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Short on time? Read this 30-second summary of todays post.
Download a free, private AI program to run on your computer. Use it offline without any subscription cost and avoid the risk of having sensitive info ingested into a large language model like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. The newest versions of private AI tools like Jan run easily on my 2021 Mac laptop, cost nothing, and are easy to use. Theyre a good alternative to costlier AI platforms.
Quick start guide
Download and install Jan for free. Other good free alternatives to consider include Msty, AnythingLLM, or LM Studio.
Open Jan and pick an open-source large language model. The model you use impacts the AIs response style. You can switch anytime. I use the v1 model.
Try your first query. Here are a few quick mini prompts to start with:Summarize the pros and cons of using AI for [specific task].Turn my rough notes below into a short summary and bullet points.”“Turn this angry email draft to my service provider into a constructive message more likely to generate a helpful response.
Adjust the apps appearance settings, including font size and shortcuts.
Close other processor-intensive apps on your computer, like video editing tools, to reduce the likelihood of your computer slowing down.
5 reasons to use private AI
Save money: Avoid subscription fees by running AI models on your own computer. Generate unlimited responses without monthly charges.
Keep your data private: Using private AI on your computer ensures no data is sent to or stored on big tech firms servers. No conversations leave your device. You can even run these tools offline.
For sensitive legal, medical, financial or personal issues, ask questions without worrying about your data ending up in a large language models training data.
Work offline: Having full offline access is handy whether youre traveling without Wi-Fi, working in a remote area, or hesitant to trust a random public network.
Experiment with hundreds of open-source models: Choose an open-source large language model that suits you. Each is trained differently. Some are stronger at certain languages, others specialize in coding. New ones emerge regularly. Switch as often as youd like. By contrast, ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, and Gemini limit you to the platforms own models.
Tip: Use LM Arena to compare two models responses side by side.
Reduce your environmental impact: If you run hundreds of daily prompts, a local AI app may mean less use of internet infrastructure and remote data servers.
Private AI tools allow you to keep your data on your laptop, though they may not be as powerful as top AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. [Image: generated with ChatGPT]
Jan is an excellent, free, private AI tool
Platforms: Mac, PC, Linux
What I like about it
Fast and easy to set up and use: Jan takes a minute to download and install. Using Jan is as easy as using ChatGPT, Claude, or any other chatbot, though you do have to make an initial decision about which model to use.
Assistants: Create customized AI helpers for various purposes. One for translating Chinese, another for coding. Task it to Act as a software engineering mentor focused on Python and JavaScript. Provide detailed explanations with code examples. Use markdown formatting for code blocks.
Projects: Organize queries into distinct folders for easy access to subjects of interest without searching through hundreds of threads.
Integrations: Link Jan to Canva, Todoist, Linear, or other tools using MCP (model context protocol) connections.
Documentation and resources: Lots of useful documentation, including a handbook and blog.
Whats Next: Jan AI is developing mobile versions for iOS and Android and adding integrations to link Jan to other services.
A Jan case study
Becki Lee, a senior technical writer, uses Jan to explore health questions she wants to keep private.
I have a chronic illness Im struggling to get diagnosed, she emailed me. So I created an assistant to help interpret test results and brainstorm possible explanations for my symptoms. Obviously, its super important to take this with a grain of salt (a chatbot is absolutely no substitute for a doctor). However, this helps bubble up conditions I can research further on my own, and it also generates questions I can ask my actual doctor.
More free AI optios for Mac, PC, or Linux
Msty
The free version of this well-designed app has multiple unique features. Unlike Jan, which is completely free, Msty also has paid advanced features.
Its best free features include:
A built-in prompt library with hundreds of options.
Special focus and zen modes that strip away side menus.
Create multiple personas, which are assistants with distinct personalities. Each can adopt a different style or approach in answering your queries.
Knowledge Stacks let you import document collections for analysis. These can include PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoints, spreadsheets, lists of YouTube links, or even an Obsidian vault.
Advanced features, like multistep automations, require a paid subscription. Ive only used the free version. Its easy to use, powerful, and well designed. I chose the Gemma 3.
AnythingLLM
Like Jan, this is a straightforward open-source AI app thats a good option for novice AI users.
How its different from Jan
You can upload files for AnythingLLM to summarize.
Enable it to make simple charts.
Turn on Web search, which requires a free API key from Google or Serpa.
Theres also a new beta Android version.
Caveat: Its not quite as nicely designed as Jan, and isnt updated as often.
LM Studio
This more developer-friendly option is less simple for beginners.
Whats notable: Florent Daudens, an AI expert and educator who used to oversee daily editorial coverage at CBC/Radio-Canada, relies on LM Studio for private AI use.
I asked him why and he said, Its practical, with a user/developer-friendly interface, quick updates when new models drop, a server option, and helpful model compatibility info.
In a LinkedIn post, Florent shared an example of using LM Studio on his laptop. He used Googles Gemma 3 model to analyze plane photos for extracting registration numbers as an investigative journalist might, without sending data to external servers.
Limitations of private AI tools
Feature limits: Many special features on other AI platforms wont work on these private AI platforms. ChatGPTs new plug-ins for Canva or Figma, for instance, wont work with private AI. You may not be able to export results directly to Google Sheets or Slack, as you can with other AI tools.
No interactives or advanced visuals: You cant create infographics and visual illustrations like ChatGPTs. No coding and hosting interactive applications, as you can with Claude or Gemini. No advanced searches with detailed citations like those from Perplexity.
Quality variation: Some open-source models have limited or older training data, so results for certain queries may be worse. For ordinary queries and text summarization, this quality difference may not be noticeable.
Slower speed: Depending on your query, you might wait longer with some open-source models than with ChatGPT, Copilot, or other private AI platforms. Speed hasnt been a big concern for me so far.
