then, I've lived in Buenos Aires, London, Brasilia, and Rio de Janeiro, partly as a diplomat — a lifestyle that suited me perfectly.

I lived in all these places for relatively short periods, between 6 months and 3 years, and also often moved back to the Netherlands, where I'm from, in between. That meant a lot of change — and a certain permanent level of uprootedness — in the years that shaped me as an adult.

Most of my friends from back home stayed close to where they grew up.

Multiple countries started to shape me

I landed my first office job after finishing my master's degree in London. So my introduction to the corporate world came with cultural differences, too. I experienced office politics through the British lens and navigated filing my taxes in a different system.

Three years later, after being hired by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I found myself in a completely new setting as a diplomat in Brazil.

I was building a life in another language, creating a routine in a new environment, and navigating systems that worked differently from what I was used to, both personally and professionally. I remember representing my country for the first time in Portuguese — a moment that highlighted that another world had become my new normal.

There were many other defining experiences that happened abroad: burnout, professional growth, deepening friendships, falling in love, living through the COVID pandemic, the death of a friend, and navigating break-ups. As I continued to reinvent myself, the places around me became part of who I was becoming.

I soaked up the input I was given. Each country I lived in helped shape the person I am today.

Home stopped being one place

Now at 38, I know "home" isn't just one place anymore. Of course, I miss people and things from home when I live abroad: my friends, my family, efficiency, good cheese, all four seasons. But honestly, I miss other places just as much.

Home is the Netherlands, but it's also London's atmosphere. The nature of Brasilia. The streets of Buenos Aires. And much more. Home is all the places that shaped me over the last two decades.

While I feel incredibly rich to have had these experiences, it also makes life feel more complex. With friends around the world, my heart is scattered.

I've realized my question is not "where do I belong?", but rather: "How do I choose between lives that all feel like mine?" It's a question I've heard often from others.

I've been working as a life coach for expats for the last 4 years. The challenge for many isn't actually missing home; instead, it's learning how to navigate a life that no longer fits into one place.

It has also made dating more complex. I'm willing to settle down in one location for the right man, but I often question whether we could fully relate to each other because of our different experiences. It hasn't been easy finding someone who sees life through the same lens and feels equally excited about exchanging the comfort of the known for new opportunities abroad.

Fortunately, I'm now in that kind of relationship.

I learned to become my own anchor

I've spent most of the past six years back home. It has been good to grow more roots in one place and be back when I unexpectedly lost both of my parents a few years ago.

But I realized this chapter has come to an end and that I want an environment that better matches my ambition and personality. In a few months, I'm moving to Mexico City. I'm very excited about making a new context my own again.

My own journey has taught me that staying steady in a global life is hard. It's easy to want to move when the novelty wears off, and hard to choose when everything feels like an option. I've learned that I have to be my own anchor in a life with different homes.

• X's head of product, Nikita Bier, said the platform is cracking down on copycat creators.
• These users are "programmatically reuploading content from smaller accounts" for profit, he said.
• Bier says to use "Share Video" or "Quote" for proper attribution and to support original creators.

X is introducing new strategies to rein in its copycat economy.

Elon Musk's social media platform is now cracking down on large accounts that have been "programmatically reuploading content from smaller accounts" to game its creator revenue-share program, X's head of product, Nikita Bier, said.

That program lets eligible creators earn money from engagement on the platform, which has also created an incentive for some accounts to rapidly repost or repackage viral content before the original creator gets the credit.

Bier said X is now identifying those posts and "allocating the impressions entirely to the creator," an effort aimed at making sure original posters — not aggregators — get paid.

For posts with added commentary, Bier recommended using X's "Share Video" or "Quote" feature to ensure attribution goes to the original creator.

The move is part of a broader push by X to reduce payouts for aggregators, whose business model has often depended on rapidly repackaging other people's work for monetizable engagement.

Bier singled out one of the platform's most prolific posters on Saturday. Mario Nawfal is the CEO of IBC Group, a crypto consulting firm. He also hosts the largest live discussion show on X and has some 3.5 million followers.

Nawfal reposted a video of an ABC News journalist reacting to gunshots fired outside the White House on Saturday. A community note below the post now reads, "OP stole this video without providing credit."

"Please do not reupload the author's video: use Quote or Video Reshare," Bier added. "Your revenue was reduced by 90% last cycle and we're running out of room to reduce it more."

Nawfal replied that his account always uses the video reshare option, but it doesn't work for longer tweets.

That response now also has a community note: "No he doesnt. Here are additional examples just from the last few hours," the note says, listing three other posts that don't provide credit. "Chronic content thief."

• I let my kids take over the grocery self-checkout.
• What started as chaos turned into teamwork and independence.
• Grocery shopping became a way to teach practical life skills.

I have always loved grocery shopping with my kids. From the time they were babies and toddlers, I loved putting them in the cart and chatting about what I was buying. It always feels a bit chaotic, but it's always been one of my favorite things to do with them.

Now that they're older and have graduated from riding in the cart to walking beside it, I've looked for ways to get them more involved in the process. They would help choose produce or grab things off the shelf and put them in the cart.

