Plug In Your Brain

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It’s 2026, Future Party. MTV may have lost music, Netflix may have lost Stranger Things, and the Lakers may lose LeBron… but we still believe there will be a lot to gain this year. Cheers to gains!

A new crop of devices is targeting the brain as the next frontier of wearables.

Why It Hits: Fitbits, Apple Watches, and Oura Rings have become common devices for monitoring our health, sleep, and activity. Now, new startups are hoping that migrating devices to the brain can unlock countless new functionalities… and maybe even connect our minds to the internet. Expect data privacy questions to get even thornier.

Between The Ears: Do you feel comfortable having your brain waves read? Some startups can already do so using electroencephalography (EEG) — the ability to detect the brain’s electrical impulses and decode them with AI — according to Wired.

Last Thought: In limited studies, these devices have lived up to their claims, demonstrating that the relationship between the brain and external electrical stimulation can produce some pretty wild results. It’s only a matter of time (likely a long time) before people can text or play games with their minds using a headband or earphones — which may be a welcome alternative for those with no interest in putting devices literally in their brains (à la Neuralink or Synchron).

The Future: Expect the next smartphone wars not to be about actual phones, but about the ability to manipulate the OS and apps with your thoughts (aka nature’s software).

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In an age when mysterious algorithms can propel anyone to virality and AI floods platforms with fakery, brands and audiences alike are searching for creators they can trust.

The Big Picture: The internet is entering its slop era thanks to the prevalence of AI. So, while brands are experimenting with AI in their own operations and ad materials, they still want their influencer-marketing dollars to funnel to people who have an authentic relationship with their audience. It’s that human touch that ultimately drives conversions.

Behind The Curtain: Creator economy pros are signaling that simply having a large following is no longer enough in the current marketplace — real influence lies in building trust with whatever audience you have.

Final Count: Reed Duchscher, the founder of the talent management company Night, told TechCrunch that he believes the era of the “macro creator” — figures like MrBeast (whom he previously managed), PewDiePie, and Charli D’Amelio — is coming to an end, as the mainstream internet culture that enabled them to reach those heights simply no longer exists…

…which, ironically, mirrors how that same culture once fractured the broader media monoculture before it. What goes around comes around, we suppose.

Prediction: Instead, the future of the creator economy may look more like Epic Gardening, which evolved from a YouTube channel into the owner of the third-largest seed company in America. In other words, it may all come down to creators who tether themselves as closely as possible to the real world.

71.1% of you voted No, and I wouldn’t consider it in Tuesday’s poll: Have you ever combined dating with professional networking?

“This is the best way to ruin your professional career or life that I can imagine.”

“It’s a recipe for disaster. I was more interested in making money and doing a fabulous job.”

“I got involved with a professional colleague at another company, and when our companies merged, he went out of his way to make sure I got laid off. Later, he badmouthed me and made sure I didn’t get another job. I wish I had never gone on that first date.”

“Only by accident — I met my now-fiancé while walking in a fashion show his law firm sponsored. Kismet :)”

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🍿 Warner Bros. Discovery is preparing to reject Paramount’s hostile takeover bid… again.

🎭 Both Stranger Things: The First Shadow and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child broke their Broadway box-office records last week.

📺 TV watchers are increasingly turning to FAST streamers to watch old hit shows.

🤖 Meta is buying Manus AI — a Singapore-based company that excels at generating research reports and websites — for over $2 billion.

🚀 A recent Blue Origin flight sent the first wheelchair user to space — aerospace engineer Michaela Benthaus.

👀 China wants AI companies to alert a human the moment suicide or self-harm is mentioned in a conversation with a chatbot.

👟 Nike revealed that nine of the ten most popular sneakers sold on its SNKRS app are more than a decade old.

👨‍💻 Google will finally let you change the cringey Gmail address you made in middle school — without losing your data.

🚇 NYC just threw out its plastic MTA cards after 30 years.