A local gifting group helped me save hundreds on a new wardrobe as we head into summer. Alexandra Frost I've gotten freebies for my home and kids in "Buy Nothing " groups. Recently, I got clothes. Someone of a similar size was giving away clothes, and I scored a new summer wardrobe. I liked how some of the styles pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I saved hundreds of dollars. Sometimes, being a parent means not treating yourself to a new wardrobe when the seasons change so you can ensure all the kids have new pool slides and shorts to replace the ones they grew out of last year. But as a mom of five, I've found creative ways to still get new-to-me things when our budget is tight, such as participating in our community's local "Buy Nothing" groups on Facebook. They're part of the global Buy Nothing Project, where people give away things they no longer want for free. Many neighborhoods and cities have super-local versions of these groups online to make gifting and picking up items easier. In the past, I've used such groups to score baseball equipment for my sons and small kitchen appliances and to give away baby equipment and clothes, old furniture, and even mattresses. Most recently, though, my "Buy Nothing" scrolls brought me to one of my best finds yet: a whole new summer wardrobe, just in time for the warm months ahead. One giveaway post turned into an afternoon of fun spent mixing and matching new styles I was glad I'd found a "size buddy" online that I can keep an eye on in case they give more clothing away. Alexandra Frost While browsing our local group for new posts, a deep-red shirt with a chevron-looking pattern caught my eye. It's not normally a style I'd pay attention to, but I'd just learned in a color analysis that I look best in jewel tones, like ruby, and I thought it might be great for me. From there, I checked out the woman's profile to see if she had a similar build and body type. I'm a large on top and an extra large on the bottom, so it can be hard to find a "size buddy" — someone of a similar build — giving away clothes online. Fortunately, based on her posts, she seemed like a match. Even better, my new "size buddy" was giving away more clothes that seemed like they'd fit me, a mix of cute Anthropologie-like pieces and business-professional attire. I commented "interested" on a few of her posts, and she ended up gifting me much more than what she had shared online. I enjoyed challenging myself to style new pieces I may not have tried otherwise. Alexandra Frost When I arrived at the pickup spot, the woman had set out multiple bags of clothes for me, including pieces I would've tried on myself in a store. Since the clothes were already here and free, I pushed myself to step outside my comfort zone and get creative with mixing and matching new pieces with items I already had in my wardrobe. I was pleasantly surprised. For example, there was a top with flutter sleeves in a gauze-like material that I'd never pick up myself, deeming it too feminine or "extra" for my usual style. However, when I put it on, I found it flattering, fun, and easy to pair with white shorts I already had for a casual date outfit or with work pants for more professional events. I'm also always on a mission to find work-from-home clothes that look professional on Zoom calls but are casual enough to pair with sneakers for a mid-workday walk. Several pieces I was gifted worked well for this, including a silky blue V-neck that looks nice on camera but is still casual enough to pair with lightweight summer joggers. One of my most-worn finds so far is a pair of comfortable cotton shorts that feel like sweats, but look much nicer. They're slightly longer than I'd typically buy, and for this reason, don't ride up. A few pieces didn't work for me (turns out my size buddy is slightly smaller on top), but it was easy to just pass them along to someone else in the "Buy Nothing" group. In the end, another person's generosity saved me hundreds of dollars Ultimately, I took home five tops and five bottoms, all in excellent condition. A few had brand names I recognized, and several seemed to be from local boutiques. I'd estimate my new seasonal wardrobe would've cost several hundred dollars if I'd purchased it new. More importantly, though, the value of getting this wardrobe was that I didn't have to run around town trying clothes on or scrambling to make returns in tight windows when online orders don't work out. Plus, this experience taught me not to rule a piece out just because it doesn't seem like my style at first glance. There's also a bit of fun and creativity that comes with trying on another person's styles, and figuring out how to make them your own with jewelry or other clothes you already have. Lastly, this was also a good reminder of how "Buy Nothing" groups can help my family save money. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for new posts from my "size buddy" as the seasons change — and maybe I'll look for clothes for my family next. Read the original article on Business Insider