But then the day came when they wanted to start scanning groceries at the self-checkout. There are three of them, and the thought of them all grabbing items out of the cart and scrambling to scan things seemed like a lot.

But one day I thought, "What the heck, let's see what happens."

Things got wild

The first time we did this, it was understandably chaotic. My son (the oldest) insisted on scanning, and the younger girls wanted to scan as well, so there was a lot of grabbing for items and running from the cart to the scanner. Groceries were tossed haphazardly in bags.

I was trying to keep track and make sure everything was actually scanned, and one kid started looking at the candy shelf near the checkout.

When we left, I was sweating. But the kids were so happy. You'd think they had just gotten to drive a spaceship. But no, they literally did a basic grown-up task that many actually dread.

They fell into their own roles

After a few times, they fell into a rhythm that I had no hand in figuring out. Each started to handle their own task while I kept a watchful eye on the cart and made sure everything got scanned. The oldest and the middle work on scanning, even talking to each other to make sure nothing is left behind, or adjusting based on who can pick it up (my son takes care of the heavier items).

Once the item is scanned, it's passed to the little one, who puts it neatly in the bag or box. When everything's done, she gets to use the debit card to pay, navigating the prompts on the screen like a pro. It's a special moment when, as a parent, you can step back and watch your kids figure something out on their own — or better yet, with their siblings.

When I asked them what they liked about helping at the checkout, my son said, "I'm not bored. If I wasn't helping, I would just be standing and doing nothing, and it's boring." It gives them a sense of purpose that's really fun to see.

We've taken it a few steps further

A few years ago, I created a Master Grocery List. It's laminated, so I use a dry-erase marker to mark the items we need each week. Since the kids have gotten more involved in shopping — and have more opinions on what they'd like to eat — I moved the list to a spot on the fridge that's easy to access. Now, if they use the last of something, realize they need something for school, or have a supper idea, they'll add it themselves.

Since helping with groceries has been a theme in our home lately, I decided to go one step further and hand the phone to my middle child so she could place a pickup order herself. She had the list handy, and I told her the budget. She had a blast and did a really great job, even recommending a smaller size coffee when she saw the prices to make sure she stayed within the budget.

It can be hard to take a step back, but it's worth it

Part of the fun of raising little humans is teaching them how to do daily tasks and watching them learn how to navigate the world. Basics like doing laundry, loading the dishwasher, and shopping take time for them to figure out, but they end up with a sense of pride and accomplishment as they learn. That doesn't mean it's always easy.

The first time the kids took over at the checkout, I found myself reaching to help multiple times. But given a few extra seconds, they typically figured things out on their own. I'll still step in if necessary, but I try to wait for them to ask for help rather than just jumping in and taking over.

They've made mistakes, and I've had to help, but at the end of the shopping trip, they have a sense of accomplishment and ownership. It's also good for me to step back and let them do so. Up next, I'll hand off the list in the store and see how it goes.

• Sundar Pichai is scheduled to speak at Stanford University's commencement next month.
• Students have booed several execs this year for talking about AI in their speeches.
• Pichai is one of the leaders of the AI boom, but says people are "rightfully" anxious.

Tech CEOs have a lot to manage, from earnings calls and board meetings to competition and employee morale.

Now, in the age of AI, they also need a "boo strategy."

This year, graduates have heckled some executives during commencement speeches after the corporate leaders made optimistic comments about AI, reflecting a growing anxiety among students about to enter the job market.

Students booed former Google CEO Eric Schmidt at the University of Arizona, while Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta drew backlash at Middle Tennessee State University after he discussed AI's impact on music and media.

So the hosts of the tech podcast "Hard Fork" recently asked Google CEO Sundar Pichai what his "boo strategy" will be when he gives the commencement speech at Stanford University next month.

For Pichai, the challenge is real: He leads one of the companies driving the AI boom at a time when many graduates worry the technology could evaporate the jobs they're about to pursue.

"I've always been extraordinarily optimistic about the next generation," he told the hosts. AI, he said, doesn't change that. "My goal would be to share my experiences, and that's what I'm looking to do."

"These graduates are actually both going to be a big part of driving that progress and also dealing with the impact," he added, referring to AI.

It's possible Pichai will be met with a more receptive crowd at Stanford, which is in the heart of Silicon Valley and home to some of the most talked-about AI courses in the country.

Still, the perception of AI among the public is low. A Pew Research Center study found that about half of Americans felt the increased prevalence of AI in their daily lives made them feel "more concerned than excited." Many Americans across the country, meanwhile, are resisting new data centers in their communities, which are essential to powering AI products like chatbots.

At least a dozen major companies have cited increased efficiency from AI as a factor in their decision to lay off employees this year. And AI has made job-seeking more difficult by prolonging the interview process. The unemployment rate for new grads reached a 4-year high at the start of 2026.

Pichai told "Hard Fork" that people are "rightfully" anxious about what sort of future the technology will create. "Humans aren't evolved to process that much change," he said, adding that the scale of the change is unlike anything the world has seen.