Cant handle as much text at once: A smaller context window means that private AI tools may not be able to analyze text blocks as large as those ChatGPT or Claude can handle. Some small language models may resort to skimming longer text. They may also be more likely to hallucinate details if asked for summaries of long, complex documents.
Additional resources
Free, open-source AI tools for journalists curated on Hugging Face by Florent Daudens. Read more about why I like Hugging Face as an open-source AI hub.
Local LLM Group on Reddit, with 546,000 members. Keep up on notable research on AI and private AI tool development.
Helpful write-up about local large language models by Stephen Turner.
LinkedIn Learning Course on private large language models and Jan AI.
This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Subscribe here.
I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again: Our built environment contributes to a mental health crisis.
The built environment as we know itbuildings and the spaces betweendoes direct damage to our minds. Communities developed slowly for thousands of years, but in 20th century America, the end of World War II introduced a massive population and construction boom.
Land use planning has had devastating impacts on Americanseconomically, socially, and culturally. But Im not a doomer and I know these things are fixable. Not overnight reversible, but certainly fixable.
Spreading us out
Typical land use rules are written, updated, and enforced at the local government level. Agencies copied each other over the yearsbecause why wouldnt they? Much of what Ive learned as an adult (podcasting, publishing, propaganda making, etc.) has been taught by generous people who themselves had learned tips and tricks. So, of course, public agencies copied each other. Hey, that worked for a similar river city. Lets try it here.
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Planning departments at city and county levels werent setting out to guide development in a way that would purposefully harm us. Quite the opposite. If a new Sears distribution center was coming to town, theyd want to map out a plan to accommodate all the new employees and subsequent traffic. In the middle of the 20th century, planners were still very much concerned about separating dirty and/or dangerous land uses from residential areas.
The result was that all across the country, local development rules required or incentivized development patterns that spread everyone and everything across the landscape: work zone, school zone, shopping zone, entertainment zone, and sleep zone. And then each major category started getting more prescriptive subcategories. Residential morphed into single-family, multifamily (apartments), and condos. But wait, theres more!
Residential land uses started to be regulated by local governments according to lot size: garden apartments, planned unit developments, and subdivisions were each given rules. Residential use was also regulated by the type of people living in a place: public housing, group dwellings, age-restricted dwellings, renters, and owners.
Promoting sprawl
Local regulations created (and continue to create) sprawl in cities and the suburbs. Land use planning requires traffic engineering analysis, a process prioritizing car movement above all else. Wider roads and intersections are not just suggested but required, with the express goal to move car traffic from zone to zone as quickly as possible. When in doubt, they add more car lanes. This has been going on for nearly 100 yearswithout taking a foot off the brake.
Cars and loneliness
The obvious outcome of modern land use planning is that Americans drive everywhere all the time. Not just work commutes, but all the errands before, during, and after work. Half of our car trips are less than a few miles long. A quarter are less than a mile. Less than a mile in a car by ourselves.
Driving is forced on Americans as the only reasonable way to get around. For most, it’s terrifying or deadly to walk or ride a bicycle, even for those errands that are less than a mile away. We’re in a car-first environment because of the organized zones developed by planners and approved by local leaders. Life in a single-occupant vehicle has its perks, like singing along to music or listening to podcasts uninterrupted. It also has its pains, like separation from other humans and mental deterioration.
Loneliness is a significant variable affecting depression. Its a predisposing factor. Cigna conducted a study of 20,000 Americans and reported a jaw-dropping finding: Nearly half of adults sometimes or always feel alone. More than 40% said their relationships arent meaningful and they feel isolated. Actual and perceived social isolation are associated with early death. Your mind tells your body that its just not worth living.
Julianne Holt-Lunstad is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University. She says the health risks of missing out on social connection are like smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Worse yet, theres a causal relationship between social isolation and suicide. Conversely, having a crew (social support in doctor jargon) has a protective effect against suicide. For every suicidal death, another 20 people attempted suicide.
What to do
So what do youdo with all this heavy information?
First, remember that the built environment is deliberately planned for us to drive in cars from zone to zone. Planners arent trying to destroy our minds, but the built environment increases anxiety, depression, isolation, loneliness, and suicide. Humans are not meant to be alone all the time. Even when youre hauling kids from school to soccer to the tutor to dinner to whatever else, youre isolated from social interactions. The kids are watching videos or scrolling through their phones.
Second, understand the land use catastrophes are reversible. Compact development won’t be legalized overnight, but reform can come as quickly as local leaders are willing. Theres no need to wait on a national referendum or the president representing your favorite team. Walk-friendly, bike-friendly, and transit-friendly places are good medicine, and theyre made possible at the local level.
Third, share your car-life stories with me. I’m producing a documentary about unhealthy infrastructure. Specifically, Im focused on ways our minds and bodies are crumbling because of how places and spaces are planned and built. If youre interested in sharing what its like to be dependent on a car, or what its like having to wait 45 minutes for a bus, Im all ears.
Finally, know that things get better in the end. The mental health crisis is tragic, but we can turn this around with something as boring as reforming land use planning.
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When Santa Claus is done delivering presents on Christmas Eve, he must get back home to the North Pole, even if its snowing so hard that the reindeer cant see the way.
He could use a compass, but then he has a challenge: He has to be able to find the right North Pole.
There are actually two North Polesthe geographic North Pole you see on maps and the magnetic North Pole that the compass relies on. They arent the same.
The two North Poles
The geographic North Pole, also called true north, is the point at one end of the Earths axis of rotation.