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Ukrainian positions can be so dangerous that the military doesn't want to use humans to send supplies, and wants to use unmanned systems instead. Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu via Getty Images Drones typically used to attack Russian forces are now bringing supplies to Ukraine's front-line soldiers. It's part of a growing trend of Ukraine using unmanned systems to take over dangerous missions. In the kill zone, logistics operations are particularly deadly, which is why Ukraine is turning to uncrewed systems. Ukraine is repurposing reconnaissance and attack drones to move supplies to the front lines because sending soldiers on these missions has become increasingly deadly. Bringing supplies like water and ammunition to soldiers near the front lines is critical for militaries to stay in the fight. But those routes are now so exposed to surveillance and attack drones that Ukraine is increasingly turning to uncrewed systems to do the job instead. One example is the Linza drone made by Ukrainian arms company Frontline Robotics. The company says it is used by more than 60 Ukrainian units and is now taking on a growing logistics role. Mykyta Rozhkov, Frontline Robotics' chief business development officer, told Business Insider that this drone was "mainly for attack operations," but now, there's demand "to have it as a logistics drone to provide critical supplies to the advanced troops." That's "because the logistics are almost shut down on the actual engagement line," he said, referring to the most exposed area near the front, where almost any movement can draw fire. Now, Linza drones "are responsible for supplying water, supplying ammunition, and supplying medical supplies for the troops that are facing the attacks." The Linza drone has been upgraded to carry heavier gear for longer distances. QFI/Reuters That flexibility means soldiers can choose whether to use the drone to carry basic supplies — "water and cigarettes," Rozhkov said — or as something meant "to stop the target." Frontline Robotics upgraded the Linza drone this year to its 3.0 model, which can carry 4 kilograms over 15 kilometers, up from the 2 kilograms over 10 kilometers of the previous model. Rozhkov said that the company's mission is to "provide different robotic solutions to get people outside the danger zone. So just to keep the line with the robots." The goal, he said, is to keep as many soldiers back away from the front as possible and use humans only when "robots can't handle the situation." Eventually, he said, the aim is to defend areas "without humans" in order to keep soldiers safe. Other Ukrainian manufacturers are also converting drones into logistic assets to protect soldiers. The heavy bomber "Max" drone was designed to drop explosives on Russian positions but is now increasingly being used for logistics, its manufacturer, Perun, told Business Insider's Jake Epstein at an undisclosed location inside Ukraine. Ukraine wants to minimize human involvement near the front line because of how dangerous it is. Officials and soldiers describe a "kill zone" as wide as 50 kilometers in some places, where dense networks of surveillance and attack drones put almost anything that moves at risk. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called it a "death zone" where any tank, armored vehicle, or motorcycle that enters it "burns." He said that "everything is destroyed by drones." Rozhkov said that it was normal at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion for around 1,000 soldiers to be responsible for about 10 kilometers of the front line. Now, he said, his company is part of a big armed forces effort to bring that down to just 150 soldiers, with unmanned systems doing much of the work. Ukraine is increasingly using ground robots, as well as drones, to do missions that humans used to do, to keep soldiers safe. Mykhaylo Palinchak/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Frontline Robotics also makes a weapons turret that can be mounted on ground robots, allowing them to fire machine guns and grenade launchers while soldiers stay safely out of range. Rozhkov said it's used to stop Russian soldiers advancing, to "keep hostile soldiers out of the way." The big risk near the front lines is movement. There are troops there, but it's hard for them to move and rotate out, and it's dangerous for anyone who would try to come in and bring them supplies. It's why Ukraine is betting heavily on uncrewed systems. Ukraine's defense minister said in April that the goal is to hand over 100% of frontline logistics to robotic systems to protect soldiers and vehicles. Rozhkov said the shift toward more unmanned systems includes one operator being able to control multiple drones. He said soldiers come to him asking for autonomy so multiple drones can be controlled by a single pilot, and that's the kind of feature Frontline Robotics is now adding. Ukraine wants to keep its drone operators and other soldiers as far from the fighting as it can, and send unmanned systems closer to the front. Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images Ukrainian officials have described a battlefield moving further toward machines fighting machines. Zelenskyy in September said that "Now, companies are already working on drones that can shoot down other drones. And it's only a matter of time — not much — before drones are fighting drones, attacking critical infrastructure, and targeting people — all by themselves, fully autonomous, and no human involved — except the few who control AI systems." Rozhkov said that Frontline is "actively working" toward this future where uncrewed systems fight other uncrewed systems, with the goal of keeping human soldiers safe. Read the original article on Business Insider

To generate a satisfactory AI image, we must do for a machine what novelists have done for readers: translate objects, spaces and moods into words. A person on their device next to a statue of novelist Virginia Woolf. (Matt Brown/Flickr/Wikimedia), CC BY You are sitting at your computer, interacting with a generative AI model like ChatGPT Image or Midjourney. You have a distinct picture in your mind, and you begin with a simple, general prompt: a chair in a cozy room. The image appears, but you frown. You realize that to get what you want, you must elaborate, so you experiment with more descriptive prompts: Dark mahogany wood. Dim yellow lamplight. Late autumn dusk. You keep revising, trying to discover which words the machine needs and which words it ignores. You are wrestling with a problem: how do you describe a feeling? How do you communicate warmth, melancholy, intimacy or calm — not to another human being, but to a machine? This is one novel frustration of the AI age, yet millions of users searching for the “right prompt” are engaging in an old literary practice: turning mental images, vague desires and atmospheric intuitions into precise language. Modernist writers and description Generative AI has transformed description from a literary technique into a mass social skill. This frustration in fact has an unexpected literary history. More than a century ago, writers faced a similar question when new visual technologies began to change how reality could be represented. Photography, and later cinema, could capture surfaces, bodies and landscapes with a speed and accuracy prose could not match. If machines could show the visible world more efficiently than language, what was writing for? In Strange Likeness: Description and the Modernist Novel, literary scholar Dora Zhang argues that many early 20th-century novelists responded by rethinking the role of description itself. Modernist author Virginia Woolf, among others, sought to capture the shifting textures of consciousness. (Harvard University Library/Wikimedia) Rather than competing with cameras in the faithful rendering of objects, modernist writers such as Henry James, Marcel Proust and Virginia Woolf turned toward phenomena that resisted mechanical capture: atmosphere, sensation, relation, mood and the shifting textures of consciousness. This helps explain why modernist fiction can feel so different from the realism of the 19th century. The real Henry James will never stand up – that’s his greatest legacy Shift from earlier novels Earlier realist novels by writers like Honoré de Balzac and Charles Dickens often described rooms, clothes and streets in exhaustive detail, helping readers imagine social worlds they could not directly see. Modernist writers still described, but they increasingly described what did not simply look like anything at all: the tension in a room, the strange resemblance between two unrelated things, the emotional weather of an afternoon, the half-formed feeling of memory returning. In other words, when cameras became better at recording surfaces, literature moved toward what surfaces could not contain. Evoking atmosphere Generative AI has unexpectedly reversed that history. Photography reduced the need for verbal depiction by allowing images to be mechanically captured. AI systems increase the need for verbal depiction by requiring users to verbally specify the qualities of desired images. To generate a scene, you must now do for the machine what earlier novelists once did for readers: translate objects, spaces and moods into words. The challenge is not just naming things. Anyone who has used image generators knows that describing objects alone does not produce satisfying images. You also need what internet culture now calls the “vibe.” Vibe refers to the diffuse emotional and sensory qualities that surround objects without being reducible to them. It is the kind of phenomenon modernist writers became increasingly interested in describing. In this sense, prompt writing combines two older literary tasks at once: the realist description of concrete things and the modernist evocation of atmosphere. Interacting with generative models Interacting with these generative models also draws