Rohit Bhargava's Blog, page 34

What the Disappearing Dining Room Reveals About American Culture

There is a room in my house that is known by everyone as the “Thanksgiving Room.” According to the blueprints for the house, it was originally designed to be a dining room — but its revised name reflects its utility. Used mainly once in November for actual dining, the rest of the year it is never used that way. Instead, it’s an organizing table for large book mailings, or a worktable for curating trends that I’ll write about, or some other family project.

The waning need for a room specifica...

Why the Titan Submersible Sub Tragedy Is One We Can’t Look Away From

It has been nearly a year since the OceanGate Titan submersible submarine imploded, killing its five passengers which included Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate. The details that emerged in the aftermath of the disaster painted a tale of overconfidence, ill-advised cost-cutting and plenty of ignored warning signs and safety messages.

This week WIRED magazine published a long exposé featuring new details that are even more disturbing. Yet much of the following commentary and coverage seems to b...

A Promise to Graduates with “No Promise”

During these weeks of graduation, you are probably seeing lots of commencement speeches hit the web. They are filled with advice about how young people can fulfill their dreams, discover what they want to do next and achieve their potential. This weekend, there was an op-ed in the NY Times that offered a different perspective,
 reaching out to the high school underperformers. The kids who may have been voted least likely to succeed. The ones who showed little or no promise.  

Perhaps you r...

The Unpredictable Gamble of Collecting Vintage Toys

If you are a child of the 80s, this week’s story of the latest vintage toy to sell for over half a million dollars (a Star Wars Boba Fett action figure) will probably cause you more than a few pangs of regret. What if you had kept those action figures in mint condition instead of tossing them off your roof trying to make them fly? Or, um, some other less specifically destructive memory.
Every time a toy like this sells, it makes me wonder the same question: what current toy might be worth buying ...

How Dr. Pepper Beat Pepsi to Become the Number Two Soda Brand

The Coke vs. Pepsi battle has been a branding rivalry that has defined soda sales for the past hundred years. What you might not know is that for most of that time, coming in at a close third place was Dr. Pepper … until now. This year for the first time, the brand inched out Pepsi to become the second most popular soda by sales in the US.
The victory is being credited to Dr. Pepper’s aggressive expansions into trying unusual flavors, their creative marketing programs and perhaps most importantly...

The Rise of Anti-Vegan Beauty

The idea of vegan beauty products is undeniably appealing for many people. Products that are sourced without animal byproducts are supposedly more natural, better for the environment and healthier for you. It’s one of the reasons why more than 86% of consumers say that they want more vegan beauty products. Yet in beauty, just like in food, vegan products may not be the healthy or environmentally friendly heroes they are promoted to be.

Marin Skincare is a startup in Maine that produces lo...

AI Subscriptions Based on Usage Are Coming Sooner Than You Think

This past week, ChatGPT went down for all users. According to Gizmodo, “OpenAI’s outages have become somewhat common, which makes it difficult for people to rely on ChatGPT in their workdays.” Now that OpenAI estimates that the free version of ChatGPT has about 100 million weekly active users and there are a growing number of reports revealing just how much energy is already being used to power AI tools.

In the near future, it is likely that the cost of using AI tools may soon be tied to...

Share One Word to Get Featured on the Back Cover of My New Book!

On September 10th, my new book will hit bookstores (preorder link) but right now, we are launching our one-word book review program and chance to get a free exclusive digital copy of the book. Here’s how to participate:

Visit this page to read the book excerpt >> Share your one-word review of the book with us.Receive your link to the FULL digital copy of the book.Earn a chance for your review to be featured on the back cover! *

For those of you who know my decade-long Non-...

Why People Become Gamers … And How It’s Changing

Fandom recently released the latest edition of their annual Inside Gaming Report where they survey 5,000 “entertainment and gaming fans globally.” The data this year found that the top reason that people play games continues to be to unwind or relieve stress, followed closely by a more surprising motivation: self-expression.

Nearly 50% of the gamers surveyed suggested that “creation, imagination, and self-expression” were their main motivations for gaming, a rise of 10% since 2023. While some...

The Remarkable History of Acid Blotters

LSD is significantly more potent than most other drugs, lacks taste, color or odor and is too strong to consume “raw.” All these facts mean it has usually been mixed with something before it’s distributed. From injecting it into sugar cubes to creating digestible tablets, “carrier mediums” have always been a critical part of LSD distribution for decades. Perhaps the most unique medium was blotter paper, a historical quirk that offers the inspiration for a new book titled Blotters: The Untold Sto...