David Lidsky's Blog, page 37

Whole Foods settles class action lawsuit over hot cocoa packaging. Here’s how much you could get

While the grocery chain did not admit wrongdoing, it agreed to pay $650,000 over claims that its packaging misled shoppers in California.

Companies have several ways to increase their bottom lines. The first way is to raise the prices of products. But doing so can lead to fewer sales. Instead, some companies reduce the amount of product inside a package (or increase the size of the package without increasing the amount of product) while keeping the price the same, which helps reduce upfront costs.

Reddit—and a dash of AI—do what Google and ChatGPT can’t

The human-powered megasite’s Reddit Answers feature hints at its ambition to become even more essential to online research.

Hello, everyone, and thanks once again for reading Fast Company’s Plugged In.

Self-driving cars are officially coming to New York City

Waymo gets the first permit to test autonomous vehicles in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Waymo has the green light to start testing its self-driving cars in New York City. 

The TikTok dorm water panic is officially here

From shower filters to detox shampoos, college students are convinced campus water is ruining their hair.

Instead of worrying about making friends or keeping up with their studies, new college students have a different concern on their minds: dorm water.

Dow soars more than 900 points after Fed hints at interest rate cuts

The hope among investors had been that Powell would hint that the Fed’s first cut to interest rates of the year may be imminent.

Wall Street is rallying on Friday toward its best day in months after the head of the Federal Reserve hinted the cuts to interest rates that investors and President Donald Trump crave so much may be on the way.

Tech companies rarely reveal exactly how much water their data centers use, research shows

Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Digital Realty, and Equinix had significant variability in how much water their data centers used and how much specific information their reports actually provided.

As demand for artificial intelligence technology boosts construction and proposed construction of data centers around the world, those computers require not just electricity and land, but also a significant amount of water. Data centers use water directly, with cooling water pumped through pipes in and around the computer equipment. They also use water indirectly, through the water required to produce the electricity to power the facility. The amount of water used to produce electricity increases dramatically when the source is fossil fuels compared with solar or wind.

5 hacks for helping working parents reduce the mental load

Parenting is a full-time job on top of the rest of your life. Here are five proven strategies to lighten the load.

Work emails ping as they come in. A text reminder flashes: Empty bottles are needed for science class tomorrow. The dog’s out of food. A soccer tournament just got moved to next weekend. The babysitter needs to get booked for Saturday. For millions of working parents, this isn’t a chaotic moment—it’s just Monday.

Investing in early-in-career talent is vital to win the AI race

Three ways to build AI-first cultures rooted in continuous learning

As the AI era accelerates, some leaders have predicted a wipeout for entry-level white-collar jobs. I understand these concerns as unemployment rates rise for U.S. college graduates. But cutting early-in-career (EIC) talent isn’t a transformation strategy. It’s the start of a slow-motion collapse.

The future of manufacturing depends on empowering workers

Expanding human potential with AI is better for operators and for business.

There is a very real anxiety around automation, especially in America—where once-thriving communities have been gutted by waves of displacement, offshoring, and the unchecked application of technology.

We don’t need more work tools

We need AI that does the work.

When people envision the future of work, they picture cleaner dashboards, sleeker interfaces, and smarter notifications. But here’s what teams actually need: software that doesn’t just help them manage work, it executes the work.