attention to a phenomenon that literary scholar Elaine Scarry has long contemplated. We could also think about prompting, as a writerly, descriptive act, as demonstrating what she refers to as “perceptual mimesis.” Mimesis (Greek for “imitation”) through esthetic theory has been concerned with “representation.” Scarry’s literary criticism has explored how authors’ discriptions act as instructions to guide the reader’s vivid mental images. Reflecting on using language to represent our ideas in dialogue with machines opens up reverberating questions about how this could affect our thoughts about ourselves and the world. AI boom hasn’t ended writing We often hear that AI will replace writers. In one important sense, it has done the opposite. It has redistributed one of writing’s oldest skills across everyday life. Office workers, students, teenagers, marketers and hobbyists now spend their time refining prompts, comparing phrases and learning how slight changes in wording alter results. They are practising description, even if they don’t call it that. The AI boom has not ended writing. It has made writers of us all. Lei Yu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

When Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation went to court recently to challenge Alberta’s handling of the proposed Wonder Valley AI Data Centre Park project, the dispute underscored a question that is increasingly difficult to ignore: What does Canada’s artificial intelligence future require from land, water and energy systems? Wonder Valley, which would be located south of Grande Prairie, has been advertised as the world’s largest AI data centre park. Alberta’s major projects listing describes its first phase as a 1.4-gigawatt off-grid power system leveraging the provincial natural gas and geothermal resources. The project is only one example of a broader trend. The federal government’s new “AI for All” strategy links AI to economic growth, jobs and national competitiveness. The strategy also points to expanding “sovereign compute” and supporting the construction of large-scale AI data centres. Sovereign AI? Anthropic shutdown reveals Canada’s weakness AI is resource-dependent These ambitions make the environmental debates significant. AI is often described as if it lives in “the cloud.” The persistent controversies regarding Wonder Valley illustrate the fallacy of this metaphor. Artificial intelligence relies on material resources: land, electricity, water, cooling systems, transmission lines, gas infrastructure, minerals and servers. When those demands become concentrated in one place, AI becomes an environmental and energy issue. My research focuses on environmental communication, including the politics of fossil fuel development in Canada. In my recent book on Alberta oilsands communication, I examined how oilsands projects are framed as matters of prosperity, national interest and technological progress. As someone who follows Alberta’s energy politics closely, the media coverage of Wonder Valley caught my attention. My analysis of articles published by mainstream Canadian outlets about the project’s launch phase revealed a telling pattern. Coverage was limited for a proposal of such scale, but the stories that did appear carried strong symbolic weight. Wonder Valley has been touted for the substantial investment it could bring, and as an opportunity to convert Alberta’s energy resources into a competitive edge in the AI economy. That narrative, however, deserves scrutiny. AI’s use of resources AI data centres are industrial facilities built to keep servers running continuously. This requires reliable electricity, cooling and backup systems. The International Energy Agency predicts that global electricity consumption from data centres, primarily driven by AI development, could more than double by 2030, reaching about 945 terawatt-hours. Water is also crucial. Depending on design and location, data centres may use large amounts of water directly for cooling or indirectly through electricity generation. Reporting by The Narwhal has raised serious concerns about Canada’s data centre boom, especially where projects are proposed in water-stressed regions or on contested land. The main concern raised by Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation regards the project’s potential water use and the duty to consult Indigenous nations on developments that could impact them. This is why the Wonder Valley debate cannot be reduced to a simple narrative of “Alberta is open for business.” It is also about who gets access to water, whose power system is reorganized and whose land and resources are made available for AI infrastructure. What the cloud hides The cloud metaphor makes these material demands less visible. It encourages us to think of digital services as weightless, clean and placeless. Researchers of digital infrastructure have long challenged this view. Media scholar Mél Hogan’s research on data centres’ alarming water consumption shows how digital systems are bound to