Try taking a tennis ball in your right hand, putting your thumb on the bottom and your middle finger on the top, and rotating the ball with the fingers of your left hand. The place where the thumb and middle finger of your right hand contact the tennis ball as it spins define the axis of rotation. The axis extends from the south pole to the north pole as it passes through the center of the ball.
Earths magnetic North Pole is different.
More than a thousand years ago, explorers began using compasses, typically made with a floating cork or piece of wood with a magnetized needle in it, to find their way. The Earth has a magnetic field that acts like a giant magnet, and the compass needle aligns with it.
The magnetic North Pole is used by devices such as smartphones for navigationand that pole moves around over time.
Why the magnetic north pole moves around
The movement of the magnetic North Pole is the result of the Earth having an active core. The inner core, starting about 3,200 miles below your feet, is solid and under such immense pressure that it cannot melt. But the outer core is molten, consisting of melted iron and nickel.
Heat from the inner core makes the molten iron and nickel in the outer core move around, much like soup in a pot on a hot stove. The movement of the iron-rich liquid induces a magnetic field that covers the entire Earth.
As the molten iron in the outer core moves around, the magnetic North Pole wanders.
For most of the past 600 years, the pole has been wandering around over northern Canada. It was moving relatively slowly, around 6 to 9 miles per year, until around 1990, when its speed increased dramatically, up to 34 miles per year.
It started moving in the general direction of the geographic North Pole about a century ago. Earth scientists cannot say exactly why other than that it reflects a change in flow within the outer core.
Getting Santa home
So, if Santas home is the geographic North Pole (which, incidentally, is in the ice-covered middle of the Arctic Ocean) how does he correct his compass bearing if the two North Poles are in different locations?
No matter what device he might be usingcompass or smartphoneboth rely on magnetic north as a reference to determine the direction he needs to move.
While modern GPS systems can tell you precisely where you are as you make your way to grandmas house, they cannot accurately tell which direction to go without your device knowing the direction of magnetic north.
If Santa is using an old-fashioned compass, hell need to adjust it for the difference between true north and magnetic north. To do that, he needs to know the declination at his location (the angle between true north and magnetic north) and make the correction to his compass. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has an online calculator that can help.
If you are using a smartphone, your phone has a built-in magnetometer that does the work for you. It measures the Earths magnetic field at your location and then uses the World Magnetic Model to correct for precise navigation.
Whatever method Santa uses, he may be relying on magnetic north to find his way to your house and back home again. Or maybe the reindeer just know the way.
Scott Brame is a research assistant professor of earth science at Clemson University.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Costcos latest promotional offering just dropped, but members arent rushing to claim it. At select warehouse club locations, members can now take home complimentary 3-pound bags of Gala apples.
The shopping warehouses unique business model, wherein membership fees contribute largely to its revenue, means that it focuses on plugging its membership more than advertising specific products. Costco puts significant effort into encouraging people to join, or upgrade and renew, existing memberships.
In the past, Costco has offered enticing items like tote bags to coax customers into automatic membership renewals, but the promotional bag of apples is not as appealing, according to one Costco member.
Giving away apples is like giving away white bread, they told TheStreet. Its fine, I guess, but not very interesting. Its certainly not going to get me to do anything different.
Costco has previously been successful in pushing customers to upgrade to the Executive tier, which is $130 annually, with customers earning 2% cash back on most purchases, compared with $65 for the basic level. In June, for example, Costco started unveiling a new membership feature that allowed Executive members to shop one hour earlier than regular members during weekdays and Sundays, and half an hour earlier on Saturdays.
The perk was generally well received. The company reported a 1% boost in sales at the end of September, and Executive memberships increased by 9%, according to CFO Gary Millerchip.
Which might explain why the apples that followed seemed to fall a bit flat.
Whats more, Costco shoppers have complained about employees tirelessly approaching them about memberships. Another customer told TheStreet that his membership makes sense for the amount that he shops, but he continues to face pressure.
The last few times Ive gone to check out, Ive gotten the third degree about my membership, he says. Its getting really old.
For years, Costcos membership system has served the brand well. But its apparent that taking a few steps in the wrong direction could turn people away.
Ava Levinson
This article originally appeared on Fast Companys sister publication, Inc.
Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
As the year winds down, many leaders find themselves in a familiar ritual: closing the books, reviewing revenue targets, and drafting ambitious financial goals for the year ahead. These practices are important. But after years of designing teams and advising organizations at different stages of growth, Ive come to believe that the most valuable year-end ritual has little to do with money alone.
Instead, its about setting nonfinancial metrics alongside your financial ones.
Revenue tells you where your business landed. Nonfinancial metrics tell you why and whether the success youre chasing is sustainable. They reveal the health of your organization from the inside out, often long before that health shows up on a balance sheet.
The quiet stretch between Christmas and New Years is an ideal time to step back and ask a different set of questions. Not just Did we hit our numbers? but What did it cost us to get there? And What kind of organization are we becoming in the process?
Why Financial Metrics Alone Arent Enough
Financial metrics are essential, but they are lagging indicators. By the time revenue dips or margins tighten, the underlying issues such as burnout, disengagement, inefficient processes, or stalled innovation have often been present for months or even years.
Nonfinancial metrics, on the other hand, act as early signals. They help leaders understand whether the systems, culture, and behaviors inside the organization are aligned with long-term success.
Consider employee engagement. Teams that feel trusted, challenged, and supported tend to deliver better work, collaborate more effectively, and stay longer. Gallup research shows that highly engaged teams deliver significantly better business outcomesincluding up to 23% higher profitability and 41% lower absenteeismindicating that engagement metrics act as early predictors of future performance rather than just retrospective measures.
Or look at client satisfaction. Loyal clients dont just renew contracts; they deepen their engagement and/or refer others and become partners in growth. Operational efficiency, learning velocity, and innovation milestones similarly tell a story about whether an organization is built to adapt.
