How good are you at giving gifts? According to a national survey commissioned by Etsy, 75% of Americans believe that being a good gift giver is important and shows someone how much they mean to you, but 64% feel it takes a lot of effort to find the perfect gift.
Now the $8.4 billion market cap e-commerce company is launching a new product called Gift Mode, to make narrowing down the more than 100 million things for sale on its platform a lot easier. It’s also a strategy to di
You’re reading Plugged In, Fast Company’s weekly tech update, which means I must be global technology editor Harry McCracken. 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. My inbox awaits your feedback and ideas for future newsletters: Send them to me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com.
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In a series of TikTok videos that went viral earlier this month, Patricia Milan, the user behind the account, Business Women University, boasted about securing $150,000 in cash to buy an Airbnb unit by maxing out her credit cards. The plan, as she explained to viewers, was to pay off her debt using the proceeds from her rental. A second video gave advice on how to obtain high credit card limits by creating a series of circular transactions within her own companies—which is, in fact, il
Released as part of Monday’s iOS 17.3 update, Apple’s new Stolen Device Protection feature can protect users from industrious phone thieves who’ve managed to learn the device’s passcode. An iPhone passcode has been likened to “a treasure box” that grants near-total access to the user’s digital life—bank accounts, email, private photos, the whole privacy nine yards. Apple’s operating system previously gave victims precious few ways
On the eve of the 2024 Oscar nominations, Netflix film chief Scott Stuber announced he was leaving the position to start his own film company. His exit couldn’t have come at a better time.
When Stuber started at Netflix in 2017, the streamer’s executives would have been absolutely thrilled to nab the 11 nominations its original films earned this year. Prior to that point, the only nods the company had ever garnered came from its documentary offerings. Even with prestig
Brex, the fintech startup that made a splash with corporate credit cards and moved into cash management accounts for tech companies, has cut its staff by 20%. Some 282 people were laid off Tuesday amid reports of heavy cash burns in the final three months of last year.
It was just under a year ago that Brex saw a huge influx of customers and deposits, as Silicon Valley Bank collapsed. As the panic over that bank’s implosion spread, Brex saw billions of dollars pour in and ove
Barbenheimer saved the movie industry, so why shouldn’t the most famous portmanteau in film history also be the big story of the Oscar nominations?
Universal’s Oppenheimer and Warner Bros.’s Barbie, which together grossed almost one billion dollars at the domestic box office last summer, have now earned a combined 21 Academy Award nominations. Both films made the shortlists for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and
Many office workers have rejoiced in the ability to work from home in the post-pandemic years, but for those who miss the camaraderie of an office or coworking space, a startup called Groove lets people find coworking partners by the hour.
Groove got its start, unsurprisingly, during the height of the pandemic-era lockdowns, when CEO Josh Greene and his cofounders were looking for a way to capture the experience of sitting alongside colleagues in a coworking space or coffee shop. Th
Riot Games, the developer of the popular “League of Legends” multiplayer battle game, is joining other tech companies that have been trimming their payrolls with a layoff of 11% of its staff.
In a lengthy statement to staff issued late Monday, CEO Dylan Jadeja and cofounder and president of the company Marc Merrill said the move was meant to “create focus and move us toward a sustainable future.” It said 530 jobs were being eliminated, accounting for abou
A Russian national has been sanctioned by the Australian government for his role in a cyberattack that compromised the personal information of more than 10 million Australians.
In October 2022, client data from Medibank, Australia’s largest health insurer, was released by an extortionist, including details of HIV diagnoses and drug abuse treatments, after the company refused to pay a ransom for the personal records of current and former customers.
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