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There is no bad seat at Cercle Odyssey. In fact, there are no seats. Within the rectangular structure, screens project an art film inspired by Homers Odyssey, made especially for the concert. In the center of the space, world-famous electronic musiciansfrom Moby to Black Coffeeperform for a crowd of 5,000 fans. As the worlds first 360-degree immersive concert installation, its a FOMO-inducing Instagram story waiting to happen. Thing is, phones arent allowed inside (theyre secured in pouches at check-in). Instead, theres no choice other than to be present. Cercle Odyssey is the latest project from Cercle, a French company known for producing livestream DJ sets from exotic locales. The pop-up concert series begins April 23 and runs through June 1 starting in Mexico City, then moving to Los Angeles and Parisplaces where Cercle founder Derek Barbolla says the brands strongest online fan communities are based. Each city will host 10 events across five days (two shows per day, at 5 and 9:30 p.m.). Tickets start at $180 in the U.S. I was equal parts blown away and baffled by what theyre [Cercle] doing with immersive spaces, says Moby, who will perform at Cercle Odyssey in Los Angeles. Ill be performing but Ill also probably spend half of my time on stage just looking at the visuals. [Rendering: Courtesy of Cercle] The project is a natural evolution for Cercle, whose YouTube videos attract millions of viewers to watch artists perform from ancient pyramids, historic monumentseven a hot-air balloon. While top-tier talent is part of the appeal for dance music fans, ticket prices are notably higher than what you’d pay to see the same artists at a similar-size venue. What sets this experience apart is the visual component, a concept Barbolla says Cercle invested 3 million euros (nearly $3.5 million) to develop and produce. The five screens throughout the structurewhich measures 164 feet long and 33 feet highstream in 8K resolution; 72 speakers by French audio company L-Acoustics line the venue. While the structure will be built to the same specs in each city, equipment is rented locally to support regional vendors and reduce excess cargo. [Rendering: Courtesy of Cercle] The (dialogue-free) film that will screen during the live performances was inspired by The Odyssey and shot over six months on four continents. I consider this a feature film, says director Neels Castillon, who came up with the concept after revisiting the epic poem and seeing images he imagined pairing to music. He began writing a script that focuses on two men and two women, each portraying a version of the protagonist Ulysses. The film spans icebergs, sand dunes, ocean, and forest across Iceland, Namibia, Tahiti, and Bolivia. Filmed entirely with human actors and no AI or digital art, the visuals at Cercle Odyssey stand in stark contrast to the futuristic, animated aesthetics of shows like Anyma at Sphere or Eric Prydzs HOLO. Despite those shows popularity, Cercle deliberately chose a more organic, story-driven approach. When you see visuals from the Sphere in Las Vegas, to me, its impressive for the first 10 minutes, then you lose interest because it’s not a film and there are no narratives, there is no storytelling, says Castillon. [Rendering: Courtesy of Cercle] At each show, the arrangement of scenes will vary, modularly adapted based on feedback from each artist. Castillon originally wrote 20 scenes for Odyssey, but ended up filming more than 80, resulting in 47 hours of footage and a near infinite combination for artists to select from. Whether the storyline will be discernible by audience members remains to be seen, but Cercle and Castillon believe that either way the human element of the film will touch concertgoers in a unique way. So much emphasis on an immersive, multisensory experience feels at odds with the concerts no-phones policy. Allowing attendees to share their experience could boost ticket sales and drive desire for another run of shows, but Barbolla is willing to take the risk for Cercles greater mission. In this increasingly over-connected world, we end up spending more time sharing our experiences online than truly enjoying them. We are so focused on recording our lives that we forget to actually live them, Barbolla says. And if, after a few hours of phoneless bliss, youre still yearning to post about the experience, once the show finishes, a folder of professional videos are sent via email. You get to be fully present and still post clips that are better than anything you could capture on an iPhone mid-dance.
