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Pbs kids logo Not until having children did I enter the universe of PBS Kids—the child-friendly arm of the Public Broadcasting Service. With 13.5 million TV viewers between the ages of 2 and 8—supplemented by nearly half a billion streams on digital platforms and an app full of interactive games—the public service is a juggernaut in free family...

New organizations This year’s finalists in the not-for-profit category of Most Innovative Companies have persevered through the trials of 2020, finding original and effective ways to reach people in need, tackle the compound crises that emerged during the pandemic, and lift up voices that for too long haven’t been heard. 1. GET SHIFT DONE For tackling both job...

Facebook to become fifth most valuable Facebook has become the fifth U.S. company to have a market cap of more than $1 trillion, reports CNBC. Yesterday the company’s shares closed at $355.64 each, giving Facebook a market capitalization of $1.008 trillion. The reason Facebook passed that trillion-dollar threshold? As Axios noted, shares popped over 4% yesterday after a federal...

Radable garbage bags In you’re a conscientious consumer, you’re probably trying to curb your use of virgin plastic by bringing your own tote bags to the grocery store and using refillable water bottles. Yet plastic lurks everywhere, and seems nearly impossible to avoid in daily life. Just one example? Your trash bags. By some estimates, the average American...

Nike skateboarding olympics For the first time in history, skateboarders are headed to the Olympics. The Tokyo Games will feature skaters from around the world doing gnarly tricks on a newly built skate park. Nike was tapped to design the kits for the United States, Japan, France, and Brazil. All of the outfits feature a burst of color,...

Figs ipo stock The healthcare apparel company Figs, Inc has its initial public offering today. Figs will IPO on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock ticker symbol FIGS (of course). Figs stock already made headlines earlier this week when Robinhood allowed retail investors (us mere mortals–not big banks and funds) to buy the stock before the...

Coc porn Do you remember Clash-mania? Those days back in the 1980s when the video game Clash of Clans became the biggest pop-cultural phenomenon the world had ever seen, and its main character, the Barbarian, was gracing magazine covers, cereal boxes, and made into an action figure? A new short documentary tells the fascinating story of the game’s 40-year...

Note taking electronics Computer designers have long understood that handwriting and drawing with a pen offer a fluidity and expressiveness that shames stodgy—though efficient—typing and mousing. In the early years of tablets and handheld computers, digital pens or styli were seen as a democratizing way to minimize the need to type. They also helped reduce the size of gadgets by...

Data buying It’s no secret that your personal data is routinely bought and sold by dozens, possibly hundreds, of companies. What’s less known is who those companies are, and what exactly they do. Thanks to a new Vermont law requiring companies that buy and sell third-party personal data to register with the Secretary of State, we’ve been able to assemble...

Facebook stock Branded is a weekly column devoted to the intersection of marketing, business, design, and culture. What is social media worth? Not to investors—we know the market valuations of the most familiar social media companies can reach hundreds of billions, even despite recent weakness among tech stocks—but to you? How much would you, a social media user,...