local ecosystems. Similarly, scholars like Sean Cubitt, Richard Maxwell and Toby Miller have argued that media technologies are never environmentally neutral. They depend on extraction, energy use and waste. Another useful idea is the “digital sublime,” which describes how new technologies are often surrounded by myths of transformation, inevitability and national renewal. Such myths can make infrastructure projects appear almost beyond ordinary political debate. The promotional language surrounding Wonder Valley are consistent with this pattern. The emphasis on scale, innovation and Alberta’s future as an AI hub resulted in environmental concerns being either disregarded or treated as technical issues to be resolved at a later time. Data as the new oil One of the most revealing phrases in coverage of Alberta’s AI ambitions is that “data is the new oil.” In one sense, the phrase is meant to signal opportunity. It suggests Alberta can use its energy expertise, gas reserves, cold climate and industrial land to compete in the global AI economy. But it also reveals continuity. The project is not presented as a break from Alberta’s fossil fuel economy. It is framed as its next stage. Natural gas is positioned to power artificial intelligence. Recent reporting by The Tyee has shown how data centres are being discussed as “creating new markets for Canadian natural gas producers.” This should concern Canadians. If AI infrastructure becomes a new justification for fossil fuel expansion, then the language of innovation may end up extending older forms of resource dependence. Rethinking AI infrastructure Canada needs a comprehensive AI strategy; however, a strategy that lauds data centres without adequately considering energy, water, land and Indigenous rights is insufficient. Before governments promote AI data centres as engines of economic growth, they should require transparent public disclosure of expected electricity demand, water use, emissions, land impacts and consultation processes. Treaty obligations should not be treated as procedural hurdles. They should shape whether and how projects proceed. The key challenge confronting Canada is whether it will build AI infrastructure through the same old resource development playbook or whether it will use this moment to set stronger rules for a more accountable digital economy. Sibo Chen receives funding from Toronto Metropolitan University and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He is affiliated with International Environmental Communication Association and the Environment, Science, and Risk Communication Section of International Association for Media and Communication Research.

The author has MS, so her husband steps in for her and takes their kids on roller coasters and field trips. Courtesy of Lindsay Karp I had a vision of what motherhood would look like for me, and that all changed with my MS diagnosis. I can't go on long hikes or ride roller coasters with my kids, but my husband steps in. I'm glad he's doing the things with our kids that I can't. I always thought I'd be a fun mom; the mom who plans class parties, explores interactive exhibits with her kids at museums, and survives the Tilt-A-Whirl with them at carnivals. When I was young, I imagined myself beside my future children on roller coasters and chaperoning every class trip from kindergarten through 5th grade. My mom went on mine, and I wanted my children to have the same experience. But my boys are 14 and 11, and I've never been the mom I envisioned. As my youngest finishes his final year of elementary school, sadly, I have never joined either of them on a class trip. The vision of the mother I thought I'd be never got a chance to exist. My multiple sclerosis diagnosis changed everything When I was 21, multiple sclerosis seized my nervous system. Before I could even speculate on the ways in which this disease would change the course of my life, it stole the mother I hoped to become. From the time my older son began walking, I realized the expectations I had for myself were no longer realistic. I could go to museums or amusement parks with my family, but only with my husband present to take over when I had to rest. I wasn't the one beside them as they walked the streets of the Historic District in Philadelphia with their class. I can't withstand the school's packed schedule while also being responsible for a group of children with endless energy. "Can you go?" I asked my husband when we learned of my older son's first field trip in kindergarten. "I want him to have one of us there," I pleaded. Between wanting to raise my children myself and the relentless weakness, fatigue, and pain slowing me down, I chose to stop working my full-time job when my older son was born. My husband has worked overtime for the last 15 years to support our lives, and asking him to take time off for a field trip felt unfair. But if I couldn't go, having him present would make my misfortune sting a little less. Perhaps field trips could be their thing? "Please, for me, can