Melinda French Gates has been very busy since her divorce and subsequent departure from the Gates Foundation. For example, she launched her own venture, with $12.5 billion to put toward advancing causes she cares about, specifically those related to women and families. She has even gotten involved in politics, endorsing a candidate for the first time ever.
French Gates isnt new to leading an organization, or to leading people. She has spent the past few decades leaving her imprint on what is arguably the most influential charitable organization in the world. Still, I imagine it can all get a little overwhelming at times. The key to managing it all isnt to work constantly, according to French Gates. As counterintuitive as it might seem, one of the most important things is getting enough sleep.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, French Gates says she believes in the importance of getting seven or eight hours of sleep a night. She also had a few choice words for those who claim they dont need to sleep more than a few hours a night, something she says is so dumb.
You can probably imagine the type. At some point, it became a weird sort of flex to suggest that you didnt need sleep. It was as though sleeping was considered some kind of weakness. Instead, there is a type of leader who seems to think working all the time is a strength.
Elon Musk, for example, has claimed that working long hours was necessary to run his companies. While Musk now says he tries to get at least six hours of sleep, there are a number of instances where he talked about working more than 120 hours a week and sleeping on the factory floor for a few hours at a time. The same goes for Indra Nooyi, the former CEO of Pepsi, who has said she only needs four hours of sleep.
I guess you could argue that if you arent sleeping, you could be using that time to be productive. The problem is, thats almost never how it works.
Working excessive hours is not a virtue. It might feel like a badge of honor, but it rarely amounts to better outcomes. Sleeping less doesnt make you stronger or more productive; it just makes you more tired. And tired people almost never perform as well as they could with a good nights sleep.
Look, I am definitely a morning person. I prefer to get up pretty early because its when Im most productive, but that doesnt mean I dont need any sleep. It means I need to plan accordingly and go to bed early enough to get seven hours of sleep.
In fact, Ive argued on a number of occasions that the single best thing you can do to be more productive is to get enough sleep. It turns out, science agrees with me, and with French Gates.
The Centers for Disease Control has said that most adults need at least seven hours of sleep. In fact, some scientific studies have suggested that sleeping for only four hours a night is just as bad for your body and your mind as not sleeping at all.
The consequences for not sleeping arent just that youre ready to doze off by the fourth meeting of the day. Lack of sleep can contribute to real health issues like stress, anxiety, heart disease, and diabetes.
The CDC also says that almost 40 percent of adults dont get enough sleep, defined as fewer than six hours. Thats a lot of tired, stressed-out people not performing at their best.
The lesson here seems really simple: You should make it a priority to get enough sleep. Youll be far more productive when you show up to work rested and energized. If you lead an organization or a team, you owe it to your people to be at your best. If you think you can be at your best by working constantly without taking time to rest andmore specificallyto sleep, well, French Gates has a few words for you.
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Jason Aten
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.
Lots of work situations require some creativity. A client needs a nonstandard solution to a problem. A colleague is stuck in a dispute with their supervisor. Youre writing an article and you need to find a third good example of the concept youre describing (see what I did there?).
You may have the occasional brilliant insight, but then look on in dismay at all of the mediocre ideas you come up with in times of need. Is there something you can do to come up with better ideas?
The answer is, sort of.
Quantity over quality
First off, dont fret if you feel like most of the ideas you generate when trying to solve a new problem are bad. Research on creativity consistently demonstrates that the people who come up with the best ideas are the ones who come up with the most ideas. That is, you cant really know as youre thinking of a new idea whether it will be a brilliant stroke or another dud. But, if you keep generating ideas, youll eventually land on a gem.
That means your focus should be on finding ways to keep generating ideas. Dont get discouraged and give up when your first few thoughts arent amazing. Stick with it for longer than you think you need to.
When the well seems to have run dry, dont give up right away. Refocus yourself on the problem statement and think about whether there is another way to characterize the central problem. Consider giving the problem a title that encapsulates the central dilemma or try describing the problem to a colleague who knows nothing about it. (Computer programmers often keep a rubber duck on their desk to describe coding problems to, because they find it helps them find solutions to tough problems.)