Category:
E-Commerce
This months legal dustup between NFL quarterback Lamar Jackson and NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. over trademark rights to the number 8 may have amounted to little more than a tempest in a teapot, but it has drawn attention to a rarely considered topic in branding and marketing: the use of numbers in brand names and logos. Why might a seemingly arbitrary number like 8or 27 or 63, for that matterbe worth fighting over? And are some numbers worth more than others? Obviously, numbers are at an important disadvantage compared to letters when it comes to their use as trademarks. While an initial letter can stand for any word that it begins with, numbers are much more constrained in their ability to represent a range of meanings. This helps explain why an examination of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office records shows that, over time, there have been a total of 7,183 trademark applications for logos consisting solely of a stylized letter Awhether traditional or crossbar-lesswhile the most popular number (1, naturally) has garnered just 466 such logo applications. So its rare for numbers to stand alone as trademarks. They often serve as supporting elements in brand names, (Heinz 57, Phillips 66), or worse (Nikes would-be moniker, Dimension 6). USPTO data reveals, surprisingly, that in trademarks that are simply names, with no graphic elements, the most commonly used number between 0 and 100 is 2, which edges ahead of 1 perhaps in part due to its ability to represent the word to in a name. Next come 4, 3, 5, 7, 10, and 100, with poor number 8so hotly contested by Jackson and Earnhardtrelegated to 11th place. The bottom of the list is populated by the apparently uninspiring 87, 67, 82, 89, and, last of all, 83. Some numbers are able to function as trademarks by playing off meanings that have already been baked into them. Both the NBAs Philadelphia 76ers and 76 gas stations (shortened from the more descriptive Union 76) strike patriotic chords by referring to the U.S.s 1776 founding (although the latter also nods to the fuels original 76 octane rating). When no such meaning is obvious, numbers used as trademarks are like empty vessels that can be laden with significance only through some combination of time and heavy brand lifting. Take 84 Lumber: Its name is essentially arbitrary, stemming from the companys location in the village of Eighty Four, Pennsylvania, which itself is named after . . . well, no one is quite sure. But after 69 years in business, 84 Lumber more or less owns the number 84. Part of the appeal of such seemingly random numbers is their mystery, and the accompanying tease that they might hold some secret meaning. This explains the popularity of the use of area codes as trademarks, and hints at why Rolling Rock continues to emblazon a 33 on each of its beer bottles. But for brands more interested in distinctiveness than riddles, perhaps the best way to employ a number as a trademark is to express it in the form of a unique logo design, making it not a mere number, but a stylized numeral. The result can be a powerful symbol, particularly for types of businesses where identifying numbers have an outsize importance, like television stations (see WABC New Yorks 63-year-old Circle 7 mark), banks (Cincinnatis Fifth Third Bank has a delightful improper fraction for a logo), and, yes, racing concerns like NASCAR (where Dale Jr. emerged from his recent kerfuffle with the rights to the iconic Budweiser 8). Adopting an unusual design motif can help a brand lay claim to even the most common of numerals, as Builders FirstSource has done with its oddly tilted 1. As noted above, 1 is the most prevalent stylized logo number in the USPTOs files. After that, though, come 7 and the coveted 8, suggesting a particular visual appeal in the form of these numerals. Following along are 3, 5, 2, 4, 9, and 6, before the first double-digit number, the aforementioned 76. Repeating digits seem popular in logos; 33 comes in at 14th, and 99 at 19th, for instance. Meanwhile, the most unpopular numbers are 71, 87, and 94, with only one logo trademark application apiece. But perhaps in these unloved numbers there are opportunities for brands to acquire an ownable set of digits that they wont have to tussle over.
