Keith Rabois, the former COO of Square, said he uses his iPad and smartwatch more than his computer. Bloomberg/Getty Images Keith Rabois said he doesn't rely on a laptop or desktop computer. The former Stripe COO said he prefers working with an iPhone, smartwatch, and iPad. Computer sales still bring in billions — but startups are rethinking their desk-bound setups. While many executives live on their laptops, Keith Rabois says he doesn't rely on one at all. In an interview with "Lenny's Podcast," the famed executive — a former COO of Stripe, vice president at LinkedIn, and member of the PayPal mafia — said he prefers smaller, more mobile devices. It's a preference that's been in the making for more than 15 years, he said. "When I started working at Square, Jack Dorsey was running the company off of an iPad. And so, I immediately converted in September of 2010, and haven't looked back," he said. "Everything I do in my life is either done from my phone, my watch, or my iPad." His approach comes as parts of Silicon Valley rethink their reliance on traditional computers. In the past year, a wave of AI tools has pushed more work onto mobile devices, including so-called "vibe coding" apps that let users build software by prompting AI. Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, for example, invested $9.4 million in seed funding for Vibecode, an iOS app that lets users create new features — all on their iPhones. This isn't the first time Rabois has talked about moving away from computers. Since 2010, on what was then Twitter (now X), he's talked about using his "iPhone as a persistent computer, not as a 'phone.'" I haven’t used a computer since 2010. (Other than booking Barry’s workouts before they released an app last month.) — Keith Rabois (@rabois) November 9, 2018 During the podcast, Rabois said he prefers smaller devices because they're less distracting and more portable. "Like, taking a laptop with you anywhere is super easy," he said. "There's no reason to use a more powerful, heavier-weight, less flexible machine." It should be noted that, despite recent trends, laptops and desktop computers remain popular overall — Apple reported $8.39 billion in revenue from Mac sales in the first quarter of 2026. Read the original article on Business Insider

The memory shortage is starting to hurt consumers' wallets. luza studios/Getty Images As AI companies demand more and more memory chips, consumer electronics companies face a shortage. Microsoft is raising Surface prices in the face of skyrocketing costs. Others may absorb costs at the expense of their margins. When will the shortage end? Intel's CEO predicted "no relief until 2028." Did that computer you were eyeing jump in price? Is that gaming handheld out of stock? You might want to practice a new refrain: Thanks, memory shortage. As AI companies demand increasingly large troves of chips to power their large language models, memory chips remain in short supply. That's bad news for much of the consumer electronics market, which relies on DRAM and NAND memory chips. The research firm IDC expects "significant pressure on the memory ecosystem," warning that supply growth would be below historical norms this year. Electronics companies from Valve to Framework have already changed their sales procedures because of the shortage. Even Apple, the industry goliath, said it was expecting supply chain pressures on memory that would weigh on its famously high gross margin. The memory shortage has existed for months — but it's beginning to affect more shoppers' wallets. And the bad news is it's not expected to let up anytime soon. Which companies have been affected? Electronics CEOs are sounding the alarm for "RAMageddon." In February, Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing told Reuters that he expected PC unit sales to "face pressure." Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan predicted that there would be "no relief until 2028." Dell has already begun adjusting its device prices, according to an internal list of price changes sent to staff in December seen by Business Insider. The company raised the prices of its Dell Pro and Pro Max notebooks and desktops with 32GB of memory by between $130 and $230, among other increases. HP also planned price hikes "across the board" thanks to the memory shortage, its CEO said on its November earnings call. The industry's biggest players are feeling the pressure. Microsoft raised prices on its Surface PC offerings, telling Windows Central that it was due to "recent increases in memory and component costs." The 13-inch Surface Pro previously started at $999; now, it starts at $1,499. On Apple's fourth-quarter earnings call, Tim Cook said that the company was watching memory prices increase "significantly." In March, the company announced its new MacBook Air and Pro lineups with new chips, more storage, and, yes, higher entry-level prices — though it also introduced a new budget offering, the $599 MacBook Neo. Smaller PC makers — which may not enjoy the same amount of supply-chain leverage as their tech titan peers — have also been hit especially hard by the memory shortage. Framework raised its prices in December, then again in January, and again in February. Corsair accidentally underpriced its DRAM kits, canceling preorders and sending out coupons. It then raised prices days later, citing "market costs." The gaming device market is also struggling. Valve updated the site for its popular Steam Deck handheld device to say that it may be "out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages." The company also said it must "revisit" the pricing and scheduling of its upcoming Xbox and Playstation competitor, the Steam Machine, and VR headset, the Steam Frame, because of the shortage. Bloomberg reported in February that Sony was considering pushing back the launch of the next PlayStation, and that Nintendo was considering a price hike for the Switch 2. Some companies could choose to absorb any associated cost increases at the expense of their margins, opting to wait out the supply crunch. So, what's going on with memory? This is where things get a bit more technical, but it all boils down to basic supply and demand. There are three types of chips that are important to know. DRAM (dynamic random access memory) and NAND (non-volatile flash memory) are crucial for building consumer devices. HBM (high-bandwidth memory) chips are used to help train large language models. Three companies dominate the memory chip market: Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. These companies also produce HBM chips. AI companies are hungry for more and more chips, and are willing to break out the checkbook to be first in line for factory production — giving them an edge over many consumer tech companies. They're also flush with cash, with companies like Microsoft and Meta projecting multi-billion-dollar capital expenditures, much of which is going toward AI-related costs like chip acquisition. That leaves chipmakers responding to the spike in demand by raising prices, selling supply to AI companies, and some transitioning to HBM production. The shortage isn't fading anytime soon. SK Hynix has long secured demand for its entire 2026 DRAM and NAND production volume. The CEO of Micron predicted on its first-quarter earnings call that supply would remain substantially short for the "foreseeable future." And if you're trying to build your own PC, a mere consumer navigating the increasingly volatile memory marketplace: Good luck. Read the original article on Business Insider

