Thanks for reading Plugged In, Fast Company’s weekly tech newsletter. If a friend or colleague forwarded this edition to you—or you’re reading it on FastCompany.com—you can check out previous issues and sign up to get it yourself every Wednesday morning. I’m always grateful for your ideas and feedback: Send them to me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com.
One more agenda item before we dive in—here are four of Fast Company’s latest
Earlier this year, the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics released its official findings after surveying 671,552 businesses to give the most accurate picture available of the future of work. The results are worth studying at length, but if you’re looking for a brief summary, it’s this: Remote work is here to stay, and it has far wider and more far-reaching implications than anyone had previously imagined.
<p
While the world is fixated on the global AI craze and the ensuing land grab, an emerging AR technology is quietly gaining traction and it promises to change the way fans interact with sporting events—and maybe how brands connect with fans—forever.
ARound, part of Stagwell, a global marketing and technology company, has created the world’s first stadium-scale shared augmented reality platform, which enables users to interact with the physical world and digital co
It takes a minute to find the Austin offices of Noah Kraft and Lucas Kraft, the red-headed brothers behind Wonderbelly, a new antacid heartburn reliever. They’re tucked up on the attic floor of a historic building on the city’s East Side, where startups like this one share real estate with new condos and veteran bars. Colorful rugs and a slew of Mac-topped desks dress up the low-ceilinged rooms, and evidence of late nights—a 12-cup coffee maker, a microwave, and bags of t
As the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution sweeps across the globe, society faces a tidal wave of change that could leave countless lives disrupted. Instead of debating the merits of AI innovation, we need to focus on preparing ourselves for the inevitable transformation it will bring. History demonstrates that technological progress, while creating new industries and opportunities, also causes the decline of others, which leaves many people struggling to adapt.
To prevent a soc
After 25 years and numerous changes in ownership, Winamp is trying to reinvent itself.
The classic music player, which rose to prominence during the heyday of MP3 sharing-services such as Napster and Kazaa, has a new version out today that looks and acts nothing like its former self. Instead, Winamp’s new web software will serve primarily as an aggregator of online-audio sources and a way for creators to connect with fans.
The old version of Winamp isn’t goin
Embattled electronic cigarette-maker Juul Labs will pay $462 million to six states and the District of Columbia, marking the largest settlement the company has reached so far for its role in the youth-vaping surge, New York Attorney General Letitia James said Wednesday.
The agreement with New York State, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Washington, D.C., marks the latest in a string of recent legal settlements Juul has reached across the country with ci
Since the start of the year, tech companies have laid off over 150,000 employees. At the same time, the sector at large has been dealing with continual fallout from last month’s collapse of financial heavyweights including SVB and Signature Bank.
Still, even in the midst of all that negativity, there are companies delivering good news. Shekar Ayyar, the CEO of networking software startup Arrcus, saw the warning signs for months before the SVB crisis. As a result, he says, his
Looking to make some spare cash? OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, has announced a new bug bounty program that will reward bug finders up to $20,000 for spotting vulnerabilities in its software.
OpenAI says the reason it is rolling out a bug bounty program is because in highly complex software programs—such as artificial intelligence—flaws can unknowingly be introduced to the system. By initiating a cash reward program, OpenAI can incentivize the broader tech community to
This story is from Fast Company’s Plugged In newsletter, a weekly roundup of tech insights, news, and trends from global technology editor Harry McCracken, delivered to your inbox every Wednesday morning. Sign up for it here.
Let’s face it: A huge percentage of tech journalism is devoted to a handful of products you already know about. That includes a fair percentage of my own work. But this week, I offer heartfelt testimonials for fo