Dont be afraid to incubate
A creative flash may strike you when you set about trying to generate an idea, but sometimes you generate many thoughts and no gems. No matter how much pressure you may be feeling to come up with a great concept, try giving it a rest.
There are several benefits to letting the problem sit for a while (a process called incubation). First, your initial thoughts about the problem may stick in your mind crowding out other potential solutions. Putting the problem aside may allow those persistent thoughts to fade into the background, allowing other ideas to emerge.
Second, you may actually continue noodling on the problem in the background even when youre not focusing on the problem explicitly. As a result, you may find yourself suddenly hit with an insight.
Third, your memory for the problem description will change in subtle ways over time. You are likely to focus less on the details and more on the gist of the problem. This natural change over time (particularly if you sleep on the problem for a day or two) may provide an alternative method for redescribing the problem that has the benefits I discussed in the previous section.
Learn to turn a B- into an A
Another thing to know about great creative problem solvers is that they are often masterful editors. That is, they dont just spin out golden thoughts at the drop of a hat. As I mentioned, most of the things they think of at first are more likely to be straw.
But, they are good at spinning straw into gold. By continuing to think through the ideas they generate, they may find that a flimsy initial concept becomes stronger by addressing its weaknesses. So, rather than kicking every mediocre concept to the curb, hold onto the list of ideas you generate. Then, explore those ideas in more detail. Ask yourself why they wont work. When you state the objection to the idea, you may find yourself thinking of elegant ways to adapt the initially bland concept into something that shines. That is, lurking within a B- idea that you have generated may be the roots of the A+ you really desire.
In some cities, as Amazon delivery vans make the rounds with your latest order, theyre also delivering something differentfree food to people who rely on food banks.
In a program that quietly started during the pandemic, the company has used its logistics infrastructure to deliver enough groceries for 60 million meals to families facing food insecurity. Today, Amazon announced that its extending the program with its food bank partners through 2028.
The Community Delivery program began early in the pandemic as the companys disaster relief team saw long lines at food banks and looked for ways to help people stuck at home.
We started talking to our operational teams here at Amazon and said, were doing this for our customerswere delivering food to their doorstep, says Bettina Stix, director of Amazon Community Impact. What if we did that same delivery, but instead of coming from our Amazon grocery fulfillment, it would come from the food bank?
[Photo: Amazon]
As pandemic restrictions ended, they realized that there was still a clear need for delivery. In a study with Feeding America last year, they found that 46% of visitors to food pantries had skipped visits because of transportation challenges. (Unsurprisingly, that number jumps to 60% for people without a car.) Others might work multiple jobs and simply not have enough time. Some recipients who use the delivery program said that theyd never been able to access free food from a pantry in the past.
There are many people who, because of disability or transportation or schedule constraints, can’t get to a pantry, or stand in line at a pantry, or transport a 25-pound bag of groceries home, says Seth Harris, associate director of home-delivered groceries at the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, one of more than 40 food banks that now works with Amazon. Picking up groceries from a food pantry might involve two hours of travel and trying to navigate a bus with a heavy package.
Some food banks already offered limited home delivery, but it’s resource-intensive and typically relies on volunteers, making it difficult to scale. “At some point, you end up in a world where you have more deliveries than can be done by a single route,” says Josh Hirschland, principal product manager for food security at Amazon Community Impact.
“So then you start to think about, okay, how do we divide up the packages across multiple routes? How do you set the order of the different stops to be the most efficient, and how do you divide that up? How do you manage all of these orders? How do you figure out which ones have been picked up? Have you made sure that they’re being delivered?” Hirschland adds.
The San Francisco-Marin Food Bank had a delivery program before working with Amazon, but was able to significantly expand it. The nonprofit now makes around 1,000 home deliveries a day, primarily to seniors and adults with disabilities.
