This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Subscribe here. I’m sharing with you today my tool kit for focused work. This isn’t for a typical workday, because those include lots of meetings, teaching, and other appointments. Consider it a window into my deep work tool kit, for days when I have time to focus. I hope you’ll find elements that work for you too.
9 a.m. Trello. Chec
And as Fast Company launches its sixth annual World-Changing Ideas recognition program—a celebration of bold innovations aimed at changing our future for the better—we’re already thinking about how we can again leverage partnership to help one of those many companies and concepts driving transformation and igniting good across industries, communities, and cultures have an even bigger impact. In 2021, through a new partnership between Fast Company and Genpact, the digital tra
Founded in 1997 by Bert “Tito” Beveridge in a 1,000 square foot shack in rural Austin, over the last quarter-century Tito’s has grown into one of the country’s most well-known vodkas—complete with a distinctive and approachable all-American brand identity. This year, Tito’s celebrates its 25th anniversary with a campaign that blends its central Texan-rooted heritage with immersive hi-tech—along with a standalone virtual reality (VR) experience set
So, you want to go viral on TikTok? Well, so does everybody else. “This is where consumers are,” Movers+Shakers cofounder and CEO Evan Horowitz says of the platform. “All of Gen Z, pretty much all millennials—this is becoming their dominant social app. If you want to reach them, they’re here.” Along with cofounder and chief creative officer Geoffrey Goldberg, Horowitz and his team have helped brands like e.l.f. Cosmetics go viral on TikTok, racking up 20
Back when Briana Gordley was a full-time college student, working at a part-time internship making about $15,000 a year, she took a rare trip to the mall and wandered into Forever 21. One of the employees told her that the company had just started partnering with a service called Afterpay, which would allow Gordley to buy clothes without paying the full cost up-front, instead paying it off in four installments. It was the first time she’d ever heard of buy now, pay later products that all
We’ve always known video doorbells could record video of people within its viewfinder range. But, it turns out that they can also record audio, too. Consumer Reports recently reported that the Amazon Ring Video Doorbell 3 and the Arlo Ultra video doorbells can record audio as well as video to a range of between 20 and 25 feet—a revelation that means audio surveillance can occur even when we can’t see the video cameras. This makes it hard for us to know when we are unde
It was fun while it lasted, but companies all over the place are starting to summon their employees back to the office. If you’re a bit rusty when it comes to in-office life, that’s understandable. But there are some tools you can leverage in order to make the transition less jarring. Here are some of the most helpful freebies. Sleep Cycle If you find yourself in the unenviable position of having to, you know, be somewhere on time in the morning, you’ll appreciate this
If a person is lost in the wilderness, they have two options. They can search for civilization, or they could make themselves easy to spot by building a fire or writing HELP in big letters. For scientists interested in the question of whether intelligent aliens exist, the options are much the same. For over 70 years, astronomers have been scanning for radio or optical signals from other civilizations in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, called SETI. Most scientists are confident
Healthcare workers are in crisis: Some 35% of surveyed nurse leaders—usually a clinical specialist who oversees other leaders and registered nurses—say low morale and burnout is their biggest challenge, according to a March 2021 study by the American Association for Nursing Leadership. A stunning 16% reported that they are not emotionally healthy. The COVID-19 pandemic has put our healthcare workers under enormous strain, exacerbating burnout and staffing shortages that predate the
It’s a pattern we’ve seen too many times: Real-world violence migrates online, and after protracted denial, platforms that profit from abuse now promise to save us. Their “solutions” are convenient–and conveniently profitable–but only make matters worse. The latest example in the news is particularly wrenching: Tinder’s flailing efforts to address the all-too-real threat of intimate partner violence with unproven, error-prone background checks. Bu