When these indicators are strong, financial results often follow. When theyre ignored, revenue gains can be fragile or short-lived.
Making the Intangible Measurable
One reason leaders shy away from nonfinancial metrics is the belief that theyre too soft to track. But meaningful doesnt have to mean vague.
The key is choosing a small number of metrics that reflect what actually matters in your context. A startup might track time to decision or experiment-to-launch cycles. A growing team might focus on employee engagement scores, internal mobility, or manager effectiveness. A client-facing organization might prioritize retention, net promoter score, or qualitative feedback trends.
These metrics dont need to be perfect or overly complex. What matters is consistency and intent. Even a quarterly pulse survey or a structured retrospective can surface patterns that financial numbers alone wont reveal.
For individuals, the same principle applies. Instead of setting only income or productivity goals, you might track energy levels, learning hours, or the quality of your working relationships. These nonfinancial indicators often predict performance more accurately than output alone.
Turning Reflection Into Ritual
The end of the year offers a rare pause: a liminal space where urgency softens and perspective sharpens. Rather than rushing straight into next years goals, consider making reflection a deliberate leadership ritual.
Start by reviewing the nonfinancial signals from the past year. Where did momentum build naturally? Where did friction show up repeatedly? Which systems supported your work, and which quietly drained it?
Then, as you look ahead, set intentional nonfinancial metrics alongside your revenue targets. Ask yourself: If we succeed financially next year, what must also be true about our people, processes, and culture?
Write those answers down. Revisit them quarterly. Talk about them as openly as you discuss financial performance.
A Different Kind of New Years Resolution
New Years resolutions often fail because they focus on outcomes without addressing the conditions required to sustain them. Nonfinancial metrics flip that script, shifting attention from sheer output to the inputs that make great work possible.
In doing so, they offer a more humane, and ultimately more effective, approach to leadership and work. They remind us that organizations arent machines that run on numbers alone. Theyre living systems shaped by trust, clarity, learning, and adjustment.
As the year draws to a close, you can still set ambitious financial goals. Just dont stop there. Pair them with measures that reflect the kind of organizationand leaderyou want to be.
Because when you measure what truly matters, the numbers tend to take care of themselves.
For 10 years, I obsessed over finding a 70s-era corduroy car coat like the one Wynona Ryder wears in the first season of Stranger Things. Not a vintage inspired fashion version, but an American classic turned velvety with wear. That meant thrifting at resale shops.
Always on the lookout, I never scored because the outerwear selection in my size (large) was bleak. But today I am thrifting in the age of Ozempic, when women jettison entire wardrobes as an act of reinvention after dramatic weight loss, often monetizing through consignment and resale. As a result of all the larger sizes flowing into stores, I finally possess my unicorn: a heritage LL Bean corduroy coat as soft as cashmere in the groovy retro color of faded citron, all for the price of a burger at my neighborhood pub.
Where once I had trouble finding my size, the popularity of GLP-1 drugs produces almost too many possibilities. Winter has always been my wardrobe low point: black, black, and, for a little fun, maybe some charcoal gray. But now my closet looks like I am in the wrong house. Color! Texture! Print! Thanks to Ozempic, selections are vast and wildly diverse, and prices are low.
A thrifting bonanza
I am not on the consignment hunt for couture; I am shopping for solid regular women brands that are still in good shape even as resale items because they arent fast fashion. Although Ive never been a blazer wearer, I now have two: bouclé wool in deep sienna and a tuxedo-style smoking jacket with green velvet lapels and buttons. Each great closet addition cost me less than two bowls of pho.
Women arent selling off wardrobes because their clothing is out of style. The use of GLP-1 drugs can radically shift sizing so that even beloved items have to go, and Im far from the only one taking advantage of this quality thrifting bonanza.
According to data from online resale marketplace ThredUp, the annual Capital One Shopping report, and spending behavior analysts Consumer Edge, the 2025 U.S. secondhand market is worth an estimated $56 billion (up 14.3% from 2024) and visits to resale stores were up 39.5% in 2025 (compared to Q2 2019), with an 80% rise in thrift and consignment spending among GLP-1 users.
There are many reasons people frequent resale shops, from the economical to the environmental. Approximately one-third of clothing and apparel items purchased in the U.S. over the past year were secondhand, saving manufacturing resources and carbon emissions.
A renewed sense of discovery
But to me the best part of thrift shopping is cultural. Frequenting resale shops can provide that lovely convivial experience we once had when our shopping companions were friends, not phones. Im often surrounded by other shoppers inspired and excited by the prospect of what we might find and open to the unexpected. Because the nature of resale makes the clothing one-of-a-kind, theres a sense of discovery and camaraderie with shared conversations about a garments value and discussions about fit even among strangers.
With expanded size range and diversity of brands, todays resale stores are more like independent boutiques, which are harder and harder to find due to the financial hardships based in fluctuating consumer habits. These old-school stores were vision-led, with gut-sense merchants assembling intentional collections from many different brands, often with an artisanal vibe. Their small inventories were always percolating, bubbling up something new, in contrast to brand-led stores offering mass-produced clothing under the same label: racks of algorithmic-driven styles that may work conceptually in the boardroom, but not so much in the dressing room.
How to pick your spot
Because people tend to sell quantities of clothing close to home, the best way to thrift in the age of Ozempic is to pick a shop in an area where women are likely to wear the brands you want to find and go there regularly.
My usual spot is on a cobblestone-lined street in a village-like neighborhood a short train ride away from the center of the city where I liveonce called a railroad suburb. Look for a well-lit, well-organized store where the clothing is neatly hanging on uniform hangers.