[Photo: Amazon]
In many cases, Amazon works with its network of Flex drivers, gig workers who use their own cars, to make the deliveries. Instead of picking up a shift for Amazon Fresh, a driver can choose to pick up a carful of prepacked boxes from a food bank and deliver them over the next hour or two. Amazon foots the bill. The program, like the rest of its Community Impact work, isn’t a separate philanthropic arm of the company, but part of a business strategy to find ways to benefit communities by using its existing infrastructure and technology.
The company adapted software that it had initially used for Amazon Restaurants, a food delivery service that the company shut down in 2019. Engineers created a portal that food banks can use to add and track orders.
In some cities, like Los Angeles and Austin, food banks pack shelf-stable food that doesn’t need to be delivered immediately, and the boxes can be incorporated into regular Amazon delivery routes. Larger trucks pick up pallets of boxes at food banks and take them to Amazon sort centers.
“At the sort center, those boxes start to be comingled with iPhone cables and jigsaw puzzles, and then get sent down to a truck where they are driven to the delivery station,” Hirschland says. At the company’s last-mile delivery stations, boxes are loaded onto racks and then head out on vans. Using vans helps make it easier to reach rural areas, he says, where it’s often even harder for families to access food pantries.
[Photo: Amazon]
The company now has a team of engineers dedicated to continuing to improve the technology behind the philanthropic initiative. One recent feature, for example, tracks how long each package is with the driver, from pickup to delivery.
Since the program started, Amazon has been renewing it with its food bank partners each year. But now, with a longer three-year extension, the nonprofits will be better able to plan. “If you are running a home delivery program as a food bank, even if the transportation is free, there are still any number of costs that you’re looking at,” Hirschland says. Food banks also don’t want to offer the service and then have to unexpectedly cancel it. The longer commitment “is something that we’ve been trying to d for a long time,” he says.
The need keeps growing: The cost of food is now nearly 30% higher than it was in 2020. Tariffs are pushing up the cost of imported foods like bananas and coffee. The Department of Labor warned last week that current immigration policies are causing a shortage of workers on farms, and that’s also threatening the food supply chain and food prices.
The budget bill that President Trump signed in July made steep cuts to SNAP, the federal food assistance program, that will soon begin rolling out. Earlier in the year, the Department of Agriculture cut $1 billion in funding for food banks and school nutrition programs to buy food from local farms. With rents and energy prices also rising, buying food has become even more of a strain.
The delivery program can’t solve the larger issues that make hunger a logistics problem. But in a strained system, it’s become a critical tool for food banks.
Iceland has long been known as the only habitable place in the world free from mosquitoes. (Antarctica is also mosquito-free, but is not habitable to humans). The Nordic country has been spared from the insects in part because of its intense winters and oceanic climateuntil now.
Mosquitoes have been found in Iceland for the first time this month, a sign of how our warming world is enabling the pesky and downright deadly insects to expand their range.
An insect enthusiast in Kjós named Björn Hjaltason posted about his discovery in a Facebook group that translates to Insects in Iceland, multiple Icelandic news outlets have reported. Ladies and gentlemenmay I introduce . . . for the first time in Iceland . . . MOSQUITO!” the post read, according to the Icelandic newspaper Vísir.
After finding three mosquitoes, Hjaltason sent the insects to the Natural Science Institute of Iceland, which researches the countrys natural environment. Matthías Alfresson, an entomologist there, confirmed the bugs were, in fact, mosquitoesspecifically, ones from the Culiseta annulata species, which is native to northern Europe.
Mosquitoes have previously been found on planes coming into Iceland, Alfresson told RÚV, the national public broadcaster, but this recent finding marked the first time that the insect has been found on Icelandic soil. He said the discovery was significant.
A warming world
Climate change is causing the entire planet to experience record-high temperatures, and Iceland is particularly affected. Iceland has been warming about three times faster than the global average warming rate, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office.
Rising temperatures are also lighting a fuse under volcanoes, causing more eruptionsa process already observed in Iceland. Almost all of Icelands glaciers are receding, and some have vanished completely.
