Fast Company

In 2013, a new acronym transformed the way we talk about Big Tech. Mad Money host Jim Cramer identified the four companies he saw as “totally dominant in their markets,” namely Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google. What does that spell? “FANG,” a catchy acronym that quickly became shorthand for some of the world’s biggest companies. In 2017, Cramer added another A, this time for Apple, taking the acronym from FANG to FAANG. But in the decade since, plenty of new players have staked a claim i

From meetings on beaches to working form home while the laundry is on spin cycle, technology and remote work policies have allowed anyone to work from anywhere—except maybe an Amtrak train. That’s the conclusion many users on social media have determined following a post from Amtrak’s X account, where the national railroad company tried co-opting the abbreviation for work from home (WFH). “[Why] WFH when you can WFTHETRAIN?” the post said. Social media users quickly offered a flurry of

As companies slowed their DEI commitments over the last few years—at least publicly—many of them made noticeable cuts to one aspect of their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.  A number of companies, among them Walmart and McDonald’s, dropped out of the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, an annual ranking of workplace inclusion that employers once touted. Some employers also stopped sponsoring Pride events. In 2025, 39% of companies surveyed by the research insights fir

After a controversy-filled year, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store is getting a significant stock market boost on Wednesday following a positive earnings report for its 2026 fiscal third quarter. As of midday trading on Wednesday, shares were surging nearly 30%, hitting levels not seen since September 2025. The Southern country-themed restaurant chain reported a total revenue decrease of 2.9%, hitting $797.4 million. However, this topped a Wall Street consensus estimate of $776.7 million, a

The pandemic-era home price explosion was especially pronounced for luxury homes, but more than five years later, most of that growth has fizzled out.  In a new report, Realtor.com examined luxury listings around the country and found that outside of two unique markets, pandemic appreciation in the upper echelons of the housing market hasn’t been outdone in the years since. Only Minneapolis-St. Paul and Boise have seen recent prices best previous highs, with luxury homes now sitting at 5%

For years, predictions about the future of commerce have often ended the same way: Credit cards eventually disappear. Digital wallets would replace them. Cryptocurrencies would replace them. Buy now, pay later services would replace them. More recently, artificial intelligence has been cast as the next disruptor, with AI agents expected to handle everything from product discovery to checkout. If an AI assistant can compare prices, find the best deal, and complete a purchase on your behalf,

At a sprawling new plant near farm fields in Washington State, CO2 is now being turned into jet fuel—and passenger flights will likely begin using it later this month. The facility, called AirPlant One, officially opened today. It belongs to Twelve, a startup that has spent the last decade developing the tech to convert CO2 into useful products. Now that’s beginning to happen at commercial scale. “You have a CO2 molecule going in at one end of the plant, and it is getting transformed into

The reason enterprise AI remains stubbornly artisanal is not because models are too weak. It is not because context windows are too short, or agents need better prompts, or companies are resisting adoption. Those are all visible problems. But they are not the deepest one. The deeper problem is that the industry is still building from metaphors. And metaphors do not industrialize. Over the last two years, enterprise AI has become filled with human analogies. We talk about memory, refl

Hollywood directors on Tuesday reached a four-year tentative contract agreement with studios and streaming services.The deal struck between the Directors Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers came four weeks after talks began.The talks were the first under new DGA President Christopher Nolan, who took the job in September.Along with similar four-year deals — longer than the industry three — ratified in recent weeks by unions representing writers and actors,

After James Marsden landed the role of Cyclops in the 2000 blockbuster film X-Men, he toasted the then-biggest milestone of his career with the priciest whisky the actor could afford, Macallan 12 Year Old. “I wanted to commemorate that moment by having something very special,” Marsden recalled in an interview with Fast Company. “It’s not something I do often, toasting my achievements. But I felt very proud and wanted to remember the moment.” Marsden has played the mutant superhero role in

A Maryland-based dairy manufacturer recalled all of its soft ricotta/requeson cheese in the wake of a deadly Listeria outbreak that has sickened people across three states.  Clover Hill Dairy of Mechanicsville made the announcement following notification of contamination from the Maryland Department of Health.  It comes as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are investigating a “multi-year outbreak” of Listeria with potential link

Bill Gates will appear Wednesday before a congressional panel investigating the Jeffrey Epstein files, becoming the latest powerful figure linked to the disgraced financier to testify.Members of the House Oversight Committee are slated to interview the billionaire Microsoft co-founder behind closed doors, as they have done with other witnesses in the investigation. Transcripts are often released later.Republican U.S. Rep. James Comer, the committee chairman, formally requested that Gates testify

Soccer fans can get ready for more than just the World Cup kickoff this week. Chipotle is offering a special deal for the first day of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. On June 11, customers wearing a soccer jersey can buy one entrée and get another free. Customers in the U.S., Canada and U.K. who are wearing a jersey will be eligible for the offering starting at 3 p.m. local time, which on the U.S. East Coast coincides with the Mexico vs. South Africa game—the first match of the tournament. The

When SpaceX makes its debut on the U.S. stock market, it wants smaller-pocketed, mom-and-pop investors to play a big role in what may be the biggest IPO ever.Elon Musk’s rocket company, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., is steering some of its initial public offering of stock directly to what are called “retail” investors. These are people who buy stocks in a brokerage account on their phone, not pension funds or other big “institutional” investors routing orders to their p

If you currently are receiving Social Security payments—or will begin to by 2032—there’s some very bad news. The Social Security Administration (SSA) has just revealed in a new report that a major trust fund it uses to pay monthly benefits will be depleted in just six years. And when that happens, your monthly Social Security payments will become much smaller. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? This week, the Social Security Administration published its annual OASDI Trustee

You don’t necessarily need a high-annual-fee card like Chase Sapphire Reserve or Amex Platinum to get access to travel deal this summer. Chase is giving its popular $95/year Sapphire Preferred card a significant refresh, adding new bonus categories, expanding travel benefits, and introducing a Global Entry credit, all while keeping the card’s annual fee unchanged. The updates take effect June 15, 2026, Chase executives say the goal is to build on what has made Sapphire Preferred one of the

If you asked AI to create someone with the perfect résumé to help popularize the sport of soccer in the U.S., the result would be very close to Roger Bennett. Born and raised in Liverpool, a lifelong Everton supporter who grew up in thrall of American pop culture. Moved to the U.S. after college and made the country his home, eventually becoming a citizen and publishing a memoir called (Re)born in the USA. Started the Men in Blazers podcast (that name a playful nod to the tradition of

The new space race has given the Federal Aviation Administration a next-generation job: clearing planes out of the way for rocket launches. But as launches become more ambitious and more frequent, protecting aircraft traveling through affected airspace has become an international matter. While American companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin receive launch licenses from the FAA, their vehicles sometimes travel through, or risk shedding debris over, airspace monitored by foreign governments. As

For the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Belgium’s Red Devils are bringing surrealism to the pitch. The team’s away jersey, designed in partnership with Adidas, is a blue and pink pattern based on the works of the Belgian artist René Magritte (1898-1967), whose mind-bending paintings helped define the surrealist movement. Authentic versions of the jerseys are on sale at Adidas for $150. This is the fourth time that Belgium has opted to honor some element of the country’s heritage through its away jers

On a drizzly Saturday morning late last month, the basement of the New Paltz United Methodist Church was filled with old lamps, blunt knives, malfunctioning sound mixers, and balky zippers. About a dozen volunteers welcomed the broken goods and their owners to a worldwide movement that’s evangelizing new relationships between people and their things. Repair Cafés—free events where volunteers with technical know-how help neighbors fix myriad household items—are part of a new brand of anti-c