If you do become a regular and see the same garments week after week, move onthat store isnt getting enough traffic to keep things interesting. Because you dont have to settle. Closet upheavals due to GLP-1 drugs are plentiful, giving us lots of options. So, experiment until you find your own resale sweet spot, then start building the wardrobe youve always wanted: Their loss is your gain.
Never before has the CMO position been more complexor more essential to driving business results. The mark of success for any chief marketing officer is their impact on the long-term trajectory of a beloved brand.
So, what does that look like in a year as chaotic as 2025, where there’s been on-again, off-again tariffs, massive holding company mergers, and the continued rise of AI across the board?
I reached out to CMOs from Hinge, McDonalds, Crayola, State Farm, and Kraft Heinz, five marketing leaders operating at the top of their game, navigating the chaos, and getting results. We talked about what lessons theyve learned from the past year, issues theyll be facing in the coming year, and what they expect to be the biggest shift marketers and brands can expect in 2026.
Here’s what they had to say…
What was your most important lesson or insight of 2025?
Invest in listening and learning! Remarkable strategy and creative work are always grounded in true insight and original ideas. Hearing your core audience, and their needs, must be central to how you do the work. Knowing which audiences are the most important to center, and learn from, is also important. Having a diverse, empowered team is a short cut here, for sure. At Hinge, our employee base mimics our user base. That is a powerful advantage. Hinge CMO (now CEO) Jackie Jantos
The pace of change is overwhelming for everyone (both our fans and our teams). Our most important job is to maintain human connections and be a place of joy for our fans.Morgan Flatley, McDonalds Global Chief Marketing Officer & Head of New Business Ventures
The best brand moments can’t always be planned. They come from teams that stay agile, take smart swings and can move in real time. Our decision to release our Batman vs. Bateman spot in March was carefully considered. We couldve launched it anywhere, but the alignment with college basketballwhere our brand is strong and the audience overlap is realmade the story land bigger. We kept our Super Bowl-level tactics across the entire campaignincluding cross-channel build-up and sneak previews, fan giveaways, top-tier talent, and it became one of March Madness top-performing campaigns. It’s important to build the muscle to move with audiences, show up with authenticity and add value in real time. State Farm CMO Kristyn Cook
2025 has been a whirlwind. Consumers and companies across the world have seen a lot of challenges and uncertainty. In these moments, I have learned it is more important than ever to focus on what is within your control. Focusing on brand superiority, the role our brands need to play in their respective categories and the joy they bring to consumers. It is not the time to sit back; it is the time to focus, invest in brands, and execute flawlessly. Kraft Heinz chief growth officer Diana Frost
“The most important lesson this year, again, is that brands cant just show up in culture, they need to create and contribute to it in ways that feel authentic and connect people. For Crayola, that meant adopting a more expansive brand narrative that reinforces our deep cultural roots and underscores our purpose: championing creativity as a lifelong skill. Its not only about products, experiences, and content that bring creativity to life, its about being recognized as an advocate for creativity as essential to growth and wellbeing.” Crayola CMO Victoria Lozano
How did the role of marketing change the most in 2025?
Marketers have a lot to contribute across the whole business. They should influence growth and business strategy, product development, and guide organizational culture. Hinges goal is to get daters off the app and into great dates. Delivering on this deeply human mission requires deep and nuanced understanding of core audiences and their relationship needsand a lot of imagination around which challenges we can take on, and how we can be in service of people. This is where marketings contribution can be profound. Hinge CMO (now CEO) Jackie Jantos
Marketing is central to our business growth, and this year we made some big bets that paid off. Take a look at Minecraft, where we brought together two iconic worlds that invited fans of all ages to play, eat, and build together. We proved that when we combine genuine passion for an idea, the power of our brand voice, and a killer fan truth, we can do incredible things for the business. This partnership increased traffic to our restaurants, fan excitement across nearly 100 markets, and success for the movie at the box office, too.
Weve also gotten much better as a system in sharing and scaling great ideas. Campaigns like The Grinch Meal and Menu Heist are examples of how fan-centered ideas can cross borders while adapting to local nuances and flavors. Often, the most powerful brand asset you have is your product. Morgan Flatley, McDonalds Global Chief Marketing Officer & Head of New Business Ventures
Every company is exploring how AI can sharpen their marketing. While AI is boosting the scientific side of marketing, the true strength comes from balancing science with artinstinct, human connection, and, most importantly, creativity. Creativity remains the ultimate differentiator for brandsit’s the force multiplier that enables everything else. If your creativity doesnt grab attention or stop the scroll, none of it matters. State Farm CMO Kristyn Cook
What will be the biggest difference between 2025 and 2026?
Getting people off the app and into great dates remains core to everything we do at Hinge. When daters have better outcomes their trust in Hinge grows, as does our businessorganically. But many emerging tools and technologies arent built with long-term user outcomes in mind. In 2026, well see an even sharper divide between brands that use technology guided by a set of valuesthat put peoples needs and wellbeing firstand those that dont. And young people will notice and care. Purposeful technology will increasingly become a differentiator. Hinge CMO (now CEO) Jackie Jantos
While the pace of change feels faster than ever, the fundamentals wont shift as much as we think they will. Technology and media are evolving, but the power of storytelling, killer creativity, and human connection remain constant. I read a striking thing at the start of this year: that TV is the most popular device for watching YouTube on, more than a cellphone or desktop. So, when people talk about the ‘death of TV,’ its not the death of watching things on a TV, in your living room, often with friends and family. Its just where that content came from and how it was served to you. Thats an important distinction. Our job is to navigate through the change, while not forgetting whats most important and meaningful to our brand and or fans.Morgan Flatley, McDonalds Global Chief Marketing Officer & Head of New Business Ventures
It is my belief that 2026 will have a lot of continued themes from 2025. That said, the pace of AI-powered marketing will continue to accelerate. AI-powered marketing will allow marketers to have a faster path than ever before to insights and analytics, brand co-pilots, innovation, content and recipe formulation. That said, it will never replace human curiosity, connection, and brand authenticity. Marketers require the ability to balance AI scale with human credibility.Kraft Heinz chief growth officer Diana Frost
What will be the most significant shift or issue for marketers in 2026?
