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
Microsoft beat Wall Street estimates for second-quarter revenue on Tuesday, as new AI features helped attract customers to its cloud and Windows services.
Microsoft shares fell 1% in after-hours trading. They climbed 57% last year. Along with a rally in other tech stocks, including Alphabet and Nvidia, Microsoft helped fuel a 24% surge in the S&P 500 in 2023.
Revenue grew 18% to $62 billion in the quarter ended December 31, compared with the average analyst estimate of $61
As a 21-year-old college senior, Zamaan Qureshi is part of a generation that grew up with social media. Like so many of his peers, Qureshi has spent hours staring at social media platforms designed to feed users an endless stream of algorithm-fueled content—some of it potentially harmful—in a bid to retain their attention for as long as possible.
“Whether it’s unwanted sexual advances, endless scrolling, or harmful nudges that are keeping you on a platfor
In the early days of the pandemic, as courts across the country shut down and people awaiting trial for criminal charges languished in jail, Iman Freeman got a phone call from a local attorney that stunned her.
At the time, Freeman’s nonprofit, the Baltimore Action Legal Team or BALT, was running a bail fund for people in the city who couldn’t afford to post bail on their own. But the attorney didn’t need help bailing his client out of jail. Instead, he told Fre