Yuliya Chernova / Wall Street Journal: PitchBook: US growth and late-stage venture funds raised $23.6B YTD, up from $7.4B in 2025 and above the totals for any of the past 12 years, amid the AI boom  —  U.S.-based growth and late-stage venture funds raised a record $23.6 billion this year so far, according to PitchBook

In crowded environments, more robots don’t always mean faster results—in fact, too many can bring everything to a standstill. Harvard researchers discovered a surprising fix: adding a bit of randomness to how robots move can actually prevent gridlock and boost efficiency. By allowing robots to “wiggle” slightly instead of marching in straight lines, they can slip past each other and keep tasks flowing smoothly.

Drawing on Five Years’ Experience Deploying Post-Quantum, QuSecure Says PQC Market is Splitting Between Early Movers and Laggards as Google, Cloudflare and India Sharpen 2029 Timelines 2029 milestones from Google, Cloudflare and India show that post-quantum migration is no longer a future-readiness exercise, but an operational timeline problem many organizations will... The post QuSecure shares post-quantum migration outlook on World Quantum Day first appeared on AI-Tech Park.

New Solution Delivers Instant, Package-Level Answers, Decision-Ready Insights and Context Without Dashboards, Spreadsheets, Or Manual Analysis Reveel™, the only Shipping Intelligence™ Platform with Parcel Spend Management 2.0 (PSM 2.0) technology, today announced the launch of Reveel IQ, a new AI-powered solution engineered to transform how organizations understand and manage shipping... The post Reveel Announced the Launch of Reveel IQ first appeared on AI-Tech Park.

Collaboration unlocks unprecedented access to AI-powered personalization for enterprises Yobi and Microsoft technologies propel Wolverine Worldwide Inc.’s (NYSE: WWW) Merrell and Saucony brands to higher ROI and accelerated new customer acquisition across priority audiences Yobi, the leading behavioral AI company, today announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft to unlock predictive... The post Yobi, Microsoft Partner on AI for Predictive Behavior Insights first appeared on AI-Tech Park.