Earlier this month at Carnegie Mellon University's commencement, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made the case that AI will be a net positive for humanity, including for those newly starting their careers.

"Now it's your time to realize your dreams," he told graduates. "The timing could not be more perfect."

I've been reviewing audio gear for over a decade, and Bose is one of the brands I regularly recommend. The company makes a variety of speakers, including multiple soundbars with clear, room-filling audio. But the best Bose soundbar for your setup will depend on a few factors, such as your budget and available space.

To help you figure out which model is right for you, I tested every Bose soundbar currently available and compared their performance in real-world use. For most people, the Bose Smart Soundbar is the best overall option. It blends a sleek, modern design with rich sound, Dolby Atmos support, and built-in Amazon Alexa for simple hands-free control. If you're shopping on a tighter budget or need something more compact, the Bose TV Speaker is another solid choice. It doesn't support Dolby Atmos, but it still delivers clear, balanced audio at a lower price.

Below, you'll find my complete guide to the best Bose soundbars available right now, along with a recommendation for the best Bose subwoofer to get deeper bass and a more cinematic home theater experience.

Our top picks for the best Bose soundbars

Best overall: Bose Smart Soundbar - See at Amazon

Best high-end: Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar - See at Amazon

Best for smaller spaces: Bose TV Speaker - See at Amazon

Best add-on: Bose Bass Module 500 - See at Amazon

The best Bose soundbars, compared

Best overall

The Bose Smart Soundbar isn't the most premium model the company offers, but it hits the sweet spot better than any other soundbar in its lineup. With rich, room-filling audio, Dolby Atmos support, and a comprehensive feature set, it's an easy upgrade for even the best TVs.

This latest model is essentially a refreshed take on the now-discontinued Smart Soundbar 600. The hardware hasn't changed, but Bose added two meaningful software updates: AI Dialogue Mode and the ability to use Bose Ultra Open Earbuds as wireless rear speakers.

The Smart Soundbar can handle up to 5.1.2-channel audio using a 3.0.2 driver array. That includes two upward-firing speakers that bounce sound off your ceiling for convincing overhead effects. During testing, I was impressed by how wide and immersive the soundstage felt, whether I was watching a movie or listening to music. In a midsize living room, it easily fills the space and keeps you locked into whatever you're watching. Even non-Atmos content benefits from Bose's TrueSpace processing, which upmixes regular audio to create extra height and depth.

AI Dialogue Mode is one of the standout additions. It utilizes real-time machine learning to isolate voices, maintaining dialogue clarity even when the rest of the mix becomes chaotic. Considering that clearer dialogue is one of the biggest reasons people buy a soundbar, this feature is a genuine win.

Bose also added a fun trick with its Personal Surround Sound feature. If you already own Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, you can pair them with the soundbar to act as wireless rear speakers. When I tested this while watching "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," the transition was seamless, adding rear effects without blocking the soundbar's output. It's a clever bonus for existing earbud owners, though not a must-buy feature.

Beyond TV audio via HDMI or optical connections, the Smart Soundbar is equipped with a range of wireless options, including WiFi, Bluetooth, Apple AirPlay, Google Chromecast, and Spotify Connect. And with Amazon Alexa/Alexa+ built right in, it doubles as one of the best smart speakers for home theater fans who want voice control and music playback, even when their TV is off.

For more top picks from other brands, check out our guide to all the best soundbars.

Best high-end

The Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar is the go-to choice for movie lovers seeking exceptional clarity, powerful up-firing Dolby Atmos effects, and a comprehensive suite of premium features. It builds on the Smart Soundbar's foundation with a larger design and even more drivers under the hood.

This model pumps out 5.1.2-channel audio through nine integrated speakers and a dedicated center tweeter. In my testing, the performance felt deep and expansive, with a sound field that stretches well beyond the bar's physical footprint. The results are genuinely impressive and stack up well against other high-end Atmos soundbars, such as the Sonos Arc.

One of the standout upgrades over Bose's cheaper options is the inclusion of ADAPTiQ calibration. This system fine-tunes the sound to match your room, making a noticeable difference in challenging spaces or areas with unconventional furniture layouts. Just note that you'll need to use the included wired headset to run the calibration.

If you're already invested in the Bose ecosystem, the Ultra Soundbar has another perk: private listening support with compatible Bose headphones and earbuds. You can group them with the bar for late-night viewing without disturbing anyone. Like the Smart Soundbar, this model also features Bose's AI Dialogue Mode, which enhances voice clarity when you struggle to hear dialogue over music and effects.

For music, the Ultra supports WiFi, Bluetooth, AirPlay, Chromecast, and Spotify Connect, providing you with numerous wireless options for streaming. Amazon Alexa/Alexa+ is also built in, so the soundbar doubles as a smart speaker for voice commands. And unlike Bose's other models, which only come in black, the Ultra is also available in white — a nice touch for anyone who wants their home theater setup to match their décor.

Best for smaller spaces

The Bose TV Speaker is the brand's most compact and affordable soundbar. It's under two feet in length and just over two inches tall, making it the best Bose soundbar for smaller spaces, such as an apartment. Despite knowing its dimensions, I was still surprised by how compact the unit appeared in person.

