Backed by Alexis Ohanian, Fourthwall aims to be the creator economy’s all-in-one platform

The creator economy’s growth has spawned a patchwork of services aimed at becoming key assets in a creator’s tool kit. Various website builders, merchandise stores, membership platforms, and so forth are stitched together to create a comprehensive strategy for generating social commerce, which, according to market-research company eMarketer, is expected to rise nearly 36% this year to hit $36.6 billion. Clearly, there’s no shortage of creators who have made cobbling services

DuckDuckGo’s Android anti-tracking protection does what Google won’t

For folks who want to protect their privacy, using an Android phone can feel like a compromise. While Apple has been aggressive about building anti-tracking tools into iOS, Google is still working on a way to let Android users opt out of being tracked across apps. And unlike Apple, Google—whose whole business is based on keeping tabs on users to target advertising—won’t require app makers to get opt-in permission if they want to track you in the first place. So now, privacy-

Elon Musk’s Starship rocket may launch to orbit in January

Elon Musk is almost ready to light SpaceX’s biggest candle yet. In a video appearance at a space-science conference on Wednesday, he predicted the two-stage, fully reusable Starship rocket could make its first orbital launch early next year. “The first orbital flight, we’re hoping to do in January,” “We’ll be complete with the launch pad and launch tower later this month,” the SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO said at the fall meeting of the Natio

More than Joe Rogan: Inside Spotify’s audio revolution

Earlier this week, Spotify dropped some culture-rattling news: J.J. Abrams’s production company Bad Robot will now be creating podcasts for the streaming platform in an exclusive, first-look deal. It’s the kind of announcement observers have come to expect from Spotify, whose foray into podcasting has been defined by splashy content deals with the likes of Joe Rogan, Dax Shepard (via his popular Armchair Expert podcast), Michelle Obama, and The Ringer, Bill Simmons’s sports

Experiences: The 24 next big things, from AR car displays to virtual fashion

As ever-more aspects of our personal and professional lives go virtual, there’s boundless opportunity for technologists to rethink how we communicate with each other. At the same time, content creators are getting powerful new tools for producing Hollywood-quality media without a Hollywood budget. These Experiences winners and honorable mentions in Fast Company’s inaugural Next Big Things in Tech awards cover both types of innovations and are transforming homes, workplaces, cars, a

AI and data: The 15 next big things, from culture-aware algorithms to password-free security

If you’ve been following the news in 2021, you can be forgiven for harboring deep skepticism about the technology industry’s use of artificial intelligence and big data—which, in worst-case scenarios, poses a threat a threat to everything from our privacy to public health. But all the news is not bad. These products, services, and technologies leverage AI and data to address an array of very real problems, including bias at work, online fraud, and the challenge of keeping vo

Sustainability: The 22 next big things, from eco-fertilizer to 3D printed wood

With the planet in crisis, some of the most impactful technological advancements today are focused on lessening humanity’s impact on the planet. The Sustainability winners of Fast Company’s inaugural Next Big Things in Tech awards are creating batteries that can power a renewable future. They’re reducing food waste (or turning it into fertilizer), making our appliances more efficient, and recycling everything from wood scraps and shingles to lithium-ion batteries. See a full

Financial tech: The 8 next big things, from secure crypto to fairer mortgages

As the past few years have demonstrated, the world of finance is ripe for disruption. And it’s not just cryptocurrencies that are upending this space. Among the winners of Fast Company‘s inaugural Next Big Things in Tech awards are companies that are finding new ways to eliminate age-old problems, such as Zest AI, which is tackling discrimination in lending. Others are taking on decidedly more 21st-century problems, like Mastercard, which is layering on protections for credit card

Health tech: The 15 next big things, from easier dialysis to AI ultrasounds

As you might guess, health-technology innovations relating to the COVID-19 pandemic are well represented among the winners of Fast Company’s first Next Big Things in Tech awards. But the winners and honorable mentions span a gamut of issues related to medical challenges, including a new device that makes dialysis less of a burden, tools for keeping people out of the hospital, and even a way for people with paralysis to control computers through brain waves. See a full list of Next Big Thi

Thanks to CRISPR, this at-home COVID-19 test is both fast and accurate

This article is about one of the honorees of Fast Company’s first Next Big Things in Tech awards. Read about all the winners here. In January 2020, CRISPR startup Sherlock Biosciences was in the middle of working on CRISPR-based tests that could deliver lab quality testing at home for common illnesses like flu or sexually transmitted infections like chlamydia or gonorrhea. When COVID-19 struck, the company quickly got to work on a lab test for it. Within two months, the company submitted


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