Kurdish officials displayed the remnants of a Shahed drone (foreground) they recovered from an Iranian attack. Ibra Naber/Business Insider Iran attacked the Kurdish region in northern Iraq over 400 times during its war with the US and Israel. Officials displayed weapons recovered from these strikes. They included a new drone jet that's twice as fast as the Shahed drones that are Iran's signature. Three men unloaded the remains of a monstrous weapon from a white van in Erbil, Iraq last week. Here, in the cordoned-off yard of the Asayish — the security forces of the auton›omous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq — explosive ordnance disposal specialists examined every Iranian projectile used in this war. "Zolfaghar," one of the Kurds said, tapping the pitch-black metal. "This missile struck near a mosque on the outskirts of the city just a few hours ago." The Zolfaghar is a large ballistic missile that carries a warhead weighing up to 1,100 pounds. The missile is only one part of the extensive arsenal with which Iran has attacked the Gulf states and the Middle East in recent weeks. In an exclusive presentation for Business Insider, the Asayish unit displayed some of the drones and missiles that have struck Kurdistan since late February, killing 17 people in the region. These remnants are a gallery of the many weapons Iran has used to kill and terrify people across the region: triangular Shahed long-range drones, hulking ballistic missiles, and a new jet-powered drone that's more difficult to shoot down. "With the help of Russia, China and North Korea, Iran has succeeded over recent decades in building up an impressive arsenal of effective, technologically sophisticated long-range weapons," the influential Austrian colonel and military analyst Markus Reisner said. Authorities in the Kurdish region of Iraq have recovered drones and missiles from the many Iranian attacks there during Iran's war with the US and Israel. Ibra Naber/Business Insider Tehran's ability to continue carrying out 60 to 90 drone attacks a day — combined with missile strikes — even into the sixth week of the war prolonged the conflict and increased pressure on global energy markets. The American-Israeli alliance struck more than 13,000 targets in Iran, including more than 2,000 command and control targets, but was unable to decisively break its military capabilities, before the US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire on April 7. According to US intelligence assessments reported by CNN, around half of Iran's missile launchers are still intact; in addition, the country continues to possess thousands of long-range kamikaze drones. The destructive power of Iranian weapons has been demonstrated in this war, Reisner said: "Drones are being deployed in a saturating combination with cruise missiles and rockets. When these weapons systems are combined with targeted satellite reconnaissance from Russia and China, they also develop a troubling degree of precision." In the yard, Kurdish security forces lined up various pieces of debris. In the center: Iran's most frequently used weapon — Shahed long-range drones, with a range of up to 1,200 miles. Russia uses these lumbering weapons, which have a recognizable delta-wing shape, extensively against Ukraine, usually in improved variants. "We identified three kinds of Iranian Shahed drones," said Halmat, a member of the Kurdish bomb-analysis team. The most frequently used Shahed-136 had more of a lead-colored, metallic surface; others were lighter or black. Their components, however, were very similar. Officials recovered a new jet-powered drone (at left) designed with sharp angles to reduce its radar signature. Ibra Naber/Business Insider Iran also used other models from its roughly dozen combat drones against Kurdistan, including the Meraj-532, a medium-range attack drone used by the Revolutionary Guards. "And that over there," Halmat said, "is a new Iranian drone, the Hadid-110." It is a jet-powered attack that can race past many air defenses and slam into targets at over twice the speed of most Shaheds. The drone is launched with a rocket booster that accelerates it before the jet engine takes over for sustained flight. Its design similarly reflects the growing sophistication of Iran's designs: A triangular wing configuration combined with sharply angled surfaces intended to hide it from radar. One of these drone jets slammed into a home in a neighborhood outside Erbil, the EOD specialists said. Smaller combat drones with a shorter range have also appeared in the Iran war. Videos released in March by Iranian-backed militias show small piloted drones hitting hangars and a helicopter near a US base in Iraq. Even advanced air defenses struggled to defeat threats this small and numerous. The bulky remains of the Kheibar ballistic missile lay at the back of the yard. "They also used it to strike civilian areas here in the region," said Pishtiwan, who is part of the engineering team of the Asayish security forces. He pointed to the markings left on the 10-meter-long missile. "This happened on March 19 in the Mala Omer area, outside the city. We found it at 12:55 p.m." Kurdish EOD specialists recovered fragments from an Iranian Kheibar ballistic missile that struck the region. Ibra Naber/Business Insider In total, Iran attacked the Erbil region alone with more than 400 drones and ballistic missiles, Halmat said: "And we have defused and collected more than 200 bombs." Pishtiwan explained that after every explosion in the region, one of their specialized units is dispatched to assess the damage and identify the weapon. The risk of being caught in a so-called double-tap attack — a second strike hitting the same target just minutes later — is very real. "But it is our duty to protect our people. We are ready to sacrifice our lives for this country." According to military expert Reisner, Iran's weapons have also inflicted considerable damage on the United States and Israel. "Iranian strikes in Israel and in the middle of American bases made that abundantly clear in recent weeks." The past weeks have also delivered a painful lesson in the Kurdistan Region: not even the United States — the most advanced military in the world — can fully protect its bases and diplomatic facilities in a modern drone war. The Erbil region has been struck over 400 times by Iranian drones and missiles, authorities there said. Ibra Naber/Business Insider During the attacks on Erbil, Iran and its allied militias targeted both the US military installation at the airport and the US consulate, which opened in late 2025 at a cost of nearly $800 million. Kurdish security forces shared videos with Business Insider showing damage from impacts on the consulate grounds, though the destruction does not appear to have been extensive. The French military was hit harder. A drone strike killed a French soldier in March in a town near Erbil, which President Emmanuel Macron confirmed was the country's first military death in the Middle East war. Kurdish security forces said they are almost entirely dependent on Western air defenses. A Patriot system fought off Iranian ballistic missiles over the last few weeks. Drone defenses were numerous. The C-RAM gun system fired bursts, including glowing tracer rounds, at incoming drones. And US fighter jets like the F-16 Fighting Falcon regularly took off to hunt drones, as seen in videos from Kurdistan. According to media reports, the Raytheon Coyote drone was also used to destroy several drones in flight. Kurdish security officials say that, according to their information, no Ukrainian drone specialists were stationed in Kurdistan for air defense. Kyiv had deployed more than 200 drone experts during the conflict with Iran, primarily to Gulf states, to provide support. According to Reisner, Iran's waves of attacks are also a final warning for Europe. "The range of Iranian missiles extends to the periphery of Europe. The US missile defense system stationed in Europe — the European Phased Adaptive Approach, or EPAA — and national procurement initiatives such as Germany's introduction of the Israeli 'Arrow' system are therefore of great importance." Ibrahim Naber is a foreign correspondent who has reported from Ukraine since 2022. In October 2025, he and his team were injured in a Russian Lancet drone strike in Dnipro. In 2025, he received the George Weidenfeld Prize for his coverage of global conflicts and crisis zones. He wrote his dissertation at King's College London on the psychology of modern drone warfare. The Axel Springer Global Reporters Network harnesses the resources of the company's newsrooms to publish ambitious scoops, investigations, interviews, opinion pieces and analysis. It allows journalists — including those from POLITICO, Business Insider, WELT, BILD, Onet and Fakt — to collaborate on major stories for an international audience of hundreds of millions across platforms: online, print, TV and audio. Read the original article on Business Insider