Though it delivers less rumble and a lower max volume than Bose's larger models, don't let the TV Speaker's small size deceive you. This compact two-channel soundbar is still capable of producing compelling audio via three speaker drivers.

Although the TV Speaker doesn't have the same bass level or dynamic range as other Bose soundbars, it still delivers a significant upgrade to the speakers built into my Samsung smart TV. During testing, the dialogue was clearer, and the overall sound was more evenly balanced. The TV Speaker compares favorably to the Sonos Ray, a similar option that earned a spot in our guide to the best budget soundbars. The TV Speaker is a good alternative to the Ray for people who prefer the Bose brand.

That said, this isn't the best Bose soundbar to pick if you crave advanced features and big sound for larger spaces. There's no Dolby Atmos support or WiFI connectivity, for instance. However, it does support Bluetooth, so you can use it to play music from your phone. However, please note that while the TV Speaker supports connecting to a display via HDMI ARC, an HDMI cable isn't included. It comes with an optical cable instead. Check out our guide to the best HDMI cables for a reliable option.

Best add-on

Bose offers several add-ons for its soundbars, including subwoofers and rear surround speakers. These products can all meaningfully enhance your audio experience, but I recommend starting with the Bose Bass Module 500 if you're looking for an initial upgrade.

This wireless subwoofer offers a significant improvement in deep low-frequency performance, making movies rumble and adding depth to music. The Bass Module 500 is compatible with all of the best Bose soundbars. Even if you're short on space, the subwoofer connects wirelessly, allowing it to be placed anywhere in the room (though it requires a power outlet for connection).

Bose also sells the larger Bass Module 700 and Bose Lifestyle Ultra Subwoofer, which offer extra oomph and power, but the more modest 500 unit is no slouch. It greatly enhances the low-end impact of movies when paired with Bose's smaller TV Speaker and Smart Soundbar, and it even adds noticeable bass to the larger Ultra Soundbar.

If you're looking for more powerful low-end kick from your Bose soundbar system, this is a worthwhile upgrade to consider.

How we test Bose soundbars

To test the best Bose soundbars, I spent hands-on time with every current model, comparing how each one performs on its own and against the rest of Bose's lineup. I focused on the things that actually matter day to day, including sound quality, size, connectivity, software features, ease of use, and overall value.

Each soundbar was tested in multiple rooms, from a quiet bedroom at night to a living room during the day, to see how it handled different spaces and listening conditions. I watched a mix of movies and TV shows across popular streaming services, including Dolby Atmos content when supported, and streamed music across a wide range of genres to evaluate performance beyond TV audio.

Whenever possible, I sampled multiple connection methods, but typically stuck with HDMI for TV audio and WiFi for music streaming to ensure each model sounded its best.

Meet the expert behind this guide:

Tyler Hayes, contributing reporter: I've been writing about tech products for over a decade and have been reviewing audio gear for Business Insider since 2019. I know exactly what to listen for to ensure you get a good experience, and I aim to recommend soundbars that, first and foremost, deliver on their primary goal: better audio quality than your TV speakers. For this guide, I zeroed in on Bose's lineup and really looked at how each model stacks up — not just against other Bose models, but against competing options at the same price. This helped me figure out which ones make sense for different rooms, budgets, and listening habits.

Learn more about the Reviews team at Business Insider.

Bose soundbar FAQs

What size Bose soundbar should you get?

The right soundbar size mostly depends on your TV and room sizes. For smaller TVs (typically 50 inches or under) or tighter spaces like bedrooms and apartments, a compact option like the Bose TV Speaker is usually plenty and won't overpower the room. If you have a medium-sized room with a bigger TV or sit farther away, a wider soundbar like the Bose Smart Soundbar will better match the screen and deliver fuller, more immersive sound. Finally, the Smart Ultra Soundbar is best for shoppers with a large media console and a big-screen TV (65 inches or larger) who want beefier home theater performance.

Is Bose's new Lifestyle Speaker compatible with older soundbars?

No, Bose's new Lifestyle Ultra Speaker is only compatible with its new Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar. It cannot be paired with the older Smart Soundbar, Smart Ultra Soundbar, or TV Speaker to create a surround sound system.

You can learn more about the new speaker in our full Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker review.

Do Bose soundbars support Alexa+ voice control?

Yes, Alexa+ is now supported on several Bose soundbars, including the Bose Smart Soundbar and the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar. However, the Bose TV Speaker does not have Alexa+ or any built-in digital assistants.

Alexa+ is an enhanced version of Alexa with more powerful AI capabilities and conversational control. It's free for Prime members but costs $20 a month if you don't have Prime.

Can you mount a Bose soundbar to the wall?

The Bose TV Speaker, Smart Soundbar, and Smart Ultra Soundbar are all compatible with the Bose Soundbar Wall Bracket. The bracket typically costs around $39 and is ideal for setups where your TV stand doesn't have room for a soundbar. Mounting also helps create a cleaner, more streamlined look beneath your TV.

Do Bose soundbars include remotes?