you be there with him?" My husband has done many things with my kids that I had pictured for myself My husband went on that field trip — and he's gone on every trip since then with both of our children throughout their elementary years. Every moment I'd imagined — from watching them walk through the Heart exhibit at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, to strolling around the National Constitution Center, to a 5th-grade "skip day" at Hershey Park, to riding roller coasters at Dorney Park to celebrate the end of elementary school — has happened. But it's been him and not me. I see these occasions through pictures and brief, animated FaceTime calls instead of living them myself. There's so much I can do that I once thought would be impossible, so remaining bitter about missing out feels petty. It took me 13 years to be diagnosed, and during that time, my body weakened until walking was no longer possible. I never thought I'd be able to bike on rail trails with my children or take a mile-long flat hike through the Catskill Mountains with them. I wasn't sure I'd ever attend a class party or be able to stand while talking to friends as my kids enjoyed the end-of-year carnival at school. I used to worry about middle and high school Back-to-School Nights and how I'd walk through their daily schedule while my legs threatened to collapse. I once thought I'd miss everything. Since being diagnosed in 2017, treatment has allowed me to do all of this. So, I've accepted that school trips haven't been on my agenda because so many other activities have been. Knowing that my husband has been there in my place has helped me let go of that loss. On Father's Day, I want to thank my husband for being the fun parent, the one who takes them hiking up mountains and climbing over rocks. The one who scrambles through the Heart and Brain exhibits at the science museum. The one who endures roller coasters beside them even though his vestibular system has aged. He's the one who keeps the fun going when I'm sitting on a bench in the background or many miles away at home. He's been everything I can't be, mending my dream of motherhood back into reality. Read the original article on Business Insider

Creators are expected to be the stars of the show at the Cannes Lions ad festival this year. Pictured: guests at a Spotify Beach concert at Cannes Lions 2025. Dave Benett/Getty Images for Spotify A version of this post appears in Cannes Diary, a daily pop-up newsletter covering Cannes Lions. Sign up for Business Insider's weekly marketing newsletter, CMO Insider. Move over, Mad Men. Cannes is a creator town now — at least for the next week. A legion of influencers will be among the estimated 13,000-plus attendees headed to this year's Cannes Lions advertising festival, which kicks off in France on Monday. Creators are jostling for brand deals, paid speaking gigs, VIP party invites, and plenty of opportunities to shoot content along the glittering Côte d'Azur. More than 250 creators are expected to attend, per a list curated by a group of marketing companies. "Call Her Daddy" host Alex Cooper, "Feed Me" founder Emily Sundberg, makeup artist and creator Cindy Chen, TikToker Josh Richards, and YouTuber David Dobrik are all slated to mingle with marketers over the next week. "When I was first going to Cannes, if you saw Martin Sorrell walking down the street, that was the big-name celebrity," said UTA's Margot Hauer-King, who was referring to the former WPP CEO and current S4 Capital exec chairman. Now? "Alix Earle," Hauer-King said. This year, creators are moving from the margins of Cannes to the center stage. That shift reflects an industry reckoning with fundamental changes in how consumers interact with media. As broadcast advertising becomes less effective at reaching fragmented audiences, marketers increasingly view creators as a critical channel for attention and influence. EMARKETER, a Business Insider sister company, expects 88.7% of established companies in the US will invest in influencer marketing this year, up from less than 40% a decade ago. Brand spending on influencer marketing is forecast to reach $12.42 billion this year. Shweta Bhardwaj, a partner at Bain & Company, said creator strategy is now a core part of the marketing playbook. "Many of the CMOs I talk to say the marketing of yesterday was us talking about our brands," Bhardwaj said. "The marketing of today is consumers talking about our brands, and our role as CMOs is to enable that conversation as authentically as possible." SharkNinja's chief brand and experience officer, Michelle Crossan-Matos, said that "influencer marketing," as a term, even feels outdated. She prefers "creator commerce," which emphasizes the extent to which creators have become involved in shaping both the products that brands release and how they market them. Creators' Cannes agenda Star YouTube creator Dhar Mann is returning to Cannes Lions for the second time this year, his calendar jammed with speaking sessions, including an interactive