As our planet warms, it becomes more hospitable to insects, which spread beyond their native regions. Scientists have long warned that mosquitoes are on the move, and as they are the worlds deadliest animalcarrying diseases from malaria to Zika virus to dengue feverthat puts millions more people at risk.
Culiseta annulata is not considered a primary vector for disease, but other mosquitoes that have been expanding into colder areas of the world are. Asian tiger mosquitoes, originally from Southeast Asia, which transmit dengue, have recently been found in the United Kingdom, for example.
In Iceland to stay
Iceland was always somewhat of an anomaly when it came to its lack of the buzzing, biting bugs. Its Nordic neighbors, including Denmark, Norway, and Greenland, have had thriving mosquito populations. Iceland is also full of lakes and ponds, where mosquitoes often breed. (The country is home to other flying, biting bugs, though.)
Scientists have theorized, The New York Times previously reported, that Icelands oceanic climate, including its multiple major freezes and thaws each year, has kept the bugs from breeding and surviving.
But the mosquitoes recently found in Iceland are likely there to stay, entomologists say.
The species is particularly cold-resistant and may survive the Icelandic winters by hiding out in basements or barns. Experts will need to monitor the situation come spring to see if the species really becomes established in Iceland, one entomologist told Fast Company.
Their potential infiltration of the Nordic island ultimately isnt much of a surprise to scientists, who have expected this outcome as evidence of global warming has mounted.
Icelands average air temperature has increased about 2 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 20 years, per the Times, allowing some 200 new insect species to make Iceland their home, when they couldnt previously survive its conditions.
If the warming continues, we may find mosquitoes in Iceland in the near future, Gisli Mar Gislason, a biologist at the University of Iceland, predicted in an interview with the Times in 2016.
Netflix missed Wall Street’s third-quarter earnings targets because of an unexpected expense from a dispute with Brazilian tax authorities, while it offered a forecast a touch ahead of Wall Street projections for the rest of the year.
The report failed to impress investors accustomed to fast-paced growth from the streaming video pioneer. Shares of Netflix, which had risen 39% this year ahead of the earnings report, fell 6.3%, to $1,163.80, in after-hours trading on Tuesday.
Netflix posted net income of $2.5 billion and diluted earnings per share of $5.87 for July through September, a period when the animated K-Pop Demon Hunters became the most-watched movie in Netflix history. Analysts had expected $3 billion and $6.97, respectively, according to the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).
Revenue was even with forecasts, at $11.5 billion.
Netflix is seeking growth from new areas such as advertising and video games after attracting more than 300 million customers around the world. It faces competition from YouTube, Amazon’s Prime Video, Disney+, and others. The media business is facing major changes, including the potential sale of industry titan Warner Bros. Discovery and the rise of generative artificial intelligence with the ability to produce short-form video.
Netflix reported an operating margin of 28% for the third quarter. Without the Brazilian tax expense of roughly $619 million, the margin would have exceeded the company’s guidance of 31.5%, it said, adding that it did not expect the matter to have a material impact on future results.
PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore said he believed the tax issue weighed on Netflix shares.
“All things considered, this was another robust quarter, despite a blip due to an unforeseen expense,” Pescatore said.
For the fourth quarter, Netflix forecast revenue of $11.96 billion, compared with Wall Street’s projection of $11.90 billion. It projected diluted earnings per share a penny ahead of analysts’ targets, at $5.45.
For the third quarter, Netflix said it recorded its best ad sales quarter in history but did not disclose a number.
“This gives the impression that the sustained revenue growth achieved this quarter, and forecasted for next quarter, will predominantly continue to come from subscription fees,” eMarketer analyst Ross Benes said.
Netflix will release the final season of one of its biggest hits, Stranger Things, in November and December, and stream two live National Football League games on Christmas.
“We’re finishing the year with good momentum and have an exciting Q4 slate,” Netflix said in its quarterly letter to shareholders.