John Collison / Cheeky Pint: Q&A with ElevenLabs co-founder Mati Staniszewski on how audio models work, the company's business model, the conversational Turing Test, voice agents, and more  —  Mati Staniszewski is the co-founder of ElevenLabs, the research company making audio accessible across languages and voices.

Joanna Glasner / Crunchbase News: Asia's startup funding rose 93% YoY to $27.4B in Q1, the highest quarterly total in 3+ years, with Chinese startups raising $16.5B and Indian startups $3.8B  —  Asia's startup funding swung higher in the first quarter of this year, boosted by a rebound in Chinese venture investment.

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: Apple endorses the ~$11.6B Amazon-Globalstar deal, citing a “proven track record” with Amazon infrastructure; Apple holds a ~20% stake in Globalstar  —  Amazon.com Inc.'s takeover of Globalstar Inc. is poised to benefit one of the company's biggest rivals in hardware devices: Apple Inc.

Arjun Kharpal / CNBC: ASML reports Q1 net sales of €8.8B, above €8.5B est., a €2.8B net profit, above €2.5B est., and raises 2026 net sales forecast to €36B to €40B from €34B to €39B  —  ASML raised its sales forecast for 2026 after it beat first-quarter revenue and profit expectations …

The practice of privacy-led user experience (UX) is a design philosophy that treats transparency around data collection and usage as an integral part of the customer relationship. An undertapped opportunity in digital marketing, privacy-led UX treats user consent not as a tick-box compliance exercise, but rather as the first overture in an ongoing customer relationship.…

Financial Times: Sources and analyst estimates: Uber is on track to spend $7.5B+ on buying robotaxis and $2.5B+ on equity stakes in their makers over the next few years  —  Ride-hailing app races to make up lost ground with equity investments and vehicle order commitments  —  Uber has committed more than $10bn …

Tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson spoke to executive editor Zak Jason at Business Insider's The Long Play event in San Francisco. Business Insider Bryan Johnson says he's trying to fill gaps in his young adult son's sex education. "We, of course, have the basics covered, but his only source of education has been porn," he said. Johnson said he wrote a sex "instruction manual" after realizing there were gaps in how people learn about intimacy. Bryan Johnson says he didn't teach his son enough about sex and wants to change that. "He is 20 now, and we were talking about sex. He had these questions, and I was like, 'I've never educated my son on sex,'" Johnson, the tech entrepreneur known for his pursuit of longevity, told executive editor Zak Jason at Business Insider's The Long Play event on Tuesday. "We, of course, have the basics covered, but his only source of education has been porn," he said, adding that there's an "entire generation of people who have not been educated" on how to make love. That realization led him to try to explain intimacy more deliberately. "What I wrote was basically an instruction manual on how to have sex," he said. Although people have called it a "'50 Shades of Grey' longevity version," Johnson said it was really "like 10 lessons" he was trying to get across. One of those lessons, he said, is the difference in arousal between men and women, which can create a mismatch if partners move at different speeds. "Basic stuff like that, so it was like trying to educate people on, how do you create good relationships in a loving manner," Johnson said. He added that his son has largely taken his openness in stride: "My son is so cool." Johnson, who says he spends about $2 million a year on efforts to reverse his biological age, has long been public about sex as a key part of his broader approach to health and longevity. He previously said that he wears a small device on his penis to measure his nighttime erections. At Tuesday's event, Johnson said founders in "monk mode" may be missing the role relationships play in performance. "Sometimes it takes a bit for them to realize that, but a good partnership is really beneficial for mental health and physical health," he said. Read the original article on Business Insider

Google DeepMind: Google DeepMind introduces Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 robotic reasoning model, saying it shows significant spatial and physical reasoning improvements over ER 1.5  —  For robots to be truly helpful in our daily lives and industries, they must do more than follow instructions, they must reason about the physical world.

Financial Times: Sources: ahead of US midterms, Democrats have been advised not to antagonize a ~$300M pro-AI lobby; internal polling shows broad support for tougher AI rules  —  Pro-industry campaign groups deploy millions amid growing public support for tighter regulation

Tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson spoke to executive editor Zak Jason at Business Insider's The Long Play event in San Francisco. Tammy Horton for Nikki Ritcher Bryan Johnson says founders in monk mode may be overlooking what can help them perform at their best. Having strong relationships can be beneficial for mental and physical health, he said. Good health translates to good work, the longevity enthusiast said. Bryan Johnson, a tech entrepreneur and longevity influencer, says founders in "monk mode" risk getting in their own way. Speaking to Zak Jason, the executive editor of the Discourse team, during Business Insider's The Long Play event on Tuesday in San Francisco, Johnson pushed back on the idea that having a sex life is a distraction. The longevity enthusiast said it can actually make founders better at their jobs. "No one wants to write a shitty code base. You want healthy code. And so, what founders don't realize is, when you're not taking care of your health, you are shitty code. You are not beautiful code," he said. "Sometimes it takes a bit for them to realize that, but a good partnership is really beneficial for mental health and physical health," he added. At Business Insider's The Long Play event, Bryan Johnson said having a sex life can actually benefit founders. Rosalie Chan/Business Insider This is especially so at a time when many people are grappling with mental health challenges. "We have not created a culture of health, and it's hurting everybody," Johnson said. "Monk mode" is a productivity trend popular in tech and entrepreneurial circles. The idea is to adopt monk-like discipline by eliminating distractions — like dating and social media — to focus on work. Johnson is focused on slowing his biological aging and extending his life. He launched Blueprint in 2021, an antiaging venture built around his own tightly-managed health routine, which he says costs around $2 million a year to maintain. He previously made headlines for infusing himself with his son's blood but said he stopped after not seeing any benefits. Since then, Johnson has founded the Don't Die movement, which has drawn a community focused on longevity and health optimization. In February, he launched "Immortals," offering three people the chance to replicate his antiaging program for $1 million. Read the original article on Business Insider