workshop in the Palais where marketing execs will compete for a $200,000 brand integration on his main channel. Dhar Mann, who runs one of the biggest YouTube studios, said CMOs want to learn from creators at Cannes Lions this year. Noam Galai/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival Mann said he senses the power dynamic between creators and brands is shifting this time around. "Creators aren't just showing up to network and learn from brands — now more brands want to know how creators work," Mann said. "Creators get feedback every day from millions of viewers. We know what makes them care and what makes them share." There's still some work to be done to reduce bottlenecks, Mann added. "The traditional process of working with traditional advertisers takes months — endless decks, meetings back and forth," Mann said. "Brands are learning that in order to survive this new climate, you have to move at the speed of culture. Who can do that? Creators." Sundas Khalid, who posts content about AI and data science to her 1 million-plus followers, is heading to Cannes Lions for the first time this year. She's planning to catch up with brands she's already worked with, like OpenAI and Teachable, make new connections with marketers, and pitch up at LinkedIn's space on the Hotel Carlton rooftop to create content and meet other creators. (LinkedIn says there's just one rule: No swimming in the pool.) Content creator Sundas Khalid is headed to Cannes Lions for the first time. Courtesy of Sundas Khalid "If there's one thing about the content creation space, it can be very lonely — I sit in my basement and record most of my videos there," Khalid said. "I proactively put in time to be in places where other creators are going to be." The other hot topics: agentic AI, soccer, and M&A Influencer marketing isn't the sole topic on the agenda at Cannes this year. The ad industry is attempting to shake off angst about artificial intelligence and its potential to wipe out jobs and further concentrate power in the hands of the tech giants. "Agentic" will be the central square on every Cannes buzzword bingo card as companies tout AI agents that can automate media buys, conduct research, and shop on consumers' behalf. Brian Kotlyar, CMO of the marketing platform Hightouch, has two tips for marketers fielding those pitches. First, ask to see the thing in action in a live environment, not a staged one. Second, "When someone says they have an agent, ask them: What can your agent do that Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini cannot?" This year's festival falls during the final round of World Cup group-stage matches, ensuring that live sports — one of the last remaining mass-reach media vehicles — will again feature heavily in Croisette conversations. The World Advertising Research Centre forecasts the tournament will drive a $10.5 billion surge in worldwide ad spend this year as brands look to capitalize on the event's feel-good factor and global, cross-generational appeal. Plenty of companies at Cannes are hosting watch parties for big games, with the European time zone ensuring the festivities will run late into the evening. Attendees can also expect a healthy portion of M&A chatter alongside their glasses of rosé. Speculation is rife about whether Publicis' acquisition of LiveRamp and Accenture Song's buying of Whalar could spark copycat deals in the data and creator spaces. Meanwhile, marketers will be quizzing Omnicom execs about how the integration of its $9 billion acquisition of Interpublic Group will affect its clients, for better or worse. PepsiCo CMO Jane Wakely hopes "creative effectiveness" — campaigns that can demonstrate their business impact — will be the breakthrough trend once Cannes draws to a close this year. (Wakely is on the jury panel for the Cannes Lions Creative Effectiveness Award.) Cannes Lions tightened its awards rules for 2026 after several of last year's winners drew scrutiny about whether the big claims made in their case studies could be verified. Wakely welcomed the changes. "Two or three years ago, a lot of the work that was celebrated was not effective; it was stunts," Wakely said. "I think as an industry we were beginning to lose our way." Read the original article on Business Insider

The author said that bedtime was a struggle with his toddler. A technique he researched online changed everything for his family. Courtesy of Zack Barnes. My toddler son started pushing boundaries with us and we needed a solution that would work. After researching online, I came across a technique called behavior-specific praise. Following this changed the dynamics in our house and how we parent for the better. Modern parenting advice seems to be to limit how much you praise your child. I disagree. Nothing really prepares you for parenting a 2-year-old. Toddlers are known for their developing independence and language, as well as their strong emotions. I should know, I have one living with me. These rapid developments can lead children to push boundaries