Earlier this year, Netflix stopped reporting subscriber numbers and urged investors to focus on revenue and profit.
It has expanded into video games and advertising, two areas that have contributed little to revenue so far, according to analysts and investors.
By Lisa Richwine, Reuters
Seeking a flatter management structure is a leadership trend you could compare to fashions craze for skinny jeanstrendy yesterday, forgotten tomorrow, then back in fashion again before you know it. Recently, big tech firms like Meta, Microsoft, and Google made headlines for cutting management positions to lower costs and increase productivityturning some of their workloads over to AI tools.
But a new survey from San Francisco-based workplace communications outfit Firstup shows that eliminating too many management jobs can have some unexpected effects on the way your teams work, sometimes damaging employee engagement, which undermines productivity. This is definitely something to bear in mind if youre considering restructuring your own companys management ranks.
The surveys top results show that employees think middle management layers are crucial to the company success. More than half the people surveyed said their direct manager was their most trusted source for up-to-date workplace newscompared to just 10% who think that senior leadership is their best source for this information.
Interestingly, the Firstup survey, which quizzed 1,000 U.S.-based, full-time non-managerial employees at companies that carried out layoffs in the last year, shows that junior staff think that their middle management layers are critical to their well-being at work. Fully 75% of respondents said they rely on managers for recognition and appreciation, 63% said they relied on them for helping tackle workplace challenges, while 50% said they seek coaching and development advice from managers. Meanwhile, 86% of people said they relied on managers to translate company updates into meaningful advice about what changes mean for individual workers.
This paints a picture of junior staff relying on their layers of middle management as a trust and information barrier between themselves and senior leadershipperhaps hinting at an ivory tower syndrome surrounding senior management.
Other survey details offer a deeper view of what happens when layoffs hit the management structure of a company.
Fully 38% of survey respondents said that since their company experienced layoffs, their manager had become less accessible. This has had consequences: 30% of people said theyd felt less support when things were disrupted or changed, 34% expected theyll lose a sense of connection and 30% expected decreased or zero access for mentorship and career development options.
Employees also dont trust senior leaders, with nearly 40% saying they cant get mentorship or guidance from upper management, 37% saying they feel unheard by the top leaders, and only 47% agreeing that their company leadership is somewhat transparent.
This paints an interesting picture of how the average U.S. worker views their management, relying on their direct supervisors while apparently distrusting upper layers of company leadership. The report quotes Firstup CEO Bill Schuh, who explained that the data show workers see middle managers as critical for translating organizational priorities into action, clarity, and connection for their direct report.
As companies shed middle managers, they risk losing this vital link, which can leave frontline workers feeling lost and unsupported. That discontent will likely diminish their engagement with their work, and could reduce their productivity. Meanwhile Schuh also noted that stripping managers out adds strain on their remaining colleagues. That means companies are asking fewer managers to do more, and that simply is not sustainable, he said. While AI is useful for handling some mundane managerial tasks, it wont replace the human connection and leadership that great managers provide.
What does this mean for your company?
In smaller organizations, there may be more of a direct line of communication between senior leaders and frontline workers: but these data are still important. If youre considering trimming your intermediate management structure, you should consider how this will impact employee trust and expectations for career advancement. Open and frank conversations may improve levels of trust among your employees and help support their engagement and productivity during times of upheaval.
Kit Eaton
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.
After a record-setting rally over the past week, commodities traders went all in on a massive gold sell-off on Tuesday. The price of the precious metal fell down to $4,118 an ounce, after a high of $4,381.52 an ounce just one day before. Meanwhile, silver is trading at $48.76 an ounce in midday trading at the time of this writing, down from $54.35 last week.
At the time of this writing, the live gold spot price for an ounce of gold in U.S. dollars (USD) is $4,133.13, a gram of gold is $132.88 and one kilogram of gold is $132,883.22, according to JM Bullion.(Gold spot price can fluctuate by the second.)