Were entering a moment where technology and AI can meaningfully add value, but can also convincingly mimic empathy and smooth the friction that actually helps us grow as humans. That creates a new responsibility and accountability for marketers. Human relationships are complex, imperfect, and deeply important, and the products and messages we introduce into the world shape how people connect.
So the key question for marketers in 2026 will be: Who is our work truly serving? What are we contributing to culture and community? To stay relevant and build trust, brands will need to build with intention and continuously design for more positive human connection.Hinge CMO (now CEO) Jackie Jantos
Building the foundation with Gen Alpha. The entire brand economy has been focused on Gen Z. Were looking at whats next; how we earn a place in the world of our future customers so when theyre ready, we already feel familiar and trusted. They aren’t ‘younger Gen Z.’ Gen Z grew up digital, and Gen Alpha is growing up algorithmic. They expect content to know them, adapt to them and evolve with them in real time. We are doing our homework nowstudying how they stream, the platforms they are native to and how they want to engage with brands.
Platforms like Twitch and the streamers leading the conversation are shaping Gen Alphas taste. Community is very important niche fandoms, creator-led ecosystems, gaming environments will all matter more than broad channel reach. We need to build trust early on with moments and experiences they truly want, and create a world where content is hyper-personal, participatory, and always evolving. State Farm CMO Kristyn Cook
“Marketing is evolving from omni-channel storytelling to connected ecosystems in an AI-mediated world. But in a world of big data and advanced language models, the most powerful insights still come from real, human experiences. What scales isnt the broadest messageits the most authentic one. Listening to customers matters more than ever; the role of influencer content to drive preference is growing. In a landscape chasing ‘perfect’ information, creativity, empathy, and humanity arent just nice-to-havestheyre what set brands apart. The future of marketing isnt about chasing every channel. Its about the small, personal observationsthe little details about how people actually live and behaveand creating connected experiences that feel seamless, even when the ecosystem isnt. Consumers expect brands to meet them in these micro-moments with relevance and purpose, not noise.”Crayola CMO Victoria Lozano
Our role as marketers is to understand consumer behavior and use those insights to move people to engage with our brands. It is an art and science and there are key skills and capabilities required to do that now and in the future. As marketers, creativity and innovation are critical in this moment. AI supercharges conventional wisdom; creative problem solvers are the present and future of marketing. It has never been more important to be data proficient. We have more data than ever at our fingertips but using it to power insights and execution is key. How consumers discover, connect and transact with brands continues to evolve. Those who can best understand and breakthrough in the new consumer journey will win. Kraft Heinz chief growth officer Diana Frost
Theres something incredibly compelling about a brand-new year. A fresh start beckons, with each day untroubled by your past decisions. Whatever mistakes you made in 2025 are old news. They were sooo last year. Youre a new person now with new priorities, new habits, and new strategies. Its in this spirit of new-leaf-turning-over that nearly a third of American adultsand almost half of 18- to 29-year-oldsdecide to make New Years resolutions for the coming year.
Unfortunately, making resolutions doesnt work. Baylor College of Medicine reported in January 2024 that 88% of people who make resolutions abandon them within two weeks.
That doesnt mean change or improvement is impossible. It just means were going about it wrong each year on January 1 by declaring, This year will be different!
If youd like to improve your finances, your health, your relationships, or any other aspect of your life in 2026, try some anti-resolution strategies for making the year greatsince your resolutions probably wont live to see Groundhog Day.
Why resolutions dont work
Before choosing the best anti-resolution strategy for 2026, its a good idea to understand the psychological reasons why resolutions just dont work.
One of the problems has to do with the fresh start the new calendar year offers to us. We are anticipating a “new year, new you” moment for ourselves, which often leads to unrealistic and overambitious goals. We love to tell ourselves the story that we could go from broke and couch potato on December 31 to frugal and running 5Ks on January 1 through willpower alone. This story doesnt give us room for struggle, frustration, or failure.
Additionally, a New Years resolution is an external motivation. That decision to change comes about because the calendar is changing and not because of an internal push to change. This means that when the external motivation has disappearedat about the same time Planet Fitness has stopped airing New Years membership deals 24/7weve usually moved on, too.
Finally, we often make resolutions that require us to give something up. Financial resolutions ask you to deprive yourself of luxuries or conveniences, like streaming services or DoorDash when youve had a rough day. Health resolutions expect you to live without ice cream or fried foods indefinitely. While the intention behind these deprivation resolutions is goodsaving money or improving your cholesterol levelsyou cant expect to white-knuckle your way through these losses for an entire year.
Humans are wired to be loss-averse, which means the pain of giving up things we like feels more intense than the pleasure we enjoy when we receive the same treats.
Unresolved in 2026
Looking at the start of a brand-new year makes me want to harness the excitement and enthusiasm of starting over with brand-new behavior. But Ive learned over the years that I need actual strategies that will help me change my habits if I want to make lasting improvements to different areas of my life.
The strategies that work tend to have these things in common:
The changes are bite-size. Rather than changing your entire life, you should focus on little habits you can adopt one day at a time.
You leave room for imperfection. Pobodys nerfect! And you will not pick up your new habit without mistakes, setbacks, and failures. Plan for them.
You want to make the change. We often make resolutions that dont really reflect our actual wants or motivations. But change happens only when we want it to.
