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The freelance market for creatives hit an inflection point in February.Contractors make up between 30% and 70% of marketing teams, according to workforce platform Assemble. Today, companies including Delta, MassMutual, ServiceNow, and Colgate use external specialists for longer stints, sometimes across multiple quarters.That’s a big change from before 2022, when that number hovered at 10%, and freelancers mostly filled short-term roles. The change reflects both economic pressure and how marketing work gets done now, said Assemble founder and CEO Lara Vandenberg. After all, many U.S. companies have slowed hiring, while marketing teams are expected to produce more.
Security researchers have identified a suite of powerful hacking tools capable of compromising iPhones running older software that they say has passed from a government customer into the hands of cybercriminals. Google said Tuesday that it first identified the exploit kit, dubbed Coruna, in February 2025 during a surveillance vendor’s attempt to hack into someone’s phone with spyware on behalf of a government customer. It found the same exploit kit months later targeting Ukrainian users in a broad-scale campaign by a Russian espionage group, and then later found it used by a financially motivated hacker in China. It’s unclear how…
In this episode of Brave Commerce, Rachel Tipograph and Sarah Hofstetter sit down with Brian Gelb, senior vice president of wine and concierge at Total Wine & More, to unpack how a retailer is gaining share while the broader alcohol market faces headwinds. Brian shares how his military background shaped an “intent-based leadership” approach that pushes decision-making down, builds ownership, and requires teams to arrive with a recommendation, not just an issue.They also discuss what often breaks down between suppliers and retail partners, why bringing real customer insights to the table changes the quality of joint business planning conversations, and how…
If you’ve seen the recent ads attacking New York assembly member Alex Bores, you’ll know he used to work for Palantir, the AI company that’s powering the controversial raids and high-volume deportation efforts from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The ads even accuse Bores of having made hundreds of thousands of dollars building the tech for ICE and “powering their deportations.” But that’s not quite the whole story. “I quit Palantir specifically over its work with ICE in 2019,” Bores told TechCrunch on last week’s episode of Equity. Now he’s running for New York’s 12th congressional district, with Big…
At 2:30 am Eastern time on Saturday, President Donald Trump posted a video to his Truth Social account announcing that the US had joined Israel in launching attacks on Iran.His next post, just two hours later, appeared to suggest that the attacks were, at least in part, motivated by a wild claim that Iran had helped rig the 2020 US elections. “Iran tried to interfere in 2020, 2024 elections to stop Trump, and now faces renewed war with United States,” the president wrote on Truth Social.The post linked to an article on Just the News, a conspiracy-filled, pro-Trump outlet that…
February continued the positive momentum for the cable news networks, as all three saw growth in primetime total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo. The frigid winter weather throughout the month, one of February’s big stories, also kept viewers indoors, leading to increased viewership.Fox News and MS NOW had gains during total day in both measured categories. Fox News accounted for all the top 100 cable news telecasts of the month.Meanwhile, CNN experienced a month-to-month decline in the demo during total day. Fox NewsAccording to Nielsen big data + panel, Fox News in February had 2.612 million total viewers in primetime…
Take a breath, stop spiraling. You’re not crazy, you’re just stressed. And honestly, that’s okay. If you felt immediately triggered reading these words, you’re probably also sick of ChatGPT constantly talking to you as if you’re in some sort of crisis and need delicate handling. Now, things may be improving. OpenAI says its new model, GPT-5.3 Instant, will reduce the “cringe” and other “preachy disclaimers.” According to the model’s release notes, the GPT-5.3 update will focus on the user experience, including things like tone, relevance, and conversational flow — areas that may not show up in benchmarks, but can make…
As missiles crossed the Persian Gulf this weekend and explosions were reported across the region, millions of people did the same thing: They reached for their phones. Within minutes, social media feeds filled with videos, breaking news alerts, and speculation about what might happen next.The strikes followed the US-Israel attacks inside Iran earlier in the week, triggering a wave of retaliatory missile launches and air defense interceptions across several Gulf states.Moments like this are when social media can quickly turn into doomscrolling—the compulsive consumption of bad news delivered through endless updates, alerts, and algorithmically amplified crises. A quick check for…