Most of Bose's soundbar models include a dedicated remote control. This makes them easy to operate, without relying on a mobile app or your TV's remote. However, the new Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar does not include a remote. Instead, it can work with your existing TV remote via HDMI.

Can you connect a subwoofer to a Bose soundbar?

All the best Bose soundbars in this guide are compatible with the Bose Bass Module 500 and Bass Module 700. These subwoofers can connect wirelessly, letting you place them wherever they sound best (as long as they're near a power outlet). You can also use a wired connection if you prefer.

If you'd rather buy a soundbar that already includes a subwoofer, check out our guide to the best soundbars with subwoofers.

Can you pair rear speakers to a Bose soundbar?

The Bose Smart Soundbar and Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar both support wireless pairing with the Bose Surround Speakers or Bose Surround Speakers 700. However, you must purchase those rear satellite speakers separately.

For complete setups that include both front and rear speakers, check out our guide to the best surround sound systems.

Do Bose soundbars support Dolby Atmos?

Both the Bose Smart Soundbar and the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar support Dolby Atmos immersive audio. Dolby Atmos is a surround sound format that uses object-based mixing to spread audio effects in all directions, including above your head. Bose's soundbars use up-firing speaker drivers to bounce audio off the ceiling and back down to your ears.

You can learn more in our Dolby Atmos guide and our roundup of the best Dolby Atmos soundbars.

Can Bose soundbars play DTS audio?

The Bose soundbars in this guide do not support DTS. Instead, they support Dolby and PCM audio formats. This shouldn't be an issue for most people, as Dolby is the most commonly used format on streaming services and live TV providers.

However, some Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray discs have DTS audio mixes. To hear those tracks on a Bose soundbar, you'll need to change your Blu-ray player output settings to PCM.

What other audio devices does Bose sell?

In addition to soundbars, Bose also sells wireless speakers and headphones. The brand makes some of our favorite over-ear and earbud headphones, including the Bose QuietComfort Ultra, as well as Bluetooth speakers like the Bose Portable Smart Speaker.

For more details, check out our Bose product reviews and our separate headphone and speaker guides:

• Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) review
• Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) review
• Bose QuietComfort Earbuds (2024) review
• Best Bluetooth speakers
• Best Bose headphones
• Best headphones
• Best over-ear headphones
• Best wireless earbuds
• Best noise-canceling headphones
• Best AirPods alternatives

Is Bose better than Sonos?

The best Sonos soundbars compare well to Bose's top offerings as both lineups offer similar features and capabilities. However, we do give a slight edge to certain options over others.

For those who want premium Dolby Atmos performance, the Sonos Arc Ultra is a more robust device than the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar, thanks to Sonos' beefier built-in woofer system.

However, the midrange Bose Smart Soundbar has a big edge over the competing Sonos Beam. Bose's device features up-firing audio drivers to provide Dolby Atmos height effects, whereas Sonos relies solely on audio processing, which is less effective.

On the low end, the budget-friendly Bose TV Speaker and Sonos Ray are extremely similar, with only small differences. We appreciate that the Bose TV Speaker has an HDMI port, which the Ray lacks. On the other hand, the Sonos Ray supports WiFi, while the Bose TV Speaker only has Bluetooth connectivity.

You can put together a wireless multi-room audio system with speakers from either brand, but you can't mix and match them. Sonos speakers are compatible only with other Sonos devices, and Bose speakers are compatible only with other Bose models. As such, we suggest picking one brand and sticking with it.

• Guadalupe Galindo-Nevarez and her family moved from California to Texas in 2022.
• Life is more affordable in Texas, but they couldn't get used to the weather.
• Despite higher living costs, the family is planning to move back to California as soon as possible.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Guadalupe Galindo-Nevarez, 63, who moved from California to El Paso, Texas, with her husband and daughter in 2022 and now plans to move back to California. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

I grew up in El Paso, but I ended up going to college in Sacramento and living there for 47 years.

A couple of years ago, I started feeling homesick. I wanted to move back to El Paso, be closer to my family, and raise my teenage daughter in a different environment. My husband and I both thought Texas could be a good fit for her because it has high school programs that allow students to earn their associate degree before graduating.

In December 2022, we moved from Natomas, a neighborhood in Sacramento, to El Paso. We bought a brand-new four-bedroom, three-bathroom home for $250,000. Compared with California's expensive housing market, it felt like an incredible bargain.

Texas's lower cost of living has been great. Groceries and dining out are noticeably cheaper, and gas prices were as low as $2.34 per gallon before they started rising because of the Iran war. The lack of state income tax is also huge.

But while we've enjoyed those advantages, we've come to realize there are a lot of trade-offs to living in Texas — and for us, they outweigh many of the benefits. We once thought living in El Paso would be a permanent relocation, but now we're happily making our way back to California.

Life in Texas isn't what we thought it would be

When I told my family I was moving to El Paso, they were excited. They kept telling us, "Everything is so much cheaper and better here," and they were right — for the most part.

El Paso really is a beautiful place with very kind people. It sits along the border, near Mexico and New Mexico, so there's a unique blend of cultures. I wish more people knew about El Paso's culture and its incredible, authentic Mexican food.