The change adds something to your life. Rather than making you feel deprived, habit change should offer some kind of benefit that you can name.
Here are the anti-resolution strategies that will make 2026 your best year ever.
2026 Bingo
In December 2024, instead of setting resolutions, I created a “2025 Bingo” board, after seeing several individuals on social media posting about the trend. For this gamified goal-setting exercise, come up with 25 different aspirations you would like to achieve in 2026 and fill a 5-square-by-5-square poster board with them.
Setting your 2026 intentions this way offers a number of benefits. First, it allows you to keep thinking about your goals throughout the year. For example, I ran a 5K in October of 2025, filling in that square of my bingo board very late in the year. Had I simply resolved to run a 5K in January, I would certainly have forgotten about it by fall.
[Photo: Emily Guy Birkin]
In addition, by giving yourself 25 spaces, you have room for audacious, silly, unrealistic, and embarrassing goals. While some of my goals were entirely within my control, such as running the race, going to the theater, and visiting a new state, there were other goals that I only had some control over, such as my goal for a certain level of income and my long-term goal to get a Wikipedia page. (Did I mention you can put embarrassing goals on here?)
If you decide to create a “2026 Bingo” card, consider giving yourself a free space in the middle, and aim for five in a row by the end of the year. Whether or not you make it, youll set yourself up to think about what you want and how you can get itand you’ll have some fun with it.
Set monthly resolutions
Part of what makes a New Years resolution so daunting is the fact that youre trying to make a change that will last for the entirety of 2026. But committing to a change for a single month is much more doableand it can lead to long-lasting behavior change.
For example, studies show that people who take part in the annual Dry January sobriety challenge do not return to their former drinking habits after the month ends. Additionally, they tend to make long-term changes to their drinking habits and see sustained health benefits after takng part in just one Dry January challenge.
Start thinking about what you would like to tackle each month. Perhaps you might focus on paying down debt in January. February could be when you focus on your taxes. March might be about getting your retirement planning started.
Another benefit of this strategy is that you dont have to decide all at once what your resolution will be for each month. As the year progresses, you can make new resolutions for each month as you reach them. And even though your focus may change from one month to the next, you can feel confident that youll reap benefits from each months focus long after it ends.
Find your 2026 mantra
You may have seen people talk about choosing a word for the year (often in the same corners of the internet where you might find people with unironic “Live, Laugh, Love” decor). The idea behind a word for the year is to choose a guiding ideasuch as abundance, grace, or explorationthat you will use to focus your mindset for the year.
Health writer Tara Parker-Pope describes these as nudge words and says choosing one will nudge you toward positive change whenever you think of it.
But rather than a single word, you may find it even more helpful to adopt a phrase for the year that embodies the change you want to make. For example, if you are hoping to pay off debt, the mantra “Slow and steady wins the race” could be a regular reminder to keep making payments whenever you can.
Alternatively, the phrase “Progress, not perfection” could be a good mantra for someone who puts off contributing to their retirement account for fear of making suboptimal investment decisions.
And someone who is trying to save up for a down payment might adopt the mantra “Any amount of money I can set aside today is better than none.” Because even saving a couple of bucks consistently will add up over time.
Plan for all of 2026, not just January
New Years resolutions may feel good on January 1, but they dont last. Not only do we make unrealistic and ambitious plans for ourselves with traditional resolutions, but we are also trying to make changes based on external motivation. No wonder the vast majority of resolutions fail before February.
To make changes that will really stick in 2026, your strategy needs to rely on bite-size changes that dont require perfection and that add something beneficial to your life.
Creating a 2026 bingo card allows you to choose 25 goalsfrom the sublime to the ridiculousand will keep you invested in your goals all year long. Setting monthly resolutionssimilar to the annual Dry January sobriety challengemakes it less intimidating to adopt new habits while reaping the long-term rewards. And choosing a mantra for 2026 can help nudge you to make the positive changes you want to see in your life.
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During its earnings call on Wednesday, executives at Lennara giant homebuilder with a market capitalization of $27 billionsaid the federal government is working on a plan to help alleviate strained housing affordability.
Lennar executives said federal officials are actively engaging with homebuilders and industry groups to better understand constraintsand to avoid policies that could unintentionally damage supply. While no specific program was outlined, management suggested it would be surprising if no meaningful action emerged in 2026, given current discussions.
Here’s what Stuart Miller, co-CEO of Lennar, said on its December 17, 2025, earnings call:
I think the crystal ball around government activity is really complicated, but I can tell you that a number of homebuilders have gone in to see critical officials within the [federal] government. We have received a lot of attention. There’s a lot of thought process going on. You’ve seen trial balloons put out around various types of programs. What’s interesting is that the government has been very tuned in to the industry to make sure that they’re not walking into unintended consequences. So whatever is done, that it be constructed properly, is important. And to your question of you know, do I think that something will come out in 2026? I’d be surprised if something isn’t done. I think affordability is very much on the table. It’s a political issue right now, and I think across the country, you’re hearing the drumbeat of that being a primary focal point, and politically it’s important that someone pick up the mantle and do something to address it, rather than just throw money at it. So it’ll be interesting, and we’ll have to sit back and wait and see what comes out.
This week, Americas second-largest homebuilder, Lennar, reported additional gross margin compression in the past quarter, as it had to spend more on incentives to maintain sales volume amid the soft housing market environment.
To maintain sales in this softer market, Lennar spent an average of 14% of the final sales price on incentivessuch as mortgage rate buydownsin Q4 2025, up from 10% in Q4 2024. In normal times, Lennars sales incentive rate is around 5% to 6%.
On its typical sale, Lennar spent $62,837 on incentives last quarter, according to ResiClubs analysis published on December 18.