Category:
E-Commerce
Welcome to Pressing Questions, Fast Companys mini-advice column. Every week, deputy editor Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work podcast, will answer the biggest and most pressing workplace questions. Q: What should I do about a coworker who dresses inappropriately at work? A: My first instinct is to advise you to keep it to yourself. Commenting on someones appearance is fraught and how someone dresses or styles their hair, etc. very often falls into the category of none of your business.But, there are nuances and circumstances where something is actually inappropriate. Before you say anything, run though these checks: Does your workplace have an official dress code policy? Not all workplaces do, and many are unhelpfully vague. (After all, who actually knows what business casual means?) If there is a policy and it states a guideline that your coworker is very clearly violating, you can bring the issue to the persons manager or HR to handle. Consider what is truly ‘inappropriate’ Just because you think sweatpants are unprofessional doesnt mean you need to police others clothing choices. Issues with appearance usually only rise to the level of intervention in a few scenarios. For example, if someone is in a client- or customer-facing role and there is an expectation to dress formally when meeting a client, or to dress in a way that respects the culture in the place you are doing business. Or if there is a need to dress safely for workplace hazards (like closed-toe shoes on a construction site, for example). Among internal colleagues, the only reason to intervene is if their appearance is causing a legitimate issue in a workplace. Clothing with political messages or graphic images likely falls in the same bucket as displaying similar content at your deskif its not allowed there, its not allowed on your body.As for inappropriate in the context of “too revealing,” tread very lightly and ask yourself if its more of a you problem than a them problem. Theres a long sexist history of rules around womens appearance at workfrom requiring things like high heels and skirts to punishing women for dressing in a way that distracts men. If you truly think that someones appearance is holding them back from getting a promotion or being taken seriously, you can have a conversation with them where you dont blame or shame them.Want some more advice on dress codes at work? Here you go: This is why we need to end dress codes for work How to dress for every stage of your career Managers, this is how to encourage new employees to adopt a more formal dress code Do dress codes at the office work?
Category:
E-Commerce
For most social media companies, getting users to doomscroll as much as possible is the name of the game. But Pinterest is now encouraging its young users to put their phones away during class. The mood board app is currently demoing a new pop-up for users aged 13 to 17 in the U.S. and Canada that will prompt them to stop scrolling and close the app during class, according to a report from The Verge. Focus is a beautiful thing, a screenshot of the prompt reads. Stay in the moment by putting Pinterest down and pausing notifs until the school bell rings. The pop-up is set to appear between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on school days, and Pinterest plans to roll out the test to millions of young users. The new test feature comes as, just this week, a new report from Pew Research found that nearly half of teens think social media has a mostly negative mental effect on people their age. Over the past several years, the issue of social media regulation for young users has become a prominent concern both for lawmakers and for schools. More than 40% of Pinterest’s users are Gen Z. Now, in a small way, the company is taking matters into its own hands. Phones are increasingly distracting in the classroom, teachers say In a Pew Research survey this January, 72% of high school teachers and 33% of middle school teachers reported cellphone distractions as a major problem in school. And another study from the think tank, published this Tuesday, found that 48% of teens aged 13 to 17 think that social media has a mostly negative effect on their peers, up 32% from a similar study question back in 2022 (though most respondents in 2025 were ambivalent about social medias affect on themselves.) For years, experts have warned users of social medias addicting and often distracting algorithmic propertiesand the effects of these properties on school-age users is an increasingly widespread topic of discussion, as well as some potential legislation. Most recently, U.S. legislators have proposed two pieces of legislation to protect young social media users: the Children and Teens Online Privacy Protection Act, nicknamed COPPA 2.0, which would ban targeted advertising to minors and data collection without their consent; and the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which would make explicit a duty of care that social media companies have when it comes to preventing harm to minors using their products. Both COPPA 2.0 and KOSA passed in the Senate this July, but have been stalled since then. (COPPA 2.0 was reintroduced in the Senate earlier this month.) While these wide-reaching pieces of legislation have not yet passed, momentum around child internet health and safety has resulted in several major outcomes. In June, for example, New York State passed legislation limiting addictive social media feeds for children. In September, Instagram seemingly decided to get out ahead of potential