Romain Godin prides himself on being able to fix a wide variety of consumer devices. But recently, what was once a basic repair job for his Portland, Oregon-based business Hyperion Computerworks—replacing a cracked iPhone screen—has become needlessly complicated.
In the past, Godin would have replaced the broken screen on the spot with a working screen harvested from a dead phone, saving the customer from having to buy a brand new screen from Apple. But if Godin perfor
Greetings from Fast Company and welcome once again to Plugged In, our 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 eager to hear from you: Email me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com.
First, four Fast Company tech stories you may not have seen yet:
For Roblox fans, this year’s Super Bowl is coming to Bikini Bottom.
Thanks to a collaboration between the NFL and game developer Gamefam, a number of the company’s popular Roblox games, including the newly released SpongeBob Simulator, will be featuring special Super Bowl material from early February through Super Bowl Sunday.
SpongeBob Simulator players will be able to help prepare Bikini Bottom—SpongeBob’s hometown—for the big game, fan
A startup called Owner wants to help mom-and-pop restaurants thrive online.
Digital ordering and online marketing have become more essential to a restaurant’s survival than ever. While that shift online can be a relatively easy one for chain establishments, Owner cofounder and CEO Adam Guild says independent restaurants can easily end up spending a lot of time and money on delivery services, web design, emailing marketing tools, and other digital tools without seeing a great
For 16 years, Fast Company has produced an annual list of the world’s Most Innovative Companies (MICs), highlighting organizations whose high-impact innovations set them apart from their competitors. The program has recognized startups and multinational corporations alike, and has presaged major business trends, such as generative AI, social commerce, and inclusive health services.
This year, Fast Company set out to understand the processes and cultures that enable MICs to co
The full committee hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the failures of Big Tech to protect kids from sexual exploitation online is set to take place today, 10 a.m. EST.
During the hearing, CEOs of five Big Tech companies will testify about the problem of online child sexual exploitation, including X’s Linda Yaccarino, Snap’s Evan Spiegel, Discord’s Jason Citron, TikTok’s Shou Chew, and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg. The hearing will serve as a so
In the United States, the Internet Crime Complaint Center serves as a critical component in the FBI’s efforts to combat cybercrime. The center’s website provides educational resources to help individuals and businesses protect themselves from cyberthreats and also allows them to report their victimization by submitting complaints related to internet crimes. The Internet Crime Complaint Center also publishes annual reports summarizing the current state of inte
Artificial intelligence is becoming more than just a talking point for Big Tech companies.
Earnings from Microsoft and Alphabet, released after the market close Tuesday, both underlined how quickly interest in AI is driving growth at both companies. Reaction to those releases, though, demonstrated just how high investor expectations are, as well.
Both Microsoft and Alphabet surpassed analyst expectations for earnings per share and revenue, sometimes by a fairly hefty margi
Google invented Google Maps. Apple gave us the iPod. Microsoft introduced PowerPoint. In each case, these technologies began elsewhere—as an idea generated by a startup that was perfected by a new owner with greater resources.
Corporate America is full of fat piles of cash being dropped to snatch up the next game-changing idea, but a new study suggests we may not have enough appreciation for how asymmetrical the dynamic is: in which tech startups, not corporate R&D labs, crea
Google-parent Alphabet’s fourth-quarter advertising revenue fell below Wall Street expectations on Tuesday, as high interest rates pressure marketing budgets, sending its shares down 4% in extended trading.
Alphabet has been seeing tough competition for ad budgets, amid mixed economic signals in the United States, from other online platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Amazon.
The company recorded ad revenue of $65.52 billion in the fourth quarter, comp