For some context, that means gold prices have decreased the most they have in four years, and silver is seeing its biggest drop since early 2021, per Bloomberg.
This is a stunning reversal from last week, which saw gold and silver prices spiking as investors sought out a “safe haven” from more volatility in the stock market due to overall economic uncertainty.
The two main ways to invest in gold and silver are by buying the physical metals, or through futures contracts.
What’s causing the abrupt change?
Analysts say it’s not just one thing causing the slump. They point to the current economic and political climate, including a prolonged government shutdown; upcoming U.S. and China trade talks amid Trump’s escalating tariff wars with Beijing; and softer than expected numbers from the US Consumer Price Index (CPI), which are expected to be released by end of week.
The shutdown is delaying some economic and jobs data from coming out as government workers are currently furloughed, while at the same time, there have been mass firings.
Meanwhile, a standoff with Beijing over rare earth minerals resulted in President Donald Trump threatening a massive increase of tariffs on Chinese products,” seemingly triggering a market sell-off.
However, a retreat from gold and silver could mean the market is feeling more secureand therefore, a good sign investors aren’t running for cover.
My friend turned to me the other day with a sly smirk and whispered, Are you also part of Group 7? I shook my head, unsure of what she meantfeeling left out of whatever secret club she was referring to.
It didnt take long for the algorithm to catch up with me. Within a few hours, my For You Page on TikTok was flooded, and before I knew it, I, too, was officially part of the internets newest inside joke.
“Group 7” began as a simple experiment by musician Sophia James, who wanted to promote her new song So Unfairand experiment with the quirky nature of TikToks algorithm.
TikToks For You Page, or FYP, described by the Guardian as uncannily good at predicting what videos will catch your eye,” works differently than older recommendation systems.
Rather than passively waiting for users to engage with a video, it actively evaluates its own predictions, presenting content it anticipates users will find appealing and gauging their responses.
It pushes the boundaries of your interests and monitors how you engage with those new videos it seeds in your For You Page, Chris Stokel-Walker, author of TikTok Boom and frequent Fast Company contributor, told the Guardian in 2022.
Every user has the potential for global fame. Even with zero followers, a video can eventually land on someones FYP. Positive engagement can quickly snowball into millions of views. TikToks short-form format accelerates this learning.
Leveraging this insight, James posted seven nearly identical videos of her track, each labeled with a different group number. You are in group [number], the text read. “Group 7,” uploaded last, swiftly became the algorithms favoriteand TikToks latest obsession.
Before long, everyone wanted in.
Users jumped on the “exclusive” group trend, now the center of TikTok lore.
Can you imagine not being in Group 7? one user commented. I hereby declare group 7 is the most elite group, another added. Group 7 is the hot girl groupI dont make the rules.
Even brands and celebrities crowded into the group. Clorox dubbed Group 7 clean girl coded. HBO Max chimed in with judging groups 16, and Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran along with the actress Madelyn Cline also jumped on board.
On music marketing and memes
Its immaculate marketing, one TikTok user said in a viral post praising the stunt. And she wasnt wrong.
James managed to get millions of people to stream, share, and memeify So Unfair without spending a cent on traditional promotion, now garnering over 2.5 million likes and 114,600 comments on her post.
Fans soon began referring to the song as the Group 7 anthem. The track became ubiquitous, climbed the charts, and Sophia James emerged as the internets latest marketing sensation. According to the New York Times, she has gained more than 100,000 TikTok followers and seen a significant uptick in streams of her music.
Taking her efforts beyond TikTok, James has launched an official “Group 7” section on her website, promoting a real-life meetup at the Bedford Pub in London on October 24.
Are inside jokes the new marketing strategy?
This is not the first instance of the internet transforming a half-joke into a cultural phenomenon. From the chair emoji saga to Crop and Story Time, TikTok users gravitate toward communities that feel exclusiveeven when built entirely on shared irony.
Jamess experiment demonstrates a larger trend: In an era where authenticity is algorithmic, the best marketing doesnt feel like marketing at all.