Whats interesting is that Lennar appeared to suggest to analysts on December 17 that whatever the federal government is cooking up could be enough to improve housing market conditions and reduce Lennars currently elevated incentive spending/improve margins.
According to Miller:
The strategy is: Let us [Lennar] build the volume that the country and the consumers need. Let’s make it affordable at this time where affordability is so strained, and let’s find ways to make ourselves more efficient, and let’s expect that something is going to come through the governmental ranks to support that affordability and enable the market to enter the housing market, and the reduction in incentives is going to flow through to our margin.
What kind of action does Lennar think the federal government could take that would be meaningful enough to reduce incentive spending and expand margins?
Lennar didnt say.
Back on November 8, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte and President Donald Trump announced that the administration was exploring a 50-year mortgage option to help lower some homebuyers monthly payments. Within minutes of the announcement, a sizable backlash erupted on social media, and Pulte began walking back the idea.
Amid that 50-year mortgage backlash, Pulte also floated the idea of portable mortgages. It remains unclear what he meant by portable (for example, an expansion of assumable mortgages?), whether such a policy would be legal, or how seriously the idea was being considered.
The Trump administration previously discussed the idea of Freedom Citiesselling off more federal land that could be used to build housing and new communities.
The tech industry has endured another turbulent year, buffeted by the continued rise of artificial intelligence and the economic threats posed by President Donald Trumps tariffs. Even the most prominent companies encountered challenges they never imagined theyd have to face. As 2025 comes to a close, here are Apple’s biggest wins and greatest failures of the year.
Apples biggest wins of 2025
iPhone 17 series
Without a doubt, Apples biggest win of 2025 is the iPhone 17 series, which includes the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Myriad reports suggest that iPhone 17 series sales have exceeded both Apples and investors expectations.
Apple redesigned the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro this year, giving the former a much-improved display, a vastly better camera system, and longer battery life. The Pro versions got an all-new unibody design, the best cameras in an iPhone ever, and up to 39 hours of battery life.
While these improvements are mainly iterative, they ticked the boxes that consumers care most about in their phones: camera and battery life. And those consumers have rewarded Apple for it. iPhone 17 sales have surged in the U.S. and, more importantly, in China, the worlds largest smartphone market after the USA. Apples iPhone sales were a key factor in the recovery of the company’s stock, after it got hammered earlier this year due to its possible exposure to Trumps tariffs.
Liquid Glass
After the iPhone, Apples next most important product is iOS, the operating system that powers its handsets. This year, Apple made the rare move of completely revamping the look of that operating system with the introduction of the Liquid Glass design language in iOS 26. It was the first time the company had radically changed iOS’s look since 2013.
While iOS 26s Liquid Glass faced early criticism, as most visual overhauls do, Apple has continued to tweak the look and feel of the new design language. As a result, much of the online furor over the changes seems to have died down. More importantly, iOS 26’s new design gives Apples smartphone software a distinct look that immediately distinguishes it from Android. In the end, the softwares ability to mimic the way light bands and warps through glass has brought a level of fun and playfulness to Apples flagship product not seen since the days of Steve Jobs.
Apples simplified branding
The final big win for Apple in 2025 is not a product or feature, but a branding strategy. As Apples product lineup has grown in recent years, its product names have become confusing, particularly when it comes to software and services. But this year, Apple decided to simplify things.
Previously, Apple’s operating systems were branded with different version numbers (iOS 18, macOS 15, watchOS 11, etc). Now they’re named after the upcoming year: iOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, iPadOS 26, tvOS 26, visionOS 26. This streamlined naming structure makes it easy for users to determine whether their device is running the latest software.
And Apple didnt stop there. The company also mercifully decided to drop the overused plus sign from its streaming services name, too.
Apples greatest failures of 2025
iPhone Air
While the iPhone 17 series may have been full of iterative updates this year (which consumers seem to have loved), Apple swung for the fences with another 2025 iPhone: the all-new iPhone Air. At just 5.6 millimeters, it is Apple’s thinnest iPhone ever. Yet multiple reports say that there has been hardly any demand for the companys newest smartphone.
The main problems with the iPhone Air seem to be its subpar camera system and relatively short battery life. As the success of the iPhone 17 series teaches us, those are the two things customers care about most. Demand for the new device is so weak that Apple has reportedly cut production by more than 80%. Still, Apple may have already gotten what it really wanted: proof of concept that it could make an iPhone so thin that it could join two together to create the first dual-screen iPhone foldable.
Apple Intelligence
2025 may have been a year of continued artificial intelligence progression across the tech industry, but Apples AI system, Apple Intelligence, hardly added any new AI featuresnot worthwhile ones, anyway. The company added some useful Live Translation features, but other than that, it mainly just enhanced Apple Intelligence with gimmicks that other AI systems have long been capable of, such as on-screen image recognition and new AI slop filters.
Those hoping to see a revamped Siri that could compete with the likes of OpenAIs ChatGPT and Googles Gemini will have to wait until 2026or later. Yet I question how much consumers care about Apple lagging in the AI space, given that they can already run nearly any third-party AI app on their iPhone. Still, the lack of innovative AI advancements is a bad look for the company, which is otherwise the de facto innovation leader in the industry.
Apple Vision Pro M5
One area in which Applehas undoubtedly innovated in recent years is augmented reality, thanks to its groundbreaking Apple Vision Pro headset. In 2025, Apple announced the successor to the original Vision Pro, updated with the M5 Apple Silicon chip, which enables higher resolution and other display enhancements.
Yet Apple didnt address the myriad other issues with the technologically impressive device, notably its heavy weight and eye-watering $3,499 price point. Because of this, the headset remains a niche product that is unappealing or financially out of reach to the average user.