changes by introducing a new account type for teens. And, according to the health policy organization KFF, nine states have passed statewide policies that ban or restrict cellphone use in schools as of March 2025. How Pinterest is implementing more proactive safeguards for teens Despite these trends toward safeguarding school-age students’ social media use, Pinterest claims its pop-up test will be the first time a tech company tries a proactive feature to keep kids focused in class. At Pinterest, we believe that schools can take advantage of all that technology has to offer students, while minimizing the harms and distractions, Wanji Walcott, Pinterests chief legal and business affairs officer, told The Verge of the pop-up. Tech companies need to work together with teachers, parents, and policymakers to build solutions that ensure in the hands of our students, smartphones are tools, not distractions. This isnt the first time that Pinterests leadership has expressed an interest in implementing more guardrails around young peoples social media use, nor is it the first instance of the app adding new safety features for teens. Pinterest CEO Bill Ready has led the company for nearly three years, during which time he has called for a national digital ID system to verify users ages and declared his support for KOSA. Back in 2023, an NBC News investigation found that adult men were using Pinterest to create mood boards of young girls. In response, the platform created new default privacy settings for users 16 and underincluding keeping all teen accounts private and undiscoverable, adding new limits to messaging functions, and making age verification more stringent. In addition, Pinterest doesnt allow content that might be perceived as promoting body-shaming (like weight loss ads, for example) and it has removed filters from its beauty testing features. Making Pinterest safer for teens seems to be something of a personal mission for Ready, who spoke in favor of phone-free schools at this years World Economic Forum. He shared in an interview at the time, Its so objectively clear that studnts will benefit from fewer distractions in the classroom. It will benefit their learning. A key difference between Pinterest and other platforms is that we do not optimize for time spent, but rather time spent welltime spent on joyful, inspiring experiences, Ready wrote in a January email to Fast Company. Were betting on hope, not hatred as the driver of engagement on Pinterest.
Category:
E-Commerce
The elephant enclosure at your local zoo is an interesting place to be. But until 20 years ago, it was somewhere youd encounter in personwith reverence and intimacy. A video uploaded by YouTube cofounder Jawed Karim 20 years ago today changed that. Karim wanted to test out the capabilities of a new website he and his colleagues had developedwhat they called YouTubeand needed content to share with the world. It was designed to be filler: That much is evident in the halting presentation of the 19-second video. But beyond its role as a historical footnotethe video that gave birth to YouTube, the cultural phenomenon that has reshaped our consumption habits and redefined celebrity over the past two decadesMe at the zoo” changed our lives in another, subtler way. It normalized the idea of a share-all society. Today, if you visited the elephant enclosure at the San Diego Zoo, as Karim did 20 years ago, youd likely find people viewing the animals through their cellphone screens as much as with their own eyes. And thats because of that video, and the behaviors it introduced to us. More kids today want to be YouTubers than astronauts. Creators who built their names on YouTube now top the list of celebrities most recognized by younger generations. But its not just that YouTube became a job, or that YouTubers became public figures. Me at the zoo” and all that followed helped instill the idea that we are all content creators by default, and that our lives are meant to be shared. This shift wasnt driven by YouTube alone, admittedly. But YouTube has been the most visible force guiding this cultural direction. Its thanks to YouTubes influence that we now take photos of our meals before eating, snap selfies in moments of crisis, and shape our lives to fit tidy, pithy narratives on platforms like X and Bluesky. YouTubes early motto, Broadcast Yourself, was a democratizing force, a clarion call to shift our behaviors. Its why we now see videos of subway fights, supermarket arguments, and other spontaneous snippets of lifefragments that form an intoxicating, always-on feed to follow and engage with. Two decades on from “Me at the zoo,” much will be written about how YouTube has reshaped entertainment. Ive contributed to that discussion myself, having written a book on the platform and its rise. But I believe YouTubes deeper, more enduring impact lies at the foundation of society itself. At the high end, through creators like MrBeast, YouTube videos now resemble big-budget TV series or Netflix productions more than off-the-cuff vlogs. Yet it all began with a simple, unscripted moment at the zoo. “Me at the zoo” normalized sharing the mundane with strangersand turning it into a performance. It ushered in a performative culture and a share-all society that were still trying to understand. In doing so, it also quietly redefined what counts as meaningful or noteworthy, elevating the everyday into something worthy of an audience. And in the long run, that may be the legacy YouTube is best remembered for.
Category:
E-Commerce
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