I was used to living in El Paso because I grew up here, but it has been much harder for my daughter and husband to adjust.

When we first moved here, my daughter immediately said, "I don't like it." She started school and made a couple of friends, but she said a lot of people treated her like an outsider.

She's very happy we're going back to California. She's interested in pursuing a degree in molecular biology and is hoping to get into UC Davis.

My husband was over Texas within the first two weeks of us moving here. One of the biggest adjustments for him has been the weather.

In El Paso, summers regularly get above 100 degrees, and the winters can also be surprisingly harsh. Temperatures can dip to 18 degrees, which is much colder than what we are used to in California.

The wind in El Paso has also been challenging. We didn't do enough research before moving, especially about the neighborhood where we bought our home. It's a nice, brand-new neighborhood, but there's a lot of open land behind us, so the wind feels even stronger. Just last week, winds reached 41 mph, tearing the curtains off our pergola. Dust storms are also common, especially in the spring.

We're moving back to California as soon as possible

We are very sports-oriented and try to do a lot of activities as a family. In California, we would go to Monterey Bay, Los Angeles, Dodger games, and other baseball games. But in El Paso, there just isn't as much to do, especially for a 16-year-old.

There are places to hike, but overall, it the activities here feel much more limited. I find myself looking forward to visiting places like San Francisco, Reno, Lake Tahoe, and Monterey Bay again.

My husband worked for the State of California for 30 years, so we have excellent insurance in California. My medical treatments will be a lot more affordable for us there.

We know we're probably going to have a higher mortgage when we move back to California, but the property taxes in Texas are much higher than we expected, so we're comfortable with that trade-off.

Right now, we're looking into buying my oldest daughter's home in Sacramento. She has been looking for a bigger home for her family for about eight months, so our timing depends on when she finds something. But we know we're going back.

We call this whole experience a learning lesson. If we ever move again, I will definitely do more research. We should have looked more closely at the neighborhood, the weather, the medical benefits, and the overall lifestyle before making such a big decision.

Did you move to a new state, only to realize it wasn't the right fit? We want to hear from you. Email reporter Alcynna Lloyd at alloyd@businessinsider.com to share your story.

• My best friend and I, who are in our 40s, joined my parents on vacation in Florida.
• Our multigenerational trip felt nostalgic, and it was nice to spend time together as a group.
• Discovering new places and visiting old ones was a blast, too, and I wish we'd done this sooner.

My best friend and I leave a trail of sand from our day at the beach as we hurriedly run ahead of my parents, beach cruisers haphazardly parked outside the rental.

We're on a mission to hide a disheveled Barbie doll named Trixie (a victim of a DIY haircut long ago), somewhere hilariously unexpected in the house.

It's a favorite pastime of ours — and the best part is the suspense while we await the discovery, which prompts uncontrollable laughter when my mom or dad finds Trixie posing in the microwave.

This was just one of our staple summer vacation antics that my best friend and I had been performing since meeting in the last two flute seats of band class at 12 years old.

Fast forward 30-plus years, and the only thing that's changed is that we're grown adults with careers and children (hers: human, mine: canine), and we've swapped soda for cocktails.

These days, I'm based in New York and she's in Texas, so we mostly only see each other once a year on a specially chosen annual trip.

This time, instead of relaxing in Jamaica or road-tripping through Arizona, we decided to hijack a long weekend of my parents' monthlong vacation on the Florida Gulf Coast.

The trip was a reunion 13 years in the making that took us right back to the good old days

Mom and Dad, both in their early 70s, were happy to oblige and let us 43-year-olds join them.

Growing up, Erin was like a bonus daughter to my parents — she spent weeks on end at my house during summer break, never missed a Friday pizza night, and always joined our family vacations.

But with life taking us both to various corners of the world, it had been 13 years since they last saw her.

So, when the opportunity arose to crash my parents' vacation in Siesta Key, we chose to make the reunion finally happen as our annual trip, leaning into multigenerational travel with nostalgic flair.

The two of us brought along matching pool floats and all of our old shenanigans, including Trixie's understudy, Tricia, courtesy of Erin's young daughters.

As soon as we arrived, it was just like our beach jaunts of yesteryear, all of us under one roof in a house rental, sharing meals, laughs, sunshine, and for Erin and me, a room with bunkbeds.

Each morning, we chatted with my parents over coffee before hitting the beach to lounge and search for seashells like we used to, reminiscing about that one time my mom allowed us to bring 92 of them home, for some reason.

Between the great company and mix of old and new favorites, we had an amazing time

Dinners were spent listening to live music with a bowl of clam chowder at our favorite haunt, the dollar-bill-ridden Siesta Key Oyster Bar, and discovering new spots like Casa Masa, where the margaritas on tap and housemade blue-corn tortilla chips still have me swooning.

Then, we'd round out the evening with card games at the house, snickering around the dining table while we waited for my parents to notice Trixie hanging upside down from the light fixture above us.

As a little surprise, I organized a sunset beach picnic for us girls, and it was such a great way to share a memorable experience with my mom and best friend.