Bryan Johnson instructs The Long Play attendees on a simple longevity test. Nina Menconi for Nikki Ritcher Bryan Johnson shared a simple longevity test at a Business Insider event. The longevity entrepreneur says the one-leg balance test indicates biological age. A small Mayo Clinic study supports one-leg balance testing as a measure of frailty in older adults. As a multi-sport athlete, I track my fitness through swim time trials, burnout lifts, and functional threshold power evaluations that push me to my mental and physical limit. Bryan Johnson, the 48-year-old entrepreneur obsessed with longevity, has a much simpler and less grueling test as a proxy for how your body is aging, which may or may not match your chronological age. Johnson led the exercise at Business Insider's The Long Play event in San Francisco on Tuesday. You can do it anywhere with a timer. The test: Start your timer, close your eyes, and stand on one leg. See how long you can avoid falling. According to Johnson, if you stand for zero to seven seconds, your body is 60-80 years old. Seven to 15 seconds is 40-60 years old, and 15 to 30 seconds is 20 to 40. "As you age, your brain atrophies, and your ability to maintain your balance goes away. That's why when you get older, if you fall down, it's no good," Johnson said. A small Mayo Clinic study of adults over 50 published in 2024 found that among several functional tests, one-leg balance time was most affected by age. The Mayo Clinic researchers dubbed the one-legged test "a valid measure of frailty, independence, and fall status." Unlike Johnson's version on Tuesday night, the study didn't test people under 50, nor did it offer specifics about balance time matching biological age. The balance test isn't a new idea, and the Cleveland Clinic cautions that "it's not a complete balance evaluation on its own" and it's "far from a perfect indication of longevity." But by Johnson's standards, my biological age — especially on my dominant, more stable left leg — is right where I should be. Read the original article on Business Insider

Sinead Mulhern's brother joined her on a trek in South America. Provided by Sinead Mulhern It's been 8 years since Sinead Mulhern left Canada behind for a slower, more affordable life in Ecuador. It had been years since she'd seen her brother, and she planned a multi-day trek for his visit. She learned that while sibling relationships evolve, certain things remain the same. My older brother, Fergus, and I have spent most of our adult lives chasing the same thing — just never in the same place at the same time. We're both adventurous, but our lives have unfolded on different continents since 2009. That was the year he left home. I was still in high school. He spent his 20s traveling around the world. And in 2016, when I was 25 and working as an editor in Toronto, he moved to Australia. Two years later, when he moved back to Canada, I was the one who'd caught the travel bug. We were only in the same place for a few days before I left for Colombia. I've been living in South America ever since. Sibling adventure in South America In January, Fergus visited me in Ecuador, where I've been living for eight years. To catch up properly, I planned a multi-day trek through sleepy mountain towns. Walking for days through remote landscapes felt like the best way to make up for lost time. We started in a small farming town about two hours outside Quito. With backpacks and a few changes of clothes, we set out along a dirt road tracing green mountains through farmland. Over 26 miles, we passed rows of peaks, clay brick homes, and a river carved into a deep gorge. With no signal and no one around, we talked about everything: his winter plans, my writing, our younger brother's upcoming wedding, and memories from camping trips we'd nearly forgotten. At the river, we sat on rocks and drank beers we'd picked up before leaving town. Cows mooed faintly in the distance. "I'm so glad you finally made it," I told him. The siblings caught up and were able to celebrate his 40th birthday late. Provided by Sinead Mulhern Belated celebration It felt like a celebration six months late. Fergus had turned 40 in July, and living abroad, I've missed plenty of milestones. I booked a cabin along the route — a belated birthday gift, complete with a spa and traditional Ecuadorian food. We stayed close over the years, despite the distance. Out of four siblings, we're the most alike — athletic, adventurous, drawn to the same kinds of places. As a kid, I stole his CDs; he shaped my taste in music. Now we both live unconventional lives: me as a freelance writer in Ecuador, him as a tree planter in western Canada. Still, his 10 days in Ecuador were the most time we'd spent together as adults. A four-day trek through remote terrain could have been a gamble, but I knew he'd be in. No questions asked. Brother and sister on a trek in South America. Provided by Sinead Mulhern Witnessing his wanderlust inspired mine Toward the end of our trip, we reached a tiny town — a church, a few dogs, a handful of homes. It was late afternoon, I was hungry and ready to stop when Fergus pushed ahead, scrambling up a steep gorge and insisting the top was "just a few minutes" away. Sweating and irritated, I followed. Midway up this impossible-angled gorge, I checked my frustration, recognizing that I had been doing the same to hiking buddies over the past few years. And also, this trek was my idea, and I knew who I was doing it with. Later, by a turquoise lagoon, I looked at him and saw not just the brother who packed my lunches and drove me to piano lessons, but someone I'll rely on for decades. When it was time to leave, our bus to Quito never came. Instead, we hitched a ride, climbing into the back of a moving truck after getting directions from other trekkers. "Get in," I told him, quickly translating the driver's words from Spanish. For once, I was leading. Read the original article on Business Insider