Taylor Swift is an economic force all on her own. The superstars relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce brought not only eyeballs to his games but a monetary boost to the city overall. Thanks to her Eras tour, Swifties spent an estimated $5 billion across the country.
And most recently, she spurred fans to give more than $2 million in donations to the Monterey Bay Aquariums sea otter programjust by wearing an old t-shirt.
Earlier this month, Swift launched her The Official Release Party of a Showgirl movie, an 89-minute film tied to the release of her latest album. It was only shown in theaters for three days.
Eagle-eyed fans noticed how, in that film, Swift wore a 1993 Monterey Bay Aquarium t-shirt featuring an illustration of sea otters. And swiftly, social media lit up with requests for us to bring it back, Liz MacDonald, Monterey Bay Aquarium director of content strategy, said via email.
The Aquarium quickly realized this moment could be huge.
It was an opportunity to elevate our Sea Otter Program to a global audience and engage new supporters in our conservation work in a big and fun way, MacDonald says.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Liberty Graphics Nature T-shirts (@libertygraphicstees)
Long story shirt
Aquarium staff got to work building a donation campaign about the t-shirt. They tracked down the original artwork from the 1990s, first printed by Harborside Graphics. That company has since become a part of Liberty Graphics, an employee-owned cooperative, and the aquarium worked directly with Liberty to re-issue the design.
The campaign came together in about a week, offering the t-shirt for $65.13 (a nod to Swift’s favorite number, 13). In just seven hours, the aquarium hit its goal of raising $1.3 million.
The re-issue of the sea otter shirt has since raised more than $2.3 million for the aquariums sea otter program, which has rescued, rehabilitated, and returned threatened southern sea otter pups to the wild for more than 40 years.
The campaign was launched on Tiltify, an online fundraising platform that uses social media sites like Twitch and TikTok to foster virtual donations.
Tiltifys flexibility and online experience (it has hosted campaigns for YouTube stars MrBeast and Jacksepticeye that brought donations in the double-digit millions in just hours) helped the aquarium respond to the viral moment, CEO Michael Wasserman says in a statement.
When Swifties mobilized, we processed tens of thousands of orders . . . Most traditional donation platforms would crash handling 20,000 shirt orders in hours, plus 13,000+ backorders before the campaign had to pause for fulfillment, Wasserman said. This is the difference between modern giving and traditional fundraisingit’s interactive, social, and immediate.
Even before the Tiltify campaign, Monterey Bay staff had noticed a bump of $13 donations coming in after Swifts movie. But the t-shirt campaign went beyond what staff could have expected.
The outpouring of love for the Aquarium is honestly touching, MacDonald says, adding that she hopes the increased attention will draw even more people to the cause of helping sea otters. “We had a Taylor Swift dance party in the office when we hit our initial goal.”
OpenAI has released a new web browser, the companys latest bid to become consumers chief gateway to the web.
The new browser, called ChatGPT Atlas, will initially be available on macOS on the desktop. Versions for Windows, iOS, and Android are coming soon, OpenAI says.
OpenAI worked hard to build as many AI-driven features into Atlas as possible. For example, Atlas learns the users browsing history and, in some cases, can make content suggestions proactively.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman suggested that this first version of the browser is just the start, pledging to add way more stuff that we will tell you about later and adding that the company can take this pretty far.
The browser also integrates an AI agent, which can perform certain tasks for the users, such as filling out web forms and booking reservations. These things can happen in the background while the user does other things on the web. This, OpenAI says, may cut down on the number of browser tabs that users must currently wade through. However, agent mode is only available to OpenAIs paying Plus and Pro subscribers.
The Atlas browser isnt the only AI-first product out therePerplexity, for instance, launched its Comet browser earlier this year. But Atlas may pose a serious threat to Googles dominant Chrome browser, which plays a central role in the companys advertising business model.
OpenAI announced the new browser via a livestream on Tuesday.
We think AI presents a rare once-in-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about, Altman said at the beginning of the stream.