My dad picking us up for our ride home after we wined and dined on the beach was the nostalgic cherry on top.

Although my career as a travel writer allows me to venture to far-flung places (sometimes with Erin in tow), the slower pace and walk down memory lane with my parents in Siesta Key made this one of the most fulfilling trips I've had in a long time.

Going back to basics turned out to be the exact type of vacation I needed, with quality time well spent.

I left with a slew of special memories made with some of my favorite people all together in one place, and sure of one thing: We won't be going another 13 years before doing this again.

• I tried moving abroad in the past, but it never worked out.
• When I became a new single mom, I struggled in New York City, so I headed to Berlin.
• Berlin has been an incredible city for new parents.

I've attempted to move abroad several times, even acquiring visas, but I always ended up back in New York.

When I decided to have a baby on my own, I put that dream aside. I figured that if I couldn't do it as a single 30-something, it didn't seem feasible as a single mom.

So, I was as surprised as anyone when, three months after having my daughter, I booked a flight to Berlin — and haven't returned.

Making a plan

The first month of my daughter's life was a blur. I was exhausted and happy; having her felt like a new lease on life. I couldn't imagine going back to work anytime soon. I didn't really have work to go back to anyway; I'm a freelancer, and didn't have anything new lined up.

Still, I received 12 weeks of paid family leave and planned to look for work when that ended.

Then, a friend helped me land a teaching job. That was in October; the job would start the next September. I decided I'd take care of my daughter full time until her first birthday in August, living off savings, and then I'd start teaching.

Changing the plan

I loved my plan, but there were things I hadn't considered. First, being a full-time mom in Brooklyn, where few people are full-time parents, is isolating. I realized this when my fellow new moms went back to work.

Second, developing a new identity is hard; doing it in the shadow of my former life felt even harder. With a partner, I might've been able to maintain a semblance of normal by taking turns leaving the house. As a single mom, this wasn't an option.

There was no popping out for yoga, coffee, or anything. This hit me hardest when my daughter started falling asleep around 7:30 p.m., and I'd be home alone for the entire night, every night. Friends would come over, but by the time they got off work, I was exhausted and wanted to sleep.

Brooklyn started to feel different. Trying to find flexible, occasional childcare proved too difficult, and living in a fourth-floor walkup, too complicated. When I left the stroller downstairs, my building superintendent said it would probably get stolen. I debated moving closer to family, but I felt more resigned to it than excited about it.

In early December, when my daughter was three months old, I changed my plan. If I were going to take a year of maternity leave, I'd take it in a place where everyone takes it. I'd take it in Europe.

Finding childcare in Berlin

I looked all over Europe for reliable, flexible, affordable childcare, and found a coworking spot with hourly day care in Berlin. It happened to be in the neighborhood where a friend lives.

I realized I could get a round-trip flight, an Airbnb, and two hours of day care per day for the cost of my monthly rent in Brooklyn.

Finding a subletter and packing my apartment were easy. By then, I understood that babies don't need nearly as much as we're led to believe. I stayed home long enough to get my daughter's six-month vaccines. Then, with two carry-on suitcases and a stroller, we left.

Better than I dreamed

After decades of thinking about moving abroad, it was simple. I booked an Airbnb with a crib, and I bought travel health insurance. I'm figuring out the rest as I go.

Berlin is livable in a way that feels intentional. Many parents are home for the first year, so places are designed for parents and kids. When we go on walks, it's all new to me, and that's good for my mental health, as is meeting and connecting with new people.

At home, I kept seeing what I can't do anymore; here, I see possibilities everywhere. And at night, it doesn't feel like I'm missing anything because I don't have anything to miss. I don't feel lonely; I feel more in tune with my daughter.

A week after arriving, the September teaching job was canceled due to budget cuts. I was disappointed, but soon saw this as an opportunity: I'm here, I like it, and now I can stay. I applied for a visa and planned trips to Denmark, Finland, and Spain, just to make sure Berlin really is where I want to live.

Maybe we're here for a year, maybe longer. For now, I'm just enjoying being in a new place and being here with her.

• I had my first child at 31 and my fourth — and final — child at 40.
• There were a few things I didn't expect about having a kid again, almost 10 years later.
• Pregnancy and delivery were surprisingly easy, but my friendships have suffered.

I always knew I wanted a big family, but I wasn't in a rush to get started. When I got married in my mid-20s, after a prolonged time in school earning two graduate degrees, I wasn't quite ready to have children. I wanted to become more established in my career, pay down student loans, and travel before kids entered the picture.

Then, at 31, I had my first child, followed quickly by two more. I loved being a mother. Yet, even with three children who were my moon and stars, I didn't feel as though my family was complete. It took my husband a few years to get on board, but we eventually agreed to grow our family by one more, and I had my last son just before turning 40.

I wouldn't change a thing, but I didn't fully consider the implications of having a child at almost 40.

Pregnancy and delivery went smoothly

When I had my son, I was ecstatic that my much-wanted fourth and final child had arrived. I drank in his newborn scent. Even though I was older, I found late-night wake-ups and cluster feeding easier and less intrusive than I had with my older kids. Having waited so long for my son and knowing he was my last made every moment with my baby seem just a little sweeter.