The numbers13: Consecutive quarters in which Target has reported flat or declining sales. New CEO Michael Fiddelke promised a return to growth in every quarter of 2026.$30.5 billion: Net sales in the fourth quarter of 2025. That’s a 1.5% drop year over year, and a 2.5% drop when adjusted for inflation. 3.9%: The year-over-year drop in fourth-quarter comparable sales.$915 million: Target’s advertising revenue in 2025, primarily from ad arm Roundel. During the fourth quarter, Target reported $295 million in ad revenue, up 55.3% from $190 million in the year prior.The watercooler talkAt a financial community meeting in Minneapolis, Target executives…
Palmer Luckey’s defense-tech company is in the middle of a multi-billion-dollar funding round led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal. The funding round would come less than a year after the company’s Series G, which closed in June with $2.5 billion against a $30 billion valuation. Lux Capital and Founders Fund are also expected to participate. A previous report from Bloomberg said the new round could bring as much as $8 billion of capital into the company, which closed its previous funding round last summer. The round comes at an…
Google notes that Apple patched vulnerabilities used by Coruna in the latest versions of its mobile operating system, iOS 26, so its exploitation techniques are only confirmed to work against iOS 13 through 17.2.1. It targets vulnerabilities in Apple’s Webkit framework for browsers, so Safari users on those older versions of iOS would be vulnerable, but there’s no confirmed techniques in the toolkit for targeting Chrome users. Google also notes that Coruna checks if an iOS devices has Apple’s most stringent security setting, known as Lockdown Mode, enabled, and doesn’t attempt to hack it if so.Despite those limitations, iVerify says…
X will temporarily bar creators from monetizing their content through its Creator Revenue Sharing program if they share AI-generated videos of an armed conflict without clearly disclosing that it was made with AI. The move comes three days after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran, sparking a chain of violent reactions.X’s head of product Nikita Bier made the announcement in a post on X Tuesday morning, writing: “During times of war, it is critical that people have access to authentic information on the ground.” He added that AI platforms have lowered the bar to making “content that can…
Google on Tuesday announced a series of new features coming to the Android ecosystem, alongside its March software update for Pixel phones, called the Pixel Drop. Notably, Android users are getting a new way to find lost luggage. If users have added a Find Hub-compatible tracker tag to their luggage, they can now share a link with participating airlines to help identify the location of the luggage. In the Find Hub app, users can now select their lost item and tap “share item location” to generate a unique, secure URL. Then, users can copy the link and paste it into…
Looking for a new gaming headset that can keep up with your professional aspirations? You can grab the Razer BlackShark V3 Pro from Amazon for $230, a $20 discount from the usual $250 price. This upgraded gaming headset is great for serious FPS fans, aspiring esports competitors, and anyone else trying to climb the ladder in their favorite game.One area where the BlackShark V3 Pro particularly impressed me was the sound isolation and active noise-canceling. While those aren’t always standout features on gaming headsets, these are built for serious gaming, so tuning out any extra noise, whether that’s a cheering…
Retail doesn’t stand still, and neither does Sam’s Club.In this episode of The Speed of Culture, recorded live at CES in Las Vegas, Matt Britton sits down with Diana Marshall, EVP and chief experience officer at Sam’s Club. Diana shares how Sam’s Club is building a human-led, tech-powered membership model, why experience is now the primary differentiator in retail, and how closed-loop data and AI-driven personalization are reshaping acquisition, loyalty, and retail media. The conversation explores the shift from frictionless to effortless retail, the power of associate experience, and what the future of buying looks like in an AI-enabled world.A 21-year Walmart…
Apple unveiled its latest slate of MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops on Tuesday morning, and in the case of the MacBook Pro, the new hardware comes with the announcement of new M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. The specs on the new chips are impressive, featuring an 18-core CPU that Apple says is over 4x the peak GPU compute for AI compared to the previous generation. But consumers may be surprised to see the price of the new MacBook Pro devices. For the base MacBook Pro device, which has an M5 Pro chip, prices start at $2,199 and $2,699…