and have tantrums. For our family, this led to our struggle with managing our son's behavior. One way we improved our son's behavior was through a technique called behavior-specific praise, which is explicitly praising the positive behaviors you see. Sure, it can be hard at times, but it's paying off. Praise is important As an associate professor of literacy, I spend my days researching the link between self-regulation, executive function, and academic achievement. In my own home, I discovered that the type of praise we give needs to be more than just saying, "Good job!" It's saying, "I loved the way you cleaned up after playing. Look at how clear the floor is!" This approach is something I came across while searching for evidence-based strategies that could help with the issues we were having at home. I knew praise was important, but I needed more guidance on how to use it effectively in my house. Dr. Alan Kazdin, a child psychologist who used to lead the Yale Parenting Center, believes that delivering praise with lots of excitement and physical touch, such as a hug or high five, can also amplify its impact. For our family, it has really helped. But even without that physical touch, behavior-specific praise has shown promise. For example, in school settings, behavior-specific praise is an evidence-based strategy supported by extensive research. When teachers, like I used to be, increase this type of praise, we see an increase in students' on-task behaviors. This strategy is now embedded in many different types of parenting programs because of its effectiveness. While this technique has worked with my young child, it has been shown to work across age ranges. This is because this type of praise builds on children's motivation. They love being noticed for doing something "right", and they want to keep doing that behavior. Children start to feel proud of themselves as they continue to meet these goals, and soon, they will be doing behaviors on their own without any praise. That will build their self-regulation, so in the future, when they are off task, they can self-regulate and get back on task. Putting the plan into action One thing that has helped tremendously in implementing this technique in our parenting is that my wife and I focus on one behavior at a time to maximize our efforts. The first time we implemented behavior-specific praise was to stop our then 2-year-old from jumping on our bed. Almost nightly before bedtime, our son would somehow end up in our room, jumping on our bed. While it was cute at first, it became a bigger issue when he would refuse to go back to his room. Eventually, we would have to pick him up and take him to his room, which would lead to tantrums right before bed. Once we figured out that behavior was what we wanted to stop, we needed to explain, again, our desire for him not to jump on the bed. After reaffirming the rule to him, we would praise him when he got off the bed when we asked. This praise looked like, "I loved how you stopped jumping on the bed when we asked." When he came into the room and didn't jump on the bed, we would also praise him. The praise would be said in a happy voice, and one of us would give him a big hug and take him to his room. It took some time, but now, as a 3-year-old, this is no longer an issue at all. Another area of our lives that has improved dramatically is taking medicine, which has historically been a struggle for us. When our 3-year-old is sick and has medicine, we pour it into a drink of his choosing and praise him every time he takes a big sip. When he finishes the drink, we do such an over-the-top praise. We hoist him up and cheer. He absolutely loves it. It has also reduced the stress we have around thinking about how we are going to give him medicine twice a day for ten days. He is so proud of himself each time he finishes his medicine and loves to show it off to us. We've had some challenges Of course, this one strategy doesn't work all the time. It's natural and healthy for a 3-year-old not to listen to what we want him to do. That's par for the course for these three-nagers. But what is nice is that when we determine there is a key behavior we need to change, we strategically implement this praise strategy into our day-to-day lives. So far we've used it to help with mealtimes, car rides, and grocery store trips. I wish we had known about his strategy earlier in our parenting journey, because things might have been easier for us. Lucky for us, our youngest just entered toddlerhood. Parenting is hard, and having the right tools in your toolbox is so critical. These tools make everyone's lives easier, and we just have to figure out which ones to use and when. Praise is such a part of our parenting style that our son now models praise toward us. Just the other night at dinner, my wife said she was done with her meal, and he replied, "Good job, mama, on finishing your dinner." That gave us so much joy. Read the original article on Business Insider

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