Although I was considered a "geriatric mother," my pregnancy and delivery had gone smoothly. Even as a 40-year-old mom, I didn't feel my age, even though there was nearly a decade between becoming pregnant with my first child and giving birth to my fourth.

My friendships suffered

I knew, logically, that being an older mom would have its challenges. However, I didn't fully understand the implications, and they didn't become apparent until my son was a little older. By the time I had my last child, most of my friends had their days free outside of work. They were regularly getting together for coffee breaks, lunch dates, and dinners out. Although bringing a baby along was usually possible and often welcome, once he became a mobile, chatty toddler, I had to decline more invitations. My friendships suffered.

Even now, years after my son started school, I find it hard to relate to many of my friends' lives. While I am still in the thick of raising an elementary-school-aged child, they are no longer making school lunches, chauffeuring their kids to sports practice, and looking over homework every night.

While most of my friends still have children at home, their kids are largely self-sufficient, leaving them with the kind of free time I can only dream about. Last year, some friends planned a girls' trip, but I declined to go because it would be difficult to leave my son for so long. My friends understood but went anyway.

My son keeps me young, but I worry constantly about not being around for him

I love that having a child in elementary school keeps me active and engaged. We still go ice skating together, and unlike my teenagers, my youngest actually wants to tell me about his day and snuggle on the sofa.

However, I worry constantly about not being around long enough for my son as he grows up and starts his own family. I sometimes mourn the relationship I will never have with his children and feel sad that my grandchildren probably won't have grandparents around to spoil them.

My own parents were so supportive of me when I started my family and never hesitated to step in to help. They shower my kids with love.

Because of my age, it's unlikely I will be able to do the same for my children and grandchildren for very long, particularly for my youngest son. Although I knew a more limited time together was a reality when I decided to have a child at nearly 40, I feel the loss more acutely, seeing how quickly time is speeding by.

I still wouldn't change a thing

Although I keep being surprised by the implications of having a baby later in life, I don't regret a thing. With his late arrival, my son completed our family. He brings my entire family so much joy, and it's hard to imagine life without him. There are also advantages to having a child later in life. We are more financially stable, I have more perspective on what truly matters, and he keeps me young at heart. All of this helps me enjoy motherhood a little more than I did with my older kids, who were born when I was younger.

One of the biggest days in motorsports has arrived in Indianapolis. We've compiled everything you need to know about how to watch the Indy 500, including live streaming options for those without cable.

If you don't want to read any further, you can live stream the race through US services like DirecTV, Fubo, and Sling TV, among others. Below, we'll break down all the details on the streaming apps and other info on the Indy 500.

*Local channel availability varies by region on Sling TV.

What channel is the Indy 500 on?

The Indy 500 will air on FOX in the United States. Pre-race coverage will begin on the network starting at 10 a.m. ET, and the green flag is at 12:45 p.m. ET.

How to watch the Indy 500 in the US

There are a few simple ways to live stream FOX in the US, including FOX One, the network's direct streaming counterpart. You can sign up for FOX One directly through the service's website or as a Prime Video add-on. FOX is also available through some of the best live TV streaming services we've tested. These include DirecTV, Fubo, and Sling TV.

FOX can be found in all of DirecTV's signature plans, along with several of the cheaper genre packs. MySports carries 20 channels and unlocks access to ESPN Unlimited. Subscriptions cost $65 a month, but new users can get $15 a month off their first two months after a five-day free trial. MyNews carries around 10 channels and costs $40 a month, but new customers can get $5 a month off their first two months after a five-day free trial.

Fubo also carries FOX in its Sports + News, Pro, and Elite plans. Subscriptions start at $56 a month for Sports + News, but new users can get $10 off their first month after a five-day free trial.

FOX is also available in Sling TV packages, including Sling Select and Sling Blue. However, Sling's local channel coverage varies by market, so check what's available in your ZIP code before signing up. Sling Select subscriptions cost $25 a month with local channels, and Sling Blue subscriptions cost $51 a month with local channels.

How to watch the Indy 500 from anywhere

Fans traveling away from home this weekend can still keep up with their usual watch options with a VPN. VPNs, or virtual private networks, are handy tech tools that let people temporarily change their device's virtual location. This way, their favorite websites and apps work as they would back home, so your viewing doesn't need to be interrupted just because you're on vacation. They're also strong ways to boost online security. The services we've recommended require US methods of payment, so this option will work best for Americans who are simply traveling abroad at the moment.

NordVPN finishes first in our guide to the best VPNs. It's a user-friendly service (even if you're new to VPNs) and has a 30-day money-back guarantee if you find that it's not what you're looking for.

Where does the Indy 500 take place?

The Indy 500 is held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway located in Speedway, Indiana.

What is favored to win the Indy 500?

Reigning champion Alex Palou is the current favorite to win the race. On DraftKings (at the time of writing), Palou is the +260 favorite to win.

How long is the Indy 500?

If the name didn't already give it away, the Indy 500 is 500 miles long. It typically takes about three hours to complete the race.

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.